Students Are Different, Why Can't Teachers Be Too?

Before I officially begin writing this post, I need to take a minute:


Poke...poke...


There, I've officially agitated those that will inevitably react with strong opinions when I'm done with this blog post! :)

A little background before I get into this discussion/rant/sharing of my two cents. I have been on twitter with a professional account for approx. 6 months now. In that time, I have developed what I consider to be a valuable PLN. I love that I've connected with colleagues, clients, fellow teachers and fellow SMART Board users -- they've all contributed resources, ideas, opinions and generally just made my online experience wonderful.

One of the most discussed topics amongst those that I follow is that of education reform.  This is a hot topic in today's education world, and the focus of countless #edchats, keynote speakers, best selling books and professional development in schools.  I've engaged in numerous online discussions, and I really value that I get to see a diverse range of opinions on the subject -- inevitably, this makes me refine and shift my own thinking from time to time.

However, one common thread that I have witnessed throughout all of this online babble -- both the conversations that I've partaken in as well as those that I've simply 'eavesdropped' on -- is that many people seem to have the belief that there is only one 'correct' way to reform teaching.

This concept of "my way is the best way" isn't new, nor exclusive to edreform discussions.  But what bothers me about this absolute viewpoint is that there are folks that believe that one approach to teaching is the only way to save education, and that this one way is going to improve learning for every single student.

Enter my opinion:

I believe that a "one size fits all" approach to anything in education is not likely to result in increased understanding by all of our students.  Much like those who preach that the current education system isn't meeting the needs of all students because of their various talents, strengths and weaknesses, I believe that teachers shouldn't be forced into a standardized mold.  This goes for those who have opinions that span the spectrum from constructivism to the traditional 'stand and deliver' method.

What I want to scream from the rooftops is that I honestly believe that the actual teaching method itself is not the issue.  I have read numerous articles praising the benefits of a variety of methods including student centered learning, teachers using storytelling, inquiry based learning and teachers lecturing with visual aids.  Why are we still engaged in this battle focusing on what the best teaching method is?

I should probably back up a bit here and state for the record that I do believe that many elements of the education system need to change (starting with the emphasis on standardized tests).  I also believe that there are some teachers who probably need some 'pushing' outside their comfort zone. But there are a million more teachers that are doing wonderful things in their classrooms, and instead of pushing those teachers into the 'one right way' we should be helping them refine their skills.

What I really believe could transform the education world is helping teachers discover their talents, subsequently supporting and developing these talents in their classroom, then coaching them in identifying the context when each style should be used.  Let's face it -- a teacher who is a strong storyteller may actually be able to get students to 'experience' an event better than trying to fumble to piece together a poorly constructed student inquiry project.  Conversely, there are those that are masters at being a facilitator in their classrooms and guiding students' learning through thoughtful questions -- these types might 'lose' their students interest if attempting to provide a 20 minute lecture. 

Before I get a zillion comments regarding the fact I might actually be making a case for 'sage on the stage' I want to backtrack and emphasize that a variety of teaching methods should always be used within every classroom.  I'm simply arguing that the amount of time spent with each style should not only vary from teacher to teacher depending on the students in each class, but also on each teachers' strengths.

Thanks to @joe_bower @graingered and @xmath2007 for engaging in a recent Twitter conversation on this exact topic recently! Much appreciated :)

Thoughts? Ideas? Opinions? I welcome them in the comments section. I"m especially looking forward to today's #edchat -- as of this posting, the poll shows this topic in the lead!

Oh, and because I'm very much like Chandler in that I usually try to make jokes to ease the tension during a potentially uncomfortable situation, I'm ending with a funny editorial cartoon:

See Cartoons by Cartoon by John Cole - Courtesy of Politicalcartoons.com - Email this Cartoon

Haha - thanks for taking the time to read my opinion!

Vanessa

The Power of a PLN (alternately titled "My Biggest Blonde Moment Ever")

Friday, March 19th 2010 started out as a great day.  It was day 2 of the fantastic Teacher2Teacher Conference in Bow Island, AB (#t2t2010 for all you tweeps).  Despite there having been snow the night before, the sun was out, the air was warm and spring was definitely on its way.


Having presented 3 sessions at the conference on Thursday, I had met many great educators and fellow members of my Twitter PLN -- @fiteach and @MacHarvey to name just two.  My last session was set to take place at 2:00 pm on Friday, so I planned to spend the morning and early afternoon sitting in on other sessions and meeting other members of my virtual PLN.  This included attending @rmbyrne's "Developing PLNs (Personal Learning Networks) Through Social Networks" session Friday afternoon.

As I anticipated, @rmbyrne (a valuable member of my Twitterverse PLN) did a fantastic job demonstrating and explaining how awesome social networking sites can be for educators looking to both give and receive excellent tips, tricks, resources and ideas.  I even got the chance to meet another member of my Twitter PLN @langwitches.

During this discussion, I did a quick search of my full name on Twitter "Vanessa Cassie" to see if there were any other twitter accounts under this name that might confuse people looking for me.  I found 2 accounts -- my current professional one and an old personal one that I hadn't touched in nearly a year.

