Friday, June 26, 2009

Best Friend May Not Be Dog

Steve Hargadon is my new Best Tech Friend. Last week it was Richard Buckland. Before that, it was Todd Conaway. I’m very fickle.

Hargadon’s gleanings from his experience as an accidental presenter were so filled with wisdom, I just have to make note of those that really came off the page (or screen) for me, mainly because they are true for life, not just teaching with web tools:


· Humility of purpose – we must be able to let go of authority.
· If things turn out differently than you planned, you have to be able to move on or morph.
· Our job is not as much to define what is talked about, but to help conversation to take place.
· If you don’t provide an environment where others can function and be seen as leaders, they will go somewhere they can.
· Some of us are inherently collaborative.
· Be transparent and authentic.

Hargadon’s comments on the importance of early adopters (EA’s) to the success of a network are true of all subjects. Teachers have always known that student buy-in is key, and that getting the class leaders to buy-in up front makes selling an activity, project, concept or assignment a whole lot easier. I believe the arts are a powerful avenue for teaching multi-culturalism and tolerance. When we study how and why people of other countries and cultures create their art and music, and the traditions attached to them, we go away with a better understanding of the people themselves. But how do you get a fifth grade class to unleash their self-consciousness and ‘tween coolness to participate in a lesson on Israeli folk dancing? You invite the kids who are the best hip-hop dancers with the best moonwalk to stay after school and learn the dances in advance of the rest of the class. They become the early adopters. Once they realize they’re having fun, they bring that enthusiasm to the next class meeting and pretty soon everyone is dancing along with the best dancers in the class. Without their enthusiasm and leadership, the chances of failure are high. It works the same way network users. Identifying and reaching the EA’s is not only important in the classroom, but with one’s co-workers, administrators, parents and community.

Maybe It's Late, But Call Me

Bebo was created in a living room by spouses Xochi and Michael Birch. It was their fourth attempt to start a dot-com business. Michael, from Great Britain, and Xochi, from California, closely watched Friendster grow in popularity and wanted to try again with an SNS targeting the thirty-something crowd. Unfortunately, that group was not, like children and teens, web connected. After some re-tooling, they launched again the site took off with web savvy school-age children. In 2006 the site had 25 million users globally and now has 40 million.

First published in 2005, Bebo was owned by the Birches unto 2008 when it was sold to AOL for $850 million, with $600 million of that going to the Birches. The site still exists today and the Birches reside comfortably in California.

This SNS site was set apart from the others in 2007 with an online drama called KateModern. That caught an audience large enough to catch the attention of several major media outlets who wanted to either partner or purchase the site. The Birches did not sell but instead a Google executive was hired away to become Bebo president who soon launched the site in Polish, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch. Its popularity exploded. Claiming itself to be the top SNS in Britain, New Zealand and Ireland; MySpace and Facebook still beat it out in the U.S.

I’m currently very low on personal use of an SNS due to my mediocre (actually poor) experience with Facebook. Early in 2008 I was invited to be a Facebook friend by an acquaintance who wanted to share photos from a family vacation. That was nice. Almost immediately, I was invited to be a “friend” by my niece in college. I was flattered, thinking she must think a lot of her ol’ Auntie to want me to be her friend. As soon as I accepted her invitation, I was invited to be friends with nearly all our teenage nieces and nephews. I was ecstatic that they all invited me– then I started to read their posts and quickly realized that the constant chatter was not interesting to me and often downright annoying. Sometimes it’s just better not to know what the people you love are doing on an hour-by-hour basis, especially if it involves tattoos on butts. Then I started to receive friend invitations from people I had never seen or heard of before. Who were these people? Even though you can always choose to ignore the invitation, they had seen my name and profile information - and that really creeps me out. I still have the account, but have gone back to my profile and made heavy edits.

Richardson and Hargadon make very strong cases in our reading this week for educational use of an SNS. But they sound very complex to set up, and very difficult to learn. I’m going to have to go slowly on this one to feel comfortable, competent and know students are fully protected.

