Just a Thought…

At the start of every staff meeting I present a short (~5 minute) agenda item called Tech Corner. During Tech Corner, I introduce something related to using technology in education. My overall purpose is to advocate for the transformative integration of technology into the school. With a positive approach, I show items of  interest to colleagues to get them thinking about how they could use technology to enhance the learning in their classrooms.

The last Tech Corner focused on Wordle.  I’ve used Wordle in my blog posts before, but after seeing it used at the local elementary school I decided to share it with colleagues.

Using the laptop and LCD projector, I started with a quick demo introducing the Wordle website. I then showed two different ways to create a Wordle: paste in a chunk of text or type in a URL for a webpage that has a RSS or Atom feed. I then shared a few examples, some from online sources (Obama’s speech to students at the start of the school year) and some from students in my own school (a colleague had used it for the first time earlier that day). Ever the art teacher, I finished off with a quick demo of how to change the design using choices of language, font, layout and colour. It was a typical Tech Corner – lots of info through visual examples, some demonstration and me talking through the whole thing.

I often wonder about how Tech Corner is received. Do staff really enjoy and learn something useful from my five minute technology blitz? Or are they tuning out and marking while I talk?

This time, I learned very quickly what the teachers at my school thought about the Wordle Tech Corner. The next day, a teacher came into my classroom because he was having difficutly using Wordle in one of the computer labs. We soon discovered that one lab has Java installed on the machines so Wordle works properly, the other lab has machines without Java and with Deep Freeze, so installation is a problem.  Although we had to solve that problem, I was thrilled that he was using the website with his students!

In the next few days, a Wordle sensation spread throughout the school. A bulletin board appeared with student Wordles all over it. The secretary called me in because she needed help creating a Wordle for a card for her brother (brilliant idea actually – she brainstormed words about her brother to create the Wordle and made it into the front of a card for him). Another teacher asked me questions about it. And students in my classes asked how to use the site and started creating their own Wordles out of curiosity!

This Tech Corner had a positive impact on the students, teachers and secretary at the school. I wonder, though, why this one was more successful than Tech Corners of the past. Was it the striking visual impact of the Wordle itself? Perhaps it was the use of elements and principles of design that only an art teacher would know about? Was it that the non-stop Tech Corners at the start of every staff meeting for the last three years have opened up people’s mindset? Was it that the staff are becoming more receptive to using technology over time?

My graduate diploma mentor said that quality learning often results in more questions than answers. Although I’m on the teaching side of Tech Corner, I’m obviously still learning, albeit with different outcomes than everyone else.

Wordle above of this blog post and courtesy of Wordle

I learned the hard way that an RSS reader is the most practical and reliable way to subscribe to blogs. My old computer broke down twice this summer, and along with all the related frustration of losing one’s computer, I lost my blogroll. Up until June, I was using the RSS feed provided by my Internet Explorer browser. When I rebooted my computer, I lost my list of RSS subscriptions.

It takes time to collect a good list of blogs to follow and, mostly thanks to my PLN and Twitter, my list is back up to a respectable level. I’ve learned to not only use Google Reader to manage my blog subscriptions, but also to list my blogroll on a the Blogs I Read page for all to see. I now have a more permanent blogroll if and when I lose another computer.

The blogs I read fall into one of three categories. Blogs in the first category are those related to using technology in the field of education, such as Ideas and Thoughts by Dean Shareski and Open Thinking by Dr. Alec Couros. The second group of blogs are those like The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet by Craig Roland and The Fugleblog by Tricia Fuglestad which are related to art and art education. The final group are blogs belonging to the 31 Day Blogging Challenge that I participated in earlier this year.

If there are any blogs I don’t have listed that you think I’d enjoy, please leave a comment and let me know!

Imagery by Doozzle on Flickr

This is my version of the traditional back-to-school writing assignment. It’s been a busy summer and one in which I’ve learned more than any summer before. I didn’t exactly  finish my original official plan for learning this summer, but I did complete much of the original list when life slowed enough to indulge in self-directed professional development. Here’s what I learned this summer:

1. Favourite Summer Reading: A Whole New Mind

Every art teacher (okay, actually all teachers, but art teachers especially) should read A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink. The book outlines the six aptitudes Pink believes will give people the advantage for achieving success today and in years to come. He writes about the following six “right-brained” qualities:

• Design
• Story
• Symphony
• Empathy
• Play
• Meaning

As an art teacher, it’s great to see importance being attached to the kind of learning often emphasized in an art room. The book is full of links and further reading should you wish to develop your ‘right-brained’ thinking. I highly recommend you read it!

