Cultivating Authenticity in Learning

A slightly altered version of this post entitled "Learning Like Never Before" is cross-posted at the Huffington Post.

Let me start off by saying that I work at an incredible school. When I came to New Milford High School in 2004 there were many amazing programs in place.  One was the Holocaust Study Tour.  This global learning endeavor provides some of our students the opportunity to travel to Europe for at least 10 days and study the Holocaust in depth. This authentic learning experience cannot be reproduced in the classroom.  For detailed information on the program please visit The New Milford Holocaust Project.

Technology now allows the students and staff at NMHS to share in the authentic learning experiences taking place in Europe (Germany, Poland, Czech Republic).  Last year we launched a blog where the students in Europe chronicled and reflected on essential questions, focusing on a dark time in human history.  Meanwhile, students and staff back on the campus of NMHS are using the blog as a catalyst for a variety of other learning experiences.  Some teachers even have their students respond to the posts each day.  The first Holocaust Study Tour 2011 blog post should be up tomorrow so be sure to check it out.

　

Skype has also brought a whole new element to the program. Prior to the trip, students Skyped numerous times with their guide who resides in Israel.  This year we even Skyped in a Holocaust survivor to our elective course on the topic.  I use Skype to keep in contact with my teacher while on the trip and to sometimes converse with the students about what they are learning.  We also encourage our history teachers to Skype with the study tour if the times can be worked out.  At our District Open House this Thursday, I plan to Skype the group in from Europe to kick off the event. The theme for the event is appropriately centered around what it is like to be a student in the 21st Century.

　

It is an exciting time to be in education. Technology has really added a whole new dimension to learning.  Schools that confine themselves to a bland curriculum, textbooks, worksheets, or learning activities that do not go beyond the walls of the brick and mortar building are really doing a disservice to their learners.  In a society that is now globally connected through easy to use and cost effective web 2.0 tools, opportunities to engage and make the process of learning meaningful to all students has quickly become a reality. Teachers now have at their fingertips many tools to add a global context to any lesson. For example, Skype in the Classroom is a free community that assists teachers in establishing connections between teachers in different countries to help their students learn. 　

Unfortunately, many schools across the country block blogging tools and Skype as well as a variety of other web 2.0 technologies that foster creativity, collaboration, problem-solving, and communication skills. Schools have not evolved in step with societal changes. In order to best prepare out students, we must move away from an industrial model of instruction and let go of control in order to meet the diverse needs of today’s learner. This will only happen when schools realize that technology is not the enemy and when combined with passionate teachers and visionary schools the end result for students is learning like never before.

Empowering Students to Be Self-Advocates

Right before the holiday break I was contacted by Dwight Carter, the Principal of Gahanna Lincoln High School in Ohio. He wanted to pick my brain about technology integration strategies that I have used at New Milford High School in New Jersey. Somewhere in our conversation that spanned multiple areas of educational leadership, we talked about how we regularly meet with groups of students in our respective schools. The goals of these meetings are to challenge the students to be catalysts of change and work to make their school the best it can be for them.


Suddenly the light bulb went off in my head and I asked Dwight if he would consider holding a joint meeting between our student groups using Skype. Even though he had never used Skype before, the idea was immediately enthusiastically embraced. Upon our return to school in January, Dwight and I set up a few Skype test calls to get him acclimated to the tool, set an agenda, and prepare our students for the meeting on Friday January 11, 2011. We originally had the meeting set for Wednesday, but my school was closed due to heavy snow. After all of the preparation and excitement there was no way we were going to let Mother Nature ruin this genuine learning experience that we had been working on for weeks.


Our meeting was held yesterday and the dialogue between the students of our two schools exceeded our expectations. As facilitators, we challenged the students to openly discuss and develop strategies that addressed increasing academic rigor/accountability and improving learning environments. The student voice is crucial in school improvement efforts and most often this group is excluded entirely. One of the overriding theses that both Dwight and I stressed to our students is that they must not be afraid to advocate for themselves if they feel that they are not being challenged or learning is not taking place.

It was difficult to listen and take notes at the same time as I was thoroughly engrossed in the student discussion, but I did mange to jot a few main points down in Evernote. In terms of rigor and accountability our student groups had this to say:

• Having a passionate teacher who makes the course challenging from beginning to end is essential. We want higher expectations set.
• Relationships between teacher and student are key.
• Instruction caters to all types of learners.
• Homework needs to be meaningful, regularly assessed, and directly linked to class content. Too many teachers give homework that is not relevant to the lesson and does not tie in at all.
• We learn more through interactive projects and our own successes/failures than through traditional means of assessment (i.e. note-taking, quizzes, tests, etc.).
• The learning process is a partnership between teacher and student. The students want and need a voice in how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning. 
• An interesting sidebar that came out of this was how the teachers dress impacts how seriously students take them.
• Students have to see a purpose to using technology tools in the classroom. They want to create content using technology.

