Stories by Tom Lademann on Medium

Puzzled about Teaching Online?

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 06:16:00 GMT

Along with toilet paper, I understand in the spring of 2020, puzzles were hard to find. People were looking for things to do that would take a while, and I suppose puzzles were it. I have a few pretty neat puzzles on the shelf at home, some cool ones I picked up travelling that I was stoked to do. I didn’t need to rush out and join the line up for puzzles — I was set.

I am JUST starting a puzzle now, and it’s December. The Covid experience is a little different for me. It turns out I didn’t have more time than tasks. I also didn’t have time for all that blogging! But that is for a different story. This one is about puzzles, or at least it will start that way. You see for the past three weeks I have been staying with my parents. Covid season was perfect timing for the medical system to decide that it was my Dad’s turn for a new knee. Since he does most of the “heavy lifting” to keep the parental household going and I live some distance away, the only solution we came up with was for me to move in for a bit while he recovers. And that, is also another story.

I am doing a puzzle now — 1000 pieces. I gave my parents this puzzle a few Christmas’ ago in the ever searching quest to give my Mom something to do. I discovered it was still in shrink-wrap in a closet. While watching my Mom sit and re-read the same books day after day, I resolved to do two things. I went to the library and got her some different books, AND I suggested, “Mom, let’s dump this thing out and try it.” Mom spent about 10 minutes finding the edge pieces and has decided that puzzling isn’t for her. At least she is reading new books.

So the puzzle is strewn all over the dining room table. I can tell you that after sitting in the evening and listening to Dad complain about how long it takes to recover from knee surgery (he’s 84 now and up to this point hasn’t spent a night in the hospital — this recovery thing is a bit new). Mom’s focus is on her books; I have come up with two choices. Work some more (thanks, I did tons of online work during the day) OR do the puzzle. It turns out you can be in the same room as other folks while everyone does their thing, and it’s quite an excellent way to pass the time — an odd but comforting sense of togetherness.

By now, you are wondering — “Where are the nuggets of edTech truths in this article? Tom usually writes about those.” Correct, and we will get there. Patience, puzzling is something that requires TONS of patience (there we are getting started!) My Dad can build model train layouts, but he insists he would have thrown those silly puzzle pieces to the floor by now. Ok, so puzzling takes a certain kind of patience.

Yesterday I held some ‘office hours’ online for teachers I coach. Like those teachers who also hold office hours for their students, I thought I might be staring into the Google MEET abyss for the entire 2 1/2 hours I set aside for it until DIG DONG — someone “rang the door,” and I let them in. We had a great chat about how things were going, and this teacher asked some timely questions, to which I hope I gave her some good advice. We had no fixed agenda; the meeting was relaxed and natural. She left with some concrete ideas to try. I had some excellent ideas about what to focus on in an upcoming webinar for her team! A perfect example of “Office Hours.” There are several reasons why this half-hour interaction was fruitful — let’s unpack a few.

What does this have to do with puzzling? It isn’t about the picture on the box after all. The process of going through and looking for the pieces that fit is the zen of this endeavour. Yes, there is an absolute satisfaction of seeing the picture come to life, and I suppose if you don’t like the picture, you are working so hard to make it happen won’t be as rewarding. To puzzle, you need to put in the time. You need to get to know all the pieces; you need to try things out and be prepared to put them back on the table. You need to have patience and take a break. Stop do something else and come back to the table later on. You won’t finish 1000 pieces in one sitting — if you do I suggest you need more pieces or a 3D puzzle or one with just water!

Mom asked me — “…so how do you puzzle?” That was an interesting question. Beyond giving her the task to find the edge pieces, I wasn’t exactly sure what advice to give. My primary puzzle experience is with preschoolers, and my “strategy” there is pretty straight forward. I was SOOO tempted to GOOGLE “how to do a puzzle?” but I resisted and just started in on it. At first, it was a ton of moving pieces here and there.

Teaching online is like puzzling. It turns out you won’t figure it out in the first, second, third … (4 months later) GOOGLE MEET. To teach kids online, you need the same ingredients that I discovered have worked for ‘office hours’ or the PLC’s I am leading, and it turns out these same strategies are practiced during puzzling.

