Architecture of Ideas

The Art (and Beauty) of Collaboration

So we've been talking a lot in our 21st Century Learning Cohort about collaboration tools. With intention we structured the year-long PLC learning environment around some of the online tools (wikis, blogs, and Skype) and our members are sourcing new effective tools as well (hat tip to Bernadette for Vyew). And, at my "day job" at The Lovett School we are focused on building student competency in collaboration (both face to face and across time and space). We are making progress here with the faculty professional development and some of the student work fascilitated by things like Google Docs, wikis, Ning sites, blogs, and Diigo. It is quite satisfying in both the PLC and school arena when I see the "cool tools" used with good intention (and sometimes used quite well) to support the communities' pedagogy and curricular goals.

But what is the purpose of collaborating? I know many a student (and parent) that moans at the thought of a "group project" for fear of: a) one person getting stuck doing all the work; b) coordinating too many moving parts; and c) a final product that will be of poorer quality than if one just "did it themself." Sure, learning the skill of working with someone else, learning how to "get along" and "form compromise" are well-intended goals. But if "two aren't better than one" than is the collaboration really worth all the effort?

I'm sure I don't have all the answers, but I do believe our ultimate learning goal should be such that the by products and end products of collaboration are greater than when flying solo. And, when it works, there is somewhat of a "beauty" to it, don't you think? These two certainly are convincing: (Thanks, Ted.)

Learning: Taking Risks with Shakespeare

 

We had just moved to the "big" house three blocks from the park and a 10-minute walk to our elementary school. Though we had not moved far, my sister and I did not know anyone in our new neighborhood. Only 2 1/2 years apart in age, we had often been each others playmate. But, with a new world before us, I was ready to explore. Not so my younger sister, and with my big eyes gleaming like diamonds and her big eyes brimming with tears, I grabbed her hand and said "Come on. Let's go make friends."

Not much has changed since I was seven years old. Although I am one to crave the solitude of a mountain hike, early morning walk on the beach, or the quiet spaces I screen and scream for daily, I still am just as "curious as hell," "outgoing," and "greedy for knowledge" as my friends and colleagues suggest today. I guess that is why I love All The Places (I) Can Go in this connected world of reading, writing, communicating and learning. And I love nothing more than grabbing someone's hand and introducing them to my world of learning...so they can make friends, too.When Anne Smith tweeted she was studying Shakespeare and looking for some collaboration, I sent a quick reply back and DM to Karl Fisch. I'd met Karl at ISTE two summers ago, spent more time with him this summer at a PLP retreat session, and I'd met Anne when she and Karl presented last year at NCTE. Impressive is the first word that comes to mind regarding both of them and their work, and so my response was a instant "yes." Finding a teacher who'd hold hands and jump with me is not always guaranteed, but I've got great faculty here and I think they are starting to trust my renegade ways. So, jump we did, and after some traditional back and forth emailing and a Skype conference call, Anne, Karl, Upper School English Department Chair Debi Ohayon and I settled on a collaboration: two joint classroom Skype and live blog sessions on Hamlet.

Following Anne's lead with her established protocol for outer circle liveblogging and inner circle research/presentation/commenting, we prepped our AP English Lit students, tested out webcam and mic settings with Karl, and launched the first classroom on Monday with a study of Act III. Anne did a lovely and very gracious job of recording her impressions of the day, and I received the following from Debi last night. Debi is my first "guest post author"-the first of what I hope will be many teachers' reflections as we construct our ideas around here:

Oh, how good it feels to reap the rewards of hard work! When Laura first asked me to collaborate with a teacher in Colorado, I thought it sounded interesting but knew my plate was already too full. Being department chair as well as a supporter of her work with 21st century learning, I didn't want to let her down and she didn't want to let down the folks at Arapahoe High School in Colorado, contacts of hers, including Anne Smith, a truly innovative English teacher, and Karl Fisch, director of technology at the same school and creator of the now famous "Did You Know?" video, who were extending this invitation. Boy, am I glad my curiosity or sense of duty or both propelled me forward, as it has been a thrill to watch this pilot project become reality, despite the time commitment, logistical challenges, and alterations of my syllabus. The excitement that both my students and I have felt being pioneers as well as participants in a joint classroom experience across the country has been enormous. As Laura suggested, just the concept of kids in the 21st century talking in different time zones about an early 17th century text is intriguing. It's certainly not just about the fun (though it is really fun); the students agree that the Skype/LiveBlog shared classroom has enriched their learning experience. Meredith Thornhill captured this sentiment today in class during our feedback session when she said, "We got to branch out beyond our own classroom and discuss similar ideas as well as gain insight about other ideas from students we didn't know." Furthermore, Mark Morel said, "It was not only a blast, but a highly intellectual experience that I will always remember." I know many educators fear technology being pushed for the wrong reasons, but I'm quite convinced this was an example of technology enhancing pedagogical goals.

