To help encourage conversations and dialogue about reflection, consideration, questioning, and curiosity, our topic/question for the dinner table is: What question is on your mind this week? Questioning (Week of 12/11/16) (This is an anonymous Google Form)
With the cold weather we are experiencing, it is clear that winter has arrived - I always get a kick out of our anticipation (myself included) of potential snow and wintry weather as we looked ahead this past weekend to the Monday morning commute! After enjoying a nice time with the Blake staff at our holiday party Friday afternoon, Katie and I headed into Brookline to get together with some high school and college friends that we had not seen in a number of years. After another holiday get-together Saturday evening (yes - a more social weekend than the norm for Katie and me!), we had a relaxed Sunday afternoon with the kids.
This past week at Blake was one that I feel touched on the essence of our community, as we collectively engaged in a wide range of endeavors - student connectedness survey, professional development for staff, chorus concert, Hour of Code, all amidst our lessons, units, and meetings to address how to better support, enrich, and challenge our students. It is a busy time of year and I so appreciate the sustained level of energy that is tangible in our building.
With the 2016 calendar year coming to a close in the next few weeks, I look forward to reading the 'end-of-year' posts full of reflection and resolutions for 2017. As of late one of the more pertinent 'themes' I am seeing, reading, and experiencing is the topic of 'questioning' for students and educators. With so much information at our fingertips and discussions about the needed transformation in the education realm, it is a topic we should be sure to explore - the idea of simply focusing on the questions rather than on the teaching of the answers. It is not uncommon for me to end up with more questions than answers after a meeting, discussion, or professional development, and I have come to really understand, appreciate, and welcome that reality.
This week I simply want to share two posts that I came across this week and connect to this notion of 'questioning'. The first is posed as an explicit question and the second is one that left me with much to think about and more questions as well. And, that is my hope for everyone as well - that they can spark some interest, perhaps challenge some thinking, and present more opportunities for questions and discussion. It is the same we hope for our students every day.
How Has Google Affected The Way Students Learn?
by Zhai Yun Tan (@zhainatyun) in MindShift
Tan's post is from earlier this year (February, 2016) and her title is a question that I think is on everyone's mind. She highlights the work of Terry Heick, founder and director of Teach Thought, and I echo his recommendation to make our questions 'Google proof'.
But with so much information easily available, does it make us smarter? Compared to the generations before who had to adapt to the Internet, how are those who grew up using the Internet — the so-called “Google generation” — different?
...the Internet holds great potential for education — but curriculum must change accordingly. Since content is so readily available, teachers should not merely dole out information and instead focus on cultivating critical thinking, he says.
One of his recommendations is to make questions “Google-proof.” “Design it so that Google is crucial to creating a response rather than finding one,” he writes in his company’s blog. “If students can Google answers — stumble on (what) you want them to remember in a few clicks — there’s a problem with the instructional design.”
Real Parents, Real Talk About Kids And Screens
by Elissa Nadworny (@ElissaNadworny) and Anya Kamanetz (@anya1anya) in NPREd
Gail shared this post with the English department earlier this week and it is one that I think is worth reading and referencing as an educator and a parent. Beyond some data presented within the article, suggestions and discussion points are noted. At the end of the day, it sparks more conversation, questions, and topics worthy of more dialogue.
Research continues to provide some answers on how parents are navigating this world. Just today, for example, there's a new study out that looks at nearly 2,000 parents — who have kids ages 8 to 18. Among the most surprising findings: People with children spend, on average, 9 hours and 22 minutes per day in front of a screen: texting, tweeting, Googling, checking the weather. And despite spending a big chunk of their day with a device, most parents — 78 percent — told the researchers that they are modeling good media habits for their kids. The report's biggest takeaway? Screen time isn't going anywhere. So let's talk about it.
We don't think there's ever been a generation of parents that's been so thoughtful about what they're doing, but also sometimes nervous and whipsawed by confusion and by different sources.
Know that my door continues to stay open for questions, discussions, and feedback - I welcome all of it.
I look forward to the work that lies ahead for all of us.
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Take care.
Nat