All teachers are learners - All learners are teachers

Well as you are know I am rather active on twitter.  To the point of mania.  I tweet all day and night, and I love it, some people mock my twittering but hey there is a solution it is called the unfollow button.

However my blog has fallen by the wayside because to be honest it is a pain in the butt crafting a blog post when I can tell people what I think multiple times a day 140 characters at a time.  I love the people I communicate with on twitter and have some amazing friendships and one pretty special relationship as a result of it.  I have a special place for the educators I follow and follow me on twitter as they understand that my life is not all about education and that it is ok as an educator to have a life and tell others about that life.  Too often teachers are pigeonholed into only blogging about education or only talking about teaching.  I have to mention Stephen Heppell at this stage because I feel that our knowledge of his sailing and other pursuits increases my engagement of his educational writings.   His writing makes me relate because he is a real person ! He is not Super educator who always has the right answer when it comes to learning.  I do not want the right answer all the time but I do want to engage with people are holistic in their love for life and education.

So back to twitter,

I am a little bit like that high school student that sits in your class incessantly chatting, flickring and texting yet unable to write an essay.  On twitter this is accepted yet in the classroom it is not.  I have become even more like that unmotivated student lately where I grudgingly write this blog post as a means of trying once again to get teachers to understand that there are multiple ways of expressing oneself and that we need to look outside our comfort zone as teachers.

Literacy as we all know is ever changing and we are already seeing the advent of twitter in the marketing sphere with companies jumping on board faster than you can use the buzzwords social media and marketing maven.
How about asking students to critically analyse a celebrity’s tweetstream or to follow a company’s journey on twitter ?  Students are very adept at analysising effective usage of media so instead of mocking or banning a child like me in your class why don’t embrace them?

I would also like to thank all of the educational twitterers who have been part of my journey as an edutweet since April 2007. You know who you are as you put up with all of my non edu tweets and understand that just like it was all education previously I am finding a balance.  I have had this discussion many times with many mentors re online personas and I have to say I live by the advice Sue Waters gave me which is “You can only be one person online”

Now instead of questioning the relevance of twiter, flickr etc in our schools let’s begin looking at the application.  Surely in 2009 we need to get past long winded blogposts about why we need to embed ICT and begin to look at the application of ICT.

Can I first start this blog post with a disclaimer to my allegiances.

I have always throughout my life voted for the Australian Labor Party (sometimes preferences through Greens).  I grew up in a staunchly unionised household where both parents instilled left wing ideology at the rapid rate throughout my childhood.  I am now 28 years of age and a product of my parents I became a teacher and was of course active with the AEU in Victoria.

I recently left teaching a profession which I loved for other opportunities.  Opportunities I was not to experience under the current public school system in Victoria.

Recent media has proven something I knew for quite a long time.

To put it bluntly Victorian Schools are being ripped off by the Brumby Government.  Victoria is the bottom of the class for educational funding.  Now not only are we at the bottom of every state and territory, our government has also cut funding to education over the past 12 months.  I cannot help but get really angry about this because as a voter I need to cast my mind back to when I was a student.  I remember the amazing campaigns to kick Jeff Kennett out of Spring Street by the AEU.  If I remember correctly the AEU actually took a lot of credit for the demise of the state Liberal government.  So can you imagine my annoyance when I see funding and contract teaching rates have slipped back to the Kennett era status and nobody seems to be saying anything about it.

So schools are struggling for funding in Victoria, we are the only state where Internet is charged to schools and yet 10,000 netbooks have been delivered this week.

I applaud such a trial but one has to wonder where the money for the new wireless networks, software and internet charges will come from for these netbooks?  I doubt it will come from ever dwindling state funds.  On a scarier note I think the funds will come from fees and charges to parents across the state.  Fees and charges which are not being paid in other states and Victorians keep blindly paying them because we keep assumming that education funding will be better under a Labor government.

I remember working with a first year graduate at a public school in Melbourne.  They asked me for an AEU form and I said I will be able to find you one.  Another staff member asked this teacher “why are you joining the union?”  His response was:

“I am joining the union as that is what you are meant to do as a teacher, I am also changing my vote to ALP because a labor party looks after teachers”

I am worried that it is this commonplace generalisation about the ALP supporting teachers which has left Victorian Students and Schools the lowest funded in the country.

Come on Victoria, smell the cheese and start speaking out about poor conditions for Victorian Schools.

I have to admit that for the first time in my voting life I am considering putting Labor last in the next State Election as I am tired of the neglect.

