An Evening with Dr. Jean Clinton – @drjeanforkids

Dr. Jean Clinton is a pediatric psychiatrist and advisor to the Ontario Minister of Education.  Yesterday she spent two hours at the Thunder Bay Community Auditorium, speaking with parents, educators and community members interested in the well-being of children in our communities.

How are the children doing?  Is this the major concern and question that it should be in our country? Are we making our children (our future) our priority?

Her message centred around the importance of relationships in raising healthy, creative, curious and learning children.

Children learn through serve and return, serve and return.  They initiate, adults respond, they respond…

How do we become conversational partners in this back and forth?

How are we responding to the cues from children? How are children learning from our language, our facial expressions, our interest in them, our engagement with them?

Caring adult relationships and connections are critical.  So how do we spend our time with our kids?

Do we spend it “almost with them” while we do other things on our phones?

What is our connecting to redirecting ratio?  How much time is just “being with” vs. “directing and redirecting”?

Talk more, tune in, listen and turn off the TV!

While I was there to hear all of her message, I was particularly interested in her take on technology in schools.  Here are my notes on Dr. Jean Clinton’s response to a question about the use of technology in JK/SK and the remainder of the primary division.

“The use of technology in schools is tricky.  We know that we need people who are going to be skilled in technological ability and the best time to start that is, well, we know we can start the concepts of coding very early.  But we have technology now not just as a tool but as an interference.  We are going to need some courageous work, where parents are told not to text their children during the school day, and to trust the system to get in touch because the majority of texts that kids are getting in class are from their parents. 

But I think we need to take a stand and understand how very important technology is, but also how we are going to limit its use in the classroom.  For example, I am not a supporter of using iPads in the earliest years. The development of the brain and how the kids are making connections, they get mesmerized and pulled towards those iPads and it should be later, once the brain has developed further, that they should be allowed to do it.  It’s a tough question.”

We know that being outside and experiencing the natural world builds brains differently.  We know that schoolifying, ranking and comparing children can result in stress reactions. And we know that stress changes biology.

Our kindergarten curriculum rests on inquiry-based learning.  Is this what is happening in kindergarten classrooms?

We have to consider the research on brain development before advocating for the use of screens in the early years.

I know that I have much more learning to do on this topic.

Thank you to Dr. Jean Clinton for travelling to northwestern Ontario, and for sharing so much important information with our communities about how building those personal interactions with children is absolutely critical to their positive growth and development.

Resources:

Dr. Jean Clinton: http://drjeanclinton.com/

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The Compelling Case for Change: TELL 2016

This year’s Technology Enabled Learning and Leading Symposium for Principals is wrapping up today.  Yesterday we had the opportunity to have conversations with Dr. Tony Wagner about how the current pathways for our students are no longer leading to success.

Creating that Compelling Case for Change is so critical.  We are in times of exponential change, yet for many, this change is invisible as we continue to do things as we have always done in our education system.

Earlier in the week, I had the pleasure of leading, with Mark Carbone, a group of PQP and SOQP instructors in an examination of why change is needed and how we might start considering our work in online spaces differently.

We have included the slides and some of our thinking below.

 

Featured Image: Most Likely to Succeed

#BIT15: Principals Leading Innovation with Technology

Principals Leading the Innovative Use of Technology for Learning and Teaching

A session at BIT15 – Bring IT,Together 2015

Thursday 5th November, 2015

11:00am to 11:50am (EST)

Technology is a tool that enables innovative approaches to deep learning and student assessment. As lead learners, how are school leaders across Ontario integrating technology and pedagogy into classroom practice? We will hear from Principals across Ontario who will share how they are successfully leading TELT in their learning environments. We will crowd-source this question prior to and during the presentation, and we will share the stage with principals f2f and through Google Hangout and Skype.

So as a Principal, how are you leading the Innovative Use of Technology for Learning and Teaching?

Share using the hashtag #PVPTELT

Join us at #BIT15 on Thursday, November 5 at 11 a.m.

Thanks to Kim Figliomeni and Katie Maenpaa, Greg Pearson, Lisa Neale and Shannon Smith for sharing with the group.

Ten Years Ago, Ten Years From Now

Today is my dog’s 10th birthday.

Technically, he isn’t really my dog.  We bought him for our son 10 years ago.

“Basso”, the beagle, was my son’s Christmas present in 2005.

A beagle was the #2 item on my son’s wish list.

Item #1 was an iPod, but everyone wanted an iPod in 2005, and all of the stores were sold out.

 

 

An iPod.  An iPod with video playback – new technology in 2005, and the cool accessory for a grade 11 student.

As it turns out, we found an iPod as well, just before Christmas, in a pop-up tech store in Vaughan Mills (which had only opened about a year earlier).

Basso the beagle has seen so many changes in technology in his 10 years with us.  We have pictures of this dog on such a wide variety of devices – including that first iPod.

