Classroom Blackboard

Collaboration

The power of collaboration basically depends on the number of people that are working together. The traditional view is that collaborative learning can occur at a group level. In schools, the learners can be grouped into groups of 4 and they are asked to cooperate with each other and to help each other to learn. No one can deny that collaboration can take place here.

However, there is a need to change this perception. A bit of imagination is required here. Imagine, instead of asking 3 other people to help you with a problem, you have the ability to ask 40 people. In the past, it may seem implausible. The reason is simple - we just do not have enough time in class to allow 40 people to respond.

Fortunately, technology gives us the affordance. With the advent of collaborative tools, we can now collaborate at the same time. In addition, the tool can be used from the learner’s home - this means that the learning is no longer merely confined to the classroom.

Tools like Wall Wisher and Linoit allow this level of collaboration. Personally, the interface of Linoit shows more promise and the ability for users to collaborate on the canvas does not require you to log in or sign up. Furthermore, this tool provides a myrid of other functions from attaching a YouTube video to uploading Word documents onto the canvas for collaboration. The Wall Wisher interface is less appealing and it is plagued with connectivity problems. There is a lag in the post time and when more than 10 people collaborate on the same canvas, the program tends to hang.

Here is a snapshot of some of the pupils’ work.

When I conducted this particular activity for my 2 classes, I informed each class of the existence of the canvas of the other class. This took the level of collaboration to another level. The pupils not only learnt from their own classmates but learnt from the pupils from another class. Let your imagination run wild and you can see what collaboration can really achieve.

Myth of Adolescence

What does an elephant and a teenager have in common? Alex and Brett Harris tries to answer this question in their book “Do Hard Things”. According to the Harris brothers, domesticated elephants are taken away from their mothers at a very young age and shackled to a tree by their handlers. The baby elephant learns very quickly that it is pointless to struggle because ultimately, the elephant is going to hurt itself when it tried to free itself from the iron shackles - the baby elephant is broken. The handlers then use a piece of twine to tie the elephant down subsequently. Feeling something attached to its leg, the elephant is resigned to the fact that it is bound and no longer struggles to free itself.

This is where elephants and teenagers collide. The Harris brothers propose that teenagers are stuck in that same rut as the elephants - they believe that they are powerless. All the elephant needs to do is move forward and the twine is going to break. Our teenagers are as such. They see themselves as a generation that is powerless to make a change.

Why this attitude? Partly because of the low expectations that today’s society has placed on them. They are deemed as the “irresponsible” group of people. Interestingly, the word ‘teenager’ is a newly coined term that did not exist a hundred years ago. This means that there wasn’t a ‘period’ of time where children were allowed to be young adults and yet at the same time to behave like children. Children a hundred years ago were not allowed to act irresponsibly, they had to grow into adulthood.

Imagine a ten year old in the past, waking up early to do his household chores before he goes off to work. Or a fifteen year old officer serving on board a warship, tasked to pilot the newly captured brigantine back to England. Was it because that that generation was better of in terms of capability or was it because they were allowed to grow into adulthood.

As educators, we believe in spiral education. We start from a young age and we progressively increased the intensity and rigor. Yet somehow, we seem to have forgotten to empower our children in the other areas. We are quick to conclude that they ‘cannot’ and we take the opportunity away from them.

I recently celebrated my birthday with a surprise party and it was orchestrated by one of my pupils. Yes, a mere eleven year old made the necessary arrangements, spoke to the necessary people and rallied the class. I was definitely pleasantly surprised. After mouthing my thanks to the class, I turned to the mastermind and inquired how he managed to get the cake to school - it was raining hard that morning. He shrugged and replied, “I carried it in the rain and placed it in the staffroom refrigerator. After all, the most dangerous place is the safest place.” At the moment, my eyes were opened wide and I chuckled.

I ask myself today, how have I empowered this generation. Have I “spiralled” for them what it means to grow into adulthood in their day to day activities. Have I started them with the small things in life, that will prepare them to meet the challenges of adulthood?

