The Importance of Risk

There are times when I question my sanity. I have problems with the word "no" - I know this, but I embrace it because it leads me down roads I never dreamt I'd end up on.

On top of an already full plate of responsibilities I've added membership to the Pedagogical Licence (Advanced) community in a step towards attaining the third (and top) level of the Smart Classroom PD Framework. Looking at the course outline and sample portfolios over the weekend I have to say - I think I'm nuts.

This is going to be hard work. In this case a couple of things stand out as daunting:

• Deep reflection is always hard. It's draining and challenging. The self-awareness that comes from it is always worth it, but the process is one I squirm about. I've always been the kind of person/student who is an over achiever, I'm never happy with scond best and reflecting on my practice opens me up for criticism and judgement. I've overcome my fear of not being "the best" to a large degree (otherwise there's no way I'd be able to blog as I do :)) but the level of reflection and deconstruction of practice expected of me for this aspiration and the sheer calibre of some of the others working through the course alongside me has me scared I'm not going to meet the standard...

Which brings me to the other reason I'm nervous:

• Being in an environment of self-confessed over achievers is generally an intense situation, with a good dose of competition (friendly of course) thrown in. A number of names in the course I know from the network, from conferences, from rumours and hearsay (all good of course - in fact generally glowing about what they are doing in their different contexts). For someone already worried about meeting standards the idea of being compared to some of these people is downright terrifying.

So why do it?

Because it scares me. Because I know it's going to be challenging. Because I know that putting my practice under scrutiny I will become a better teacher (and leader). Afterall,

"If you risk nothing you gain nothing"
~ Bear Grylls ~

For me that's the key to learning - taking risks.

I take a risk everytime my Sabum (instructor) partners me with a different black belt for a spar - and every time I learn something. It might be how that particular person puts techniques together, or how to avoid, or their weakness...more often its about my weaknesses and the areas I need to "fix". I also try to take risks in my classroom. That can be hard, the business of education tends towards being low risk, and often doing something different can be considered too risky, "What if it fails?"

What we really need to be asking is - "What if it works?" That shift right there will give us all the power we need to really transform education.

It's not about the technology?

The truth of the statement, "It's not about the technology, it's about the pedagogy", has become clearer and clearer to me over the last 12 months.

After spending the last few days working on a presentation for a conference and trying to present my argument for a shift in our teaching approaches in a way which is (hopefully) not too confrontational I've really come to realise that it's true.

At the end of the day does my classroom need technology in it to be innovative, to be 21st Century? In short the answer is no...despite my belief that technology used well can enhance a class's learning environment, making it more flexible, more personalised, more open. At the end of the day though teaching (and more importantly, Learning) will not be stopped in a room without technology.

So, if technology's not the key to kids learning, what is?

It's us...the teachers.

It doesn't matter if we're a graduate, a veteran with 30 years experience, a part-timer, a specialist...whatever, if we're doing our job we're:

• Engaging students
• Providing them with a variety of independent and collaborative projects to enrich their learning experiences
• Facilitating their growth towards independent, life-long learning
• Supporting them

As a technology enthusiast I have caught myself occassionally thinking poorly of a colleague who doesn't use technology in their classrooms. There's a lot of misunderstanding between those of us converted to technology and those teachers who as of yet haven't jumped on the bandwagon - and we really need to make sure that that misunderstanding doesn't evolve into an us and them attitude.

Those of us who are already converts need to understand that everyone's experience and engagement with technology is different and we can't expect those people with fear/confusion/hesitation to take a giant leap forward and jump up next to us. Some people will take YEARS to see that what we're achieving is valid, while others need to be shown once and then the next time we look around they're way out in front of us.

For me, from now on, I'm going to stay very aware that it's not about the technology, it's about the pedagogy and instead of judging those not yet on the technology wagon I'm going to try understanding where they're at in their journey.

I've got a feeling it's likely to get more of a response than "You must integrate technology to be a 21st Century teacher."

New Horizons

Okay, so I admit it...three days later and I'm still irked by the "need to broaden your ICT pedagogy" comment on my feedback. Now, I realise this is a fairly minor comment on an otherwise glowing report...but I've never been one to accept close enough as good enough.

