Becoming Teacher 2.0: Working Towards Being the Teacher Our Students Need
"When vision is put into practice, when who we want to be is constantly reflected in our practice,
then we can move closer to the better versions of ourselves and our institutions" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 15).
then we can move closer to the better versions of ourselves and our institutions" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 15).
First, let me give credit where credit is due. The title of this section of my reflection is a play off Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase's (2015) brilliant book, Building School 2.0 How to Create the Schools We Need. The book offers readers a quick but compelling read about building the schools our students need to thrive today. Chris' talk was one of the greatest highlights of the URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. His words were to true, so compelling, so inspiring I felt like leaving that day and starting my own school. One of the most lasting themes of Chris' speech was the encouragement to be students of our own practice. A practice he echoes in his book, when he and Chase write, "we must be scholars of our own profession...we cannot blindly follow whatever trend is hot this week, changing when the trend fades and leaving schools always playing catch-up" (p. 23). This idea of learning, unlearning, and relearning what it means to be a teacher is mentality I will hold throughout my career. If I am encouraging my students to be lifelong learners, I should be doing the same. Brianna Crowley's (2014) article "What Digital Literacy Looks Like in a Classroom" urges all persons to develop, to learn/unlearn/relearn. She writes, "students and adults alike benefit from guidance, instruction, and practice" (Crowley). In my experience, one of the benefits of digital literacy in a classroom is that everyone learns from each other (a point I will reference later).
Working toward becoming teacher 2.0 is my biggest takeaway from the 2016 URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. The lesson came to me in an unplanned, unscheduled, off-hand conversation with Chris Lehmann. After his talk, I went up to speak with him about my fears of: entering the field as a new teacher, the reality of my middle school student teaching experience being PARCC prep, and the potential challenge of wanting to incorporate digital literacy into my future classroom but lacking the resources. Chris kindly listened as I listed my concerns. I then asked for his advice about what to do as an emerging teacher under the circumstances and challenges. When I finished, he looked at me, laughed and said, "well, you just do it. You be the teacher you want to be, the one your students need. Be the teacher or parent who demands more for their classroom or for their school. Follow your gut because if you've got your students' best interests at heart, then your gut is right. Just do it, you'll be fine." For obvious reasons, this conversation sunk into my mentality and did wonders to shrink my fears of entering the field. Later that week while I was daydreaming about my future, I imagined a likely scenario many teachers face, lack of support by their peers or by their school. I quickly began imagining being the odd ball of the school, being the teacher who lacked support from others, and being the teacher my students need -- as opposed to being the teacher my district needs, or the PARCC test needs. Chris' words from our conversation stirred in the back of my mind while I feared not being able to impact my students enough to make a real difference. Later, while reading Building School 2.0 How to Create the Schools We Need, I came across the quote, "by implementing an idea on a small scale where you can nurture it and improve it along the way, you will be able to cultivate success" (p. 167). These words were exactly what I needed to hear. These words helped solidify Chris' message in my mind and into my teaching philosophy. Over the course of the week with everyone at the Summer Institute, I went from not having the confidence to bring digital literacy into my classroom to feeling like my classroom won't run without it. I so look forward to next summer with everyone at the Institute. Maybe by then, I'll have a teaching job lined up and be eagerly working towards being the teacher my students need.
Working toward becoming teacher 2.0 is my biggest takeaway from the 2016 URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. The lesson came to me in an unplanned, unscheduled, off-hand conversation with Chris Lehmann. After his talk, I went up to speak with him about my fears of: entering the field as a new teacher, the reality of my middle school student teaching experience being PARCC prep, and the potential challenge of wanting to incorporate digital literacy into my future classroom but lacking the resources. Chris kindly listened as I listed my concerns. I then asked for his advice about what to do as an emerging teacher under the circumstances and challenges. When I finished, he looked at me, laughed and said, "well, you just do it. You be the teacher you want to be, the one your students need. Be the teacher or parent who demands more for their classroom or for their school. Follow your gut because if you've got your students' best interests at heart, then your gut is right. Just do it, you'll be fine." For obvious reasons, this conversation sunk into my mentality and did wonders to shrink my fears of entering the field. Later that week while I was daydreaming about my future, I imagined a likely scenario many teachers face, lack of support by their peers or by their school. I quickly began imagining being the odd ball of the school, being the teacher who lacked support from others, and being the teacher my students need -- as opposed to being the teacher my district needs, or the PARCC test needs. Chris' words from our conversation stirred in the back of my mind while I feared not being able to impact my students enough to make a real difference. Later, while reading Building School 2.0 How to Create the Schools We Need, I came across the quote, "by implementing an idea on a small scale where you can nurture it and improve it along the way, you will be able to cultivate success" (p. 167). These words were exactly what I needed to hear. These words helped solidify Chris' message in my mind and into my teaching philosophy. Over the course of the week with everyone at the Summer Institute, I went from not having the confidence to bring digital literacy into my classroom to feeling like my classroom won't run without it. I so look forward to next summer with everyone at the Institute. Maybe by then, I'll have a teaching job lined up and be eagerly working towards being the teacher my students need.
