"The man who has no imagination has no wings" Muhammad Ali

Friday, July 29, 2011

The Reform Symposium e-conference Day One



After taking part in a webinar offered by ASCD entitled the New Teacher's Toolkit, I embraced the advice offered by presenter Lisa M. Dabbs and began building my PLN. I joined twitter, which up until that point I had believed to be populated only by celebrities and their rabid fan base, and have made connections with some incredibly talented and passionate educators from across the globe. One of the fantastic things about twitter is the constant chances for some really great PD. One thing I have found and strongly believe in as I have embarked on this educational journey is that you never stop learning, and any opportunity to increase your knowledge base or personal world as I call it, is a real positive. 
This weekend is the Reform Symposium, or RSCON3, taking place from Friday, July 29 to Sunday, July 31. It is a huge global online conference for everyone concerned with education, with more than 75 presentations and 12 keynote speakers. I am very excited to be taking part in such a wonderful event and learning "alongside" educators from all around the globe! 
So far this morning I have participated in two presentations:
It's Personal: From Differentiating Instruction to Customizing Learning with John T. Spencer of educationrethink.com and Using Drama in the ESL Classroom with Faisal Shamali 
Both presentations were very interesting with some great take away ideas, especially in John Spencer's presentation about getting students to take on responsibility for their own learning and holding a greater stake in the development of their education. He talked a bit about project based learning and giving the students the freedom to be creative in how they express their understanding of a subject, which I love. 
I will continue to write about the presentations I tune into this weekend, and I am looking forward to more of this 21st century learning event for educators! 

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Humans don't get ideas, they make ideas

In a conversation with my mother the other day it was brought to attention that I have worn several different professional hats in my young life, and she would be right. Since graduating with my B.A. in Theatre in 2002, I have worked as a costume designer, custom dressmaker, retail shop owner, professional artist, veterinary technician, and therapy dog trainer. 

I like to think of my prior job experiences as life training, all of which have influenced my personal world and understanding of that around me. In each carnation of my work experience I have demonstrated creativity, innovation, the ability to research, gather, and disseminate information. I have managed, organized, paid attention to detail, mastered technical procedures, exhibited patience, compassion, and shared my knowledge with others. With all of this in mind I suppose I could say that the path I have been on has been leading me all along towards my greatest challenge and most rewarding career, teaching.

The decision to create a blog to document my journey as a pre-service teacher and graduate student along with my eventual foray into a classroom of my own, is based on a question my classroom management professor had posed last semester after discussing 21st century learning skills. Basically she asked us to reflect upon the idea of learning as an interdependent process as opposed to a strictly personal or independent one. I will share my thoughts on the subject below;

Knowledge is a constructive process. To really understand something, learners must first create something from their personal world. As Costa* said, "Humans don't get ideas, they make ideas." Yet learning is also a reciprocal process, where the individual influences the group and the group influences the individual. Therefore the creative process executed by the individual to drive understanding is is constructed through both their own and shared knowledge, thus making their personal world an interdependent one.

In the spirit of collaborative learning and interdependence, I ask you to join me on my journey. Let us walk awhile together on the path of discovery and innovation in education. Our worlds are not so far apart as they may have seemed.


 * The Thought Filled Curriculum
    Arthur L. Costa
    ASCD Educational Leadership
    February 2008, Volume 65, Number 5
    Teaching Students to Think pages 20 - 24