{"id":35,"date":"2014-10-21T01:30:12","date_gmt":"2014-10-21T01:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/?p=35"},"modified":"2014-10-21T01:38:23","modified_gmt":"2014-10-21T01:38:23","slug":"frost-on-the-brain-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/2014\/10\/21\/frost-on-the-brain-in-october\/","title":{"rendered":"Frost on the Brain in October"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Is<\/a>
Is this the moment when I choose a new path?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yesterday’s\u00a0first meeting of the third season\u00a0<\/em>of Cohort 21 was a very positive experience, overall. \u00a0It’s always great to be reassured that no, you aren’t the only one out there doing this edtech stuff, and no, you aren’t crazy for thinking that it can be beneficial for the students in your care. \u00a0The people were great. \u00a0We were forging new connections, and learning about some great tools for our teaching kits. \u00a0 All positive, all good.<\/p>\n

At the end of the day, we came back together from our breakout\u00a0groups for a bit of wrap-up and some explanation of the upcoming year. \u00a0And then it happened… \u00a0The question was posed, ‘So, why do we use edtech? \u00a0What’s its purpose?’ \u00a0And there it was. \u00a0The question that I can see on the faces of sceptical colleagues. \u00a0The question I am asked\u00a0during parent meetings. \u00a0The question that asks me to look deeper at what I do and at the teacher I have evolved into. \u00a0The question that, if I reflect honestly enough, I think might lead me to a professional metamorphosis if I’m not careful (or should that be if I’m lucky?).<\/p>\n

This shift has been brewing in my mind for a long time now. \u00a0In fact, its initial spark was probably ignited during my B.Ed. as the result of some pretty forward-thinking workshops on the future of education. \u00a0It has been smouldering\u00a0over the course of a decade as I first got comfortable with the requirements inherent in keeping a job, and then began to think about what worked best for my students. \u00a0While I haven’t been a very diligent reflector in terms of journaling, I think about my craft constantly. \u00a0More recently, it became apparent that there really may be a shift happening in some areas of education when I attended the Building Learning Communities conference organized by Alan November. \u00a0There\u00a0I discovered educators who truly embrace\u00a0the ‘who owns the learning’ philosophy. \u00a0They allow student choice and encourage student voice. \u00a0They act as students’ coaches and mentors, completely comfortable with giving up control of the learning process and outcomes to their students. \u00a0I was in awe. \u00a0It felt so right.<\/p>\n

Of course, as often happens when you attend a great conference or PD and then return home to the daily grind, a lot of the inspiration and momentum of that amazing week was lost. \u00a0The demands of anxious parents, intense\u00a0administrators, deadlines and home life left\u00a0the brilliant utopia of student-centred learning trampled in the dust. \u00a0I managed to squeak in some positive\u00a0changes to my courses, but the overall practice hasn’t evolved. \u00a0And now here I am at the beginning of a journey with C21.<\/p>\n

Two paths are diverging.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can see the answer to the question, ‘why is the current educational system flawed?’ \u00a0By now we’ve all heard about how the industrial model that doesn’t require students to be able to think<\/em> in order to pass<\/em> is outdated. \u00a0But what’s been done with that knowledge in the last ten or twenty years? \u00a0In essence, the methods being used in most classrooms around me are the same as they were when I was the note taker. \u00a0Sure, those notes may look sexier because they are\u00a0delivered via SMART board, and written on a ridiculously powerful machine. \u00a0But that’s just using a very expensive blackboard or\u00a0pencil. \u00a0It hasn’t transformed the process of teaching and learning. \u00a0Meanwhile the world outside the classroom is moving on, changing at an ever increasing pace. \u00a0Although we’ve been given the technology, we have not yet changed our mindset to fit today’s learner. \u00a0For that reason, today’s students’ needs are not being served. \u00a0They are not being prepared for the world that they will inherit. \u00a0Something has to change.<\/p>\n

This might be where I take the one less traveled by.<\/strong><\/p>\n

So the question is still hanging there, unanswered. \u00a0Why edtech? \u00a0What does it bring to the table? \u00a0Although I am not certain of anything at this point, I have a hypothesis that I think I’m going to work on this year through my C21 experience. \u00a0Until now, I may have recognized that there was a better way to do teaching and learning, but I had no idea how to get there<\/em> from here<\/em>. \u00a0What I’m beginning to see is that technology is going to be my bridge. \u00a0My hope is that edtech is going to take me from a classroom that exists between four walls to a classroom that knows no boundaries and is connected through collaborative projects to classrooms from around the world. \u00a0My hope is that edtech is going to allow my students to have a voice that is heard by an audience larger than one. \u00a0My hope is that edtech is going to help me put the focus on the students, and let me be the coach. \u00a0My hope is that edtech is going to help me give back the learning.<\/p>\n

As I consider taking this road that may lead to a complete revolution in the way I approach teaching, I am glad to be in good company with my C21 peers and mentors. \u00a0I am also going to be relying on my administrators and colleagues to pick me up and dust me off when I fail but to believe and have faith that each failure will bring enlightenment. \u00a0For my part, I vow to laugh at myself, keep an open mind, and try to encourage\u00a0others to find their own\u00a0pathways. \u00a0This change has been a long time coming, but I think I may finally be ready \u00a0to believe in myself and take the first step. \u00a0If I can do that, then it will make\u00a0all the difference.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s\u00a0first meeting of the third season\u00a0of Cohort 21 was a very positive experience, overall. \u00a0It’s always great to be reassured that no, you aren’t the only one out there doing this edtech stuff, and no, you aren’t crazy for thinking that it can be beneficial for the students in your care. \u00a0The people were great. … Continue reading “Frost on the Brain in October”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":39,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6,7],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-face-2-face-sessions","tag-edtech","tag-pedagogy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/77"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/melissaramon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}