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/larlo/2258759062/

Trust image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/xxsnuffxx/69503051/

I have been spending a bit of time lately pondering what I would want in a teacher when starting up a school.  I have seen many posts about “essential skills” for teachers.  The discussions on blogs centre around what technological and pedagogical skills you need as a 21st century teacher.

Whilst I agree with all comments and skillsets required for such a super teacher I cannot help but feel that we are missing trust.

Over the last 6 months working in schools and training teachers.  I have met so many teachers who are lacking trust and as a result students are lacking optimal learning.

They are lacking trust in:

• Their school system to provide support and vision
• Their school leadership to drive systemic change
• In themselves to be able to achieve innovative educational outcomes
• In their students to be able achieve regardless of their background

I am starting to think that this element of trust is somehow being pushed to the back of the needs skillset for our teachers.  I am feeling that as a result of this educators are losing their autonomy to make education decisions which are best for our students.  I work with so many teachers who feel that they cannot trial new ideas or work with students on unstructured projects because leadership will not be happy.

I am keen to start the discussion on what other elements of a teacher you feel are needed.

Do you think trust is missing in education at the moment?

If you believe trust is an important element in education, how to do work to build it?

How can we build systemwide trust?

Well I always knew one day I would catch some bad habit off John Pearce so I unlike Chris Betcher stayed away from the phising attack on twitter when poor Mr Pearce’s account was hacked.  On a more positive note I have been tagged in the 7 things meme.  Apologies for my tardiness both in this meme and in my blog.  Rest assured I am well rested and ready to rant in 2009 about all things educational and sometimes non educational.

So here are the 7 things you may not know about me.

1) I can play the viola.  I learnt through Secondary School and played pretty well too.  I felt special because it was the only instrument at the school on the Alto Clef.  I am also pretty handy at transposing of music as well.

2) I didn’t always want to be a teacher, I wanted to be a vet.  I have an absolute love of animals and that was my chosen vocation until I did work experience and realised that animals get put down.

3) I have an amazing love for show tunes and musicals.  It is not unheard for me to dance around the house to the soundtracks of many musicals….

4) I speak Indonesian as a result of some study and far too much time spent in Bali.  Bali is a bit like my second home.

5) The first movie I cried in was Milo and Otis.

6) I found the love of my life on twitter of all places.  This from the girl who made fun of twitter being blocked in DEECD schools because it was a dating site.

7) I sometimes stop blogging because I feel that I don’t have much to contribute amoungst all the voices that are out there.  I once looked at closing my blog for that reason.  Now I blog for me and when I want.

Now nearly everyone I know has been tagged in this so I thought I would tag some twitter peeps instead.  So I am tagging:

• Annabel @middleclassgirl
• Stephanie @tephdee
• Kerry @kerryank
• Griff @griffmiester
• Tania @taniasheko
• Penny @pennyryder
• Robyn @Robynclarke

Firstly apologies for the lack of blogging, contrary to popular opinion I have not retired my ranting about education.  I did however have a hiatus on getting angry.  This was until my philosophy of education and student learning was under threat by the Rudd proposal to filter Australia’s Internet.

As a teacher I have always believed that it was never our job to decide knowledge and ‘feed’ it to students.  I have and will always believe that through appropropriate and impartial modelling and facilitation we work with students to enable them to disseminate and critical acquire and construct knowledge.

So we are now looking down the barrel of a filtered internet where the government will decide what we can or cannot look at.  This would put our country alongside Iran, China and North Korea in regards to Internet Filtering.

The excuse for this filtering our Government is giving us ???

Well of course it is to protect the children.

Now I think child pornography is abhorrent but I do not see a filtering of our internet as the solution to this.  In fact it could worsen the issue, whereby police and governmental agencies take money out of investigating child pornography rings because funds are diverted to a filter.

So what does this mean for education you may ask?

In my view it means that the government is teaching students that if there is something they shouldn’t see on the internet then it will be filtered from them.  It is teaching students to become passive users of technology and their learning.

As teachers we see Internet Censorship already affecting our teaching practices everyday.  Web 2.0 tools such as nings, twitter, youtube and wikis are blocked in many schools around the country.  Yet our Prime Minister says we are in the middle of an “Education Revolution”

How so I ask?

Is it revolutionary to ?

