No Skier Left Behind

If you are a skier you should read Bill Pennington’s article in the NY Times, Where All School Days Are Snow Days. If you are an educator your should read Bill Pennington’s article in the NY Times, Where All School Days Are Snow Days. If you are an educator who is an avid skier- pack your bags and head out to Miniturn, Colorado and hope there is a job opening at the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy.

In 2007 the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy opened its doors to students. To date it is the only public winter sports school in the United States. The school mirrors sport specific schools made popular at first in Europe and later in this country by Tennis Academies and most recently the IMG Sports Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy is held to the same academic standards as all Colorado public schools. However, the school day is radically different. Students spend the morning on the slopes training in one of four disciplines. Coaching is provided through a partnership with the nonprofit Ski and Snowboard Club of Vail. After practice students head to school. From 1 to 5pm, students are in the classroom.

The Academy has benefited from its existence in a digital world. Pennington shared that, “Online instruction tools like Blackboard and other programs make it easier for traveling students and teachers to communicate as if they were in the same classroom. Each academy student has a laptop, the classrooms are equipped with exceptionally fast wireless networks and computers, and Grimmer has made sure every faculty member has an iPad.” Geoff Grimmer, the academic director at the academy, admitted that the academy could not exist without the development of an interactive web. Pennington also shares that students do quite well. Twins interviewed for the piece were going to Ivy League Schools. Students score above state and national averages on standardized exams. More than anything, students are able to pursue a passion and not sacrifice their education.

There is an ideal embedded into the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy that can be applied to all schools. Students have the chance to follow their passions and do so in a supportive and rigorous academic environment. Personal interests are not sacrificed a the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy. The delivery of curriculum works in conjunction with the nurturing of talent. Instead of skiers and snowboarders, why can’t potential journalists, lawyers, web designers and mechanics spend part of their day working with professionals. The need for students to apprentice both in and out of the classroom is critical. Through authentic experiences students can engage higher order thinking skills and develop a foundation of experiences that will guide them through school and the professional world.

Schools need to foster passion or interest based classes. What interests students matter and must be accounted for when crafting experiences for kids. This is not a radical idea, but how many of our classes account for what learners are passionate about. Just scroll through course listing in a public high school. Course descriptions read like a roll call of content. Devoid from descriptions and practical applications are broad themes and open-ended essential questions that provide space for further self-guided exploration. School is supposed to be a place where interests and passions can be stimulated and nurtured. In high school, refined interests are often located in “elective” classes. Students should not have to take an elective to pursue personal interests.

It is understood that the school located in the shadows of Vail is unique. I might be stretching the merits of the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy to prove a point that our classes need to account for what interests our students. So be it. Without taking into consideration the interests of each individual learner, schools will fail to empower students. Students will value the learning conducted outside of school more so than what transpires inside a classroom. While it would be nice to hit the slopes for a few morning runs before class, most of us will have to settle for findings ways to fit some of the magic of the Vail Ski and Snowboard Academy into our schools.

New Year's Resolution

I was never one to make New Year’s Resolutions. For some reason, I never embraced the idea of saying from this point forward I will do the following or for that matter, seeing January 1st as a motivating factor. However, I came across the following post on Daniel Pink’s blog. The post “3 resolutions for making 2011 practically radical” offered possible resolutions for the upcoming new year. One of the resolutions resonated and gave me a moment to pause and consider what can be discussed over the remaining school year.

The resolutions Pink shared were from Fast Company co-founder Bill Taylor. The suggestions explained in the blog post came from Bill Taylor’s new book, Practically Radical: Not-so-crazy Ways to Transform Your Company, Shake Up Your Industry, and Challenge Yourself. One of the resolutions stated the following:

I resolve to embrace a sense of vuja dé. We’ve all experienced déjà vu—looking at an unfamiliar situation and feeling like you’ve seen it before. Vuja dé is the flip side of that—looking at a familiar situation (an industry you’ve worked in for decades, problems you’ve worked on for years) as if you’ve never seen it before, and, with that fresh line of sight, developing a distinctive point of view on the future. The challenge for all of us is that too often, we let what we know limit what we can imagine. This is the year to face that challenge head-on.

