Letter to My Colleagues: Invitation to Connected Educators Month

Open Letter to my Colleagues and Friends:

I just read a blog about upcoming Connected Educators Month. I am really torn by how to support, encourage, and challenge my friends and colleagues to embrace connected learning both as a professional development tool as well as an avenue for teaching and learning. 

I get the resistance; it’s all about time, and the balance between “tried and true” pedagogy and augmenting one’s repertoire with practices that support the modern learner.

I am not going to kid anyone. Time is an issue; a huge one. It does take time to learn, practice, engage in and maintain the habits that enable one to benefit from the connected learning that occurs within a professional learning network. The more you engage, the more you feel you need to learn more, and with the world at your finger tips, you must pick and choose the visits along your journey as a connected educator.

The essential activity of an active connected educator is sharing the sites and sounds that one encounters along the journey. For me, this sharing is multifaceted. I share within my PLN and beyond it. I share digitally in an open forum as well as within a closed network.  I share targeted material that support a program, may motivate a colleague, or simply may spark curiosity toward a new endeavor.  But in the end, my sole objective is to share, collaborate and learn.

Everyone I work with directly on a day-to-day basis has been blessed with an abundant amount of technological resources and human support. No one I know takes this for granted. We all use our resources and support uniquely and I am in awe on a daily basis of what I observe in the classroom. One colleague is exceptionally talented in turning her SMART board into a interactive, fun, engaging cultural journey; a 30 minute class can feel like a voyage to a Carnival in Brazil – with all the sites, sounds and fun a long the way. Other colleagues have helped publish their students’ iBooks in iTunes; others ensure that their students collaborate and blog throughout the week; and some have a tact for editing the perfect iMovie to add to their pedagogical resources.  In sum, everyone is doing an amazing job.  The most powerful faculty meeting I have ever attended was one where colleagues AND students shared their success in integrating technology into their learning and practice.

I bring this all up because I truly do think we all want to learn from one another. At times I hear from colleagues that they feel pressured to use twitter, blog, Skype or visit the many sites that folks share from week to week. I could be wrong, but I think my colleagues know me well enough to realize that my sole intention is simply to share. Not only do I like sharing, but I consider it a personal and professional responsibility. If I have encountered a process that helps me grow professionally and through that process I run into resources that will support the growth of our learners, both as students and as teachers, I do feel the responsibility to share the wealth.

As Connected Educators Month begins on October 1, I offer my support to anyone who wants to extend his or her path as a connected educator. I also take this opportunity to thank each of my colleagues for all that you teach me on a daily basis as I visit your morning meetings, listen to your students share their written story or practice their reading, or simply allow me the opportunity to engage in the “messiness” of an active community of learners.

Sincerely,

Margo

A couple of resources for Connected Educators Month, October 2013.

http://plpnetwork.com/2013/09/25/connected-educator-month-kickoff-events/

http://connectededucators.org/events/

Post 1: Planning My Journey Toward “Authentic Learning”

This term has been floating around my head, bouncing around the twitter and blogosphere, and plopping itself into scholarly articles and educational conversations of various types. It’s high time I “catch it,” think about it, reflect on it; let it “flutter” a bit more, respond to it, incorporate it into my practice, share about it, and ultimately collaborate with others who consider “it” an essential component of education. So what is “it” and why should we care?

I do not have the answers, but I do hope that through a series of blog posts throughout the year I will understand, embrace, and incorporate “authentic learning,” into my professional practice as a teacher and administrator.  Collaborating and learning from my PLN most certainly will guide me along this journey.

I always battle between how simple and complex we make things. It’s not rocket science right? Authentic learning is ensuring that the learning experience is relevant for students. OK, lets just move on and do it, right? That’s just not good enough. How do I know what is relevant for the students or teachers under my care? When planning lessons and faculty meetings – what do I or should I do to ensure relevancy. Does relevancy come down to not wasting time? Hmmm, more questions than answers. Sounds like an interesting journey.

So I threw the question out on twitter a week ago. I received one answer. 

But then yesterday in #sunchat the topic was: What is authentic learning? Here are some of the ideas that continue to surface and certainly fluttered throughout #sunchat.

Authentic learning is:

• Learning how to learn.
• Understanding why we learn what we learn.
• Digging deeper into a topic.
• Acknowledging the way students learn best and meeting their needs.
• Problem posing.
• Problem finding.
• Being able to take it outside the classroom and use it.
• Learning for a lifetime.
• Creation of questions.

Clearly, authentic learning incorporates a flowing river of more and more questions!

