Mark Osborne made a comment at ICOT that “Each year your class are different so your lessons should be different.” I have kept that in mind as my first classes approach this year and tomorrow I meet my 4 classes for the first time. Here’s how I will start to find out about the learners in my classes this year. Continue reading
As the school year begins and students start coming back into class, I felt it was time for me to refresh the conditions necessary for my classes to operate as complex, living networks. This is a quote which I have loved since first reading it and it is something I strive to achieve:
In this context, the practitioner is less like the bulldozer driver carving a way through the landscape to a pre conceived objective, more like a combination of canoeist shooting the rapids and creative artist exploring possibilities and waiting for inspiration.
ICOT was easily the best conference that I have been part of. It provided a mass of ideas and thoughts in a good balance of keynote and breakout sessions. I met lots of great people that I had known only over twitter previously and also had great discussions with completely new people. Everyone of these discussions was a valuable addition to my week at the conference and many of these people have now become part of my wider personal learning network through twitter. There are a string of great comments and blogs coming out (see other blogs on these links by Karen, Matt and Stephanie) but here is my final wrap up of the conference. Continue reading
Some emerging thinking prompts from the final day at ICOT
Edward de Bono and John Edwards
A new word to use frequently: ebne (excellent but not enough)
90% of errors in thinking are errors of perception
Humour indicates brain is working as a patterning system
Even openess can block you from exploring other paths as you choose some far off point and ignore other possibilities
Minister for Thinking – an idea that could change the world and see thinking taken seriously
Far richer to work with multiple definitions of a term than one ‘true’ definition
Do not teach a new thinking skill in an overpowering context – they will not remember the skill
Ewan McIntosh
Lots you can do to kill and create innovation, it is attitudinal
Are your comments No or Go for the innovators in your organisation?
Say “yes and…” rather than “yes, but…” to aide innovation
Pitch (rather than present) your innovation to leaders in the school
Start pitch with values before the idea – Im trying to achieve… then after all that you give the idea
David Perkins
Alertness is something we really need to work on as we cultivate people’s thinking
Dont give people a pile of thinking organisers, give them a way to think about what they are using
Really young kids can grab on to these thinking strategies
How do we grapple with our contrary thinking dispositions?
Over the next few days I will go back over my last few dates and add in links that go with the speakers and my reflective prompts.
Some statements and questions to reflect on from the breakouts I attended at ICOT on Wednesday and Thursday
Rose Hipkins
Embodied thinking is intuitive, ‘rational’ decisions are usually after-the-fact justifications
How do you develop students’ intuitive thinking?
Thinking in the spaces between individuals or ideas is a more apt metaphor for the changes afforded by information technologies
We need to push past our urge to stick with people like us. Learn to love difference – then you will learn
Epistemic experiences are moments when we become conscious of something about our knowing
Martin Renton – In the Learning Pit
Moving from clarity to confusion is a positive step in the learning process
No such thing as a bad question. The important part is the reason for asking the question
Get comfortable with silence, it helps us process our thinking
How often do you question to confuse your students
Hana Olds
Active thinking is where creative, critical and caring thinking overlap
Do your inquiries allow for passion, persistence and purpose?
“I don’t want a project, I want something with a purpose”
Rich Allen
Don’t just think differently, act differently
Good teachers are always learning from their students
Lesson plans are hallucinations
Karen Melhuish Spencer
Social networks privilege the individual, online communities privilege the relationship
Do you use social networks to check or challenge your thinking?
What social network has the most effective impact on your teaching? How? Can you prove this?
As educators we are morally obliged to share our practice for the good of all students
For the next few days I will be uploading posts that have questions or points to ponder from ICOT 2013. As this is all happening from a mobile device they may not have links attached all the time but I will try to point you in the right direction.
Ewan McIntosh was the morning keynote and these are the main thinking points that I took away with me:
Mark Osborne
NZCER
Visible Thinking – Project Zero
ICOT 2013 opened in Wellington yesterday with a challenge from Uncle Sam of local iwi Te Ati Awa to think deeply, and take action to make a difference. Continue reading
I’m off to ICOT (http://icot2013.core-ed.org/) in the morning and looking forward to a good week full of interesting speakers and also catching up with Wellington friends who I haven’t seen in a year.
Will try to post some thoughts as the week progresses but otherwise follow my twitter feed for instant reactions
I may be biased but I feel that #GeoEdChat may be the best innovation of 2013 (well maybe so far!).
Based upon the large range of twitter chats that already occur, a group got together, led by Dan @RavenEllison to fill the gap in Geography chats.
A website has been set up (http://geoedchat.com/) and the chats will be hosted in a different timezone/region each week so all parts of the world gain equal access.
A moderator takes control for each week and sets a poll of topics they are interested in. A week before the chat they will post a blog on the website with their thinkpiece to stimulate the chat when it occurs.
The first chat is happening 8pm London time February 6th and will discuss how geography can be at the centre of your school. The thinkpiece for this is by David Rogers, who will be moderating the chat, and has just been posted online now for reading and discussion beforehand. Have a read and then vote in the polls for the upcoming chats.
The situation in Mali has now escalated to an international conflict with European troops (particularly French) becoming involved, the Algiers incident and African Union troops being sent in as well. The New Zealand Herald today included a thorough article with a great map demonstrating where this is occurring.
Normally, when approaching current events such as this, I work with the following set of thinking prompts:
With this situation though, I feel the main forces may be too complex so require a further set of information sources for students to more completely understand what is occurring. The following articles are ones that I plan to use with my classes in the coming weeks:
National Geographic provide a great backgrounder to the situation.
More depth can be added to the background with this article from International Political Forum
BBC have this article about the key players in the crisis
Hope these help you and your students (and me!) understand the developing situation in Mali.
Steve Mouldey 