The Digital Story of the Nativity

It makes me smile to realize people keep forwarding the link to the Digital Story of the Nativity... via email. Even if you've already seen it, I hope you'll appreciate this video as a 'social media' Christmas card. Merry Christmas!

Lessons in Karate

Since the late summer, our 8 year old, Michael, has been taking Karate lessons. Taking him to classes a few days each week, I've come to appreciate a number of lessons modeled by Family Karate that are worth sharing with teachers everywhere.

Lesson 1 Transparency Matters
Classes at Family Karate take place in an open space that allows outside observers to take in the lessons. Teaching isn't secretive. Up close and personal, parents can observe the work of students and teachers alike.
What would happen if the doors of our classrooms were open to any parent, any day?

Lesson 2 We Learn Best with Peers
In academic classrooms, the grouping of learners as Robins or Rockets may be seen as 'old school', but ability grouping in karate is the norm. Classes are divided by belt colour allowing instructors to address the KYU Belt Curriculum with similarly skilled students.
How do you ensure apt challenges for each student?

Lesson 3 Intrinsic and Extrinsic Movitation are Connected
Within any given colour, students earn experience 'stripes' as they master skills within the curriculum. Vertical strips of coloured tape on a learners belt indicate when a student has mastered specific karate skills. These readiness markers are used by instructors to ensure students are appropriately challenged during drills. Did karate masters begin as 'sticker' kids?
What if scholastic learning was highlighted through public signs/symbols?

Lesson 4 Students Lead
Beyond karate, our club emphasizes the development of social skills and leadership skills. Respect for self, parents and peers is reinforced daily, and students with advanced belts are expected to assist the Renshi, Sensei or Sempai in working with less-experienced students. This leadership expectation is one that reinforces skills in addition to providing a service to the club.
What can happen when advanced students spend some of their time teaching others?

Lesson 5 Make a Choice
Individuals attend karate classes at a schedule that suits the family and the individual. Students can pursue traditional karate skills, or they can choose to focus on self-defense. Students can advance to sparring and recreation or they may pursue competitive karate. Regardless, the pace of one's learning is dictated by skill development and interest rather than by age.
How authentic are the choices you and your fellow learners are allowed to make?

Lesson 6 Learning is a Family Affair
Healthy eating, respectful behaviour, and diligence in schoolwork are a few of the social skills reinforced and rewarded at Family Karate. Through the use of home tracking cards, parents can reinforce positive behaviours that are later recognized at graduation ceremonies. In addition, monthly 'special events' including sleepovers, movie nights, and pot luck events reinforce the community nature of the sport.
How does your school engage members of the community?

Lesson 7 Reserve a place for Ceremony, Symbolism & Tradition
The skills of karate have been practiced for a few hundred years and the respect for the art is central to the teaching and learning of skills. Beyond the cap and gown, I'm hard-pressed to find ceremonies or symbols that represent the rich history of school-based learning.
What traditions make your school a special place?

Lesson 8 Words Dictate Actions
At Family Karate, the Student Creed is a hallmark. The words appear on the walls and are emblazoned on the back of every student's shirt.

I will keep my thoughts positive
because my thoughts become my words;

I will keep my words positive
because my words become my actions;

I will keep my actions positive
because my actions become my values;

I will keep my values positive
because my values become my destiny.

Does your classroom/school/board have an axiom that frames all learning?

K 12 Online: Are You For Real?

Have you noticed that the #k12online hashtag has once again come to life? This free online event allows educators from around the world to participate asynchronously in presentations on a wide variety of topics. This year's theme, "Purposeful Play", has been divided into strands that include "Storytime", "Sandbox Play", and "Leveling Up".

Today, my presentation, "Are You For Real" goes 'live'. I'd love to know your thoughts. Do you have a story to share?

Are you in search of opportunities to make authentic connections with students and teachers? Why not surround yourself with prompts to remind you of compelling stories? Learn how aptly chosen artifacts, deliberately placed, can promote story-telling and relationship-building. Play along and consider how you willing you are, to be ‘real’ with your fellow learners.

Are You a Virus?

Recently, I had a chance to hear Ron Canuel from CEA speak about the need for change, and the barriers faced by change agents. In viewing the change agent as a virus, he observed that it is common for innovators to be attacked while followers prosper. Finding it easy to relate to Ron's words, I'd like to extend the metaphor.

Viruses often innovate in the relative safety of a closed door classroom. If you use attempt to use technology in unexpected ways, or if you use tools before they become the norm, you may be a virus. There are many innovators out there, but most, like viruses, are difficult to see. It is only through the sharing of stories, that they become visible.

Virus can replicate but only within living host. If you are a virus, do you dare share your strategies and learning experiments with colleagues? In my experience, viral replication begins through such conversation and conversion. Open sharing may be just the thing that ensures that your district; your school; your department remains vibrant.

