#pw11 Think of analogies ... (design thinking 3 of 12)

Image by Daves Portfolio via Flickr
... for what an engaged learner does, feels, or sounds like.

You've spent a week listening in on passionate conversations that may have started on twitter and hopefully extended into meatier blog posts or books about the things in which you want your students to be deeply engaged. List all the activities, emotions, and behaviours that engaged learners in your discipline display; at least one of each.

Now, for each activity, emotion, or behaviour on your list briefly describe a situation outside of school where you might see that come up. For example if the activity you saw was people engaged in deep conversation you might see the same thing happen among a group of friends at a coffee shop. If you saw people excitedly discussing something, another place people might be excited is on a roller coaster. If the behaviour you noticed was people sharing personal experiences you might see the same thing happen when a grandparent looks through old pictures with their grandchildren.

You're looking for a few good analogies connected to the engagement you hope to develop in your students. Next week we'll weave these into narratives that may help us figure out how to engage our students more deeply in "________", you filled in the blank.

Make a point of sharing your search for analogies with people you've been engaged with on twitter or blogs this past week. They'll probably come up with a few good ideas you may not have thought of on your own.

Please share one or two of the best analogies you came up with this week in a tweet, a blog post, or leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere:  #wpedagogy

(This series of posts inspired by Design Thinking for Educators, 3.7.)

#pw10 Fuel your ideas with inspiration ... (design thinking 2 of 12)

Image by dkuropatwa via FlickrGet inspired by talking to people who are passionate about the same things you are. You've got something you want to improve, people who share your passions probably want to do the same.

How do you "plan activities to learn from multiple peoples’ perspectives and explore unfamiliar contexts"?

You might "spend more time with a select group of people rather than trying to meet many. It will likely help you learn more." (quote source: see below)

Here's one way to get started:

Step 1: If you don't have one already, get a twitter account.

Step 2: Follow people who teach, or have interests similar to you. Scan through the list of teachers on twitter here or there or in this Google doc. Follow as many as you like. More is good.

Step 3: There are regular "meetings" on twitter of educators (and all sorts of other professionals) discussing how to better do what they do. These meetings are called "twitter chats." You can scan through this fairly comprehensive list of these chats listing the dates and times they "meet" in twitter. Start by lurking. If you really want some inspiration and help getting better at what you do share your opinions and ask questions. (You get 500 points for every opinion you share or question you ask on twitter!) Here are some education related chats to get you started:

#edchat #EdNewsChat #elemchat #engchat #kidlitart #kidlitchat #kinderchat

#LangChat #libchat #litchat #lrnchat #mathchat #musedchat

#ntchat #schoolgardenchat #schoolschat #scichat #sschat #UKedchat

By the end of this week, you can consider yourself an advanced player and take an additional 1000 points each time you:

• make a targeted twitter list.
• add an educational blog to read in your reader.
• get suggested articles/books to read by asking on twitter or leaving comments on the blogs posts you've read.
• many bloggers have a "what I'm reading" section in the sidebar of their blogs, look for those and ask for more info about those articles/books on twitter or in the comments of the blogs you're reading.

Buying a suggested book to read is worth 1000 points, actually reading it is worth 4000 bonus points!

Please share one or two of the best ideas you learned this week in a tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere:  #wpedagogy

If you bought or read a book let us know that too! (I'm always looking for good book suggestions. ;-) )

This week we're focused on collecting as many different ideas as we can, we'll dig into this a little more deeply next week and focus our learning a little more; make it more personal and 1 on 1.

(This series of posts inspired by Design Thinking for Educators.)

#pw4 Idea Networks

Image via WikipediaThis week explicitly explain to students how different ideas they are learning are in fact connected. Give yourself 1000 bonus points if you can help them see the connections across different subjects.

Another way to think of this: "Structure learning around the big ideas of your discipline." Can you articulate one or two of these big ideas?

After a week of doing this are your students starting to make connections you hadn't thought of?

Did this have any impact on conversations in class?

Were there any changes in the atmosphere (culture) of your classroom?

Tweet, blog, leave a comment here or anywhere and include this tag in it somewhere: #wpedagogue