Food for Thought: The Control Shift: A Grassroots Education Revolution Takes Shape

Dear all,

Just about to go to our Firefly training this morning. This VLE is a very exciting piece of software and will certainly improve our systems for communicating with students and parents. It will also allow us a better platform for transforming our use of technology in the classroom which will be a target for next year. The ease with which firefly allows us to create interactive lessons and flip our classrooms is outstanding and has so much potential.

Have also posted a couple of interesting articles this week that were forwarded to me on my parents blog at  http://4u2nomore.blogspot.com/ that I think that you will find interesting and are certainly Food for Thought for you as well as parents.

This weeks Food for Thought for us is about how we as teachers have to be prepared to relinquish control of our classrooms and knowledge and adopt new roles as leaders of learning.

Have a good weekend
Yours
Adrian

Daniel C Bentley via Compfight cc















“So what does this mean for educators who are trying to figure out their role in this age of kids’ self-guided discovery?

“The control piece is really big, because if it’s acknowledged, it leaves educators with this empty hole,” says veteran teacher Will Richardson, the author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. “‘Well, if we’re not doing that, then what are we doing?’ That’s where the conversation needs to be. But it’s a hard one to have. It’s very difficult for people to see themselves in a decidedly different role. But at the end of the day, we have to examine what we’re doing in terms of content in classroom. It should be more about learning, giving kids power to get content on their own.”

“We really do have to change our roles as teachers to co-learners and supporters and mentors. It’s a big shift to make.”

This power shift is at the crux of an education revolution that’s been gaining momentum online. But it’s not about the show-stealing headlines of “Waiting for Superman,” or Michelle Rhee’s vision of school reform that are dominating most of the education-related media.”

http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2011/02/revolution-2-0-the-control-shift/

Transforming our Classrooms: Transmedia/Digital Storytelling

1. How Transmedia is Changing TV
2. Teaching Students to be Multimedia Storytellers
3. The Pottermore Effect on Ebooks and Transmedia
4. Resources from Jess McCulloch
5. 5 Tips for Transmedia Storytelling
6. Transmedia Storytelling (Henry Jenkins)

Project Examples:

• HS: Jenny James: Still an Alien
• Kathy Sandler & Nancy Gorneau (COETAIL final project video)
• Grade 7 Math (part 3, part 2, part 1) by Jamie Payne (also 10 min video reflection)
• Tornadoes, Earthquakes, Tsunami - "in Plain English" Videos by NIST students (Will Kirkwood & Ivan Beekmans)
• Podcasting Power: Students Teaching Students (Kim Cofino, Chrissy Hellyer, Ali McAloon, Robin Bulzsa)
• Digital Storytelling on Classroom Blog in Grade 1 (Alice Chaa)
• Influence (Grade 4 at ISB, Kim Cofino, Teresa Belisle)