Once your peers or members of the ICT department identify you as a change agent, it may trigger the natural defenses of your school or system. The immune system is made up of those who want to maintain the status quo. It might be the technicians who place limits and filters on the tools you use, or it may be the colleagues who aren't ready to adapt their practices to the realities of a changing world. Regardless of the antibodies you face, know that it is natural for any body to defend the status quo. The most intrepid change agents are used to barriers, and though they may be slowed, their viral nature will be resistant to the system's natural defenses.

While viruses are immune to antibiotics, they do need to be aware of vaccination programs. Innocuous policies are commonly adopted in order to protect the system from disruptive change. "Personal devices are not allowed on the network." "Facebook and other social media sites are filtered." "Cell phones will be confiscated if they are seen." While effective in protecting the system in the short term, such inoculations tend to expire as neighbouring school systems evolve.

The metaphor leads me to believe that our education system is in need of an epidemic. Innovative practices will have to go viral in order to infect the practices of educators at all levels. If we are to re-imagine education, schools will need the services of an ever-evolving range of viruses. Care to join me for an educational pandemic?

Image credits: Viral Flu via Novartis AG; Ambulance by chriswong3238

We Can All Do Better

Do you have a blog? a wiki? a social media site? In posting to your online space, how good are you at modelling the appropriate use of content? Do you take advantage of Creative Commons resources? Do you attribute your sources?

Just as it's important to hold students accountable in the appropriate use of previously published materials, educators have a have a moral obligation to the model the ethical use of online content. While 'fair use' policies may give educators permission to use a wide range of materials, this doesn't negate our responsibility to recognize the creators of such works. In failing to acknowledge our sources, we miss out on opportunity to lead by example.

We All Fall Down
I acknowledge that I have at times used the work of others in inappropriate ways. I've used original pieces of music without permission; I've downloaded YouTube clips in violation of the terms of service; I've grabbed screen captures of images otherwise protected by copyright. But over the past few years I've been really conscious about acting justly with regard to rights of content creators, and have worked to inform others about their obligations with respect to copyright. For the past four years, I've also chosen to freely share my creative work with through the Creative Commons. Others are free to use and remix my photos, writing, presentations, publications so long as they attribute my contribution.

What Got Me onto this Topic?
If you've visited this blog in recent years, you'll know that a few of the highlights in my career as a learner have taken place at Educon, a conference of conversations, held annually at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. As a model learning event for teachers, administrators and librarians, Educon hits the mark in a great number of ways.

Upon visiting the Educon 2.4 website two weeks ago. I couldn't help but grin to see highlighted on the banner, a photo I took at last year's event. It's a group photo from a conversation I hosted with Zoe Branigan-Pipe called "Classrooms of Tomorrow". I clicked on the Creative Commons licensed image expecting it to port to the original shot, but instead, it led to the registration page. Without the intent to do so, the Educon 2.4 website was claiming ownership of my work.

Uploaded with Skitch!

While I await an update to the Educon banner, it leads me to reflect:
How good a job do I do in providing attribution to the work of others?
Do my public websites (blogs, wikis, social media pages) use content without consent?
Can I be more effective in acknowledging the contributions of others in my work?
Am I doing everything I can to model the appropriate and fair use of media?

Whether hosting a large conference website, or an obscure resource wiki, our public faces to the world must demonstrate appropriate attribution when we choose to use Creative Commons licensed content. At the very least, an incidental lesson will be taught to anyone who takes notice. In the best of circumstances, visitors will be inspired to follow a hyperlink to the creator's work. Uncountable ripples will follow as acknowledged creators will be more and more likely to share future works.

Can You Do Better?
The idea behind attribution is simple: If you use the work of another creator, give the person credit. In doing so, you'll be modelling for learners the appropriate way to recognize the contributions of others. In a world where creating and remixing is open to anyone, it's time to hold ourselves accountable and to model the ethical use of online content.

Photo credit: London Bridge is Falling Down by Forty two. Creative Commons icon by jorgeandresam

A Lesson in Murmuration

We live in a world where any extraordinary event captured on video must be viewed with mind of a skeptic. This once-in-a-lifetime video, I choose to watch with my heart.

Murmuration from Sophie Windsor Clive on Vimeo.

The creative collaboration of the starlings is awe inspiring. On top of that, the willingness of the videographers Liberty Smith and Sophie Windsor Clive to release the video with Creative Commons license; and the open sharing of the original music by Emmett Glynn and Band, make my sharing soul smile.

Flocking behaviour has evolved in fish and birds to a level we as human beings can only hope to emulate. Still, I can't help but wonder what might be possible if teachers and students could mimic the murmuration of starlings. This video provides a powerful metaphor for how willing collaboration, distributed leadership, and shared responsibility can bring our classrooms to life.