Graham Wegner – Open Educator

I had great plans to be a switched on, connected learner today at our local CEGSA09 conference. But I’m not sure where my head is at because I struggled to listen to either of the keynotes, ran most of my laptop juice out stuffing around with the wireless at the venue and skipped two sessions that I had originally planned to check out, preferring to chat to Dean, Kerry and Lauren.

I’m not even sure whether conferences really benefit me any more and I don’t like being the cynical jerk at the back. But I’m starting to work out where I am in relation to many others who frequent conferences like this. Especially I know what I am not. I’m not an innovator or someone shaping future direction – I wait for the initial rush in a particular direction and try to be somewhere near the front. That’s why many of the messages presented in today’s keynote weren’t new to me and just showcase the many contradictions that plague the meaningful use of technology in education.

Netbooks – some say that they are under powered, under sized pieces of stop gap junk and others see them as the opportunity for affordability and the chance to shake off the bloatware that many users never use fully.

IWB’s – useless, putting teacher on a pedestal, digital billboards entrenching instructivist practices or essential, liberating tools that enable digital fluency for teachers and students alike when used in powerful, connecting ways.

21st century learning – meaningless buzzword or handy term to bring others on board.

Tools vs. pedagogy? Constant contradiction here.

My guru is your charlatan.

Hoping to be more switched on tomorrow.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thomwatson/1132365/

If I had the time, talent and inclination, I reckon I’d love to be a comic strip artist. We’ve been looking at written humour in the classroom and analysing how much context and prior knowledge is needed in order for the humour in a comic strip to become obvious and theoretically, funny. In my searching on the web, I stumbled onto “Pearls Before Swine” which I think it is one of the best comic strips I have ever read. I don’t believe that it has ever been syndicated in any Australian newspapers, so it is new to me.

I reckon my readers will have enough context to enjoy these…

Hey, this cartoonist has even got his own blog.

I really enjoyed our class camp last week to Hindmarsh Island, near Goolwa on the Fleurieu Peninsula. It was good to get to know my students some more in a different environment away from the classroom but I enjoyed the opportunity to step away from the lead teacher role and become an active learner for several days. I really enjoyed listening to, noticing and observing things from the camp instructors.

So for this blog post, I just want to share a few images from the three days from my perspective as a learner who has not really taken the time to find out about this interesting and vital area of South Australia.

This is the controversial Hindmarsh Island Bridge. I took the photo from the middle of the Murray River and the effects of the driest spell in recorded history are pretty obvious. Nathan, our guide for the “Murray River Walk” told us that the water level was two metres below normal levels and the salinity levels had given rise to a new issue – the bristleworm. There was castings growth from these creatures attached to the lower pylons of the bridge for the first time and what looked like rocks on the sandflats of the river were actually also castings growth on a variety of objects ranging from turtle shells to beer bottles to rusty metal pins and mussel shells.

You can see the castings growth on the metal pin held here by one of the students.

We also visited the Murray Mouth where the most important river in Australia finally connects with the sea. This is also a place in a state of flux. When the river isn’t flowing freely into the Southern Ocean (as is the case currently) sand builds up in the mouth, threatening to seal it off completely. From our viewpoint, we could see several dredges, giant vaccum cleaners sucking sand from the floor of the mouth and dumping it all back in another area nearby via lengthy black plastic piping.

Nathan, our instructor, told us that the Mouth is normally much wider – from the left peak to at least the white fluffy cloud is normally flow into the ocean. From the left is the world famous Coorong (think Storm Boy if you know your classic Australian films).

This photo sums up the Murray’s plight in my opinion. Here we have a paddle steamer, similar to the type that cruised all the way down from the sheep stations up on the Darling River system, onto the Murray and down to the port of Goolwa, beached on the shores of the Murray because the water just isn’t deep enough any more. So, it is time to ask the students “Why is this happening?”

One of the biggest challenges in implementing this concept of “life long learners” is not just changing the mindset of the teachers in our classrooms but the students as well. Many of them have well established expectations of how school should play out and for many of them, being a “good kid” and following instructions was the recipe for learning success. What progressive educators see as steps to empower the learning process, some students see as a huge threat to their perceived version of the status quo. In our upper primary classrooms at my school, we are trying to keep that shift going with the way we structure our learning program.

The shift is subtle but our students are feeling it.

Generally, they are pretty good. The students enjoy the freedoms in their personal blogs, the tasks that give them opportunity to be creative and make choices to demonstrate their understanding of the concepts and knowledge covered and most are enthused about the opportunity to be the leaders in the student community of the school. Things aren’t quite as bad as over at ken’s school:

Don’t tell me to create. How about you create something? Instead, you’re dumping your own lack of preparation on me and every other student in this classroom. I show up, I do my job. That’s what it’s been about. That’s what it’s all about. Honestly, I’m not sure what you’re trying to accomplish.

