Learning Along the Way

Santana in Singapore Mar. 2011

And she was Santana’s wife! After about a 20 minute drum solo by this strong, attractive woman I was surprised to find out it was Santana’s wife-Cindy Blackman. Go here to read more about her and actually see some footage.  I was not that close to the stage during the concert as you can see in the video I posted. I love to see women excelling in places that you would not normally expect and Cindy Blackman is a great role model.

New Years, new schools, new school years, new semesters, new quarters, new classes, new learnings – all these can be beginnings for an international school teacher. Beginnings let you start something new like learning how to play the violin or do something better like getting to really know your students. Whatever it is, it has the potential to enhance ones life. One of my new beginnings is one I have tried before but now I believe I am in a position to actually do so – to contribute to this blog and organize my online presence. To do this I have a plan:

1. Just write – I think that the more I actually do this the better I will get at it. I will try to blog once a week.
2. Read and observe other blogs of Edu-techies and get ideas of how to make this easier and more efficient. Make comments and participate on their blogs.
3. Find “how to’s” on blogging.
4. Work with my students in my Emerging Computer Technologies on blogging.
5. Find ways to get people to read my posts.

I have blogged before about why I should be doing this http://prattdianna.edublogs.org/2008/05/11/yes-i-should-blog/ . Now – the time is right and it will happen! Wish me luck.

This is an attempt of mine to address needs of teaching in the classroom from the book – Never Work Harder Than Your Students by Robyn R. Jackson. Last year my team went through the book together and now I plan to try to consciously implement some of the ideas.

Principle One – Start where your students are. This principle is about getting to know your students and recognizing what currency they have and value and then using that currency to help them acquire the capital in the classroom. The capital of the classroom is the knowledge and skills that lead to high achievement. This includes content knowledge and procedural knowledge. Content knowledge in my courses would be how their computer works and concepts behind the office products. Procedural knowledge would be the organization of electronic work and using their computer effectively and efficiently.

The currency of the classroom is the tacit knowledge or soft skills or any behavior that students use to acquire the knowledge and skills important in your course. This could include note taking, how to study effectively, how to distinguish what information is important, how to take tests, how to ask the teacher for help, how to find the answers on your own, be more creative, or how to communicate and collaborate. Sometimes we do not make these explicit to the students but they are crucial in acquiring the capital of the classroom. Sometimes the currencies we are accepting do not match the currencies of our students. See below and idea of how to evaluate this.

We also need to help our students to understand the value of our course so they will even spend their currencies to gather capital of the classroom. To do this we need to evaluate what the currencies are that we are accepting as teachers. Sometimes our values are affected by the way we were taught so we need to develop an awareness of the way we understand our students and how we interact with them. Beliefs and values drive behavior.

Things to try:

1. Make a table that you include the behaviors and characteristics of your ideal student on one side and note the ones that really matter. One the other side write down what you examine your students behaviors actually are.

2. Pay attention to your metaphors of teaching – what do you believe teaching is all about.

3. Ask students to create similes for learning – “Learning is like…

One of the best things about teaching is “summer vacation!” A time to unwind, relax and rejuvenate and for the international teacher a chance to re-connect with family and friends. This summer for us was spent in the Dallas-Ft. Worth, Texas area and getting a chance to enjoy our town home in McKinney. This home allows us to not inconvenience our family by taking up their spare bedroom. It does keep us away from those long morning coffee conversations from happening. You know the ones that start at 7:00 am and last until 10:00 am and you are still in your pajamas.  We did get a chance to do this a couple of times but not like we used to. Having your own place does allow you to be on your own schedule but then again it was fun to follow family around and be a part of their lives for a short while. I am sure we have side tracked our family from things that needed to get done over the years. Having your own place means you can have your family over and entertain them instead of having them cook for you. I enjoy cooking for others (when I have time) and it is fun to have family in our place even though it is not our Singapore home. Having your own place in Texas means that you have to drive — we spent time going between Denton, Fairview, Plano and Arlington. Lots of miles on our truck but all worth it. We have enjoyed our own summer home and all that it involves and can’t wait to spend time there during the Christmas holidays.

