Putting It All Together...

As part of our 21^st Century Literacies course, we were asked to follow 3 educator blogs throughout the term. For my final blog post, I want to connect some of the ideas of my blog writers to what I have learned from this course and understand how together, these connections have begun to shape my own vision for teaching.

However, when I reflect on my previous blogs, I realize that this is really what I was trying to do all along. Many of my prior posts were inspired by something I read as these teachers chronicled their journeys in the classroom. I wrote about BYOD and integrated curriculum in response to Heather Theijsmeijer’s and Jimmy Blackwood’s implementation of these pedagogical approaches into their classrooms. Heidi Siwak’s tough decision to talk about the Ottawa shootings with her classroom in an older post in October resonated with my discussion on the difficulty I may face in teaching the sensitive content of the new Ontario human development and sexual health curriculum. I even wrote a blog about blogs as a means of understanding the importance of teachers sharing their learning experiences with other teachers.

To me, this is the point of developing a Personal Learning Network (PLN) – share your ideas, learn from others, and consider a variety of perspectives on teaching. In the online educational community, creating a dialogue is key. There is a reason that many bloggers end their posts with questions or by asking readers for their input. Or why teachers and various educational organizations will send out “blog hops” for educators to bring their individual perspectives on a trending issue or topic. For example, ThePhysicalEducator.com blog (http://www.thephysicaleducator.com/blog/)  has physical educators from around the world share their teaching philosophy on a regular feature entitled “How I Teach”. In a recent blog hop on “What does learning in the 21^st Century mean to me?”, Jimmy Blackwood gave his 2 cents, noting that he believes that learning should be self-directed by students. As such, he explained that the teacher’s role is simply to provide students with opportunities to develop the necessary skills required for them to be their own constructors of knowledge. And at the end of his blog post? A list of other teachers that have “joined the conversation” and links to their blogs.

For Andy Vasily, his PLN is a means of professional growth and development. In a recent video-cast he created for a different class I am enrolled in, he identified blogging and conversing with other teachers as his main forums for reflecting on his teaching (check out Prof. Tim Fletcher’s acknowledgement of the video-cast on Andy’s twitter feed here: https://twitter.com/andyvasily). In his blogs, he calls this his "pursuit of mastery". These types of discussions in and of themselves are part of a learning process. Likewise, the very fact that Heidi Siwak somehow finds the time to blog almost everyday demonstrates that it is an integral part of her teaching practice. It is how she evaluates her teaching on a daily basis. Heidi documents how her students have responded her lessons, areas to improve her own teaching, and how her reflection will impact her subsequent instruction and assessment. 

For me, the small PLN that I have developed has informed my own vision for teaching. This experience has begun to shape who I will become as an educator and what I believe 21^st Century learning will look in my classroom. And what better way to learn than from the experts – teachers in the field conducting their own “research”.  

The teachers I followed personify what it means to be a 21^st century educator. However, I feel I was able to connect most with the blogs written by Heather. While she is an experienced high school math and science teacher, she is open about her struggles as she shifts her teaching style from a more traditional pedagogy to an approach that is student-centred and incorporates the use of technology. In one of her posts she described how it took her and her students days to get set up on the tablets they received as part of a technology grant, going as far as describing her class as “pioneers” in trying to figure out all of the glitches that accompany new hardware and software. This reminded me of Dean Shareski’s discussion on students (and teachers!) having a “play mindset” when it comes to exploring new technology. Despite the roadblocks, Heather is embracing technology and throughout her posts it is clear that her classroom and her teaching are progressing to the point where the technology is not simply a substitute for pen and paper, but rather a tool for online collaboration, creativity, problem-solving and communication. This is evident by her recent electricity usage science project, where students used online software to gather, analyse and share their data.

As I venture into the world of teaching, I know I will face similar challenges. Heather could easily revert back to her old teaching approach or the way she was likely taught, a fear of many prospective teachers (and a reality for many once they start the job). Yet, this idea of perseverance seems to be a common trait shared by all of the teachers I followed and certainly something that they are trying to instill with their students. Heidi documented an entire unit she did with her Grade 5 students on tenacity, grit, perseverance and resiliency. She identified these components of character education as potentional springboards for learning. This idea of a growth mindset is key feature 21^st Century education (Drake, Reid & Kolohon, 2014). 

As my course on 21^st Century literacies comes to a close, I felt it appropriate to reflect on some other key features of 21^st Century education that I have learned about by following these blogs and engaging in the learning experiences of this course. To assist in my reflection, I chose to create this mind-map:

(By the way, the mind-map was created using the bubbl.us website, a great tool for documenting ideas and certainly can be used with your students during those valuable brainstorming sessions. Here is the link: https://bubbl.us/mindmap)

So...how does this all connect? What does it mean for my teaching practice?

In the 21^st Century, there are so many things that we want students to know, do and be. The literacies are a prime example of this and speak to the complexity of teaching. To help simplify things, I will attempt to narrow the focus of my future goals as an educator:

·      I know I want to build a strong sense of learning community with my students.

·      I know I want to provide my students with deep, meaningful learning experiences.

·      I know I want to promote the idea of students becoming life-long learners.

My search to discover how to do this will be ongoing, particularly as the world of education continues to evolve. As teachers, if we share the same commitment to learning that we ask of our students, our pursuit of improving our teaching practice should become a reality. 

Well, that’s enough rambling for one post! I am tempted to write a quick note about this being my final post…but something tells me you may be hearing from me again. With that in mind, I will simply say goodbye…for now.

References:

Drake, S.M. & Reid, J.L. & Kolohon, W. (2014). Interweaving curriculum and classroom assessment: Engaging the 21 Century Learner. Toronto, ON: Oxford University Press.

Links to followed blogs:

http://byodasap.blogspot.ca

http://www.heidisiwak.com

https://jimmyblackwood.wordpress.com

http://www.pyppewithandy.com/pyp-pe-blog