#ED677 connectedlearning

[civicsislife-blog]

My Final Make

For my final make I wanted to create an online platform to connect my students and promote equity in learning. I teach high school Civics at a charter school in Philadelphia. Much of what we do as a class centers on student discussion. This “make” will hopefully further discussions for the remainder of this year and for years to come. After all, what we do in the classroom is about our students.

I laid the groundwork for my final project by creating a Google Classroom that encourages equitable access for students. I began by envisioning a platform that students can use during the day and also access after school to extend the lesson. One of my first ideas for a make in ED677 was an app that allows students to use their phones to complete pre-class assignments. Since smartphones are essentially an appendage of the 21st century adolescent, I figured we should use technology for good instead of evil. My make will serve as a place for my students to do just that- and more. In addition to PCAs, students can also you our online classroom to complete formative assessments and exit tickets. This classroom will essentially serve as a meeting place for the students to openly network ideas, produces “makes” themselves, and cultivate a shared purpose.

Once students leave for the day our Google Classroom will extend each lesson with the use of weekly discussion boards and study groups. In the long term I hope this make will enrich my Civics curriculum and ingrain the philosophies of connected learning into the leaders of tomorrow. This platform is the ideal place for students to promote their true identities. In the brick and mortar classroom some may feel inhibited but online they are free to express their opinions. Online classrooms are a medium that digital natives are comfortable with. By championing academically-oriented learning and discussing topics that interest urban adolescents, I have no doubt that my final make will elevate our discussions and further the growth of all my seniors.

This project serves the future interests of my students since it helps them prepare for college courses where they will be expected to collaborate online. Arcadia University offers many of its courses online. This is a trend in education that is convenient for students. Online offerings are also compatible with the demands of the 21st century professional workforce. It is my job as an educator to prepare my students to meet these demands.

Today’s educational and professional expectations are very high. To be a successful member of the work force you must incorporate the principles of connected learning into your life. People need to support each other and consult to provide feedback. We should work produce “makes” that have a shared purpose- these projects are most likely interest centered since we do our best work when we have an vested interest in what we’re doing. Lastly, we need to openly network in multiple settings. Online classrooms encourage transparency, ideas sharing and the rapid flow of information. 

Without further delay please follow this LINK TO MY FINAL MAKE. 

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Connected Learning and Equity in Education

Working in the field of special education, and working with students who are on the spectrum, I am no stranger to the inequalities that exist in education.  All of my students are limited in certain skill sets that come more easily to some of their typically developing peers, thereby creating an unequal playing field.  With that said, this inequality is not specific to my students, as there are a number of students at the high school who find themselves on that same unequal playing field.  These students find themselves on that unequal playing field due to socio-economic status, language barriers, opportunities, and so on and so forth.  Therefore, it is our duty as educators to do our best to ensure that our students have what they need in order to become successful.  Will it always be fair that some students receive more supports than others?  Not necessarily.  However, fair does not equate equity; rather, fair enables for equity as every person then ends up on that very much desired level playing field.

Not only is Olivia Chapman a student giving this TED Talk, but she is so insightful, despite not having a lot of life experience.  This only further proves how equity and equality go hand in hand.  

Always,

Ms. J

[seecantrill]

Wobble, Wobble

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been reading the blogs of teachers in my ED677 describing their wobbles after they read the introduction of Pose, Wobble, Flow by Cindy O’Donnell-Allen and Antero Garcia and were introduced to Storri organized by Bob Fecho. Wobbles have been on all of our minds … and tonight I can feel my own center shaking as I work myself into a new pose.

My wobble is related to a new way of trying to do assessment in ED677, a graduate course I teach that is part of a certificate program in Connected Learning at Arcadia University. It’s a fun course because the teachers bring so many different things to it and I learn so much along the way. The basic idea is that we work to be connected learners in order to learn what it means to design for connected teaching in equitable ways.

Peer-supported learning is a learning principle of Connected Learning and one that I have a lot of experience with given that most of my learning over the last 20 years has been through and at the writing project. My experience learning alongside peers draws me into wanting to find a peer-like position with participants in ED677, although I clearly am, in this case at a graduate school of education, the instructor.

So I am and have been experimenting with this notion -- how can I position myself more as a peer, although also, instructor. My ultimately goal is to the class to engage with each other as peers too and not to engage with me, or each other, based on notions of authority and compliance. I think this is hard in the context of a graduate program, which is so hierarchical, but I also believe it is necessary. As adult learners, we need to practice our own agency in learning -- in fact, as educators we must be the agents since we are directly responsible for other people’s learning.

All that is wobbly, yes. And instructionally there are various ways we’ve been doing it; and I think it’s mostly been good and fun. However, where it is most uneven and hard for me to position myself is around formal assessment, ie. grading. As the instructor, in a situation where no-grade or pass/fail is not an option, how do I best use this authority? This is the same question the teachers in my course are dealing with of course, vis a vis their students in schools where almost 100% of the time, grades are used to measure success. So I must participate with it and work alongside them to imagine what else is possible.

