Social Dynamics and Learning: Online and Off

The post Disconnecting, by Jennifer Jones (@injenuity) got me thinking....

Actually, social dynamics, both in and out of the classroom, is not a new topic of thought for me. I am almost constantly assessing and reassessing the social dynamics in the classroom and how I can best direct them. 

One thing I have learned is that people are extremely sensitive. Those who seem tough and uncaring are often the most sensitive of all. We all have our ways of protecting, pretending, rationalizing away the things that offend us. Some take on the role of the bully so as not to be bullied.  But I believe that just about everyone is deeply sensitive to the people around them and that feelings are easily bruised.

When I was a classroom teacher I spent the first month of school on team-building activities. Integrating with language arts (and even, at times, math) I consciously worked to build a community based on the TRIBES norms:

•Mutual Respect

•Attentive Listening

•No Put Downs/Give Appreciations

•The Right to Pass

Simple, and yet they cover virtually any problem that might arise. If we all followed them, the world would definitely be on the road to being a happier place, no? One thing I addressed with my classes very early on was how, in order to be able to grow and learn, we must be able to risk, and, thus, in order for any of us to learn, our classroom MUST be a safe place, a community where we can safely take risks.

Now I teach in the computer lab and I don't have the opportunity to build classroom community. The classes at my school are small, and there is only one class at each grade level so the dynamics can be quite intense.  

It is not only what we teach but how we manage the classroom that impacts the social dynamics. If I got down to it, this could be an extra-long post, citing example after example of times I think I've gotten it right and times I know I've missed the boat. 

Some examples of management decisions that affect dynamics in the lab:

• Do I let students choose their seats? do I let them choose their partners?

I don't have any hard and fast "rules" for how I do things. But during my many years in the classroom, I have picked up a few strategies that work:

For partners -- I have "partner cards" that I keep in my desk drawer. On each card is written one half of a pair. For example: one card says "peanut butter." If you get the peanut butter card, naturally you will look for the person with the jelly card, and that is your partner for the day. The fun of the activity, the randomness and mystery of who your partner will be, gets the partnerships off to a great start. However, I don't leave it to chance. Before I even pass out the cards, we all practice our biggest smiles. I remind them that we never show disappointment when we discover our partner because it might hurt someone's feelings. Kids NEED the reminder. I do believe that most times they don't want to hurt another's feelings - they just aren't thinking about the other person. 

 

Another Example:

In my afterschool blogging class this year, I left things very unstructured. I always gave an assignment, but left it up to the students to decide if they wanted to do that or something else related to their blog. One day's assignment was to leave comments, and some did, on a few blogs. Only one student left a comment on every blog in the group. And, of course, I commented on every blog, at least a few times during the class. Several students got comments from real life friends not in the class, parents and student bloggers from other places. I thought all was well.

But on the last day of class, with only a few minutes left, one girl came to me and said, with disappointment on her face, "I only got a comment from ______ (the student who had commented on every blog)." Thinking quickly I wrote all the students names on pieces of paper. I told them they had one final assignment - to pick a name and write a comment on that person's blog. Randomly, the disappointed girl's name was chosen by the one person who had already commented on all the blogs. It happens. But what surprised me was how excited all of the kids were about getting a new comment from someone in the class. It turned out to be a great ending activity for the class. Something about the randomness and the mystery of who picked who's name...

I know how good it feels to get comments on my blog, too. 

There is something about being recognized. Receiving a comment shows that someone has read your words or at least looked at your blog, your creation. There is a human need for attention, to be valued or validated, by others. 

The ISTE nets for students recognizes "communication and collaboration" as vital 21st century skills. We need to put our students into situations that push them out of their comfort zones, that give them opportunities to work with different people. We need to help them navigate the murky waters of interacting with others in polite and productive ways. This is difficult. 

My Thoughts about Twitter-

In the recent past, there was a spate of blog posts about twitter followers and the blogosphere being an elite cocktail party. I read those posts with great interest, although at the time I did not join in the discussion. What I recognized, through many of the posts and comments I read,  was this sensitivity, a need for recognition and validation. I know that I have given a lot of thought to the whole follow/following on twitter. If a real person (as opposed to a spam type follower) follows me, is it impolite not to follow back? I know there are no hard and fast answers to this, and everyone has to do whatever works best for them. Whatever guidelines we follow, we all know, rationally, that we can't become sensitive about twitter. But, nevertheless, people do. 

