Personalized Learning

We are constantly looking to provide classroom environments that are active, constructive, collaborative in nature,  authentic and goal directed in which students own their learning and are pivotal members of the classroom community.  Shifting teaching practices away from teacher directed learning toward student facilitated learning is becoming an expectation of all teachers because it places the focus on learning where it should always be - on the student.  The information age is here, in the hands of students, 24/7.  As teachers, we need to understand and embrace the fact that content is no longer confined to those who have studied at university.  The learning opportunities are immense and available for everyone who knows where to find the information.  We will capture learners by providing engaging learning opportunities that are personalized to meet each learner's individual needs.

So, how do we begin to create these personalized learning environments in our classrooms?

1. Have learners develop Personal Learning Profiles, a concept developed by Barbara Bray and Kathleen McClasky.  An important first step is understanding how each and everyone learns.  Learning is broken down into the what, how and and why of learning.  We all employ different methods and techniques to access, engage and demonstrate our understanding of new information. 
2. Unpack the standards with your students every year.  It is just as important for learners to know and understand what is expected of them.
3. With the learner, customize a learning plan to suit interests, needs and prior knowledge. This is where the learner can form essential questions.
4. Document the journey transparently.  Learners should document their progress in a collaborative manner to make  to monitor and share progress as well as to solicit feedback.  Blogs, google sheets, and online spaces are excellent tools.  Teachers, too, should have a public space for expectations, communications and suggested resources. Learners should be documenting action steps for acquiring new knowledge, the practice opportunities they employ and their methods of demonstrating new knowledge. 
5. Share excellence.  Students need to have anchors for competencies.  Moonshots here!
6. Remember to teach strategies for learning new information.

If you're not ready to completely transform your classroom to a personalized environment, try approaching personalized learning from one of the following:

• Innovation Day- Take a day on your team, department or school and designate it "Innovation Day," and let students choose what they want to learn that day.
• Genius Hour aka 20% Time (View Examples) - Employ a similar strategy to our Summer Institute course by designating 20% of the time, either daily or once a week, to allow students to work on their personalized learning goals.

Most importantly, try something new.  Transforming educational practices isn't about doing what we've always done.  It's about employing practices that shift the ownership of learning from the teacher to the student, by creating classroom environments that are alive with conversation and discussion around authentic and engaging topics and by empowering learners to pursue their passions, interests and their future.

The time for a moonshot is now!

Summer Institute

The fourth MSSD Summer Institute is in full swing in Manitou Springs.  The shift in thinking as we move from a teacher-centered to a student-centered classroom that places the learner firmly at the center of the learning process requires time and support. The Summer Institute is a professional development opportunity made available for teachers who are incorporating this philosophy in their curricula.  

This summer, we will be investigating iTunes U and iBooks Author as course content delivery tools to bring content to students.

This PD model follows the 80/20 model many innovative companies use int heir work week, only in reverse.  Basically, the teacher chooses the content creation delivery platform, (iTunes U, Wiki/Blog or iBooks Author) and spends ~80% of their time developing this platform to the specific needs of their classroom.  The additional 20% time is spent exploring a variety of topics and participated in dialogue centered around personal growth and emerging technologies.

In a nutshel, Summer Institute provides the following:

• Opportunity for self-directed learning
• In-depth, personalized study drawing on knowledge areas and interests
• Create a culture of peer accountability through dialogue and discussion.

You can download the course and check it out yourself from iTunes U on an iOS device.

iTunes U at MSSD

iTunes U is a section of the iTunes store featuring educational content and lectures from schools around the globe.  Originally, iTunes U consisted of content created to provide access to courses from leading universities.  K-12 organizations weren't far behind and now, iTunes U hosts the largest digital catalog of free educational content.  The iTunes U app gives a user access to complete courses from leading universities and other schools.

 

Manitou Springs School District on iTunes U was launched in April of 2014.  The iTunes U site provides the district with a supplemental way to widely distribute course content that convey the academic opportunities at MSSD.  

iTunes U presents a streamlined platform for all users.  

