To throw a monkey wrench into our school/teacher/parent thinking, this is the article to read!

The Paradox of the Anxious Parent by Dr. Michael Thompson, Ph.D.

There isn't anything more I can say today...

Cheers - Mike

Bill 44, enshrining parental rights protection, passed third reading this week. The School Act didn't cut it really. This bill states parental rights much more clearly.

There is still a lot of pro and con talk about it, but it is done, so now is the time to see how we work with it. Really, students haven't changed, parents haven't changed and teachers haven't changed. Life goes on, schooling goes on. There is nothing to fear here, but the fear-mongers are commenting and blogging about the possible negative aftermath, which I am convinced will never happen. When you read the comments you see how much intolerance and close-mindedness there is from people who apparently regard themselves as free thinkers. Wow. Not really.

Have a look at this story and the comments in the Edmonton Journal, and see how much hate comes through. From adults? Well, in form perhaps... And, from what I can see, all males. The females who are commenting certainly have their opinions too, and are polite about it. And yes, a few males do comment politely. Good for them. Interesting. Notice how the intolerant come down on those who don't agree with them. Thousands of years, and we haven't learned how to get along with each other. Heck, apparently for some, being considerate and polite is not the way to treat each other. No such thing as an open debate here - it seems to be a you against me attitude, which has been going on for far too long.

What is it - because we're human each of us thinks we have the ONLY answer? Frankly, I applaud the politicians for having the gumption to pass it through. It will help take the confusion and fuzziness out of "rights" - of parents, teachers and indeed, students.

Now parents have options and teachers have options. There is nothing drastic here. There is nothing that will affect a student's "critical thinking" skills. Good grief! Talk with the kids - they WILL surprise you!

I think we will see that all this hullabaloo is really much ado about nothing.

Cheers - Mike

PS: Not all teachers are perfect, not all students either. In another blog I will bring up some points and real world examples of each.

From my research, it appears that most disciplines are sharing at least these issues - 21st century teaching, learning, skill sets, resources, methods, support, technology, conferencing, collaboration, retention, motivation (both teacher and student), opportunity and reward.

There are no solutions. There are problems raised as awareness is raised. Trial and error seems to be leading the way. It seems students are learning in ways the education community can't keep up with. Well, perhaps. A faster response to a rapidly changing student environment is necessary. Unfortunately, curriculum changes are usually approved from the Department of Education and on down from there. Some schools have a little leeway to play with, but not enough.

Students are being exposed to a huge amount of information, in many forms. I watch my students and see them "turn off" school and play/learn with their palm-sized computers, like the iPod Touch. And learn they do! But not what we teach them. We try to teach them enough to use as building blocks but sometimes we have to bring them down from the clouds so that WE can assess their comprehension. It turns out, most of the time, that they are ahead of us because they can multi-task so well. We don't even see it. And they take it for granted.

It seems to me that teaching has to come from at least two directions at the same time. This is the challenge for teachers.

Cheers - Mike

Podcasting, (definition and considerations) is a great tool for recording and disseminating teacher's lectures and for students listening to lectures on their own time. As well, using MP3 audio files is good for sharing what could only be considered boring if in written form. Podcasts normally are available as an RSS feed.

There are many more educational MP3 files available than there are available as podcasts. Consider this workshop summary, hosted by the Canadian Education Association, which includes the presentation of the panel discussions in MP3 format. Now you can get into the conversations of the participants. Not a podcast, but made available none the less.

In the Medical Education field (I won't be digressing much into this field) Dean Robert Golden, at the 2006 Curriculum Transformation Retreat titled "Separating the Baby from the Bathwater" spoke about A Vision of Innovation for Medical Student Education at the University of Wisconsin.

Most podcasting for educational purposes seems to be teacher lectures made available online just for the students of that particular teacher.

Many more public domain education podcasts would be nice - and rewarding as well. Here is a link to a page of education related podcasts called, Podcast for Teachers. It does have quite a few links to school podcasts.

Podcasting resources - a site called, Podcasting in Education. Good site, check it out. And from the Online Education Database, there is this collection of courses and links.

The US Army certainly takes advantage of podcasting, as this site shows.

For Canadians there is this site, called Canada Podcasts. The Prime Minister's official website offers MP3 announcements at the PM's website. They are under the Audio Centre link on the right side. The Canada Business Audio Workshop has numerous audio files available as well.

Finally, even the White House does podcasting, video podcasting seems to be preferred. Here is the link.

The students I know would much rather make videos for YouTube display. Audio podcasting seems too - non-interactive. Videos are much more interesting and fun to watch, listen to, mimic, chuckle at antics, etc. The students I know have made their own videos and uploaded them to YouTube. Even some school band concert videos are there as well. But this is students for students. However, having said that, instructors should consider using a lesson plan for their podcast and use voice inflection just as if they were speaking to a live audience. It keeps it interesting. The one really good reason for an audio lesson is that a student can concentrate on the voice and have no other distractions. Learning can take place in more depth because a difficult lesson can be replayed until it sinks in.

Using MP3 technology for lessons is good and podcasting the lesson is good (because you can set up an RSS feed to get them automatically as they become available).

So don't hold back, get those lessons on a podcast and your students will/may thank you for it (if they miss it in person)!

I took a very small poll of some students and they would much rather see the teacher teach in person. But if that is not possible, then anything else that still gets the lesson to the student would be good.

Good luck and good teaching!

Cheers - Mike

PS: For Edmonton teachers/Instructors: If you don't know how to make an audio file for podcasting, or need help hosting a podcast, let me know! I'll do my best to help you.

There are a number of well thought out websites providing information for teachers to help integrate 21st century skills into the curriculum.

To start we have the Partnership for 21st Century Skills presenting Route 21, a website offering information, resources and tools for teachers and educators. This is a must see site. There is so much to read, so many resources for teachers and educators!

From a blogger known as 21st Century Teacher, we have this excerpt from her blog: "Curriculum is the what of teaching. It becomes important at that point, when creating the curriculum, to have a grasp of 21st century skills. Instruction is the how of teaching. Understanding the 21st century skills in instruction becomes using knowledge to infuse 21st century skills into teaching."
She then refers to Route 21, "Route 21 describes in Curriculum and Instruction ways to meet the needs of the 21st century learner to achieve student outcomes described in its Framework".

A good start above and there is a lot more to see. I will just show a few examples. Here is one which is an Online Course of 7 Essential Questions, Big Ideas and Activities from Chad C. Osborne. Quite interesting... a must read...

Even Adobe is trying to give Microsoft a run for its money by sponsoring a number of initiatives. More here.

There is so much available that you may want to check this Google search. Google search for teaching the 21st century curriculum.

Here is a good resource called, Facilitating 21st Century Learning. A lot of information here.

A fascinating study called Psychological Bars To School Improvement should be read by all. Even though it was written almost 10 years ago By Douglas H. Heath, it is still applicable. Perhaps even more so today than before.

Finally, from the Conference Board of Canada we have this document, Employability Skills.

Good luck and good teaching...

Cheers - Mike