Who's got the pacifier?

2:00 a.m. last night I was bent over our pack-n-play in the middle of attempting to lay my 11-month-old son to sleep. After having rocked him for a count of 150 past his last movement, I ever-so-slowly stood up, switched his head from arm to arm, and leaned over to gently lay him to rest. I hovered my hand on his back; I softly rocked him from side to side; and again, ever-so-slowly I lifted my hand off his back.

This is not the first time I have run into deep frustrations attempting "the switch." As a younger non-sleeper, he at least readily accepted his nook (pacifier). Now, it largely remains on my pinkie away from his protesting mouth while we rock. But tonight, predicting failure, I must have moved the nook to my mouth, and as I rocked him and tried to perform my best disappearing act, the inevitable occurred: I stood to creep away; he flinched and the gig was up.

I realized the picture was backwards. Obviously, the pacifier does more good in his mouth than mine, but also, I realized I am doing a whole lot of learning about awesome technology use in the classroom (thanks to those teachers I have met with and those who I stay to watch when called in for a little troubleshooting), but this picture is backwards, too. Why am I gaining more than other teachers from my observations and conferences with classroom teachers? The list is long for things I am excited to try when I get back in the classroom (next semester), but I need to do a better job of getting the ideas and creativity from the teachers I observe into the lenses of all teachers.

I came across an article titled "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" in which George Siemens (2005) argues for a new theory to represent the way today's generation of students best comes to know. Whereas various earlier theories approached learning as largely gained through experience, thinking, or internal, individual construction (behaviorism, pragmatism, constructivism), connectivism approaches learning as a social activity rooted in both experience and individual thinking, as well as the thinking and experiences of the group, and in addition, the digital tools that afford social learning within the group.

Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.

Back to my in-class observations, as I said, I am getting a lot of benefit, and humbly, I hope that my insights help further the work of the individual teacher, but at the same time, I know we all can be benefiting from the knowledge and creation occurring in classrooms to adjust to the new ways in which our students gain knowledge.

The first portrait I would like to offer up is of Anita's senior history class this week as they came to understand elements of the Whiskey Rebellion. The overall goal was for two teams to create newspapers for each side of the argument: Federalists and Democratic-Republicans.

Extended Learning: Slideshow from Ms. Lau's Government Course, Los Angeles Unified School District

Federalists vs. Republicans

The students struggled through difficult articles on the rebellion for homework, but in class, when divided into teams, they eagerly approached putting together newspapers that reflected each side. What I love about the way Anita setup the argument lies in the freedom she creates within the structure. She gave the students an expected outcome, told how each member of the group needed to have a role in the final product, but also allowed the freedom of how and where the product would be created totally up to the students. This autonomy of both providing choice to students and creating structure so that each student knew he or she would be held accountable for his or her part in the final product reached even the students who have shown little interest in classroom activities.

Here are two of the end results after a single class period of work:

The Federalists




The Democratic-Republicans



I call this the many paths to the top of the mountain philosophy, and I think it is crucial to engaging students with technology. Within this framework, of course, there has to be a solid foundation of checkpoints, clear guidelines, and clear criteria in which you will be assessing the work, but ultimately, look at the amount of learning that is occurring. Students are no longer the passive sponges of knowledge; they get to get their hands dirty; they get to think about the constructs of our current society and evaluate whether or not they would have fit the values, expectations, practices, and culture of the former - who's to say that in private Jefferson wouldn't have used the word "stupid," particularly if he had a phone to text it. At the same time, look at the skills necessary for navigating not only the analysis of text, but then the potential for the evaluation of resources, critical thinking skills required to bring two text in contrast with one another. All of this cannot be done in a single class period, but with the use of technology, it allows the teacher to spend more time on the genesis and practice of these skills while the technology takes care of the output.

During class, Anita did not need to be at the front of the room, obviously. With the students engaged in the material, she was able to walk around and do what research proves is most effective, working one on one with students, assessing and giving feedback in the moment.

Huxley had already sat up in his pack-n-play by the time I had retreated the two steps to his side. After hoisting him (he is a big boy) I was back in the rocking chair, but cleverly, in his sleepy state, I snuck the nook into his mouth, thereby making the second transfer successful (...until he awoke forty minutes later).

Who has the pacifier? I don't want it to be just me, so I hope that there will be more who will join me in sharing classroom ideas, getting them out there, encouraging each other, motivating, connecting, and feeding off each other to explore new ways in which we can reach students, engage them, and ultimately leave them with something (nay, many things) memorable.