Wind on Minister's Pond

Snug in a cabin a gale swirls 'round.
Unseen yet fierce,
apparitions in the daylight.

Invisible forces
chase through the trees
break a limb, topple man's toys.
The breath of the planet,
in and out in random intervals.

Without contrast - they have no form
Defined only by the alter-elements
water, wind, light and shadow
across the pond.
The dance of the wind,
push and recede, push recede.
Waves appear, flatten, then reappear
Water revealed by wind and light

Alone

Standing in the dark
Alone... just me
I wait and look again
Dark but spacious with a breath.

The full Moon rises tonight
I place my attention there
why not write it down.

These ordinary moments are exceptional
full of life
with eyes looking and relaxed.
I could desire something more - naah!

Does you wiki?

I have been thinking about wiki and it's application for our classrooms at RFSD. I expect some teacher has done something like this. I imagine:

sharing technology with students in the flow of their instruction. The class is organized to work together and help document their own instruction within a wiki. Doing a unit on a subject, they add details to the reading, lecture and discussions they are having in class. Studying US Government, they take and post notes from class lectures and discussions. They contribute their own ideas and answer quetions in the content the wiki. Their contributions could include written, audio, still and video content. The wiki becomes a reference for the teacher as they expand on the lesson, make assignments, and assessments, and when they repeat the lesson next year. As an added benefit the wiki becomes a class portfolio, a measure of what they know.

I'm not sure if you can do all this on a wiki but I expect you can do most of it. Perhaps the assessment piece isn't in there. You could do some of your assessments using Google forms, like you would a poll.

In this way the class plays an important role in their own learning. They work with the teacher to build a learning community, learn the content, and produce evidence of their learning. The cool thing about the wiki is that it tracks who contributes, making work easy to find and evaluate.

Technology for Instruction or Learning

As we create a vision for student learning, we should delve into our philosophy of technology. Does it follow from our philosophy of learning and teaching? How do we want students to engage with technology? Do we want to put them in pull out classes for typing and other basic proficiencies? Or do we want them to learn by doing, applying technology to their learning, picking up a computer when they need to do a task. As important as this target is, it is equally important to know when to hand students a pencil, or a blackboard, or face to face with each other; using all sorts of tools and arrangements to read, write and engage in projects. The plan to use technology should begin with a question of purpose:

1. What learning outcome are we aiming at?
2. What does the student need to know, perform.
   
3. What vocabulary do they need, what processes do they need to understand?

After all, we have been using tools in learning and teaching forever. Technology is a revolutionary tool for sure but it should serve our learning objectives. As we create learning experiences for students we need to explore ways to put technology into student's hands to create, communicate and collaborate.

On another note...
If we're going to put more tech in the hands of students, we need to orient them (and ourselves) to the social norms of that environment. What are our expectations for them? What are the rules for engaging each other (and anonymous people) online? Some useful topics:

• Internet Safety
• Fair use of digital resources
• Creative Commons
• conventions for collaboration - what are the rules of the playground?
• Information Literacy

Students will benefit from 21st Century tools for learning as we balance our concerns with the advantages that the tools afford. As we understand the tools we will do a better job of integrating them into the flow of instruction. Students could begin to tell us when they need a particular tool.

Dream and Prayer

We're all living the same, different, existence,
reaching for a connection and fearing it's loss.
My jealousy is a reminder, a signpost to a new state of being
Where I pause, release and reframe my boundaries,

I accept that I have longing and pain,
and see it melt, see others equal and greater to mine.

Breath with this moment - let us be.

Shallow or Deep - Where are we headed?

Recently I commented on a story on "The Future of Education" site, titled "Is Google Keeping us Single". I just happened to have heard the story on NPR that was referenced in the story, describing the popularity of "hooking up".

This story made me think about examples of quick fixes and obsessions in our culture and it's opposite; the search for meaning that I also experience and observe. It is true that there are a growing number of examples of our tendency toward instant gratification. We are a fast moving culture and this "fast culture" is spreading over the face of the earth. But what is interesting is that alongside this is a growth in connections, in finding out who we are, settling down and settling in.

There is great potential for shallow "one night stands" in our culture. Maybe fast food is the culprit. No, seriously we have been moving horizontally for quite some time in our culture. This fast movement has it's costs and benefits. It does take practice and effort to stay on a thought, develop one's philosophy, raise a family or what have you. It is interesting that while people are moving fast and skimming the top of life, others are taking time to develop a sense of wonder and contemplation. The popularity of the Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hanh are examples. While for some these personalities are just another quick brush with an idea, for others they represent a desire for connection and contemplation of the here and now. Interesting that the West discovered Eastern religion en masse during the 60s at the same time they discovered "free love".

