The Value of Failure, and Thoughts on Celebrating Excellence

Failure

After watching this TED talk below, and also reflecting on other readings, I feel enlightened about the value of failure.

Failure provides the opportunity to learn, and to stretch capacity. There is tremendous gratification in learning when the process is continual and student-driven.



Genuine Excellence

Often in education and in sports, we provide standardized awards for participation. I feel we have gotten away from the celebration of excellence, since it can be viewed as exclusionary. I feel that we can and should celebrate excellence. The real question is, what is excellence? To me, excellence is celebrating and releasing the talents and abilities of students. ALL STUDENTS HAVE UNIQUE TALENTS AND ABILITIES THAT SHOULD BE CELEBRATED. Our classrooms and schools should go further than conventional recognition for traditional achievement (Honour Roll, school-sports achievement, etc.), and celebrate the unique qualities that each student will add to our society. The important thing is this recognition must be GENUINE, and MEANINGFUL for each unique student.

A Reflection of Differentiation in Coaching to Teaching

As I was preparing for my rowing coaching practice, I was able to reflect on how the design of my workouts differentiates for each athlete's abilities.

In the winter, I coach every member of the Regina Rowing Club on the Concept 2 rowing ergometer. This is different from the "on water season", where the group I coach becomes more specialized as athletes approach their focus competition. 

One workout I use is called an Accuracy Workout. This involves each individual pulling as accurately as possible, a pace relevant to their best all-out pace. With this particular workout, all athletes, from the biggest and strongest, to new, young or old, and inexperienced participants, are all on the same level, since everyone has the goal of being close to their own individual pace.

This workout is further differentiated, where new participants will do technical practice, and then complete 1 x 5000m instead of 2 x 5000m. Also, when rowers are particularly young, I have them complete 2 x 4000m instead, so they can finish at a similar time with everyone else.

This particular workout has made me think about how I will differentiate based on varying abilities in the classroom, be it reading/writing, mathematics, or physical/social differences. While no classroom and differentiation are the same, leading a classroom where all students feel included, and are challenged and excited to learn at their level, I think will be one of the most important challenges in my teaching career. Finding the "Art and Science" of this differentiation is something I will try my best to learn.

Completion! Now Onwards and Upwards...

I have now completed all components to receive my Bachelor of Education Degree in Middle Years Education from the University of Regina. Whooohooooo!!!!!

 A couple of celebratory songs....

Major Project: Option A - A Comprehensive Online Unit

I decided for my major project to do a thematic unit on the Story of Stuff through Google Drive while integrating technologies. The goal was to have a mostly paperless thematic unit that covered a number of subject areas.

   

 A link to my Thematic Unit can also be found here.

Summary of Personal Learning

I played with some different presentation options for my Summary of Personal Learning. I downloaded Camtasia on my laptop, but even with the recommendations of having a script when recording the presentation, I found the lag that would sometimes occur with uploading and my script of what I wanted to say about my learning, created awkward pauses in my presentation. After several takes and attempts at editing, I decided to instead use Voicethread to present my work.

I took some screen captures of each of the three parts to my presentation: my Twitter page, this blog, and pictures of different apps or websites I would like to integrate once I start my teaching career. I found that after I made a script for my Voicethread, it was much easier for me to talk in a consistent manner about each part of my learning from this semester.

I attempted to embed this Voicethread, but for whatever reason when I did so it caused my widgets, previous blogs and some display items on the blog to be removed. See this link to view the project.

It is recommended you listen to this with headphones, as the audio at times can be variable.

7 Lessons from High Performance Business and Sport, Applied to Education

My twitter feed is used for a few reasons. I follow talented people in fields of education, coaching (particularly rowing), as well some select sport and celebrity vices.