I’ve tried a few things in terms of summative assessment/grading: When I started ED677, for example, I set up a list of expectations for participation, each 20% worth of the overall grade, and then asked the teachers to assess their participation and reflect on the implications of their participation after completing their final project. They submitted this reflection and self-assessment to me and included any additional things I should keep in mind when determining the final grade; I came up with the grade based on that.

In the second year, I asked them to do this self-assessment again based on the same set of expectations, except this time around we stopped mid-way through the course, doing this same self-assessment two times instead of just once. This adjustment was made based on my perception that self-assessment felt a bit new to many in the class; also I believe that really assessment should be happening throughout and not just at the end. This seemed like a good move and supportive of questions and concerns coming up more quickly to me and not waiting for the final weeks.

In the third year then, I repeated this experiment essentially the same way. However during the course of that semester, Kira Baker-Doyle shared research at the 2017 Digital Media and Learning Conference on a Connected Learning Course in Teacher education where this idea of “participation” showed up as part of the set of expectations (Baker-Doyle, et al., In Press). Given that “participation” is such a nebulous word, she and her colleagues worked to define it a bit more clearly, breaking it down as part of a set of axis -- the x axis moving from isolated to more active/embedded, and the y axis moving from mandated to personal projects. They then described participation within the 4 segments and noted where learners are taking the highest risks and had the most vulnerability.

This got me thinking about my language overall, and the set of expectations that I had mapped out. It also got me thinking about the continuums here - from isolated to active, from mandated to personal. And it got me thinking about equity, and core value of ED677 that doesn’t show up anywhere in these participation axes. Ultimately I thought that I had some thinking to do as I entered the fourth year of teaching ED677.

And now here we are, the fourth year of this course. And this year, my assessment is entirely different and I am wobbling wobbling wondering what the implications will be. First, I shifted from a set of expectations that count for 20% each (but assessed by whom was not clear) into clear guidelines for the % around who is assessing what. I decided to try it this way this first year -- 70% of their grade is based on their self-assessment; 30% is based on my assessment. This delimitation felt more clear about the intended role of self-assessment and my assessment (although the percentages are still somewhat arbitrary - based on the low-bar idea that you can still pass with your own self-assessment only - and a work-in-progress).

Second, I worked to make the self-assessment much more supported and guided; and linked it to an opportunity to give anonymous instructor feedback at the same time. The guide for self-assessment in fact is something I worked on, then reworked, and then reworked again over the past few weeks. I finally settled on something that had 3 main guides -- one that is about their own connected learning, organized as a set of continuum related to core ideas; a second infographic created by Nicole Mirra that is about their interests and ambitions for connected teaching; and a third guide that is about the suggestions that I made about practicing while in ED677. The self-assessment questions are then based on those guided reflections and prompts for goals and plans forward. A link to give anonymous instructor feedback directly asked if and how they can best be supported.

I still plan to prompt this process twice -- once mid-semester and once at the end. Only the final one do they need to share with me. … We are mid-semester now and I just sent the teachers this new guide. I also asked them -- those that came to our bi-weekly meeting this week -- for their professional opinion on this process. I’m really anxious to learn -- is this helpful in supporting reflective processes on one’s own progress? Does it support agency and confidence in the learning? Does it support goal-setting and next step planning? That’s what I really care ultimately as their colleague and what feels important for connected learning and teaching.

Wobble Wobble. Here we go.

Reference:

Baker-Doyle, K.J., Whitfield, L. & Miller, K. (In Press) 'The whole world is networked': A Study of Connected Learning in Teacher Education. In (S.A. Yoon & K.J. Baker-Doyle, Eds) Networked By Design: Interventions for Teachers to Develop Social Capital. Chapter 2. London: Routledge.

Image source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Weebleprinciple.jpg

[civicsislife-blog]

Reflecting on Small Steps and Consultations for my Final Make

I can’t believe I am about to finish my final make, complete all my degree requirements, and receive my Masters degree on May 16th! This semester has certainly been a long journey for me- maybe its because I could see the light at the end of tunnel. Its funny how that works... the closer it gets the farther away it seems. 

Since January I have completed student teaching for special education and earned my additional certification. Also, I had the privilege of working closely with all of you in as we were introduced to connected learning. As I put the finishing touches on my final make I felt this was a good time to pause and reflect....

Each week we created makes and found resources that contributed to equity in learning and teaching. At first I found some of these task to be tedious, but I quickly realized how important the small steps we take each week play such an important role on the path to connected learning. I am going to take much of what we did in ED677 and apply it to the way I teach Civics. So much of what my students and I do in class centers on debate and discussion it only makes sense that I extend these discussions beyond the classroom (my final make will do just that!).

In ED677 we have done a lot on our own building on our core teaching foundation. We have also worked together to help each other incorporate connected learning principles into our teaching tool kits. Lastly, we consulted to aid each other with our final projects- this consultation process was a great help for me. I hope my suggestions helped out the ladies on Team Dolphin- your guidance certainly helped me elevate my final make to higher heights- Thank You!

