![]() One of my co-workers read the Dave Burgess book Teach Like a Pirate over the summer and decided to start the new school year with an enthusiastic ice-breaker with her students. In what can only be explained as the Universe having a twisted sense of humor, the activity was an epic fail and resulted in students smashing Model Magic on their foreheads in an eruption of chaos and degeneracy. I thus developed an aversion to the topic and refused to read the book. After watching the videos assigned this week, I spent a considerable amount of time on the website, Math Coach's Corner. It is a blog written by a Math Interventionist who highlights various helpful books. In 2013, she chose to conduct her Book Study Mondays on the Dave Burgess book Teach Like a Pirate; each Monday focused on one of the letters in the PIRATE acronym. The Burgess quote she highlighted in week she discussed Immersion spoke to me: "I can walk by the open door of a classroom and tell you after a couple of minutes whether the teacher is a lifeguard or a swimmer. A lifeguard sits above the action and supervises the pool deck. Although he or she is focused, there is a distinct sense of separateness both physically and mentally. In contrast, a swimmer is out participating and an integral part of the action." (Burgess) I had to ask myself, am I a lifeguard or a swimmer? Certainly both - but which is more effective? I am a lifeguard when I circulate and check on my students as they practice their typing skills. I am a lifeguard when I am editing student work from my Remote Desktop application before they present. I am a swimmer when I am seated beside a student as they are navigating a new presentation tool or in the process of researching. The advent of Remote Desktop software is a great help as far as software management, and tools like controlling, commenting, chatting and others are helpful; it is important to be mindful, however, that when using these tools and 'connecting' with students as they work, it is more difficult to build Rapport and show true Enthusiasm, as Burgess calls for in his strategies. I am a Geek. I've always been a Geek, and have only within the last ten or so years realized it and have become comfortable proclaiming it, sharing it, and being happy about it. My students know that I am passionate about the environment, growing my own food, taking care of my bees and raising chickens (and my kids, of course). Ramirez writes, in her article for Edutopia: "Be a passion-based teacher. Take on a new learning posture with your students by presenting a story behind the topic you are teaching, or by showing its beauty, or by delighting in the topic. Get in touch with your inner geek. When you do that, you give students permission to do the same." When I talk about my chickens, and name them, and show them pictures on the overhead projector of them trying to get into my house or surrounding my cat on the patio, my students sit up a little straighter. They stop talking to each other, contribute to the topic, and talk about their own pets, passions, and interests. When I talk about bees and pollination and the critical state of affairs with regard to pesticides and the future of our planet's ecosystems, they can relate. Someone has a garden, someone else composts, and another kid inadvertently stepped on an entire nest of yellow jackets over the summer. Our inquiry based learning projects are very often 'choose your own topic' under the umbrella of environmental issues or something similar, and my demonstration mini-lessons always deal with one of my interests. I normally justify this indulgence by saying that I'd go crazy if I had to teach the same thing over and over, so I vary my topic according to the season or what I'm currently working on. The truth of the matter is, though, that when I am interested in a topic - when I geek out - I do better work. The quality of my mini-lessons are better. My enthusiasm is greater. And my students get more out of the content - and me - than they may have otherwise. Resources:
Ramirez, Ainissa. "Passion-Based Learning." Edutopia. . Web. 2 April 2013 "Teach Like a PIRATE: Building a Better Pirate." Math Coach's Corner. 25 Mar. 2013. Web. ![]() Last February, a conference was held by Brookings to discuss how to finance global education. Liesbet Steer, a fellow at the Center For Universal Education at Brookings moderates the second panel on 'Better Allocating Finances to Reach the Marginalized,' specifically discussing the issue of Equity recommended by the UNESCO Task Force.. She stresses that governments must receive support in achieving two primary goals: 1) get children in school and 2) get children who are in school the right skills. Steer introduces Julia Gillard, who served Australia as both Education Minister and Prime Minister, who in turn discusses her role in commissioning and implementing an assessment of Australia's financing systems. At the beginning of her tenure as Education Minister, too many poorer students - especially those of indigenous backgrounds - were being left behind in education. Her administration created a data set made available on a public website called My School, in which people can access test scores, as well as data that is "generated against parental income, highest education level of the parents of the kids, the number of indigenous children in the school, the number of non-English speaking children in the school, the number of children with disabilities in the school." This database also shares the amount of money each school is spending on educating each child, and identified funding gaps. The piece that surprised me the most in Gillard's description of her reforms was that she called on a group of businesspeople - not educators - to successfully reform educational funding to provide equity to a broken system. They created a needs-based, transparent model which provided some amount