Basso still hides his face when he sees any device.

His earliest experiences with camera devices always involved infrared lights and flashes that hurt his eyes.  Even today, as I tried to take a birthday picture, he closed his eyes and then hid his face under his blanket.

In April 2006, when my school board sponsored teachers to purchase technology for their classroom use, I bought a beautiful Canon PowerShot A700 digital camera for just under $700.00. The very first picture I took is still my favourite picture of Basso.  Since then, Basso has had his picture taken with an iPhone 4, 4S, 5, 6, and 6s.  His picture has been displayed on an iPad, iPad2, iPad3, iPad Air, MacBook Pro and MacBook.

The worst technology Basso ever experienced was that  5th generation iPod back in 2005.

 

 

I needed that camera because my ultra-cool blackberry 7750 cell phone/smart phone didn’t have one.  We weren’t thinking about taking pictures with our phones 10 years ago.

Back then, my son was loving his time in grade 11 – at least the part that was high school hockey.

He was dying of boredom in his physics class, and a few other classes as well.  The content was utterly irrelevant and uninspiring. He saw no purpose in memorizing formulas for tests or trying to figure out the “type” of problem so he could determine what formula to plug the numbers into.

Since then, he has gone on to a brilliant career first as a national team athlete, and now as a science-based professional – a choice that required surviving many more (very boring) physics classes.  It certainly was not his physics classes that inspired him to have a career in science, where he does more physics every day than his teachers have ever experienced.

So I wonder, are the students in that physics class today still reading from a textbook, going home and answering questions for homework, and then being tested on their ability to memorize the formula or choose the right formula given some made-up problem?  Or are those students now solving real-life problems, networking with people who actually work in the field of physics, and learning about the amazing opportunities available to them in science?  Has the 10 years of explosive technology change had any impact at all on students in a grade 11 physics class?

Unlike with Basso, when I hold up my iPhone 6 to take a picture of my granddaughter, she knows that she is supposed to smile!

Ten years from now, when she is in Grade 5, that iPhone 6 will be her blackberry 7750.  She will laugh at what I took her baby pictures with.

It will be the worst technology she will experience in her life.

I wonder, will her grade 5 class still look like the grade 5 class of today?  Or will our school system finally have entered the pace of change that is the world now?  Will her grade five class be mirroring her world and her life, or will it still be focused on her grade 6 EQAO scores and preparing her well for the world her grandparents grew up in?

We laugh at the technology from 10 years ago.

Do we laugh at what we thought classrooms should be like way back then too, or do they still look exactly the same?

 

 

 

 

 

What’s an Education That’s Worth Having?

[In 2014, I wrote a post on technology and pedagogy that was recently circulated on Twitter.  It reminded me that it is time to update the thinking in that post.]

Simon Breakspear asked the question, “What is an Education That’s Worth Having?” at #uLead15 three months ago.  The answer is complex, and context driven, but, I think we have some ideas.

For me, in 2015, that education includes digital literacies.

We often hear educators say that technology is “just a tool”.  In some situations, this is true.  Technology can be a tool to help students learn traditional content.

But it isn’t true in all cases.  Technology is so much more than a tool. Because of technology, we can now exist in both physical and digital spaces.

The competencies required to thrive and succeed in digital spaces are different from those required to succeed in our physical world, and more and more, these two worlds are inseparable.

Our children exist in digital space and physical space seamlessly, except, in some cases, in school (and, except for those children who still have no access to the internet or to devices).

A recent study of the role of Canadian Principals shows that cyberbullying and policy issues related to social media is the #2 concern across the country.

Why is this the case?

I think we have done a huge disservice to our children.  We’ve known for a very long time that kids can communicate, access photos and share online, but by prohibiting this behaviour in schools – by taking the stance that it is not okay to use devices in school – we have neglected to teach them the competencies required to be successful citizens in the online environment.

So who will teach them now?

Unless we truly believe that digital literacies are important and that the competencies required to be successful in the future must be taught in school, nothing will change.

We need to ensure that our education leaders have these competencies.

Full immersion in digital spaces is arguably the best way for people to develop these competencies (Doug Belshaw, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies) and to understand how best to develop them in others.  This requires the use of a number of devices (and reliable access to the internet). Deciding what device is best for what purpose is part of the learning.  It also requires time to immerse and try and play and network and learn.  Educators need these opportunities.

We can’t let our children continue to play online without the knowledge and skills to be safe, to be responsible, and to lead change in the digital environment.

The change begins by building confidence and competence in digital literacies with our education leaders.