But our new High Flyer program has thrown a few of them into a tizzy. This is our Year Seven high achievement recognition program for the kids in their final year of primary school. The actual High Flyer certificates pre-date my involvement at the school but was essentially a teacher-driven award system – the criteria was drawn up by the teachers who then made judgement calls about how the students measured up to them. The teachers were doing the heavy lifting – while the students benefitted by playing the role of “good student” in order to gain recognition. A very traditional approach but one that was definitely in a major need of re-alignment to our school focus of inquiry and collaborative learning. Maria, Kim and I decided to turn things around by grabbing the 18 Qualities of a Lockleys North Graduate and have the students provide evidence of their achievment of these Qualities. Here’s a sample of our new approach as lifted directly from our private planning wiki.

The 2009 High Flyer is based on the 18 Qualities of an LNPS Graduate. As students are encouraged and supported to take charge of their own learning, the High Flyer Award is designed for students to take ownership of their own achievements. The students will collate and present evidence of these Qualities. (instigated by students, book time with their teachers, onus on the student to self manage)

The self managing part is the part that some students immediately found difficultly in grappling with. For example, one quality calls for students to “Participate in and support activities as reliable team members, encouraging spectators, and ‘good sports’”. We gave the kids four possible options for evidence (they had to choose two or create their own) including this one – Written supportive statement of involvement from PE teacher.

The students with initiative, the ones who we really want to be winning these awards, created their own statement, putting their own performance under the perspective microscope of Mr. G, our PE teacher, typed it up and approached him for a signature if he agreed with their statement. Into the folder of evidence it went.

But others were more literal and fell back into the “teacher needs to do it for me” mode. Maria and I had an interesting but frustrating conversation with a student from her class (whom I had taught in 2007 and 2008, so I may have been part of the problem) where she just couldn’t get past the fact that she was responsible for ensuring that the evidence was there for us to assess.

“But I’ve emailed Mr. G twice and asked him to write me a statement.”

“Imagine if he has to do that for all 51 Year Sevens. You need to show some initiative like Pavlo over here who wrote his own statement.”

“Oh … maybe I should write Mr. G a reminder note and put it in his pigeonhole.”

“No, you’re missing the point! You can write it yourself and Mr. G can sign off on it.”

“But how can I do that? How do I know how I’ve been in PE lessons?”

You get the picture. Hopefully, this will also eliminate the visit from the one irate parent who is upset that their darling child has not gotten the High Flyer certificate because they are a “good kid”. Enough with the good kids – we want motivated, self-improving students – otherwise, the life long learning will never happen unless a teacher is holding their hands.

The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd has decided that in this time of financial uncertainty that stimulus money should be spent – and spent rather quickly. Although I’m not sure that improving schools was not the motivation, no one I know is complaining that we are the beneficiaries of some major spending for … well, the first time I can remember in my teaching career. Mainly primary schools are the recipients of the BER money and I’m in the unusual but possibly not unique position of having a say and seeing how two schools address this opportunity. My own school (where I work) qualifies for $3 million for a major project and the school where my kids go will have a $2.5 million windfall.

An APPA letter emailed out to schools today reveals the priority the government has for this “revolution”:

The Commonwealth has clearly identified priorities.  They are:
1)    Libraries.
2)    Multipurpose halls (could be large covered areas, or have a capacity for sport or performing arts).
3)    Classroom block / replacement of demountables.
4)    Refurbishment of hall/library/classroom block building or another building.
5)    If school has all of the above, negotiations may include early childhood centres but they must be an integrated part of a primary school and childcare must not be a major part of the role.

But as usual, there are catches because the PM wants all of this to stimulate the economy now, speed is of the essence. Decisions about what schools will want need to be made by mid-March with the first priority choice projects starting constrcution by mid-year. To speed things along, schools have been given plans and details of recent pre-existing buildings with the theory that these will need the minimum of planning approvals and can be partially pre-fabricated en masse. So if a school in South Australia wants a new Resource Centre / Library, there is a choice to be made – choice A or choice B, photos from existing DECS sites and plans on CD-ROM. But as my principal points out, you can do what you like with the interior so the lack of choice for the exterior isn’t such a big deal. What is a big deal is the opportunity to get a major building project done in a comparatively short timeframe with money available that I’ve not seen at any stage in my teaching career. So principals are canvassing staff and parents, attending roadshow events – our premier Mike Rann called a day event at the Adelaide Convention Centre and invited principals and Governing Council reps to unveil all of this.

