I'm thoroughly enjoying my collaboration with Brandy, Todd, and Jessica in creating an extraordinary learning activity on World War I.
This week, Todd created and shared a training video on how to create a video! Our team does not want to include technology for the sake of technology and Todd showed us a technique that makes video so easy, that we can include video as part of our project, while still maintaining focus on learning and teaching about World War I.
Most of the team, however, feels that we should give our "learners" the choice of using one of several technologies (including video) to participate in this learning activity. We truly want people to enjoy learning about this fasinating period in world history.
Brandy set up a blog for our first draft executive summary. I expect to finish the 1st draft by this Friday, so that our Group can edit it and complete it before the March 3rd deadline.
Jessica did a wonderful job of researching the California standards for learning about WWI. We believe that we will exceed this standards in this project.
Last week I spent three hours in Barnes and Noble reading books on WWI. I didn't intend to spend that much time there, but I was thoroughly enjoying the exploration and it was difficult to pull myself away. I used this time to jot down historical data.
I then went to the Internet this week and found music and photos from the WWI area. My purpose was to get a view of what Private Harry Lamin may have seen in his WWI experience as a British soldier on the front lines.
From my Internet exploration, I created a slide show and converted it into a teaching video. This was largely inspired by Todd coaxing us to try to use another medium. I don't recommend that my cohorts attempt this because it was time consuming for a person who doesn't make movies every day, but I think it may serve a good purpose for one of our Essential Questions.
Since we have to go through our own lesson as if we were the actual learners, I may do a simple video response to one of the Essential Questions. If time is not available, I may do it in writing (blog).
At the core of this project is the WWI blog of Private Harry Lamin. His letters home to his family reminded me of my own Dad's WWII letters to his parents and my mother. Some 15 years after WWII ended, I would sneak into my Mom's over-sized jewelry box where she hid the letters and I'd read them. When I asked my Mom about the letters, she told me that it was important to remember the sacrifice that everyone made during WWII. She recalled that my father, who she was engaged to throughout most of the war, was a very spiritual man and that his faith kept him safe and strong when he served in the South Pacific. I found it interesting that he always ended his letters with: "God bless you, Bob. " Or, "Your loving son, Bob."
My mother also pointed out to me that several of her girlfriends served in the Army Nurse Corps and that she worked stateside for the Navy while my father was abroad. She told me that war was a bad thing and that she prayed every day that we would never enter a war like that again.
I'm happy that my sister is maintaining these letters in honor of the sacrifices made by both of my parents during WWII. Over the past few weekends, I had her read several back to me over the phone to refresh my "jewelry box" recollections. I also "phoned up" my oldest brother, a retired social studies teacher, who was able to give me a few pointers about researching movies and songs that were written about WWI. (Rita)
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Working with Group 1 on an unconventional history lesson
I'm back from Florida and so happy that I had more time to spend face-to-face with all of you.
This past week several people from work approached me about my action research wiki and when was I going to put it up. Thanks to Salina, who gave me a few good tips, it's going up this Monday.
I'm looking forward to collaborating with Todd, Jessica, and Brandy on a "History" Learning Adventure that we will design ourselves for Melissa's class.
Jessica found this incredible blog which 'belongs to' a World War I soldier. We're finding a way to use it to teach students a history lesson through an intimate journey through the 1918 diaries of this British WWI soldier stationed in Italy. His letters are shared through a blog hosted by his grandson. Schools in England are reading the wiki on a daily basis. A Canadian television station shared a video clip showing classrooms of students who were genuinely concerned about the outcome of this story which is being revealed day by day on the blog. Although the soldier would be 120 years old today, the students want to know what happens to him during the war.
This is a remarkable way to learn and reflect. (Rita)
This past week several people from work approached me about my action research wiki and when was I going to put it up. Thanks to Salina, who gave me a few good tips, it's going up this Monday.
