Teaching & learning » Glenda Baker

Habits for Highly Visual Teachers

Main stage, Teaching & learning, Technology No Responses »

Sep 052010

School has started. New classes are underway, new names and faces are starting to become familiar. New routines are being established. As we teach with more technology and as we consider how to make use of more visual images to help students learn, (because we know they are effective for visual learners), what might be some good habits to establish?

My students frequently search for images for a variety of reasons and so spending time exploring the ethics of using images, is the flip side to knowing where to find them. I explore the similarities and differences between text and images as intellectual property. Most students have been taught at some point about how to use and reference text. Why would images be different?

Two sites I recommend that search images posted on Flickr but allow students to narrow the selection to images with a ‘Creative Common’ designation are:

Compfight
“Search engine for visual inspiration and free stock photos for the advertising community including images of creative commons and public domain.”

Flickr-storm
“FlickrStorm is a better search for Flickr! It works by looking for more than what you enter to find related and more relevant images… Be suprised! …” This site also allows you to collect a series of images in a ‘bucket’ and download a thumbnail with the URL to make it easy for students to cite sources.

Richard Byrne at Free technology for Teacher s also has a couple of great posts on visual images; 7 Places and ways to Find Copyright-friendly images, and one about resources for Teaching Copyright.

Whether for inspiration, reference or remixing, we need to teach students to think and act with integrity when using images.

3 'New' Challenges as school starts

Main stage, Teaching & learning No Responses »

Aug 112010

What is it about ‘new’ that is challenging? Why do some of us find ‘new’ easy, and others stress out? Here are three ‘new’ challenges (or changes) that I’ve been thinking about as the school year approaches:

1. New Technology

New versions and updates always get rolled out at the start of the school year (which does make sense.) Our Blackboard course has been updated and I’m glad we have the new version. However, right now I just want to update and add new material to my courses, and the new version has presented an extra barrier to getting ready for class. When we are coming to terms with new tech I’m sure our tech department must think we look like this….

How does timing impact the way ‘new’ learning challenges are perceived?

2. New Students, New Teachers, New Admin

There’s usually some anticipation associated with introductions and getting to know new classes, new colleagues we’ll work with and new leaders. Will we connect? (Will they understand my accent?)

School is like a glass of water. Add a new person and their distinctive color does add a new dimension to the whole color scheme. Established systems have a familiarity and security that can be very comfortable but new people bring new ideas and fresh insight.

How can we embrace the new and honor the past?

3. New Educational Horizon

From individual challenges to school challenges to the biggest challenge for our whole profession; the relevance of the school system as I am part of it is most definitely something I know I need to keep thinking about. From The Partnership of 21st Century Skills.

The 21st Century isn’t coming; it’s already here. And our students have the opportunity and challenge of living and working in a diverse and rapidly changing world…schools must prepare our young people to understand and address global issues, and educators must re-examine their teaching strategies and curriculum so that all students can thrive in this global and interdependent society.
Global Competence is a 21st Century Imperative – Dennis Van Roekel, NAE President.

As I re-examine what and how I teach, how much will I need to change to be relevant in this approaching new horizon?

What's my standard?

Main stage, Teaching & learning, Technology No Responses »

Aug 042010

I’ve been working on updating my Blackboard courses in preparation for the start of school. As I have been considering what I might do differently and how I can ‘update’ my curriculum units to personalize and differientiate learning, technology has been much on my mind.

So the piece in Education Week on the new draft Teacher Standards put out by CCSSO was nice confirmation of my pondering.

…they’re meant to guide teachers at all levels of their career, with more-experienced teachers exhibiting the practices in more-sophisticated ways.

In addition, the standards put more emphasis on teachers’ ability to use assessment data to support instruction, to address cultural and linguistic diversity in the student population, and to harness technology as a tool to support learning.

Personalizing and differientiating learning in AP Art

Main stage, Teaching & learning, Technology No Responses »

Jul 292010

Here is my challenge:

2 classes of AP Studio Art.
4 variations of the three exam types offered in AP Studio Art (Drawing, 3D Design, and 2D Design, 2D Design-Photography.)
the exam requires a large body of work to be produced specific to the exam type so at ASIJ students have the opportunity to take the class over 2 years and submit the exam in the second year. (16 pieces of work for 3D Design, and 24 pieces of work for 2D and Drawing.)

This means there are potentially up to eight different groups of students for me to teach in 1 class period. Here is a diagram created in Gliffy to illustrate.

Call me crazy but I am actually quite excited about the problem this creates. It compels me to find new ways to help personalize Continue reading »

Curriculum 21

Main stage, Teaching & learning, Technology No Responses »

Jul 102010

I’m reading Curriculum 21 in between holiday ficition. It’s a collection of writers led by Heidi Hayes Jacobs on preparing students for our times…and their future.

Here is a snipit I read this morning over breakfast in Chapter 7 Making Learning Irresistible by Tim Tyson from Mabry Middle School in Georgia, USA.

If digitial technology is used in low-level ways–to do the same things we have always been doing in schools, just doing them now with computers–then we have failed to grasp the metamorphosis this technological ecosystem offers.

After a week in London thinking, talking and exploring ways to integrate ‘Technology in the International Classroom’ at the Teacher Training Center this sounds like very useful and inspiring revision.