• Provide laptops to schools with no supporting funds to run them
• Slow down our Internet through mandatory filters at the ISP level
• Block web 2.0 tools in schools so that students in Australia cannot collaborate with schools across the world.
• Encourage parents to put their faith in their child’s internet safety onto a filter

I have seen a lot of discussion about this issue throughout the twittersphere but am yet to see a lot of discussion in the educational blogosphere and I encourage all teachers to visit http://nocleanfeed.com/ and take action by writing to Senator Stephen Conroy and expressing your concerns regarding this invasive plan to restrict our critical thinking and encourage passive use of the internet.

This is one of the most serious things I have ranted on about in recent times and I urge you to comment, blog, write letters and take action on this before it is too late and your responses are filtered.

Thanks to Brownwen Clune for her great video and image sourced from http://www.flickr.com/photos/renelemerle/2986442532/

So here we are again, it is that time of the year where newspapers quickly urge all parents to get out onto the big bad web and find out what their children are doing.

But how to find out what your children are doing?  Not through conversation but through a list of must look sites !

I mean seriously when will the public learn lists for parents to check up on are just useless?
These lists promote a lack of understanding about situations not to mention a total lack of context.  I am reminded back to my own childhood when my mother decided to develop a keen interest in grunge music in some vain attempt to make sure I wasn’t heading down a Kurt Cobain path.  Granted she became a fan but seriously how does this secretive checking up promote responsible use of the internet?

Here are some excerpts from this article which has promoted my rant:

“Mum walks in the door to find the teenager at the PC, supposedly doing homework. If she bothers to look over the teen’s shoulder (and many parents don’t), she will find that her offspring is happily communicating on one of the growing number of social networking sites or immersed in an online game.

YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, Bebo, Windows Live Messenger, Habbo, Second Life, World of Warcraft and iTunes - many parents are bewildered by such terminology and have only a dim understanding of what they are or how they work.

In fact many parents have been left so far behind by the rapid expansion of internet content that they don’t know what their teenagers are looking at or where to start to catch up. Internet safety consultant Robyn Treyvaud urges parents to check out the websites their children are using. Without an understanding of such sites, she says, they cannot possibly understand why they are so mesmerising or set boundaries in terms of use.”

“To keep up with their digital native children, parents need to take the plunge and explore online. “The web is not a ‘thing’, it is a state of mind,” Ms Treyvaud says. “Don’t wait to become an expert because you will never get there.”

So here we are asking parents to keep up with their “digital native” children! What a crock ! The article talks about how msn makes it hard for parents to monitor their kids social lives? How is it any different from any other form of communication?

Articles like these continue to reinforce the belief that parents can keep up with their children through means of checking up on them….. What about honest and open dialogue matched with education which looks at the consequences and benefits of this hyperconnected world?
But wait that would require dialogue! Families would have to speak to each other, parents would have to entrust children…. I mean perish the thought.

Here is a thought what about changing how we use the internet so that we can utilise these powerful social media forms for education as well as socialisation? As teachers what about getting students to gather data from social networking sites to begin to self educate and grow knowledge in relation to internet safety.

The article itself compared to many others is quite harmless but again only offers fear and monitoring as a solution to what it portrays as the problem.

One of my students sent me this awhile ago and said this message hit home more than anything we ever spoke about with internet safety… Hehe

I am very interested in hearing about how other parents, students, teachers and communities are working towards an open dialogue in regards to the internet and hyperconnectedness.

So I have just got back from ACEC2008 in Canberra and met up with many amazing people behind the pixels.  Sometimes you just have to reflect what a wonderful job you have.  I have been given the opportunity to meet so many fantastic minds over the past 4 months.

Now organising such connections once upon a time may have been difficult but due to my state of Hyperconnectedness I am now able to be available and in contact at all times. Through applications such as twitter and tools such as the iphone connections are becoming simpler by the day.  These tools and applications have changed my work and personal life, I meet amazing people through this and have become very used to hyperconnection being a part of my life.  During the conference I was able work out where people were and catch up whilst also staying connected to those I missed back in Melbourne, it was great.

Now for someone like me this is great but what about everyone else around me?  What effect does this hyperconnection have on our relationships, work life and balance?

I was up in Sydney not too long ago and someone said to me ” Do you ever disconnect?” and I didn’t really think about it because their opinion was not of much worth at the time, I just laughed and said “no”.  Then as sometimes happens the world sent me the same message again last night, this time from someone whose opinion I admire and respect. They spoke from the heart about the effect it has and I tell you it really hit home.  I put myself in their shoes (this is a unusual thing for me I recommend it highly) and thought about how I would feel if the situation was reversed.  I would be annoyed and feeling very left out.

