Chapter 11: Embracing an Open Culture
A large part of what I do in my role at work is
new teacher training. While ideally, new teacher training is a week-long
intensive training program running from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, we don’t live in an
ideal world. That is when flash trainings and the occasional “super” flash
training occurs. No matter how long the training is that the new teachers go
through, I always leave them with one very important tip. I adamantly encourage
the teachers to be their own best asset by being assertive and talking with the
other teachers to share information and ideas. I can never stress this enough.
I tell them that they need to ask around and see who is teaching the same
courses as they are or have taught those courses in the past so that those
teachers can share ideas and resources with them. Colombo has a great resource
room filled with many things. However, at the same time it can be very
overwhelming and time-consuming to browse through to see what you can use to
enhance your classes. When these new teachers ask the other teachers to share
ideas and information, a lot of the time the teachers point the new teachers in
the direction of the really great resources found in the resource room. These
are things that it would have taken the teachers a few weeks or even months to
find out for themselves. Basically, by emphatically encouraging these new
teachers to share and discuss ideas, I am promoting a practice that is not only
useful to them both academically and logistically speaking, but it also
benefits the students tremendously. This is something the author has touched
upon throughout the book, but he really elaborates on it in this chapter. As he
puts it:
“Our connectivity and learning
opportunities have changed in recent years, and, thankfully, many teachers are
taking advantage of those changes to benefit themselves and, more importantly,
their students. We have access to information and, equally valuable, to each
other. We need to tap
into that.” (p. 262)
“As educational leaders, we must promote and
capitalize on open, connected learning.” (p. 266)
This short video
expresses what the author emphasis in this chapter in regards to the importance
of sharing and networking our ideas.
- The internet makes it possible to take a step further to being a global teacher.
- The ideas you share could have an impact on not only your students, but students around the world as well.
- What you are doing may seem commonplace to you, but it could be extremely helpful or insightful to somebody else.
- It is important to share your learning every step of the way so others can benefit from your experience.
Competitive Collaboration
- Competitive collaboration in an open environment can accelerate innovation.
- Viewing sharing as something that both supports and pushes us to be better will always benefit our students.
- Commitment to sharing with each other in an open environment allows everyone opportunitinities for deep and powerful learning that can grow exponentially.
Chapter 12: Create Meaningful Learning
Experiences for Educators
The author emphasizes
that to change what happens in our schools, the experiences we create in our
professional learning must first change. As the author mentioned in chapter 5,
to be innovative you have to disrupt your routine.
- · Professional learning needs to be a constant part of our development as learners.
- · It is important to engage in ongoing activities that foster learning as part of a teacher’s work day.
- · To truly integrate new learning, it is necessary to allow time for exploration, collaboration, and reflection so educators can apply what they are learning.
Food for thought: “…educators focus far too much on
discussing teaching, and not enough time is spent immersing ourselves in
powerful learning and modeling it for others.” (p. 285)
Would you agree with
this statement? What has been your experience?
The author says that
creating opportunities for educators to learn in the same spaces and environment
that our students experience helps to
build an empathetic viewpoint of the possibilities for learning today.
8 Things to Look for in Today’s Professional
Learning
The author takes “8
Things to Look for in Today’s Classroom” and modifies it to consider how it can be applied to professional learning.
1. Voice
2. Choice
3. Time
for reflection
4.
Opportunities
for innovation
5.
Critical
Thinking
6.
Problem
finders/solvers
7.
Self-assessment
8. Connected Learning
#6
#8
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