Information compiled from www.guardian.co.uk, mashable.com, and techcrunch.com.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

Singing Wikis - Sticky Wickets

The classroom I currently teach in is a church, the class is a choir, and the students are all adult, music hobbyists who volunteer their time and talent. We meet twice a week; one mid-week rehearsal lasting 1 hour and 45 minutes, and then again on the weekend for the worship service with a 30-minute “pre-game” warm up. This is not much contact time compared with a classroom teacher who sees her students several hours per week or online instructors who may have more contact hours via online delivery methods.

IC Wiki Sings was created to fill the time gap between the rehearsal and the worship service, and to expand the teaching opportunity by allowing instruction and learning to continue beyond the structured rehearsal time. It also encourages the choir members to contribute to the group by adding information and asking questions via the discussion page.

IC Wiki Sings has five pages that, hopefully, will not only instruct the members but assist the conductor’s memory, and avert arguments over what music should be sung. Because this is an eclectic group of both singers and instrumentalists ranging in age from 15 to 66, with music readers and non-readers, their experience varies widely. They often have very different points of view on what is “good” music. (This is one of the reasons directors of volunteer music groups have a shorter life span than the general public.) In an effort to expand everyone’s musical horizons and teach respect for all musical styles, one page is entitled Favorite Composers for sharing biographical and stylistic information on a favorite writer. Another page is Music for Listening where audio/video performances can be posted in hopes people will hear music they may otherwise not have paid any attention to. (This will also give the nerdy classical director an opportunity to share her music as well as listen to contemporary songs so she knows what the heck the younger choir members are talking about when they mention recording artists she’s never heard of.) Often times at rehearsal a person will suggest we do a particular song, but by the time rehearsal is over, it’s “out of sight, out of mind”. Later there is often hostility voiced toward the director because,”You never pick the music I want!” The page, Songs I’d LOVE to Sing gives everyone a place to list those favorite pieces. Finally, Speaking of Music – Vocabulary Page, is a resource of musical terms that can be used to review terms used at choir rehearsal or in other musical settings – several of the members are taking private lessons.

I am hoping that after a little warm up period; the choir members will find the wiki novel, fun, and a real source of learning, participation and communication. I hope they will all contribute (all are computer literate) and be motivated to do research on their favorite music, musicians and composers.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Instructional Design Comparison

I have chosen to compare and contrast the Behavioral Approach (BA), which has it’s foundation in the work of B.F. Skinner, and the Constructivist Approach (CA), pioneered by Jean Piaget. BA was used extensively in my high school so I have personal experience with it; CA is what I use in my teaching.

The approaches seem to be similar only in that for both, the end result is the acquisition and application of knowledge. The “Big Picture” difference is the definition and acquisition of meaning. The BA holds that meaning exists in and by itself; the CA holds that learners construct meaning for themselves based on experience.

The comparison chart included in Martin Ryder’s blog and attributed to Irene Chin is an excellent reference and quick overview of these differences:

BA is concerned with observable, changes in student behavior achieved through operant conditioning; CA is concerned with experience, engagement and reflection.

BA views the teacher as presenter of structured material; CA sees the teacher as creator of the learning environment and of activities (experiences) that allow the learner to construct meaning and that provide social context.

BA instructional methods include contract learning, individualized instruction and programmed instruction. CA instruction is based on activities within a group – authentic learning and collaborative learning.

Blogs would be the (nearly) perfect vehicle, (nothing’s perfect, right?) for bringing writing and critical analysis to the middle school general music classroom. In a typical public school class composed of students ages 12 – 14 of varying socioeconomic backgrounds but having similar technology exposure through the school, students could critically listen to audio clips and view performance videos of all genres of music provided by the teacher and brought to class by the students. They could then write reviews posted to a class blog created to look like an entertainment daily. Having students work in small groups, chosen first by the teacher to create a good mix of perspectives, later in groups of their choosing, and finally moving to individual work, would build listening skills, writing/reviewing confidence, utilize all the best features of constructivist learning and show the need and relevance of writing in another context.

