Monet and Learning

My family had the opportunity to visit Monet and the Impressionists at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney on the weekend and my 4 year old daughter’s enthusiasm to learn (without this ever being discussed) was both a joy and instructive to the educator within.

I always get an audio guide – when available at galleries and museums - and before long Lucy wanted to know what it was. We ended up going back out of the exhibit to get her one of the junior ones (certainly not designed for a 4 y.o) and I am so glad we took the trouble to do this.

She enthusiastically sought out the audio icons and listened patiently to every minute of recorded information asking the occasional question – what’s a beret? What I found fascinating was how she had to grapple with the number pad to type in the code for each painting but soon was self-sufficient. There was more numeracy in a trip to the art gallery then I’d ever have imagined.

After we had exhausted the possibilities of each different phase of Monet (and his colleagues) artistic development I asked Lucy which was her favourite(s). She instantly said, ‘the one with the girl reading’ and we had to go back to the start of the exhibition to see August Toulmouche’s, “The Reading Lesson”.

 

Thinking about her choice later in the day it was evident that of all the topics and subjects explored the most familiar to Lucy’s life was not a cathedral in Rouen or a haystack or a pond but the image of a girl reading. My bespectacled little angel has had her nose in a book since…well, always.

babycino anyone?

As we wandered around the free exhibits my observations of Lucy and thoughts about constructivist notions of learning were interrupted by a squeal from Sarah who was babbling something about The Upside Down Show. She had spotted that massive painting by Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille that had featured in the show. The next 20 minutes was spent with Kate showing them where the episode was filmed and spotting other paintings. We watched the ‘Art Gallery’ episode again on the weekend and the girls had a different, deeper understanding after the day, one would imagine.

Vive L

Kids (and adults too) build on what they know and their brains connect experiences, if they have the opportunity to choose, discuss and enjoy. Learning needs to integrated, holistic and fun. It needs to be relevant and real. Numeracy, culture, art, tv shows, creativity and technology can be seamlessly part of the one experience.

When we returned home, the girls painted en plein air for two hours. Maybe all of us (educators) would do well to remember Monet’s advice:

“I would advise young artists . . . to paint as they can, as long as they can, without being afraid of painting badly . . . ”

The SMH has a good video introduction to the exhibition by the curator that is brief and worth looking at if you are interested.

Digital Education Revolution: School Development Day – Teacher Professional Learning

 

Colleagues,

 

Increasingly students must take responsibility for their own learning and the teacher becomes more of a facilitator, creating the conditions that allow individuals to progress at their own pace. Self-directed and independent learning will become the norm and the teacher will have more freedom to be the ‘guide on the side’ rather than the ‘sage’ at the front of the room. This will not happen overnight in some classrooms but we will need to adjust our teaching and educational programs as more technology floods into schools.

 

I like this theme the NSW Teachers Federation has put forward at the recent conference. We have a responsibility to update our professional skills with the appropriate support from our employer. Schools infrastructure needs to be upgraded and appropriate support structures, like technicians, need developing. We need to organise ourselves so that we all can seek TPL that is appropriate to our personal needs and DHS is endeavouring to do this.

 

Recently, Trish Morgan has arranged for professional development to revolve around the individual’s choice on SDD. You will soon go to a workshop and participate, rather than listening to me drone on for two hours, in learning practical skills to assist with the implementation of technology into our lessons. My thoughts this morning are an attempt to place this in an educational, historical and cultural context. This is a tough job in a 30-minute session but hopefully, of some use to you – or at least interesting and thought provoking. You will not have time to click on every link; maybe you will have time to check the rest out later.

 

Please explore further, at your own pace, by clicking on the hyperlinks below. Some are videos and others, links to more information at other websites. You may wish to check out how laptops can be used in your subject.

 

Also, please have a look at the emailed attachment. The DET is working on producing electronic resources like the ‘E-careers portfolio’ that will be an important resource for students and useful for teachers looking to link what they do in the classroom with future employment skills. DHS is likely to trial this resource in second semester.

 

Thanks for your participation!

 

 

Digital Education Revolution

 

I

 

There is the Digital Education Revolution and there is the digital revolution; the two are not to be confused.

 

One is a party political platform that has placed Education at the centre of its economic, rather than social policy where Education has traditionally been located, with the slogan ‘building tomorrow’s workforce through access to world class education’. The political message to the public has been explicit – their kids will have laptops and access to high-speed broadband and they will have them quickly.

 

The other ‘digital revolution’ grew steadily in the immediate post WWII period, and then accelerated exponentially, with the mass distribution of digital devices, especially the PC. This transition from analogue to digital systems allowed content to spread easily from one media platform to another and the impact on our lives has been profound and blindingly evident for quite some time.

 

Both of these revolutions are real but one has already arrived, quite a while ago…the other we await and plan for with either great anticipation looking at a hall-full glass or with cynicism and trepidation seeing that the glass is half-empty.

 

II

 

You may have heard of Moore’s law (Gordon Moore was a co-founder of Intel and made an observation over 40 years ago) that basically suggested the processing power of computer chips, memory, data storage capacity and telecommunications double every 18 to 24 months, while the cost remains stable, or decreases.

 

He was right.

 

Look at the pace of change in the last decade of the 20^th and in the first 8 years of the ‘noughties’. We could list innovation after innovation that changes how we live. However, it would be wrong to suggest that change has not been profound for other people in other times. In 1890 there were at least 25,000 wagon manufacturers in the United States. Only one, Studebaker, survived 50 years later. They were the only one that realised that they did not make “wagons” – they made transportation devices.

