I had the good fortune today of listening to Stephen Heppell’s presentation at the St. Clair County RESA. His message was positive and humorous. The perspective was global. I can’t help but get excited by the examples of change both large and small which Stephen shared with us. There two main points which I took away today.
There is no One Size Fits All.
The most reckless gamble we can take is not to change
I’m grateful to be involved in a program in a district where this message is not lost. A message in which we are the architects of our change.
Caveat: My notes below are incomplete at best, but may be of value, especially to those who were in attendance.
The Ingredients: 21st Century Schools are using:
There is no One Size Fits All.
The most reckless gamble we can take is not to change
I’m grateful to be involved in a program in a district where this message is not lost. A message in which we are the architects of our change.
Caveat: My notes below are incomplete at best, but may be of value, especially to those who were in attendance.
The Ingredients: 21st Century Schools are using:
- Search for: Consolarium
- Nintendo DS and gaming - Brain training
- bullying has virtually disappeared in these environments.
- Not clear why this is, just is.
- Search for:Learnorver
- Connecting students over skype
- Students in Sweden not being overly tested. Intrinsically aware of their own abillity.
- Search for:eduQuest
- Using video cameras to describe science experiments rather than formal writing.
- Singapore used this study to build dedicated science labs in every elemetary school.
- Search for: asms adelaide
- exposing young students to undergraduate college courses.
- Schools closing their staff rooms and reopening them as shared spaces. Turned into cafe’s and chillout spaces.
- If everyone is a learner why have special rooms for the old learners (adults)?
- Schools going shoeless for the day
- has unexpected benefits
- changing furnishings is also integral
- adults - shoes off too
- don’t do slippers
- Search for: unlimited christchurch
- took one floor of a department store
- using empty spaces to embed education
- minimal use of furniture
- One cohort - no continual influx
- Using video deliver school-wide messages flexibly
- Search for Bilston Academy
- created an advertising campaign to PR the community
- promoting the positive aspects of learning
- Search for: home bases, mini schools
- no more than 125 students
- intimacy
- trust
- http://teachers.tv - Learner Voice
- students attend in-service, do lesson observations, interviewing staff
- Student asked “What is an itch”
- cannot be compulsary
- Search for Cayman futures
- One course at a time!
- immersion
- compare to dramatic productions (focussed and dedicated, project based)
- remove the corridor transition time
- Search for: praisepod
- adults had praise tokens
- you go to a video recorder which records to DVD
- A peer asks what did you do that was so good?
- Changing school culture
- Now they are using cellphone deliver to parents.
- Hero Award cards which students give to teachers for going above and beyond - students are only given 3 cards. Teacher raffle at the end of the term.
- Praise points for behavioral (controllable activities, not grades)
- Search for: tk park
- Search for: hellerup school
- Using stariwells and corridors as lecture and work spaces
- move students less
- If you have a computer lab use mirrors on the walls.
- see their faces or see screens
- http://mapumental.com
- technology and information are pervasive
- data is changing how we make decisions
- We live in a world of no secrets and
- big surprises
- Google Translate transforming data into native language
- phones may have simultaneous translation with 16 months
- students are being presented with things they haven’t met before
- we are now preparing for the unexpected, we need to surprised students in their learning
- “We had expected the unexpected, but we weren't’ prepared for this!”
- GPS track sticks
- 3d printers - Geometry lessons
- cellphones
- http://twitcam.com
- 120 students ( 1 teacher leader, 1 teacher differentiating, 1 teacher doing remedial support)
- With just one teacher the support is serial
- With multiple teachers the support is parallel
- extended learning class periods
- asking students how we improve our learning
- http://teachers.tv
- student driven learning (vested)
- non-traditional seating
- would not recommend projectors and would instead focus on flat panel tv
- tech day show and tell
- playfulness matters
- made projectors that project both inside and outside
- chill out room in the Netherlands (set the scene based on famous plays)
- Add color
- outdoor amphitheaters
- three points of focus or more / make collaborative teaching easy
- curved furniture
- agile room design
- color coding of areas
- inflatable wall pods
- Ask 3 then me
- Essay grading; put the essay’s in the middle of the room ask each student to take two, compare and rank which is better.
- Download free essays online, compare them, contrast them, critique them, improve them.
- School libraries should be shelved with student work
- How can we change learning?
- Theoretically via cognitive enhancement - using pharmaceuticals to enhance learning. Putting chemicals in the water like fluoride. Yikes
- Parenting is far and away the greatest factor in student success.