Good luck to everyone wrapping up their projects and reflecting on their self evaluations. I have enjoyed reading the ones you’ve posted already and I am looking forward to checking out those debuting soon... See everyone Thursday!

[civicsislife-blog]

Mapping out my Life

I am a firm believer that in order to get where you want to go in life one must know where they came from. My “make” for this week maps out my journey. Everyone’s path is unique- some are filled with twists and turns while others may be linear. Most of us have help along the way while some trek solo, either by force or by choice. Here is the map of my life’s journey:

This exercise was very humbling. Looking back over the last thirty years made me feel very grateful to have been surrounded by such great people. I have amazing parents- they helped me get my start in life. Over the years I’ve had world class teachers- the kind of teachers that I hope my children have. They opened so many doors for me and I certainly would not be where I am at today if it wasn’t for them. On top of all this, I had the pleasure to serve under great leadership in the US Army- many of the lessons I learned there could not have been picked up any where else.

Mapping out my life enabled me to paint a portrait enriched by connected learning. Seeking equity introduced me to blogging and new methods for networking, but my academic map documents a long, productive history of building relationships in this same fashion. These bonds have been made in classrooms and on athletic fields. Additionally, I had the privilege forging long lasting relationships in the Army. The military is probably the greatest example of equity I can think of. They provide the opportunity- not the tools- you must develop the tools on your own. 

Again, this exercise was very humbling..                                                          suddenly I feel the need to pay all of my good fortune forward. 

As a teacher, coach, and mentor I try and follow the lead of those that came before me. I feel that it is important for young people to have positive supports in their lives. Each day I work to inspire my students to work hard and set goals.We all can benefit from helping others and as teacher I am blessed to make a living doing just that. As a father I am doubly blessed to come home each day to a loving family. I can only hope that I get to teach my children as much as they are going to teach me. 

[civicsislife-blog]

Civics is Life Semester Reflection

In what ways have you been successful this semester?

I have grown this semester as an educator by incorporating more opportunities for students into the way to teach. I am a huge believer in treating people the way I want to be treated. As a teacher I should also encourage my students to learn they way they want to learn-  this is the essence of connected learning. I have also been very successful at collaborating with my colleagues at school and my peers in ED677… teamwork makes the dream work!

In what ways do you still want to improve?

I am still working on storing that courage and finding ways for my students to take charge of their civics education. I feel that I have gotten better at this and my final make will drive this process in the years to come. Although teachers can never relinquish total control of the class, we should all strive to find that balance where students are taking responsibility  and learning to take ownership of their academics.

How do your successes and reflections on improvement inform your thoughts and questions about connected learning moving forward?

My successes and reflections are unique to my experiences. ED677 has been a positive force and I would recommend this course to each and every one of my colleagues. With this in mind, I think the beauty of connected learning is that it can be applied to all content areas and all age groups. Elementary level students can collaborate on activities while high school seniors can connect on community based civic advocacy projects. Connected learning has no bounds!

Moving forward I must continue to evolve. The students of tomorrow will differ from the students of today- I need to keep stepping up my game in order to be ready for what they may have in store.

What are your goals moving forward?

Personally I want to continue with my education and stay on top of the best current practice. I am receiving my Masters in a few weeks but I hope to plan out my next course of action soon.

In my civics classroom I would really like to implement some community based projects for my seniors. Philadelphia will be holding an election for mayor in November 2019. With Election Day fast approaching, perhaps I can get my students active in the mayoral race. This would be a great way for them to network in their communities and connect with young people that share concerns over the future of Philly.

[civicsislife-blog]

Equity 101- Making Transparent Connections in the Classroom

Reflecting on my practice as a teacher has encouraged me to be more transparent. This “openness” permits me to grow as an educator. As I discuss strategies with colleagues or read more academic blogs I become an active member of a community that strives to evolve. Educators evolve by creating opportunities- both for their students and themselves.

In ED677 this has become our shared purpose. 

Personally, I would love to move completely beyond the 20th century classroom. I do have my reservations, however, about abandoning classroom learning models that are tried and true. If education does move beyond the traditional classroom it will happen through digital networking. For me, networking is... Connecting & sharing online- Modern platforms such as social media apps and blogging sites facilitate the rapid transmission of information. Digital networking an be very powerful, but remember, with great power comes great responsibility.

Networking is a great way for student “makers” to collaborate. Since adolescents today live online, this education model is right in their wheelhouse. Yes, teachers should use this model to connect student interests with academic studies. Caution should be applied, though, so today’s youth can still learn the necessary social skills to live and work in the adult world. Even if many of our students will have jobs not yet in existence, they may still have to step out of doors from time to time. Do educators have a responsibility to prepare students for this reality?

Questions- Will today’s graduates know now to walk into a job interview? Is face to face communication being devalued by a society that is completely dependent on digital modes of communication? 