I found the suggestion to be profound and in particular the idea of looking at something as if you have never seen it before. At times, educators can get lost in the system and forget the need to think progressively. The realities of shrinking budgets, state and or federal mandates, or deeply rooted school climates can cast an ominous cloud over innovative pursuits. Embracing a sense of vuja dé, challenges the notion of accepting the status quo or using crutches to slow down change.

In looking forward to the new year, it is important to step away and consider what is possible. The need to be creative and innovative is constant. Without examining education from a fresh perspective limits are placed on schooling. Here’s to a new year and the promise of what can be accomplished. With that in mind, I think we need to pay attention to the following possibilities.

1. Grading- is the current grading system relevant or should we move to a proficiency-based model that eliminates the seemingly arbitrary A-F scale?
2. Multiple Pathways- are we providing for students multiple pathways in which understanding can be demonstrated? Are there multiple through routes in which students can reach graduation? How else do we infuse the interests and passions of stakeholders?
3. Internships- do we see students as apprentices or students? How do we get our students to think and act in a way that mirrors the professional world?
   

The Way It Is

The World We Live In

This photo was taken at a roller skating rink in Northampton, Massachusetts. Over break, we ventured to western Massachusetts to visit my wife's family. My older daughters were skating with their cousin while their younger sister found a vacant bench to catch up on some light reading. My youngest grabbed someone's iPhone and started to surf some games, videos or photos. Without any assistance from adults, my youngest navigated through the various content she wanted to access.


Being the parent of three daughters, I am constantly reminded of how different it is and will be for them growing up. Having spent the past week off from work, it is apparent that my kids are at ease embracing the digital world. Whether it is accessing information or content via a handheld device, iPad or personal computer, my kids are comfortable working through potential obstacles. Observing us trying to complete a math worksheet for homework might yield a different picture as the frustration can mount. However, the comfort and ease at which they navigate the digital world is a far cry from more traditional modes of dissemination.

Parents and educators need to nurture a familiarity with the digital world. Above all, kids need to harness the powers of the digital world in ethical and responsible ways. Imbued with an ethical understanding students need to produce, in the public domain, information. At this juncture my kids are consumers, but as they grow and mature, the hope is that they will produce relevant information and develop content that others can use.

Read Later

What is the difference? Are we limiting kids when we call them students as opposed to learners. What about educators? How many of us see ourselves as students? Isn't it a goal to be a life-long learner?

I welcome the chance to catch up on some reading over the break. At times during the work week articles, updates and recommended texts get placed in "Read Later" pile. Winter break provides an opportunity to reflect upon past practices and goals and consider establishing new challenges for the upcoming year. It cannot be stated enough on how educators have to see themselves as learners. Accepting the status quo is comfortable but it stands in the way of progress. The passion needs to come from within to be progressive and constantly evaluate the way things are done.

Here's to a peaceful break and hopefully, everyone can find time to make a dent in the read later pile.

Changing Roles in the Classroom

I received the following response from a teacher. The reply was in response to a weekly podcast I send out to departments I oversee. I was touched by the teacher's genuine and reflective commentary.

"I was glad to hear you say that it was a good thing that the line between teacher and student was being blurred in some instances. For I found that that was the case with my classes last week. They did a research and presentation project that used technology that I had never manipulated before. Even though I "tutored" myself before we started the project, I still had to turn to them several times in order to have them teach me. Thus, it was as much of a learning experience for me as it was for them."

The last line of the response was refreshing. Classrooms need to be a place where all participants learn and grow. Without that standard, it is impossible to foster a learning environment that is authentic, challenging, meaningful and rewarding.

Cross-Posted on Between the By-Road and the Main Road




How would you answer the following question:

* What is the role of creativity in education?

I’m confident that a collection of responses to the above question would reveal a wide range of insights into the meaning of creativity and its role in education. An open-ended question such as the one shared above is powerful in that it has the potential to stimulate critical reflection. Before offering a response, one has to give considerable pause to confront their own beliefs, consider competing perspectives and prepare to be engaged in a complex debate.