For the last 20 minutes of the hour long meeting, the students from Ohio and NJ discussed learning environments. One thing they all agreed on was that classrooms need to move away from desks to more open, collaborative spaces. I actually threw in that if I could have my way all of the classrooms in NMHS would look like a Starbucks lounge (they really liked this idea). One issue they were split on was technology. As the conversation began, there were those students that stated they didn't want technology to be integrated into instruction because of their immersion in it outside of school. Then there were others who felt exactly the opposite, that technology plays such a huge part in their outside lives that in order to motivate them it should be widely integrated. Well students never let us down! By the end of the conversation they came to the same consensus that all of us in education have and that is that there needs to be a balance between research-based instructional techniques and technology.

GLHS is in the process of building a state of the art, three story learning environment that will blend traditional and contemporary (Starbucks) learning spaces, high powered wireless connectivity, project-based learning, and student voice/choice.  The facility will house up to 350 juniors and seniors who choose to select classes that offer creativity and project-based learning opportunities.  The conversation that took place between the New Milford and Gahanna Lincoln students describes perfectly what Dwight expects to see in the new building.  


The student-driven conversation left Dwight and I inspired to continually seek out the student voice in an effort to transform the teaching and learning cultures of our schools. As we learned, students want to be challenged, have high expectations set, and be provided with meaningful learning opportunities. These are challenges that both Dwight and I are ready to address head on. Once our time came to an end, we in turn challenged all of the students that their role is vital in this process and that they must become self-advocates to assist us in school improvement efforts. Based on the overwhelming positive feedback both Dwight and I received, we plan to continue facilitating conversations between our students while looking to expand the dialogue to other students in schools across the country and world.


Do the students in your school have a voice? Are their ideas respected and acted upon?

Wait Until I Tell My Mom What I Did in School Today

Hopefully the title of this post grabbed your attention.  As I was walking out of an eighth period class on Monday that is what I heard one student tell her friend.  As a Principal it was an amazing way to end the day.  I too sat in the same class as those students engaging in that conversation and am still in awe of how a little bit of technology could dramatically transform the learning experiences for our students. 


The state of NJ mandates that the Holocaust be covered at some point in the history curriculum.  In addition to this content being assimilated into various history courses, NMHS also offers an elective course on the topic.  On Monday January 10, 2011 our Holocaust and Genocide class Skyped with Peter Feigl, who currently resides in FL.  Mr. Fiegl's diary is found in chapter 3 of the book Salvaged Pages: Young Writers' Diaries of the Holocaust by Alexander Zapruder. The book contains a collection of diaries written by Holocaust survivors in which they reflect on their experiences and provide a glimpse into this dark period in history.  For the entire period students had the opportunity to ask questions they had prepared.  Here are some examples followed by some of his summarized responses:

• Of all the experiences, which had the most impact on you? Crossing the border into Switzerland in 1944.
• How long did it take for you to think about other things than the Holocaust after it was over? I have the ability to push unpleasant things in the back of my mind, didn't confront until we were in our 60's.
• Do you consider yourself Jewish or catholic?  This was a tricky question.  Here is a little history.  Father had him baptized Catholic in Vienna during 1937 to protect him from the Nazis anti-jewish policies.  The family then fled to France in 1940.  After his parents were arrested in 1942 he began to write a diary for them.
• When did your children find out about your diary? Diary was originally confiscated in 1945. Shared amazing story of how he eventually got it back in 1982 from a collector of WWII items who purchased it at a flea Paris flea market in 1947.
• Do you think that after everything you have been through, has it made you a better person and how? All I can say about this is that his response was very compelling and emotional.
• Did you ever meet any of the other children you hid with or those that hid you after the war? The answer was yes and to the surprise of the teacher and class the survivor resided in NJ (Colleen Tambuscio, the teacher of the course, is now on a mission to find that survivor and connect him with the class).
• How did you feel about the Neo-Nazi that killed the black security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum last year? Discussed the root of hate in certain people.
• Where are the original diaries today? Donated to U.S. holocaust Museum

I found Mr. Feigl to be extremely articulate and he was able to recall events with clarity and detail.  It is one thing to read about historical facts and discuss them in class, but why be satisfied with just that?  With the integration of technology and a passionate educator, an authentic element can be constructed in a way that engages learners like never before.   Don't we wish for all of our students to go home excited to tell their parents what they learned in school each day?



For media coverage on the event click HERE.