Connecting with colleagues can be super beneficial. For me It is almost like a form of “transparent therapy.” During these networking sessions we can relieve stress, discover best current practices, and collectively find solutions to shared problems. Teachers are also observed in the classroom, reinforcing the practice transparency in the classroom. This aligns perfectly with our shared purpose of exploring connected learning and equity. I feel this purpose has a very positive impact on education and the more teachers that buy into this belief, the better the learning experiences will be for everyone involved. 

A classroom that is “connected” can be a wonderful place. Students there are building on their unique strengths and “make” solutions. Teachers can make this possible by relinquishing some control and facilitating studies that are academically oriented towards student interests. “Back then” the idea of computer networking in the connected classroom was considered the wave of the future. “Today” we can see the future is now!

[civicsislife-blog]

Young Makers!

The following list of amazing young people details how they took their interests and made them a reality! These entrepreneurs are an inspiration for us all.

1.  Mikalia Ulmer took her love for lemonade and turned it into a thriving business. Mikalia’s refreshing drinks are available at many of your local food markets. Her company, “Me and the Bees Lemonade”, even donates a portion of the profits to raise awareness for the honeybee population. 

2.  Bella Weems used her creative skills and combined them with her love for jewelry to found “Origami Owl”. Her online retail store allows customers to customize their own creation. Bella specializes in charms, lockets and accessories. Maybe I will browse this site for some Mother’s Day gifts...

3.  Shreyas Parab is a Philadelphia area teenage that took his love for fashion and transformed it into a great business opportunity. Parab’s start-up, involves novelty ties that are fun and fashionable. Geez, I sure wish I had a potential multi-million dollar idea when I was in high school!

4. As a digital native,  Farrhad Acidwalla has set the bar pretty high for tech entrepreneurs. Acidwalla began creating websites and selling them at a young age. He founded Rockstah Media at 16 and now he travels the globe encourages other youngsters to follow his lead. 

5. Most kids like candy, well, Alina Morse loves candy. This young Wonka-wannabe invented “Zollipops” before she was in middle school. Morse’s delectable morsels can satisfy that sweet tooth and motivate others youngsters to start their own candy shops. Yum!

6.  Leanna Archer is another young maker. Her line of hair accessories is a smash hit. Her all natural beauty products have landed her in the pages of Forbes and been featured in Success Magazine. 

7. Moziah Bridges is in the bow tie business and business is good. His handcrafted fashion accessories are known as “Mo’s Bows”. Moziah’s company has done very well since he founded it at the age of 11- he does even graduate high school until 2020. One thing is for sure, Mo knows bows!

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Sharing ED677 theory and design

From 2015 through to 2019 I taught a spring course at Arcadia University called Seeking Equity in Connected Learning and Teaching. It was a graduate level class offered by the School of Education and part of the Connected Learning Certificate available at the time. 

In this video I share some of the theory behind this course and its related course design. I created this mostly for participants in another course I am about to launch, Teaching Writing Online, at Johns Hopkins; but I also thought it might be more generally of interest. Much of the design is ultimately influenced by the National Writing Project’s CLMOOC work (2013-15) and Domain of One’s Own and available to me via #connectedcourses work and Reclaim Hosting.

In these next two videos I share two activities within ED677 - a shared curation process called Find 5 Friday (#f5f) and an online consultancy process using Flipgrid and a Consultancy Protocol.

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Finding #F5F Resources for Building Empathy

This week’s edition of #Find5Friday explores resources that can be used to  promote empathy in the learning environment. Our friends at Startpage made this #F5F possible...

1) Harvard’s Graduate School of Education recently spotlighted empathy as an important component for educators to become leaders at school. The Making Caring Common Project developed helpful steps to guide us toward empathy in school and then created 5 essential steps for schools to follow. 

2) Pictello is a storytelling app that allows kids to upload pictures, videos, and their voices to illustrate experiences. These stories can promote empathy since  students will undoubtedly relate. By sharing their social stories young people can bring each other together instead of isolating themselves. 

3) The International Literary Association showcases some great resources for building empathy, enhancing communication, and developing compassion for members of the global community. The Literacy Leadership Brief is a good starting point for educators hoping to provide students with the tools necessary to answer difficult questions and formulate their own perspectives.  

4) CommonSense Media provides links to awesome games to foster empathy and even has a List of Books That Teach Empathy. These short stories are available for pre-schools, little kids, pre-teens, and teenagers. Most have links to free samples and they seem very affordable at about $3 per audio book. 

5) I saved the best for last ! Check out this resource made possible by the good people at the Teacher’s Guild. Empathy in Your Classroom looks to be a must have resource for all teachers. Whether you encourage students to share stories or build an empathy map, this awesome guide can assist you in making your classroom a more positive, productive learning environment. 

[civicsislife-blog]

Connected Opportunities in the Civics Classroom

This week’s Search7Sunday #s7s sheds some light on connected learning opportunities that allow social studies students to share & learn. 

