Motivated students learn on their own.

Many educators around the world have said this before. Learning should have a purpose. This young boy from Malawi was facing starvation. People around him were dying. He had many siblings and they ate one meal a day. He had stopped going to school.
He learned because he had to find a solution to a problem. And so this young man visits the library (his teacher) and learns how to build a windmill from scrap (creativity)!
As i watched this video, I saw a confident, young black man facing a sea of white people, or 'wazungus', as he calls them. That confidence came from the fact that he took charge of his learning and scoffed at all the criticism that came his way while he set about making his dream come true.

My Mentor

Students need mentors. So do teachers. And Ms Shukla Bose is one of my mentors. As I watched this video, I could only feel an intense admiration for this soft spoken lady who achieved what we  all dream of : to make a difference in the lives of the less fortunate. That is why we human beings are here on Earth. And teacher have the best opportunity to change the lives of children who are the victims of poverty and abuse.





When we do something with love and passion time and money don't make much of a difference. No wonder those teacher who started a school on the roof top are still together. And that very passion is drawing renowned professors from Stanford, etc to teach in Ms Bose's schools!

Compare this scenario with our schools where the teacher turnover is very high. Teachers leave because of better opportunities and better pay. Perfectly understandable and yet what if we started putting those kids we teach as our first priority? What if we took time out and taught the less fortunate on a Saturday afternoon?
The question for me would be, do I have enough of Shukla Bose in me?

That funny feeling

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Forward March

Schools have to move along with the times!
Watch this inspiring video from New Brunswick, Canada.

But how can we change minds?. How can we go about exciting people who are set in their ways or who have gone through an educational system that relies mainly on rote learning, grading system, etc. Upon reflection, I too have gone through the same systems and yet I am willing to change and move forward. So what is it in me  that wanted to do this in spite of my background? My curious nature, wanting to make connections with the  world, a willingness to change and make a difference, empathy for the kids... I've made a small difference in my community of learners/teachers. I've taught my kids how to blog and use the classroom wiki. I've encouraged a colleague to create her own blog. I will make a small presentation in school using this video to excite others. Small steps at a time will harness change and I know I will be part of it!

A fine balance : Formative and Summative Assessment in the classroom

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For the past two days, I've been pouring over blogs and tweets in order to get a better idea about formative and summative assessments in the classroom.

I feel teachers rely too much on the summative assessment in order to gauge student achievement against the school's standards.Formative assessments tend to be teacher driven and the information collected from these activities are often filed and forgotten; they are probably pulled out during PTCs!

Formative assessments should be seen as information gathering activities.Students should be involved in planning them as much as the teacher.

What should formative assessments look like?

1.Students should be setting goals with the help of their work, test scores, and benchmarks. These goals should be practical and achievable and must make sense to the student.
2.The teacher should be walking around the classroom, taking anecdotal notes. Is a child stuck? on task? needs to be challenged?
3.Listen to their questions. As a PYP teacher, the concept driven curriculum is incredible as it helps teachers understand the depth of student learning from the lens of the concept questions. For example,a  Form question would be : What does it look like? Whereas a Responsibility question would be: How can I make a difference?
There are some classrooms where the teacher demands pin drop silence. The students can only be pitied. I always keep the image of a busy market with its buzz as an ideal setting for a classroom. No music or view is better than to see your students walking and talking purposefully.
4.Let the students set the rubrics(which are too complicated anyway) and checklists, etc.This way, they set the criteria and goals and know what is expected.No last minute surprises!
5.Let them assess themselves against the criteria they have set. Learning is so much more meaningful this way.
6. Empower students and encourage meaningful discussions by asking them to peer assess.This gives them a sense of power and allows them to fill gaps in their learning.
7. Let students keep a record of their learning. This way, the teacher and students can keep referring and changing the learning goals This is vital for if any progress is to be made.
8. Lastly, give immediate feedback if possible. Not in the form of grades. Descriptive details which inform the students.

By gathering information, questioning, observing and transferring control to the students, the teacher and the students should know exactly where they are placed.

The outcome of a summative assessment should not be a surprise to anyone.

Teachers...beware !

