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1. Today, to be a 21st century educator so that you can meet the needs of your students , there is an expectation that you are a technology-savvy educator, You need to be digitally literate . You, and your students, need to be able to critically, behave safely and ethically, and participate responsibility in the digital world. But that is not enough. You need to create a learning space where students are curious, where they ask questions, and are passionate about learning. How do you provide opportunities for students to develop the skills to innovate? To be creators of content rather than just consumers? How can we help our colleagues step behind that water fall?
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2. Still, you may work with teachers and students who are wary of technology—wanting technology to be like the first image—where the learning happenings in a straight line without an confusion. Tell the students what to do-they do it. Done, Finished. Move on. They don’t see the Purpose or connection and don’t have the control.
Unfortunately, technology and learning, like the world it exists in, is not a straight line from where you begin to learn to the end. Learning is messy and so by extension technology can be messy. How do we build that resiliency that Jane was talking about earlier?
3. I know that for me, using technology in the class can happen seamlessly—all the computers working. Ample wifi. All the links work and the students know what to do. Frequently though, my students or I get one of these messages—the worst, in my opinion being the wifi one on the top right. All ready for great technology-infused lesson where the students are collaborating and creating and they can’t seem to get online.
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4. What do you do? All of a sudden you have 25 students asking you what to do next. It can be every teachers nightmare—teacher, teacher. I have only taught through 8th graders—it doesn’t matter if they are 1st graders or 8th graders—having most of the students saying “teacher, teacher” is enough to drive you crazy. What do you do? And this is the worry of those colleagues of yours who fear technology and don’t want to use it with students—what do I need when it doesn’t work? What do I do when I can’t fix it? Confusion, ambiguity, failure—how do I deal with it all?
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5. In order to help your colleagues (and students because 25 students asking for help doesn’t work either), it is necessary to take a step back and reframe what is happening in class. Technology, like learning, doesn’t always take a straight path. You can’t always fix a problem no matter how much you prepare for a lesson. I have a had website change while using it with students. So, instead of making technology “perfect,” how do we help our colleagues and students be okay with confusion, mistakes, and not knowing?
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6. How do you shift their mindset? Develop a mindset that is a willingness to take risks, work hard, problem-solve, make mistakes, and learn? This can be difficult for adults especially since they are used to being the expert
Dweck: Students need to try new strategies and seek input from others when they’re stuck. They need this repertoire of approaches—not just sheer effort—to learn and improve.
7. I have found that low risk, low entry activities. Teachers are in the learning seat and have to deal with those feelings of “I don’t know what to do. What if I make a mistake? This is difficult” that students often feel. This particular activity involves making a paper circuit and honestly, there is something about making an LED light up that seems to engage most people—even the most tech adverse.
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8. In terms of an entry point, it is something that many teachers don’t know how to do (I work with K-8 teachers) but as an activity, it is relevantly low-risk because they are the student. I found that it is necessary to get past people’s feelings of “I can’t do this” before they feel comfortable using technology in the classroom.
9. Adults especially get hung up on a fear of failure. I was recently reading David and Tom Kelly’s book Creative Confidence (which is where I struggle). And they talked about the research of Albert Bandura. He worked on helping people deal with phobias and he created what he called “Guided Mastery” where there is a long sequence of challenges, and each is created to be just within reach –doubts can be cured by guiding people through a series of small success.
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10. In Creative Confidence, what the Kelley brothers decided was that many adults suffer from the fear of failure. Based of what Bandura’s research states, the question becomes how do we support teachers and students through a series of small successes to build their confidence in taking-risks? When you don’t give up, you cannot fail
11. There is a lot of discussion about failure and failing fast—but it’s not about the failure—it’s about the learning that happens when something doesn’t work. This is why I like this quote so much (and if you’re looking for quotes about working hard, taking risks, and failure, Edison is your guy).
Quotes from the earlier activity –when asked to draw something– I am not an artist….
12. So back to helping teachers (and students) get over their phobias of failures. I have seen teachers who, are on the more rigid side, become more flexible while doing a series of hands-on making activities . May be asking yourself, why is she talking about making scribble bots while she started talking about technology? First, scribbling bots are technology but it is not the activity that matters. It’s providing opportunities for teachers to become more flexible, okay with more than one right answer/more than one path to success, taking risks, and problem-solving. Help them put that cape on and be the super hero.
13. Another low-barrier entry is using something like littlBits. Opportunities (teaching students or adults) to take chances—lower the entry point and low entry barrier. Provide opportunities to deal with ambiguity—not one correct answer, not one correct path—real life and part of the growth mindset
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14. Allow teachers to work hard, reflect, and learn.
Dweck: Students need to try new strategies and seek input from others when they’re stuck. They need this repertoire of approaches—not just sheer effort—to learn and improve. Design thinking can help with this.
Art is not my thing, I am a math-minded person
I am not much of an artist
Failure is the main way humans learn -- Ed Chen
From: All I Really Need to Know (About Creative Thinking) I Learned (By Studying How Children Learn) in Kindergarten* Mitchel Resnick MIT Media Lab Cambridge, MA 02139 USA +1 617 253 9783 mres@media.mit.edu
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Technology, low-tech, and no-tech – mindset
Model, model, model
In the classroom, as when working with teachers, how I react impacts the how the students react—
Okay—what should we do?
Are you online? If you are not online, what should you do? Are you the only one not online? What are your choices?
Image from: http://www.pbs.org/parents/parenting/pbs-parents-lists/favorite-teachers-pbs-kids-shows/
Miss Frizzle, The Magic School Bus, Scholastic
This is what we want our students to feel like –that they have accomplished something!
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