After reading the article from this tweet, I thought about its applications to the education field

7 High Performance principles for sport and business http://t.co/8htS7YA0CF
— Martin McElroy (@mcelroy_mjp) December 3, 2013

1. People and purpose - while points on talent ID and recruitment do not seem applicable in elementary and secondary education, how the talents of students can be maximized is applicable, as is the collaboration with other educators, both within a school setting and outside the school walls through social media. I also find the statement, "why is more powerful than how" of significant interest. To me, this speaks to Saskatchewan Curriculum points on Deeper Understanding, and supports inquiry learning.
2. Invest in understanding everything - I thought this point discussing preparation and practice is relevant regarding "the process of learning", that is, if assessment is authentic, the student experience is invested in learning, daily, this will determine in advance what the outcome (cumulative assessment) should be. Like in high performance sport, such as Usian Bolt's Olympic 100m and 200m victories were due to his preparation beforehand. In education, success in student assessment (if the assessment is valid and reliable), should be represented the same way. "Invest in understanding everything" for educators is to strive to be engaging for all students to excite them for learning.
3. Innovate, adapt, change - no classroom is the same. In fact, the same students, will change during the course of the year, be it maturity, changing family environments, etc. Also, teachers need to change and to continuously learn to serve students properly. 
4. The paradox of failure - we learn best when giving the opportunity to fail in a safe environment. Are all students in the classroom being challenged to stretch beyond their current capacity? Many teachers design their assessment and lessons in a way that limits learning. If focus is on deep understanding, and assessment is not the focus of a numerical value, and instead its primary focus is to inspire students to learn more, and learn from mistakes/misunderstandings. Where such classroom environments exist, where students feel safe to take risks, to be "wrong", rich learning can occur.
5. Restlessness - this point to me builds on the previous point, which involves further challenging all students to take their learning further.
6. Responsiveness - essential. Building a relationship with students, and learning WITH and from students in a classroom, puts the teacher in the role of learning leader/facilitator. Being able to know what works, what doesn't, and to adjust as needed, empowers students, and therefore further engaage them in learning.
7. Balance - the art of teaching. What to do when, where, why, and how? How much, and how often? What way? What worked, what didn't work? These constant decisions, where there is often a continuum of possibilities, is required of teachers and students alike.

Posting a Wordle on Blogger

In refining this blog, I decided to add a Philosophy of Teaching Page. With a simple google search for "word art", I stumbled upon Wordle. After creating a wordle and saving it to a public gallery, I received a code to embed the wordle. It can then be posted, such as this:

I found this blog from The Edublogger, as well as this link, that explained step-by-step how to make the wordle larger by taking a screen shot and editing it in Microsoft Paint before posting it as an image. This is what I did on the Philosophy page of this blog. 

My shortest post that took the longest to write

After reviewing two of my previous blog posts here and here, I have taken a lot of time to reflect on my growth this semester as I complete the requirements for my degree. Here are some of the lessons I have learned along the way. I hope to take these with me into 2014, as a teacher and a human:

1.     Learn when it is “good enough”

·        Not everything I put my name to has to be perfect. No one is, all the time.

2.     Health and balance are intertwined

·        Consciousness towards my physical, mental, social and spiritual health will give me the strength to persevere through challenging times.

3.     Teaching is an art and a science

·        A saying that is often applied in my coaching profession, the science of teaching would be lesson/unit plans, assessment, theory on classroom management, and curricula. The art of teaching is how to deliver all the roles of the teacher through my authentic self.

Using Voicethread as a Presentation Tool: Growing up in Prince Albert

ECMP 355 Podcast - CFL Week 18 Predictions

Brady Aulie and I did a podcast for our ECMP 355 class. Using Apple software, we recorded our podcast with Garage Band, saved it to iTunes, and uploaded it on Sound Cloud.

If you are a CFL fan, or have feedback on how to best use podcasts for educational purposes, let me what you think.

Malcolm Gladwell's Latest, and Analogies to Education

I saw this intriguing tweet from my former high school VP (now principal) from my days as a student:

Read Gladwell’s latest? I wonder if current k-12 system is #bigpond? In HS focus on marks squashes growth+chgs lives? Validates the chgs?
— Dawn Kilmer (@dellenanne) October 20, 2013

After reading this article related to Gladwell's latest book, it made me think deeper in regards to his concept of the benefits of "being a big fish in a little pond."