2. Twitter

Wow. I don’t even really know how to articulate how much I’ve learned and how much my thinking has changed since signing up at the end of June. My tweeted quote that ”my professional mindset has been blasted wide open” by Twitter is my way of explaining it for today. Put another way, when I first started, I felt as if I’d just walked into a party that I didn’t even know was going on and some of the most intelligent, most inspiring educators in the world were already there. It is THE place to be if you want to have an personal learning network (PLN) composed of educators around the world.

For those who’ve missed the boat or are not yet at the party, Twitter is a free social networking and microblogging site. It’s all founded on the idea of answering the simple question “What are you doing right now?”  One tidbit I think worth mentioning is that Twitter was created by the same guy that created Blogger, Evan Williams.  I wonder what he was like to teach…

A great explanation of the benefits of Twitter for teachers was written in a post today by Paula White. Her third paragraph sums up Twitter perfectly!

3. Blogging

What I didn’t learn from reading books or on Twitter, I learned from blogging. I spent a great deal of time reading others’ blogs and commenting several times a week. I also managed to post four times (including this post) over the summer. I found it was easier to read and comment on others’ posts than to write my own. Sneaking in 15 minutes with my Google Reader was easy – spending an hour or two tweaking a post was not easy.

My big Web 2.0 realization came about as a result of blogging. I realized that the concept of writing has completely changed. Before (and still for some) publishing meant that a finished piece of writing was made into a final product, such as a book. Now a published work can be like a living document, ever-changing and shifting and evolving as thoughts do with time. I’d read this concept before, but I didn’t really conceptualize it inside my thinking until this summer. It’s a shift that really does change the way I see the world.

I hope everyone had a wonderful summer filled with great memories and profound learning. For those of you starting soon, all the best with back to school…

All imagery by me.

If you’re a teacher involved in the community of educators online, you may have heard of the book Disrupting Class by Clayton M. Christensen with Michael B. Horn and Curtis W. Johnson as co-authors. I decided to read the book after seeing Michael Horn’s keynote address at the VSS Annual Spring Conference last April.

During his keynote, Michael introduced disruptive innovation theory and how it applied to current changes in education. I was intrigued by the combination of business theory and the field of education so, after being assured by Michael that the book wasn’t too US-centric for a Canadian teacher, I bought the book and have seen posts and articles about it online ever since.

It’s a good read and I would definitely recommend it to any educator. The book essentially looks at the reasons underlying schools’ current struggles to improve and then offers recommendations to solve the problems and end the struggles. The authors’ viewpoints are important:

“Our approach in researching and writing this book has been to stand outside the public education industry and put our innovation research on almost like a set of lenses to examine the industry’s problems from this different perspective.” (p. 6)

Their perspective hinges on the idea of disruptive innovation, which I’ll briefly try to describe (read the book, their description, with examples and graphs, is much better than I can do in a short paragraph). Disruptive innovation creates asymmetrical competition in any given market. A sustaining innovation, such as the public school system, is the industry leader providing certain services or products to consumers, whereas a disruptive innovation offers a product or service to non-consumers, thereby disrupting the market just enough to create change.

For example, the high school where I work is small (less than 300 students) and there is no French teacher, but, in the last two years, French 11 has been offered as a Distance Learning (DL) course online. The DL course is a disruptive innovation offering an alternative for students who previously had no way to take the course. Overall, the idea is that new and emerging technology in the field of education is a disruptive innovation which offers an alternate to a standard education in the public system. Since many students struggle in school, disruptive innovation within schools may be the answer needed to help more students succeed more of the time.