How can we teach our students the finer points of online interaction if we, teachers, are uncertain of them? How can we create classrooms where it is safe to take risks if, as adults, we do not model the values of respecting and appreciating people for who they are, of reaching out to include everyone? 

Communication and Collaboration. Why are these so fraught with possibilities for misunderstanding and hurt feelings? What are your best strategies for teaching and classroom management that foster inclusivity in a real way? Are you thinking about yourself or about the other person when you interact on blogs or twitter or wherever you interact online?

Professional Development Meme

Clif's Notes via kwout

My 3 Professional Development Goals for Summer 08 (which starts in just a few short days --hooray!!):

1) I am developing and facilitating an online course for Professional Learning Board(PLB) using moodle. PLB is a great site for teachers who need professional development credits. This will be part-time work for me, but I also consider it professional development as I am learning new skills and dredging up some old ones that are starting to gather dust.

2) I will finish a webquest I started earlier this year to teach the skill of evaluating websites. I plan to also incorporate resources like snopes to teach students to evaluate emails that spread questionable information.

3)My "to-do" list is soooooooooooooooooooooo looooooooooooooooooong....I really want to be lazy and develop my professional self by lying on the beach. Can my plans to re-decorate the computer lab count as PD? Writing a few more blog posts? Reading twitter?

Ok....for number 3 I will read at least one of two books I have been meaning to read: The World is Flat and/or An Ethic of Excellence.

Eight tags???!!!!! That is a LOT of people to tag! I guess you really want to make sure we all develop professionally, Clif! Ok....I tag these lucky 8(and you all have my permission to include lying on the beach as part of your PD) --

1. Nedra Isenberg

2. Silvia Tolisano

3. Ken Allan   (I know it is not summer for you in Middle Earth, but you can share summer vicariously by doing summer things with us..like work!).

4. Britt Watwood

5. Chad Lehman

6. Kate Olson (don't think because you are resigning you are off the hook for PD!)

7. Barbara Cohen

8. Ann Oro

Happy Summer, Teaching Friends!

Top 5 Lessons from The Comment Challenge

Drumroll Please.....

Not wanting to miss the final wrap-up of the challenge I never really completed...

Here are my Top 5 Lessons Learned:

5. A 31-day challenge with tasks to be completed each day is just a bit too much for me to undertake, no matter how good my intentions.

4. It doesn't matter that I didn't do each and every activity. I think I have left more comments on blogs during the month of May 2008 than all of my previous blog comments combined. 

3. Soooo....it was definitely worth the effort. And look, here I am at the end, albeit a day late. 

2. I think I understand RSS feeds a bit better than before. 

1. Blogging is the same as everything else. You get out of it what you put into it. Not a huge surprise, but I feel that I have begun some real interaction with real people out there in the edu-blogosphere. I think that participating in the challenge jump-started my commenting. I find myself leaving comments whenever I feel like it now, rather than worrying over what I might say and how it might be perceived. 

Be Happy

If you cringe at mushy, philosophical mumbo jumbo, you might want to skip this post. 

As I walked around my neighborhood tonight, following my 4 year old on his two-wheeler noticing the vibrant purple-pink of the bougainvillea and the sweet scent of the jasmine, appreciating the fact that it was still quite light out at 7:30 pm, savoring a Sunday night before a Monday holiday with less than two weeks left until summer vacation..the line that kept repeating in my head was this one:

Happiness is not having what you want; it's wanting what you have.

Wanting more, having goals, desiring...that is good and important. It is the place from which all creative energy flows. But taking time to really appreciate all that you have, that is heaven on earth. 

Another line I read years ago in a book really struck me. I've long forgotten the book (I do recall it was a Robert Anton Wilson book) but the line, I think it was the last line in the book, was "Positive energy is as real as gravity."

I love that. 

Now, what place does this have on EdTech Workshop? Have I lost my vision, my focus? Apparently I have, if only for a moment. I know there are those who hate this type of talk. How can you waste space writing about happiness and positive energy when there is so much suffering in the world?

How can you not?

For those of you who have taken the time to read this and any of my humble thoughts here on my blog, thank you. 

and thank you, Randy Son of Robert, for sharing your lovely image on creative commons. 