So in the past week I have made it to 2 international conferences – ASB Unplugged in Mumbai, India and the International Conference on Teaching and Learning with Technology, iCTLT, in Singapore.  What a privilege! Both excellent learning opportunities but each different. ASB Unplugged was a smaller conference with the delegates coming from international school from all over the world. The iCTLT was sponsored by ISTE and the Ministry of Education in Singapore and though there were international educators present most were from Singapore. The key learning from the keynotes for me was – “Learning is changing and we have to change with it.” This message came from Bruce Dixon, Scott McCloed, Scott Klososky, David Warlick, Jason Trump and Jenny Lewis. The workshops were all inspiring showing attendees innovative ideas of how they have changed there teaching.  I hope to summarize what I learned at these conferences soon.

I am in the 7th month of “back into the classroom” and it is going well. I really like my 8th grade students and I am having a great time with them. I enjoy working with my other 2 colleagues on the science curriculum and with my team of teachers who teach the same students I do. Devin got a book that caught my eye and I decided to nab it. It is called Never work Harder than your Students by Robyn R. Jackson. I really thought the would be helpful to finish out what has become a very busy year. However, it is about principals of great teaching. It has brought some life into my current position and reminded me why I do what I do. I plan to write about this book in upcoming post. The book is organized into 7 different principals:

1. Start where your students are.
2. Know where your students are going.
3. Expect to get your students to their goal.
4. Support your students along the way.
5. Use feedback to help you and your students get better.
6. Focus on quality rather than quantity.
7. Never work harder than your students.

I am looking forward to posting about these ideas.

What a day! The Singapore American School MS PE department organized a day of fun events and activities for 925 students. The students were divided into 4 teams – Red, Green, Yellow and Blue and wore their colors proudly. It was a refreshing change from the white polo shirts. I was so impressed that the students knew what to do and where to go (they helped me to find out where the high jump was happening) and anxiously got prepared to do their event. I have done lots of field days in my years of teaching and this was the best I have been involved in. The students had lots of choices of events to be a part of and they all seemed to have picked events that they felt good about doing. It showed in student attitude and behavior. The skill level at the high jump ( I was only a  helper ) was impressive. The students there seemed to know they were good at this event. It was a great day and I am glad that the PE department does this for students. After being outside all day (especially in Singapore) I am thankful for those PE people. They ROCK!

What a concept! This is what we associate the holidays with in the Northern Hemisphere but not in a tropical environment. As our world has become more transient and international we have brought along our cultures in the most senseless ways. Snow in 85 degree (F) weather? I guess soap bubbles look alot like snow. Hey – We are studying Chemistry in my science class and I bet many of my students have seen the Singapore snow – Fake Snow – maybe we can make it snow in the classroom?

Happy Holidays!

Man it gets hot here. The trick is to get out before 7 am and then after a 2 hour bike ride drink lots and lots of water. We have been on a couple of rides here and it is not Colorado and it is not India but it has been a pleasant surprise every time we have gone. Today, we went on a ride through the East Coast Park. Even though we didn’t get started until 8:20 am the park is shaded with huge trees and it was cool. We went over 50 KM on a great bike path that took us all the way to Changi Beach Park in one direction and to Starbucks in the other direction. We learned that Singapore is promoting biking all over the island by putting in bike paths. 

Car Racing is something I know little about and have never taken the time to understand.  So when opportunities arise…learning happens along the way. Singapore hosted the first ever night time Formula One Grand Prix and we had free tickets. We started out watching a practice run and did not know exactly what was going on. A good friend had come in from Hong Kong because he is a fan of the F1 and we met up with him to get educated. The qualifying race would be next and we had a better understanding. Even though I probably will not become a F1 fan I do appreciate some of the things I learned:

• The car sounds are awesome (you can feel it in your heart) but can really damage your ears. Wear earplugs!
• Being there (hands on experience) really makes watching on it on ESPN enjoyable. It is better to be able to see the whole field of cars racing.
• You must have a good camera to get pictures, as you can tell I did not!