What I liked:

• the book is well written and easy to read. I liked the writing style.
• the detailed notes at the end of each chapter offer some great resources, articles, websites and readings to explore if you so desire
• the vignettes at the start of each chapter are a nice connecting thread throughout the book and offer a shift in writing style and perspective
• the book is full of excellent examples which help illustrate the authors’ arguments
• individual learning styles are key. Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences is discussed.
• the authors’ acknowledge the importance of using technology in transformative ways. There’s no point in using a SMART Board as one would use a flip chart (an example of an adaptive use of technology – one where the new technology is used in exactly the same way as old technology and the learning that occurs is essentially the same). Transformative uses of technology actually change the learning that occurs by creating the opportunity for new things to be learned that couldn’t have been learned without the use of the technology (for example, a collaborative blogging project involving two groups of grade five students, one group in Canada and one group in Austalia, could not occur without the use of blogs and the internet).

What could have been better:

• this is purely from a design point of view – I didn’t like the graphs in Chapter Two which helped to explain the theory of disruptive innovation. There are several 3D graphs, but it’s difficult to tell that they are 3D because they’re simple line graphs. Someone with a background in visual arts or design could easily add some tonal development to add form and depth, therefore making them look 3D.

Is this U.S.-based book applicable to educators outside of the U.S.?

Before I bought the book, I approached Michael to ask him this question. He was honest with his answer, admitting the book was based on research and statistics from the United States, but that the book was still applicable outside of the U.S. After reading the book I’ve noted many similiarities and differences between the situation in the States and Canada (specifically British Columbia), however, I definitely think that it’s worth the read no matter where one teaches.

Similiarities to education in British Columbia:

• more and more courses are being offered online. Many districts have a ‘virtual school’ with a variety of online options for students to choose from.
• the small, rural school where I work offers courses via Distance Learning that wouldn’t otherwise be offered

Differences to education in British Columbia:

• much less emphasis on standardized testing as compared to the U.S.
• Individual Education Planning, or IEPs, are designed for students who need drastic changes to be successful in the classroom
• in B.C., our curriculum is based not on textbooks, but on the Integrated Resources Packages created by B.C. teachers and local curriculum specialists
• many districts have Strong Start and other programs for early literacy interventions
• the politics are different
• teacher training is different with longer programs and rigorous certification requirements

Questions I still have:

• I’d like to know what the statistics are for British Columbia, Canada and other countries around the world. There are many interesting statistics in the book, for example, “by 2019, about 50 percent of high school courses will be delivered online” (p. 98) I’d like to know what the prediction is for Canada. And what about the projected stats for a country such as Finland which has an education system famous worldwide for it’s success?
• I don’t see  how computer softare could be used to effectively and completely teach open-ended subjects such as art. I can see how computer software could be used by students to individualize their learning in a fact based subject like Math or Science, but what about Physical Education, or writing skills, or Dance?

Well, that ends my book report! Have you read the book? What did you think?

Imagery courtesy of an online image search - I hope McGraw Hill and the authors don’t mind…

Thanks to Twitter and Scott McLeod, I learned that today is Leadership Day 2009 (#leadershipday09) in the blogosphere. The idea is for bloggers to share ideas related to effective school technology leadership. These posts are then linked back to Scott’s original post in his excellent blog, Dangerously Irrelevant, for everyone, including school leaders, to read and comment on. Sounds like a great way to share ideas, start a complex conversation and learn from others!

To start, how is leadership defined in an educational context? I like Mintzberg’s definition:

“Leadership is…about energizing other people to make good decisions and do other things. In other words, it is about helping release the positive energy that exists naturally within people. Effective leadership inspires more than empowers; it connects more than it controls; it demonstrates more than it decides. It does all this by engaging – itself above all and consequently others.”

Leadership goes beyond school and district administration. In every school, there are usually teacher leaders too. According to Harris and Muijs (2003),

“(t)eacher leadership is not a formal role, responsibility or a set of tasks; it is a form of agency where teachers are empowered to lead development work that impacts directly upon the quality of teaching and learning. Teacher leaders lead within and beyond the classroom, they identify with and contribute to a community of teachers and influence others towards improved educational practice.”

Based on those ideas, I think the first step in creating effective school technology leadership would be the creation of a team of administrators and teacher leaders. The purpose of this team would be to work collaboratively to enact constructive change towards increasing effective use of technology within the school. I think it’s important to note that the team members all need to be willing to participate with school staff in formal and informal professional learning activities. A metanalysis conducted in 2007 by Professor Viviane M. J. Robinson suggests that the most effective leadership dimension is “promoting and participating in teacher learning and development.” Leading by example and being active participants in the process is key.