Looking Forward
The quote on the right comes from Troy Hicks and Kristen Hawley Turner's (2013) piece, "No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can't Wait." The idea of advocating for digital literacy and reconceptualizing what it means to be a teacher pairs nicely with my reflection on the conversation Chris Lehmann and I shared. Hicks and Turner's piece is a fierce call to action for teachers and schools across the globe. With student needs at the heart of this piece, Hicks and Turner write, "students need -- and deserve -- for us to catch up quickly, to let go of the past, and to critically examine whether what we do is indeed supporting the development of their digital literacies" (p. 64). This ties in to the idea of unlearning, learning, and relearning what it means to be a teacher.
Hicks and Turner offer another call to action in their piece, "No Longer a Luxury: Digital Literacy Can't Wait" (2013). The two created a list of goals for "every English teacher, as a teacher of literacy, to work on" (p. 62). I expand upon their call to action and encourage all teachers, as literacy teachers, to take the following steps: |
The above three actions Hicks and Turner lay out are great steps for any teacher to take in order gain a deeper understanding of digital literacy before incorporating it into their classrooms. Hicks and Turner further encourage teachers to put themselves out there (come to the URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy -- you will be blown away, be an advocate for students (a point Chris Lehmann's conversation echoes), and invite students to take risks. I note that incorporating digital literacy into your classroom is a risk too. I hope to join students in that risk and dive into digital literacy together. After all, it seems digital literacy is not a path one should walk on one's own as the journey is strengthened by others. It is a journey to take with other teachers and with students as well. As Chris Lehmann writes, "the purpose of public education is not the creation of the twenty-first-century workforce, but rather, the concretion -- in conjunction with our students -- of twenty-first century citizens" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 6). Let us then become the teachers our students need, let us become teachers who teach citizens, not just subjects or grade levels. Let us go to conferences, learn from each other, be students of our own practice, reflect on our teachings, alter our teaching philosophies, and engage our students in conversations about their needs. Without any of these, reflection especially, we cannot grow. There is no growth mindset without the mind to set goals and put them into action. Let us join together, as a community of teachers and learners, to become teachers 2.0, the teachers our students so desperately need.
I look forward to the reflections ahead. I look forward to the 2017 Summer Institute in Digital Literacy and hopefully many more after that. I look forward to being a student of my own practice and giving a 150% to be the teacher my future students crave. I look forward to learning, unlearning, and relearning right along side them.
I look forward to the reflections ahead. I look forward to the 2017 Summer Institute in Digital Literacy and hopefully many more after that. I look forward to being a student of my own practice and giving a 150% to be the teacher my future students crave. I look forward to learning, unlearning, and relearning right along side them.
Everyone Learns from Everyone
"The schools we need see and appreciate each of these expert spaces, and the adults and children
in these schools know when to turn to experts as they work to turn into experts" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 264).
in these schools know when to turn to experts as they work to turn into experts" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 264).
Another takeaway from the URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy was the reinforcement of the idea that learning is social and collaborative. From day one of the course, Renee and Julie emphasized the idea of everyone learns from everyone, building confidence in all participants that not only were we here to learn, we were here to share, to teach. Before heading into the Institute, I was hoping for the opportunity to engage in the kinds of learning opportunities I hope to create for my future students. The kind of learning I am discussing is described wonderfully by Coiro, Castek, and Quinn (2016) in their article "Personal Inquiry and Online Research: Connecting Learners in Ways that Matter" when they write personal digital inquiry can engage students in "deep, authentic, and personally relevant learning experiences that foster[s] academic achievement, reflection, and civic engagement" (Coiro, Castek, and Quinn, p. 485). I quickly discovered the Institute would offer me so many different opportunities to engage in this type of learning and with a variety of different people.
