This week I thought I would try something different. This is a little out there for me--oh my goodness, listening to my own voice is not my idea of a good time--so thanks in advance for enduring! I don't think I'll blog this way again, but it was good to try. So, here I am, on Soundcloud, bringing you "Entering into week 3 with #tieyoga -- An Update."
And once you've had the pleasure of listening to my audio-blog...enjoy this fun Harold's Planet cartoon, Yoga For Wine Lovers!
Saturday, 31 January 2015
Being More Open…
There was some discussion on the importance of being open in
our EDCI 569 discussion this week. It
comes on the tails of an interesting Twitter thread that I saw this week and
this tweet by @ChrisWejr:
I’ve been inspired by the idea of openness and what it means
for me in my own reflective practice, and those words of Chris Wejr, encouraging
us to share our attempts, our mistakes, our “doing”. It’s a “walk the talk”-“be
the change” kind of philosophy, one I always believed I embraced. In
reflecting, however, I know I can do better, be more consistent, and be more aware. It takes
time and effort, yes, and as someone who has little time or energy these days,
it would be easy to fire off my excuses. I want to do my best and be my best though and live
what I preach to my own kids and students; you have to take risks, make
mistakes, and reflect in life if you
want to grow and maximize who you are as an individual. In my mind, living this way is indicative of true engagement in one's own life.
As part of my move to walk the talk, I am sharing out my
#tiefitbit activity for this week. Like my fellow fitbitter, @ThorneSD35, I am competitive, as much with myself as with anybody else, and
I’m finding this #tiegrad group of fitbitters to be extremely motivating. I had
a successful week this week and, as best I could, recorded my 10000 steps efforts via my
iphone through pictures and video. I was
quick to put out a first video, really with the intention of taunting my fellow
fittbitters, and that was successful overall (as a video, not necessarily as a taunt!).
My next cluster of videos and photos sat on my phone for the week and
I wasn’t sure exactly how I wanted to use them. As I loaded some of the videos
onto youtube, a few of them loaded upside down. I searched how to correct this, I came upon: “How to Flip or Rotate a Video” which provided me
with two methods, depending on my needs. I used the youtube method and, voila,
discovered a whole new dimension of editing on youtube! Excitement ensued! I
used the “enhancements” tool to, not only rotate my upside-down videos, but
also to “auto-fix” them. How sweet is that??
But that wasn’t all…While I was waiting for my video changes to save, I
noted an option I hadn’t seen before: “Combine multiple clips and
publish new videos.Try the YouTube Video
Editor”.
Well, um, okay?
So, another new venture:
combining and editing my videos using the Youtube Video Editor. I hoped
it would be a quick experiment, and generally it wasn’t hard to learn, but
midway through my creative process I started getting error messages and, upon
further explanation read that it can sometimes take 30 minutes for the errors
to get sorted out. This was somewhat frustrating, but, as the message communicated, things seemed to right themselves within about 30 minutes. I liked how easy it was to drag my videos and photos into
the video creator and insert transitions between them. I didn't like the music choices youtube offers; some sounded
ridiculously cheesy and many others just sounded like bad-movie instrumentals. For this
project, however, I just chose something random that, to my ears at least,
sounded tolerable. I really would like to learn more about using music in my
visual creations and, on a side note, have a whole bunch of drafted bits and
pieces for a copyright blog I am writing. But that's a different blog, for another day...not today.
In the end, I had success, overall. I didn't manage to effectively capture my
9:30-10:30 pm walk about the neighbourhood after class last Thursday, but
otherwise the video does summarize the gist of my week as I tried to achieve my
daily 10 000 steps and keep up with my cohort fitbitters.
My learning successes:
I did it—I made a video using the youtube editor
It successfully presents my fitbit activity for the week (and, in many ways for the month)
I was able to include videos, pictures and music in the
video
I problem solved successfully (rotating videos, adding
music to a video)
I am sharing it out
My learning areas needing improvement and/or more time:
Fading music in and out of a video; regardless of my attempts to problem solve
this one, I did not figure it out
Including more variation in images (ie. Less selfies)
Consider a shorter video…I think this runs a little
long.
