Multi-faceted Refractions

As teachers, as September turns to October, we sometimes become more set in our ways, fixed within our furrow. Life becomes a blur, as we march from Go to School Night to Parent-Teacher Conferences to writing narratives for our report cards to Thanksgiving to Winter Break and so on. As a result, it is easy to fall into a comfortable routine and rhythm , keeping to what is familiar in order to remain sane and stress free.

As we moved into our newly renovated building, we were introduced to new learning spaces. Classrooms were now Learning Studios with movable furniture. There were seminar rooms for which we needed to figure out how we were going to use them. There were project spaces, former hallways which now have counter-tops and chairs for either individual quiet work or to collaborate with others. There is the commons and the “V”, the grand staircase.

All of these changes were overwhelming and these do not even take into account the new technologies. A normal human reaction when faced with such widespread, radical change is to keep doing what is comfortable in the new space, without experimenting and playing with the opportunities that these new designs offer.

This week, however, we are seeing teachers who are starting to break out of the furrow, break the mold. I am seeing this as teachers begin to venture out of their spaces and into our new Collaborative Learning Lab with our two media:scapes. Today, we had a teacher who left the comfort of his new Learning Studio and move his class into one of our Project Studios so students could spread out on the ten tables working on their computers to complete a project due tomorrow. Another teacher, highlighted earlier, has now used all of our media:scapes for work in his class. As he stated, “sometimes you have to stop and re-assess what you are doing and give new things a try”

As a school culture, we have to make sure we break out of our habits because they are comfortable and take a chance. Sometimes it may not work as we had hoped. In fact, it may work out significantly better than we imagined. But only if we take a chance.

Last May, after using our media:scapes with our 11th Grade classes in preparation for our use this year, I shared my reflections as to the advantages of using this new piece of furniture.  In short, media:scapes

Using the media:scape provides a central focus point for the group, rather than being hidden behind their individual screens. This promotes collaboration versus isolation.

The ease of being able to share and negotiate ideas quickly allows for inclusion of a greater diversity of ideas and promotes more discussion

The ease of collaboration shifts the focus towards group collaboration and discussion versus individual contribution. This is a 21st Century Skill which we want to cultivate.

The media:scape provides ability to focus on process (discussion, negotiation, sharing) versus task (end document)

I want to share the reflection of Drea Gallaga, our 9th Grade English teacher and her perspective using the media:scapes in the English classroom last week:

My purpose with having the 9th graders work on the media:scapes was for them to refine their first thesis of the year, on their first major paper. I’m asking a lot of them with this thesis — they have two major literary ideas to incorporate (how a literary element demonstrates the theme of the story), plus they have new high-school level challenges in terms of how they structure and unify their ideas.

They spend most of this first week brainstorming and working on the thesis. In past years, I may have had them work with a partner, but usually I spend a ton of time working with each student, saying the same thing over and over again. I decided to try the media:scape to see if they could give each other constructive feedback. Turns out they can. I was excited to hear them saying when ideas were good, but also telling each other all the things we had gone over in class — “no, you need to say what the setting is”; “you need a verb in your theme”; “what is your by/because?”; (even such elementary things as — “that’s not the main character’s name!”). Between ten people, someone always had a good question or idea.

I knew something was working when groups started going back over people’s work twice, after they had gone all around once to make sure they had everyone. Students would go back to their own computers, revise, and then want another shot. It was the most lively discussion I’ve ever seen about thesis at this point in the year.

Yesterday, the Golf team at North Shore won the school’s first State Championship in the school’s ninety-three year history. What is truly remarkable about this is are one of the smallest high schools, enrollment wise, in the state.

This was not an easy victory. After finishing the sectional tied for first, the team went down to the finals as a team for the second time in three years. But, in the state preview, we were not mentioned at all even though we tied for the sectional champions, so we were definitively the underdogs in the tournament.  After the first nine of the 36 hole, day finals, our squad hovered around fifth place. But a strong back nine propelled the team to 2 stroke lead.