1) The Constitution Center in Philadelphia provides numerous opportunities for students. We the Civics Kids is another great way for young people to connect and learn about civic responsibility. This program is designed to build upon current civic education curriculum through children’s literature and other famous historical texts.

2) Student government is an excellent way for students to experience the struggle that is politics. The social studies classroom could sponsor an extension of this by holding a Mock Election- local, state, or federal elections provide teachers and studies with tangible opportunities to experience Civics. 

3) In today’s global political arena few organizations have more of an impact than the United Nations. In a World Civilizations classroom, the Model UN could function as a outstanding barometer to keep track of global issues and international conflicts. Each student could sponsor a nation or student groups can collaborate by tackling hot button issues. This provides adolescents with an international perspective on key issues. 

4) One of the best resources out there for Civics teachers is the iCivics community. This interactive website engages students from the elementary to high school level. The site has many units and facilitates dozens of connected learning activities. 

5) Bridging the gap between young people and the Constitution can be a difficult task. We the People may have just made life easier for civics teachers by implementing their Citizen and the Constitution Program. This interactive opportunity for students promotes civic competence and responsibility among middle and high school students.

6) Artists can get in on the political action too by penning their very own political cartoons. This age old American tradition is one of the oldest forms of political satire. The First Amendment Cartoon Contest was first organized to increase student understanding of the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution.

7) Are you tired of your own class? Exchange them! Classroom exchanges allow your student to debate issues with other group from around h country. Register your group at the Constitution Center today. 

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A Moment of Reflection

Just like with most everything else, when something is coming to an end, you tend to take a step back to reflect.  While I did not think this school year would end, we’re only two months away from the last day of school.  While my students never thought high school would end, my seniors now are on the brink of graduation!  So, as this semester comes to a close, I am taking a step back and looking at all that has happened over the last semester.  

Though I have had exposure to the area of Connected Learning, this semester, I was encouraged to take a step further by looking at Equity in Education, while also taking a look into my journey that has enabled me to be where I currently am. 

I started my journey by pursuing a degree in English and secondary education.  After graduating from college and after moving back home, it was difficult finding a job as a secondary English teacher.  Thus began my two-year stint as a pre-school teacher.  While I enjoyed being a pre-school teacher, I felt as though I was not complete.  At this point, I made the decision to go back to school to pursue a Master’s of Science degree in Special Education.  Unfortunately, this conflicted with my work schedule, forcing me to switch jobs.  This actually ended up being a blessing in disguise, as I was able to find a job as an Instructional Assistant in an 11th grade Learning Support classroom.  Not only was I able to complete my program and attain my degree, but I also was able to garner an insane amount of experience that helped lead me to my current position.  Presently, I am working as an Autistic Support teacher at the high school level, while working to attain a Master’s of Education degree with endorsements in Autism and Connected Learning.  While my last graduate program helped me in terms of getting a job, this particular program is helping me to be better with my job.  Slowly, but surely, I’ve been making small moves.  These small moves include incorporating project-based learning and technology-based lessons into my units.  The eventual goal, though, is to create a full curriculum with lessons that utilized connected learning ideologies.  Not only will this make the curriculum more fun, but I really do believe the students will get more out of the lessons.

With that said, let’s actually take a minute to talk about my students.  My students are limited in certain skill sets that tend to come more easily to some of their typically developing peers, thereby creating an unequal playing field.  As a result, education is not so equitable for my kiddos, as well as for other students in a variety of differing situations.  This semester really forced me to think about equity in education, which then enabled me to realize how inequitable education is for so many students.  

Thus, we come to my goal.  My goal is to do my best to make my students’ education as equitable as I possibly can by enabling them with as many resources as I have up my sleeve to increase their chances of success both in and out of the classroom.  My goal is to do this by working toward incorporating more connected learning ideologies into my curriculum, while also consulting with other classroom teachers to help them do this as well.  

It’s funny how life takes us on journeys we neither dreamed of nor thought possible.  So now, it’s my turn to help my students begin journeys that they too neither dreamed of nor though possible!

Always,

Ms. J

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Openly Networked

We live in a world of advanced technology, thereby lending to an open network.

With that said, technology constantly is advancing, and even then?

Even then we fall short.

We fall short in terms of our humility.  

We fall short in terms of our awareness.

We fall short in terms of our humanity.

How then can we say that we are openly networked?

How then can we say that we are connected?

This world is filled with such hatred, such angst, such closed-mindedness.

We have forgotten about the people that literally are around us.

We are more concerned about posting to social media, afraid of not trending.

How many likes?  

How many shares?  

How many re-tweets?

We need to take a minute to dial it back.

Go back to the basics of being connected.

Go back to the basics of being aware.

Go back to the basics of being human.

We start with, “Hello.”

We start with, “How are you?”

We make an effort to take the time to learn more about those around us, and in doing so?

In doing so we open our networks, enabling for the potential for positivity and change to take over the world, thereby creating the openly networked world we all Google to find.

