I had an experience recently that I do not think was uncommon. I attended a national conference at which several teachers were running classes displaying what was ostensibly "best practice"..but it wasn't. Now I know that some now use the term Next Practice, but can I say in either case the problem is the same--its Old Practice, and dare I say it, in too many cases, Bad Practice.
 
I always remember a similar occasion in the '90's, being taken proudly by two different Principals, in two different prominent schools, to their science classrooms to be shown a example of "best practice" in a 1-to-1 classroom in which the students were using a Paint program to draw a tripod sitting over a Bunsen burner. Like I said, just bad practice.
 
And yet no-one can be critical of the teachers in either of the above cases; they were simply teaching in the best way they knew how--and there lies the problem, and the solution. In this often discussed world of Open systems, Open content and the like, I look to the concept of Open Practice as an answer. If we reflect back for a moment on my last comment: "teaching in the best way they knew how". Here are classic examples of the challenge our profession must urgently face up to if we are to re-imagine what appropriate teaching practice looks like in a 21st Century classroom.  
 
If we continue to permit teachers to be seen as the "lonely artisans", as my good friend Chris Gerry refers to them, then such artisans will never see the craft as it is performed by others; many of whom may well serve as examples of "better" practice. This sometimes described de-privatization of teaching, or Open Practice, underpins what is possibly the single most significant reform we can offer policy makers and educational leaders seeking to bring about a revitalization of the classroom experience for young people in the future. Open Practice however must bring with it much more than that which created the woes of the '70's; bigger classrooms, more noise and students bewildered by old practice in new surrounds.
 
The new view of Open Practice must be built around professional learning communities that are diverse and many; that allow teachers to observe, reflect and most importantly learn from each other, as a life-long career behavior, rather than the current college-based notion of when learning takes place. It must be built on professional trust and respect, rather than skepticism and doubt, and with it a notion of accountability that far exceeds any external high-stakes test. And above all it will reflect a new professionalism for teachers, who will see ongoing and continuous improvement in not only what they teach, but how they teach, and with what mediums they use to develop truly authentic, relevant learning opportunities appropriate for 21st learners.

Regards,

Happy New Year!

At a conference I attended several years ago, the late great author, human rights activist, and philosopher Susan Sontag suggested that one way for us to better understand the rest of the world is to read novels written by authors from countries other than our own. To hear their stories, viewed through the lens of a culture and society different from our own, helps us learn more about both their culture and ourselves.

This issue is dedicated to stories from various schools around the world. By sharing these stories, we hope to show how similar many of the issues and challenges we face are.  Although many of these challenges may be similar, the fact that each country looks at the world from a distinctive perspective means that similar problems may be viewed very differently, and solutions may be found in places we didn't think to look. By spending some time in another educator's "shoes", it may help us not only find new solutions to our challenges but it also gives us a new view of ourselves. Global awareness, one of those 21st century skills we encourage our students to develop, is a way of thinking we should all be adopting to inform our own learning and thinking whether we're seeking solutions for issues in politics, economics, or education.

What can "global awareness" mean at the learner's level and what role can technology play? I'll give you one personal example. My 13-year old daughter has been selected to participate in an exchange program with a school in rural France. In typical exchange format, first the girls from France will come and spend some time in Montreal, then my daughter and a few of her classmates will move to a small farming village in the French countryside. Since learning that they would participate in this exchange, the girls have been learning about each other - through Facebook. And what have they learned? First of all, the French used in Quebec and the French used in France are very different. The challenge of reading the chat "slang" of another language (after all, LOL is English) has evoked discussions about both language and phonetics. The girls have created and shared videos, learning about each other's everyday lives and making plans for their visits. They've been able to make these connections before they even boarded a plane. As well, the girls are planning to keep blogs about their trip preparations and visits, so they can continue to share with their classmates during the trip. But, although the school is supporting this trip, all this sharing has been initiated by the students after school, at home. Did I tell you that the school doesn't allow the use of Facebook on school property?

We know that networking, sharing ideas, issues, and work or life experiences, with a wider group of people than we may usually encounter, enriches the educational experience for both students and their teachers. We need to judge each opportunity as it comes along and not be afraid to take some bold steps.