        Three of the core competencies we are addressing right now in the upper school at Lovett are critical thinking, oral communication, and teamwork. The student-centered approach of this project, implemented on a regular basis in Anne Smith's classroom at Arapahoe high school in Colorado, prompts the students to do the mental work. They create, design, ask and answer the questions. Looking back over the transcript of the blog, I see that many open-ended, thoughtful questions were posed and many well-supported answers were given. Anne herself noted how she was impressed with our kids' use of the text. I was impressed with her students' serious approach to learning and eagerness to engage my students in dialogue. The inner circle had the opportunity and the responsibility of clearly vocalizing their ideas. So often we think oral communication means giving a speech, but this was a different forum for public speaking. In addition, I noticed the Cover It Live Blog was an excellent avenue for students, such as Lyndsey Peters, who prefer not to be vocal in class, to voice themselves with confidence and conviction.  Regarding teamwork, some of my favorite moments during the hour were when classmates such as S.E. Spencer and Cedric Heckel-Jones came to the aid of peers by rephrasing someone else's interpretation and gently clarifying for both classrooms or shall I say both halves of both circles? Other favorite moments included the pop-up voting polls on issues like "Is Hamlet actually going mad at the end of Act 3?" and "What kind of hero is Hamlet?" Often the results of these votes fed into more analysis. Without a doubt, this was much more than an exercise in fancy new technology.

        Overall, when I asked my students to describe the experience with "either a thumb's up or thumb's down," they unanimously gave the endeavor a thumbs up; Chandler Dunklin made a point of distinctly giving it two thumbs up and even asked if we could do it weekly!  Sure there are kinks, mostly technical, to iron out for next time, but nonetheless we all felt a part of something special. I'm pretty certain that the something special was a uniquely communal learning environment. Since I also have a personal invested interest in character education, I would be remiss not to note as a bonus what a delight it was to see teenagers from different parts of the country, representing both public and private schools, using literature to discuss timeless, universal moral issues.

Thanks, Hamlet. Thanks, Shakespeare. Thanks, Laura, Anne, and Karl. Jim Wingate, too, for all the technical help!

All that is left for me to say is this: Cheers and thanks, Debi! You've taken a big risk, and you are rewarded with not only a memorable experience but students who are "doing the learning." Well done. And, Anne and Karl: We're looking forward to "round 2"!

Link to Live Blog Recording: http://smithewl9010.blogspot.com/2009/11/hamlet-act-3.html

Image Credit: Hamlet by kevinthoule, Flickr Creative Commons License

Learning Happens in the Margins

She rolled her eyes and exclaimed, “He wants us to annotate every page, and I have no idea what he wants. This book is so complicated. Why can’t he just tell us what we need to know for the test?”

I replied, “Because deep learning happens in the margins.”

So many students come to us today with the expectation that they will sit in our classrooms as teacups on a tray waiting to be filled, consumed, and filled again. In his provocative and insightful book Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns,  Clayton Christensen argues that our students lack, for a variety of reasons, the extrinsic and ever-more-important intrinsic motivation required to be successful learners.

How do we as teachers (and parents) inspire our students to be self-motivated and engaged learners? Let’s consider two approaches:

(1) Stop doing it for them.

As my co-facilitator Brandi Sabb (Instructional Coach at Grady High School) and I discussed when considering the work of the 21st Century Classroom cohort, our fellows need to experience our “classroom” as empowering, student-centered, differentiated, and certainly not a “sit and get” training session. It requires a questioning approach, technology tools, individualized learning contracts, and group collaboration. It is much harder work to construct this PLC model than to design and deliver content. However, learning not training is happening here, and we believe the ultimate demonstrations of that learning will be richer, more varied, and “stickier” (hat tip to Malcolm Gladwell’s Tipping Point and the Heath brother’s Made to Stick).

(2) Find out, and nurture, their interests.

A teacher sent me an email yesterday asking for how best to respond to the eager 6th student who asked, “Can we blog on other stuff or just when it is assigned.” I smiled. This on the heels of watching eight high school students show up at 7 a.m. on Friday for an opportunity to work with us and a PhD researcher to build an iPhone app for K-12 educational use.  Both of these examples demonstrate student interest-their intrinsic motivation to write, collaborate, create, construct, critically think—all skills we are after—in a context they find relevant, authentic, and meaningful. (And, neither of these will be for “credit.”)

Brandi and I are trying to approach our cohort with this in mind. Each of our 21st century classroom fellows is a bright educator with a unique background, set of interests, pedagogy, and technology skills. We are experimenting with the use of group and individual “learning contracts” with the hope these will not only help us guide the learning, but identify and leverage the intrinsic motivation and interests of each individual, and maximize group and individual achievement. As we confer with each of our fellows on their contracts, it is exciting to see the range of interests and potential outcomes of their work this year.

Learning happens in the margins.

Classroom and school transformation for 21st century learning will not happen overnight. It is not prescriptive, and I have yet to find someone or some institution that has all the right answers. More student-centered learning, the need to differentiate, authentic experiences, and the successful integration of computers and other technology tools require much shifting of practice. (And we have not even touched on curriculum!) However, the hard work going on in the margins, with students and within our cohort, will help us construct our ideas, pilot new practices, reflect…and learn.

--

(Note: This article is scheduled to appear in The Westminster Schools' Center for Teaching fall publication.)

Image Credit- margin: 0; by Manuela Hoffman (Creative Commons License)