Figure out if I can add music that is more to my taste
and allows me to be a little more creative on that front.
In summary, this week I am proud to share that I did learn and what I learned. I’m walking
the talk and I’m feeling good about it! Next
up? My #tieyoga attempt to video
document some of my learning process through my online yoga practice. Maybe I’ll
vlog it out.
Tuesday, 27 January 2015
The Trials and Tribulations of Finding a Research Topic Focus
Narrowing down my focus on a single topic for my MEd research has been a
STRUGGLE (yes I am yelling, virtually). As
a Special Education teacher in a Distributed Learning (DL) school, I wonder if
it would have seemed easier to latch on to something if I worked in a more
typical school environment. My areas of interest vary widely and, while I know
I could have set myself up quite easily to have access to a classroom in a
different school, I kept coming back to the fact that I’d prefer that my
research topic be relevant to my own work environment.
Over the last 3 years, I have seen a significant rise in students moving
to our DL school as a response to personal challenges and obstacles to learning
that they have not been able to overcome in their mainstream neighbourhood schools. Many of the students who end up on my
caseload are working hard to overcome anxiety and other mental health
challenges while attempting to tackle grade level curriculum. I find that the students on my case load require
great flexibility in their learning plans and they benefit from a personalized
approach. My first glance at BC's Ed Plan, specifically its description of
“Personalized Learning for Every Student,” hooked me. The explanation that educators will have “the
flexibility to make sure each student is well served by their educational
program,” the description of each learner as “unique”, and the commitment of
our education system to “support each student’s interests and ways of learning”
made me excited to be a teacher. The list of the 4 Action Steps that
followed the explanation further inspired me; the talk of competencies, fewer
but higher level outcomes and increased flexibility sealed the deal. While the document's proposed plan felt like a good fit for me upon first viewing, with its potential benefits for learners and flexibility with curriculum,
others in our profession have been slower to warm up. I have
observed a good number of educators taking advantage of the opportunity, and encouragement, really, to shift
their practice in the direction of personalized learning, while others prefer
to stick with what they know and, in the context of their own classrooms, what
they believe works. Risk taking is uncomfortable for many learners, the
students I work with in particular, and I see a parallel that exists between my
own peer group and the students we teach; just as we scaffold learning for our
students, meet them where they are, I wonder if there are any specific supports
or strategies that might better support shifts in practice among educators, as learners, navigating their way to a new approach.
My identified research topic is based in the adoption of personalized
learning approaches in middle school. Curriculum/pedagogical change is needed
to move ahead with personalized learning. I am choosing to focus on middle
school, as it seems to be a time when many students derail from the
mainstream approach, some students’ families look for alternatives and while
others simply stop attending. My identified Research Problem is to explore factors
that prevent and/or support a pedagogical shift in practice even though recent
curriculum documents encourage the move towards personalized learning as an
instructional approach.I am looking at constructivism and Bandura’s Social Theory as theoretical frameworks for my research.
My Research Questions:
If teachers and students had something
to help map out their project, term or semester to support personalized
learning, would that help them adopt that approach?
Would a “planner”, guide, or other
structured template, that somehow linked to the learning outcomes, assist
teachers and students in the successful adoption of personalized learning?
How can we ensure there is visibility
of learning and learning outcomes?
Does learning transparency of the teacher,
in the context of personalized learning, impact students? For example, does a teacher
sharing out his/her own learning goals, risk-taking and reflections (as
relevant) impact student learning?
My questions are too many--I realize that--but I hope through readings
and research I will be able to narrow my focus and peel back some of the layers
to address a specific question.
On a positive note, I recently discovered the hashtag, #plchat, on Twitter, and I’ve taken to meandering
through past links and posts put out by its users. I’m enjoying some good reads
on @pernilleripp ‘s blog, Blogging Through the Fourth Dimension, with posts such as this one, titled,
“9 Barriers to Personalized learning and How We May Work Around Them”. My time right now is mostly focused on trying to hone the craft of “searching” and fine tuning my key terms, as well as choosing my preferred methods and structures for curating and referencing resources I find. I am in a continued state of overwhelm, but I have my first two journal articles started. The ball is, officially, rolling.
