The Connected Classroom as Conduit to Global Community

"Only Connect ..."  -- E.M. Forster, Howard's End 

For years, the assessment I conducted in my English classroom was, in essence, a single-channel dialogue between teacher and student.  The student considers the prompt and puts thoughts to the page.  The teacher responds with commentary.  The student rewrites, perhaps making meaningful use of the teacher's feedback in a way that promotes enduring understanding. Repeat until June. 

Over time, and with the benefit of wisdom that trial and error makes possible, I have refined my thinking about the essential nature of the transaction that takes place each day in the classroom.   As technology becomes more ubiquitous and affordable in schools -- both institutionally deployed, and carried in our students' bookbags each day --  our classrooms now can become platforms for networks and conversations, with the scope of assessment broadening to include all participants in the room.  My aim in planning both the formative and cumulative assessments in my classes is now to promote conversational and connected interactions with the material, and a responsive feedback process that increases the accountability not only on both sides of the traditional channel of teacher and student, but also through the additional channels of peer interaction.

This year, I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to tackle a number of new challenges.  Beyond the work I am doing as a part of my school's academics office, I am also teaching our "Third Form Seminar" course -- an introduction to global studies and essential academic skills for 9th graders.  As in other Third Form Seminar classes, my students are connecting with the global community by reading from a list of newspapers published outside of the United States.  They are also connecting with each other through a course group on the social bookmarking service, Diigo. By sharing their bookmarks and annotations each week, they are gaining a broader view of issues of global consequence than they would if the course simply hewed to the traditional, single-channel dialogue between teacher and student. Our discussions of globalization and trade are now richer for our collective awareness of the issues of consequence to citizens in other parts of the world. 

While technology's capacity to transform classrooms in this way is appropriately labelled disruptive to the status quo in education, in reality, these tools are allowing us to become more faithful to the connectedness that is intrinsic to human nature.  Some bemoan the loss of the human element in the digital world of MOOC's and asynchronous delivery of course content online, but it is worth considering the ways to optimize the connective power of our schools and classrooms. 

Sunday Reads

A short sampling of what I have been reading this week:

"The Social Networks of Emily Dickinson, Paul Gaugin, and Charlotte Bronte":  Do social networks foster creativity? 

"Curation in the Age of Abundance": Curation is a developing buzzword in education circles, as well as in the world of ideas online-- the work of Maria Popova at Brainpickings, in particular.  This article draws a thread from ongoing conversation at SXSWEDU 2012, envisioning a shift from educators as deliverers of content to curators of inspiration.  Side links in the article to Austin Kleon's "Steal Like an Artist" and Popova's "Curator's Code".

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announced his plans to step down this week.  One of my favorite Williams moments was his discussion with author Philip Pullman (the His Dark Materials Trilogy) regarding the role of religion in modern life.  Here they are as a part of a BBC "Start the Week" Podcast and the continuation of the Dark Materials Debate (via Telegraph UK).

"I Was a Cookbook Ghostwriter" a food industry confessional written by Julia Moskin , a former cookbook scribe who tells all about the cult of the celebrity chef, and those who toil -- sometimes in obscurity -- to reproduce a chef's style in a set of recipes (via The New York Times). 

"30 Ideas for Teaching Writing": A collection of ideas, reflections and resources to enrich the experience of writing in the classroom (via The National Writing Project).  I have used "metawriting" techniques (#8) very successfully in the past, in the form of self-diagnostics and proces-based writing conferences. 

"9 PBL On-Line Resources that Put Students at the Center": Using tech tools to generate a richer, more inclusive, and student-driven dialogue.  (via Michael Gorman)


"Toward an Architecture of Place": The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) on using architecture to create a cohesive sense of context in public space, and considering human aspect of place-making in particular.

Edible Institute 2012 Recap: A useful overview of current ideas and discussion in the world of local food, sustainable agriculture, and ethical eating.  In three parts: I, II, III (via Be Food Smart)

The Future of the Book

Apple's iBooks Author hit the wires last week, with the education world alternately praising the innovation of the self-publishing model, and condemning Apple for taking a piece of the action (or for "Unmasking the Death Star" ... depending on whom you ask).  More on Author, and its impact on the independent school world, anon.  This new development in publishing has me thinking of a piece I saw some time back, IDEO'S "The Future of the Book" 


The Future of the Book. from IDEO on Vimeo.