I'm looking forward to collaborating with Todd, Jessica, and Brandy on a "History" Learning Adventure that we will design ourselves for Melissa's class.
Jessica found this incredible blog which 'belongs to' a World War I soldier. We're finding a way to use it to teach students a history lesson through an intimate journey through the 1918 diaries of this British WWI soldier stationed in Italy. His letters are shared through a blog hosted by his grandson. Schools in England are reading the wiki on a daily basis. A Canadian television station shared a video clip showing classrooms of students who were genuinely concerned about the outcome of this story which is being revealed day by day on the blog. Although the soldier would be 120 years old today, the students want to know what happens to him during the war.
This is a remarkable way to learn and reflect. (Rita)
Sunday, January 13, 2008
A Recent Learning Experience ... (Rita)
Think back to a successful learning experience you have designed. What made it successful? What was your role in creating that success?
A recent learning experience that I designed was the orchestration of a new engineering architecture which benefited my organization. The key components to the success of this experience were the talented people who comprised the project team. The team removed the heart of our infrastructure, re-built it, and successfully tested and restored it within a very narrow service window and with very little inconvenience to our 10,000 + demanding customers. Only one of the five experts had previous experience in executing this project. However, all five were fully capable of this level of work. It took collaborative study to be successful. That's why this was more than just a project, but a full learning experience. Perkins says that, "Intelligence is a matter of knowing what to do when you don't know what to do." (Perkins, 2003, King Arthur's Round Table, Wiley and Sons). We started out as explorers. We collaborated, studied, wrote a preliminary plan, assigned roles, wrote a final implementation plan and applied it to an implementation schedule.Great planning leaves a project team the time to deal with the unexpected. Wiggins and McTighe have an interesting way of describing this by quoting John McClean:"Architects have the patience to plan. Builders have the savvy to improvise. Improvisation, however, is not a substitute for planning. The purpose of planning is to achieve predictable results. The purpose of improvising is to maintain work progress." -- John McClean, "20 Considerations That Help a Project Run Smoothly, 2003; (Wiggins, G; McTighe, 2006, Understanding by Design, Pearson Education, p254.)What made this learning experience successful? Planning; leading by example with a positive; collaborative spirit, and the shear improvisational talent of the engineering experts on our team. In the engineering field, a critical improvisational talent isis troubleshooting. This means dealing with the unexpected and making it work. Social technology also helped: conference bridges; Visio diagrams; Email; terminal services software; inviting and sharing outside expertise and documentation from the Internet, and most importantly, a unified project plan/platform (Microsoft Project). The geographical location for the project was Los Angeles, but one of the chief experts on our team effectively collaborated and performed his "hands-on duties" 3,000 miles away in North Carolina. He did this using a conference bridge, email, modems, the Internet, and terminal services software. Another expert was recovering from surgery and he, too, performed his remote "hands-on" duties from his bedroom using the same set of technology. It was as if the entire project team was working inside the same office suite. Only three other staff members needed to be on-site to the lay down the physical architecture. This was pre-planned in a test lab and took less than 40 minutes to stage during the actual cut over. The result was a project that was successfully completed on-time and within budget.One of the most important lessons I've learning in working with experts is to let them be experts. Let programmers be programmers. Let engineers be engineers. A project manager, teacher, or mentor will never know all there is to know. So too, in the edcuational fields, a teacher can never expect to know everything. However, the project manager, teacher, mentor must have an instinct for knowing if the experts or students have the tools and environment required to be successful. My role was to ensure the success of these experts by providing tools, technology, and an empowering work environment. These are often great motivators to ensure success.
