Because the History Classroom Just Ain't What It Used To Be

No sooner did I ask you all to check out my students' new West Civ blog than Andrew B. Watt delivers a comment that turns our student editor's argument on its head.

Fantastic.

Imagine being 15-years-old and putting your work out there for criticism and argument. And imagine receiving criticism and argument almost immediately from some source -- some real person -- beyond the walls of your classroom. Imagine having to think about that and deal with it. And having to do all that in a public sphere.

This is what learning looks like in the 21st century.

I was talking to @schickbob about it earlier, and he nailed it: "The learning starts when commenters start disagreeing with them".

That's what it's all about.

Authentic experiences. Real blogging. Authentic learning. In public.

And learning that you've got to back up what you say and that there's more than one angle to every story.

We can't just pat kids on the head for making a blog. If we do that, we're gonna end up just as inauthentic as the teachers who patted us on the head for writing crappy poetry and putting together cookie-cutter science fair tri-folds. Rather, we've got to use blogs and the connection to the world that the Internet provides to engage our students in real ways to live up to the potential of their convictions while likewise having the humility and sense of civility to provide a forum for discourse.

Thanks to all of you who have supported us along the way to initiating this project and thanks to those of you today who commented on the posts. We plan to post often and we've got some surprises in store as well.

Our tagline is: "Because history just ain't what it used to be". But it might as well be: "Because the history classroom just ain't what it used to be".

Using Authentic Gaming to Engage Kids in Authentic Learning

Here's a reader comment from Steve Lissenden on yesterday's post about gaming and student networks. I repost it here for your perusal as I think he touches on some really important topics -- like using MMOGs to foster creative writing -- that all of us should consider when we talk about authentic assessment and measuring student understanding.

I'm a teaching assistant in a year 5 class (9/10 years old) I am trying to engage one student, who is almost totally switched off from most lessons, by tapping into her interest in WoW. I asked her yesterday to write me a story based upon her adventures in WoW and she straight away picked up her pen and started to list the characters in her story. She has not yet started writing sentences but even so this is progress.

I intend to keep going down this route and intend to bring in opportunities to explore other virtual worlds, such as Myst, as a platform to engage creative writing.

I'm also having conversations with the children about the games they are playing on their consoles to understand the networks they are involved in and the contexts they prefer. This in itself is something new as I have found most teachers either do not think to discuss gaming or, in some cases, actively discourage talk about games. This something I find baffling considering the major part gaming plays in children's lives and the many opportunities this provides for educators to connect with their students in meaningful ways.

Gaming itself is a form of 'text'. And, especially in terms of fantasy MMOGs, games are complex narratives. Well, if you've got a kid who won't read a book, but who maintains a high-level character on a complicated MMOG, the problem likely isn't that the kid isn't able to understand complex narratives.

There's something deeper going on.

I think the key to Steve's method is getting the student to write about his or her character and their experiences in the game. As any gamer knows, it's easily possible to get by on quests after only reading a small portion of the available [directional] text within the game itself; so the experience within the game is often more self-directed and often less driven by a written narrative.

A problem for teaching kids reading and writing?

Not necessarily. Steve's method bypasses the obvious difficulty therein presented. [i.e. Steve makes it not about reading the text necessarily, but reading the experience.]

For if I'm reading him correctly, what Steve is getting at is that he's got a student who may not be a great reader, but who has a natural inclination for internalizing narrative.

And I think most kids internalize narrative. And it expresses itself in different ways whether in MMOGs or running around in the backyard with a wooden sword. It's the foundation of the kinds of role playing games all creative kids enjoy.

The thing we have to consider in terms of reaching these kids is that their internalized narrative might turn out being a better vehicle for expressing understanding and aptitude than any narrative we can pull from the shelf and force upon them. The internalized narrative might prove more valuable to authentic assessment than any of the books on our shelves.

Bring on the Kids

I fully realize that's there's no chance in hell of it actually happening, but I'm still pushing for kids to keynote ISTE 2010.

Russ Goerend Tweeted me this eve with a note that there are a couple other student-led proposals. I say: Right on, let's vote for them, too!