Once you have a team in place, the next step would be to ask some questions:

• How is technology being used to enhance learning in school?
• What needs to be done to more effectively integrate the use of technology in the school?
• Where are teachers ‘at’ with the use of technology in their practice?
• Where are students ‘at’ with the use of technology in their learning?
• What do people know?
• What do they want to learn?
• What do they need to know?

After getting some answers (and probably even more questions!), staff could work on goal setting. I think it would be important for a few school wide goals to be decided, but I also think that personal goal setting on how to more effectively use technology in one’s own classroom would be useful too. From there, the original team could take on the responsibility of planning some professional development activities, and then the learning, and hopefully, positive change, could really start.

Technology is intimidating to many, as is change. To increase success, I think it’s vitally important that the team adopt a respectful, supportive, patient, and encouraging approach throughout the entire process, from asking the initial questions of staff members, to all pro-d activities. In my experience, the approach is often the deciding factor in whether or not one is able to really engage and motivate the learners and create a community of learners.

Now that I’ve written this out, I think I might just try it. What do you think?

Happy Summer Holidays to all of those who teach/learn from September to June! I was catching up with my Google Reader and thanks to Claire, thought I’d begin my summer posting by sharing my pro-d plans for the lazy days ahead.

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
6. Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September.

My Professional Development Goals

1. Finish reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink and Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. I read the first chapter of each of these, but never continued because I was distracted by other learning. That seems to happen to me quite a bit. Sometimes I think my learning is a huge web full of divergence…

2. Post once every 1-2 weeks – There are several post ideas waiting in my little black book and simmering in my head. I’ve read Disrupting Class and Dances With Dependency in the last few months and I think writing about them would help to solidify my learning. 

3. Finish my e-portfolio. I have the basic layout of an online resume completed. Now I need to collect, scan and import all the photos, newspaper articles, and other visual extras that will help to explain my unique teaching experience.

Like Claire and Phil, I’m not tagging anyone. If you read this post I hope you decide to join in and complete the meme in your own blog! Also like Phil, I’m going to add some extras. These are not necessarily goals, they’re more like professional development play to amuse me during the summer:

1. I’d like to play with Twitter this summer. I just signed up and love it already! Follow me!

2. I’d like to play with my blog. I should redo my About page, and I should also probably finish the 31 Day Blogging Challenge I started in, *cough*, January.

3. I need to start prepping a yearbook course. I’ve sponsored the school yearbook for three years, but always as an extra, after school activity. Next year, I’ve convinced admin to allow me to teach it for credit within the timetable. There’s a lot of potential for some great learning and collaboration here, so I’d like to be ready to maximize that.

That’s it! That’s enough! I’m so thankful to have a job I love which allows me summers off work to relax and rejuvenate. Ten weeks of nothing but time – time to read, play, learn, nap, run, bake, bike, socialize. It’s amazing to live life minus the forced work schedule.

Imagery by threedaysatseaat Flickr.com.

If you want to create a powerful learning experience, put on an art show. More importantly, let the students put on an art show.

I am the sole art/photography teacher in a small, rural high school. Almost 2/3 of students in the school take an art or photography course every year. Timetabling challenges mean that all my classes are multi-age and multi-course. It’s a little crazy, but it works. Student learning is hands-on and project based and, to borrow the term from a book I’m reading, student-centric by choice and necessity.

The serious art students take Studio Arts courses with a specific focus, for example, drawing and painting. To these devoted art students, I assign the organization, planning, installation, and promotion of the annual spring art show. This event is held in a central community location and is a celebration of all that occurs in the art room throughout the entire school year.

Today, a crew of 9 of us set up for this year’s show. I don’t know if it’s the blogging, or the mental space I’m in, or all the reading I’ve been doing lately, but this year I was much more aware of the students’ learning related to the art show set up. It’s obviously a rich learning experience, but today I was trying to figure out how and exactly what it was they were learning.

These students have been selecting their peers’ work for the show for the last eight months. They spent the last few weeks tagging, framing, and wrapping art work. They spent the day asking questions of each other and discussing possible solutions to the countless problems they had to deal with while arranging and installing the artwork. They worked harder in ’school’ today than they probably have all year. There were no right answers, no easy solutions, no meaningless tasks.