Use the iTunes U app to access the iTunes U catalog. Tap the iTunes U icon and your bookshelf appears. In the upper corner, tap the Catalog button and the bookshelf flips around to reveal the iTunes U catalog.

 

 

Project Based Learning via Media Center Mural Project

Earlier this year I had the opportunity to redesign a high school media center space to better meet the needs of modern learners.  Equipment and furniture were ordered to accommodate the need for the creation and movement of spaces to reflect individual and group needs.  Existing media was reorganized.  Apple TVs with both projectors and large screen televisions were added to some of the wall space, allowing several groups at a time to display their devices for a larger crowd.  Though the space looked new, it was still being defined by section titles mounted above the book shelves.

The section titles were crafted from wood block lettering and described the print sections of the space.  These signs were large and reflected a very solid, strict and static space.

Our goal was to incorporate the idea of movement into the space, an important characteristic of media in the 21st Century.  Knowledge and news are always changing from day to day, minute to minute.  We wanted the media center to reflect the changes occurring in a modern world yet be grounded with a solid foundation.  We wanted visitors to feel connected to the space by relating to images from the past, regardless of section.



I approached Deb Brewster, the high school art teacher at Manitou Springs High School, to see if she might have a student in mind to tackle an independent study mural project for the media center.  She smiled and a week later introduced me to Camille, a senior at MSHS.

Camille was set to graduate in December but delayed her graduation date to take on this project.  We met, I explained my needs and goals and Camille set to work.  What was to happen over the course of next few months was magical, the essence of project based learning because it gave Camille an authentic learning experience that produced meaningful work that would reach out to audiences long after the project was complete. 

Below are Camille's murals and excerpts from an interview with Camille summarizing her project work:

Describe your project

The project consisted of three murals encompassing the three sections of the Manitou Springs High School library.  The murals are visual collages to touch on every facet of the section and to bring alive the section titles.  The goal was to visually define the words reference, non-fiction, and fiction through painting.  The medium used was acrylic paint on board.
The color continuity on the murals was something I worked hard to balance.  I wanted all three pieces to be cohesive yet I wanted the color scheme in each piece to emphasize the purpose of the word.  You'll notice the sky starts out dark and gets lighter as it moves through each of the murals.  The tan was a fundamental color as well and was used on all three pieces.  I incorporated a black and white theme in all three murals to reflect the passage of time. The goal was to make all three pieces compliment one space.

What is something you did during this project that you think you will remember for the rest of your life?   

Learning how to not let my past knowledge hold me back, to allow myself to grow even when I didn't believe in myself.  I worked through this via a great deal of conversation with my advisors, Deb Brewster and Paul Bonner.  These conversations evolved around the fact that I was artist, artists understand art, and that all artists are free to try other arts. 
I needed to work on felling confident in my artistic talents when I picked up a paint brush.  I had to believe I could do this and if I messed up I could fix what I messed up.  I had to give myself permission to fail and believe there would always be a way to get back on my feet.

What was the most challenging part of this project for you?

I had never painted prior to this project.  I considered herself a photographer, not a painter.  I had one beginning art class at MSHS.

When you started this project, you thought it would be an solo project.  That ended up not being the case.  Would you please elaborate on how you collaborated with others?

I realized I would need teaching and help and had to put pride aside if I was to accomplish my goal.  I realized this was a project for the community and that the project would need a community involved in the painting.  I tapped into the resource of the painting teaching assistants in the class to help with the painting but it ended up being so much more.  The additional painters brought in alternative points of view.  I was able to learn from their viewpoints and experiences in painting just as much as I was able to learn from my advisors. 

What is something that was hard for you at the start of the project, but is easier now?

It's easier to get excited about projects.  I used to be terrified about this project so much that it was hard to come to school to work on it.   I worked through this and eventually made a turning point.  I began to look forward to what I was going to do new each day. 
I learned this was part of the creative process, the ability to build on the hard work that comes together in something beautiful.  This leads you on to creating new art within the project.  I learned ideas spur ideas.

In what area do you feel you made your biggest improvements?

Painting, and having my hands in a commissioned project.  Being a photographer I've always paid attention to color but I've never had to manipulate color other than by manipulating the light in which I photograph.  In photography you don't have to mix colors.  My whole color theory changed when I realized it wasn't that easy to mix colors.  I learned how colors work in the world and how to recreate them in paint. 