Books Around the World Meme

Silvia Tolisano is always one to challenge me in the best of ways! She devised a meme challenging readers to look at the books we are reading, see if we tend to favor certain locales and then expand our horizons. Since reading is a type of travel, it is the next best thing to being able to visit or live in different worlds. I have always been an avid reader, although I have a bit of a problem remembering details of the books I've read.

Here are the details of the meme. You can join by being tagged or you can tag yourself.

• Create a Google Map and add a bookmark with the title and author of a book you have read with a setting in another country of the world.
• Look through Book Around the World recommendations or on other Google Maps created by participants in this meme/challenge.
• Pick at least three books for your summer reading list that have a setting in a country you have not read another book about.
• Enjoy expanding your horizon!

Step 1: Create a google map. I decided to put a few recent reads on my google map. I noticed that my book settings seemed to favor North America and Asia lately. I tried to take a minute and think of books I have read from each continent. I can not think of a book I have read from Antarctica. The closest I could think of was Mr. Popper's Penguins. Other than that, I have "visited" the other six continents through reading. Countries, however, are a different story. Luckily, I already had a few books on my "plan to read" shelf that also fit the challenge.

View Larger Map
Here are my three books:
1. People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks, Bosnia and Herzogovnia
2. Shadow of the Wind by Carols Ruiz Zafon, Spain
3. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Germany

Now I know I am favoring Europe here...what can I say? These are three books I have really wanted to read anyway (have Shadow of the Wind sitting on my night table) and all happen to be listed on the Book Around the World site.

Thanks, Silvia, for always keeping me on my toes! I am tagging: Kim Glasgal, Ken Allan (Ken, something tells me you are a reader-hope you are up for a new challenge since the comment challenge is almost over) and.....who else out there would like to participate?

Learn Globally, Teach Locally

Learn Globally, Teach Locally - for now, this is what I do. 

My learning sphere is becoming wider and more global. I am communicating about subjects of interest to me, with people who have shared interests, and I may never meet those people face to face. 

However, my work as a teacher (or instructional coach, mentor, whatever you like to call it) is decidedly local. I work in a building with people I see almost every day. I have a different vision than most of them, a vision that has been strengthened, challenged, deepened and in some sense formulated, based on my tech-enhanced, global access to other teachers. It is the network I turn to for help and ideas, for support and understanding. It is the network that keeps me going. 

When, on a day to day basis, very few people in your local environment understand you, what a blessing it is to be connected to people you admire, who have a similar outlook or vision. If not for this outlet things would certainly be different. 

1. I would be teaching in isolation. I would not have access to the ideas and projects that benefit my students on a daily basis. 

2. It would be harder to fight the good fight. I don't tend to be the strongest person. I question myself all the time. 

3. I might be writing my next blog post from a padded cell.

4. I don't think I would push myself as hard as I do. 

I like working locally and being part of a community. I still believe in the value of face to face time in education. I even like the building ;) But I love the opportunities available to me to connect outside of this place. I love to bring those opportunities to students. I think that, for now, I have the best of both worlds, or rather, the best of this world.

image credit: NASA, earth.jpg. Pics4Learning. 19 May 2008. http://pics.tech4learning.com

Andrea's Not-so-Random Thoughts of the Week

• About the firefox/safari situation. Lo and behold, it's not just a habit to use safari. I actually prefer it to the point that I would rather use safari than have my comments picked up by cocomment. I hate the tabs in firefox and try as I might, I can not get them to go away. I am sure that I could figure it out with a little more searching, but it shouldn't be this difficult. I've restarted firefox, restarted my computer, chosen windows over tabs in my preferences, cleared my cache. I was reading the blogs in safari and then when I was ready to comment, switching over to firefox so that I could get my comments picked up by cocomment, but I've decided that it isn't worth the trouble. Guess who will not be winning any prizes in the comment challenge?!

• To "borrow" the name of a great blog: Learning IS Messy!!!!!!! Practice and theory are different, and this blog is written (by Brian Crosby) from a place of pure practice, which I highly appreciate. The phrase "learning is messy" has penetrated my soul and freed me in a way, from worrying when things seem to be getting a little out of control. It is amazing, the power of a single phrase, my new mantra. 