So here I am, ready to conclude this blogpost
update on my research progress and, believe it or not, I still have doubts about my topic. I will
soldier on, however, continue with my reading, perusing and blogging, and hope
with all my might that I settle into my groove and find my flow really, really soon.
Saturday, 24 January 2015
#tieyoga – Day 8
So, it’s been just over a week since I started working on my
#LearningProject for EDCI 569, #tieyoga (yoga online) with the goal of
practicing 5 times per week. In terms of
frequency, I’m pretty much there. My motivation is extremely low, however, and
most days it’s like a cloud that hangs over my head and when I go to practice,
it’s often done begrudgingly.
Problems:
Border Collie Lex loves yoga.
While I have set some goals (improving flexibility and
practicing 5 times weekly), I believe my goals need word. Aside from the frequency of practice, I don’t
have any truly measurable outcomes. As
well, I haven’t made a commitment to my method of tracking and reporting on
progress. Basically, I’m lacking an
assessment plan.
Practicing yoga in the middle of the day, in a busy
household that has no available “yoga space” is not relaxing. The dogs, the
kids bickering, my husband grinding coffee, someone playing loud music or
loud…something…almost continuously throughout my 30 minute session somehow
impacts the level of relaxation achieved and negatively impacts my motivation.
Finding the time, even though it isn't a huge time
commitment, and ensuring that time slot coincides with those minutes in the day
when I don’t feel exhausted…this is a challenge too, one which, again, impacts
motivation.
Positives:
Some days I practice yoga and I would have done
nothing active otherwise
I’m getting some coursework completed every time
I practice
I’m always glad I did it…okay, I never regret doing it.
My physical flexibility is showing minor signs
of improving
Strategies for improving
the success of my online yoga practice:
1 1. Make an assessment plan
a.Tracking Progress
i.Choose a pose from each target area (forward
bends, back of the legs, hips, back bends, for example) and take before, during
and after pics to track progress (improved flexibility)
ii.Video footage of my practice
iii.Each day reflect on the session (just jot down a
couple of notes, how I felt, what I noticed, etc)
iv.Blog a minimum of once weekly
b.Record “practice” sessions using fitbit device
c.Reflect, anecdotal ly, on my “online learning”
i.Using videos, pictures, reflections to record a
brief comment following each practice session
2. Try the other yoga site, Do Yoga With Me and continue to explore other sites through #yoga on Twitter. Thus far, I've really only explored the paid
site, My Yoga Online
3. Force myself to stick to a scheduled time, when
the house is quiet, or quieter; create a #tieyoga schedule, and FOLLOW IT.
4. Recruit a yoga buddy or buddies; my husband has
said he will practice with me and I’m sure I could get one of my kids to join
in an evening session. Misery loves company. Lol, kidding, I’m not miserable.
5. Set up a #tieyoga space, even if it’s “portable”
or temporary in nature, to ensure I have a location in the house that isn't
high traffic and to allow my mind and body to make a mental association between
the space and the activity.
This sounds like a solid plan, improved from my first blind leap
into my #LearningProject on January 14th. Here are some pics, taken today (Jan 24th), of my postures in these early days of online #tieyoga practice.
Funny how when I'm in the posture, I think I've gone so much deeper than this. Must be the lighting.
Looking forward to more flexibility as it comes.
Watch for #tieyoga updates!
Tuesday, 20 January 2015
Inaugural Blogpost for EDCI 569
Lots of great stuff was shared at our first
EDCI 569 class of the semester last week.
It’s been hard for me to choose any one thing to focus on as a
reflection of the class—so many things struck me, in one way or another, and my
brain really felt like it was humming by the end of class. I was intrigued by the idea that MOOCS are
not known to attract learners with a lower level of education—all that free and
open learning and the people getting hooked by it are largely the learned.
That’s ironic to me, reminiscent of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Digital identities —we
should consider ours and assess them regularly, and critically! I don’t think there
was a person in class who didn’t immediately consider their social media profiles and
assess them against what would be considered appropriate in the way of sharing, comments and updates, professional, but not
too professional, and personal, but not too personal. I could blog about the wealth of knowledge on youtube. You want
to learn to rap? Here you go. You need to figure out what kind of bug this is?
