The Tangent I have gone down... Printing and Learning

Tinker, tailor, solider, sailer...
This week for Mindlab we focused on two different areas; 3D modelling and printing, and Leadership.

What an eye opener for me about the 3D and 4D! modelling and printing. WOW. I've known about 3D modelling and printing for sometime now and can see many practical and exciting prospects for using this technology in the classroom.
At my school we don't have a 3D printer at our end of the school but I believe there are a couple at the senior end. Do we use them though? - no. Could we? - I am not sure...

Having a look at one of the videos from course material, the presenter from Kidesign.org  suggested that although schools have 3D printing technologies, many of the printers have ended up being dust collectors because teachers don't know how to use them. This comment struck a chord with me, as I think it is a real challenge for the average teacher when implementing most technology really. Change and innovation happens so quickly!
How do we allow both teachers and students to become confident and adept uses of these innovative technologies, so they don't become ornaments?
I think that the answer lies, in part, down to beliefs about learning and how learning happens. I personally can see quite a change in my thinking here and those constructivist and constructionist theories are starting to really take hold in my thought process. Although I didn't think I had subscribed to the idea that teachers should know 'everything' about x,y and z, the reality of what happens in the classroom (and in my classroom too) and the whole idea of being able to learn through learning activities and challenges, is actually quite hard for teachers to do. God forbid we look like we don't know the answer, have the solution or make everything tidy and neat at the conclusion of a lesson. What chaos could erupt from there?
I can think of many a lesson where technology has not worked smoothly (to be honest that's nearly every lesson) and how I feel when this occurs. Usually inwardly panicked and outwardly annoyed!  Thinking about what teaching and education is, and how these technologies get pushed aside because teachers don't feel confident in using them, is a real shame for our students. Making mistakes, not knowing the answers is such an important part of the learning process. Learning is not a smooth, flow chart type process at all. It's messy and has an array of tangents. Learning through the struggle, struggling together, now that's education.

So lesson to self: you don't (no, really you don't) have to have all the answers or the secret key that holds the 'truth'. 😇

I loved the 4D printing technologies I was exposed to in the 4D Printing: the Future of Design . This youtube clip was phenomenal. In case you are unsure of this, the video describes 4D printing as being a way of printing self re-configuring and programming material. Essentially an object that can change and adapt itself over time. Pretty amazing stuff. We were asked to reflect on how we could use this in the classroom and to be honest we couldn't necessarily think of any amazing answers. The future though, is an open book and what students may be able to do with this technology is yet to be discovered.
If you haven't seen Joseph DeSimone's Ted talk about 3D printing you should. It is awesome in the traditional sense of the word. 3D printing that isn't augmented 2D printing but in fact a multi composite, growing type printing that is up to 100 times faster than the 3D printing technologies we have now. MIND BLOWN! How cool and practical would that type of technology be in a school.

However, there another point of view about 3D printing and these technologies that I want to briefly mention. One person in class brought up how environmentally irresponsible it is to print off all these 'objects' etc and I have to agree with her. In my opinion we do live in a throw away society where value isn't always put on things that could be reused or recycled. I am so guilty of that myself. I think though (hopefully) that as the technology grows through its infancy stages that we should be able to adapt the materials we use, to be environmentally safe. Adding that component in is important to all technology uses and lessons I think.

Thinking...

What is thinking? What types of thinking are there? Is some thinking more effective than others?

This week in class we have looked at a range of 'thinking' really. Computational thinking and some of the elements this entails, as well as Carol Dweck's 'Growth Mindset' and the accompanying ideas there. I'm going to focus on the latter in this blog entry.

I love the idea that intelligence isn't a fixed thing. Neuroplasticity and the way we can exercise our brain like a muscle, was a key component of one of the inquiry units we undertook with our students this year. I found this to be one of the best units we have taught because I can just see the universal application this has opened up for students to enable them to have a better understanding of just what it means to learn and to be a learner.
Some of the issues I had in my classroom, from this inquiry, was with students who have an overtly negative outlook- on themselves, their abilities and their learning. Intelligent, articulate students who have this overwhelming compulsion to switch into negative thinking. Now, I'm  not saying that everyone should be walking around with a false impression of themselves or of the world, but with one particular student his thinking always went (and still goes) to the 'worst case' type of scenario- no matter what. This made me think about - well, what impact has this learning really had on your students? And one of the key things that has sort of struck me, is how difficult students can find transferring those ideas explored in class into their 'real' world. This brought me face to face with an idea that a colleague of Carol Dweck had had shared with her, about noticing a 'false' growth mindset being taught/developed in some classrooms.
In the following link, Carol Dweck (2016) describes how Recognising false mindset is important for teachers to reflect upon. She begins by stating that a growth mindset is the belief that you can develop talents and abilities through hard work, using an effective strategy and by receiving help from other people. She also said that there are key elements that teachers are doing, that are actually helping to create a sense of 'false' growth mindset in their students. These were really interesting to think about:

1. Praising effort alone- Carol talks about how important the process of learning is for students when developing a growth mindset; overcoming the obstacles, applying specific effective strategies to help them solve problems, seeking help etc. This has ended up being boiled down to praising effort alone. Not her point at all. 
2. Telling students they can do 'anything'. Making hollow promises does not help  our students to develop a growth mindset. We need to have high expectations of and for our students, but more importantly provide them with opportunities to develop the skills, knowledge and strategies to be able to work towards what they want to achieve.
3. Blaming a student's Mindset- for their inability to learn. We need to create the environment where students can begin to leave their fixed mindsets behind and develop their abilities. We can do this through providing meaningful learning activities, giving honest and helpful feedback and opportunities to revise and show their learning.

Sooooo... going back to my original problems or issues I found on reflection to our Inquiry unit. The negative thinking space and mindset of my one student identified previously. I would have to say that although I haven't blamed the mindset of the student for his lack of learning ( because he is most definitely progressing and learning) but I can see how his negative outlook impacts on his own perceptions of his own abilities and learning potential. How can I tackle this and seeing students take their learning into practice? Well I feel that if I keep on going providing that really essential feedback in an environment where risks are valued, mistakes are seen as wonderful learning opportunities and where relationships are valued and promoted, then maybe I can start to chip away at that armor students put up around themselves. I do believe though, that for many of students, there are very deep set and psychological issues that we do need to take into account as well. 

Here is the stop motion movie Holly and I made looking at one effect of a false mindset on students. We selected the first point- outlined above. This was my first attempt at creating a stop motion video. Haha lots and lots of fun!

One of our tasks for finishing up the session was to reflect on how a growth mindset could affect the change initiative you investigate for the Leadership one assignment. 

"...it's still not easy to attain a growth mindset. One reason why is we all have our owned fixed- mindset triggers. When we face challenges, receive criticism, or fare poorly compared with others, we can easily fall into insecurity or defensiveness, a response that inhibits growth. Our work environments, too, can be full of fixed mindset triggers." (Dweck, 2016). 

I think overall the willingness to grow and take on leadership and encourage that in others, is a big challenge and one that with the use of a growth mindset can be achieved. Taking the criticisms or the fixed way of thinking that others have can be very hard. Recognizing that these are triggers for me, I know that I have needed to display and work through those hard times using a growth mindset. Its so easy to see the fixed mindset thoughts and limitations creep in. Awareness my friend!

Dweck, C. (2016, January 11). Recognizing and Overcoming False Growth Mindset. Retrieved July 26, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/recognizing-overcoming-false-growth-mindset-carol-dweck

These things I am learning...

So after a very long session with my study buddy Holly, we finally completed our first assignment for the Mindlab- Digital 1.

I thought I'd complete a list of the things I have learned/learnt since last week's post:

• Learned and learnt. I thought 'learned' was the past tense English form of the verb learn. I am wrong 😊. Learned, it appears, is the US version- shame on me 😎
• I am struggling at times to see the connection between applications/programmes/tools such as scratch and makey makey and how I can use these purposefully in my classroom. During last week's session we were asked to work in groups to create something with the Makey Makey's and scratch coding progamme. Although the actual playing around with these tools wasn't necessarily the purpose of the task, I can't help but see these things as gimmicky. I am finding it very hard to see their usefulness. Of course I want to; I can see the value and strength that comes from students learning coding- the problem solving, the future application of this knowledge, the possibilities it can create. BUT... I think my problem is in the integration of these tools into a functioning classroom with year 8 students who can use these tools authentically for a purpose or task. I am sure this gap will be bridged over the coming weeks (or someone will surely let me in on the secret... 😈). 
• Digital technologies are fraught with danger haha! Those who endeavor to use these tools are courageous in the face of uncertain success. I know that this is what I am learning BIG time; How to keep going, have a good sense of humour and problem solve through the unintended landmines that appear from nowhere when using technology in new ways. Trying to record our Digitial 1 assignment was its own comedy. For some reason both the microphones in our laptops decided that it would be fun to play a game with Holly and I as we were 'trying' to screencast our final presentation. Haha! both our computers said. Let's record one voice only when these humans are trying to share their ideas- that will be funny! Watch those silly girls try and figure out what's going on. Then, how about adding in the roller coaster effect- more joy and hilarity. How about adding in an echo effect or just plain, not record at all? 