I decided that it was best to delete my old, inactive account so as not to confuse anyone whom I may meet through future conferences and pd sessions...so I went up to the "Settings" section of my account and selected "deactivate my account".  I was given the following warning:

"No biggie" I thought -- I only had a few close friends following me on my personal account, so I wasn't concerned about letting them know to start following me on my professional one.  And so...I hit...delete...

*Wham!*

I had a sudden sinking feeling as it dawned on me that I had never actually signed out of my professional account prior to the deactivation which might mean...

NOOOOOOO!

I hastily hit the 'home' button to take me back to my twitter feed and was greeted with the following message:

Oh. My. God.

There was no way that I could have just accidentally deleted my Twitter account...but sadly, it was true.  Despite great support from those in the workshop, and numerous emails to Twitter support, it was determined that nothing could be done to salvage my @VanessaCassie account.  To add insult to injury, I kept getting an email response with that original screenshot reminding me that I was warned prior to choosing to deactivate my account.  Like I needed to be reminded over and over!



There I was, faced with the daunting challenge of starting over from scratch.  How on earth was I ever going to rebuild? What about the great people 700+ people that I had met through various #edchats, #t2t2010 and #followfridays?  How was I going to access my favourited tweets that I hadn't yet had a chance to fully explore? How was I going to reconnect with participants from past pd days?

It was at that moment that I realized just how much I had come to rely on the support, information, resources and discussions that my PLN offered.  It was a true wake up call and testament to just how valuable these daily tidbits and debates were and how much of an integral part of my life they had become. I suddenly was walking proof that Twitter was not just a constant stream of status updates, but a source for answers to questions I had and a place to share information pertinent to technology in education.


I decided that there was no time to waste in rebuilding my Twitterverse, so I created a new account @VanessaSCassie and started by following a few key contacts that I had conversed with many times.  I sent out the following plea:

Within one hour, thanks to the amazing generosity and viral nature of Twitter, my plea had been re-tweeted 33 times and I had slowly begun to rebuild with 50 followers. On a Friday night!  The kindness and concern continued, with so many wonderful tweeps sending me words of condolences and vowing to keep spreading the word.  I also received many comments that my devastation was not in vain that I was a lesson to others to always be cautious of online actions and to be thankful for their own participation in our online PLN.

The moral of my story is this:

Words cannot begin to describe just how valuable an online Personal Learning Network can be.  For those of you reading this who have not yet begun your own journey of building a PLN I strongly encourage you to do so.  For those educators who have started the process, let this story be a reminder to you of how many great things can come from the support, kindness and willingness to share of our online friends around the world.  At the time of this blog post, a mere 4 days after my virtual world collapsed, I'm nearly halfway to rebuilding the connections that I thought I had lost.

A huge "thank you" to the hundreds of people who have RT-ed, re-followed and reinforced my belief in the power of my PLN.

@VanessaSCassie

(formerly known as @VanessaCassie)

Am I a Twewbie, a Twurzel or Just a Twit?

Ah Twitter. The new-ish networking site that has evolved from constant annoying Facebook-like status updates ("I'm toasting my bread", "I'm buttering my toast", "I'm eating my toast") to a useful microblogging tool. I must admit, when I first joined with a personal account 614 days ago (thanks whendidyoujointwitter.com!) my sole interest was in following a few of my techie friends and legally stalking celebrities (yay @EmersonDrive!) It was fun, it was a novelty and I quickly ran out of things to tweet since everyone who bothered to follow me back (aside from those pesky adult entertainment spammers) were already my friends on Facebook. I saw no need to duplicate descriptions of my whereabouts or thoughts on life. And let's face it I'm not exactly @aplusk with four million+ followers.




Since re-joining the Twitter community with a professionally focused account exactly 27 days ago (again thanks to whendidyoujointwitter.com for that information!), I re-discovered the value in Twitter. Primarily, over my past 137 tweets (as of this post), I've networked with other educators, posted links to interesting content, shared thoughts on 21st century learning and learned TONS from others in my PLN (professional learning network). Thanks to Tweet3d I've created a Tweet Cloud that identifies what my most tweeted about topics have been.

I've also had a chance to see how some educators have chosen to integrate Twitter into their lessons -- a concept that I, unfortunately, did not think of introducing to my students during my teaching career. However, I see it as an extremely valuable tool, and cannot wait to share the idea with some of my former colleagues.

Despite my official status of 614 days on Twitter, I'm still considered a fairly green Twitter newbie -- apparently also known as a Twewbie, a Twurzel or, as my husband sees it, a Twit. Confused yet? I know I have been throughout this re-introduction to the microblogging world. (It took me forever to discover the twitter meaning of a "hashtag" -- my experience of teaching high school students led me down a different thought process on that one!)

For all those out there who have yet to join the Twitter world, I strongly encourage you to do so. For those fearful of being an obvious newbie, I recommend Twitter 101 as a starting point.


Happy Tweeting! (Just watch out for that blue whale -- he usually means trouble!)
Vanessa