Independent life-long learners in a restrictive system.

I have hit a bit of a conundrum (quite like this word) in my senior classes. In my History classes I have my students do 2 research assignments each year. In both Year 11 and 12, Ancient and Modern History. I try and keep the topics nice and broad to give students I diverse range of topics to select from. In my Business classes I do something similar to encourage creativity in marketing with the choices they could make and how they can present it. All these subjects lend themselves to allow students to be creative and to tap into their own interest. 

Now I have two problems. Firstly the Queensland system. The senior system follow Verification and Monitoring procedures, where a panel of teachers get together for a region and review student work. They look for evidence matching the criteria in the students work to make sure an A, B, C, etc is consistent across the state. Last year I had students produce a range of multimodal and written tasks that were brilliant, and of the highest quality. But, I got criticised by certain panellists that they struggled to find high A-standard evidence in these types of assessments because they have never attempted doing it themselves or seen it done like this . Some students wrote music lyrics and score for an Ancient History unit on Judaism, there was a board game for the Egyptian afterlife, video documentaries, websites for conference presentations, historical fiction, graphic novels. These I find fascinating and the students love the choices that allow them to express history research in different formats. 

Secondly, there are students that struggle with the freedom and being asked to be independent. They want you to tell them the answers, tell them what to do, give them the topic. They have been conditioned into believing that they cannot do it themselves or come up with their own suitable ideas. I don't know how they have gotten to this point and it is an uphill battle to change this thinking. 

Quite often our education system is very rigid with not a lot of scope for creativity in senior classes, and the focus is always on ticking boxes. The students often do not really invest themselves in the learning process, all they are after are the grades. I'm trying to change this, as there is so much scope and fascinating areas in History and even in Business (mainly marketing and not-for profit ventures). I'm hoping my passion for the subjects, my drive to see them excel no matter what methods they use to present their tasks; and that their own interests are grown and developed. I don't want 20 students doing exactly the same writing, presentation, topics or responses. I want them to be individual, creative, critical, independent and have their own intrinsic motivation for learning. That is the challenge, to develop these independent life-long learners in a restrictive system.

Evernote @ CSA Conference 2014

Towards the end of last year the Assistant Principal nominated me to present at the Christian Schools Australia Conference in July this year. I was excited and nervous at the same time about the prospect of speaking to a group of educators in an hour long workshop at a big Conference. My topic would be 'Blended Learning: Using Evernote as a LMS to raise the academic bar'.

I had many ideas and resources collected over the years that I could select from, and I had just done a completely paperless class experiment in year 10. I followed this up by getting rid of all my paper folders and scanning everything into the cloud. I use Google Drive as my storage space, but my documents are backed up in other places too. Now I am trying to get rid of more paper as I move through this year.

I constructed a detailed presentation that expanded a lot on my EduTECH Teachmeet talk from June, as this one had to be 60 minutes rather than 7 minutes. I used some fantastic resources that can be found on Australian Evernote Education Ambassador Bec Spink's Website - http://becspink.com/evernote/.
Also various resources from Evernote.com page and my own examples created from my classes. I covered the basics of Evernote, what I have done and what are the possibilities for teachers in using Evernote in schools and in their personal lives. The workshop went very well, and there were a number of 'wow' moments from the attendees. That was a sure indication of success in conveying the message. Many of the attendees stayed around afterwards, asking questions, getting further advice and I have had some make contact with me already asking further guidance.

I have estimated over the past 2 years I have introduced Evernote to about 100 students and teachers at my school and now at other schools. I love sharing my passion for Evernote, its possibilities and its usefulness.

EduTECH and Teachmeet reflections 2014

EduTECH 2014 lived up to my expectations and exceeded some from the 2013 event. So much more going on this year, and different speakers. Some familiar faces, speakers and topics that have dominated some of my twitter feed over the past 12 months. My highlights from the Conference included the Teachmeet sessions, Dan Haesler, Ewan Mcintosh, Ian Jukes and Sir Ken Robinson. The common theme in all the talks related to the fact that we need to change education, need to change the way schools are run and policies are made. We need to serve the needs of our students better by preparing and offering them the best opportunities to grow.