Puzzling has only been going on for me for the past three nights. It’s been a peaceful activity that I can do in the room with my parents, and everyone is ok just hanging out in the same space. It has given me time to ‘think’ not just about the puzzle but about how to solve other problems. It is teaching me patience and rewarding me with little glimpses of the big picture. (Oh my goodness, I am practicing MINDFULNESS!) It helped me realize that it’s about the journey and not the end, like most things.

Teachers take heart. You are working in an ecosystem for which most of you are not prepared. The government may have well told you ‘teach under water tomorrow.’ Our leaders didn’t have many options, and in the mad scramble to figure it out, they dumped out a box of tech pieces asking you just to push harder to make them fit. STOP doing that! Instead, lay them all out, pick them up and ponder what part of the picture is this. Oh — and they also forgot to give you the box lid; we don’t know what the picture is. Let me help draw that for you — it starts by building (or rebuilding) the relationships online. Doing so is ‘similar’ to the way you do in the classroom, but different enough to mean you need to develop some new strategies. You can GOOGLE “How to teach online,” but that will not replace putting in the time to create your style — that will reveal to you that there are 1000’s of pieces to this picture. It would help if you were a participant in some online learning — watch what works and what doesn’t. It would be best if you lurked in each other’s classes online. STOP trying to replicate the school day and your physical classroom (that’s a different puzzle box and not one for these pieces!) START holding smaller ‘sessions’ where people can pause, take a break and return to the ‘table.’ These are parts of what the puzzle box of online learning would have on the lid. I don’t have the full picture yet, but I am working on sketching it out, so I have a better idea of where the pieces fit.

Distance “Education”

Tue, 31 Mar 2020 02:23:00 GMT

We all are beginning to learn the meaning of distance. The most impressionable commentary about ‘social distancing’ for me has come from a recent Instagram post by Brian Zahnd — a pastor and author in the US. He mused that we shouldn’t call this social distancing, rather physical distancing . He’s right. The catchphrase that everyone from politicians, health officials right down to your friend next door is using does imply we shouldn’t be in our regular social modes. It doesn’t accurately describe many of our interactions this week.

I’ve used technology to meet “face to face” with people who I usually would have texted, called on the phone or sent an email to. We are physically distant, but socially, we are connected — more than we’ve been in a while. A common set of sentiments this week could be summed up in this paraphrase. “We should do this FaceTime thing more often — and wow, you can turn the phone horizontal for a better view of the folks on the other end?? I am learning so much about meeting online!”

Distant yes! Are you socially connected? For the moment, perhaps more purposeful than ever.

A month ago, a meeting of educators discussing technology would have no doubt involved a discussion about how much screen time is too much. I often begin my workshops with an article that challenges teachers to reflect on how technology is rewiring their students’ brains or how directly deploying a tech tool isn’t going to solve a pedagogical challenge necessarily. My aim in using these articles is to highlight that technology needs to be seen as a helper and a tool in a complex process, a process that they need to continue to be vigilant over and that needs THEM and their expertise to make good choices. It is with this frame of mind that we then dive into learning some new technology tools. The desired outcome is for them to find the most appropriate fit for the technology they are learning with me. So, would this workshop now change? Would I put those articles away and dive headfirst into a long list of APPS designed to fill the gap in our students’ learning that they will miss while not in school? NO — I would not.

None of my reasons for using these as opening discussion thoughts have changed. Technology should not replace the teacher. Distance learning isn’t a ‘switch’ you can flip. Distance learning is HARD WORK. It’s hard to develop meaningful lessons online, it’s hard to evaluate student progress and it requires motivation and dedication on the part of the learner to want to dig in and learn something new without the teacher in the room gently prodding them on. I am a true believer that distance learning should be part of a BLENDED approach. Students need a social connection to their teacher and to classmates. That connection is more comfortable to achieve and maintain in a classroom. The Fins have relationship entrenched in their education system. All master educators that I know realize how vital building relationship is and that without it motivating students to learn is a monumental task.

Why in this crisis is the focus on building curriculum packages and helping the parents of our scholars turn their homes into distance learning pods? I have seen edTech companies falling over each other in my email to offer schools FREE access to their learning platforms. I have witnessed teachers sharing lengthy lists of websites for parents to choose from to help their little ones learn to read. I have been asked how best to construct an online delivery environment, and what the new things are that we need to purchase to get this going fast. I have NEVER seen the desire to learn how to use conferencing software burn so furiously as in the past week! All this miracle tech has been around for a long time. We in edTech have been trying to get you to see how to integrate it into your learning toolset. Ironically it takes a ‘virus’ to motivate people to learn the platform. But please take a PAUSE and don’t just roll it out to fulfill the mandate of “learning now must be rolled out at a distance.”