Always,

Ms. J

[seecantrill]

Learning together: Catching up on the adventures of connected learners and teachers via ED677

Over three years now, during the spring, I have taught ED677 at Arcadia University’s School of Education, a “connected course” focused on seeking equity in connected learning and teaching. Final projects for ED677, or what we call our final “makes,” are something we design that emerges from our inquiry and supports our work beyond the 15 weeks of the course. The goal is that each project explicitly focus on building towards equity and connected learning, building off the framework of Connected Learning, and contributes to making interest-driven, production centered and connected opportunities for all a reality in the world (in big and small ways).

These projects have been great and there is much to learn from what folks end up designing to support connected learning in their context. And I was curious to learn what happened since! Therefore this past semester, I invited several folks who participated in the past to come and share with my current class about their work and reflections on Connected Learning and teaching. I also had a chance recently to hear from several of past ED677ers in a panel discussion at Arcadia University in relation to a meeting on Connected Learning in Teacher Education. Below then is a set of compiled thoughts, notes and quotes from this work and those discussions.

Robert Sidelinker, a teacher at Warwick Elementary, participated in ED677 in 2016 and now teaches his students in a 1-6 STEM class called QUEST (Questioning and Understanding through Engineering, Science, and Technology). Throughout his time in ED677 he blogged about an inquiry project he was working on throughout the semester, a making and game design/play unit he co-designed with his students and colleagues. What I like the best about his posts are the ways power shifts to the students as he describes the unfolding of this project:

It’s funny.  Weeks ago, as my team and I created the inquiry questions that would help lead us into this unit of study, the questions seemed to be directed at us, the teachers.  Now that our students have begun their work, it seems that the questions apply to them, not the “educators.” …

… Throughout the experience, students have been blogging about the game and blogging about ways to persuade teachers to allow their students to play.  

In a reflection on this work he writes “As a teacher, I don’t think I’ve ever attempted a learning activity that is so social.  Students are now making original creations that were born from commonly shared ideas!”  

Now a couple years later, and while participating in this recent panel discussion, Robert continues to think about this work and how best to support his colleagues from his position as a QUEST teacher and educational technology coach at his school. In a reflection on his own journey in becoming a more connected teacher, he says that moving from a deliverer of content to a facilitator/manager has had one of the biggest impacts on him. And so in his role as a coach, he works to support his colleagues from where they are in this process. He reflects that “a lot of teachers are really uncomfortable with not knowing the answer … but in today’s society the answer [to not knowing] should be “let’s look it up” .. you’re not forfeiting their authority; you are preparing [students] for the future.”

Shayla Amenra has served as an educator and artist in schools and afterschool programs and now operates HAPPISPACE; an education services company specializing in out-of-school time (OST), mobile makerspaces, and curriculum development. During her participation in ED677 Shayla was also participating in an inquiry group with TAG (Teacher Action Group) Philly. Her work with other iTag educators focused on developing an African-American history curriculum. Since the focus on ED677 is to connect our work in class with work we are doing in the world, she submitted the website that she made as part of her final make that semester.

As an educator and an artist, Shayla actively integrates her making work (she is a jeweler; see HAPPIMADE) into the way she thinks about learning and education, always working to connect her networks, her interests, and available resources. During the recent panel discussion, she talked about how this supports her connecting her students to those things that they are interested in -- a focus that she puts front and center to all of her teaching.

... when you are student focused, student centered, and you are connecting them to what they are interested in, they show up! They are interested, they are engaged  … they ask those questions [that] even you [as an educator] are taken back -- Wow, I didn’t even think of that! ... For me it’s always amazing. There hasn’t been a project that I haven't done where allowing students to talk and explain where their interest is within their project where I’m not surprised by the end … I map out every single thing, I’m a super planner; I’ll have every scenario for every scenario, and then the student will still find that one thing that I hadn’t even thought of. And it’s amazing. It’s always about the students for me.

Helga Porter was also a participant in this same panel discussion. She is a math teacher and since her participation in ED677 in spring 2015, has become the S.T.E.M. liaison for her building, “encouraging teaching and learning with a social conscience for all” she writes. As an advocate for increasing S.T.E.M. in the classroom, she is an active member of the district’s Strategic Planning Committee with a specific focus on their transformative curriculum pathways work.

During the panel discussion, Helga talked about the ways that the schools she works with are using the framework of Connected Learning to describe and talk about the work they are doing. She describes the framework as helpful language that helps modernize what they were already striving for in the district. She also shared how projects they have started, such as a mobile makerspace cart for each school building, are becoming sustainable as they use them. After upfront costs, she explains, … students bring things in to add to it. “They’re realizing they don’t need money - they can do something with the materials they already have.”

Helga reflected on her experience in the program at Arcadia and described how its loose parameters really challenged her:

I tried to figure out what [the instructors] wanted. Then we realized [the looseness] was all by design - they’re evil people. We were supposed to learn this is what our students and colleagues are experiencing. We need to take risks, too. We’re not just facilitators. That was the aha moment for me. Learning about ourselves, learning to take risks, fall, fall forward, and recover.