I am working with our 5th grade class on an absolutely amazing project. The project was started by Brian and Lisa Parisi (and possibly one more teacher? I apologize if I missed someone.) I had read about the project from following Lisa on twitter and when I saw her tweet that she wanted to include more classes in the project, I jumped on it. 

The project is a collaborative writing project using google docs and skype to write stories based on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. We are working with a 4th grade class in New York. So many things are happening around this: kids are really communicating with their partners and learning the give and take that comes with collaboration, the kids are excited about writing, the classroom  teacher is excited about the way we are integrating the technology to give the project more depth and the kids more motivation than could be done otherwise, the kids are frustrated when their partners can't get online, we've had to deal with communication meltdowns (minor) and a fire drill in the middle of a session that didn't end up happening anyway. And through it all, I've sustained myself with these words: "Learning is Messy". When the students complain to me about some little thing that's not working I tell them "Learning is Messy." I've explained to them that we are forging new ground with this project, that this is new for me as well as for them, that based on what we learn this time we will do it differently next time. It is such an example of real learning for them, and I see it sinking in. It also helps me let things be what they are and not feel that I have to judge the process all the time. So, I really want to thank Brian for getting into my head with that mantra.

• An exciting thing that happened this week: My students won first prize in both categories (primary and secondary) in the Tech4Learning Spring Contest. I absolutely love tech4learning's software, and they have great contests where they spark students' imaginations with an open-ended, creative challenge. What a great feeling it was for me to see my students' faces when they found out they won. 

• Another very cool thing that happened: My teen angels chapter presented about Internet Safety to two 4th grade classes at a local public school. They have presented to our PTA, as well as our 4th and 5th grades, but this was their first time presenting at another school. They were truly awesome! The students in the audience seemed so genuinely interested and asked a lot of good questions. It was a very proud moment for me. 

It also helped me see how very well my school is doing with technology integration. Often I find myself feeling frustrated. Things aren't moving quickly enough for me; I always feel like we are behind the curve. So it was a bit of a wake-up to see what was happening or rather what was NOT happening with technology at the other school we visited. I asked the students if they used the Internet often at school, and they said all they use computers for at school is Accelerated Reader. Outside their classroom, on the wall, I saw that they, too, had written stories based on The Mysteries of Harris Burdick. Their stories were very nice, but I couldn't help to think of my students using the google docs to write the stories collaboratively. My students will also publish their stories on a wiki where other students in the project have published their Harris Burdick stories. In my mind, there is just no comparison. The activity that integrates technology seems so much richer in its potential for learning and personal growth. 

•In case you should think I am bragging, I feel compelled to include some negatives from my week. I had some students violate the school's AUP in a pretty blatant way. I came into school to work on my day off because we had a session scheduled with our collaborative writing partners and got yelled at by an irate parent. She was upset because her child's consequence for his actions was to be denied use of the school's network. She didn't seem upset by what he did, only by the fact that he might miss out on something. The worst part was that I felt unsupported by my administration who had decided the consequence in the first place. 

Learning is messy, right?

Lesson learned for me is that when I write the AUP for next year, I need to be more specific in describing the consequences. 

•Another frustration was that my assistant and I worked hard to come up with a survey for the teachers about the SMARTboards - how are they being used, what they need in order to use them better, that type of thing. It was neat because we used google spreadsheet and forms, first time I have used it, and what a great tool. We sent it to 10 people and have received two back. I would blame it on total apathy from the staff, but I am not completely sure if it is that or a problem using email to send and complete the form. 

I hope everyone had a great week!

Going back to Day 14. Readers...I need you!

Today's comment challenge task is to catch up on a task (or tasks?) you've missed. One task really appealed to me: turn your blog over to your readers and let them post through comments. Sounded so easy....until I tried to think of the question I wanted to use to spark the comments. 

The first question that came to my mind was asked on this blog. 

Another question I thought about was asked on this blog. 

My question relates to yesterday's news regarding the issue of Internet Safety. Here's a kwout from CNN.

Indictment puts Internet pranksters on notice - CNN.com via kwout

What do you think of this landmark case? Do you think that they will be able to get a conviction? Do you think the fact that the mother was indicted will make other people think twice before using the Internet to harass and bully others? Do you believe, as some say, that what Lori Drew did was within her first amendment right to freedom of speech and cannot be considered a crime? What are your thoughts? I am very interested to hear from you.