Ewan McIntosh focused on Agile Leadership, and a key point i took away from that is to focus on one thing at a time, there will be struggle, but at the end do it well. This resonates with how I used Evernote from the start, I have obsessed and focused on using it well, integrating it into all aspects of my life. I still struggle at times, but it is becoming more and more natural in all my teaching. 

Dan Haesler on students engagement also fits in well with my thoughts that should empower our students to change the world. He said that every single child has the power to change someone's world, and that is what we need to remember. The concept of relationships being key to engagement is also part of my own teaching philosophy, and an area that I hope to keep on improving. He had a great slide that showed this:

Ian Jukes concluded the event with his keynote, which was very powerful and energetic. His topic of 'Education being in a Disruptive Innovation Age' was very interesting, challenging and the perfect way to conclude the event. His message needs to make it though to the policymakers in education, we need a new mindset in education for the future.

It is 2 days of intense non-stop conversations and presentations that inspire and challenge education in Australia. Finally meeting some of the people that I have connected with online was a highlight for me. The Teachmeet event that was organised by Matt Esterman was a wonderful privilege to be part of. I shared this stage with so many amazing and inspiring teachers. My topic was on Evernote and how I have used in my classroom this year. Here is a link to the presentation (click on image): 

I'm hooked on the Teachmeet concept and look forward to starting my own Teachmeet up in the Fraser Coast region this term. It is a fantastic experience to be part of and one of the best forms of professional development for educators. Look at the http://tmsydney.wikispaces.com/ site for more information. Here is a list of the presenters from EduTECH sessions.

TeachMeet Session	Timings	PRESENTATIONS
Day 1 - Session 1 Hosts: Matt E	1:30pm-2:15pm	1. Ewan McIntosh - teacher ;-) 2. Rob O'Brien 3. Michelle Jensen 4. Simon Crook
Day 1 - Session 2 Hosts: Steve B	3:15pm-4:00pm	1. Cathie Howe 2. Steve Brophy 3. Richard Prowse 4. Jacques Du Toit
Day 2 - Session 1 Hosts: Simon C	10:40am-11:25am	1. Jill Andrew 2. Jessica Leonard 3. Nadia Merchant 4. Rachel Kathriner
Day 2 - Session 2 Hosts: Simon M & David G	2:25pm-3:10pm	1. Simon McKenzie 2. Annalise De Mel 3. Nicola Martin 4. David Gall

Now I look forward to the second half of the year, to continue connecting, learning, sharing and applying some of the new ideas.

A start in reflection

At the start of June I had the privilege of attending EduTECH in Brisbane, visiting a number of Brisbane independent schools and present at the Teachmeet event during EduTECh. I travelled down from Maryborough early on the Monday morning with two other educators to visit four schools during the day. It was a quick stop in with these schools that were very accommodating in giving us their time and helping us gather new ideas. We had visits to Grace Lutheran College, Northside Christian College, Somerville House and St Aidans Anglican College. All these schools have different areas where they are extremely successful in and it was a wonderful opportunity to hear from these educators about their practices with their senior cohort to raise the academic bar.

That evening we joined a number of former students that are studying at universities around Brisbane for a meal. Great to see them, and hear about how their studies were going. This brought memories of two of my previous posts;  Relationships are the key and The end of 2013 chapter. One of my driving forces in education is the role of having strong positive relationships with your students. The development of mutual respect, understanding and trust form a recipe for success.

The 2-day EduTECH conference was again a wonderful opportunity to listen, learn, connect and interact. I will have a separate blog post on some of my key take-aways from EduTECH later this week. I was also fortunate enough to have presented at the Teachmeet event during EduTECH, organised by Matt Esterman (have a look at his blog - My Mind's Museum). I will also have a blog post coming on this soon.

There was so much going on after driving back from EduTECH late that Wednesday night. Over the next 4 weeks there were assessments to grade, reports to write, meetings, athletics carnival, plus multiple other admin to get done. Now i will attempt to gather some thoughts of the past term, with particular focus on EduTECH and Teachmeet events.

Looking forward to sharing these soon.

