Growth Mindsets

Last night I participated in my very first Twitter #edchatnz. I started off on my Twitter homepage and quickly realised that I was going to need to venture into TweetDeck. A few minutes later it was all systems go..... at 200km/h it seemed. Tweets were flying through the ether and I was back in noob-ville (population 2 or 3). But I was in and giving it a go - quite apt given that the focus for the evening was a discussion of fixed versus growth mindsets.

There are many ways these terms can be applied in education, and last night's Twitter discussion was evidence of all the ways this is true. My first contribution was to share something I heard a student say that day. She had been talking about "cab maths" (cabbage). It rolled off her tongue and her friend knew exactly what she was talking about. I have heard this term - and those similar - in other schools, so I realise it is not unique to mine. My question last night was "Where did this terrible label come from? Fixed mindset teachers/systems?" Are we perpetuating fixed mindsets through the systems we adhere to in schools and our own fixed beliefs about the students in front of us?

When we stream classes, someone has to end up at the "bottom". How do we remove the ceiling that is imposed by the next class up? How about we let the students know that they can get in the elevator and bypass those floors - that the level they find themselves in is only a starting point and which floor they end up on is only limited by the buttons they choose to push?

As teachers we need to ensure we do not fall into the trap of labelling and settling. We should not enter our classrooms as we return to teaching in the coming week, having already placed caps on what we think our students are capable of. Yes, we can look at the data from previous years, but we have to believe that this gives us a starting point, not an ending point. If teachers do not believe this, then it really is no wonder that "cab maths" exists.

This year there are already lots of challenging and exciting opportunities before me that will help me grow as a professional. My job in the coming weeks is to discover what challenges and opportunities each of my students needs to help him or her grow.

To SOLO or not to SOLO

So I am supposed to be on holiday now, but I have an inability to unwind which I put down to one and a half decades of teaching. Instead, I have been browsing Twitter and the like, catching up on some professional reading. It has been a very busy term and this blog, which I set up with noble intentions for reflective practice, has been at the bottom of my to-do pile.

However, I have been a member of a workplace PLC looking into SOLO. We have been doing some reading, research, and a few classroom trials. We also had a session with Pam Hook to get us off on the right track.

The group's thinking at the moment is that we can see potential in SOLO; it helps us to clarify the learning intentions and aims of our units and is getting us thinking about how we really break things down for our students. One thing we don't like about SOLO is the language: uni-structural, multi-structural, and so on. Perhaps if you are a science teacher it might appeal, but as an English teacher it does not dance trippingly off the tongue. We feel that students are bombarded with enough teacher-speak as it is and we are thinking about ways to link SOLO to our national assessment system terminology. It shouldn't be too difficult as they are structurally very similar. Luckily I work in a school that recognises the need for adequate time when it comes to professional learning and thinking, so we have at least this year to experiment.

Inquiry into 21st century learning environments and digital literacy

This report has just been released by the Education and Science Committee (NZ Members of Parliament), after some consultation with sector stakeholders. While I see such reports as useful to a certain extent, I do have to wonder what difference it will make.

My concern is that the stakeholders who made submissions are those at the forefront of testing the waters as far as e-learning is concerned. They are educators who happily spend hours posting on Twitter, or posting in a variety of e-learning forums; they are list members of a range of education-focused groups; they trawl the net for new web 2.0 tools/mobile apps, give some of them a go in class, have a number of blogs and/or wikis, and generally spend close to 24/7 attached to a digital device. I count myself among this breed, so I am not dismissing them. However, I also understand that this sort of passion for and curiosity about technology is not ubiquitous in the teaching profession.

Technology scares a lot of people, but more than that, it takes a hell of a lot of time! I spend hours and hours on my laptop - often to the detriment of other things. While I (usually) enjoy this time, I know I am in the minority. I worry that submissions to the committee above are made by the evangelical, by those who may have roles that allow them the extra time for ICT that the average teacher does not have. I worry that they are not representative of a wide enough range of educational practitioners. It would be good to see some independent research undertaken to establish the constraints of technology and e-learning in the average NZ classroom - the classrooms that have not been represented in this report. If we are to make any progress at all, surely it is the voice of the average teacher that needs to be heard. That is where transformational change will really start.

Speaking of Bloom

I love my smartphone but I don't really want to use it for school work as it is currently my last bastion of sanctuary. However, that doesn't stop me from checking out all the education apps for android, and some kind souls have even created lovely visuals using Bloom's Taxonomy.

A few years ago, I came across Andrew Churches' Educational Origami, and it remains one of the most comprehensive that I have seen. It's a great place to visit if you are curious about a Bloom's Digital Taxonomy approach.

Kathy Shrock's Bloomin' Apps could be a particularly useful page if you teach in a BYOD school. She has merged visuals, Bloom's and helpful links to a wide range of apps for both Android and iOS, as well as Google and other web 2.0 tools.

Perhaps a goal for me this year could be to create my own digital Bloom's chart, and I can only fill in a spot when I have used an app or tool with a class. 

Swirling in the mists

So, here I am. Adding another blog to my name, and to the ever-expanding blogosphere. 

This one is, I suppose you could say, my attempt to create a space for processing and synthesising my professional readings (nodding in the direction of Bloom). My brain has become full-to-overflowing with the constant changes and new products of IT in education. Twitter is great - my PLN (ooh-err, look at me with the flash buzz words). But what do you do with so much information? I bookmark a lot of it on Diigo but I then tend to forget what is in there. 

So, here I am. Adding another blog to my name, and to the ever-expanding blogosphere.

Just in case you want to buy the shirt: http://bit.ly/Wjcqhd

Today, my biggest blog decisions have been what background to use, and what to call it. I remember when I first started teaching, many moons ago, I had that noob idea that I was supposed to know everything; to be the fountain of knowledge. Luckily, I had landed in a department where lots of people knew lots of things but nobody professed to know it all. It was the perfect spot for a beginner. The internet was in its embryonic stage back then, so I have been lucky enough to grow along with it. I only had to endure a few years of spending hours (and spending money on photocopying) in the Auckland Public Library trawling through tomes to gather notes for my students. Thank goodness for the internet - not so much wheel-inventing needed now; I just have to add my own spokes. 

So, here I am. Adding another blog to my name, and to the ever-expanding blogosphere. I know, I know.... stop repeating myself; it's not interestingly arty, it's just annoying ;)