Okay! You want to re-grout your bathroom tile without the expense of an expert?
Yeeeeaaaah!! I finally settled on the
idea of using the internet to connect and the importance of connection as my
blogging focus.
Our eldest son has embarked on his first
official push out of the nest. He’s 21
years old, a typical first born in many ways (reserved, appreciative of peace
and quiet, not a fan of risk-taking or immaturity in others, but at the same
time not overly independent or worldly), nicely wrapped up with a complex layer
of anxiety. We have worked hard to
support him as he has fought over the years to free himself from the grips of
his anxiety and, for the most part, he has succeeded. However, his leap out of
the nest has found him in an unfamiliar environment with strangers (heaven
forbid) and living with the expectation from others to take risks and try new
things, daily; Seb, say “hello” to Anxiety, your old familiar friend.
If it weren’t for the internet and FaceTime, I think he may have turned around
and found his way home before he even hit the 24 hour mark. During this most recent acute anxiety attack,
we were able to talk him off the ledge, so to speak, remind him of his
strategies, tell him to look at us as we talked him through square breathing exercises, and reframe his
“can’t do it’s” into “can do’s”. He’s
now into his second week and those first 24 hours of panic are, apparently, well
behind him. We made it (at least for now), and I honestly don’t know if we
could have done so without that face to face virtual contact brought to us by
the 21st century.
Day 1 out of the nest, forcing his smile for the camera.
Day 5: All is well!
Even in considering the way this cohort is
accessing our master’s program and each other, as a peer group, is somewhat
surreal for me to think about, particularly when I compare this educational experience to my first
post-secondary run through, way back in 1982. When I reflect on my
introverted 17 year old self in September of 1982, walking into each of my
various first year classes, lecture halls full of strangers, I realize I would
have been lucky to make just one personal connection with a peer, to find just one
reading buddy or study partner. And here we are, a group of 24 or so learners,
where everyone knows each other’s name, and we get together to discuss, plan,
clarify assignments and share talk of family, excursions, weather, and pop culture, although
very few of us have ever met face to face. I feel more connected to my 24
cohort peers than I ever did to more than one or two of my first year
university classmates (at best) back in the olden days.
It’s a phenomenal thing to meet someone via
video chat, never mind in person, that
you only know by a profile picture. Twitter, for example, has allowed many of
us to build a network of peers, colleagues and friends, most of whom we may
never meet in any face to face context, virtual or otherwise, but when one does—it’s
a moment characterized by enthusiastic hello's and an element of disbelief. Somehow many of
these online connections become relationships that are both valued and nurtured
to such a degree that when one does have that opportunity to connect, it’s very
exciting! I speak from experience, more than several times over, with my most
recent “meet” being an accidental one, where I found myself dancing next to
@rjanereese, a member of my master’s cohort, on the dance floor of a mutual friend’s
50th birthday celebration!
I often wonder about my own school, which is a Distributed Learning
(DL) facility, where many of our learners are working through their courses online, at
home or elsewhere, using a computer, and corresponding with an often faceless
teacher. Some teachers do provide a
personal profile, complete with picture and personal notes about themselves,
but the information can quickly become quite stagnant and the photo sometimes stays there for years. Much as the value of sharing personal bits of information as a
professional on Twitter can add credibility, the learner-teacher connection is further strengthened, in my opinion, by opportunities to connect via video platforms (Skype,
FaceTime, Blackboard Collaborate, Bluejeans or other collaboration
platforms). Our instructor, @courosa, spoke last week about capturing the spirit of open, networked and participatory
communities in our learning environments and I do believe that personalizing
the connection is one key component of that spirit.
At a time when we speak of the importance
of meaningful connections established and/or maintained via the internet, the value of social media
tools (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc) and the internet in
general, cannot be underestimated. As I observe my son struggling to make new connections in a new environment, and I compare my own educational experiences as a (somewhat) anxious 17 year old first-year university student to the master's cohort-learner I am today , I am struck by the positive impact the internet has had on each of our current situations. While I'm not naiive enough to see the power of the web as a fix-all, my enthusiasm for its potential is only building. I have to remind myself to look through my critical lens now and again, but until further notice, I'm a fan.