On Sunday evening, I was delighted to discover Denise Oliveria sitting in attendance of the welcome event. I knew Denise already from when I student taught at Westerly High School, where she is one of the most loved English teachers on staff. She was not my cooperating teacher though, so our collaboration during that time was limited to weekly common planning time meetings or a quick question between periods. We quickly decided to be DYAD partners, noting her interest in exploring research for students and my interest in using technology to enhance learning could potentially fit nicely together. Under the DYAD group format with our task at hand, we got straight to work. The DYAD groups offered the opportunity for creative play, explorations, and problem solving as Denise and I strove to develop a number of different inquiry questions and potential solutions. In Hobbs and Coiro's (2016) piece, they reference Johnson's (2010) book Where Good Ideas Come From, noting creativity emerges when people explore the "cultural resources of the whole community ecology, remixing and connecting ideas" (Hobbs and Coiro, p.625). From the start of our DYAD time together, Denise and I were able to share our ideas with each other, ask our peers for their input, and meld our interests together. At the end of the week, our DYAD project (which we scaled down) was complete. We left the gallery walk with big smiles on our faces knowing the hard work we had done together had just begun. For Denise, she hopes to continue to look at the research paper writing experience and--in conjunction with her students--hopes to discover ways to make the research process feel more engaging and less like "jumping through hoops." For me, I might continue to explore the idea of using different digital tools to enhance and deepen the student learning experience while engaging them in opportunities to expand their digital literacies and potentially research and write about my findings for my masters thesis.
Luckily for all of us, the collaborative learning did not have to stop after Friday afternoon. With Twitter and the #digiURI hashtag, our learning can continue. As Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase note, "Social networking tools allow teachers to escape those physical spaces and curate networks of colleagues from across the world to help improve practice, augment resources, and build conduits of collaboration" (p. 62). Unlike the message of disconnection behind Marshall Jones spoken word poem, technology and interest in digital literacy brought us all together at the Institute. Tools like hashtags and Twitter continue to bring our community together. The #digiURI hashtag helps us share our ideas, share our questions with each other, and open our learning to the world. With technology, our community can continue to experience the 'everyone learns from everyone' phenomenon.
On Sunday evening, I was delighted to discover Denise Oliveria sitting in attendance of the welcome event. I knew Denise already from when I student taught at Westerly High School, where she is one of the most loved English teachers on staff. She was not my cooperating teacher though, so our collaboration during that time was limited to weekly common planning time meetings or a quick question between periods. We quickly decided to be DYAD partners, noting her interest in exploring research for students and my interest in using technology to enhance learning could potentially fit nicely together. Under the DYAD group format with our task at hand, we got straight to work. The DYAD groups offered the opportunity for creative play, explorations, and problem solving as Denise and I strove to develop a number of different inquiry questions and potential solutions. In Hobbs and Coiro's (2016) piece, they reference Johnson's (2010) book Where Good Ideas Come From, noting creativity emerges when people explore the "cultural resources of the whole community ecology, remixing and connecting ideas" (Hobbs and Coiro, p.625). From the start of our DYAD time together, Denise and I were able to share our ideas with each other, ask our peers for their input, and meld our interests together. At the end of the week, our DYAD project (which we scaled down) was complete. We left the gallery walk with big smiles on our faces knowing the hard work we had done together had just begun. For Denise, she hopes to continue to look at the research paper writing experience and--in conjunction with her students--hopes to discover ways to make the research process feel more engaging and less like "jumping through hoops." For me, I might continue to explore the idea of using different digital tools to enhance and deepen the student learning experience while engaging them in opportunities to expand their digital literacies and potentially research and write about my findings for my masters thesis.
Luckily for all of us, the collaborative learning did not have to stop after Friday afternoon. With Twitter and the #digiURI hashtag, our learning can continue. As Chris Lehmann and Zac Chase note, "Social networking tools allow teachers to escape those physical spaces and curate networks of colleagues from across the world to help improve practice, augment resources, and build conduits of collaboration" (p. 62). Unlike the message of disconnection behind Marshall Jones spoken word poem, technology and interest in digital literacy brought us all together at the Institute. Tools like hashtags and Twitter continue to bring our community together. The #digiURI hashtag helps us share our ideas, share our questions with each other, and open our learning to the world. With technology, our community can continue to experience the 'everyone learns from everyone' phenomenon.
Looking Forward
Everyone learns from everyone and with tools like Twitter, everyone can learn from everyone no matter their location. Beyond the learning implications for teachers, technology means "students can take on roles as junior experts in areas they find interesting" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 264). In my future classroom, I hope to use technology and digital literacy skills to offer my students an opportunity to engage in those learning experiences Coiro, Castek, and Quinn noted earlier. I hope to help build student's confidence in their own abilities and skills while helping them discover then amplify their voices. In my quest to become teacher 2.0, I will ask myself, "how can technology enhance, magnify, multiply, and transform those moments so that more children can feel that their learning matters and that their school matters everyday?" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 59). In doing so, I hope to avoid selling my students short or not offering them the technology opportunities that truly engage their minds and anchor their learning to the world around them. As Lehmann and Chase warn:
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
"Thus, the goal of inquiry-based learning is to develop engaged citizens with an integrated focus on
fostering individual growth, democratic participation, and social change" (Coiro, Castek, and Quinn, p. 485).
fostering individual growth, democratic participation, and social change" (Coiro, Castek, and Quinn, p. 485).