29 Ways to Stay Creative

There's no time like the new year to revamp your strategies for success both at home and in the workplace.  Sure, given the volume of resolutions that go unfilled by year's end, starting over on January 1 might seem like setting oneself up for failure (why not March 1st?  September 18th?).  This year, I'm hoping to set in motion some simple, easy habits of mind and rhythms of life that will provide a positive rate of return.

On that note, here are 29 Ways to Stay Creative


29 WAYS TO STAY CREATIVE from TO-FU on Vimeo.

I'm already drinking coffee (#8), so I've got that going for me... which is nice.  

As I re-energize my writing and thinking in this space over the next year, I'm sure that you, gentle reader, will find these strategies informing my work.  Chiefly, the potentially isolating work of teaching is one of the issues I'm hoping to address as I improve my effectiveness in the classroom and expand my PLN (Personal Learning Network).  To that end, I am grateful for those who have helped in offering me feedback (#12), and who will be creative partners in collaboration (#13).

What the musings gathered here offer us is a way to make our peace with the modern working world.  Though the myth of the individual innovator abounds, we are more effective when we network with other creative people (#11), and allow ourselves to be imperfectly human (#14, #16, #25).  Here's to more instructive errors, and creative success in 2012.

A World Class Education ... For Free

Your seat is waiting in lecture halls and classrooms all over the world.   The 21st century classroom is networked and global, with universities leading the way in breaking down the traditional barriers to entry.

Among the leaders are MIT Open CourseWare and Open Yale Courses.  Still more content can be found on iTunesU and lectures from PBS and NPR's Forum Network.  Finally, TED Talks offers a chance to watch lectures by the world's thought leaders on a wide variety of topics: technology, sustainability, globalization, music, and even tying one's shoes in a properly innovative fashion. 

Perhaps most germane to your high school experience are enrichment courses offered by Khan Academy and HippoCampus, both designed to provide a series of videos explaining concepts from topics like Algebra, Calculus, Chemistry, History, Physics, and even SAT Prep.

Sure, you could continue to see the internet as purely a social vehicle, and a time waster.  While the internet is very good at providing a platform purely for entertainment, the emergence of video content provides the potential for more robust educational experience, informed by the same traits we seek in our diversions.   The keys to the world's libraries are in your hands; use them!

UPDATE (10/18): Mind/Shift offers up "10 Open Education Resources You May Not Know About (But Should)" in honor of the OpenCourseWare Consortium's celebration of 10 years of OpenCourseWare.  Check it out! 

Summer Reads!

(Mortsan/ Flickr)

July 4th, that most quintessential of summer holidays, has come and gone.  For me, this is the point in my summer when I finally feel the grip of school start to loosen, and take up the projects I have neglected for the previous nine months of the year.  Among them is the decadent luxury of reading --at length--for pleasure.

I hope you'll settle in on the porch, at the beach, or even at a local coffee shop with great book for an afternoon or two this summer.  

Looking for titles?  Check out these lists:
NPR's Summer Reads 2011
The Guardian (UK) "1000 Novels Everyone Must Read"
NEH (National Endowment for the Humanities) "Summertime Favorites"

My favorite independent book shop, The Harvard Bookstore, also maintains user friendly lists: check out their slick Top 100, and Staff Fiction Suggestions.  Their homepage, complete with interactive store window display, is an engaging example of a bricks and mortar business adapting to the new 21st century landscape of digital bookselling.  Not to be too preachy, but remember to buy locally, and support the businesses that make your community a unique place to live.

Read on, readers!

Biodiversity as Natural Capital

Diversity is more than just a mantra. Beyond the mission statements, glossy admissions brochures, and announcements at meeting time, we feel the importance of diversity intuitively, viscerally. Are we hard wired to seek diversity? On a more rudimentary level, does a healthy society require diversity? Public Radio International's fascinating daily program The World features a story today, "Biodiversity as Natural Capital" about the work of Thomas Lovejoy, who examines the importance of biodiversity to our ecosystems.

The Elusive Small House Utopia

The Elusive Small House Utopia is a fascinating recent article from the NYT Magazine, both for what it says about what we want from shelter these days, as well as what we might desire at some point in the imagined future. What sort of future will it be? How might we create a home ground that actually might work to enable our utopian vision of the future? Local boy Thoreau gets a mention (of course), but the Home for a New Economy is not gunning for anything quite so radical as his 10 x 15 foot hermitage. Think 1,700 - 2,000 square feet.

What does your ideal home look like, and what does that say about you?