It’s ALL about learning!

One of the lessons I learned many years ago after I started teaching is the importance of continuing to be a lifelong learner myself.  As a CTE teacher, it is critical to one’s career to know that the material and curriculum we teach changes quickly and typically more frequently than most other educational areas.  Technology constantly progresses and to help our students be ready for the direction that industry is heading, we must stay abreast of such changes.  To assist one in making those changes, it is also important to stay up-to-date on how education, in general,changes over time.  During this summer, my time at Kenan and my internship in general have both opened my eyes to some very different ways of doing just that to help my students through not just my classes, but also their overall time in school.

One of the biggest changes I am making during the coming school year based on my Kenan experience involves how I will lecture material and what my students can expect from me and each other during those moments of sharing information.  First, let me say that I have always hated lecturing.  I am not a comfortable public speaker around new people, though I do improve the more I am around a group of individuals.  I also know that lecturing is a necessary evil in education: it is a time-proven method for making sure students get the essential information that is at the core of our curriculum.  It’s just impossible to completely escape it.  However, one thing that I learned this summer is that lecturing does not have to involve looking out over a crowd of blank stares facing the front of your classroom.  Kids come to us with different levels of knowledge related to our curriculum, especially when the class is game design.  This year, I am going to try following a modified kind of edcamp.  I will still use the usual (or more likely modified) multimedia presentation as jumping off points for conversation.  But instead of standing in front of my classes, I plan to with among the students and lead the lecture like a conversation.  I will share an open Google Doc where my students can type comments or notes as we discuss topics and allow them to use their own devices such as tablets, laptops or cell phones to share information using a common hashtag for my class.  I am very curious how this will effect student understanding, retention and interest.

Another thing I plan on doing differently involves communication with students and parents. Weekly tweetchats have become a popular method for our group of Kenan Fellow cohorts to stay in contact with one another and discuss a variety of topics.  As a result of this experience, I have become much more adept at how to use Twitter in a functional manner.  I am planning on holding my own weekly tweetchats where anyone can join into the conversation; students can ask for clarity on things we have done in class and parents can even join in to get a glimpse of how I operate with my students.  Even fellow teachers or administrators can join the conversation and I might even be able to use it to introduce students to guests who could not visit our classroom!

A third item I am going to bring to my classes that has become quite popular among the cohorts is the use of sketchnotes.  I teach at an arts magnet school and to be perfectly honest, the idea of sketchnotes being new to me is rather a surprise as they appear to be a natural extension of what our school stands for in the first place!  I have always told students that I am giving them the slideshow, so don’t take notes on what you see on the board, pay attention to what I am explaining so you can ask for clarification as needed and take notes on things you hear but don’t see projected!  This will not change.  But, this year, I am requiring the students to have a sketchpad and draw their notes.  Heck…many of them are already doodling, so why not put those skills to use in a manner relevant to their learning?  And, because there is a drawing component to my classes in terms of design, I will substitute their notes for this component of the material.

The final thing I want to include in today’s post involves the importance of reflection.  Blogs such as this one have given me a chance to reflect on what I have done and learned over the course of the summer.  It also provides a record that I can look back on.  In terms of students, such a reflection will also give them a chance to practice their writing skills.  Both understanding the importance of reflection on the week’s lessons and improving their communication is essential to student success in all of their classes, not just mine.  These are skills that they will hopefully carry with them the rest of their lives and I can help them do this in a manner that utilizes technology, which is relevant in a class such as mine.  Besides, using technology is a place that most, if not all, of today’s students come from in terms of comfort level and personal knowledge already, at least on some level.