I wish this technology had existed when I was teaching! The school did not even include the music room when wiring for internet connectivity because the IT meister couldn’t see the relevance – sure hope that has changed!

Thursday, June 11, 2009

A New Pedagogy? Response to Will’s Blog

Ahhhh….Week 2…..Things are getting a bit more relaxed, like referring to the author of our text by first name. And feeling (pretty) confident that nothing will blow up when I click “submit” to post to the discussion board.

So, on to Richardson’s blog---As I scanned through his recent posts, I couldn’t help but think how different his tone is online than in his book. Did anyone else feel like you were seeing his Dark Side? The post, “If We Could Start Over, What Would We Build?” was of interest to me because I seem to share his Dark Side view that there’s not much new in reform ideas, but that getting teachers to change their self perception is key. The article he’s referring to in this post was written in 2000; ancient by our current standards of immediate, self-publishing, but it is proposing the same change in teacher function that I was presented with as an under grad student in the 1970’s. Yes, the University of WI system was known for progressive thinking, but it was the same conversation being held all over the country at the time. Most teachers would say that they’d love to start over and recreate a better model, but how many of them would say they are ready to change their own identity as the expert in their classroom, and take on the role of learner beside their students? Probably most of us would talk it, but how many of us are walking it? Facilitator is one thing; equal partner/collaborator is something else. (I’d love to hear how you are doing this in your own teaching.)

Now pedagogy is the topic, so time to bring this ‘round. I found two meanings for pedagogy at dictionary.com. The “art or science of teaching” and the “function or work of a teacher”. I don’t think emerging technologies have or will affect the art of teaching which is a combination of innate skill and passion that exists regardless of setting or tools. But for function, technology is bringing home the lip service paid to “teacher as facilitator” over the past 30 years by giving students the tools and freedom they need to truly be independent learners in a community as large as the planet — in some cases, in spite of the person running the class.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Teaching Philosophy

My teaching career has carried me in many directions – from the mid west to the south west, as in-house teacher for Steinway pianos, private studio teacher in my home, public elementary school music teacher, church choral director, program director for an educational nonprofit, and finally, to a community college learning center. Some folks may be thinking, “Hum…can’t hold a job…”, but the point here is what I have learned through all this: students are students no matter what age, setting, location or sector; and all have the same needs:

To be loved and respected as individuals.
To be listened to and know they are being heard.
To be treated with patience and concern for their physical, emotional and intellectual well-being.
To be challenged (most of the time), but without actually realizing it (some of the time).
To be coached in setting attainable, yet high, expectations.
To have fun while they are learning.
To be given time to just sit back and enjoy the spoils of learning - the music they’re making, the math problem they’ve solved, the story they’ve written, the experiment they’ve completed………you get my drift.
To be inspired by the teacher, the subject matter and the students around them.
To goof-around sometimes and not have to accomplish anything.

Of course teachers have needs, too; most importantly the need to meet the needs of their students. To do this, teachers need:

To honor and teach to every individual in the setting.
To teach with love, respect and compassion for all.
To stay current in their disciplines and particular subject areas. No coasting allowed!
To stay current in their knowledge of educational research, theory and methods.
To stay open-minded in accepting and applying new concepts and techniques in teaching.
To ALWAYS remember what it feels like to be student by NEVER stopping to attend classes.
To keep a complete arsenal of teaching techniques to teach to all learning styles and intelligences.
To know when it’s time to stop and (let the students and themselves) smell the roses.

So, I haven’t used a label for my teaching philosophy, although there are plenty to go around. My approach is simple – stay current, be flexible, evaluate yourself often, never lose your passion, and respect, like and enjoy your students.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Learn with Me

Hello Fellow Learners,

Welcome to my blog. Please join me as I learn to use this blogging technology and this site.