 

Resources:

Doug Belshaw, The Essential Elements of Digital Literacies

Identifying, Scaffolding and Credentialling Skills in an Ever-Changing Digital Environment (Doug Belshaw)

Digital Literacies Wiki (Doug Belshaw)

Mozilla Web Literacy Map

Mozilla Web Literacy

Digital Literacy on #MNLead (June 28, 2015)

Tweets mentioning @simonbreakspear, #uLead15

On Twitter – #digilit

Tom Whitby: The Myth of Innovation in Education

Health and Wellbeing: The Importance of Digital Literacies (from JISC)

 

Intergenerational Digital Literacy

This past week, I read a blog post by Jennifer Casa-Todd: Childrens’ Rights in a Digital World

It is based on this UNICEF publication: Childrens’ Rights in the Digital Age

This is the quote that first attracted my attention:

“… digital literacy across generations..”

I immediately thought of Ontario’s Renewed Vision for Education.

 “Our children, youth and adults will develop the skills and the knowledge that will lead them to become personally successful, economically productive and actively engaged citizens. They will become the motivated innovators, community builders, creative talent, skilled workers, entrepreneurs and leaders of tomorrow.”

http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/about/renewedVision.pdf

When children attend a school, their experiences should not be limited by the knowledge and skills of the adults in the building.   The educators, as digitally literate, connected professionals, should be able to bring the world to the children.

[Edit: Please see the comment below suggesting a rephrasing of the above statement – 

My thinking: “The educators, as digitally literate, connected professionals, SHOULD BE ABLE TO FACILITATE THE CHILDREN’S LINKING THEMSELVES TO THE WORLD.”]

 

The school building can be a community hub for all to access the world outside the community.  This concept of connected learning is well-explained in the short video below.

The importance of being part of a connected world is emphasized in a recent OECD Report – Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners.

From OECD: Connected Minds: Technology and Today’s Learners http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/education/connected-minds_9789264111011-en#page23 (Page 23)

So how do we help adults improve their digital literacy?

Earlier this week, HWDSB Grade 1 teacher Aviva Dunsiger led a discussion in the OSSEMOOC session demonstrating how she empowers the parents of her students through the use of technology.

Aviva uses technology to share her students’ learning throughout the day, and provides parents with simple suggestions for how the learning can be extended at home.

From Slide 15 by @dajbelshaw (Doug Belshaw) http://www.slideshare.net/dajbelshaw/sssc-digital-literacy-workshop

During the recent Google Education On Air Panel Discussion (14:00), Zoe Tabary (from The Economist, Intelligence Unit) reminded us that there is no “extra” time in the school day to add digital literacy. Digital Literacy learning must be integrated into the current curriculum (Sean Rush, Junior Achievement Worldwide).

The recent report (Driving the Skills Agenda) from The Economist states that only 44% of the students surveyed (ages 18-25) feel that schools are providing them with the skills they need to enter the workplace, and while teachers report that technology is changing the way they teach, 77% of students report that schools are not effective in using technology for instruction.

from Driving the Skills Agenda: Preparing Students for the future. http://www.eiumedia.com/index.php/latest-press-releases/item/1853-education-systems-are-not-arming-students-with-21st-century-skills-eiu-study-finds

How, then, does Digital Literacy for all become an integral part of learning in our schools?

If we are educating learners in our communities to be full participants in society, digital literacy must become a priority.

From Slide 22 by @dajbelshaw (Doug Belshaw) http://www.slideshare.net/dajbelshaw/sssc-digital-literacy-workshop

Further Resources:

Critical Literacy: Is the Notion of Traditional Reading and Writing Enough? (Langwitches Blog)

Literacy Redefined (Jennifer Casa-Todd)

Driving the Skills Agenda (The Economist)

Looking for the [Student] Learning Intention

Image shared under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, Share-alike license by Waag Society https://www.flickr.com/photos/waagsociety/16508212342/

 

Online every day I see what appear to be amazing things that educators are doing in their classrooms.  As a connected leader and learner, I tend to be quick to praise, to share, to encourage and to promote practice.

But is this my best practice?

Do I know enough about what I am encouraging?

Recently, I have been exploring the impact of the “enthusiastic amateur”.

The term “enthusiastic amateur” refers to educators who have “emerged from the cave” and who have embraced the power of technology in the classroom.  The are often loud with their enthusiasm.  They are excited about their learning and they share share openly.

Image shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike license by Giulia Forsythe https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/5617449053/

 

This can be a step in the journey to understand the power of technology to change learning in the ‘classroom’.  We are all on the path of learning as we integrate the use of technology into our school system.  However, at all times, student learning must be at the centre of our practice.

Andy Hargreaves explains the concept of “innovation without improvement” very nicely in this video.  Michelle Cordy has explored this idea more concisely here.

Certainly we want to encourage educators to learn about how technology can be leveraged to enhance where, when and how learning can take place.

Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License by David Jones https://www.flickr.com/photos/david_jones/5615150900/

 

How do we best ensure educators are using technology to to deepen learning aligned with the learning intentions for the students?