I actually get to have my say in two venues – one as a staff member at the school of my employment and as a Governing Council member at my children’s school. I fired off my opinion to my kids’ principal and fellow GC members. This also represents one of the only chance for schools to get rid of those dreadful portable buildings that seem to plague so many sites in this state – miss the boat on this one and if a school goes to the state government at a future time to talk about replacing these furnace/freezer boxes (depending on the season) that I currently teach in, they’ll be saying, “You had your chance with the BER money.” I’d love to see a wireless “21st Century style” Resource Centre at both schools that I have close links to – and the long term pipe dreams can actually become a reality within the next three years in the schools can look past the compromises that need to be brokered. Still, unless you are a well financed private school (and they get their cut of the stimulus money but don’t get me started on that) then compromising on the ideal is something public educators are already well used to.

Social media has dramatically improved how we report and document devastating events like the weekend’s Victorian bushfires. But it still doesn’t reduce the tragedy, the destruction or human’s ability to control the most devastating element of all. Fires have raged across the Australian continent for eons – Aboriginal people knew that fire was part of the cycle of life and it was actually a cleansing force, sparking renewed growth on the landscape.

So after two years of drought, a fortnight of extreme temperatures and telling wind changes that caught residents and firefighters off guard, we have one of Australia’s worst disasters. Not that it is anyone’s fault (except in the case of deliberate arson) but the age old threat of bushfire is one that those who live in these heavily forested areas will always have to counter.

The most devastating fires are still burning as I write – a Channel Nine news special is showing the areas still under threat. About the only thing I can do from my comfortable lounge perch here in Adelaide is to post this badge and encourage anyone who feels moved to click and donate. (Thanks KerryJ).

Joanne and I had a rare afternoon going to see a movie down at Glenelg without the kids for our fifteenth wedding anniversary. One of the simple pleasures was just having a wander around the bookstores in Jetty Road without the worry or pressure of the boys – just browsing and checking out exactly what was of interest. I don’t get to read that many of the recommended reads from my PLN simply because Aussie bookstores stock very few of those titles. One book did catch my eye, a book that I remember Kim Cofino recommending called No Logo by Naomi Klein, and I purchased it. That still amazes me that an American teacher working in Bangkok can recommend a book to read for me here in Adelaide. Another book by Seth Godin grabbed my attention but at around A$35.00 for the hardcover, I only glanced at it briefly. The blurb on the back was enough to help me understand where I’ve been going wrong on this blog for quite a while.

I’ve been really struggling with this blog for some time now. Posts have not come easily for the last six months or so and I haven’t felt like that I’ve had anything important to write for quite a while. It wasn’t quite blogger’s block but a sense of that the longer I left this space alone, the greater chance of it turning into one of those blogs that gradually becomes one of those spots in the aggregator where after a while you notice, “Well, that person hasn’t posted for a long time. Wonder if they will ever post again or should I just unsubscribe?”

(Footnote: Rachel Boyd, if you’re reading, your blog is one that I’d love to read again on a regular basis.)

What I got from the back of Seth’s book is that a blog is a place to write about ideas. I reckon that would be a good starting point to get back to writing here on a regular and passionate basis like I was a year or so ago. I don’t have to wait until I have achieved something of interest in the classroom, have a grand theory relating to the role of technology or a new Web 2.0 tool to evaluate.

I just need to write about an idea. No more fretting about the worth of my thoughts. No more waiting until I have enough background. My readers will help to fill in the gaps and point out the gaps in my thinking. For now, it’s time to simplify my expectations for this blog and focus on one thing.

My idea.

Image credit: http://flickr.com/photos/charlotteinaustralia/2797345622/

It was my privilege to have Tom Barrett along with his wife Helen and his family over for a meal at the Wegner household tonight. It was a really nice time chatting about life in general (not that much geeky talk at all) and letting the kids play with each other. These connections we make via the web are real relationships – mutual learning can be a common passion – and it was great to meet the man behind the blog.

Thanks again, Tom, for making time in your trip down under to have dinner with my family.

I’m not a religious person but I do appreciate the extra time at this time of year to relax and read for my own interest and priorities at my own pace, rather than squeezing it in at the end of the day after work, kids, responsibilities, preparation for work and just before sleep. So I’ve found and read leisurely through a couple of posts from different corners of my Reader and have some tenuous linking thoughts percolating from them.

Firstly, David Truss’s Girl Power was an interesting read. I didn’t get too far before inversing his words with my thoughts and going off track in my brain.