Saturday, 17 January 2015
Yoga Online…Really?
I have no time. No, really—I have NO time. I am married, raising 4 boys, have my
80-something year old parents living downstairs (although my mom has been in
hospital for the last 6 weeks, and likely for 2-3 more, due to a full-on collision
with her Alzheimers), I work full time, spread between two schools, and I’m
doing my masters. Then there are the
other layers of life: pets needing to be fed, walked and attended to, anxiety
(which hides in at least 2 of the closets in our house, maybe 3), illness
hitting at the most inopportune times, kids’ university applications and job
interviews, chauffeur duties and extracurricular schedules, supporting my
husband as he transitions out of a 27-year career into a new profession, and,
this week, a death and a dog attack. I know I should really just do an assignment
on something I’m already doing anyways (that ever-looming, always-ominous lit
review), but I’m recognizing that my life is kind of in crisis mode, so while
it feel s a little bit like I’m choosing “more work” , what I’m really trying
to do is choose me.
Yoga online, done at home. That’s my goal. I figure I can squeeze in 30 minutes a day,
first thing in the morning or last thing in the evening, or after school
instead of that cup of tea that I never get through. I’m wondering how long it will take until it
feels like it’s just part of the routine, rather than something else I want to
fit in. I’m curious to know if it will
really bring a sense of peace to my life.
How will it impact my flexibility? My hips need opening, hamstrings need
lengthening, mind needs calming and back needs bending. Yoga, 5 days a week, 30 minutes or more, done
online and at home.
I’ve practiced yoga before—that hot and sweaty yoga—and I do
like it. However, the classes are 90 minutes and the commute is 20 minutes,
each way, without traffic. If I want
a “good spot” in the room, which really just translates to me wanting to be
near the door in case I decide to bolt, throw in another 15 minutes as
insurance, plus 15 more for changing and showering. That adds up to a whopping
160 minutes (2 hrs 40 minutes). It’s no
wonder I haven’t been there much in the last year. I’m hoping I can change all of that with
online yoga.
I did a little research and found a couple of sites that
come well recommended, one being “My Yoga Online”, a paid site (99 cent intro
for the first month, and then $9.95 monthly after that) and the other one “Do Yoga With Me”, which is free! I have
signed up for both in hopes I can figure out which one I prefer. I actually started today with a 30 minutes
session following yoga instructor Raymond Yee on the paid site focusing on
opening the hips. Let’s just say my hips are very closed and I don’t pretzel
well. I’ve posted a couple of pictures here for your viewing pleasure.
Wide-legged Sitting Pose
Staff Pose
Failed Pose
Cobbler's Pose
So, please feel free to check out or follow #tieyoga as I
track and share my progress and experience as I blog about my newly expanding
yoga world!
#tiebc: A Book Club Reflection on "Digital School" from Clive Thompson's book, Smarter Than You Think
The classroom hasn’t changed much
over the years. Over the centuries, actually.
In the 1350’s, artist Laurentius de Voltolina painted a scene of a
university lecture in Bologna that looks quite like a present-day classroom:
The professor sits at a podium at the front, pontificating to twenty-four
seated students, one of whom is keeling over in apparent boredom, four of whom
are ignoring the lecture while talking, and one of whom appears to be
completely asleep. (
p 178-79)
Laurentius de Voltolina [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
What is it
that prevents the true evolution of schools and education? Is it university
entrance requirements? Is it fear? Does the education profession somehow
naturally attract personalities who are rule bound and rigid in their thinking?
I don’t think any one factor is entirely to blame, but "Digital School" in Clive
Thompson’s book, Smarter Than You Think, propelled my thinking towards
questions such as these.Why do we seem
to be so full of great ideas and progressive thinking, yet somehow we remain
bound to a traditional curriculum built on traditional grades, percentages and
standards.
