Monday 21 September 2015

sparKtalK5

Incidental learning embraced me these last couple of weeks. At times, it's squeezed me so hard, it's taken my breath away. Or maybe that has just been my anxiety creeping in. This new venture has me overwhelmed.

First things first: my vlog has required a name change. I may have mentioned that certain tech doesn't like formatting the "<" symbol. I have learned that there are ways around this, but to keep it simple, I'm just going to re-brand. It's still early, right? So, out with the old ("talk<5") and in with the new... new name, new hashtag, but same location:
#sparKtalK5

I hope my vlog posts will spark your interest, start conversation, and help me to build a community of connected learners. I'm jumping in the deep end this fall, definitely feeling in WAY over my head, as I try to navigate, support, and nurture a personalized learning environment with the learners in my (new-to-me) multi-age classroom. All ideas, suggestions, questions, comments, feedback, and recommendations are greatly appreciated.

I have so many questions and it's been challenging to even prioritize them--how to set up our space, how to connect learners in 5 different grades to the curriculum, how to assess and track learning, and how to use the GAFE tools available to me. Then there's FreshGrade and Khan Academy. Our days have been full of hands-on, interactive and collaborative learning activities as we try to establish ourselves as a community of learners, build trust, and get to know one another. However, I know we need to start dipping our toes in to the pool of inquiry and personalization.  Where to even start??

Here is this weekend's post (video'd a week ago) outlining my "what-so what-now what" for the week.

10 comments:

  1. Great questions! My two cents worth: think about what YOU mean by personalized learning. Do you mean offering assistance in different ways to reach universally-shared goals (differentiation), or do you mean creating unique learning paths with unique destinations? How much does it matter to you if the destinations are the same from learner to learner, or does it depend on context? I think of a story Martin Brokenleg told an audiene once. He said that, traditionally, if a learner talked too much, their curriculum would include goals involving how to talk less and listen more. But if a learner talked too little, then that learner's curriculum would include goals about how to talk more. Personalized. Person. I am coming to learn that, rather than helping people in different ways to jump through the same hoops, I see greater gains when we help learners develop their own hoops. Not about lowering expectations -- just personalizing goals and specific content wherever possible. And that is quite often, if the teacher has the stomach for veering off a well beaten path.

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    1. Thanks Jeff. I hope I mean supporting each learner in pursuing his/her own unique learning path(s) to reach his or her own unique outcome(s), determined by that individual learner. Ideally, my participation provides the learner with prompts and questions, supports planning, goal setting and establishing timelines. I struggle to wrap my head around certain aspects of this, mostly relating to the logistics of "management" and acknowledging, as you say, the person in a world of prescribed curriculum. Even in using the new curriculum as a framework (and I am only just getting ready to truly jump in here), I am worried about my own responsibility (and, perhaps, ability) to ensure its implementation.

      I am so appreciative of your comments and hope you will continue to throw me some bones along the way here!! There will definitely be more to come.

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    2. Be sure exactly what is "prescribed" in the prescribed curriculum. Lots of freedom there if willing to shed the typical interpretations. Call any time!

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    3. I will take you up on that! Hoping to connect sooner than later!

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    4. I will take you up on that! Hoping to connect sooner than later!

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  2. I know it might be a little light, but: start where the kids are. That's the key for personalization and differentiation - working with kids where they are, not where you want them to be. There's a wealth of ideation out there; you mentioned Khan & Freshgrade, but there's also Sugata Mitra and his Hole in the Wall/Classroom in the Cloud ideas. There's a great learning journey out there - just needs to start with taking a first step! Then you can see where it leads you!

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    1. Hi Ian,
      Thanks for your comments! I am familiar with Sugata Mitra's work and Ted Talks (the guy is a huge inspiration). The range of this group of learners is vast (non-reading to rock star reading, 7-12 years old), so I have no choice but to meet them where they are!! I think we would all be miserable if I chose to "teach to the middle" in this situation! Figuring out how to manage my time, to support students individually and provide an environment that inspires engagement so they are able and motivated to work independently some of the time is the challenge I am facing. Stay tuned for further updates and please keep on commenting!! Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!

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  3. I know you are thinking 'learning plan' but as I listened to you I thought you might appreciate Dave Cormier's work on 'leaning contracts': http://davecormier.com/edblog/2012/05/09/ed366-learning-contract-prior-to-student-input/
    ~ Dave

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  4. Hi Dave,
    Thanks for offering this up! I was lucky enough to be part of a session where Dave Cormier was a guest speaker (one of my graduate classes) and I am familiar with his learning contracts. However, i hadn't considered them (remembered them) in this situation. I will revisit and see if it's something I can use to influence our "plan". Thanks and please continue to follow/participate in my journey! I really appreciate all the help I can get! #sparktalk5

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