NECC 08 Monday Question

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Permalink Reply by Barry Haines on June 30, 2008 at 5:01pm

My favorite today was Ian Jukes. His honed experience in creating presentations based on research on how the brain works combined with his "committed letter" is always a refreshing reminder of how our students today learn - because their brains are wired in the (digital) environment in which they grow up. A great reminder – for us administrators - to be vigilant about teachers who teach for differentiated (and visual) instruction. And to help those teachers who teach in the traditional method - especially high school teachers who teacher to read a chapter and then take a test ad infinitum - to grow towards a differentiated and visual instructional methodology.

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Permalink Reply by Deb Hamm on June 30, 2008 at 7:35pm

Although I didn't attend Ian Jukes' presentation, I agree with Barry. It seems that the real challenge for me comes after the purchase of the "stuff." Today's presentations that I attended reminded me yet again that there are some very committed and creative teachers out there that "get it." They have moved far beyond the use of the laptops to present teacher created, teacher located material to student created, student located, and teacher facilitated learning. I was moved by Carol Anne McGuire's presentation of global learning that not only dealt with content, but also moved her students closer to understanding the world in which we live today and preparing them for their world tomorrow. I also attended David Warlick's session (n08s283) during which he described the seemingly alien students that are found in today's classrooms. He was not using this term or description in a negative way, quite the contrary. As a district administrator, I want all of the teachers that instruct students to be able to relate to these "alien students" in positive, productive ways. I, too, want teachers to move towards instruction that is designed for the student of today in ways that allow for various learning styles and needs. Instruction that engages every one in the learning process - even the teacher, not as teacher but as learner!

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Permalink Reply by paulrwood on July 1, 2008 at 4:45am

I think all of our students are looking for one thng like so many of us, simply to be noticed. We have to continue to move away from the textual world to the visual world that we all are surrounded by every day. If our eyes pick up so many things at one time we need to gear toward that as the main criteria, we have to become visual teachers and take a little more time to notice our students and lose our own egos in the process. It still is not about us.

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Permalink Reply by Don Wildenstein on July 1, 2008 at 9:45am

I agree with you, Paul. Why do we think that these students will learn by the old ways, when we, as adults, learn so much better when we are recognized and lessons are individualized to our needs? We have to be willing to not be the experts and enjoy the educational journey WITH our students.

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Permalink Reply by Don Wildenstein on July 1, 2008 at 9:43am

This is not really earth-shattering, but I was struck by the Thinkfinity presentation where they advocated using cell phones as a teaching tool. It was one of those, "why didn't I think of that?" moments. So simple, yet very powerful. I believe there is a concurrent session Tuesday afternoon in the Lila Cockerell Theater that focuses on this same subject. I plan to be there.

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Permalink Reply by Dorothy Bialke on July 1, 2008 at 12:13pm

The largest impact on me continues to be the message that we need to use the visual tools and resources available to make the largest impact on student learning. I often wish I were a student today; as I was one of those children who struggled to learn to read and this made elementary school difficult and very embarrassing at times. However when I was given a chance to participate in an activity or project that was not text based I loved to learn. Now we as educators have the tools available to help those students not face failure so long before they can demonstrate their own learning of the content in a way that reflects their own personal style and skill set. This is just one of the catalysts that helps me continue to cultivate a vision for change at my school.

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Permalink Reply by Scott McLeod on July 1, 2008 at 9:26pm

I attended the SETDA roundtable today and, as usual, was struck by their recognition that we have a lot of new federal and state policy that needs to be put into place to support this transition to a new paradigm of schooling. I'm not used to thinking at the policy level, just complaining about it!

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