This time I took it on board, I not only took it on board I decided to take some action.

Sometime all of us geeks and hyperconnected beings need a reminder that people always come before technology and today is my reflection on this.  I thought I would write about it because I know through conversations that I am not the only one out there that has been guilty of neglecting friends, family and people you care about for a more passive option of engaging with a machine or checking your tweets or reading your rss feeds.  The choice of course really shouldnt even happen but we justify it to oursleves saying that they people will always be there but the lastest information wont be.  Well I am quickly realising that there will always be new information and I need to remember that there are amazing people out there if I turn my iphone off and allow them to interact with me.

Ariel from 52 nights unplugged reflects on this hyperconnection as well.  She has decided to unplug one night a week for a year and of course as us hyperconnected beings do she has decided to blog about it.  Her reflections are raw and real and are inspiring me to switch off more frequently than I do.

This hyperconnection also makes me think of how it will affect students who live with this hyperconnectivity without the people who are real enough to pull them up on it and make them reflect on their practices.

So this was just a short rambled reflection on how hyperconnection has amazing benefits but as with all benefits in life there is also a cost and I ask all readers to reflect and think about the costs with hyperconnection.

To the person who was insightful enough to pull me up on it, thank you, I love learning and this is a great example of how sometimes the best learning experiences are not always what we want to hear.

Comments????

I would love to hear your hyperconnection stories and what you do to disconnect…..

Yes well awhile ago I tried to start another personal blog but decided after talking to a very clever woman that I can only be one person online.  So here is a non education blog post of random things.

Albert Einstein once said

“The world is not a dangerous place because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.”

I find this is very true but shows that he was a man years ahead of his time…Einstein was born in 1879 and died in 1955…I thought they were the good old days?? If they were in fact the “good old days” why is one of the world most brilliant mind quoted as saying his world was ‘evil’? If only he could see us now….

I wonder of we will look back in fiftty years time and tell stories about the ‘good old days’ to our genetically modified children? We can tell them about the dark ages when internet was dial-up…cars ran on petrol…and a STD call was not test results…and so I find myself worried about how ‘evil’ this world can get?

It is human nature to question the future…
I wish I knew if I was really going to stick to this diet and have lost five kilos in three months time….
I wish I knew who was going to win the NRL grand final…
I wish I knew where my mobile phone is….but some people take their need for answers too far.

A girlfirend of mine who doesn’t own a computer so her name is Sarah is obsessed with going to psychics…she goes every two weeks on a Friday and the day before any first date…she also signs up to all the Txt Tarot and Madame Future SMS ads shown at 4 in the morning….I have often told her that it is pointless that she go….her and determination will twist anything the psychics say to be applicable to her life…I may as well do the reading….she can speak to me face-to-face and just give me $4.95 a minute…

But she is not alone…there exists in this world a large but very weird community of people who spend their free time translating and moulding the works of Nostradamus…not that I am not a fan…

…but it seemed to me that Nostradamus only ever predicted bad things….I thought us Aries Girls were optimists! But despite my obvious need not-to-know i decided it was time for these psychics to have their day in court…and why not go straight to the top..

“I’d like to call Nostradamus to the stand….” Now Nostradamus has been said to have predicted Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, both world wars and the nuclear destuction of both Hiroshima and Nagasaki…but there are the fanatics out there who claim he also predicted the World Trade Centre attacks: Century VI, Quatrain 97: At forty-five degrees the sky will burn; Fire will approach the great new city. In an instant a great scattered flame will leap up. Century I, Quatrain 87: Earthshaking fire from the centre of the earth will cause tremors around the New City. Two great rocks will war for a long time, then Arethusa will redden a new river. Pretty trippy huh?

The list goes on and on…scary things he wrote that might of maybe could be relative…possibly…maybe….so what do we do now? Nostradamus has told us that there is a third anti-christ named Mabus….so what can we do about that? Absolutely nothing….that’s what….

So to bring it all home for you it is not that i do not “believe” it is just that I like surprises…and it’s not that i do not heed ancient warnings of a French Seer it’s just that there is nothing I can do…..and besides all these bloody psychics going aroud telling everyone their future how come you never see any newspaper headlines: Psychic wins Lottery….Psychics stops Terrorists Entering Plane…..Psychic predicts Weather?