The role of creativity in education came from an online forum discussion. A teacher at Morristown High School developed the question and posted it in an online forum discussion for students to access. Considering the demands of the 21st Century and the need for students to think critically and creatively and for teachers to be instructional innovators, dissecting what creativity means is a worthy intellectual pursuit. However, how can this inquiry, with the potential to generate a heated debate, be contained within a single or even multiple instructional periods? In short, it cannot. More time is needed and a space privileged to extend meaningful exchanges. The forum in which the question about creativity was posted generated 80 individual responses from students enrolled in the class. One post by a student elicited 37 replies. Weeks after the question was posted it still garnered attention from students.

Students accessed the question through a teacher’s Moodle page. Teachers at the high school where I am a supervisor of instruction have realized the importance of establishing online learning communities for students. Numerous instructors have turned to Moodle as a platform to virtually extend teaching and learning. The notion that learning is confined to a scheduled block of time is outdated. Virtual learning communities such as Moodle ensures that learning can occur at any time and anywhere.

As one of the two educators who oversee our use of Moodle, I am afforded the chance to see how Moodle is being deployed across all academic disciplines. At first, teachers used Moodle as a place to post assignments and links to resources on the internet. This current school year, teachers are moving beyond a basic use of Moodle to explore collaborative activities integrated into the open source program. Teachers have been developing chat sessions, surveys, choice lessons and forum discussions for students to support the delivery of curriculum.

Collaboratively inspired spaces on Moodle have subtly transformed interactions between classroom stakeholders. By initiating an activity on Moodle, the teacher is no longer the sole purveyor of content. Learners are empowered to assume responsibility for leading class discussions and developing meaningful content. Activities on Moodle rarely draw a distinction between classroom roles. Participants are viewed as equals and provided with an outlet to voice beliefs and share in the exchange of information. Through spirited exchanges about creativity, a hero's journey through a work of literature, or the meaning one might make of abstract art—students are active in the development of scholarship. When teachers engage students in these spaces, a team approach to learning transpires.

It is important to move beyond the hope that students are engaged and instead strive towards creating learning environments where students are empowered. What students think matters. Providing a platform for students to publicly articulate personal insights is critical and necessary considering the demands of the 21st Century. The work centered on virtual learning communities and in particular Moodle, has instigated changes to our learning environment. Traditional paradigms governing time, space and scholarship have been questioned and new models for the ways in which class is conducted are forming.


I want to thank Mary Ann Reilly for the opportunity to serve as a guest blogger.

Were There Dinsosuars When You Went To School

On a trip down to Philadelphia for a mini family vacation, one of my daughters (I am a father of twin seven year old girls and a three year old baby sister) shared how they learned math through daily contributions to a Math Journal. My wife asked the twins questions about the daily assignment and how it helped them learn math. After some initial explaining by the twins, one of them asked how we learned math. My wife shared experiences as a math student when she was in school.

The conversation revealed differences between the authentic application of math the twins were exposed to and the memorization and recall assignments my wife had to address. Even after the conversation switched to where we wanted to go first in Philadelphia, I was still thinking about the exchange. I guess one would hope that the way I or my wife learned math would differ from the learning engagements prepared for my daughters.

The world I grew up in is different in so many ways from that of my girls. My three year old can sit at the computer an navigate her way through a series of links. One of the twins is a budding photographer, snapping shots on her digital camera or shooting video using an iPod Nano. This daughter snapped her way through Philadelphia in preparation for her scrap booking class. They are growing up in a world where the demands and tools to access and share information is so vastly different.

What truly resonated was how different is school from let's say 15-20 years ago and today. Would my 9th grade experience differ from current 9th graders? For that matter could a teacher use the same lesson plans from 10, 5 or even last year? There should be notable differences between in the way class and learning is structured.

The kicker of the exchange was after listening to how my wife explained the ways she learned math, one twin asked if dinosaurs were alive when we went to school. She was joking, however, it provided a humorous take on the differences between the first and last row of the family mini van.