Now, Gladwell's techniques certainly have their critics. However, I do like how this categorization for big pond/little pond can be considered in an education context.

In reply to the tweet above, I sent the following:

@dellenanne it seems transitions from elem to HS can be #bigpond particularly if elem school is in a community that is not asset rich
— Garett Mathiason (@GFMathiason) October 20, 2013

Specifically, my reference here to the little fish in the big pond is for students who attend schools in communities of low socio-economic status, where transiency tends to be higher.

I used to work as a Dream Broker for the first four years of the program at two different inner-city schools. Often, when high-achieving students who completed grade eight came to visit once they had entered high school, these students would struggle with this transition; grades would drop, as it seems the transition from elementary to high school was excessive. While the transition from elementary/middle school to high school can be difficult for many students across socio-economic lines, I think this transition is stereotypically more difficult for students who attend inner-city schools in impoverished neighbourhoods. Charter schools seem to be a notable exception.

A critique I have against this article is that, how does one know in the world of education if they will or will not be more successful as a little fish in a big pond? Acceptance of being a big fish in a little pond (e.g., highly intelligent/motivated student attending a post-secondary institution without a strong academic reputation), could be limiting for that student in areas of networking/connecting to others within their field. I think this point is true in both specific fields (e.g., an Engineering student at MIT), and for students that are undeclared (e.g., acceptance and attending an Ivy League school).

I suppose, to reference another Gladwell book, if a student is an "Outlier", it may be worth the risk to be a small fish in a big pond. In "Outliers: The Story of Success", Gladwell references how not just talent alone, but connections to others, along with luck, has a lot to do with one's success.

 What do you think of Gladwell's big fish in a small pond vs. little fish in a big pond analogy in reference to education?

Making "The Door Scene" with iMovie

This past week in my ECMP 355 class, we recreated "The Door Scene" (p. 17) using iMovie.

iMovie is a fantastic tool that can be used as a summative project for learning for a number of different subject units. It is fun to learn how the different tools can be used to edit scenes into movie-esque quality.

For middle years students, it would be best to get students familiar with this technology first with a simple project such as "The Door Scene" (p. 17). Once familiar with some of the nuances of this program, students would be able to create fantastic projects that display their learning.

Solving my Personal Mystery of Pinterest as an Education Tool

Last year early my during internship, I heard my co-op teacher speak about ideas that she had and shared on Pinterest. I was curious, so I set up an account , however as you can see I did not initially understand how to use Pinterest, and how to get "Pins" to share with others.

Once an account is set up, in the top left hand corner there is a search bar, along with a drop down menu with a variety of categories, including education. Here, there seems to be infinite resources available, however because of how general the topic of 'education', searching a more specific search in within education is helpful.

For example, one area where I have observed teachers use ideas from Pinterest is for use is for classroom set-up. By typing in the search bar classroom, other searches are prompted, including classroom organizing. My search eventually became specific to classroom organizing middle school . From here, you will see a large variety of innovative ideas that can be used for classroom organization and set-up. From this page, I found the 'pin' at the end of this article that I would consider using in my classroom one day.

Pinterest is a form of social media, and as such, its power is in sharing ideas. I decided to 'pin' this on a board I titled: "Education ideas". It is also encouraged to follow other Pinterest users with similar interests. It is also possible to share pins through Twitter and Facebook.

I think Pinterest is a valuable tool for teachers, since it provides valuable visual images of ideas that teachers can use in their own practice. From what I hear, Pinterest can also be quite the procrastination tool, so be sure to utilize it for a specific purpose in planning as a teacher.

The Importance of Boundaries: A Pre-service Teacher's Perspective

Perspective from my Internship: One Year Later

Last weekend, I took the time to read this blog I stumbled upon through a twitter post from Alec Couros. This blog resonated with me for a few key reasons.