And the award goes to...

Day 15 of comment08. Today's task is to give an award. I love it! Fantastic blogger, Scott McLeod made this nice badge, too.

I have to say, I love all my commenters. I am simply delighted that anyone reads my blog at all. As I said recently, comments are the icing on the cake.
So, if you've taken the time to comment on my blog, please know that I appreciate it. I hope that I've responded back to you either here or there or somewhere.

And now....the 2008 EdTechWorkshop Fantastic Commenter award goes to....Blogger in Middle Earth, Ken Allan! Ken, please grab the badge and display it proudly on your blog!

Since beginning the comment challenge Ken has stopped by my blog to comment on a regular basis. He has also said some nice things about me, like calling me positive and sensible. And he sprinkles his comments with Maori phrases. But none of these really explain why I've awarded Ken the commenter award, although they are all a part of it.
How do I explain?
I feel like through his comments, I've actually started an exchange of ideas with someone who lives in New Zealand- the other side of the world. Never before have I met anyone from New Zealand. I know that we are roughly 12 hours apart, and a few times now, I have felt a sort of time-rhythm as I write something at night, and in the morning when I wake up there is a comment from Ken. In fact, I am writing this at 9:30 pm. I bet that when I wake up in the morning, Ken will have visited, and I hope that this post brings a smile to his morning.
It is almost like sharing a cup of tea. Only through writing. Asynchronously. It is amazing to me. And, blogging has brought this forth.
An interesting note is that Ken started his comment08 journey as a commenter without a blog, and it was the comment challenge that inspired his blog.

Comment Challenge - Catching Up

I've fallen a bit behind on completing the daily tasks for the comment challenge, so I'm going to attempt to play catch up.

Day 9: Should we be commenting on blogs?
I'm not just being lazy with this answer, but really, what comes to mind is "Whatever."
Maybe it's just my mood today, but sometimes I read the blogs that go back and forth over this and that, and I feel like I'm watching a ping pong match. It's ok; I like watching it. I enjoy following the different trains of thought. But I just can't muster all that much emotion for whether or not someone wants to enable comments on their blog. Isn't that the joy of blogging? It's YOUR blog. You get to decide where it's hosted, what it looks like, what you'll write about, how often you'll write, etc. etc. You get to decide if you want comments and once you get comments, if you want to respond within the comments, on the other person's blog, in another post, an email, or not at all. For me, this is one of the things I enjoy about this form of communication. It's very fluid and really, there are no rules.

Day 10: Do a Comment Audit on your own Blog
1. You sound like a press release.
I doubt this. I write in the first person. I reflect on my teaching practice, share lessons, occasionally share a cool site or resource that I've discovered. No press release here.
2. You sound like an infomercial.
What would I be selling?
3. You sound like a know-it-all.
I sure hope not. I don't feel like a know-it-all.
4. You haven't showed them how.
I don't feel that it is that difficult to leave a comment. ??
5. You haven't created the right atmosphere.
I don't know. The atmosphere....???
I started out just to write and share things I was doing/learning. The comments and interaction has been like icing on the cake. I have made some good work connections and at least one real life friend through my blogging experience. I'd love to have lots of readers like some blogs do and lots of comments, because, so far, it's all been pretty positive. But it is what it is. I don't have tons of time to devote to blogging, so I have to do the best I can. I do make a pretty conscious effort to respond to comments either here or by visiting the commenter's blog. Do I need to decorate nicer? Have a little party? Light some candles and play some mood music?
6. You just don't seem that into it.
I am into it! I am!!! I really hope my passion for what I do shows in my writing.

So, why aren't more people commenting on my blog?
All I can think of is that the things I post about are just not the kinds of posts that inspire much discussion. I've had the most comments on my posts about comment08. Usually I post about a lesson I want to share or some thoughts about something that's happening at work. I get the occasional "thanks for sharing this" type of comment. The blogs I read that get a lot of comments are usually deeper or more controversial or witty. I don't really post in order to inspire comments. I just post. But I do really appreciate the comments. I think the feedback can get kind of addicting, and at times, I've read great blogs and thought, "Why do I even try?" But, I have to remind myself not to compare my blog to others. There is space for all of us here on the web. We all have something to say.

Going to stop here. I know I still have a few more days of catch up...please feel free to comment!