Learning Symposium

The recent learning symposium that was organised was a very good experience. It challenged me in many aspects of my lesson design. One area I was exposed to was the design and re-design of the lesson. I feel that this is an important cycle to go through as it helped me to refine my lesson. This made me think and rethink the learning outcomes of the lesson first, followed by the vehicle in which in was used to deliver the lesson (the ICT component). I had to ask myself how is ICT enhancing the students learning instead of merely using technology for the sake of technology. In addition, it also made me evaluate how the c2015 student outcomes are to be integrated. The outcomes play a very important role in developing the whole child.

In my lesson, I designed a web-quest to allow the students to learn independently. The product they had to produce was a piece of writing on crime. The children were able to learn independently and then shared what they had learnt via a forum. They collaborated with each other and shared what they had learnt. This platform facilitated the children’s learning as they go about sharing with each other what knowledge they had acquired. It was very encouraging to see how some children were able to reconstruct their knowledge as they assimilate information from their friends. The children were then able to transfer what they had learnt into their writing assignment – this was an indicator that the children had achieved the learning outcomes.

It is important not to stop here at this point but to share these findings with my peers and colleagues. This was achieved through the learning symposium that was organized by the school. The symposium served as another level of refinement. I had the privilege to my more experienced teachers (including STs) and through the Q&As, I was further able to refine my lesson as questions were asked. This allowed me to consolidate my thoughts and also to accept any constructive criticisms that were presented. It was truly a learning experience for me. This experience encapsulates what it means to have a professional learning community.

Self Directed Learning

One of the outcomes that is expected for a student in Singapore now is the c2015 student outcomes. Under these outcomes, a student is expected to demonstrate 21 century competencies that will prepare him/her to meet the future.

There are various expectations of a self directed learner and I think its important to think though what those necessary qualities are. Developing this quality is often at the back of my mind as I create my lessons. However, I think it is sometimes lost in transition. There has been a lot of buzz about self-directed learning and I do not really wish to dwell too much on it.

Rather, I think it more profitable to consider how to build self directed learners in the classroom. One of the important vehicles to developing this competency is modelling. After all, how is it possible for a teacher to teach self-directed learning without being a self-directed learner first?! With that perspective first in mind, we can then tackle how to develop this quality.

Recently, I had to conduct a lesson on “Puberty” for Health Education. Needless to say, this caused some sort of discomfort because of the content that I was required to teach but I had to teach it nevertheless. I decided that instead of just direct teaching, I would do an independent learning approach. The students were directed to a particular website (All About Puberty) and they were told to explore the site. This method of teaching shifted the responsibility of teaching from me (the teacher) to the students.

The students were responsible for their own learning and they could freely learn what they wanted to. I noticed that during the session, the boys focused mainly on issues that boys would face and similarly, the girls read about issues related to them. The students were then instructed to go to a forum and share what they learnt with one another. You can see a sample of how it would look like here. The students were able to complete their assignments after the activity. They were able to comprehend what they read and that translated to the ability to answer questions in their workbook.

After the lesson, I did a post mortem. On hindsight, this would have been an excellent opportunity to have created a self directed lesson. If I were given the chance to redo the lesson, it would look like this.

Instead of getting the students to do the readings and the sharing on the forum in class, what I should have done was to inform them the day before. They would learn independently at home and added their comments on the forum after they were done. (This part is the same as what was done in class) During the class time, I would have asked the class what else they wanted to learn about puberty and they would have articulated what they wanted to learn - this is what is meant by articulating their learning gaps. They could then have gone online again and search for additional information that they required. The forum could possibly be used or the students could create a wiki or a FAQ on puberty.

In preparation of the lesson, I could have perhaps spent some time brainstorming what were some gaps that the students would have identified. During the lesson, I would have been able to direct them to these sites. Although the students were able to meet the objectives of the learning outcomes, they did not come away from that lesson learning anything about self directed learning. In conclusion, the modelling for the self directed learning really comes from the teacher and a culture needs to be in-built in the everyday lesson. This integration is important and necessary if we want to develop this competency. Through this modelling, the students will understand what it means to be self directed.