I have thoroughly enjoyed reading Dave Warlick’s blog over the past 2 years and have often quoted or referenced him on this page. A while back he ran a survey on his site about the teachers that impact our lives as students and if it is possible to measure the level of that impact. He prompted us with the following thought…..
“Think back to those teachers who truly influenced your life, who’s teaching is actually a part of who you are and what you do now. Think about what happened in those classrooms that influenced you so deeply and share with us the percentage of it that might have been measured with research, and what percentage could not be effectively measured.”
100% measurable - 0% not measurable
75% measurable - 25% not measurable
50% measurable - 50% not measurable
25% measurable - 75% not measurable
0% measurable - 100% not measurable
I had some thoughts on this myself and went for the second at the bottom. Personally I think it was probably closer to 10% measurable and 90% not measurable. I am reminded of a wonderful thought I read about John Holt the author of “How children fail.” During a conference a teacher asked him why he did not write a book on why teachers fail in which he could address why it was our profession was losing so many teachers. His reply was priceless…. He simply replied with…. “Well in actual fact I did write a book about why teachers fail….. It is entitled “How children fail.”
Would that thought still be a valid point in today’s day and age? Perhaps… but I think there may be more to it. Allow me to reflect on an experience today….
Here in Australia we have a public holiday on the 25th of April each year to remember those who fought in wars throughout history. ANZAC day is our day to reflect and honour those who have defended our country. At our school just like at many around the country the students stop and have a commemorative service. Each year at my school the principal would invite a special guest who had something to do with war throughout their life. However, this year he asked a group of teachers to put together a multimedia presentation that paid tribute and helped the students better understand the meaning of the service. Well a minute or so into the presentation, the students were captured and engrossed in what was happening on the screen. As we left the school hall a teacher commented to me on how she was amazed how the students were so engrossed in the presentation. This obviously engaged them, but is the effect of this presentation on their learning something that could be measurable? While we could all sit a test after the presentation to gauge what facts the students could recall, I would say the learning that occurred was much deeper, it was something that struck at all the senses and engaged the students in what exactly has happened to men and women who have gone to war to defend our nation. This to me is not measurable learning, but holds much more long-term impact on a student than an ability to recall facts.
So as we head into an age that seems to be pushing governments towards performance pay for teachers, let us not forget the power of the immeasurable learning.
An interesting article from the NYTimes that I found on digg this afternoon…. Worth a read by those interested in new forms of media and how this could possibly change the way we view news and stay informed…. Some interesting observations here….
“Imagine a newspaper with over 2,000 writers, researchers and copy editors, yet no supervisors or managers. No deadlines; no meetings; no chain of command. That seemingly chaotic nonstructure isn’t recognizable of the hierarchical editorial control of old media, yet that’s exactly how Wikipeida, an essential source for the VA Tech shootings, works.”
Well this isn’t really a smart board or interactive whiteboard but it certainly shows off a great new technology. Oh the possibilities…. Awesome stuff!!!!!
I have been eying off a great PD chance put on by the folk at education.au later this month. Unfortunately, given current circumstances I probably won’t be able to make the event. While I was searching Jimmy Wales and some of his previous presentations I came across this video presentation. This is certainly worth a look…. For those heading to the education.au event blog away and let me know how it goes.
Well as many of you know I moved on from my previous position earlier this year. So 2007 will be a year of change (actually 2006 was a year of change as well - and now I think of it so was 2005!!). I will be working back in the classroom for the rest of this year and working on a new project in the area of digital media technologies ready to launch for 2008 (more on that soon).
This time has allowed me to catch up on some reading… An interesting article today in eSchoolOnline about a major study on the effectiveness of software applications on student test scores. The article looks into the study results as well as presenting a fine argument about the appropriateness of the study conditions. The lack of appropriate PD is used as the main argument for the negative results produced in the study.
“Brief training at the beginning of the year is not sufficient. Ongoing and sustainable professional development that provides support and mentoring or coaching for teachers ensures that technology tools and resources are used in ways that lead to increased student achievement,”
The above quote from the article, I believe, sums up a greater need than simply making sure staff have the opportunity to attend PD sessions. There is a need to have staff in the institution that are willing to learn and see change as well as staff that are passionate about the opportunities for change who are willing to mentor and coach. Having software companies train our teachers is not exactly presenting a case for effective pedagogies and educational relevance. These people are not qualified to meet the needs of students.
There is also the point of how we decide what is quality educational software and not. There is a sad case that I witnessed over and over again as a classroom teacher, when parents would spend huge amounts of money on software programs for their children who were struggling with a subject area. Quite often this didn’t help and the students who were struggling simply needed more one on one attention from a tutor or even their parents. Software applications promising to deliver results in such a short period of time are like weight loss fads that promise to have us all trim and terrific in 10 weeks of doing nothing more than popping a pill!
This is probably more for a laugh than anything else. Was looking at some different aspects of media and the uprise in comedy shows that enjoy finding the comical side of what is supposed to be serious news and information media….. This is from an Australian comedy show which is also a free video podcast called the Chaser War on Everything. Certainly don’t endorse everything these guys do but this one was a good chuckle!! Enjoy….
