Everybody loves snow days. If you teach in an area where it does not snow, you are really missing out. It is a day that causes students and teachers look forward to each winter. With my immersion into the world of social media I used this snow day as a day to engage and learn from other educators. To me snow days have become Twitter Days. My other choice was to shovel the driveway. Since I would need clearance from a cadre of doctors, I opted for Twitter.
I require my college students to be involved with a private Ning site that I created for the class. A Ning site is similar to a Private Facebook site. It was actually the model for The Educator’s PLN, http://edupln.ning.com/. Since we had two snow days in a row and next week contains a holiday, I will not see my students in their seats at schoolhouse for awhile. This means that I must be a little more creative and use the ning site to engage them, so that we may continue to grow and learn.
I shared this endevour with my Personal Learning Network on Twitter. I love the ability that I have to connect with my students 24/7 without regard to walls or distance. I acknowledge that I am working with college students who all have technology access. This is a big plus for me and not a factor enjoyed by all elementary, or secondary teachers. It should however, be a direction for education to take. Getting the technology to students might be less of a problem than trying to change the culture for this to be successful.
Two members of my PLN forced me to consider a few things on this snow day of twitter exchange. Jennifer Ansbach, @jenansbach, a secondary English teacher from New Jersey and Brian Nichols, @bjnichols, a forward thinking Elementary Principal in Virginia are two respected educators who add value to my PLN by thoughtfully and respectfully exchanging and challenging ideas.
After reading my tweet about using a ning, because I had no access to the schoolhouse, Jen tweeted about her plan to engage her students at home with a Webinar delivered by a Ustream feed. This is another great way to deliver material to kids outside the schoolhouse. Jen’s students balked at the proposal stating that they felt it would be “creepy” for their teacher to see them in their homes. It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t work that way. Thank god. But it does point out the need to change the perception that learning can only take place in the Schoolhouse.
Brian was asked by someone to give his perspective on some educational topic and Brian was questioning what impact or value an elementary principal’s perspective would be in a discussion. This is a principal who supports teachers who have third graders blogging. His perspective could very well enlighten people about things that they do not yet know about.
As educators we read about education and its history quite often. We have come to understand that American towns were centered and built around the Schoolhouse, library, and Church. I would suspect a saloon or two was also in the mix. The idea being that people needed to get access to the information held within those places. Saloons were a different need.
Today schoolhouses are often a source of pride or tradition for communities. People pay a big price for them, so people feel that they should be showcased. There is a history in many communities of generations attending school in the schoolhouse. The schoolhouses are getting bigger with more bells and whistles, but there are question that need to be answered. Are schoolhouses getting better? Do bigger and more elaborate schoolhouses provide better learning? How far have we come from the little red schoolhouse with the rows of chairs and the chalkboard at the front of the room. The teacher’s desk was always up front to maintain order. Take out the Franklin stove for heat and the Little Red Schoolhouse looks almost familiar when compared to many schoolhouses today.
Now, I need to assemble all of the pieces of this jigsaw of a post. Although schoolhouses are considered institutions of learning, in the course of a person’s lifetime much of the learning for that individual will take place outside the schoolhouse. Learning is not confined to the schoolhouse. That concept flies in the face of our priorities, since we spend so much money building bigger, and better schoolhouses in the hope of bigger and better educations for our kids. This has been imprinted on our culture. How do we change these perceptions, for perception is reality?
We need supportive educational leaders like Brian to continue encouraging teachers to engage their students in learning anytime and in any place. Encouraging and teaching kids at an early age gives them the tools and skills to go further on the secondary level. Secondary teachers like Jennifer will not be met with resistance from students or parents when proposing learning outside the schoolhouse. I am not proposing technology driven homework assignments, but a shift in an approach to learning.It will come to be expected by students and parents As these students get to the big red schoolhouse of college, they will be learning on their own with the guidance of their teacher without a need for the chalkboard, rows, teacher’s desk, or the Franklin stove of the old model.
There are so many other obstacles to overcome before this can change. Equal access to technology, professional development for teachers, professional development for administrators, and professional development for parents are all necessary to begin to change the culture. We need to look at our schools as schoolhouses that may be limiting learning and not encouraging it. We need to understand that we do not have to travel to the schoolhouse to get the information. The information now comes to us anytime, anywhere. We may however, want to now consider where to place those saloons.