See Comments on this Post

Recently I got a comment from someone I respect greatly and I wanted to keep the discussion going.  As it was an old post I thought it best to post my comment as a blog response.  I love this type of discussion and thank Peter for taking the time to comment on my blog and I would love others to respond and give me their insights on my original post and related discussions in my post “the great white hope”
Let me first say I won’t be tearing anyone to shreds. I have no wish to “tear (you) to shreds” and I certainly hope that was not your intent. I blog to invite intelligent discourse and whilst I do not have my own book to reference from I am happy to discuss all insights in a measured and intelligent way.

I would have loved to have discussed this in Sydney and please next time anyone is in my presentations please ask questions as discourse in presentations is what moves learning forward. Disagreement can also drive learning forward.  You are right in saying that my focus in my presentation is that it is all about the students but I think you have misinterpreted why I have that focus.  I hardly think that by me saying that putting students first and in charge of their learning I am promoting a narrow model of education.  My focus is that for good teaching to happen teachers need to focus on student learning as the core purpose of their pedagogy.  I am saying that teaching should be student focussed plain and simple.  I was never in my opinion marginalising the role of teachers but suggesting that the focus of professional development and pedagogy should be on how to use these tools for student learning.

In relation to your citing of the Becta research, which was in 2007, can I first say that I have never said that teachers are not important in classrooms.  I have simply said that students are more important because if they are not in the centre of the picture then what is the point?
2008research from a review, which draws evidence from 17 recent impact studies, found:
* The use of ICT impacts positively on educational performance in primary schools, particularly in English, and less so in science and not in mathematics, although there is some evidence that longer use of ICT by young people is linked to improved mathematics scores (Machin et al 2006).
* Use of ICT improves attainment levels of school children in English, in science and in design and technology between ages 7 and 16, particularly in primary schools (Harrison et al 2002).
* In OECD countries there is a positive association between the length of time of ICT use and students’ performance in PISA mathematics tests (OECD 2004).
* Schools with higher levels of e-maturity demonstrate a more rapid increase in performance scores than those with lower levels (Underwood et al 2005.
* Schools with good ICT resources achieve better results than those that are poorly equipped (Pittard, Bannister & Dunn 2003).
* ICT investment impacts on educational standards most when there is fertile ground in schools for making efficient use of the technology (Machin 2006).
* Providing structured approaches to Internet research develops students’ search and research skills, which are transferable across the curriculum (Beta 2006).
* Broadband access in classrooms results in significant improvements in pupils’ performance in national tests taken at age 16 (Underwood 2005).
* Introducing interactive whiteboards results in pupils’ performance in national tests in English (particularly for low-achieving pupils and for writing), mathematics and science improving more than that of pupils in schools without interactive whiteboards (Higgins 2005).
* Issuing teachers with their own laptops increases positive attitudes towards their work (Becta 2003)”
It also goes on to say that teachers pass through three pedagogic phases as they learn to use IWBs effectively. In the first phase, the supported didactic, teachers use the technology in the same way as an ordinary whiteboard. The second phase, interactive, involves deeper understanding of the technology and results in teachers using it to enhance traditional teaching rather than as ‘the driving force for conceptual understanding and cognitive development’ (ibid).

By contrast, those teachers who used IWBs most effectively were in the enhanced interactivity phase” Which was the point of my presentation that enhanced interactivity is best sought through the partnership between teachers and students whereby knowledge is co constructed instead of spoon-fed.

Teachers do not have to have all the answers re IWB usage anymore that philosophy is based on an old Cartesian model of learning of “I think therefore I am” when for us to be 21st century learners we need to be engaged in more participative learning style where “we participate therefore we are” (Seeley Brown keynote 2007)
The central issue is not the teaching or the IWB - it is the professional development and ICT Integration into Digital Taxonomies that will change the use of IWBs, because they will be programmed into the ‘norms’. I don’t know what ‘extreme’ constructivism is, but IWBs are best put to use by the students as it is the one device in the ICT classroom that can be used a group tool - by virtue of it’s ergonomic design. Learning is a conversation in my view, and that of many - and IWBs are best used in collaborative settings.   We have moved beyond technology alone saving us and it is now just an environment this shift in education has allowed the focus to move toward the personalisation of education where individual needs are placed above and beyond the needs of the teachers.  Education in my view is changing where teachers will need to develop autonomy and responsibility for their professional development and the best way to do this is via collaborative learning with students.
We have now shifted from
A teaching focus to a learning focus
Teaching as a private event to teaching as a collaborative practice
School Improvement as an option to school improvement as a requirement
Mandated accountability to mutual accountability
(Nussbuam Beach 2008 http://21stcenturylearning.typepad.com/ )