The first is a proposal entitled 'PLN: For Students by Students'. The second is 'Real Voices from Students and Teachers: The Real Impact of 21st Century Learning'.

Either would be fine with me.

When it comes down to it, I just want to see what the kids have to say to us. I find it so frustrating that every time I go to a conference I get talked to by some professional commentator or another.

Enough.

I want the real thing. I want students to stand up there on stage and give us the low-down.

ISTE is accepting votes through Nov 15. And while there are some noble ideas at the top of the heap -- 'Effective School Leadership for the Digital, Global Era' / 'Trends, Tools and Tactics for 21st Century Learning' / 'Universal Design for Learning' -- the conference-goer in me just finds the topics kinda 'meh'.

Especially given the fact that this crowd-sourced keynote will represent only one of four.

I guess I feel like I've heard the experts. Now, I want to know what's really going on.

Bring on the kids.

The Network Saves Lives

Short (though intentionally ambiguous) Story Short: Thanks to the 21st century network, we've got one more shining light (in the form of a student) still on the horizon.

This had nothing to do with 'health' health; this had to do with 'academic' health.

Ironically, nothing about this will be explicated via a blog post. Consider it just one of those things you've got to ask me about in person.

Because sometimes we have to take the role of academic ambulance; and all you drivers just gotta get outta the way. (I apologize in advance for any and all mixed metaphors... it's part of the business.)

The Kids are Alright (so give 'em the stage)

No limit on the number of keynote suggestions you can make for the ISTE 2010 keynote, so I made another one. One I've been mulling over in the days since I first heard about the way ISTE was crowdsourcing part of the selection process this year.

Here's the proposal in a nutshell:

'The Kids are Alright (so give 'em the stage)'

Unless you are 15 years old in 2010, you have no idea what it's like to be 15 years old in 2010.

One of the most frustrating things about the education profession is the scant amount of time we spend listening to the ideas and reflections of the students we teach when it comes to the realities of what it feels like to be taught and to learn. We can talk amongst ourselves all we like about 'leadership' and 'educational tools' and 'best practices', but over and over again it's the voice of the students themselves -- the ones with the biggest stake in the debate -- that goes missing from the discussion.

So let's do something different with this keynote: Let's hear from the kids. Let's hear from the real experts: the students. Let's hear from kids who have no nostalgia for an analogue past. Let's hear from the idealists. Let's hear from the ones whose career and profession don't depend on scoring a keynote.

The kids are alright. Let's give 'em the stage.

Reflecting on what it is that I do everyday and what so many of you do everyday, I can't think of a better opportunity to really use the ISTE stage for something worthwhile than to hand it over to the students.

So often at these conferences, I feel like we talk about kids like they are mice in a lab.

Well, I say we shake up the conference scene and let the mice sing.

If you are with me on this, go ahead and vote here on ISTE's site.

A Response to 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children'

Have gotten a lot of responses from folks on this blog and on Twitter as well as in person regarding my 'Letter to the Teachers of My Children' posted last week.

Today an anonymous comment rolled in and I think it's worth taking a good long look at it:

Glad to know you know so much more than your kids' teachers do about what tbey should learn and how they should learn it. Why don't you just save the whole lot of you a bunch of trouble and home school your kids?

Now I have no idea who wrote this, but I do care a lot about what they think. Because I think if one's immediate reaction to a letter from a parent is to fall into an 'us' versus 'them' mentality where we tell parents to go homeschool their kids, then we really aren't getting anywhere in education.

Secondly, I do know more about my boys than their 3rd grade teacher. I do know how one of them clams up when in conversation with strangers and I know how the other obsesses over every little thing. I know what books they've read and what books they've thought were fluff. I know that they hate 'childrens' music' and that they think Disney sucks. I know what they look like when they are happy and I know when they are faking it (and they are good at that).

Their third grade teacher will have known them for two days; I've known them for close to nine years.

Now I have no idea whether the writer of the comment was a teacher. Maybe, maybe not. Hope not. But maybe.

Let's for the sake of discussion say it was.