What are your thoughts on authentic learning, and where will you begin on this journey?

Language is Culture

Is language simply a square sewn onto a cultural quilt, or is it an interwoven thread of a tapestry? At one time I saw it as a square, one of many important elements of culture. Some of the other squares were traditions, ceremonies, beliefs, values, religion, food….  However, on the second day of this year's Smithsonian Folk Life Festival, and immersed in the activities of “endangered languages and cultures,” I began to realize that language truly is an interwoven thread of a cultural tapestry. As one participant said, “When our language dies, we die.”

It is true that in each of the elements that would serve as a square on a cultural quilt, language, whether verbal or non-verbal, written, performed, drawn or painted, is used to express and communicate the meaning of all cultural components.

Throughout the two days participants from varied endangered cultures demonstrated “language as culture.” The Hawaiian Hula Masters’ movements, calls, and dances are not simply performances but ways to communicate and pass on messages. The Bolivian musician explained the importance of “reading” their weavings and clothing to determine the community where they live as well as to understand their interests and values. The Garifuna teach and learn through playful games, movement and dance. Play or dance is important to how they learn and interact.

As a Spanish language teacher cultural exposure and engagement have always been integral parts of my lessons. In fact, culture has been the most important aspect, from crafting Huichol yarn paintings, to making maracas out of rice and beans, to playing “naranja ducle,” tasting tropical fruits, and singing De Colores, I have always taught through culture. However, I viewed it as teaching the culture of the countries where the people speak the language.  As I approach this new year (entering the classroom once again after almost 10 years!) I view it a bit differently; I now view language AS culture. That may not sound extraordinarily different to many – but to me it has totally framed the way I will approach my planning and engage my students. If I am always weaving the language into the culture and visa-versa the whole year will turn into a vibrant tapestry – I can’t wait!
How do you use culture to frame your language teaching? (or teaching in general!)

Culture is as complex as its simplicity!

Culture is as complex as its simplicity! When you say the word culture most people would have the gist of what you may be referring to. Traditions, celebrations, food, art, artifacts, routines, ways of life, family formation, language, body language gender roles….. The list could go on. But just look at the list (together with what you may add) and consider the complexity, layers, and multiple angles within each element. Such is culture! And thus culture is not only complex but also very personal or individualized; we all look at life from our own lens even within the culture we share with others. In the end, culture enables us to extract meaning to our lives.

You know the saying, don’t over think things? At one point during my professional studies I was definitely “over thinking” culture.  As with many things in life, if you hyper-focus, over think and get bogged down by details, you don’t always move forward. In the end, I wanted to better understand, how strong cultures are reinforced. (Ok, so what is a strong culture…there I go again, hyper-focusing on the details, lets leave that for another blog post.)

To move on in my studies, and to reflect upon the world around me (professionally, personally, scholarly) it was important at the time to focus my cultural lens through a specific definition. I chose this one:

“A dynamic system of social values, cognitive codes, behavioral standards, world views and beliefs used to give meaning to our lives as well as the lives of others, (Delgado-Guitan &Trueba, 1991).”

Initially this became a “malleable” framework for which I could view my surroundings, reflect on my readings and contemplate new understandings.

Not only does dissecting the elements of culture add complexity, but the context and reason you are thinking about culture in the first place contributes to the individualized meaning you may give it. If I am visiting a new state or country I will absorb and contemplate cultural quite differently than if I am in a professional frame of mind. When visiting a new area I consider the “above the iceberg” elements of culture like, dress, food, art, language, and ceremonies. I concentrate on what I can observe, feel, taste, and contemplate. Of course, I seek out opportunities to engage and participate in other aspects of the culture, which would enable me to pick up on the “under the iceberg” cultural nuances. 

When analyzing data in scholarly work, I am very particular about the elements (or concept within a specific conceptual framework); for example, I may be looking out for relationships and human interactions, symbols, traditions and rituals, and the structures within an organization or a period of time.

Whereas when I am in the planning mode of an educational project or unit of study, my approach changes. In these cases my objective is not to learn about or absorb a new culture but to engage a group of learners (adults or children) to experience and understand a particular culture, sub-culture or cultural concept.

I have had a few experiences this summer through travel, readings, and participating in some cultural events that has led me to really contemplate the term culture. It is such an important aspect of life: how we view culture and how we create meaning from it.

I look forward to expanding on my personal, scholarly, and professional dealings with culture in additional posts.

What are your thoughts on culture, its meaning, and how it may influence you as a person and professional?