 

This is a very significant point.

 

What will you do when technology changes and you cannot keep up? I ask myself this question all the time and at 39 cannot imagine what the next two decades, as an educator, will bring let alone imagine what my young daughters will see in their lives. Quite simply, we need to stay in touch.

 

‘It is not exactly reassuring but this is not a new question but a very old one. Whole cultures have collapsed, empires have fallen, corporations have vanished and languages have died, because of failures to embrace new technologies.’ [1] Ira Socol

 

 III

 

The digital revolution is responsible for the internet, networking, mobile and wireless networks including mobile phones and VoIP. New media technologies, such as wikis, enable and shape aspects of culture and society, business and economy and politics and democracy. There are immense consequences for cultural, economic and political life, determining the way information is processed, transferred and creatively expressed. New media technologies in particular are reshaping society enabling globalisation and massive economic and cultural shifts.

 

We need to rethink much.

 

A few wealthy media owners or politicians no longer control access to information, what we see or read. We are all producers, publishers and connected to each other now. Technology has redefined power and our relationships with each other.

 

For the teenagers who come through our gates this is the norm, this is reality. What will the students be like in a few short years time as the generation gap widens?

 

IV

 

The ‘Revolution’ is less about the programs and learning tools the hardware and technology will allow in the classroom and more about how these tools change reality – as we know it – in schools. I will give you an example that may not be completely illuminating on first reading.

 

The harnessing of electricity and the invention of the light bulb were obvious leaps forward against the tyranny of the dark. Marshall McLuhan – of ‘the medium is the message’ fame – said that a light bulb does not have content in the way that a newspaper has articles or a television has programs, yet it is a medium that has a social effect; that is, a light bulb enables people to create spaces during nighttime that would otherwise be enveloped by darkness. He describes the light bulb as a medium without any content. McLuhan says, “a light bulb creates an environment by its mere presence.”

 

Laptops and other technological tools will do the same thing – create new opportunities and in fact, a new reality in our school. The teacher, by definition, becomes more of a facilitator as learning spaces and programs are (re)-envisaged. The teacher becomes more of a learner too rather than the font at the front.

 

V

 

You started this session reading silently from a piece of paper. This world will shortly come to a close in a wirelessly connected, laptop world. Your daily chore of photocopying will shortly be a memory. However, the real change will be in the way our classrooms work. The paradigm has shifted and we need to adapt.

 

I hope what I am presenting is clear but think of this as Part 1; with reflection to follow at another whole staff gathering, and in smaller groups.

 

Mountains to die on?

What was it like at your school?

Were you a smart kid? Were the classes streamed/graded or mixed ability or some combination of both? How did your teachers teach, engage and stimulate interest in the topic or activities? What was the best thing about the way you were taught at school? What was the worst? Was student welfare evident? 

If you are an educator, what is it like at the school you work at now? Different? Pretty similiar?

Schools play a large part in the construction of student idenit(ies). The way a school organises the students and the programs that are emphasised say a lot about what is valued. Teachers have often preferred streamed/graded classes as there is a perception that it makes lesson preparation easier, especially for traditional teacher-centred lessons. The impact on student motivation and self-esteem of being graded into a ‘bottom’ class is often profound.

Personally, I have few ‘mountains to die on’ but the notion that 11-12 year olds enter a high school and a factory sorting system ‘ranks’ them borders on abhorrent. I was pleased to read that the NSW Board of Studies recommends phasing out the streaming of students according to their ability, citing research that says it has little effect on achievement – even in Maths.

Constructivist notions of education and the impact of technology increasingly allow for individualised intruction and educators need to develop more sophisticated approaches to managing learning in classes. Creating the conditions and opportunity in the class for students to take responsibility for their learning is key. What do we value? Self-motivated students engaging in rich, relevant curriculum with appropriate use of technologies with a skilful facilitator of these conditions would seem about right. Another mountain?

DET, prodded by the NSW Teachers Federation has an important role in creating the conditions that transform our places of education into relevant, 21st century learning spaces with appropriate levels of funding, organisation and leadership. I particularly like the ’21st Century Conditions for 21st Century Learning’ conference theme posted at the NSWTF site but wonder what is meant by ‘preferential upskilling’?

However, as wheels slowly roll for the various organisations we work for and unions that have a keen interest in social inclusivity, the reality is that change must start with the individual…what are we doing to help kids and our community to prosper? Business as usual is not going to be enough it seems; it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness.

Or maybe that should be something more technologically advanced than our metaphoric candle.

Suggestions?

Constructivism

Constructivist teaching methods are IMHO essential, especially as we move into this new world with such powerful tech tools being at our disposal. More experienced staff haven’t had the exposure one would expect but all the prac students currently at the school are conversant with this theory.

If we decide to use Moodle, and I think we will, this theory will be of even more importance if teaching and learning is to be enhanced at the school. Systematic planning for TPL can take place as whole school systems are developed strategically eg using IWBs, laptops, Moodle and the philosophy of constructivist pedagogy using ICT. This link may help you understand Moodle.

More explanation of the various models of teaching and learning (scroll down) can be found at the excellent MyRead website (a must for English/literacy PD with some excellent, practical T&L strategies).

Thoughts?