First, a little background information on myself. I returned to post-secondary studies in the fall of 2010, when I was accepted into a Middle Years After Degree Program at the University of Regina. After graduating in 2005 with a degree in Kinesiology, I continue to work in the field to this day. In addition to my studies, I am a full time coach for the Saskatchewan Rowing Association. From working as a rowing coach, and previous to that as a Dream Broker for Sask Sport, Inc., the desire to begin a journey as a teacher had evolved to the point that I applied, and was fortunately accepted, into the Faculty of Education at the U of R.

The after degree program at the U of R is a two year program, where you enter a cohort with other students that have completed their previous two years of study in education. While working full time as a coach, I was somehow able to get through this year of study without too many scars. I maintained an 80+ average, and was able, for the most part, to continue to coach and commit my studies at a high level.

As a mature student, with a wife and a mortgage, I always knew that in order to complete my degree in education, I would have to maintain full time employment. Coaching rowing has been ideal, since it is something I am very passionate about, and the hours while in school tend to me more flexible.

While it may have seemed on the outside that things were going well for me, there were some challenges that may have foreshadowed my internship experience. Moments such as locking myself in my office for two weeks, day and night, to write 10 Science lesson plans.

During my internship, things started out great. I was in a grade 7/8 class, and I worked to build strong relationship with the students, and to be accepted into the school community. However, as the weeks went on and my responsibility increased, I started to have some significant challenges. As my perfectionist ways started to get the better of me, the lack of sleep that resulted from my 8:30am to midnight sessions at the school were starting to catch up. My health was deteriorating.

With many supports, I was able to get through my internship experience successfully. It has taken a long time, but I have developed a more balanced and experienced view of how I hope to enter the teaching profession. Here are some of the lessons I have learned:

1. I can always do more, but at a certain point more becomes less.
2. Have boundaries, and  understand and respect my limits.
3. Develop a network of support.

This blog resonated with me, because I could relate to the author's account. Another key point for me from this blog was to develop that network of support, particularly in the on-line education community.

During my internship, I leaned on a few key people to help me. But, as the saying goes, "it takes a village to raise a child." This statement is very true in my journey to become a teacher. 

Round 2

After getting too bogged down last winter semester with my career, I unfortunately had to drop my Technologies in the Classroom course. I am now taking it again this fall, with the added accountability of face to face meeting times twice a week at the U of Regina.

I am excited to build on some of the skills I learned the last time I was in this course. From where I started last January, I think I evolved from a technological dinosaur, to perhaps a technological turtle.

Wish me luck!

Tech Task #2 (Exploring Google Docs)

Hi ECMP 355 Class,

If this survey questions does not appear at the bottom of my blog, please go to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEtqYjJnQzkyM1VKbjR6QzdwQmVPWnc6MQ

Thanks for your feedback!

Blogging: Like Driving a Standard Transmission

I'll be honest. I was terrified to get my hands dirty with this blogging stuff, but now that I am getting a little more comfortable, it does seem easier. I may stall here or there (see previous post on finding a twitter feed), and I may grind the gears a little as well. As long as I can get it out of 1st gear...

I enjoyed searching for different gadgets and formats to use for this blog. I am motivated to continue learning at what seems like a very quick pace.

 Hopefully I will make it into 5th gear by April. 

Tech Task #1 (Introduction Video)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MQRZ5MZ2hw

So much to learn, so little time

So, I'm trying to jump in with both feet for blogging and the like. I have spent the last few hours trying to add a twitter feed to this blog, with no luck. I log onto twitter, go settings, then widgets, domain name is typed in, and....I'm stuck. Any suggestions?

Losing the Fear of Blogging

I'll be the first to admit, I am a bit of a tech dinosaur. Yes, I have email, facebook, and a very under utilized twitter account. However, a blog? Me? Well, I think it is time I enter the 21st Century.

I have created this blog for my ECMP 355 class at the University of Regina. My hope is that, as I improve my connectivity with others, that I continue to blog beyond the scope and time frame of this class.

Any comments to assist me entering this world (albeit a decade late) would be appreciated.