Still working on what secondary schooling is about

Did my presentation on 21st Century Learning to the staff of Group Special Education a branch of our Ministry of Education. I was very pleased with how it went especially as it was the after lunch session.

I had thought how I was going to maintain engagement through the 40 minutes or so and was pleased with that. I had asked them to make their own rubric on how engaged they were and give me instant feedback on a 1 to 5 scale. It was good so must have kept their interest. Learnt this off Tony Ryan at the Ulearn conference. He also said do something to attract interest in the first 90 seconds. So did this as well.

I wanted to do some Internet work but all they had was a dial-up connection. So often we ask people to act in a 21st Century way on last century's technology. Luckily I had saved some web pages and videos but still that dislocation between the reality (slow Internet) and what we need to have for you tube, bebo etc

My basic premise is that what we teach in schools is years behind what is actually happening. Our kids use cell phones, Internet, ipods like they are normal. I did text my daughter in the presentation and got a reply within 90 secs even though she was sitting in a class.

However we still assess through NCEA how to draw a line graph! When was the last time someone did a line graph (or pie or bar) by hand in the 'real' (ie non-educational) world! Haven't our examiners heard of Excel. Or the preoccupation with content. When you look at the external examinations they are still (especially Level 3) mainly about content. It is great that key competencies are in the curriculum but why are these skills not in the exams.

I do believe content is important. It is what you hang the learning off. But when you look at our assessments it is very much like the content is everything. This in the age when information is available so readily through Google, wikipedia etc.

But we still ask

• What is an ester?
• What is the Doppler Effect?
• What is gravitation?
• Etc etc

Why can't people simply look up the answer on the Internet? After all that is what now happens in real life. We need to teach how to determine the veracity of the source, how reputable is the information, what are the credentials of the writers.

I feel this is the challenge. It is not simply enough to rewrite the curriculum. We must do more!

More visitors

A very busy week. Visitors in the school to look at our developments this morning.

Then off to present at a conference for GSE workers. My presentation is about 21st Century education, but is more about the dislocation between what is happening in the world and what is taught in secondary schools.

My concern is that there is such a canyon between the two. Our national qualifiactions the NCEA, still asks people to draw a line graph. when was the alst time anyone ever drew a line graph.

Then tomorrow it is off to work with some educators on a course at Auckland University on a leadership chalenge. There has been a few in this job! Still when I walk around the school it is great to be proud of what we have acheived.

The leadership challenge is where there was a difference in how the Board and myself saw an issue and how it was resolved.

Presentation

Have a presentation tomorrow to a 100 people or so from Group Special Education who deal with special needs in New Zealand Schools. I have the after lunch session.

Education in the 21st Century is the title!! Will they stay awake?

New Schools

Had some visitors looking at Whangaparaoa College. They wanted to see what they could do different. Being in a new school it is has been great to challenge the way that we do things. Whether it is length of lessons, bells, learning spaces or curriculum we have been able to challenge them all.

Some of the learning spaces are interesting and you can see them pictures of the spaces. It is great to be able to challenge around workshops, laboratories, libraries and not be constrained about 'the way things are always done.

Back again

Well I've been off my blog for some months. Been away for a while and so much to do when I returned .

Have also been feeling a bit disillusioned with where education is going. It seems as though we have not made any progress in what is happening in education for several decades. We still seem stuck in teaching last century's ideas utilising methods which we know fail. So I have felt as though I have just been rolling things over.

I was at the Ulearn conference last week where I was doing a presentation. The feedback about the presentation was good (even allowing for technical hassles) and made me feel that maybe we are trying some things at my school that work.

Also went and listened to Tony Ryan. I found him inspiring. It was great to listen to someone who is able to have things that not only inspire that can work as well. There seem a gulf in so many presentations between what is presented and what can be used in the classroom.

The question we should ask is "What can I use tomorrow?" If the answer is very little then was it worth being there? We seem more interested often in inspiring speakers rather than what this means for us and how we can use it.

This is what I felt about many of the presenters at Ulearn. Lots of big ideas floating around. Presented well and sometimes really inspiring. But where is the next step? The linkages between these big inspirational ideas and what works in a classroom is often lacking.

This creates frustrations.

This is where I have been at. Trying to move towards a modern curriculum within structures that want to hold us back is trying and tiring.

Web 2.0

I have my presentation on Web 2.0 today and people are planning to turn up. Maybe it is the refreshments

The hardest part has been to get the Internet management system not to keep blocking things. Hard to to work around Bebo if all you get is a message saying "You have been redirected"

So we have some work to do around that.

Have started a college wiki on Web 2.0. Feel free to add to.

Presentation

I am planning a presentation to interested staff on the whole Web 2.0 thing and how it can work with staff.

So thinking about what is the real essence of Web 2.0 and what this means. The really most useful to me is the blog and the use of RSS feeds. This has essentially changed my relation with information and has impacted hugely on how I utilise the media.

Instead of the media controlling what information I access I can now adapt and alter through RSS feeds. No more rubbish and so much more environmentally ok.

Flickr I think is wonderful and the social activity sites of myspace and bebo are interesting. Twitter leaves me dead, but wikis seem to have huge educational possibilities.

Digg I'm only starting to look at and second life while I'm there seems too huge at present.

Delicious is great both for me to store stuff but also to look at others.

ots to think about and lots to develop. What I do know is it is all about moving forward and developing ides.