Lets get back into it

At the start of Term 2 here in Australia I had the intention of blogging more regularly, and now I find myself at the end of Term 2 and no blogging done. It has been a busy 10 weeks, and only now do I find a bit of time to do some blog writing and reflection. Over the course of Term 2 I have had ANZAC day, Masters unit that had an assessment due in May, multiple assessments to mark, EduTECH in Brisbane, Teachmeet presentation, reports, and multiple other commitments. So now I would like to use these two weeks of winter holidays to write and plan ahead for the next semester. 

So I hope that anyone reading this will find some interest, and that I can have the opportunity to share and connect with more educators.

Complex composition

Education seems to be at a crossroad with many educators embracing our connected world and 21st century skills, but you have many that are still arguing for the 20th century model of teaching methods. I have been involved in education for only a number of years, and I have come across both sides already. I'm from a conservative South African background, and my schooling background was rooted in the old school methods. I did well under these conditions, and excelled at memorising facts for exams. It could well be imagined that I would prescribe to these methods, but i realised many years ago that it is not conducive to lifelong learning and development.

As I became involved in teaching, my mind was opened to the many different possibilities of learning styles and teaching methods. When I was introduced to Twitter just over two years ago it suddenly opened up even more information and connections. Slowly I delved into this medium of discovering information, with plenty of reading involved. Then I started sharing, getting involved in chats and discussions. I have interacted with educators from the US, Canada, New Zealand, UK, France, Hong Kong, China and many in my own country, Australia. In 2013 I started blogging, using other online platforms to connect and share, and building a varied personal learning network.

The 21st century teacher has the opportunity to connect, share and collaborate with educators from all over the world. We all have the chance to develop our teaching practice, share our expertise, contribute to the changing dynamic of education, and above all serve our student better. Technology and being connected are only two parts of the complex composition of a 21st century teacher. At the heart of it all is still quality pedagogy and relationships, and a multitude of other components. I absolutely love the teaching profession, the challenges, the opportunities, the chance to see young people develop, helping them on their learning journey, and at the same time I'm continually learning. As I continue to develop I will always remember where I came from in my own education background, and look forward to serving my students to the best of my abilities.

Busy times

I started the year looking at getting back into blogging more regularly, but the last two few months have been a bit of a mad scramble. Every year no matter how well prepared you are, how ready you are, organised; inevitably that first term hits you like a freight train. Once again the first term of the year was filled with new challenges and new obstacles.

This year I'm teaching 4 different senior classes of Year 11 and 12 students, many of these students I have known for years now and it is great to have them in my classes. Some students had left the region, changed schools, new school building opening and we had new staff join over the summer holidays. I love the subjects that I get to teach, especially my two History subjects and teaching online students again. Unfortunately my Modern history class numbers have dropped a lot, down to only 7 students this year. Hoping that the numbers increase next year, as this is the subject I'm most passionate about. My Ancient history class however is a composite Year 11 and 12 class, with over 20 students. Business subjects have remained quite constant.

I also jumped into doing my Masters this year. I'm studying online through the University of New England, doing a Master of History course. It's going to be a six year journey, doing 16 subjects part-time. I'm excited about studying, learning and developing my knowledge. After just the first 6 weeks I have already found new ideas and skills that I can apply to my students in class.

I'm also fairly active on Twitter with my PLN, do online readings and constantly trying new tech tools to use in classes. I love interacting with other teachers online in many diverse settings. Many discussions, articles, comments reinforce and challenge my own thoughts on teaching. I have drawn more from these interactions than from any other formats of professional development.

Life is busy, besides school and studies, I have a very active 3yr old and love spending time with my family. It is important to have a life balance, and it is an area that most connected teachers constantly battle with. As I enter Term 2, a term that has new challenges ahead. I have my next uni assignment, have a pre-service teacher with me for 5 weeks, attending the EduTech conference and taking part in a TeachMeet there for the first time. There are dozens of other things taking place, and I know the next 10 weeks are going to be extremely busy and challenging at times.

I hope to blog more in between all of what is happening, interact more, learn more, and develop more as an educator. There will always be room for more improvement and development.