Director of Innovation and Strategy
I will be presenting at the 30th Annual VSTE Conference in Roanoke, Virginia. My presentation title is On the Road to Deeper Learning, and it will focus upon the vision behind our 1:1 program.
You may watch the recorded version of the presentation, here.
Deeper Learning through Projects, Personalization, and Play
I will be presenting at 12:45 PM on Thursday, December 3 in Williamsburg. The theme of this presentation came from the article that Dr. Gretz and I had accepted into Virginia Educational Leadership this past spring.
When I recently visited Randolph Elementary School, I visited a lesson “in action” where students were presenting information they had mastered (presumably for review purposes). This is a very strong instructional approach, and I was pleased to see the students had used video to capture their instructions for their peers on how to solve math problems.
During the visit highlighted above, a student had made a mistake in the video, and then told everyone about the mistake and the “correct” way to solve the problem. This reflection on the recorded performance was another excellent sign of strong learning.
Earlier this spring, I began looking at our G21 Framework and areas for improvement. One of the things I wanted to “remove” was the necessity of any expert in the room to fill out the planning form. While it made for a nice sleek form, I wanted to put more of what it takes to develop a good project-based experience for students into the form itself. It would make for a more complex form, but hopefully too would provide teachers a scaffold on which to present an awesome learning experience.
Instead of re-inventing the wheel, my new proposal for G21 adopts the Buck Institute for Education model for project-based learning. The format is more complete at helping teachers plan for the project-based experience. One of the things it encourages, too, is student presentation. While I am not certain that every PBL needs a presentation, and there will be times where the resource of time may prevent a formal presentation, it does not dilute the effectiveness of presenting as an instructional activity. Since 2008 when we started G21, we have used “teaching others” and “communication” as two of our core 12 twenty-first century skills. But we need to remember that these skills do not need to wait for a “G21” to be utilized in our designs for instruction.
I look forward to sharing more in my blog throughout the summer about G21 3.0. On August 7, for our Mission Possible: Operation Engagement professional development day, Bea and I will be offering sessions on the new framework. For now all I will say is consider the new format “smaller” but “more potent!”
Last night, GES fourth grade teachers Nicole Carter, Krystle Demas, and Joe Beasley presented their recent classroom activities with iPads as part of Goochland Elementary’s Reflections presentation to the school board. Included in their presentation was video clips created both by Mr. Beasley and Ms. Zoe Parrish, our elementary instructional technology resource teacher. Mr. Beasley’s has been embedded below.
I was impressed with how each of the teachers so clearly shared the benefits they have seen so far this year with using iPads in the classroom. Goochland Elementary was our pilot location this year to explore 1:1 computing in grades 3-5. The students also did an excellent job at sharing their experiences. They got to share some posters they made embedded with Aurasma videos, QR codes, and then they performed a recent rap with the help of a beat from GarageBand off one of the student’s iPads.
The board meeting is available as YouTube video if you’re interested in seeing their presentation from last night! Kudos to Mrs. McCay, her students, and her awesome teachers!
I am so proud of the presentation Erin-Yearout Patton and Bea Cantor did this afternoon at the EdTech Conference in Petersburg at VSU. They provided their enthusiasm for teaching and learning around project-based and hands-on approaches with technology.
I’m not a particularly emotional person… But tears filled my eyes. I learned more than I obviously knew about EYP’s teaching experiences. My model and vision for the twenty-first century classroom was working, but it was so little about the tools… It works because of the passion held by the teacher and her willingness to stretch her thinking about pedagogy. She credits many sources for her inspiration for teaching, but the one I felt was most profound was a high school teacher of her own. She provided “G21” experiences all the time. She knew how profound that learning was for her, and that’s what inspires her teaching today.
Check out Bea’s blog for more information on their presentation.
I’m very proud of Mrs. Yearout-Patton’s hard work and the results she’s been achieving with iPads and MacBooks both. Thanks to Mrs. Cantor in supporting her and talking her into sharing her teaching experiences at GHS.
The best compliment came from a Goochland parent who told EYP “I want my child to have you as a teacher!”
Next Tuesday I will be at the MERC conference at VCU, and will be delivering a keynote talk on our G21 program.
My presentation has been prepared as a Quicktime video, available below.
Today Bea and I had the opportunity to share our experiences with mobile devices with an audience assembled at WHRO in Hampton Roads from my office using Skype. Our thanks go to Anita Harris of Sussex County for recommending us to the fine folks putting this conference together.
Our handout is available here in PDF format. Photos from the event can be found here!