of government funding to each child citizen and plan to implement it over a six-year period. If we look at the Learning Metrics Task Force universal learning recommendations, we can see that Australia, under Gillard's leadership, uses data-driven, transparent measurement efforts to identify disparities within the country, develop a strategy for addressing them, and track the progress of the strategy's implementation. ![]() The 2013 reports from UNESCO and the Brookings Institute put forth recommendations on specific themes relating to global literacy and education. The authors write, "The barriers to education, and the most effective solutions, will vary by country. But the commitment to learning must be constant and unwavering." – Report of the High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda (SG HLPEP, 2013) Recommendation 2 addresses Learning Competencies and states that all children and youth develop competencies across seven domains of learning. These domains go beyond basic literacy and numeracy and strive to prepare children to be lifelong learners, and organize the competencies over three categories of age grouping: early childhood, primary, and post-primary education. The task force also recommends flexibility in the learning settings of students; educational spaces do not necessarily have to be in the form of schools and classrooms in order to be effective. This recommendation also includes a Global Framework of Learning Domains. In theory, educators could integrate Common Core standards into the Domains and Subdomain examples. For instance, Literacy and Communication encompass speaking and listening, vocabulary, writing, and reading. Grade 6 ELA Common Core Standards CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.4-6.6 include presentations of concepts and ideas, multimedia displays, and the adaptation of speech to a variety of contexts. On either side of the grade level continuum, the standards evolve and are differentiated in age-appropriate ways. Task Force Recommendation 5 points to Equity and states that the measurement of learning must include a focus on equity. The task force recommends that:
• Actors at country, regional and international levels concentrate measurement efforts on identifying disparities within countries rather than comparisons across countries. • Countries gather data on characteristics of out-of-school children and youth and develop a strategy for reaching them. The position of the Task Force specifies that all children deserve to be educated regardless of their country of origin, wealth, social status, gender, etc. It also calls specifically for keeping data pertaining to improvements over time and across different population groups, as it would not be sufficient to measure equity using average achievement levels. More impressive still, the Task Force demands that students not in school be considered when determining equity disparities and challenges within a country; the reasons why a student does not attend formal education could be very indicative of equity issues within the given country. Finally, the Task Force calls on countries to identify specific equity issues, prioritize this issues, and track the progress of various interventions. ![]() #1 Discussion: How well do you think our schools are meeting the goals of this document? Why or why not? What needs to happen or what are the next steps? The recommendations are broad and idealized, so what does it mean in your classroom? The United States Department of Education published document on Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement lists two broad goals for international strategy: 1) strengthen United States Education and 2) advance the international priorities of the United States. The document goes on to suggest necessary, world-class education for all students, global competencies for all students, international benchmarks, applying lessons learned from other countries, and educational diplomacy and engagement with other countries. At the risk of sounding overtly negative, I do not believe our schools are meeting the goals of this document. Throughout my teaching career, we have seen No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, Common Core Curriculum and myriad other attempts at - wait for it - 'leveling the playing field.' Each time we engage in some new form or standardized curriculum and testing, we run into the same issues: accessibility of materials and resources, lack of funding, inconsistency in implementation, and poor school-home connections, among other challenges. If we agree that public school students in the United States must be able to perform well against other countries so that they can compete in a global economy, then the approach to realizing these goals must shift. The one-size-fits-all approach clearly does not work; we can have professional development on differentiated instruction, tiered instruction or whatever the latest buzzwords are that are floating around the edusphere, and the curriculum and its assessments will still be flat and taught in isolation. In my classroom, this means taking the Student Learning Objectives that I put into my annual Teaching Evaluation software and tweaking them, perhaps adding some of the new Social Studies standards or integrating Global Literacy standards. To that end, I had my sixth grade students today explore GeoStories on the National Geographic Education website; tomorrow we will be reporting back and meeting in small groups to discuss the value in adding this type of exposure. We will also be participating in the 2015 Student Blogging Challenge, which invites participants from all over the world to communicate over the course of a 3 month period. "Succeeding Globally Through International Education and Engagement." U.S. Department of Education International Strategy 2012-12016 (2012): United States Department of Education. Web.