On Saturday, my day was spent checking the updates provided by the various volunteers crowd sourcing the finals.  After what seemed to be forever after the team’s tee times, scores started to trickle in. After Saturday’s first nine, we were clinging onto a tight lead. But at the next update, with scores through twelve holes, the team had slipped to second, four strokes down. After fifteen holes, the same. But the team didn’t seem to give up, instead playing their game. They gained five strokes on the 18th hole to vault them to a three stroke victory. Talk about pressure.

But what I find remarkable is that while golf is a major part of each of these boy’s lives, they are not defined by golf. Instead, I think about the senior captain who has been and continues to be a major force on our school newspaper as one of the leaders while drumming in the instrumental ensemble. I think of two of the golfers who were major contributors on our Middle School Science Olympiad teams, one who was a very skilled plane designer, wearing medals that were earned at the regional level and contributing to a 5th place in the state Science Olympiad Team. I see them on the stage, performing and in the classroom, working academically.

What I love about working at North Shore is that it is impossible to get pegged into only one hole, rather, we challenge our students and ourselves to continue our learning and performance in many aspects of life. We are not defined as being an athlete, an artist, a performer, or a student. Instead, we are defined as students, learners, and humans. And this makes all the difference in the world.

Picture courtesy of our Athletic Director, Patrick McHugh. It comes from his blog, North Shore Country Day Athletics Blog, on a post entitled, “Here is the Moment.” Please check out his outstanding work.

It pleases me when students (and teachers are learners) are introduced to a skill and then apply it to some other aspect of this life.

Last year, it was following up with one student, a junior, who took the skills learned from our audio found poem project to begin a weekly podcast with a friend. Going through the experience in class opened a new world to him. This has led to several additional conversations including those about creating a feed and  how to get the podcast listed on iTunes.

On Friday, a second student asked if I had a few minutes to help her. In her Latin America class, she is experiencing blogging. The teacher in this class has pushed himself to learn and explore and created an RSS widget for the class blog. She was working on another project in another class and she wanted to review the steps to replicate adding an RSS feed for her other blog. I showed her how to identify the feed URL and how the Blogger widget and then watched, with pride, as she created her own RSS feed on her blog. This then led to questions about creating pages on the blog and the exploration and further enhancement of what she is now able to share.

There are days like this when it is so much fun to be there able to coach, guide, and teach.

Over the past two weeks, a recurring theme has emerged. We tend of thinking of “Digital Natives” as being facile users of computers and communications technologies. We assume that they will be able to bring those skills into our classrooms to transform the learning environment, far outpacing the adult members of the community.

However, my experience is far different. What I will agree with is that “digital natives” are able to use their devices and networks both for entertainment and for social connections. In many ways, these devices, computers, smartphones, iPods have replaced the old one piece stereo system with 8 track player I had in my bedroom, plus the 13″ black and white television with rabbit ear antennas.  In their world, they have more access to a wider range of options and it is portable and always with them. Socially, they are able to communicate, plan, and stay connected with larger circles of friends, some who are connected mainly through electronic means. They are able to quickly create new media, audio and video and share it with a larger audience.

What they struggle with is leveraging these technologies and skills to support their learning journey. In many cases, they are limited in their ability to amplify the messages that they share. They need guidance to create a compelling narrative, either using text, audio, static images, and video. They are unable to leverage their learning communities to help push them towards new connections and ideas in areas in which they are passionate. They need to develop the voice and credibility to be able to promote new ideas and solutions building to solve real world issues through coalition building of new tribes of other passionate learners. The need to learn to push deeper and with greater focus, rather than flitting around from idea to idea.

When asked, what can we, the non-digital natives, can provide for these users, it is context and perspective. It is our collective experiences in learning and researching in a digital desert that allows us to be expert guides in this digital oasis. We have to learn how to channel and amplify their ability to make social connections into their ability to build a network around a cause or to promote their own learning.

That is our challenge. Are we ready to step up to it?

image courtesy of muzo189 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/82356625@N00/3151435572/) under a Creative Commons License