Do we have the will and the stamina to rest in the peace of this moment, enjoy a novel, learn to play a musical instrument. I don't know what the research says, but my observations in my corner of the planet says that people are still doing these things. There is a desire to slow down - at times, and to escape our escapes.

I recently joined Facebook, much to the horror of my youngest daughter who does NOT want to be my "friend". Is Facebook a distraction, a way to skim the surface of my life and others? or is it a way to connect, to feel a deeper bond to the mass of humanity. I have found old friends and new. I have begun to get connected, albeit with quick waves and text, with people I have known for 20 and 30 years.

Granted Facebook could be another distraction. But it can be a place for people to begin to write their life story, to develop a deeper, not a shallow sense of themselves. Who know what all this will bring. But it seems to me that the phenomena of "social networking" is a natural outgrowth of our desire to be connected deeply not a desire to remain anonymous or have a quick "intercourse".

But twitter, that's a different story :-)

Motivation and Learning

I wrote this entry as I worked on my application for the Google Teacher Academy. An important part of the application was a one minute video on the subject of "Motivation and Learning. 50 people were chosen for the academy. I wasn't one of them. While I am bummed that I wasn't selected, this project gave me a purpose for exploring YouTube as a medium, the tools that I needed to accomplish it, and the concept of motivation and learning - something I have thought about for many, many years.
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I'm working on my application for admission to the Google Academy. They require a one minute video on "Classroom Innovation" or the topic "Motivation and Learning". To get my head around the relationship of Motivation and Learning I've been brainstorming and visualizing my message. It is quite fun to picture the message with the tools that I have at my computer. Photos, movies, audio. I am using Keynote, iPhoto, iMovie and Garage Band. I would love to attend the Academy because of the tools the Google is offering our students and the innovations they are offering in cloud computing. I expect that the people who attend the Academy will be similarly motivated and inspired to do interesting things with the tools that Google provides.

One of my methods for gathering ideas has been to brainstorm or free associate on the subject of motivation and learning. Here are some of the ideas that have sprung from this;

Motivation is the fire of learning, the wind under our wings so to speak. Motivation is exemplified in our enthusiasm for learning, for exploring, creating, and building community. Without motivation, there is no energy for learning (or any activity for that matter). As I have pondered what drives learning, the fire for motivation, I have been led to wonder what the roots of motivation are. This takes me back to consider not only motivation for a particular result but the root of our motivation for learning in general. What are the ingredients for a healthy human being to have the capacity, the fire, for learning? What does a child need to develop her curiosity, desire and ability to solve problems? If we want to nurture learning, we should consider the basic building blocks - the first 5 years of life especially.

Many images come to mind as I consider these questions. A newborn in his mothers arms, being talked to, gazing into her eyes, fed and embraced. A toddler banging around the room, knocking things off shelves, making noise with unusual devices, talking and asking for things. The early stages of language and other forms of communication, receptive and expressive, without which learning is delayed. I can picture a 2 year old testing his limits, challenging the word no, boldly going where he has never gone before. A kindergartner asking questions, telling her story, finding her place in the classroom circle. A elementary school child who loves school and learning, her teacher, her friends, and who follows the rules with religious devotion, expecting justice triumph. A middle school child who experiments with limits, stepping over, stepping back, watching adults to understand their reaction. A high school child who values independence and friends over all and who, with abstract thinking extends her experiments from the probable to the possible.

Our development never ends, unless we tragically lose our motivation. Many of us find motivation in the act of learning. Perhaps this is a key. If we have been given the care and attention we deserve, the guidance, encouragement, consequences of our choices, we will develop a sense of purpose and be motivated to extend our learning. If we have not, we will likely have difficulty finding constructive purpose. We will be motivated, but our motivation will be stuck in a infants rage or and abused reaction to our past. We may forget that we are the masters of our learning process.

Perhaps this is the hallmark for measuring motivation; the degree to which we feel in control of our learning. The baby wants to know if her cry will bring attention to her need for food, warmth, movement, etc. This dance of requests and bonding with her mother, gives her an initial and essential sense of control. As a social worker and behavior consultant, I met children who lacked this confidence and who suffered various degrees of isolation. While most children do not suffer to the degree that my clients did, too many people do suffer from some sort of neglect or ignorance in their upbringing. It is fortunate that the human spirit is as resilient as it is and as optimistic as it seems to be for learning, cooperation and being social.

If you are interested you can find my one minute presentation on YouTube:
http://tinyurl.com/nkke98