As a result I'm left with a deep motivation to find ways to "extend" myself, and that's led to me playing and thinking a lot this weekend. And it's been productive. I've:

• Played with Audacity to finish off the first of the podcasts from the Year 8 classes...can I just say, the out takes had me giggling all night...hilarious! I've now also uploaded these to their secure podcast lounge so they can listen. I wish I was more involved in the actual teaching of this unit..it's driving me nuts
• Figured out how to use Studymate and Respondus to create flash games to include in my Blackboard virtual classrooms...and realised these can also be used to create activities for ipods...
• Figured out how to use these on my ipod (I know...I'm slow)

As usual I've done a lot of professional reading (blogs, links, articles, tweets) and as a result have a multitude of new possibilities twirling around in my head. Including:

• Using smsexpress.com.au or something similar to send reminders and updates to students
• Using utterli for audio blogging
• Investigating backchanneling options and the possibilities for my English classes (I'm liking the idea of something like coveritlive.com)

I've been having a couple of small issues with my Utterli blog posts - they haven't been cross posting automatically. Which is frustrating because I'm hoping to get it working before I head to Melbourne so I can still touch base daily. I played with some settings today and since I have to attend a very long after school planning session tomorrow night I'll test it all out then - fingers crossed it's sorted now...

In the meantime - what are your newest horizons? How are you going to be "broadening your use of ICT pedagogy" this week?

What happens when X, Y, and Z collide?

...The impact of generational change was significantly greater in the 20th century than in any previous era...With the increased pace of technological and social change, the gap between generations has never been greater. (p. 13)

McQueen, M (2008), "The 'New' Rules of Engagement: A Guide to Understanding and Connecting with Generation Y, 2nd ed., Nextgen Impact, Sydney

As teachers we're all guilty of gritting our teeth and thinking something along these lines:

Teenagers today are lazy/ignorant/self-centred/selfish/close-minded/rude

I know I certainly struggle to think kindly of my students when it feels like I'm getting nowhere, and I know I'm not alone - Kimberly James made a blog entry over on Classroom2.0 today titled, "These 'Kids' Today", in which she expressed her frustration at the members of GenY she finds herself dealing with. I sympathise with her, really I do.

It's hard sometimes to be forgiving and understanding of the students we're working with everyday - after all there's not many professions where you can be sworn at or have something thrown at you and not be able to react without the threat of further reprimand.

Lately I've noticed a clash of cultures in society - it's a clash between the established "norms" and the emerging culture. It's evident in the profusion of "fleshies", piercings, tattoos, hair dye, heavy make-up and the establishment's reaction to these things ("I don't understand.", "It's gross.", "It's dumb.", "It's inappropriate..."). This is a clash that won't go away, we can't just ignore it and hope that somehow, magically both sides will wake up and everything will be sorted. It's going to take some mutual respect and understanding to prevent this clash from causing a major rift in our society. It's going to take hard work...and research...

Michael McQueen's book, "The 'New' Rules of Engagement", is supposed to make us think about our assumptions of Generation Y. It's intent is to make us reconsider our own generational attitudes in order to give insight into the values, attitudes and beliefs of the student cohort populating our schools.

The first part of the book looks at the different 20th century generations (Builders, Boomers, Xers, Ys and Zs) and examines the influences and characteristics of each. Hubby and I laughed out loud when we read through the chapter devoted to Generation X, it was so "us". And as we read through the chapters dedicated to Y (our students) and Z (our nephews) we experienced multiple "light bulb" moments - McQueen was describing our classrooms, our loved ones, and ourselves.

"Rules" then goes on to examine the generational rift which exists between Builders, Boomers, Xers and GenY - that group so many of us have labelled so harshly and often dismissed. The final section of the books outlines some suggestions for ways to engage and connect with members of GenY.

This book should be a must read for all teachers who want to understand the students in their classrooms and look for the ways our pedagogy needs to change. As McQueen states:

Contrary to popular opinion Generation Y are not simply Baby Boomers waiting to
grow up (p. 58)

Even without needing to consider ways for education to make effective use of technology in our classrooms, if we don't understand that we're not going to provide this generation with the education they need or deserve. And that's not going to be good for anyone involved.