Collaborative planning

I was asked by a participant in a programme I run why the collaborative planning (Triad planning of lessons) did not work as well for him as for the others on the course. This is usually a very positive and high impact part of the programme. I replied:

• Trust. One has to trust the other members of the triad are carrying out the process for the best professional development reasons. If they try to show how good they are, or to show that they are better than the other triad members - ie it is perceived as a competitive process, then that will not deliver the best outcome.

• Humility. If one does not accept that one can learn from others. Or we believe that the other members of the triad have nothing to add. Perhaps their style of teaching is not one that we see as having much relevance to our teaching.

• Planning. We do not actually plan collaboratively. That means giving real value to the ideas of others. Variety of learning styles etc is at play here. Perhaps we do allow the planning to happen but do not then deliver to the spirit of that planning.

• Permission. Perhaps we are not allowed to impact on the planning of the others in the triad. They do not allow collaboration so our role is simply to know compliance to their planning.

• Feedback. Perhaps this is not given or received in a professionally challenging and positively developmental mode. We are inspecting rather than developing with colleagues. Or we don't value the process so don't try.

What do I think is potentially valuable about the process?

• Working with other, outstanding teachers. Must be good to get their view on our job.

• Collaborating and breaking down the glass door of professional isolation that might allow someone to be in our classroom but does not really allow them to be part of our development.

• Dealing with the limitations we have because we have our own learning style set. So we plan lessons that would be good for us as a learning rather than for our students as learners.
  
  
• We don't do it the way we have always done it but we consider other methods.
  
  
• We HAVE to focus on the learning we want as the others in the planning triad MUST understand what we are trying to achieve. This gives us a learning focus rather than a task focus. (This a critical point.)

• Trying out new ideas; some that we have seen on the OTP.

• Exploring what it is like to take risks, try something new, in a safe environment. (This is a learning process and so we will try things that sometimes don't work as expected.)

• Increasing our repertoire of techniques with a deeper understanding compared to just observing good practice.
  
  
• Improving our ability to provide quality feedback on learning rather than on delivery. Focus on student learning rather than teacher actions.

QR Codes

Ok. Just started thinking about this new type of barcode.

As far as I can see a QR code, hopefully as seen in the image with this post, contains information which can be input into a mobile phone, by taking a scan of it. The QR Code can be scanned if it is printed on paper or even scanned if on screen. I use an iPhone and a super scanner app called Qrafter.

But how can this be useful in education? In secondary and primary schools?

Challenge or engagement? The balloon game. - Google Docs

Challenge or engagement? The balloon game. - Google Docs

Check out the link.

Using Twitter as an Education Tool - Search Engine Watch (SEW)

Using Twitter as an Education Tool - Search Engine Watch (SEW): "Facilitate Active Learning

Educause produced a PDF article that talks about using Twitter to help engage students to facilitate active learning. It points out that 'Metacognition, which is the practice of thinking about and reflecting on your learning -- has been shown to benefit comprehension and retention. As a tool for students or professional colleagues to compare thoughts about a topic, Twitter can be a viable platform for metacognition, forcing users to be brief and to the point -- an important skill in thinking clearly and communicating effectively. In addition, Twitter can provide a simple way for attendees at a conference to share thoughts about particular sessions and activities with others at the event and those unable to attend.'"

What is learning, a process or an outcome

In response to a question, "What is learning, a process or an outcome", I got this response, copied verbatim, from one of my ex secondary school students. Made me proud that she would give such a thoughtful response. Hi Peter, Kelly D***** commented on your post. Kelly wrote "well, the fact uve used the word 'learning' surely means that we're speaking in present tense which would signify that ure still within the process. if we've 'learnt/learned' something, then that to me would show an end result of some sort which could be seen as an outcome. that said, we have learned all sorts throughout our lives but i dont believe that means that we're not still able to learn something new about these same subjects or matters. u learn to drive, obtain ur licence as proof that u have a sufficient amount of knowledge about driving but each day u can learn something new about the art of operating a car...even many years down the line. i think if u think u know all there is to know on any one particular subject, uve closed ur mind to learning more and personally, i think there's always more therefore, in answer to ur question, after all of the above lol, a 'process' would probably be the best way to describe what it is to learn."

Yeah, more tests, please.

I have to say that I hoped this was/is true. I used to give more tests than the average teacher in the UK. Certainly in the schools I taught physics in. I just felt, rather than knew, that it was good - for physics learning. I used as wide a variety of testing as I could. Short, ten question tests, half termly exam practice questions etc.

What is your view about testing, given this evidence?

Twitter for homework

For teachers: You can give out homework at the end of the lesson and trust that students write it down and write it correctly. Takes time for them to do that.

Could you use this time more profitably? And still set homework?

Perhaps you want a little time to think of the best homework to set and to invent it at the end of the lesson is not the best way to set an appropriate homework.

Perhaps you have homework already mapped out for the whole term. Perhaps not.

Have you thought of emailing homework to all your students? A bit of a pain as you have to keep their email addresses up to date.

What about using Twitter?

Yes, students have to log onto Twitter to receive the homework but that has advantages.

Advantage 1 - You can include links to web pages and other resources in the Tweet.

Advantage 2 - You have to compress the homework to 140 characters. You have to think about that.

Advantage 3 - Students HAVE to seek out the homework. They have to be motivated to do this and we know that intrinsic motivation is better than extrinsic for creative work. See "Drive" by Daniel Pink.

Advantage 4 - You set homework once, and don't have to think about email addresses at all. All students need is a Twitter address to look for the homework. (You know that you can have more than one Twitter address - see, for example, Hootsuite which can manage more than one Twitter name)

For me all of these are good but advantages 3 and 4 are the most attractive.

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