Well, in that case, rather than getting huffy about somebody stepping on the toes of your profession, you'd sure as heck be better off starting to try to build closer relations with families. Because kids don't learn just because they are in a classroom; and just because the kid isn't in the classroom doesn't mean he's not learning.

I cherish every meeting I've ever had with a parent (even the one where a mother threw books and papers at me); because insight into the world of a parent and insight into the ways a parent sees their child is insight into the world of the child. And it's that child that you as teacher have the honor of spending some time with everyday.

Each kid in your class is an honor.

So don't give me some anonymous junk about "You should just homeschool your kids". I'm a teacher myself, I'm a professional, and I don't have the audacity to pretend that the parents of my kids can't help me to better teach them.

ISTEvision: Digital Stories from Teachers and Students

One part of the virtual NECC has been ISTEvision.

My favorite aspect of the site is the section devoted to digital stories by real teachers and real students.

From the story of a rural Idaho classroom which has connected to a classroom in New Zealand to teacher statements about their commitment to bringing authentic educational uses of technology into their classrooms, this series of videos -- from the amateur to the glossy -- is testament to the dedication of teachers and students to meeting the demands of the 21st century.

Quest Atlantis at NECC: Using Virtual Worlds to Teach Net Citizenship

Comment came from the panel at the Quest Atlantis session this afternoon with regard to something that came up during one of the leadership sessions at NECC 2009.

One of the members there suggested that we just get beyond fear.

Start acting like educators and stop being afraid of making mistakes.

Allow mistakes to produce innovation.

And that's so right on. Maybe we should ask the folks who demand we live by the rules of their fear exactly what it is that they've innovated recently.

None of us want kids to be put in harms' way. I've got three elementary aged kids of my own. I want them to be safe online.

But in the same way that you need to go through the somewhat dangerous practice of driver's ed in order to teach a kid how to drive safely, you need to teach kids how to exist in the virtual realm in order to teach them how to be a responsible Web citizen.

Quest Atlantis is exactly the type of virtual world to allow this sense of play and learning about virtual worlds among schoolkids.

***

In the same session, the question of strangers and meeting people online came up.

Quest Atlantis itself is a very safe virtual environment for kids. Second Life it is not. It's more of a practice world where students get to take in all different sorts of lessons.

But there's really an even bigger reason we need kids to learn to manage their online lives as young people. Because, the world that they will enter into as young adults will be a world where they can NOT hide from strangers and the unknown. It is a world in which -- if they are going to be successful -- they will have to be prepared to ENGAGE strangers and the unknown.

Rather than hide from strangers, the panel threw down the real gauntlet:

"We should be TRYING to meet other people".

What it comes down to is this: we need to teach kids how to become citizens of the world. This doesn't mean we want to throw them into some imaginary nest of Internet perverts in a Second Life whorehouse. It means we want them to understand that 'being connected' means being connected to everyone; and that with connection comes responsibility.

And - most of all -- it means that you are not the center of, but rather a vital part of that world. You and billions of other people.

Student-centered virtual worlds such as Quest Atlantis are precisely the type of place where this education in digital citizenship can start.

***

Get beyond fear.

No fear of technology. No fear of one another.

Idealistic? Yes.

Necessary? Absolutely.

Possible? If you want it.

You Wanna Know What's Going on in Ed Tech? Ask the teachers and students.

Finally found what I came here for.

Unsurprisingly, perhaps, in room dedicated to the student showcase.

No corporate spokespeople. No flashy commercial displays. Just real kids and real teachers showing what they are doing integrating technology into their classrooms.

When it comes down to the brass tacks, this is what NECC is all about.

Because without those kids and those teachers actually having the audacity to engage with tech in their learning environments, all is for naught.

Without that connection being made, without that learning taking place, it's all a carnival.

Among my favorites was a project taken on by Antonio Lenoyr and his students at the Cedros school using Google SketchUp to visualize concepts in geometry and architecture in a unit on 'Architecture and Urbanism'. Another was a presentation on 'Virtual Pioneers' by a teacher named Andrew Wheelock and his middle-school students. And then there was the digital portfolio program from Rhode Island public schools.