On another note, we are very pleased to announce that AALF is partnering with the Maine International Center for Digital Literacy (MICDL) and IdeasLab of Australia to launch a new event - the Big Ideas Global Summit @ the Summit to be held October 11-14, 2009, at Point Lookout, Maine. To find out more about this event, check Upcoming Events below.

Please share your stories about some of the challenges you faced or are facing and some of the successes you've had so that others may learn from your experiences. By building a collection of stories, we create a record and a resource for the whole community.

1-to-1 Leadership and Learning

A cada niño de escuela (6 a 12 años, 340.000 aprox.)

A cada maestro

Involucramiento del núcleo familiar en la labor de la escuela.

Promoción de aprendizajes intergeneracionales.

Fomento de la acción socializadora de la familia.

Responsabilidades compartidas: cuidado de la máquina, tiempo con la computadora, navegación y chat

Permite interactuar  activamente en la construcción del conocimiento.

Satisface áreas de interés personal.

La clase no está limitada a un formato prefabricado.

El alumno aprende haciendo sin limitaciones de tiempo ni espacio.

El alumnos puede enseñar mientras el maestro focaliza su experiencia donde es más necesaria.

Permite el estudio de temas globales usando el contexto local para entender.

Permite la producción de conocimiento y no solo el consumo de información.

e la inclusión entre alumnos.

A nivel alumnos.

Disminución de la competitividad entre alumnos y fortalecimiento de la solidaridad.

Desarrollo de la capacidad creadora mediante el aprendizaje por descubrimiento.

Promoción de la lectura y la escritura.

Fomento del trabajo colaborativo.

Canalización de problemas de conducta.

Aumento de la autoestima.

Mayor disposición para el aprendizaje

Disminución del ausentismo.

Alfabetización digital, uso de correo electrónico y chat.

Tratamiento de las disciplinas mediante propuestas innovadoras.

Atención a las distintas capacidades de los alumnos.

Intercambio entre docentes y producción de contenidos educativos

Participación de las familias en las actividades escolares de sus hijos.

Alfabetización digital.

Documentación infantil, en el país existen muchos niños no solo sin documento de identidad sino también no registrados en Registros Civiles por lo que no figuran como nacidos, no existen. Se hace mucho hincapié en el derecho ala identidad, razón por lo cual se exige documentación del niño para acceder a la máquina. En este momento hay un equipo de funcionarios de la Dirección Nacional de Identificación Civil que recorre las distintas zonas del país en un bus para documentar niños indocumentados. Los casos de niños no registrados se trabajan con el Ministerio de Desarrollo Social, Maestros Comunitarios y Estudiantes Universitarios del proyecto Flor de Ceibo.

Convenio con la Universidad de la República (Proyecto Flor de Ceibo) junto con el Programa de maestros. Comunitarios del Consejo de Educación Primaria para apoyar a las familias, en los hogares.

The right to an education (the Genevea Declaration of the Rights of the Child ) that establishes equal opportunity in the form of guarantes of these rights, as well as the Constitution of the Republic of Uruguay that establishes that parents have an obligation to provide an education for their children. This right ensures the democratization of knowledge.

The other principle is that of literacy and a new essential literacy -  the digital literacy that makes this project feasible.

Every child in school (6 - 12 years old, approximately 340,000)

Every teacher

Involvement of the nuclear family in the workings of the school

Promotion of intergenerational learning

Promotion of family socialization

Shared responsibilities: taking care of the comoputer, time with the computer, navigation and chat

Permitting active interaction in the construction of knowledge

Help students explore personal areas of interest

The class isn't limited by a pre-set form.

The students learn by doing and the learning is not limited in time or place

The students can learn independently while the teacher focuses his or her guidance where it is most needed

It permits the study of global themes using a local context to enable understanding

It permits the production of knowledge and not just consumption of information

Makes school more inclusive for all students

Decrease in competitiveness between students and a strengthening of cooperation and a sense of solidarity

Development of their creative capacity through discovery learning

Promotion of reading and writing

Encouragement of collaborative work

Redirection for those with behavior problems

Improved self-esteem

Better attitude towards learning

Reduction in absenteeism

Digital literacy, use of email and chat

More innovative approaches to the various disciplines

Attention to each student's individual capabilities

Exchanges between teachers in the development of educational content

Family participation in their children's school activities

Digital literacy

Documenting of children. In the country, there are many children who not only have no identification documents but they have also never registered with the Civil Registrar so they appear to not exist. There is a big emphasis on the right to have identity documents because without them a child cannot get a laptop. At this time, there is a group at the office of the National Director of Civil Identification that is going across each region of the country in a bus to document undocumented children. The cases involving unregistered students are being handled by the Ministry of Social Development, Community Teachers and University Students in the Flor de Ceibo Project.