“They were evil in how they did it, but we forgive you.” she added, looking with a smile at me and Meenoo Rami, the two instructors of the main connected learning courses at Arcadia. Several others concurred! 

Kathy Walsh was another participant in this panel and also came to visit my class during the spring of 2017. She took ED677 with Helga that first “evil” spring semester, and during that time she set up this blog space and related maker-activities. Although she didn’t continue the blog itself past that one semester, she does continue to support her students in blogging and connecting to others in ways that allow them to create their own pathways forward. For example, this past semester she describes working working on a unit of study about chemical reactions where students blogged about their interests and research while Kathy worked to connect them to experts in the field.

Kathy is currently a teacher at Building 21 in Philadelphia and the founder of Youth Engineering and Science where she organizes summer youth STEM programming for youth. During a visit to ED677 this past semester she declared “Connected Learning, to me, is all about social justice.”

I work in a public high school in North Philadelphia and we do project-based learning and so one of the most important things is trying to find a way to make the work relevant for students and the best way to do it is to connect them to what really is going on in their community, in their future employment and future college and career pathways. So this is what I try to do in all my projects. ... Becoming a connected learning [myself] has been essential because I can do it now. I have the tools.

While Lana Iskandarani, an Arabic language instructor at a local university, was in ED677 during the spring 2016 she shared what she described as a small move in her classroom that had big consequences on a class she was teaching at the time:

When I assigned projects to my students last semester and the years prior, they were  individual pieces of work. I gave them some freedom to choose what they want to learn about, but not completely. There were some rules and constraints to follow in completing their work. Every student worked privately on their project and they had their own presentation in the classroom. The only audience for those pieces of work were my students and I. The students reflections were done orally after every presentation.

This semester, by implementing the connected learning principles and making small changes every week, I prepared my students to be more flexible with collaboration inside and outside the classroom. It became evident they were responsible and curious about the subjects at hands, more able to do their research, and more open to share their work with peers and other interested people out of the classroom. The final projects were examples of their improvement, and the  results came out phenomenal.

This idea of small changes, or “small moves” as we also referred to them and as per our core text Teaching in the Connected Learning Classroom, was very influential on Lana. And ultimately Lana’s experience and description of the ways she thought about these moves, was very influential on me. Lana has since described her work making Connected Learning framework a key piece of her curriculum project as she finishes her graduate work as well as a core part of her classroom and still references the ways that small changes can make a significant impact in her classroom, even with a fairly structured language learning context.

Tracey Dean is a high school Art teacher in the Radnor Township School District and also created a website as part of her final make in ED667 during this past spring 2017. This site focuses on the work created by students she works with and underscores Tracey’s frequent moniker “Art Matters.” In the recent panel discussion, she continued to emphasis this direction:  

Connected Learning needs to involve everyone. Our students did art in the halls so everyone could see. It initiated conversations. Bringing art out of the classroom. Art students shared their digital portfolios with teachers of other subjects, because sometimes teachers only know what their students are like in their single class.

I am really excited to see Tracey’s work unfold in the coming year. During this same panel discussion, she described a discovery over the last semester that has made her rethink how she wants to organize her classroom in the coming fall. Whereas previously she felt she was giving her students choice in their work, a value she expressed as critical to connected learning, the students shared that they didn’t feel that they had real choice in her class. After puzzling the disconnect for a bit in ED677, she then talked about the way she is moving towards setting up makerspace and stations in her classroom instead of doing whole class instruction followed by choice, which is how she had things previously organized.

The questions and tensions exist in this however, and Tracey talked about the ways that it can be really scary:

I guess my biggest fear with this whole thing and where it could go wrong, I am expected to present this work at District Art Month in in March. .. What’s the work going to look like? .. That’s where it’s terrifying to me about it. Also those conversations at home: ‘What are you learning? Oh, whatever we want -- Ms. Dean is letting us chose this year.’ I don’t want them saying that at the dinner table! So those are the two things I’m going to have to figure out.

After a third semester of ED677, and the chance to have follow-up discussions with the educators above, my attention now turns to the ways that they can continue to take leadership in the Arcadia Connected Learning program as well as ways we can continue to network ourselves together to support this challenging but ultimately critical work. We are in this together.

Thank you to Robert, Shayla, Helga, Kathy, Lana and Tracey for sharing their work and learning. Wishing you all the best in your endeavors forward … and looking forward to learning more with you along the way.

[seecantrill]

Annotation and Connecting Our Learning

This is my third year of teaching ED677 at Arcadia University, a course titled “Seeking Equity in Connected Learning and Teaching.” There always so much to record, document and share along the way. Always true in the dynamics of teaching; always challenging to accurately capture.

Let me start with some thoughts about the power of annotation so far this semester.