In the center of the room is a '21st century Media Center' where teachers and librarians are helping each other learn how to navigate Second Life, create digital storyboards, edit Wikis, and create their own blogs. It's hands-on learning at its best.

As I'm sitting here blogging in the center of all of this activity, I can't help but think: this is what it's all about. It's about giving the tools to students and teachers so that they can make connections. And who are we to say what those connections will or will not be.

Our task as educators is to confirm in our students' hearts and minds that they have both the right and capability to think, make, and do. Our task is to give them the support via content, tools, and skills to think, make, and do. But our task is not to teach them what to think, make, and do.

The big difference between this room of teachers and students and a lot of what was going on downstairs in the big convention room full of tech and software companies lies in that distinction.

Real Time Learning

A reader writes:

I know my students are always asking "why am I learning this". With social media as the initial introduction, they might never ask that question again. Things are happening in the "real" world in "real" time. They will see the need for educating themselves.

They will see the need if we model it to them. That's part of what it takes to be a 21st century teacher: you must model authentic and connected real-time learning.

A 21st Century Dilemma

Interesting question from Ann Darling popped up in the comments of the Blocking discussion over at ISTE:

Is it ethical to use web 2.0 tools in classrooms knowing that our students must provide personal information to create their accounts?

Hmm. Talk about ethical dilemmas!

We all know that an alias and an alt Gmail account pwn any Web 2.0 log-in without giving away any personal information. We also know how annoying it is to have to deal with anons on blogs or discussion boards.

So, the dilemma: Do you let kids alt their way around outmoded firewalls and proceed anonymously through Web 2.0, or do you teach them to approach social media in an open manner and risk whatever consequences?

Discussion on Students and Internet Blocking at ISTE Connects

The discussion at ISTE Connects concerning Students and Internet Blocking has been remarkable.

In the past week, we've had discussion between teachers and admins on all sides of the debate, IT and tech workers whose job description entails doing the actual blocking, and even executives from the filtering industry.

I'd like to thank the folks at ISTE for giving me the opportunity to guest blog on their site; this has opened up a wonderful conversation.

A Good Use of Paper

There is a false bottom in the lower drawer of my desk. In that hideaway, I keep the one thing that keeps me coming back to work each August.

It's a short stack of envelopes filled with letters written to me by graduating Seniors.

Each year, I receive a few more and I add them to the stack. And each Graduation Day at roughly this time -- just before 11 in the morning -- I go back and re-read each of those letters.

I will not be so presumptuous as to divulge any of the content of what those letters contain. But I will say this: without those letters, I would have given up teaching long ago.

A lot of folks don't realize just what teachers go through over the course of an academic year. And though all teachers are different, I can say that in my case -- by the end of it all -- I am run down to the core. I am a man with exposed nerve endings. I am a sleepless and exhausted fool. I've got nothing left. I usually need a month just to recover lost sleep and brutally crushed synapses.

And it's just not worth it...

but for the letters.

***

Not that many students follow this blog, but for the couple that may, here's what I've got to say to you:

Thank you. I apologize that too often we teachers get caught up with other things going on and it takes us until the end of the year to finally get around to saying it, but: thank you.

Your letters inspire me. Your letters create for me a compendium of memory. And your letters help me realize that you do not need me around anymore. And that's the best thing for which a teacher can hope.

***

Nice use of paper, letters are. Sure better than hundreds of copies of a PowerPoint handed out at a faculty meeting. Sure better than thousands of multi-paged multiple choice tests.

Letters. The Roman statesman Cicero once said that life would mean nothing if not for the light of literature. And for me that means letters. Because those letters stuffed away in that desk drawer produce enough light to keep me going each year. Without them, most certainly, I would be lost in the darkness of an empty classroom.

The Great Teachers of the 21st Century

The blocking woes continue:

"How can I be a great teacher in the 21st century when the majority of the great tools are blocked?"

asks Reader Knaus.

And his great crime?

I'm actually pretty proud of myself. I single handedly got Vimeo blocked in my district. I uploaded 4 short video files to Vimeo during my lunch hour for a grad class I teach. The next day, the site was blocked.