A video I enjoyed watching. :)

How to use a blog in the classroom

Being a member of the Twitter community, and having participated in the reform symposium, I got a better picture of where I stand as a technology teacher....somewhere in between everybody! I have heard many teachers ask how they could use the blog in the classroom. I managed to introduce blogging to my 9 years olds and the resullt, I consider, was quite successful. Here's how one goes about it .
1. Sign up to Kidblogs  . Here's the link http://kidblog.org/home.php

2. Write down the names of each of your students and assigned them a password. The blog will then automatically create a page for each child.http://kidblog.org/signup.php

3.Ask the students to go home and play around with it. My idea was to see whether it works at all! Most came back saying that they could log in. I helped those who couldn't. They had either forgotten their password or typed it incorrectly.

4.Give them a small assignment on the blog.
Most of the students responded positively. I did not push anyone to blog but gently reminded them that we would love to hear what they had to say.
I had started this project in the second term. By the end of the third term, i had many eager students asking me whether they could continue blogging when they go to year 5. I have left the blog site open for them.

Take a look at our classroom blog. You will find moments of great learning here. There is evidence of students reading each others' work. They were writing comments on each others' blogs, arguing, praising . I call them the gobsmacking moments :). There is also evidence of them being plain silly. However, no one ever abused the privileges they were given. Some of the parents approached me, asking whether they could join too. I think it's a great idea if parents become directly involved in our virtual classroom.

http://kidblog.org/NainiSinghsClassBlog/

This term, I will be moving on to greater things.

5. I will be connecting with the world and ensuring my students realize how small the world can become with the help of technology. We are taking part in a Read Aloud project with another school in the USA. We plan to read The Little Prince. I am aware of time constraints and that is why the blog will be so useful. Students will write their comments after reading a section of the story; they will be aware that other students across the ocean will be reading their work. Let's see how it goes. This takes a lot of pre-planning of course. You have to be on the look out for great links, wikis etc where people are attempting to reach out. Here are some of my favourite ones:

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/gsh/pr/

http://globalreadaloud.blogspot.com/

http://aroundtheworldin80schools.com/

Let's start connecting...
Cheers!!

CAVEAT

Do you feel as though you are the one struggling to make sense of the digital world ?Are you trying to do  as many things as you can at the same time? Have you seen colleagues, unconcerned about the digital revolution,  walking nonchalantly past you? If they are stuck, you'll help them anyways!
I see and acknowledge the potential around me. Twitter, for instance, is alive and buzziiing. But sometimes I sense a certain frenzy among teachers and I feel we could be headed for a burn out.
Don't get me wrong here. When I am excited about something, I hate it when my cautious peers advise me about what could go wrong. But I truly feel that we need to take a deep breath. I draw a lot of inspiration from my mother. She has a passion for learning. This passion is transmitted to the students and they simply love her. And yet she has no idea of technology!
A bus load of high school biology students descended at our doorstep to tell Ma, when she left school, that she was one of the most amazing teachers they had ever had.
She listened to them. She inspired them.
I want to be like that. And hey, when I feel a tool is out there that suits our needs, we'll use it!

Nature nurture

This post was initiated by a friend who sent me a cryptic message, informing me that he was allergic to penicillin. During my walks along the sea side, I asked my mum, who is a fantastic biology teacher,(she is still so curious about things!!), all about this drug and here is what she told me...
Did you know that penicillin was discovered by mistake? In 1928, Sir Alexander Fleming, an absent minded professor, left his culture in the open, and upon his return, found a certain kind of mould  growing along side his culture. This mould was inhibiting the growth of the bacteria.
This made me think about my experience as a teacher. If Sir Fleming had carefully controlled the culture, this discovery would not have been made. Nature was accidentally allowed to take its course. Who would have guessed that a fungus could counter attack bacteria. Needless to say, many lives were saved because of this discovery.

As teachers, we need to let go of control. There are times when we look at the clock and worry about what we have not been able to cover. We set the pace and we stop the talk when they get too long. We need to relax and enjoy our kids. Letting go is hard but essential if we want to nurture their genius. When I look at the picture, I see myself as the Petri dish, setting clear boundaries, but giving the students (the mould, or problem solvers) enough space to evolve on their own. The bacteria are the natural authentic experiences that students are exposed to.
Cheers!

Picture http://www.britsattheirbest.com/ingenious/ii_penicillin_miracle.htm

Learning cube

Check out this SlideShare Presentation: From 2010 Reform Symposium

Engagement

View more documents from joan badger.