In Sugata Mitre’s Ted Talk, “Build a School in the Cloud”, he describes the institution of school as “obsolete” and “outdated”. In my work as a Special Education teacher in a distributed learning school, I have many students on my caseload who haven’t easily “fit” into the mainstream school environment. Central to Mitre’s talk and Thompson’s chapter titled, Digital School, is the idea that students, inspired by their own curiosity, will learn and explore very willingly. As I read and explored this theme, my thoughts kept returning to specific individual students that I work with. I have one student, burdened with a Generalized Anxiety Disorder, very likely meeting criteria as both Gifted and Learning Disabled, who is resistant to traditional curriculum and its mainstream delivery. Capable, but resistant, he’s not interested, doesn’t see the point and lacks motivation. However, he has been successfully coding computer programs for several years ; he has found his way to mentors, online, who share his passion and who guide him via online chat rooms when he has questions or is problem solving his way through significantly sophisticated levels of knowledge and skill on his learning path. I struggle to be the one to say, “Listen, that’s all awesome and great, but you really need to sink your teeth into this grade 9 Math or finish that project on the Renaissance.” We can, creatively, find some ways around some of his coursework, but I am not always successful in my advocacy for students in this context. This particular student has skills, abilities and strengths that are best accessed and utilized in the world of technology, following his own passions and interests. The relevance of the Renaissance or equivalent fractions to his world is a hard connection to make. The fact of the matter is, kids seek authenticity; the age old question “when am I ever going to use this?”comes up frequently and it can be challenging figuring out how to answer it. Maybe it’s not up to us, as educators, to provide the answer or rationale; maybe it’s the student’s own answer that matters most in this.
Consistent with the idea in this chapter that learning should be student centered, Sir Kenneth Robinson explains that “curiosity is the engine of achievement” in his Ted Talk, How to Escape Education’s Death Valley”. I believe that curiosity, or a high level of interest, is what has fueled my student in his pursuit of coding. Integral to this, however, is the fact that, as a subject area, coding is relevant for this student. Kids need to “buy in” to what they are learning; Thompson discusses the way blogs have been successfully used as a writing tool in classrooms and identifies an authentic audience or purpose of writing as integral to student motivation or “buy-in”. Authenticity and interest, or passion, are prerequisites, as far as I can see, to successful student-centered learning.
Thompson specifically discusses coding in this chapter and explains “programming has (deep) effects: For children, it becomes a philosophic act, a way of learning about learning.” (p. 188) It came to me as I read this that we keep trying to compartmentalize learning; the very way our curriculum is laid out, and the way many teachers are hired, is subject by subject, and this approach contradicts the idea that we want to maximize learner potential. Potential isn’t laid out subject by subject; one might be very Mathematical in his or her thinking, but as we know, Math can make its presence known in a wide variety of topics and concepts. And I have seen, firsthand, how many Math “thinkers” aren’t necessarily computation masters. Perhaps the evolution of education is
limited by the notion that we have subjects, rather than disciplines and, as Sir Kenneth Robinson pointed out in his exponentially viewed Ted Talk, “How Schools are Killing Creativity”, we value certain subject areas or skills over others. Perhaps we need to move towards seeing the child as a whole in the context of education, instead of continuing to try to break it down into parts, leading us away from authenticity.
I don’t know for certain what it is that inhibits the evolution of education to the degree that it can sometimes appear that we aren’t making any progress at all, but I think it’s very important that we continue pondering the question as we keep trying to move towards change. Clive Thompson’s chapter, Digital School, raised many points of interest and presented a variety of examples of people breaking the mold in their classrooms. There will be many deterrents, possibly naysayers, and we will make many mistakes, but Digital Schools inspired me to continue to strive towards change. It is messy, and often uncomfortable as we present ourselves in a vulnerable light in the context of our classrooms, to be able to confidently say, “I don’t know” and “let’s see what happens” to our students. Let’s keep painting a new picture of education, where it may be difficult to identify the “teacher” and where many students are talking, but where no one is fast asleep.
References
"Ken Robinson: How to Escape Education's Death Valley." You Tube. Ted Talks, 10 May 2013. Web. 06 Dec. 2014.
"Sir Ken Robinson: Do Schools Kill Creativity?" You Tube. Ted Talks, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
"Sugata Mitra: Build a School in the Cloud." You Tube. Ted Talks, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 16 Dec. 2014.
Thompson, Clive. Smarter than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better. New york: Penguin, 2014. Print.
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