While observing and listening, the one thing that I kept thinking about was student ownership. The students today were owning their learning. The were absolutely engaged and very much in charge. They were proud of themselves and their accomplishments and they are excited about the show tomorrow night.

The more I thought about ownership, the more I wanted to understand what happened today. I see ownership as learners owning their learning. What does that mean? To ‘own’ something, in this context, is to take responsibility for the learning, which, if we define ‘responsibility’, leads to an even wider meaning. To be responsible for something is to be accountable for it, to have earned or been given authority in relation to it, and to be seen as reliable in relation to the task you’ve been given.

The students today were given, and accepted, the huge responsibility of putting on an event showcasing young artistic talent to their family, their peers and the larger community. They will be held accountable for their learning by essentially everyone who attends the show (hundreds of family, friends, peers, etc) as the night is basically one big critique of feedback on their year-long project. That aspect of the show is always nerve-wracking for me, I can’t imagine how they must feel at their younger age.

They earned the authority to take charge of their learning and I handed over as much power as possible during the set up today. I wanted them in charge. I wanted them making the decisions. I backed off more during the set up this year than in any years previously and I enjoyed watching the students take over. It’s interesting to see how they accept that leadership role. In all the chaos, all the confusion, all the panicked moments, they did a great job. They are so smart; it never ceases to amaze me how clever and practical and insightful students can be. They impressed me with their work ethic and their motivation to get the job done and do it to the best of their abilities. They chose to stay late too, not leaving until the job was complete.

By having the students responsible for the set up, I was trusting in their reliability. For a student to realize that their teacher trusts and relies on him/her enough to hand over the set up of such an important, culminating event must be a powerful realization. I hope, in all the craziness of the day, that they did realize I trusted them to do a great job. I know they realized how much I was relying on them. I could see that they were feeling the pressure and I’m sure it helped to motivate them throughout such an exhausting day.

Ownership, responsibility, accountability, authority, reliability, trust. That’s a powerful learning experience. And the show hasn’t even started yet…

Imagery by Erik B on Flickr.com.

Just over one year ago, I was very concerned that I was about to lose the professional momentum that I was experiencing as a result of graduate coursework. At the time, I was finishing a graduate diploma which had completely transformed my teaching practice and I worried that the end of the coursework would coincide with the end of my professional growth spurt.

Now, a little over a year later, I am confused and indecisive as to which way my professional life is headed, hence the reflective nature of this post. I did not lose the momentum as I’d feared; in fact, there is too much momentum and too many options before me to choose from. Time seems to be speeding by and more and more opportunities are piling up. I need to slow things down. I need time to process, time to think, time to listen to my intuition…it’s a good thing summer holidays are right around the corner! I need time to find that inner map and decide which road to choose.

Road #1

The first road leads a year of coursework to complete the Masters in Education degree. The application is submitted and the waiting has begun. If I am accepted, I have one intense year of academic study during which I’d love to explore how to use technology to improve the critiquing process associated with an art program. My art class blog is inspiring me to investigate this topic more fully, more completely and with proper academic perspective. I like the art class blog for many reasons. I think it’s a great idea with wonderful potential and I would love the opportunity to explore it as an action research project. I feel like this year my first attempt was just a taste of what I could really do with blogging in an art program. I want to finish the MEd and I am excited about the idea of one more year of intellectual overload. I do not look forward to the negative impact from the travel and time away from home life, but it’s only one year and timing is right, so it’s manageable.

Road #2

I’ve been asked to participate in a shared instruction project within my district. This involves team teaching with another teacher from a school in a different community using video conferencing, Elluminate and Smart Boards as tools to allow such a project to work. This is exciting, innovative stuff. This would be a great project to be involved in, especially from the beginning when one could have a lot of input into the initial planning and shaping of the project. The problem is, I’ve already submitted the Masters application. I can’t do both the Masters and the Shared Instruction project. I’m hoping that even if I drive by the off ramp to Road #2 this time, that I can circle back and take that route a year from now, provided it’s still open for me to take.

