always learning

It all started this past summer – incidentally my first summer since 8th grade when I did not have anything “official” (like working, moving to a new country, going back to school, or getting married) to do – when I read Will Richardson’s book. I had an inkling that blogs were pretty interesting (I had been reading Dooce for some time, which is still one of my favorites) and I was thinking that I might be able to use them in the classroom, plus I knew there were some other cool tools out there that I should be using, but I didn’t quite know where to start.

As I’ve mentioned before, often times, as an international school teacher, you are working in isolation, PD can be limited and not always the most relevant to your specific subject, and you certainly don’t have any institutionalized structure in place to push thinking forward. So, as of last summer I was very happy with my middle/high school IT curriculum. We were doing amazing things with Photoshop, building intricate websites, creating fun movies, learning how to create animations in Flash, and solidifying PowerPoint techniques. Sounds fun, right? It was, but, after the first chapter of Will’s book I realized it was not enough. And then began my transformation to a “next generation teacher.”

Over the course of the semester, I have started to build an understanding of what it means to be an educator in the 21st century. I have struggled here and there trying to help other administration and faculty members realize how important 21st century literacy skills are, and I’ve reached quite a few over the past six months. I have realized the power of web 2.0 tools to transform my teaching, and to help me transition to a new school and meaningfully connect to other middle school technology teachers through the Tech in the Middle wiki. I have been reading, reading, reading, nonstop. I can’t get enough. My aggregator is always overflowing with information (especially now, after vacation. I don’t know how I will ever catch up). The process is endless, but so exciting.

One of the best parts about this experience has been meeting so many like minded educators. One group I am especially proud to be working with is the Next Generation Teachers. The group was founded by Chris Craft and has grown to include Jeff Utecht, Doug Belshaw, Julie Lindsay, Tom Barrett, Aaron Smith, and Justin Medved. We’ve been discussing what makes a “next generation teacher.” I think it links back to something I’ve said here before – a next generation teacher is not necessarily one who knows everything there is to know about technology (who can even claim to be that person?), or even one who’s tried everything at least once. A next generation teacher is someone who has that “next generation” mind set: the technical know-how is nowhere near as important as the willingness to learn, adapt and grow. For me, this is the future of education (for both students and teachers): learning how to find, evaluate and contribute to the world of knowledge that is very quickly becoming at our fingertips. Let’s hear it for the next generation!

After a whirlwind of travel through Vietnam, up to Bangkok and back to KL just in time for an excellent weekend workshop on leadership in international schools, I’m finally back in action!

This semester I’ve decided to try to focus on having our students collaborate with as many other students as we can manage (I’m hopping on the “Flat Classroom” bandwagon). Our first project will be an “International Teen Life” media production. The project was initiated by Clarence Fisher, who describes the project as:

“The purpose of this project is to have teenagers from different locations around the globe exchange their thoughts and perceptions of what their lives are like. By viewing, reading, and listening to the perspectives of others from around the globe, they will gain a greater perception of the similarities and differences of people’s lives around the world. I DO NOT want to do an international project where kids learn about the holidays, foods, etc, of another nation. I presume we have all been through enough of these already. I am looking to dig deeper, to have kids dig, read, write, etc. I want them to explore issues, and work intensely to gain a clearer understanding of concerns that people have in a global world.”

We will be collaborating with students in Cartagena, Columbia (Jamie Hide); Snow Lake, M.B., Canada (Clarence Fisher); and Virginia, U.S.A (Lee Barber). For our students, this will be the first time they are directly collaborating with students outside of the school, and they are really excited. We are approaching this project through the upcoming Poetry unit in English class. In addition to authoring their own poetry, students will be asked to present their poems in any multimedia format. We’re thinking digital video, podcasts, slideshows, soundtracks… The possibilities are endless!

I am so excited to begin connecting with other teachers and students around the world. As international school students, our kids have a world of experience in travel and life abroad, but I don’t think they often get to reflect on how their lives are different than other students that stay in their home country, or how living in a third culture influences their lives from childhood to adulthood. During my teacher training, I did a lot of reading about Third Culture Kids (I was in a special program for international school educators) and there is so much research and information about how living in a third culture can impact children, but this is not something we readily address in international schools. I would like to try to take advantage of this opportunity and bring some of this information and research to the kids. I think it will also be an interesting slant for the students in the US, Canada, and Columbia (even though it’s an international school, I think many of the students are also Columbian). I’m really looking forward to delving deeper with this particular group of students because they are so articulate and thoughtful already. This will be an excellent area of growth for them, and the perfect place to integrate technology in a meaningful way.

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