![]() Various perspectives were shared in this week's videos, and each perspective brought different questions and processes to the table. It was important to begin with the RSA Animate video, which gave insight into the 'office space' environment, process, and challenges that go along with it. It was interesting to learn that the lower the cubicle walls and more inclusive the space, the more 'bizarre' and protective employees' behaviors became. The idea of space and temporal flexibility was also addressed. We all, for the most part, have unlimited access to our work environments, regardless of of career. Setting personal boundaries as far as when and where we are willing to check and respond to emails is important; is it always possible? What are our colleagues' expectations? In the case of parents, do they expect a response in fewer than 24 hours? Do our employers require us to do that? The Edutopia video about the real world student internship was excellent. Noah, the student at San Diego Met, is able to put into practice his interests in a concrete, real-life internship. When he graduates from high school, he will have critical lab experience that will surely give him an advantage when applying to colleges and for jobs. Flexible work spaces and time frames are underutilized and underestimated. It is my opinion that we, as educators, attend too many "one size fits all" meetings and workshops that do not apply specifically to our area of expertise. Is it important to know what our colleagues are doing in reading and writing? Absolutely, especially if we are going to embrace our roles as collaborative, globally-reaching facilitators for our students. Does it mean that we need to sit in weekly, multi-hour meetings reviewing data, learning about new screening tools that do not apply to us, or go through events and schedules that could just as easily be shared on a common calendar? As we have seen with our program at UNH, Face-to-Face meetings are important and valuable, and at the same time we are able to find success as students and as collaborators through our Communities, Hangouts, Hubs and Blogs. In a different but very related direction, is our consumption of the products that we are touting as essential for bringing our learners into the 21st century and allowing them to be competitive in emerging global markets dangerous? I don't mean in the way the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends limits on screen time. I mean in the production and manufacturing of these products - ChromeBooks, iPhones, iPads, laptops, desktop computers etc. Are we turning a blind eye to the ethical implications that exist as a result for the high demand of these devices? Do the ends justify the means? If American students are going to be able to compete on the same global stage as China, is it okay that our devices are poisoning their children and our planet? Chinese human rights violations are not new to the news. Should we be paying closer attention? Or pretend to care? Foxconn (Apple parts factory) has been in the news for human rights and workplace conditions scrutiny. Chemicals and procedures for manufacturing electronics are highly toxic and include materials such as lead powder, melamine, methanol, benzine and formaldehyde. Elizabeth O'Connell writes a piece on the effects these toxins have on humans and reproduction. Only now - in 2015 - is Apple publicly banning 'bonded servitude' for factory workers. When we line up for blocks to demand and covet the end product, are we looking the other way? Or are we nodding our approval? Videos: https://www.thersa.org/discover/videos/rsa-animate http://www.edutopia.org/is-school-enough-real-world-internship-video Resources:
http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20150118/Opinion/150119367 http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31438699 http://www.bbc.com/news/10212604 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJWtvFIr0FQ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/526401/laws-and-ethics-cant-keep-pace-with-technology/ The Connecticut Geographic Alliance and the Facing the Future websites as well as Heidi Hayes Jacob provide ample resources for incorporating geo-resources into teacher classrooms. Most of them align beautifully with the Asia Society competencies for Interdisciplinary global curriculum design, which include investigating, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas, and taking action. The following three are impressive for many reasons, the most significant being their ease of implementation and applicability to students' lives and interests. Environmental Awareness: Sustaining the World in My Own Backyard This example provided by Jacob asks the essential questions, "How does human activity impact the stability and diversity of ecosystems? How are people making choices to sustain the world locally and globally?" Our students study various ecosystems in just about every grade level; elementary school students study ocean life, middle school students study watersheds and pollinators, the list goes on. Students research and put into action various plans to intervene on nature's behalf. Climate Change: Connections and Solutions Facing the Future provides a free PDF to teachers for a two-week lesson plan. Throughout the course of study, students are encouraged to collaborate and investigate climate change. They also work together to come up with solutions to the issues they uncover. This plan is also relatively up to date: facts and figures were updated in July 2013. GeoStories from National Geographic The combinations of maps, media and text engage learners in topics such as wetlands, oceans, jazz music, public transportation and more. Interactive maps sit alongside vibrant images and descriptions. Still not impressed? Users can create and embed GeoStories they create on their own websites. Resources:
"Why Is Geo-literacy Important?" - National Geographic Education. National Geographic. Web. "Global Sustainability Education Resources | Facing the Future." Global Sustainability Education Resources | Facing the Future. Web. "Connecticut Geographic Alliance." Connecticut Geographic Alliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Feb. 2015. ![]() RESPONSE #1: After reading Heidi Hayes Jacobs' book, in what ways have you worked with teachers or teaching teams to create interdisciplinary units? Have any had a global perspective? This topic is one that both our department heads and administrators look for in our collaborations, so if you haven't had those discussions yet, this is the time to start thinking about it. If you've not done a collaboration yet, how might you get the conversation started? It is important to begin conversations about creating interdisciplinary units among teachers at school. Heidi Hayes Jacob writes about it in Chapter 5 of her book Mastering Global Literacy. She highlights the dates ways to teach 'the world': map term memorization, country locating in isolation, old standards from 1994. Jacob also brings further attention to the Asia Society's four competencies of investigating, recognizing perspectives, communicating ideas and taking action. In my current position, I have not had nearly enough opportunities to create interdisciplinary units with other teachers in my building. The biggest hurdle to this is the manner in which scheduling of students takes place. I am in the 'Related Arts' section of the schedule, and in the interest of 'mixing it up,' a few students from various classes in the same grade are put into individual sections. Thus, my class sections are mixes of between 3 and 5 homeroom classes. This creates some difficulty in managing the planning of interdisciplinary units. Often times classes aren't studying the same topic, and that would be difficult to support. I could see, if at some point the schedule is modified so that I teach one section of only one class of students at a time, that this would be possible. When students are studying the Revolutionary War and battles and important people, we could supplement this learning with mapping battle locations in Google Earth. We could take virtual tours of different parts of the world during a culture or country unit that a class is engaged in. In the meantime, I do my best to integrate global issues into my curriculum by discussing topics I know that all classes have already covered, and hope that the students' teachers have not already engaged in the same activities. Resources:
Jacobs, Heidi Hayes. Mastering Global Literacy. Indiana: Solution Tree, 2014. Print. Week 3 of #WalkMyWorld begins with the activity to read and annotate Identity by Julio Noboa Polanco and The Rose That Grew from Concrete by Tupac Shakur. Our next step is to "share a surprising side of yourself that tells something about your world. Who are you becoming? Who would you rather be? What are the different sides of your personality? Are you a weed or a flower? What discourses do you use in different spaces? Do you have different identities in different places? How do you want others to view you? How much of your world do you let people see?" I try to play it safe online, especially where Twitter and my Hub are concerned. Not too many pictures of my students' faces. Not too much information about my family and home life. Focus on the professional, the intellectual, the academic. I don't let people in my PLN see much into my personal world. That wasn't always the case. I was the classic extrovert - outgoing, very social, and re-energized by getting together with a big group of people. I loved hosting gatherings at my house - the more crowded the better! My husband's cancer diagnosis in November of 2012 changed all of that; we have two little girls and my focus instantly shifted from my external world to my very private internal world that I grabbed on to and refused to let go. This is a big risk, here, putting in writing how it came to be that I am no longer the extrovert I was. But I believe that in as much as it is risky for me to share and put myself out there, it is what we ask our students to do every day. We ask them to make connections, to write memoirs, to relate a reading to something that happened to them, to keep journals, to share their cultures. We reassure them that they will be safe, that they can trust us, that it will be okay. That they will be better for it. Let me now do the same. Click here to go to my poem 'Catalyst' on Genius. Read “Catalyst” by Tina Hurlbert on Genius |
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