Over the years, I have been learning from educators I work with about the power of annotation and new tools that support online annotation/social reading. These tools have included Google, Vialogues, Now Comment, Soundcloud, Genius and Hypothes.is. I have dabbled here and there, jumping into conversations that have been organized or creating a new thread in one of the various tools or forums myself. I’ve also been fascinated by the power of annotation historically and across disciplines, worked with Hypothes.is on projects like Letters to the Next President 2.0, and am interested in the power of projects like Climate Feedback to support scientific accuracy and reporting.

It wasn’t until this semester though that I focused on the ways that participants in ED677 were encouraged to annotate -- and the results, so far, have been noticeable and encouraging.

I started this process really during the first week when I asked the participants in my course, who are both inservice and pre-service teachers, to use the commenting feature of Google docs to highlight things they noticed and that raised questions for them on the ED677 Spring 2017 syllabus. Publicly visible, the comments show me where the group’s interests and questions are within the framework that I have created for the semester. I have also found that reviewing the syllabus carefully like this created a shared understanding of ED677 that, previously, has required many individual conversations to support as the semester got started. The structure of ED677 is fairly different than other courses and requires the individual participants to set their own timing and priorities and therefore it is important that everyone reads and understands the goals and resources of the course right at the beginning.

The next step we took with annotation came during our second week together. After we get oriented to the course and introduce ourselves to each other, I encourage us in week 2 to move into thinking about the larger context of this course, ie. the rapidly changing technological landscape in which we are thinking about learning together. In the past I asked everyone to engage in recent work by John Seely Brown and the authors of the Connected Learning Design and Research Agenda while also reading the first chapter of School and Society by John Dewey, a publication of lectures he gave at the turn of the 20th century.

In the past, the Dewey piece has got short shrift from participants in my class and I kept wondering about it -- maybe it was less interesting or relevant than I think it is when I read it. So I read it again. No, I decided -- this article, despite a few archaic words and gendered descriptions, is still interesting and relevant today, 100+ years later. And JSB, in his 2012 keynote, directly challenges us to tackle Dewey’s ideas in the context of flowing on the tides of change today. So I decided to try something new this time around, and I turned to my colleagues Joe Dillon and Remi Kalir who were working on a fascinating project called Marginal Syllabus and asked them if we, as ED677, could join in.

Why “marginal”? The creators explain:

our conversations will engage authors and their texts, topics, and perspectives that may be considered marginal to dominant conventions of schooling and education.

conversations associated with The Marginal Syllabus will occur in the margins of online texts through practices of open web annotation.

They then write that “The Marginal Syllabus is collaborative and emergent attempt to create a new sociotechnical genre of educator professional development in which authors and readers, the practices of amplified marginalia, and learning technologies begin (re)marking on equity and education.”

Perfect, I thought. Here at ED677, we are all about new sociotechnical genres to support equity in learning and teaching, so I decided to barge my way in. And not only were Joe and Remi welcoming, they seemed excited and promptly made a space for Dewey’s 1907 text and created an annotation “flash mob” event to support us during that week. Amazing. Going back to ED677 then, my only job then was to invite the class. I did so by introducing them to the project, adding related scaffolding between the texts and supportive approaches (for those who might be new to this or nervous about doing the work publicly), and an opening annotation of my own, which read:

In 2012 I heard John Seely Brown give a keynote at the DML Conference where he said that "perhaps John Dewey (and Marie Montessori) were 75 years ahead of their time" when driving models of education that brought the learner into the flow of what they were learning. Maybe, he posits, "their intuition was right but their toolset was wrong." See: http://dmlcentral.net/the-global-one-room-schoolhouse-john-seely-brown/

I was so excited by this thought and have been wondering it ever since. So how might we do what JSB does in his speech and recast some of John Dewey's work here from 1907 in today's networked age?

The results of this experiences, and the differences in the ways we engaged with this older text, were significant. Not only did almost all of ED677 participate and contribute their significant knowledge as teachers and learners into the mix, but their reflections that week posted to their own blogs were filled with connections they made between Dewey’s work, John Seely Brown’s, and the research report/agenda for Connected Learning. They also quickly made important connections between to their own work and with their classmates through their shared blog posts. Eric, a graduate student in education aspiring to teach math, wrote “I feel like a conspiracy theorist… I’m finding connections everywhere!”

I should mention that ED677 is an entirely online course taught in the open, meaning that all of the activities and readings we engage in, and our writing and reflections about this work, are posted to our own blogs which are then aggregated together at our shared blog (Domain of One’s Own inspired). While we meet via video every other week, I have found that it always takes time to develop a sense of ourselves as a community and that this sense develops as our comfort with being a community of educational bloggers begins to grow. What I think I am noticing this time around, however, is that this kind of online social reading activity seems to have been a significant jump-start to that sense of belonging to a community, both within the course and beyond it. And since the goal of this course is to be connected learners ourselves, as educators, in order to support equitable access to connected learning and teaching with the youth we work with, this jump-start could have significant implications.

This week we are diving back into annotation as a way to explore the idea of “wobble” as in Pose/Wobble/Flow, and thinking about that idea within communities of other connected educators. I look forward to seeing where this all brings us.