Are you well known?

Last night in our EC&I class, we had a conversation about Media Awareness and Media Literacy. During our discussions, someone mentioned the fact that they Google their name as part of their routine to check for any misuses of their name, image, or other items pertaining to them. I remember Googling my name at the beginning of the semester just for kicks and there were only a handful of hits and only one actually pertained to me – it appears I have a double down in the southern US who is a consultant. Last night I Googled my name and came up with 80 hits and most of them appear to actually pertain to me and my interactions with my network. I was stunned. It really gave me a slap in the face lesson about our digital footprints, as did some of the videos that Alec presented. The most humourous being the Star Wars kid that I just had to include here for people that didn’t see it – it was originally just a middle years kid playing around and was translated into this and put on YouTube (there are several different versions if you search “Star Wars Kid”). Enjoy and watch what you do…the Internet is FOREVER!

The Learning Studio

How do you stage your classroom? Straight rows of never-ending desks facing the chalk or whiteboard? Perhaps a table in the back corner and a book carousel for some appropriate novels? Your desk in a commanding spot in the room? OR Do your students sit in different assortments of groups and tables? Are you fortunate enough to have a smart-board? Do you have computers and allow students to bring in their laptops, iPods, and cell phone? Does silent reading time mean just reading novels (don’t get me wrong, I am very “pro” books and an avid reader) or can this reading include blogs and other media? Does it matter? I think it does and seeing Clarence Fisher’s classroom on Tuesday night really cemented this for me. We really aren’t doing our students any favours by teaching them in the same environments that we were taught in. Why not critically think about and plan how you and your students want the space to be and call it a learning studio where exciting things are happening and people want to be.

Once again, Alec brought in an incredibly inspiring guest presenter for our EC&I 831 grad class, Clarence Fisher. Clarence is a middle years teacher in Snow Lake, Manitoba. The community is fairly remote, being a few hours from any major communities, however, Clarence’s students are very connected to others via the Internet and the network that they are creating through it and within their classroom. In Clarence’s classroom, the world is their stage and this really opens students to the possibilities that globalization has offered. Clarence used a quote from Alan November: “Envision your classroom as a global communication center” where students communicate outside the walls of the classroom and have authentic an audience. We need to examine our classrooms and ask: what is happening in our classrooms that provides opportunities for collaborations – inside and outside the walls of the classroom? Is the “stage” set-up properly? How do we teach them to be critical of the information that the find and also create good information for others? Alec put up four words to summarize the process: consumption, creation, publication, collaboration. These topics should be addressed every time our students work on something in our classroom. I like the ideas put forth in Terry Anderson’s Post regarding connective intelligence which emphasizes the power of our networks. I think a key component to teaching 21st century learners is making them aware of the context of the information that they find and to become critical consumers and critical, creative producers. Clarence called this “information architecture” and referred to teachers as “network administrators” that were responsible for connecting the students with people and information to interact with, which are nice descriptions.

Clarence encourages his students to bring their own laptops and iPod Touches into his classroom which increases the number students able to connect with others. This being said, he also warns teachers against becoming “digital nomads” that wander from project to project and start to lose the meaning of such endeavours. Just like all school projects, using digital means to produce them should still be meaningful and meet our curriculum requirements and not just be an add-on.

I hope the students in Snow Lake appreciate the gift they have with an innovative trail blazer like Clarence for a teacher.