I believe that now is not the time to push new curricular goals forward. This physical distance will end, and when classrooms resume, this experience will change them. What will not change however, is that learning in a room with peers and a skilled teacher is indeed the best environment for many. The key to leveraging this social connection is strong relationships. So, in this time of physical distance, we need to find ways to nurture those relationships.

The online learning you need to build must work at keeping that connection alive. We are lucky that this didn’t happen at the beginning of the year! Call up a random person on FaceTime and instantly strike up a socially connected conversation with them. Now, do the same thing with a person who you’ve known for years. I am willing to bet the ‘social’ connection is markedly different. Your online conversations will be more profound with the people you know. You can more easily talk about the past, the present and project to the future with someone with whom you are connected. Your students are not that excited about your LA worksheets or math games. They want to feel connected and know you are still there for them. You have the luxury of already having some social connection with them — leverage it.

This doesn’t have to be overly complicated. You don’t have to try and replicate your classroom environment online and get everyone in a ZOOM call. You can just record a video of you being real. Read something to them, show them how to bake buns, take them for one of your lonely walks and show them some pictures of things you haven’t really noticed before in your neighbourhood. Encourage them to send back ‘evidence’ of them finding cool ways to wait out this period of staying home. Take some time to write, record or create something personal to each student. Never before have you had the luxury of time to do that. Your digital notes could include gentle encouragement and a curated list of selected suggestions of online things they might consider exploring. You are the teacher — don’t flood them with options; instead, give them a specific set of supplies and a roadmap to start them on their adventure. Challenge them to share a learning journey back to you in a way that works for them.

We are distant. But we are not asked to stop being social. We have exciting technology options to maintain our connections. The real “education” piece we can develop is figuring out how to maintain our relationships. I challenge you to be creative with the form that this takes. It’s ok if it takes time — you’ve got a bit on your hands now.

Distance “Education” was originally published in edTech-coach on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The New Normal?

Mon, 16 Mar 2020 15:00:00 GMT

Monday marks the start of new work week. A chance to define those to do’s and to tackle that project. An entire week is ahead, it’s open for possibilities. Today we in the western world are waking up to a new normal. This Monday is defined by the past week of uncertainty, of what it means to be in the thick of a pandemic. Today a lot of people will wake up, make coffee and go to work — at home.

We are told that in varying degrees we need to be prepared for a new normal. Nothing that we do as we go about our day will be untouched. Working, going to school, shopping, socializing, visiting loved ones, traveling — all our daily activities and interactions are now different. All have a new element of personal and public safety in mind. But before this feels ‘normal’ it's going to feel off.

Remember your first day of school, of post secondary, of work, of marriage of any routine changing event? Were you completely settled from the moment it began? I seriously doubt it. Sure, sometimes there is an excitement of how new this is and how it challenges you. But the honeymoon phase (or the panic phase) doesn’t last forever. There are ups and downs as you adjust. The difference between these events and now? The fact that SO much is changing at once.

Just work from home. All classes are now online. Stop greeting each other with handshakes and hugs. No matter if it's a small habit or an all day activity, it takes time to adjust. While there are certain habits that require immediate change to ensure that we flatten the curve and keep everyone safe — other habits should be given some time and space. If the only ‘work from home’ or ‘distance learning’ you have done has been sporadic and done as an add-on to your day, doing it as a regular routine is going to take time. Give yourself some time to figure out how this is going to work.

Begin by establishing a space within your home that is a place of work. Creating this physical boundary will help your subconscious realize that this is ‘work’ time. It also helps others who are going to be home with you see that you are working. Define your tasks. Bring some of the normal from before into your new routine. Pick small workflows to accomplish in a similar manner. The home workflow is going to be different but the idea is to help normalize by being able to do things you do at work. Review your email, make some calls or work on a project document. Next you need to work on connecting with others at work.