Road #3

I won’t get to this road for awhile – this is the route to administration. I would like to move into administration 8-10 years from now. This will be a difficult road (at first, anyway) but one I’m interested in exploring and one I’m sure that I can do, and do well, with the proper training. Perhaps 5-10 years as a Vice Principal to learn the job from an exceptional mentor (high expectations, as always) then finish off my career as a Principal before retiring to do a PhD in Education. That’s as far as I’ve thought along that route, but I think it’s a good option to keep in mind as I move along in my career path. The MEd route fits in nicely along the way, as does Road #4…

Road #4

This is a side road to leadership. I like this route. I was asked to participate in a Leadership Series that started several months ago. This project involves developing leadership capacities in teacher leaders within a tri-district group working under the direction of the British Columbia Education Leadership Council (BCELC). There’s some action research involved (I think mine’s leading towards encouraging teachers at my school to increase their transformative uses of technology with their students – sound familiar?), a great deal of collaboration with others and guidance from a few well respected experts in the field.

Road #5

Family circumstances being what they are, a move is inevitable at some point in the near future, near future being no more than two years away. The move would need to be to a new community, which means securing a new job. I’m pretty sure that my teaching experiences thus far is unique enough to at least make districts take notice of my resume and it allows me lots of options in terms of what teaching positions I can be successful at. The problem here is that I strongly dislike not knowing where I’m headed. Which road above, #1 or #2, will most likely lead me to Road #5? And then what happens to #3 and #4 along the way? And what happens when I turn down the road that leads to a new home and a new job and all the changes that go along with relocating? There, at least, my sense of adventure kicks in and I get excited. Once I find the route, I can relax and enjoy the ride. I’m also playing with thoughts of a major change – international school? teacher exchange? So many routes there, I don’t know where to begin…

Road #6

The last option is more like a parking lot than a road. I could do nothing and just stay where I am. No MEd, no shared instruction, no move. I could just let the career car idle for awhile. Not very environmentally responsible, and not really me either. So, not really an option, but I need to be aware of it as a choice so that I don’t get stuck idling and then five years from now realize that I’m still sitting in the parking lot trying to decide which way to go.

There are other smaller side roads branching out along the way too – maintaining and building on my web log, CEET (another project I recently became involved in) and others. The further I travel, the more branches there seem to be along the road. I guess that’s better than the alternative, but frustrating for someone with an open and sometimes indecisive mind.

I need to keep the professional momentum moving, not too fast, and not too slow. Any ideas? Which road(s) look the best? Which route would take? Feedback, thoughts/ideas, or any maps you know of would be greatly appreciated…

Imagery from Flickr.com – Too fast by raysto, crossroads by StuffEyeSee, and Private Parking Only by Shrued

I’ve been saving this one for today.

Many educators write about their role models – those amazing people who we aspire to be. I’ve read many posts by teachers who want to acknowledge and pay tribute to those wonderful people they respect and admire. There is always at least one person that inspired us to follow the career path that leads into the classroom.

For me, that person was my mother.

I loved school when I was little.  I was a quiet, shy, little girl and I found everything about school very easy. I thrived with kind and caring teachers. I remember sitting at my desk looking out the window at the rainy day beyond with a feeling of safety and contentment.

I also learned at home, as all children do, but my experience was different from most. My mother returned to finish her teaching degree when I was seven. My younger brother and I became her ‘guinea pigs’ as she tried various teaching strategies, etc. on us before trying them with her students. I remember sitting at the kitchen table doing art projects, science experiments and various other activities with her.

Mom earned her degree, chose a grade two position in a small town and we moved there the summer before I entered grade four. Unfortunately, my school experiences during the next two years were almost the exact opposite of what I had previously enjoyed. I was the ‘city slicker’ and excluded by my classmates from the start. The only happy memories from school at that time are focussed on academic successes.

Many years ago, as a student teacher, I completed an assignment based on my memories of school. The purpose of the assignment was to make connections between early learning experiences and the emerging belief system we were developing as new teachers. At that time, research reminded me that the learning methods widely used when I was a child involved sitting, reading quietly at a desk, and learning by writing answers to questions in a text or workbook and rote learning.

I remember thinking that that didn’t sound like the kind of classroom that would create a love of learning! It certainly wasn’t what I had envisioned for my future students! Where did my concept of what a classroom should be like come from? 

I love active learning and getting my students involved. I am passionate about helping them discover new interests. I was confused about my success as a child in what I now perceived to be a stale learning environment which didn’t resemble my beliefs at all. Perhaps I had been successful largely because I was well behaved, a strong reader and an independent learner? At the time, I was also perplexed by the fact that although I strongly disliked school after moving, my love of learning continued throughout my intermediate years and beyond. It did not seem to make much sense. 