What has made the biggest impact on your learning during this project? Why?

Letting myself do it.  I built my confidence throughout the entire project, especially completing the project.

If you could turn back time and do this project again, what would you do differently?

I would not be so prideful and I would ask more questions.  I didn't want to ask because I thought asking made me seem stupid.  I had to have a bit of a breakdown to work through this.  When I realized I couldn't do this all by myself.  When Brewster told me my drawings weren't to scale and that I had to change them it devastated me because I would have to rely on my sense of composition to fit the boards.  That meant I had to learn how to design to make my ideas fit the boards I had.

What did you learn?

I learned so very much.   I learned about brush strokes when painting, I learned how to paint highlights and lowlights, I learned about gridding and scaling.

I got academic with Camille and asked her about Art Standards and which ones she had met.  She pondered, and wondered which ones she hadn't met.
Specifically we talked about the following Visual Arts Standards:

Overall, the project was a huge success.  Camille will present her project to the staff sometime in May.  Her presentation is available via Dropbox.

App Smashing

Moving past using apps for worksheet substitutions and kill and drill practice and into transformative  content-creation involves a process recently coined as App Smashing.  Sometimes this process called App Synergy or iPad Workflow.  App Smashing is the process of using multiple apps in conjunction with one another to complete a final task or project.  The trick to app smashing is to learn how to use your camera roll as a means to communicate between apps.  App smashing gets the learner involved with more than just sharing what you've learned.

App smashing evolved from the term "Mash-Up" which basically meant creating web content from more than one source.  When the iPad arrived in the educational market, it didn't take long users to use multiple apps to create something.   In fact, now it seems almost impossible to create on the iPad without App Smashing.   Creating infographics is an example of one of my favorite App Smashing activities.

Greg Kulowiec from Ed Tech Teacher has written and presented the idea of "App Smashing."

Download a copy of  "The Definitive App Smasher's Guide" by Miguel Guhlin to learn more about App Smashing.

The following video does a great job of explaining the concept of App Smashing.


AppSmash Round 1 from Greg Kulowiec on Vimeo.

Colorado mLearning Collaborative

I'm happy to announce the launch of the Colorado mLearning Collaborative, a small group consisting of  Colorado educators working to support 1:1 learning initiatives in Colorado schools.
The Collaborative's purpose will be to share ideas and strategies as they relate to supporting technology integration and instruction.
We had our first meeting in February and hope to grow our numbers by the next get together scheduled for April 11th.  If interested, feel free to peruse our website and contact me for more information.

Using PhotoStream in Education

I love the idea of making better use of iOS's PhotoStream in education.  A teacher can create a PhotoStream of specific images they'd like students to be familiar with and share that particular PhotoStream with their students.  The ability to identify objects, species, or varied symptoms may seem a bit geared to low-level Blooms memorization; however, there are times when it is absolutely necessary to be able to recognize something the minute the object is seen.  That's where PhotoStream can come in handy.

To create and share a PhotoStream with others follow these steps:

1. Select the photos you want to share.
2. Do one of the following:
   • Click the Share button in the toolbar, choose Photo Stream from the pop-up menu, and click New Photo Stream.
   • Drag the photos to Photo Stream in the Source list, and click New Photo Stream.
   The New Shared Photo Stream dialog appears.
3. In the “Shared with” field, type the email addresses for your invitees.
   To enable your invitees to access the shared photo stream from an iOS device, you must provide the email addresses associated with their iCloud accounts.
4. In the Name field, type a name for the photo stream.
5. If you want to share your photo stream with someone who doesn’t have an Apple device, select the Public Website checkbox.
   Note:   People who view your shared photo stream on the web cannot comment on the photos. They also cannot view the comments posted by you or by others who subscribe to your shared photo stream with an Apple device. If you would like someone who doesn’t have an Apple device to see the first comment added to a photo, you must post the comment first, before inviting the person to view the shared stream.
6. Click Share.

Your invitees are sent an email and a notification asking them to subscribe to your shared photo stream.