If you are used to getting up and meeting at the coffee machine or chatting with people in the hallway, you need to find a new way to do that. Don’t try to replace this with texting or instant messaging. Pick up the phone or even better try video calls. The change here is that you don’t want to encourage everyone to spontaneously barge in on you. In the workplace there were cues that you were busy (sometimes people ignored those too) but now when we are in seperate locations people don’t have much of a clue. Tell them — or together plan to meet at certain times. If you lead a team, make this an agenda item.

Oh, and then there is the issue of tech. The tech you have at home may not be the same as the tech you have at work. While a lot of workflow is in the cloud — some of it is still ‘on premise’ and may not be able to be done without some other sort of remote access technology. Go easy on your IT team — they are no doubt scrambling to bring applications and scaling the network. However, don’t try to ‘go it alone’ without involving your IT folks. The temptation might be to sign up for all sorts of ‘free’ conferencing offers and try out new ways of doing projects. You could be opening yourself up to all sorts of new security challenges and end up scattering your work all over the place. This might be a time to try out new online tools — but this isn’t an urgent switch. Part of what you and your team might do this week is ‘meet’ (online) to build some of these new work habits. Reach out to those of us who’s normal it is to work remotely or from home. We are willing to help!

The new normal will take time to become … normal. Many have speculated that with so many shifts happening at once we will come out on the other side of this with a changed society. Old habits die hard. But change can be good. Together we will get through this — we might even discover that we can be more compassionate and connected even though we are maintaining some distance.

The New Normal? was originally published in edTech-coach on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

Where are the Games?

Fri, 09 Nov 2018 17:25:00 GMT

Managing technology in the classroom

I was in Grade 2 and Grade 4 classrooms yesterday and the eager students were awaiting their new devices and APPS. I completed some primary care and feeding orientation on how to treat these new devices and finished giving them a lesson on choosing a memorable and safe password — then we handed them out! The students dived in and configured their password and reached the desktop background. “Where are the GAMES?” asked one eager scholar. I pleasantly replied that we are not going to use these to ‘play games’ — you could hear his heart sink.

To be fair though I did ‘gamify’ the next step of the lesson. We used a popular website “Kahoot” to play a game that I used to help me determine how well students were able to navigate the keyboard and trackpad functions. There was math, geography and science all peppered into the ‘game’ that we played and we often stopped to talk about the correct answers to the quiz questions my Kahoot presented. The lesson is also designed to help the teacher see how they can take what I have seen many teachers use as ‘eduTainment’ and use it as a real learning activity. After the Kahoot we embarked on a writing project and then got into some keyboarding drills — the hunting and pecking in the room was enough to make my typing teacher cringe and run for the hills! (More on this in another blog)

“But teacher — can I download a real game?” — Sorry no. The entertainment factor of technology is addictive. So much so that real “work” software also includes gamified elements in the hopes that the developers can lure you into using their tools. Education isn’t immune to this — many of the apps have serious game elements in them to keep the young ones amused as they learn. Earn stars, and level up are all tactics used in the name of engagement. The jury is out on whether this methodology is a useful learning pedagogy. I am confident that someone can comment that they have a study that proves it isn’t, followed closely by the post of the research that shows it does — either way, I am using my ‘teacher’ senses to help prove or disprove this right in the classroom.

I advocate that NONE of these apps should be used to keep kids ‘busy’ until the teacher is ready to move on to the next lesson. The deployment of tech in the classroom should have a purpose, meaning and should be treated like any other learning objective. The primary question should always be “Does using this APP help move the student forward in their learning journey?” Screen time in the classroom is ‘precious’ learning time not to be wasted by playing another round of Bejewelled or watching that YouTube video of people smashing into walls for the 100th time. I help educators control the tech in their room. iPads only have the APPS on them that the teacher wants the students to use and we use management tools to help guide student learning on their Chromebooks. It may sound a little “Orwellian” and it invites the cries of “where are the games??” but these tools help teachers do what teachers have always been in charge of — maintaining a guided learning environment.

Where are the games? I am sure that they are on your device at home (or in your pocket!), but here in the classroom, the tech we use is here to help you learn. Sometimes they might feel like a game, and sometimes the app you are using is just a means for you to tell me a story or paint me a picture. I value the screen time you have here at school, and therefore I will choose to make sure its used wisely.

Where are the Games? was originally published in edTech-coach on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.