I noticed during the recent ulearn14 conference that my nano second scanning of a room for a friendly place to sit was completely on to it!
I met some great people through serendipitous moments of brief contact at workshops or 'breakout'.
It's the 'it's safe to approach others' signal to the brain that happens. Some, like me, have it in spades (hahaha).
I tested it a few times - sussing out where the receptive people were sitting. Clearly some folk send out a 'buttoutski, don't mess with me' vibe, but in others there's something more positive, more empathetic going on.
I always manage to gravitate towards those receptive ones.
Apparently there's a neurochemical called oxytocin which is the key. It's produced when we are trusted or shown a kindness, and it activates cooperation with others. It does this by enhancing our ability to experience other's emotions.
Freaky huh! Maybe it was a fluke. Maybe being in an all female environment is rubbing off on me.
At ulearn14, Dr Katie Novak was a shining star. We all fell in love with her. 'We' being the fearless foursome from Woodford House.
Let me just dwell on that a sec: the foursome comprised three females and me; one mathematician, one scientist, one elearning/business studies expert and me.
I repeat: we all fell in love with Dr Novak!
That's some feat. How the dickens did that happen?
Universal Design for Learning (UDL) provides the answer. It hit a collective nerve.
So what is UDL?
The fundamental principle behind it is revolutionary - we are all different!
We all learn in different ways. We understand things in different ways so we all require different ways of approaching content. Some learn some things faster than others so providing options is essential.
We all approach learning tasks in different ways. Some may be able to express themselves well in written text but not speech, and vice versa so providing options for action and expression is essential.
As learners we all differ in our engagement and motivation. Some learners are highly engaged by spontaneity and novelty while others are disengaged, even frightened, by those aspects, preferring strict routine. Some learners might like to work alone, while others prefer to work with their peers. Providing multiple options for engagement is essential.
The solution according to Dr Novak is simple: adapt your teaching to cater for these differences in three ways:
- Present information and content in different ways
- Stimulate interest and motivation for learning
- Differentiate the ways that students can express what they know
Dr Novak's slides from ulearn14 are here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-N5YOuC4JYtS3lLdXY5cmpBRDA/view
So - that's the orange. The mango?
Well, this all plays into our desire in the English Department at Woodford House to be much more flexible with programmes and approaches in 2015. See what I did there?
The only fly in the ointment, joker in the pack, gnawing voice in the back of my head is John Hattie and his meta-analysis regarding the effect size of inquiry based teaching as a strategy (in his book Visible learning for teachers). Inquiry based teaching intersects with UDL from what I can see.
That dilly of a pickle is explored in one of my next posts.
I promised a post on Dr Harpaz's ideas on the ideology behind education (and Dr Novak - I haven't forgotten you either - will get there soon).
[Both were stand out performers at the ulearn14 conference]
So here it is.
The Doctor tells us that there are three mutually exclusive* super aims of education.
*BTW many people at the ulearn14 conference didn't believe this - including Mark Treadwell, although they didn't articulate why.
When education serves the society, its aim is to adapt the students to society by imparting tools – knowledge, skills, habits, behaviors – that will benefit society. When education serves the culture, its aim is to cultivate the character of the students in the light of the values and truths which constitute the preferred culture. When education serves the individual, its aim is to
enable him/her to fulfill him/herself.
In the first type of education – socialization – The Educated Person is
a person who is adapted to her society and directs herself within it successfully. In the second type of education – acculturation – The Educated Person is
one whose character reflects the values and beliefs of the prevailing culture. In the third type of education – individuation – The educated Person is one
who realizes her unique personality in her course of life.
The ideology of socialization comes with the pattern of imparting, which is based on techniques of exemplification and practice; the ideology of acculturation comes with the pattern of molding, which is based on techniques of modeling and attraction; the ideology of individuation comes with the pattern of development, which is based on techniques of enabling and guidance.
If you're super keen on reading more, the full text of the good doctor's thoughts on the subject are at http://yoramharpaz.com/publications-en/teaching-and-learning/good-teaching-or-good-teachings/
At the ulearn conference Dr H held a poll on what ideology we wanted at school and what we have as a default. Individuation was the overwhelming favourite for the former and in the overwhelming minority in the latter (Socialization won out).
The challenge for us in this 21st Googled/Twittered/Facebooked/Teched Up world we live in is choosing what is right for us and our students.
Again, according to Dr H 'Good teaching... involves constant care
for the logical match between ideology and technology".
To me - individuation's time as (a dominant) ideology has come. I'm not sure, though, if schools can have their socialization cake and eat it up in an individuation way. I sense they can't but they'll try anyway in the special control freak way teachers and administrators have.
I'll be a keen observer and yes, as much of a mover/shaker as I can be, to see if we can free up our socializationistic rules and timetables and enable students to embrace Dr Novak's Universal Design for Learning (coming soon to a post/tweet near you).
My day three highlights package contains:
Best presenter of the day - Mark Treadwell. He's so damned likable and he stirs things up - to wit: maths as a subject is dead!
Best sights - the beautiful gardens in Rotorua. The township and shops are weird (no central hub or landmarks), but the gardens are spot on!
And so the conference came to an end.
Of course, the real challenge of being away at a conference starts when school hits again come Monday morning. Remembering all those big ideas and the inspiring thoughts that occurred during the keynote by...what was her name again?
I came to the ulearn conference with a goal, or maybe an aim...an objective? Yes - I came to ulearn with an objective - to get some validation and inspiration for our proposed changes to our senior English courses for 2015.
Oh boy did I get that! The talk of individuation (not a pretty word but a great ideology), Universal Design for Learning (UDL sounds like a finance company but is really the nuts and bolts of individuation), and the big project work at Hobsonville Point School were all directly relevant to our plans.
Hosannah!!
And so - it's back to school on Monday and some meetings with the English staff about where we go from here - not just to see the sights, but to put ideas into action!
First full day at ulearn? Check.
It's been a great day all up. Here are my highlights and lowlights of day one.
Best keynote - Dr Yoram Harpaz on the three incompatible driving ideologies in education. More on this to come.
Funniest stories - two of my fellow Woodfordites sharing their adventures with the spa baths in the motel.
Most unlikely event of the day - I reactivated my twitter account from 2011 following a taster session by Craig Kemp. I know, I know.
Best meal - sharing some Indian takeaways with the Woodfordites and friend.
Best news of the day - our family pet (Bazil) is okay for now after a major health scare. What with the twitter reboot and Bazie - apparently you can teach an old dog new tricks.
Surprisingly, a large number of rudeness moments of the day - people buried in their devices while presenters present - even a large number with their backs to the presenter. Amazing! It's a modern curse. I'm definitely old school - please don't read your emails or ignore what's happening live, in front of your eyes. Take it from me, you'll miss the good stuff.
