Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
EDU-ACTION!
I saw a misspelling today of the word Education.
It was spelled EDUACTION.
Without knowing it, someone sparked a call to arms--a wake up call to what needs to be going on in classrooms around the world. Any of the following could be their own blog post--and I encourage you to blog it up and come back here and share your thoughts. What are you doing to take ACTION in your classrooms? In your districts? In your work that relates to the learning of students, whatever your role?
Are you:
- Upgrading your curriculum and finding alternative, 21st Century ways of providing evidence of student learning?
- Reaching out to other parts of the world and bringing Global opportunities into your program?
- Upgrading methodologies and teaching in a way that reflects a classroom in 2010, or one that reflects a classroom from 1975?
- Letting research based instructional strategies guide what you do?
- Creating communities for learning that include students?
- Letting students be stakeholders in the designing of curriculum and assessments?
- Integrating 21st Century skills beyond technology: critical thinking, collaboration, evaluation, etc?
- Replacing dated assessments with more modern evidence of learning?
In short, what "EDU-ACTIONS" are you taking?
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Global Fluency
This past week, I had many opportunities to converse with others about the globalization of education. Many of our conversations, especially those with colleagues Silvia Tolisano and Shari Albright, focused on not only making connections but being fluent with those connections.
Specifically, Silvia and I discussed the importance of fluency, and how that goes beyond just making connections and collaborating on a project or two. It means natural--an integrated flow--
This morning, Silvia posted a video called HOW TO LISTEN TO GLOBAL VOICES
We talked about all the different perspectives and voices and cultures and considerations for participating in a global conversation, and how often we invite that into our own worlds.
In the last 24 hours, I've had conversations with multiple people in several states through skype, blogs, and twitter. I've talked with a friend in England, and skyped with a new colleague in Australia--who was in Holland last week when I skyped her in by video into my session on assessment.
The video and conversations from last week made me think about the ease with which I participate in the global conversation. It dawned on me that I've been doing this for awhile. When I was in high school, I regularly talked with peers in Denmark and Germany. As I got older and with better technology, we followed friends that trekked around the world through blogs and photo sharing sites. When I visited England, Scotland, and Holland, (before the internet...) I sent postcards back to friends and family. I've waited hours on the phone and sent multiple emails to the Chinese consulate in our country and the Chinese government helping a friend bring his mother to the United States.
I'm seeing a couple of things evolve here. First, my experiences (and hopefully future travel!) help me to understand that my perspective is not fixed. I'm not just a U.S. Citizen, I'm a global citizen, with a multitude of responsibilities to continue engaging in conversations. And two, I need to do more. Except for a couple of countries, I deal mostly with English Speakers. I wonder what rich things I'm missing out on?
This is just sort of a "thinking out loud" blog post this morning. I'm hoping my daughter, who is sitting here beside me, doesn't think this way when she's my age. I hope this is just the way of world, where global conversation is as easy as breathing, and engagement is as necessary as water.
-Mike
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Resources from the Curriculum Mapping Institute 2010
I thought I would post some links to all of the great resources that are being shared at this week's Curriculum Mapping Institute in Saratoga Springs, NY.
We have had a vibrant and exciting week of developing our professional practice around mapping with a 21st Century framework. The collegiality and conversation have been nothing short of phenomenal and I am thrilled with the non-stop professional growth that is occurring.
I thought some of you readers might like to be the beneficiary of some of these great things!
Presenter Website with loads of resources and downloads.
LiveBinder of Alan November's Digital Farm breakout session
LiveBinder of CMI Collaboration Resources
LiveBinder of Evidence of Learning 2.0, including Globalization resources
I'll be adding to this over the course of the next week as I sort through all I've collected. This should keep you all busy for awhile!
Monday, July 12, 2010
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