My Island View 
This connects to one of the conversations that was going on last night at #ptchat about including parents in their child’s learning. One of the ideas that I really liked was having the collaboration that we are teaching the students include their parents. Can we create activities that draw on the knowledge of the parents to support the learning of their children? It could be pages on a wiki for sharing about their cultures or their school experiences, or posting a photo and asking for comments/reflection, or having a book sharing page. We need to be building as many connections for students as we can, and using the systems that are already in place can move us beyond the idea of Schoolhouse Learning as the most legitimate.
I am shoveling and PLNing! Great Snow Day!
I almost completely agree with your thoughts. Change is often so difficult for many of us. You are speaking of a paradigm shift, I think, and how do we move from ‘what has been done’ to exactly what you are suggesting here? These ‘shifts’ can cause panic among folks who are more comfortable with ‘things’ staying the same.
In education, I often wonder what causes the resistance to paradigm shifts. Here in Wisconsin we have often heard of new ideologies, strategies, and shifts in administration but it never seems to fully get to ground level. Why? Many times I am enthusiastic about ideas or strategies, but then they never seem to materialize.
Elaborate schools on the surface don’t change the learning happening inside classrooms and, in this case, outside the classroom. 🙂 We all need to keep thinking forward.
Technology is linking us in ways we never imagined possible. In 1967 I got in trouble with my Sociology professor for writing a paper proposing teaching machines in the classrooms. We sure have come a long way!
I was always a proponent of the fact that learning takes place everywhere. Having the wonderful technology of today takes us out of the traditional little red schoolhouse.
Distance learning has taken off and it will only get better. Once, as you so wisely stated, we remove the obstacles the sky is the limit in terms of how learning will take place on a global scale.
I cannot wait to be able to smell the roses using a computer!
The continual erosion of instructional walls opens up infinite possibilities for discovery. 24 hour access to a constantly changing and open information feed creates the need for a new skill set; the practice and mastery of which will most certainly take place in locations both inside and outside walls composed of brick and mortar.
As students stive to become masters of discernment and coordinators of complexity, I am sure there will be a need for an occassional saloon or two. Forward thinking requires us to do something different than we have always done; or continue to get what we have always gotten. Thanks for the thoughts!
P.S. It’s also a rare snow day here in north Texas…8 inches and counting…
While reading your last paragraph – about equal access to technology – and this particular concern I hear about often, I always think back to my time in school. For me, it was the weekly current events “report” that I had to write based on a clipping for the newspaper. Problem was, we didn’t subscribe to a newspaper in my house. So every week, my parents had to take me to the local library where I could read the paper, photocopy an article, clip the copy, glue it to lined looseleaf and write about the 5 W’s and the 1 H.
No teacher, at the time, cared that I did not get a daily paper delivery. They told me to figure it out and get the assignment done…and I never missed one.
Not advancing the use of tech in schools today is much like my story. Tell these kids to figure it out. Anyone can get a free email account and then walk into their public library to check it, to use the computer to create something, log into a school CMS, etc. The equal access to technology “excuse” is being put up as a barrier by teachers/admins who don’t want to change. Sure some can’t afford technology, but plently of accomidations can be made. How about keeping school computer labs open after school hours? I did that back in the late 90’s at the school where I worked and the room was almost always full.
Additionally, for those students who may not have a computer at home, we need to find out if they have a cell phone with web access, text msg capability, etc. Push content to them (or their parents) there as well.
-Brian
Since it never snows where I am, I take the summer shower time every Thursday at 5pm, to find out an interesting blog to follow. I stumbled upon yours through twitter, fortunately.
Thank you!
This has been a snow WEEK for me and I have used the time similarly. I have been trying extend my classroom beyond the four walls and 45 minutes for the past year with some success. My students have managed to get the assignments done even though not all have easy access. The excuses are about as common as those for a broken printer when papers are due!
I think all of the places you mention (schoolhouse, library, church, and yes, even the saloon) have something in common: they are social places where we learn from each other. While the methods, ideas, and “content” are different, I would argue that learning does take place in each. What you and your students are doing with the ning adds another “place” to that list.
Building on our edchat this week, this is one of the essential outcomes of my classroom: that students want to continue learning about or with concepts and tools that we use in it. I haven’t completely made the mental shift necessary for this to happen as shown by my use of the word classroom. I’m thankful to my PLN and others on Twitter for helping me advance in becoming a more effective educator.