I’ve always been surrounded by women. I grew up with three sisters, and I have two daughters and a wonderful wife.

I’m the reverse – my household is male dominated, two sons – but my life is hardly testosterone filled. After all, I am a teacher and my working life has always been spent in the gender minority. Yet I barely think of my colleagues in terms of their gender. Certainly not consciously. The leaders I’ve worked under have been an even balance of men and women and even if there was a “boys club” at any of my workplaces, it is highly unlikely that I would invited to be part of it. I don’t think that I am a typical male teacher either, whatever that supposedly looks like. I’ve never felt comfortable with locker room humour, possibly because my poor sporting abilities ensured that I was never really in them growing up. So I suppose, David’s post just got me thinking about our perceptions about gender and how these headsets can affect how we raise the next generation – namely in my case, my two young sons.

The second post that took these ponderings and bounced them around some more came after reading Jose Vilson’s It’s The Hardknock Life. His post succinctly reflects on how his circumstances growing up have affected and shaped him into the person he is today. I mean I know that has happened to us all to some degree but what I found particularly insightful was the razor sharp honing in of affecting factors and the effect of those factors. For example:

But it always annoyed me when dudes broke out with 150$ Jordans and I could barely get the Ewings. While others got a million games for their video game systems, I only had a few. I never had the luxury of going to the latest concert or have any connections to some music artist or celebrity. I never even got to participate in the big events everyone else did like when the NBA All-Star Game came to NYC or any of the comic book conventions my friends went to. The worst part is, at that age, kids are so willing to flaunt their luxuries in the faces of those who have not.

Sometimes, it made me resentful, but more than anything, it helped me build character. It forced me to rethink my finances and become responsible. More than anything, my upbringing made me much more self-reliant. Nowadays, while I’m still very limited in my purchases, I get whatever’s within my means. I’m patient with purchases, and have a better sense of prices.

My own upbringing has certainly manifested itself in the way I conduct my life. Some of the outcomes have been unintended – example, being sent to boarding school at age twelve from a sheltered life on the family farm where Saturdays were work days (not a day for playing footy or tennis with the local kids in the district teams) and Sunday was the day of worship and rest (enforced as only devoted rural Lutherans can) forced me to become resilient, independent and self organised even as my self confidence was being shot to pieces by the bully culture within said boarding house. I feel that my parents abdicated much of their responsibility during my vulnerable teenage years. It’s no wonder I react instinctively whenever someone starts talking about high school cliches – boarding house culture was raising me with male cultural characteristics at its worst. And I wasn’t equipped with the academic talent or the athletic skills that would have earnt me immunity and credibility in that particular environment. I started as the country bumpkin wearing glasses for the first time whose parents naively thought their world view was represented in this school and had to carve out my own unique identity patch based on my creative skills and willingness to be a bit player in other people’s success. I was the one who organised a Boarders vs. Day Scholars football match, the one who invented cartoon games to while away the study periods and Sunday afternoons while others snuck off to meet up with girls or to go on illicit pub crawls. I couldn’t bear to disappoint my parents – but that was all based on what they disapproved of rather than what they expected.

Where are I going with all of this? Well, a deep appreciation of how environments and people can shape the final person has me critically viewing how I tackle my job as father. Although parenting can be a very reactionary and unplanned journey, I do have to make conscious choices about my behaviour and my expectations for my sons. Too much and I won’t be letting them make their own way. Too little and I will be repeating the mistakes of my parents. And there is no better mirror to one’s own frailties than to look at one’s own children. Example: My eldest has always had low muscle tone and attends a number of therapies to improve this area. Bingo! Now I know why I struggle to throw a ball further than twenty metres and why my one and only shot on goal from twenty five metres out for the Ceduna B Grade back in 1989 was never going to make it through the big sticks. Next example: My youngest exasperates me with his impatience and his ultra-competitive nature. I’m not competitive by nature – this scares me because how do I ensure that his natural tendency is channeled in the right direction?

I know all I can do is my best and I know that there will be things that my kids hold me accountable for by the time they reach adulthood. But there are things that they will have hammered into them with my words and actions – as with David, I want them to be balanced in their respect for and with women and like Jose, I want them to be their own person and not be reliant on others for their own self worth.

This could be further proof that my blogging muse is still out somewhere wandering around the Nullarbor but a tweet yesterday from Josie Fraser led me to Twitter Grader. It seems that according to this particular service I’m the current number three of the Adelaide Twitter Elite! You get this nifty badge as well.

This can’t be based on my tweeting which is even more sporadic than my blogging.