My friend Tiffany and I had an interesting tier one experience because we had already taken the Fall and Spring courses associated with the URI Graduate Certificate in Digital Literacy, but had not yet taken tier one at the URI Summer Institute in Digital Literacy. Since I had already gone through the coursework, and am a graduate of URI's Secondary Education BA, I was quite aware of the benefits of inquiry-based learning. Having already taken Julie's course in the fall, the benefits of inquiry-based learning were already planted deep into my brain. Further, the DYAD group and sessions of the institute reinforced the importance of an inquiry-based learning experience. Thus, the importance of inquiry is the third takeaway from my experience at the summer institute. I felt inquiry was planted in my brain but the Summer Institute helped it grow and flourish.
I loved going to Dr. Coiro's session on Wonderopolis because it inspired me to think about changing the language of research and questioning to simply, wondering. I immediately began imagining a section of my classroom wall called "Wonder Wall" where students could post their daily, weekly, or quarterly "wonderings." Students could embark on "wonder weeks" or longer "wonder journeys" where they could dive into research and a project relevant to them. I would hope these ideas could contribute to a classroom culture of inquiry. Further, these wonder experiences could offer students an opportunity for civic engagement. Coiro, Castek, and Quinn argue, inquiry offers learners the opportunity to "grow and change with opportunities to identify problems in their community, generate personal wonderings and engage in collaborative dialogue around these problems, and apply their knowledge by acting out solutions in ways that transform thinking" (p. 485). In addition inquiry "ideally leads to student action, through both creation and participation" (Coiro, Castek, and Quinn, p. 486). The benefits of inquiry are clear as it helps students engage in learning opportunities that are relevant to them and maybe even inspire civic action. It seems inquiry-based learning is a natural fit with the age of technology. Because of technology, students have the opportunity to learn outside the hours of a schooldays and outside the confines of their own classroom, just as teachers can learn from colleagues across the country or globe. Students [and teachers] are part of an "interconnected global community of learners with an increasing awareness of the world around them" (Coiro, Castek, and Quinn, p.485). A network I hope to participate in as both an audience and a creator in my never-ending, always changing journey to become teacher 2.0. |
Looking Forward
.In my quest to be teacher 2.0, I will strive to incorporate inquiry based learning into my future classroom. One way I can reflect on my inquiry-based teaching, is by using the Personal Digital Inquiry Framework (figure 5) and the Levels of Inquiry that Gradually Release Responsibility chart (figure 3) from the Coiro, Castek, and Quinn article. I will strive to keep inquiry as open as possible so my students have opportunities to wonder and create in personally relevant and meaningful ways. By incorporating inquiry into the classroom frequently, I hope to create a classroom culture of inquiry where no question is a stupid question. A classroom where I can teach students "that the world of ideas is a place where they can live" (Lehmann and Chase, p. 231). Overall, the Summer Institute was life-giving and intellectually fascinating. I am thankful to be a part of this community of teachers, librarians, professors, students, and above all, scholars of their own practice. Like minded people who, maybe too, are striving to be teacher 2.0.
Word Count: 2,659 (I'm sorry! I had such a good time I had to word vomit).
Works Cited:
Coiro, J., Castek, J. 7 Quinn, D. 2016. Personal inquiry and online research: Connecting learners in ways that matter. The Reading Teacher 69(5), 483 - 492.
Crowley, Brianna. 2014, October 29. What digital literacy looks like in a classroom. Education Week.
Hicks, Troy, Kristin Turner, K. & L.S. Fink. 2013. No longer a luxury: Digital literacy can't wait. English Journal 102(6), 58 - 65.
Hobbs, Renee & Julie Coiro, J. 2016. Everyone learns from everyone: Collaborative and interdisciplinary professional development in digital literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 623 - 629.
Jones, Marshall (2011). Touchscreen. [Spoken word poetry.]
Lehmann, Chris and Chase, Zac. 2015. School 2.0: Building the Schools We Need. New York: Wiley.
Works Cited:
Coiro, J., Castek, J. 7 Quinn, D. 2016. Personal inquiry and online research: Connecting learners in ways that matter. The Reading Teacher 69(5), 483 - 492.
Crowley, Brianna. 2014, October 29. What digital literacy looks like in a classroom. Education Week.
Hicks, Troy, Kristin Turner, K. & L.S. Fink. 2013. No longer a luxury: Digital literacy can't wait. English Journal 102(6), 58 - 65.
Hobbs, Renee & Julie Coiro, J. 2016. Everyone learns from everyone: Collaborative and interdisciplinary professional development in digital literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 623 - 629.
Jones, Marshall (2011). Touchscreen. [Spoken word poetry.]
Lehmann, Chris and Chase, Zac. 2015. School 2.0: Building the Schools We Need. New York: Wiley.