I read something the other day (most likely a tweet) that said “If We Didn’t Have Today’s Schools, Would We Create Today’s Schools?” The easy answer is no. Today’s schools do not match up with the skills our kids need for tomorrow. That has truly resonated with me throughout this post. Anything is possible with a committed group of people who are willing to advocate for what is right for all kids. Leadership will be the critical component in transforming schoolhouses across the world. Learning does happen anytime, anywhere. Thanks for contributing to my learning.
SNOW days are GOD ordained IMHO! I was able to catch up and get ahead during our 3 days away from school this week My students and I always have contact this year through googlewave and our school website. Technology is encouraged at our school. I am blessed with both wired and wireless in my classroom. The kids can bring their laptops for discussion and posting on googlewave and my personal laptop is always available during class for those students who are unable to access at home. Our only problem has been parents who ban their children from the internet. (for discipline issues)
The one room schoolhouse was blessed with an unmarried teacher who was able to spend more hours visiting families and helping her students. Luckily, with technology, teachers are now able to spend more time with their students. It is this extra time that causes many teachers balk.
I think many people have access to equal technology, the problem is that many teachers do not embrace technology in the same way as the kids. I like the idea if kids connecting from home, seeing their teacher online and learning while a physical classroom. Most of what the kids learn today is from computers, from Youtube videos to social networking sites kids are engaged in things that interest them.
In the last paragraph you mentioned professional development for staff members which i believe to be a greater need to be filled as opposed to access to equal technology. I believe the teachers hold the students back as many do not have the skills required to make this happen.
The Schoolhouse as the learning institution is a topic that really touches my heart. I live in a rural area. Believe it or not, I attended a two-room schoolhouse until fourth grade. That little schoolhouse is the very place where I began to dream about being a teacher.
Boy have things in education changed since then! (But look at how the world has changed.) In my high school senior English class, we actually got to use Acewriter computers with floppy discs for research papers! (That was 1989). Since 1990, look at what the world of technology has delivered. (Some good, some bad).
The final paragraph of your post speaks volumes! The first thing we need to do is grant equal access to students. But right behind that is training parents, teachers, and entire communities. I see so many students become disadvantaged because their parents either don’t know and/or don’t care. The world has changed and many of our students live in a world where they are forced to help with family finances. Survival takes precidence over anything else, education included.
So how do we instill the importance of learning? It is a total paradigm shift for cultures and communites. To realize that one can learn 24-7 is a novelty. Obviously the profession of teaching needs to make these changes. Furthermore, our society needs to embrace that change and embrace the fact that education is more than passing tests. It is about the process of “learning,” and this can happen in a multitude of ways (many of which I am still learning about.) I still believe in the schoolhouse; however, I believe that we can teach beyond those walls too.
Thanks for this post, and thanks to everyone for the comments.
I have to agree with the people that talked about the issue of “equal access to technology.” Students can figure it out, as Brian said. We do have computer labs, and public libraries.
Resistance to change is, in my opinion, the bigger problem. I shared some of the stuff I had been reading about using iPods in the classroom, and having wi-fi. The students themselves were resistant! They said things like, “Nothing will get done,” and “people will just be texting all day.”
And I said to them that I am tired of having those who misbehave, or who refuse to take advantage of what’s offered ruining things for those who are the go-getters and want to move ahead.
I’m tired of waiting around for something to change.
And I am SO tired of hearing how we can’t afford what we need. When are we going to get all the stakeholders – educators, community, college admissions reps, and business leaders – to sit down and decide what we’re supposed to be doing, and then pay for it?
Education, like golf, is a frustrating, wonderful, demoralizing, invigorating game that I love hate.
Snow days are AWESOME for personal development! You’ve usually already got a lesson planned (for just in case circumstances) and if they call it in the morning, you’re also already up – might as well get (net)working!
Another great post. I really like the comment from Brenda Smith:
“The first thing we need to do is grant equal access to students. But right behind that is training parents, teachers, and entire communities. I see so many students become disadvantaged because their parents either don’t know and/or don’t care.”
I couldn’t agree more. Equal access is very important. Sure there is the public library, but not all students can get there without parent assistance (transportation). One day *every* household will have a computer and internet access and when that happens lookout!
Only other comment is an editorial one, capitalize “God” in paragraph five 🙂
Just like your tweets, your blog rocks!