         We are flexible, persistent learners .

We ended up using the 'Explain Everything' app on the iPad (which has inadvertently sucked me into the black hole of internet searching tangents, about which is the best screen sharing app to use?).

My thought process follows:
What else is there out there?
Ohh what does this one do?
Oh, pretty animations/drawings/flashing lights/bells and whistles
Oh I'll down load that
Ohhhh! Um what does it do?
(seven hours later...)
Oh too confusing, I think I'll stick with what I've got. 

But in all seriousness I am loving the Clips app at the moment (iPad) , Screencastify (chrome ext) ((when it works)), Explain Everything (iPad)  and Powtoon (comp).

So here's our finished assignment. It is long! I hope we've covered all of the things required. We really did delve into the theories to justify our choices but I am still a bit unsure if we truly are on the right track. Well, we'll just have to wait and see!😝

Ahh Overwhelmed!

One week and so much can be crammed into one small cranium.
So after posting my reflection on how we use 21st Century skills in our teaching programmes, its been really great to see how and what other teachers are doing around the country. I was somewhat resistant about getting involved in the G+Community at first but am now finding it a great place to learn. I was super nervous about posting my thoughts (once they're out - they're out!) on the forum but it's been really positive. I am finding myself being drawn back to see what else is going on and seeing the examples of work, reflections and ideas that are being shared. Love it.

So Tuesday's session was quite hands on. We were looking at how we can incorporate more innovative technology into our classrooms and looked at a couple of models that support this incorporation. The SAMR model and TPAK. I found both models interesting but need to take a bit more time to reflect on these and my understanding of the key concepts and differences between the two.

One of the innovations we looked at was how mixed reality will/could/can be used in the classroom. I personally have created Aura's from the Aurasma Augmented Reality (app?/programme?) years ago. Note the key word- "I'. I haven't ever handed this over to my students who could have done some fantastic things with this application I'm sure. My focus at the time was: how can I make this into a cool sharing/learning platform for my students.
Grant Lichtman's Ted talk  (What 60 Schools can Tell Us about Teaching 21st Century Skills), was a clip we had to watch for class. Initially, I didn't take too much from this viewing but am finding the ideas he presented in the clip, sneaking into my thinking quite often. One idea he speaks of is about the things that hold us- (teachers, educators, schools) back from becoming the progressive educators that really do equip our students with the skills they will need for their futures. He calls these silos, anchors and dams. Reflecting on why I never actually gave my students the opportunities to play around, suggest ideas and use Aurasma in the class themselves, was mainly down to some of those walls I myself had put up. This again related to the ideas in this weeks reading in prep for class  Conditions for Classroom Technology . A weighty little 30+ pager *eyes sagging out of their sockets, but this was very thought provoking. Although quite old in terms of a tech paper, the ideas behind it still apply. What are the things that hinder the successful use of technology innovations in classroom? For me, relating this to why I never even gave my students the opportunity to use Aurasma in the class, was fear of it not being successful. Not all students had their own devices, the school didn't have the programme on the school devices, the internet was too slow etc etc. Although at the time these were very valid issues, basically it was too hard, so it wasn't even attempted. This is something I really need to think about and battle- what am I doing to limit the use and application of technologies in my own classroom practice? How am I using silos, anchors and dams to hide behind?

This then leads me into the ASSIGNMENT! OMG!! Holly and I worked on this for quite a few hours  yesterday. We both want to do well on this assignment and it is going to be very interesting to see how this goes. The problem we identified in our practise was that students were not given the opportunity to share their learning outside of the classroom community. So although we both have home/school links to share digitally what is happening in our classrooms (we both use google classroom and Seesaw), when do students share outside of their family etc. An idea that was floated and didn't really go anywhere was H TV. A programme that would reflect what was happening in the lives of our students, the school and our community. Both Holly and I would like to step right back from this and truly allow the students to design and take charge of this project. This will be a BIG challenge. We will seek the feedback etc and ideas from students tomorrow about what ideas they have, whether they see value in it, and how they would like to see it run. We are also going to ask parents and other staff (the stakeholders). We are prepared for failure; there are many things that can go wrong but we are both willing to try and see this up and running. Where will it go?- we don't know. Teaching into the unknown- Grant Lichtman. Now we need to apply all the theory etc to our idea- hence the title of this post.