Nocking the Arrow

"Autonomy is what distinguishes between personal learning, which we do for ourselves, and personalized learning, which is done for us." - Stephen Downes Why is feedback critical to learning processes? Why should the learner be at the center of the feedback process? Where within Schoology can personal feedback be shared and leveraged by learners? What do paper airplanes have to do with personal learning and feedback? Premise On the second day of the SchoologyNEXT-19 conference, more than 100 adult learners gathered to build paper airplanes and discuss these questions. Here’s what we learned. Those who’ve attended my sessions know I subtly push the envelope, taking some risk, in the hopes of the transfer of the unique experience to professional learning activities and classroom adventures. If we don't want passive "sit-n-git" in our classrooms, then we should design conference sessions and staff meetings to model the active learning we...

Are you a good learner? "You've got to really want to play because your fingers don't do what they're told." says acclaimed guitarist, Mark Knopfler . His uniquely brilliant fingerstyle playing is the product of desire, determination, and practice - lots and lots of practice. Like many successful musicians ( Eric Clapton , Prince , Elton John ) Knopfler is primarily self-taught, meaning he has achieved mastery without formal training. His lengthy obsession with playing folk and blues style music trained his fingers to become, as he says, "orchestrated like those of a piano player." Providing provocation in style all his own, Will Richardson , as part of a Change.School conversation asked, " Are you a good learner? How do you know? " The backdrop of this discussion was challenging our assumptions of what we believe about schools. Stripping away the superfluous, educators should be sprouting and nurturing learners.  Reflecting on who I ...

You're watching television when a restaurant commercial appears showing beautiful images of delicious meals. Your mouth waters as you gaze upon juicy meats, steaming fresh vegetables, and beautifully decorated desserts. Everyone in the commercial is smiling because their wildest expectations for a tasty meal have been met. " Looks delicious, let's go! " Reality drops a heavy hammer as your anticipated restaurant meal falls drastically short of expectations. The food bears little resemblance to what you saw on TV. People aren't nearly as happy or friendly as the one-minute memoir suggested. In short, there's a dissonance between the shared story and the reality of your experience. Disappointment. "Everything we do tells a story," said Will Richardson during this week's change.school focus session.  Considering school stories, do our actions match the verbiage of our mission and vision? If school climate is chilly, we should start by re...

Is " learning " a noun or verb? Every dictionary tells us it's both. However, more and more, we see the word learning used as a noun. Should we be concerned about this? In a quest to gain a deeper understanding of learning in schools I have been reading samples of school vision and mission statements. Ideally, in a participatory age, learning lives as a verb. While many school missions omit the word learning entirely, others use learning as a noun paired with some other academic activity related more closely to achievement. Achievement, a term indicating successful performance, is not synonymous with learning. In a recent change.school roundtable discussion, Will Richardson , always quick with a provocative question, asked, " Does school achievement guarantee future success? " My mom says the only guarantees in life are death and taxes, so of course, I answered no.  The conversation was aimed at defining learning, and the point was the words learning ...