An agreement with the University of the Republic (Project Flor de Ceibo) along with the Communities Program of the Council of Primary Education to support familias in their homes.

Here is a question AALF received from Barbara Mullins in Australia:

 

When I was a sophomore (year 10) student my class participated in a discussion with students from South Africa, Louisiana, and California.  I learned so much about the world around me, but I think I learned more about myself than anything else.
 
This statement from student Ashley K. reflects what I think is the most powerful aspect of international student-to-student and teacher-to-teacher collaborative work:  the opportunity to learn about ourselves, our abilities, and the world in which we live.  Although it does take exerted effort to arrange for these types of learning projects, it is well worth every ounce of that effort. Students collaborate and learn from one another; teachers collaborate and learn from one another; best practices are shared and examined by everyone involved.  

 

I need to be crystal clear regarding my understanding about international student collaborative projects:  They are powerful learning experiences for students and teachers and they have the potential to expose best instructional practices and best student engagement practices. Let me share an experience to provide insight to this core idea.

 

During the summer of 2003, I had the opportunity to work with three other high school humanities teachers at the Technology Teaching and Learning Institute held at St. Mary's College, a residential college at the University of Melbourne, Australia.  We four had worked together off and on during successive TTLI's, and so we all knew one another well.  In fact, I had learned much from these educators and I still consider them friends, mentors, and coaches.  On our last night together we mused about the possibility of orchestrating a collaborative project between our students at Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans, Louisiana; Bishops Diocesan College in Cape Town, South Africa; and Clovis East High School, in Clovis, California.  At the time the disquiet between Iraq and the international community was escalating; we decided we would have our students focus on this relevant challenge by addressing the question:  Should world powers invade Iraq?  Although we did not expect our students to solve this potential crisis (world leaders were struggling unsuccessfully to do just that), we knew that they would learn invaluable lessons by planning for and participating in this three-way collaborative project.  I would find that I learned many valuable lessons from my colleagues as well. Our objectives for student learning included having students become more successful at consulting reliable primary and secondary sources so that they could develop and sustain an argument, become aware of perspectives other than their own, explore and comment on international issues, and increase their collaborative abilities.

The project lasted for six weeks and we all found that students were completely engaged throughout this duration of time. I tell educators that I think my students would have jumped through a hoop of fire in order to 'talk' with students in Louisiana and South Africa.  As educators, we witnessed growth in student skills and knowledge, but we also saw students who learned to be viable participants with other world (students) citizens.  Here are some of the exchanges students posted:
 
Matthew K. (South Africa): 
I really don't know a lot about this topic, as I do not follow world news, unless it interests me. Before I went on to the Internet I got hold of yesterday's Sunday Times, the biggest national weekly newspaper in the country. This is what I found: There are 36 pages in the whole newspaper, each page has 7 columns and each column is 55cm long. So all in all there 13'860 cm of news paper text space. Out of all of that there are only 697 cm of the whole newspaper dedicated to events that might have to do with the topic on hand, they were: Bomb in Bali {212cm}; Korea {40cm}; Al Qaeda {370cm}; Saddam's Sons {320cm}; Condoleezza Rice {65cm} writing an article entitled: 'In pursuit of non-negotiable democracy'. This is only 5% of the entire newspaper.  Why do I think that there is such a small amount of information on the subject in South African Newspapers? It obviously is not regarded as important because the conflict does not seem to have anything to do with us {directly}. The editors obviously think that we have other issues to deal with in our country.  What I would like to know is, how much of your local or even state newspaper is dedicated to these events?
 