In schools I have been to, where IWBs are used well - it is by the students with sites such as Mindomo - it is used in way, which Ray Oldenburg talks about as ‘third spaces’. Oldenburg suggests that third places are “anchors” of community life and facilitate and foster broader, more creative interaction. The teacher is not the expert, but an expert guide with life experience who works with the students - not to fill them with content.
Lastly..
In regards to the roll marking in the schools we went to this was their one tool after 2 years of practice.  I still disagree that this is a useful use of an iwb especially if it is done everyday it becomes just as pointless as marking the roll via analogue means.  Like all teaching things work best when they are remixed and ideas are fresh, marking the roll in these classrooms became a routine albeit a different routine but still I would say the use of iwb to support multiple TRIBES strategies such community circles and reflections has a more profound effect on restorative practice than hitting a board to say you are here each morning.

Update** After I wrote this post I recieved a tweet from Sherryl Nussbuam Beach to her video and it reinforced all my thoughts and summed it up so well I thought I would add it to my post. Apologies for not embedding it was having technical issues.

Powerful learning

Please I encourage everyone to enter into this discussion so I can and others learn from the disagreement discourse community which is blogs

This post is a call for understanding.

As a few people know I am a geek, I am not as Geeky as some but I am, a Geek. This does mean that when I am shown a new application I jump on it and play and sometimes ignore my loved ones for awhile in favour of the latest and greatest.

It also means that when I am on twitter or listening to a presentation and someone mentions something I have not heard of the first thing I want to do is go and play with it. Not in five minutes when it is socially appropriate I want to play now !

When the iPhone came out I had to have one and I haven’t regretted the purchase once I might add. So if you haven’t guessed it I like geek toys and love to play with the latest and greatest.

So what? (Many readers must often ask this question when reading my posts )

Well today I had a lightbulb moment thanks to a critical friend. In a session last night I showed a group of teachers skype and the benefits of it. I directed them to a tutorial of how to make a call just in case they forgot what I had said and I demonstrated the power of skype with a Angela Cooke from Tasmania.  In the room with about 30 people there were no questions so I moved on to my next bit.  I showed these wonderful teachers some more web 2.0 applications and how I thought they could be implemented citing examples from actual classroom practice.  Well my audience were not the most interactive I left feeling a little despondant.

The next morning I asked a friend who was at the session for feedback and they asked a few people who attended the session.  Well was I in for a wake up call !  Here are a few comments:

• I know about Web 2.0 just not how to get it on my iwb
• I can use skype but unsure how to download it
• I get web 2.0 but not its relevance to the classroom

Now these comments are not bad in anyway they were real and I have taken them on board in future presentations. I reflected on my need to add further depth to examples and scaffold more.  I am a better educator because of this feedback and thank the person for it.

I am more seeking reflections from the blogosphere about the fact that this is where we are at since 1974 when the first consumer computers hit the stage. This is the same year as the rubics cube and around the same time as the plastic disposable razor, now most people know how to use these devices by now I would assume.

Herein lies my frustration what is it about these plastic chips and boxes that everyone is so scared about?

It leads me back a few weeks ago where I stood with another collegue in amazement when a teacher who had an IWB in their classroom for a few years asked what a button did.  I mean did they ever think of touching it just to see what might happen?  Chances are when you give something a go you will learn something.  Look the learning might not always be great but it is still learning.

Somewhere along the line I think there is a large proportion of adults who have lost their sense of inquisitiveness and wondering. It is this loss of “having a go” that is causing harm to our educational system.

I then stopped and asked why we have become this way as a system? I have to put the blame on the restrictive processes and reform agendas that lie in political backrooms.  We all know education means votes so we are in a climate of constant reform for reforms sake once again forgetting about students.  A few posts ago I spoke about the need for students to be present in planning sessions but on reflection I am starting to think this is not enough, we need students giving governmental inquiry submissions before there will be any real change.

So back on track to my first thought……

In my next presentations do I spoonfeed or give sandpit time?  Which would you prefer?  More importantly which would the greater majority prefer? Also how much scaffolding would you give?  Do I need to make tutorials with how to download skype etc or should we bring back developmental play into PD sessions?

My answers to all of this are summed up by this quote:

“There is no growth in the comfort zone, and no comfort in the growth zone” Thanks to Devesh for the quote