What were the videos? Porn? No.

E-portfolio 'help videos' created using Screen Flow. Block someone who is creating helps for students and future teachers. Nice!

Knaus, you do realize that we are but the foundation blocks of 21st century education? Heck, we aren't even the foundation blocks. We're like the mix they use to make the foundation blocks.

Folks were still riding horses in 1909. Baltimore to D.C. by train was a five hour trip (I exaggerate... but, really now!).

We are in the early stages.

And so, there are going to be innumerable difficulties. After all, it's not just tools and sites we're trying to get unblocked. It's attitudes and preconceptions that we're trying to unblock.

Fight on. Because in doing so, you not only help form that foundation, you also inspire your students.

And they are the ones who will be the great teachers of the 21st century.

Trust

Do you trust your students?

A lot of the debate around the manageability of a paperless classroom has to do with trust. Of course there are going to be times when students are caught off-track doing something they aren't supposed to be doing. They are kids, after all. And they've gotten into trouble like this long before the advent of 1:1 computing. But what do you do now that instead of a student sneaking in a comic book to history class, the student's laptop is connected to thousands of comic books all accessible in class?

Many teachers would say: take the comic book away. But, in the case of 1:1 computing, that amounts to taking away the Internet. At which point you have to ask yourself, "What's the point of 1:1 computing?"

The laptop is not a glorified word processor. It's a connection tool. It connects students to the Web in real time. That connection is the point of the whole thing.

None of this 'paperless' mumbo jumbo would mean a darned thing if it were just a matter of saving some paper and being able to use a couple cool software programs in class.

Rather, 'paperless' is really synonymous with 'connected'. And that's what our students are facing: the challenge of being connected. It is a physical fact in the sense that they have instant access to mass amounts of information. It is also an ethical fact in the sense that what they do online and who they interact with can have either greatly beneficial or greatly harmful outcomes.

So in a very real way, the manner with which we address issues of trust in the classroom with regard to the use of the Internet will have a definite effect on the way in which our students are both physically and ethically acclimated to the Digital Age.

So are you ready to take away those comic books?

What kind of message do you think it will send to students to deny them access to information in the name of educational discipline? By the time they are high school seniors, most have read either Orwell or Huxley or Heller. Do you think they can't make the connection? Can you?

***

Do your students trust you?

Teachers often tend to think of classroom management and discipline in terms of student behavior.

But what about teacher behavior?

If you stand in front of a class and whine and complain about technology, do you think this might effect your ability to manage the class while using technology?

Do you not realize that students can tell whether the use of technology is seamless and natural for you or whether you are struggling. Recently, a student told me of a teacher in class beating on a keyboard to try to get a program to open. Guess what, said teacher: when it comes to technology and your ability to maintain a professional attitude about its use in and among your classes, you've goofed. Your students don't believe a thing you say about tech. They've tuned you out.

They don't trust you.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This whole education thing: it's not about making teachers feel comfortable. It's about educating students. And the students of today are not standing at the same point on the great timeline of history as the students of even ten years ago. Yes they need to learn the great themes of literature, the arts, science, history, and civilization. But, they need to learn those things in a manner that is applicable to the way that the world of today really is, not the way any of us wished it were.

Our current high school seniors are entering into the fiercest college acceptance and job market we have ever known. The U.S. is not even ranked in the top 10 worldwide for math and science. We've spent the last eight years cutting the arts AND technology. And we still in good faith give our students bubble tests and ask them to answer questions from twenty-year-old textbooks. We put ton after ton of taxpayer dollars into new forms of standardized tests and yet we can't commit as a culture to taking an active and immediate role in ending the digital divide.

From an economic perspective, there is no reason every student in this country does not have a laptop and free Internet access.

We complain and we test and test and test. And we pat ourselves on the back that most second graders in certain schools can read at a second grade level. Congratulate?!?

The fact of the matter is, from the viewpoint of many of our students, the role of schools and teachers is to 'educate' them by keeping them in line and on track. Meanwhile, the world has already stepped out of line and it's given up the tracks in favor of flight.

It's a wonder that any of them DO trust us.