Technology in the International Classroom

Main stage, Teaching & learning, Technology, Technology & Web 2.0 Things No Responses »

Jul 042010

I’m in London with three other ASIJ high school folk at a course on technology. My assignment is to plan a unit that uses technology to address a content standard and tech standard which I will teach next year. I have revised the Critiquing unit for the AP Studio Art classes.

Content Standard: Critical Thinkers and Problem Solvers – reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merit of your work and the work of others.

Tech, Media & Info Standard: Communication, Collaboration, and Ethical Use: Students use TMI tools to communicate and work collaboratively and ethically, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others.

My next job is to gather other tools, ideas and strategies that might be useful as we move toward 1:1 next year.

Liberal Arts Education

Main stage, Teaching & learning No Responses »

Jun 092010

The article ‘ Coming to the defence of Liberal Education’ caught my eye this morning from the Huffington Post. Exams are now over…I wonder how many bubble sheets our high school used this year and what that might measure?

For Fish it means becoming fluent in the fundamentals even before moving on to post-secondary education: understanding the grammar of intellectual, artistic and social practices so that one can participate in them, or at least understand them from the inside. Both commentators, like many others writing today, worry that in our results oriented regime, the study of history, literature and the arts is being compromised or eliminated in favor of narrow skills that fit into so-called objective tests. Instead of giving students the opportunity to have strong emotional and cognitive encounters with well-told stories, instead of helping them find their way to becoming absorbed in great works of art, we have drilled young people into thinking that effective reading and writing are techniques with measurable outcomes to be evaluated on standardized tests. A liberal education produces results, too, but they are less reducible to questions that can be answered by coloring in a bubble with a number 2 pencil.

FLE - Problems solving approach

PLE [Personal Learning Environment], Teaching & learning, Technology 1 Response »

May 212010

Teaching for Tomorrow: teaching content and problem solving by Ted McCain has a simple and challenging message. Help students develop independence and the ability to define, design, do and debrief problems that mimic real world situations. McCain is clearly an advocate for technology in the classroom however technology is a means to an end rather than the ultimate panacea. In his closing paragraphs he gets to the heart of it:

In my view, the use of technology in the classroom is not the critical issue facing us in education in the 21st Century. The issue of foremost importance is to develop thinking skills in our students so that they will be able to utilize the power of technological tools to solve problems and to do useful work.

I have been so inspired by McCains teaching strategy I made my first attempt at using a role play with one of my classes yesterday. I have to say I was pretty nervous and my hands were visibly shaking when I re-entered the room as ‘Rebecca Winters from Reuters’ and launched into my presentation. The kids blinked a bit and then entered into the spirit of the simulation, asking clarifying questions about the task, and later when I returned as ‘me’, they started to grapple with defining the problem. Because ‘Ms Winers’ was no longer in the room the kids had to help each other (if they didn’t take sufficient notes), and my role was to help mediate their thinking about the problem. Voila – engagement in a different way than I have seen.

Metaphors & Bridges

Teaching & learning No Responses »

Nov 142009

gaia-bridge

This is the double hung bridge that joins Villa Nova de Gaia, the port district, to the other side of Porto. You can drive over either the top or the bottom – it was designed by Gustave Eiffel and it is quite a spectacular piece of engineering. I haven’t been back to Portugal now for 10 years but when I do, this is a place I want to visit again. Which brings me to Web Design….eh? Well, I start teaching the Web Design course in semester two and have been working on where to begin and what to include. This bridge is one of the metaphors I plan to use to introduce students to thinking about Where ‘design’ and ‘function’ begins and ends?

Here’s my thinking: Eiffel’s bridge is elegant to look at AND highly functional – traffic flows above and below. The structure supports huge weight AND YET it still appears light and delicate. What other relationships can be made? After exploring similarities and differences a concluding ‘sentence stem’ might be: ”Web Design is like Eiffel’s Bridge in Porto because………….”

Goal setting and self assessment strategy

Teaching & learning No Responses »

Nov 082009

Inspired by Dave Rynerson’s workshop presentation for this years’ EARCOS conference my students have drafted their own learning goals for AP Studio Art that correspond to the assessment criteria for this next quarter. My aim was for them to define an explicit, time bound goal for Time Management, participation in Critiques, Technical Skill, Use of Design Elements & Principles and overall Quality. They will reflect on progress mid-way and then self-assess at the end of the quarter.

On a related front, our OD Group (Organizational Development) has been studying the book ‘Immunity to Change; how to overcome it and unlock the potential in yourself and your organization’ by Robert Kegan & Lisa Lahey. I plan to share at the mid-way reflection some of the key ideas in the book to, hopefully, help students uncover the hidden commitments that are holding them back from achieving their goals. The strategy is simple and powerful and has ‘changed’ (hah) the way I think about the change challenges I have myself. A highly recommended read.

kegan-lahey_1736

Older Entries

Habits for Highly Visual Teachers

3 'New' Challenges as school starts

What's my standard?

Personalizing and differientiating learning in AP Art

Curriculum 21

Technology in the International Classroom

Liberal Arts Education

FLE - Problems solving approach

Metaphors & Bridges

Goal setting and self assessment strategy

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