Not until I am ready!

Posted on June 4, 2011 by boadams1

This morning, I watched a MacSparky screencast, from David Sparks, called “OmniFocus Ninja Tricks (Part 2 of 3).” OmniFocus is a high-powered project-management app that synchronizes among my Mac, my iPad, and my iPhone. I am a low-powered user, and I want to get better with this tool. (Since I was a middle schooler myself, I also always wanted to be a ninja. I had throwing stars, nun-chucks, etc.) A colleague referred me to the screencasts, and they are great.

Here is what makes this mundane news “post-worthy,” in my opinion, on a blog about learning. This morning was the second time I had watched the 52 minute screencast. I saw things that I had not even noticed were there the first time. Huge chunks of 8-12 minutes of features, and I missed them. What made the difference this time? In the interim between viewing-one and viewing-two, I had been using OmniFocus, so my scaffolding and “need to know” was better this time around. From using the app as a novice user, though, I was at a boundary of learning, and I was experiencing some frustrations. So I returned to a resource to learn more. As Vygotsky might say, I had reached a different ZPD (zone of proximal development). I needed some support to get to the next level, but now I wanted to get to the next level – I knew there was more to know, I wanted to know it, and I could not know it without help. Now, I have climbed the next rung of the user ladder for OmniFocus. “So what?,” you might say. Or “Why is Bo writing about OmniFocus?”

How many times are our students in such a situation? We teach something, but they are not really ready to learn it yet. Their scaffolding or “need to know” is not primed for learning yet, like a dry pump that cannot pull water. Yet the typical, traditional routine is to “teach, test, hope for the best.” We assign a grade and move on to the next unit or chapter. Time has been the constant, and learning has been the variable. Just look at the variation of grades as evidence (assuming grades are really measures of learning). Support has been a relative constant, too.

I am not disparaging any particular teaching method or assessment practice. I am merely realizing, from being a learner myself, what my students must feel almost everyday. I am glad that I have developed the sense of self-assessing my current ability with a tool like OmniFocus and seeking help, and I am glad that nobody tested me for a permanent grade after my first viewing of the show and my early forays into using the app. I am glad I got a second chance.

Our faculty is switching from Toshiba Tablets (PCs) to MacBook Pros and Airs. How many of them are experiencing this cycle of:

introduced to new –>

overwhelmed –>

try new thing –>

experience some success, some frustration –>

want to know more –>

seek help and support –>

learn it better after practice and a different “need to know” –>

realize that the lessons were there from the start, but I was not ready then.

Learning is the constant…time and support are the variables. It’s been the other way around for far too long. It’s about learning!

Can you spare 27 minutes for learning and world peace?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by boadams1

Do you have 27 minutes to devote to both educational reform and world peace? Do you? Just 27 minutes of your life. Twenty minutes is for watching the TED talk below – John Hunter on the World Peace Game. Two minutes is for reading my words here, which I try to make brief and get out of the way. Five minutes is to share the talk with another person or other people via whatever means you want. I would be willing to guarantee you that you will find value in the 27 minutes you spend doing so. Make it in the video to…

7:20 and you will see a teacher show an artifact of a simple game board that he designed so that he could avoid lecture, avoid dry textbook methods, and engage students in something we all love to do – play games.

8:00 and you will be wanting to build the enhanced prototype yourself…I do!

16:30 and you will see profound learning from a child that cannot be easily tested, but demonstrates self-evident assessment.

18:45 and you will contemplate the power of “spontaneous compassion” and a realistic hope for when these students earn the leadership positions of the world.

John Hunter shows the power of story, the power of dealing in questions rather than answers, the power of project- and problem-based learning, the power of 21st century skills leading the efforts of a classroom, and the power of a teacher who innovates and keeps learning. These are ideas worth spreading.

Many thanks to the colleague who shared this talk with me and our Junior High History PLC.

This post is cross-listed at Connected Principals

Be like bamboo

Posted on June 1, 2011 by boadams1

I learn so much from Garr Reynolds. There are countless lessons in his recent TEDxTokyo talk. Before I write too much about the myriad things I am learning and re-learning from his talk, I hope you will watch and find that still water in which to reflect yourself. Domo arigato, Garr.

Unslumping Myself

Posted on June 1, 2011 by boadams1

For the first time in my life (hyperbole, but it seemed like a good intro), I disagree with Dr. Seuss. In Oh, the Places You’ll Go, he wrote, “unslumping yourself is not easily done.” I think it can be easily done. Just do something. This post is my “something.” And…I tweeted a few “somethings” this morning (early!).

I have felt that I am in a “blog/twitter slump” for a couple of weeks. Here are some of my excuses. Do any resonate with you about something you feel slumped about?

I am too busy. I can’t prioritize blogging and tweeting right now.
I don’t have time to write. I need to work on all the close-of-school and 2011-12 opening-of-school stuff.
I can’t think of anything good to write. I don’t want people to be disappointed in my posts or tweets. I want to say something profound.

Then, it hit me. I was slumped, at least partly, by a fixed mindset. If even a fraction of why I did not feel like writing was because I was worried what other people might think, then I had slipped into a fixed mindset versus a growth mindset [see Carol Dweck’s Mindset]. Hey, it happens to all of us. So…what to do? Just tweet. Just write. Don’t do it for any recognition, and don’t not do it for fear of failing. To quote the famous Nike adage, “Just do it.” So…this is my swing at the ball for this morning. I might miss. So what. I am writing. I am unslumping myself. Is there something you need to unslump yourself about? Pick one actionable item, and try. Ignore all the reasons not to try, and just do something.

Some folks might say, “Bo, it’s just blogging and tweeting. What’s the big deal?” (Of course, few if any of those folks probably read any of this.) The big deal is this (for me) – blogging is a great way for me to think out loud. I get to see what I am thinking by reading what I am writing. And if that’s all that happens, it’s worth it. But sometimes, someone reacts or responds to something I have written. Then, a conversation can happen. And I can do this for others on their posts and tweets. A seed can grow roots and stems. For me, blogging and tweeting (tweeting is just blogging in shorter bursts)
has connected me to a community, a network, of learners for which I am very thankful. I have felt disconnected from this network for two weeks. I want to reconnect. This will help me get started. This may just unslump me. It’s worth a try. Excuses got nothing on the screen. Taking 10 minutes and a risk produced something so that I could see what I am thinking. And, who knows…maybe a conversation can start.