It was at that point that I realized my love of learning and my teaching style came from my mother.

Through that assignment years ago, I came to the important realization that my most cherished memories of learning were when I learned with my mother. I have many happy memories collecting shells at the beach, finger painting at the kitchen table and hours spent reading with and to my mom. I also realized that my varied interests, from science experiments, to a love of literature and a passion for art were the result of her influence. She had always taken an interest in my likes and dislikes. With gentle and caring encouragement, she helped me to follow my dreams, however varied they were, and no matter how often they changed.

I love learning in general and in a variety of ways and in a variety of subject areas thanks to my mom:  my first and greatest teacher.  She was the reason I wanted to become a teacher and she, as a mother and as a teacher, shaped my beliefs about teaching and learning. Her equivalent of a value statement, which was always at the front of her daybook, is incorporated into my teaching philosophy. She continued as my mentor throughout teacher training and during those first few years at the start of my teaching career. Her support was priceless.

My teaching remains completely student-centered and I still prefer active, hands-on learning largely because of her. I have a strong personal background and an intense passion for a variety of subjects because of her. Now I gently encourage my students to pursue their interests and discover passion in life, as she did with me. If I can be half the teacher she was, I’ll consider myself a success.

My mother was an educator for 22 years and was a master of her craft. As good as she was at teaching (and she was excellent), she was a better mom. She died six years ago, a slow, painful death from a horrible disease. I miss her so much, and in so many ways, sometimes grieving as a daughter, other times wishing I could consult with my teacher-mentor/mom. Her immediate effect on my teaching and my life is gone, but her influence is firmly woven into my teaching, my learning, my everything.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom. This one was for you.

Have you ever experienced an absolutely overwhelming professional development event? For example, a conference where your mind feels so full of new and interesting information that if one more idea tries to fit into your brain, your head will explode? I’m sure that would never actually happen, but you know what I mean…

That’s how I felt last week at the 2009 VSS Annual Spring Conference. I still feel ‘full’, although my mind has had a couple of days to sift through and absorb the experience. It was a great conference for many reasons and the three days I attended were filled with opportunities for learning and networking. If I have time, I would like to write a few posts about the conference, but for now, I’ll sum up the experience with my four favourites.

My favourite keynote speaker was Michael Horn. He is a brilliant man, the kind of person I could sit and listen to for days. Michael’s keynote focused on applying the theory of disruptive innovation to the field of education. It was an interesting blend of MBA vernacular and what’s happening in education today. I’ve just started reading the book he co-authored, Disrupting Class, upon which the keynote was based. So far, I like it. I like the writing style and the argument that is building makes sense. The book is U.S. based, but definitely applicable outside of the States.

My favourite session was “What’s New on the Net” presented by John Goldsmith. The session I attended was standing room only. John went through his blogsite, DE Tools of the Trade, a resource you don’t want to miss! From free online file converters to online safety sites, there are countless websites to explore.

My favourite coincidence was being invited by Betty to sit with her one morning. I sat down, Betty introduced me to the two other women at the table, and the small talk continued.  The interesting part was that I sat right next to a lady named Claire. After a few minutes, Betty pointed out that I follow Claire’s blog, at which point I realized I was sitting beside someone that I knew of and had ‘met’, but only virtually through blogging! I have been reading Claire’s blog since last summer. I like what she has to say so I have commented on her posts and she’s replied back. Last Thursday morning, I sat right next to her and never would have realized who she was had it not been for the fact that Betty made the connection.

My favourite exhibitor was virtualmuseum.ca. You have to check this out. This site allows teachers to create and store lesson plans using interactive, multimedia material based on content found in Canadian museums. Created by the Department of Canadian Heritage, it is very clever and has a lot of potential uses. 

Finally, the benefits of attending a conference are not limited to the formal learning that occurs. It was a really great week for me. Playing Wii Tennis at an exhibitor’s booth with Lisa was fun, even if she did beat me! Going out to watch the Canucks win the fourth game of the series and sweep St. Louis was awesome! And all the fun little experiences, the quick yummy breakfasts, shopping trips with family and inside jokes involving crayons, made it a very memorable, stimulating and exciting week for me.

Imagery by me.