25 Hour Learning Challenge: October 2016

I lived an enchanted life as a child, in the picturesque town of Boulder, Colorado. One of the many perks of living there was the easy access to decent, (relatively) affordable skiing. I didn't grow up knowing that skiing was for the elites. Saturday mornings, my parents bundled me onto the YMCA bus with a bunch of 5th and 6th graders with sack lunches and mismatched gear. We drove and hour up the mountain to a small ski area that no one would ever deem a "resort."

Arriving at the ski area, we would make the awkward trudge in our rented boots to our lessons. The first lesson was key; how to ride the ski lift without injury or undue embarrassment. Then, once atop the bunny hill, we learned, without poles, to make a wedge with our skis, make airplane arms, zig-zag down the hill, and how that same wedge could help us stop.

Mastering these basics, the patient instructors who clearly had a passion for the sport, moved us on to falling and, more importantly, getting up. By lunchtime, we could passably manage these foundational skills, and crucially, had the whole afternoon until the bus left to practice on our own. Having time to practice a small set of newly acquired skills seems to me one of the biggest reasons for my success.

Each week, we added another small skill or two, progressing to using poles, then skiing with our skis together, stopping with our skis closed, skiing intermediate slopes, taking moguls, then advanced slopes. By the time I finished several winters of these lessons, I was a solid skier who loved the sport. Today, I am a good skier who loves to ski, even though, as a Southern Californian, I hardly ever do. But, on those few occasions when, as an adult, I have skied, I realized the foundations learned in those early years are second nature, and I have been back on the slopes without a hitch (though the next day's soreness is another story...)

Another important aspect was having friends to practice with. Our parents signed us up together, so the learning was necessarily fun and social. For me and my style of learning, at least, that was helpful. Along with that, having friends around made the process less intimidating. I am not a naturally graceful person, and when you add skis and pounds of secondhand mittens, hats, and parkas, I'm downright ridiculous. That, for a middle-school aged person, could be a nightmare. But having Lydia and Genji just made it funny and fun.

Having time to practice, patient knowledgeable instructors, a "low affective filter," as Krashen would say, including supportive friends, made this an ideal learning experience. The skill I learned, while not necessarily an important one in the greater scope of things, was learned well and learned for life.

More recently, I have learned how to incorporate technology into my daily instruction. Though technology has been a part of the classroom as long as I can remember, it was more of a tool for the teacher to use to disseminate information. When I started teaching in 1994, we used overhead projectors daily, visited the computer lab weekly, and showed films and videos from time to time.

Technology naturally advanced, and overheads evolved into docu-cams, and my personal classroom computer became a means of showing videos, powerpoints, and other information. As each new technology was added, teachers were often just handed equipment, possibly with a cursory training. It was through trial and error, as well as collaboration, that we were able to put these new technologies to effective use in our classes. Without being able to share ideas, help each other troubleshoot, and work together to create content, the rollout of each new gadget would have been much less effective.

Two years ago, my district provided one-to-one ChromeBooks for all students. This was yet another example of when something new is handed to us without much preparation or planning, and as a staff, we figure it out. As I mentioned about, the element of trial and error is important for learning to happen. Teachers try things out, share what went well and what didn't. Students learn that teachers make mistakes as our assignments don't properly load onto GoogleClassroom. They, and we, learn flexibility, when the internet goes out, we shift gears and go out to P.E. But, students are learning to take more control of their learning, and that the teacher is not the only font of knowledge.

Now, students are able to take their ChromeBooks home, and that is a new aspect for teachers to learn about how to make work for the students. We will do this by collaborating, both online and in person, and through trial and error. The things that I have learned for certain about technology through these last 22 years is that it will change and that I will make mistakes.

Though these two learning experiences are extremely different, the have some basic similarities. First, the learning started out in my "zone of proximal development," as Vygotsky would say. As new skills were learned, they were built upon and made more complex. Another similarity is the importance of peers, whether for support, ideas, or both. Finally, the opportunity to practice a lot, to make mistakes and learn from them is what makes both of these experiences successful. For me, being able to practice in a low-stress environment where I can commiserate and collaborate with peers, is the ideal learning model.

Krashen, S. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition.

Vygotsky, L. (1987). Zone of proximal development. Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes, 5291.

25 Hour Learning Challenge

Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Module 2

Sunday, October 16, 2016

Module 1