In March and April 2014, the faculty of the Lower School at Mount Vernon Presbyterian School engaged in three book-study cohorts exploring Dr. Carol Dweck’s Mindset: The New Psychology of Success…How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential.
The game plans for our learning together can be found on Scribd and Google Docs.
And to really engage in #DeeperLearning around Mindset, we developed Mindset Bingo, which can also be found on Scribd and Google Docs.
For several weeks, I’ve been wanting to archive the learning sessions that I attended at #SXSWedu this year. Today, I finally got around to it.
My Learning Journey at SXSWedu 2014:
Monday, March 3, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
IT’S ABOUT LEARNING: “Be Present: Mount Vernon Plays to Connect #SXSWedu Session & Creative Mornings Atlanta on #Childhood”
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
STORIFY: “Wed., 3.5.14, Bo’s a.m. #SXSWedu #selfdirect #DisruptEdu”
Thursday, March 6, 2014
STORIFY: “Tapping Crowd Wisdom RE: #Badges #MicroCredentialing”
STORIFY: “Reflecting on #SXSWedu 2014 via Tweets”
= = = = =
Related: SAIS@SXSWedu
How are you being present – being in the present – and playing to connect?
On Tuesday, March 4, thanks to Mary Cantwell, Trey Boden, a number of folks @MVPSchool, and the organizers of SXSWedu, I enjoyed a fabulous opportunity to facilitate a Playground Session at SXSWedu, in the “Hands On” category.
Our game plan for the session can be found on Scribd and Google Docs. And Mary (@scitechyedu) captured much of the fun, in pictures, with her post “Mount Vernon Plays to Connect @ #SXSWedu.”
By playing, we were not preparing for anything in particular or readying ourselves for the future. We were playing to be present – to be in the present – and to connect with our fellow playmates, or learners. We were playing to connect with our inner child, our beginner’s mind, and our innate storyteller. We were playing to #HaveFun and thread connections among ourselves and others.
We were playing to…play.
Like kids on a playground.
Like we did when we were immersed in our own childhoods.
At the end of January, Shelley Clifford and I attended a Creative Mornings Atlanta. The theme was “Childhood,” and we heard Aretta Baumgartner and Patty Dees speak about puppetry arts as a way of reconnecting with our childhood — being fully present and playing to connect. As Aretta captivated us all, she strung us together in a game that put us in the role of puppets. And our biggest challenge was to BE PRESENT. To let go of our egos and to simply enjoy playing.
During the #SXSWedu Playground session “Mount Vernon Plays to Connect,” we reiterated this point about the power of play — there is great energy and fun in being present and being in the present. Amidst the joy of doing so, we connect to a great many things, and, more importantly, to a great many other people.
When we play, we are like children embracing their childhood — playing to learn, playing to connect, and playing to…play.
Be present. Be in the present. Embrace your childhood. Connect. Go play.
Charting the PD Waters With Badges | EdSurge News
HT @TreyBoden
Badging + PD http://t.co/Eya4TjdIbZ cc: @boadams1
Why It's Important To Take Risks While Learning – Edudemic
HT Sarah Stewart
Why it’s imp. to take risks while learning from @Edudemic http://t.co/CL9dBFqe6k #learning @boadams1 @spinedu
The Productive Way to Develop Ideas – Explore Create Repeat – by 4ormat
Micro-Credentials: Empowering Lifelong Learners | Edutopia
HT @MeghanCureton
Via @edutopia Micro-Credentials and the importance of empowering non-traditional learning @boadams1 http://t.co/s0KRtgvo0n #iDiploma
Getting Our Students to Own Their Educational Experience
“If our interest and motivation are piqued when we work on tasks that interest us, that directly involve us, that have outcomes based on our abilities, and that succeed or fail based on our level of understanding, effort, and involvement, then why not apply this same logic to student learning in our classrooms?”
(HT @nicolenmartin)
“Getting Our Students to Own Their Educational Experience”
Raymond W. Cirmo
Independent School Magazine
Winter 2014
(HT @nicolenmartin)
If our interest and motivation are piqued when we work on tasks that interest us, that directly involve us, that have outcomes based on our abilities, and that succeed or fail based on our level of understanding, effort, and involvement, then why not apply this same logic to student learning in our classrooms?
To do this, we first need to realize that the students are not in our classroom, we are in their classroom. And the room is not set up for us to teach; it is here for us to be facilitators in the students’ learning. We are here for the students, not the other way around. This means that we need to educate them in a fashion that makes sense to them and the world they live in. And the best approach I have found is to assign them tasks involving real-life problems that require hands-on solutions — in other words, learning by creating and doing.
.
it's about learning 