Brian B. (Clovis, CA.)
Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 it seems like more Americans, especially myself, have broadened their perspective on world news. The "newest" fiasco that is before the world and us is between President Bush of the United States and the autocratic leader Saddam Hussein of Iraq. Now we see more media coverage on what Saddam is supposedly up to, although reports tell us that this has been going on since the end of the Gulf War. The attacks of 9/11 on America have made people around the world, not just Americans, more vigilant that ever before which in turn can be why President Bush is forewarning Hussein to show proof that Iraq isn't making weapons of mass destruction.
 
Ashleigh M. (New Orleans, LA.)
From my research and our discussions together I have found that the Bush administration would like to see the government in Iraq be a democracy. This administration believes that this would help the ongoing conflict between Israel and Palestine. Personally, I do not want to see our country go to war with Iraq. I think it would be best if we first find out if there are actually WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq and then come to a decision about how we will take action (possibly without force). If we do go to war I do not want to see the Iraqi government turn into a democracy because I regard that as America simply forcing its government on the people of Iraq. I think the Bush administration should find out what the Iraqi people want and help them achieve this.
 
Our collaborative project ended by requiring students to participate in a post survey and to 'take a stand' on the issue in a written essay.  One survey question asked students to rate the extent of their knowledge about world affairs before the collaborative (high, medium, or low).  Fifty percent of the 80+ students felt that they had a low knowledge level and forty percent rated their knowledge as medium.  After the international collaboration sixty-two percent of these students felt that their knowledge level had risen to a high level, while another thirty percent ranked their knowledge at medium.  But perhaps Ashley's comments, captured on video, best summarize student learning:
 
It was a wonderful experience allowing us to communicate with other students from all around the world and allowing us to experience other perspectives on this world situation.  I learned so much from this experience about the world around me, but I think I learned more about myself than anything else.  By preparing myself for participation in this international discussion I learned about how other countries viewed the U.S., I learned how differently news is reported around the world, and how differently people in various countries react to the same situation.  I learned that is vitally important for me to be a world citizen.
 
Are you interested in learning more about international student collaboratives?  You will find information at the AALF Ning site (click on the 'Educator and Student Collaboration' link).

 

Happy New Year!

Karen

Special Advance Announcement for the AALF Community

Announcing a Major New Educational Event!

The BIG IDEAS GLOBAL SUMMIT @ THE SUMMIT
Equity, Access, Opportunity for All--Learning for the 21st Century
October 10-14, 2009

Presented by the Maine International Center for Digital Learning (MICDL), IdeasLab of Australia, and AALF, the BIG Summit @ the Summit promises to be 2009's premier event focused on making a dramatic difference in the lives and future of all children. Its aim is to tackle the question of how to create and implement policies and practices that truly support all learners. The BIG Summit will bring together policy makers from around the globe and many of the world's best thinkers from both inside and outside education to challenge them to develop a viable, effective blue-print for large scale change for all learners.

Registration opens at the end of January. For more information, contact Susan Einhorn at: seinhorn@aalf.org


Check Events on the AALF website regularly to learn of other events at which AALF leaders will be speaking or leading workshops. We look forward to seeing you there.

January 22, 2009         
Constructing Modern Math/Science Knowledge. Gary Stager is the keynote speaker. Philadelphia, PA.

January 23-25, 2009    
Educon 2.1 Organized by Christopher Lehmann. Will Richardson and Gary Stager are featured speakers. Philadelphia, PA.

July 19-21, 2009    
Lausanne Laptop Institute. Memphis, TN. Presentation proposals are now being accepted.


Do you have an upcoming 1-to-1 event you would like to share with other newsletter readers?  Contact Justina Spencer (jspencer@aalf.org ) for information on posting these events.



Customized Institutes for Your District
AALF can tailor a 21 Steps to 21st Century Learning Institute to your needs. The 21 Steps Institutes are intensive two-day programs designed for superintendents, principals, board members, and other school leaders who have made the decision to initiate or expand their 1-to-1 student laptop initiative. Participants leave with a clear understanding of where to start and how to develop their student laptop program. Institutes can be scheduled for individual schools or districts.If you would like to schedule a customized Institute in your district, please contact Susan Einhorn at: seinhorn@aalf.org or 425.223.3763