A recent learning experience that I designed was the orchestration of a new engineering architecture which benefited my organization. The key components to the success of this experience were the talented people who comprised the project team. The team removed the heart of our infrastructure, re-built it, and successfully tested and restored it within a very narrow service window and with very little inconvenience to our 10,000 + demanding customers. Only one of the five experts had previous experience in executing this project. However, all five were fully capable of this level of work. It took collaborative study to be successful. That's why this was more than just a project, but a full learning experience. Perkins says that, "Intelligence is a matter of knowing what to do when you don't know what to do." (Perkins, 2003, King Arthur's Round Table, Wiley and Sons). We started out as explorers. We collaborated, studied, wrote a preliminary plan, assigned roles, wrote a final implementation plan and applied it to an implementation schedule.Great planning leaves a project team the time to deal with the unexpected. Wiggins and McTighe have an interesting way of describing this by quoting John McClean:"Architects have the patience to plan. Builders have the savvy to improvise. Improvisation, however, is not a substitute for planning. The purpose of planning is to achieve predictable results. The purpose of improvising is to maintain work progress." -- John McClean, "20 Considerations That Help a Project Run Smoothly, 2003; (Wiggins, G; McTighe, 2006, Understanding by Design, Pearson Education, p254.)What made this learning experience successful? Planning; leading by example with a positive; collaborative spirit, and the shear improvisational talent of the engineering experts on our team. In the engineering field, a critical improvisational talent isis troubleshooting. This means dealing with the unexpected and making it work. Social technology also helped: conference bridges; Visio diagrams; Email; terminal services software; inviting and sharing outside expertise and documentation from the Internet, and most importantly, a unified project plan/platform (Microsoft Project). The geographical location for the project was Los Angeles, but one of the chief experts on our team effectively collaborated and performed his "hands-on duties" 3,000 miles away in North Carolina. He did this using a conference bridge, email, modems, the Internet, and terminal services software. Another expert was recovering from surgery and he, too, performed his remote "hands-on" duties from his bedroom using the same set of technology. It was as if the entire project team was working inside the same office suite. Only three other staff members needed to be on-site to the lay down the physical architecture. This was pre-planned in a test lab and took less than 40 minutes to stage during the actual cut over. The result was a project that was successfully completed on-time and within budget.One of the most important lessons I've learning in working with experts is to let them be experts. Let programmers be programmers. Let engineers be engineers. A project manager, teacher, or mentor will never know all there is to know. So too, in the edcuational fields, a teacher can never expect to know everything. However, the project manager, teacher, mentor must have an instinct for knowing if the experts or students have the tools and environment required to be successful. My role was to ensure the success of these experts by providing tools, technology, and an empowering work environment. These are often great motivators to ensure success.
Teacher, Facilitator, Designer (Rita)
Where does teaching fit into learning and what is the role of a teacher? A facilitator? An educational Instruction Designer
Teaching is the directed and guiding role in learning. The teacher provides the information, stimulus, and stage for learning. The teacher must always know the "audience" or students. If and when the students become ready for additional empowerment, the teacher will adjust to playing the role of facilitator. An educational instruction designer provides the framework for learning depending on the audience. There is a progression of roles from teacher to facilitator to instruction designer. Both the goal and driving force is empowerment of the student. As one progresses from teacher to facilitator, the teacher has learned that the students are ready for more power so the teacher self-adjusts to facilitator. When students are ready for yet even more power in their own learning, the teacher learns to further adjust to becoming instruction designer. There is a constant balance between the leader's role where the leader unselfishly empowers students without losing control or progress.
Teaching is the directed and guiding role in learning. The teacher provides the information, stimulus, and stage for learning. The teacher must always know the "audience" or students. If and when the students become ready for additional empowerment, the teacher will adjust to playing the role of facilitator. An educational instruction designer provides the framework for learning depending on the audience. There is a progression of roles from teacher to facilitator to instruction designer. Both the goal and driving force is empowerment of the student. As one progresses from teacher to facilitator, the teacher has learned that the students are ready for more power so the teacher self-adjusts to facilitator. When students are ready for yet even more power in their own learning, the teacher learns to further adjust to becoming instruction designer. There is a constant balance between the leader's role where the leader unselfishly empowers students without losing control or progress.
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