Madsen's Musings

… to consider the future of your children.

I have narrowed my focus. Or maybe I shifted it a little? I dunno. Maybe I just clarified it in my head.

Regardless, this is what my focus is: How does technology amplify student learning and how can we increase equity to ensure all learners the same level of opportunity?

You can tell that I am swimming in a PBL pond by the fact that I wrote it as a driving question. (Either that or I think I’m on Jeopardy!) But even after all the thesis statements I’ve written in my life, I have come to appreciate the value of questions: they demand to be answered. So my video (gulp!) will endeavour to answer that question.

First, an explanation for what precipitated the narrowing/shifting/clarifying of my focus. It’s simple: I was watching my kids work. And I was digging what they were doing. And I was digging their enthusiasm. And I was digging the progress they were making as creators, as thinkers and as problem solvers. This is what school should aim for.

So my attention then shifted to the decision I’d been asked to make this week: who is my target audience and how will my project be crafted for that audience?🎯 As an English teacher, I drill home the importance of identifying audience and purpose because they guide all important decisions when crafting a piece of communication. So I know this is an important step. The problem is, it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

I was going to target parents with my project because my purpose was to convince them to get behind good, innovative programs: why they want their kids enrolled in them, and why they should pressure schools to innovate. This idea works great for my current context (ie: affluent, involved parents), but it would not really work as well to my former school community. Since part of my learning this semester has involved equity, I definitely want my project to advocate for improved classrooms for all students. So I am envisioning, instead of focusing on my audience, focusing on my purpose. In so doing, my audience becomes “stakeholders,” specifically those making school decisions and steering the direction of schools. In some districts (like mine) that might very well be parents who are vocal and empowered. But it also takes into consideration the small rural district where the boards (and to a lesser extent) teachers are the ones advocating for better learning situations. 

Since purpose is the key focus, I need to be sure of it: my purpose is to communicate the magic that can happen when we harness the power of technology to amplify our pedagogy and tie what results to the Ministry of Education goal of graduating “educated citizens” as well as real-world research about what the world is looking for in our graduates. What are the qualities and characteristics 21st-century employers are looking for? What does the world need from my students? And after I’ve convinced my audience of the magic, I need to call to action to bring that opportunity to more students.

Essentially, my audience is ideally parents, as who better to advocate for the children of this province? But there has to be an acknowledgement that there are students out there who don’t have that voice, and there needs to be somebody taking their interests up and advocating on their behalf. In some cases that might be teachers, and in some cases that might be board members. Or it might be the students themselves. 

This thought leads directly to the other challenge to solve this week: what is the plan for sharing this project? How can it be put to meaningful use?

Kids!

As I said in my draft plan, I want to incorporate my students into this project, both using samples of their work to show what’s possible as well as getting their insight into what a quality classroom looks like. But this is also a great opportunity to plant an important seed. Our goal as educators is  not just to engage our students, but to empower them. So maybe that’s the ultimate goal. If by showing them their voice matters by including it in my project, maybe I inspire them to help me further?

Some idea I had initially for publicizing (now that I just can’t Twitter…) were to communicate directly to parents. In my program, we frequently invite them into the school (for learning sessions, for exhibitions of students work), so I have a captive audience there, which is especially effective if my video highlights how what their kids are doing is great stuff. Parent “buzz” is pretty strong in our community, so this is a great way to get more people talking in hopes of bringing more “believers” into the “we can do better in schools” conversation. I also know that often PACs are all too happy to have teachers come to their meetings and share what is going on in their schools, so this is another avenue to explore, especially as I start to look at moving beyond the walls of my school.

And in the back of my head, of course, I’m thinking about equity. I’m thinking about those students who don’t have vocal, involved parents. In my previous district, at every monthly board meeting was the opportunity for a presentation of what is going on in schools.  These are ultimately the people steering the decision-making for districts, so who better to reach? This is where it’s useful to have forged connections with other teachers as I myself (from North Vancouver) can’t do it. But what I can do is create a tool that other interested educators can use to advocate for progressive programs for their kids.

This brings me back to the kids. They should ultimately be the best, most powerful means of communication. How powerful would it be to have kids make the presentation at the PAC meeting? Or the board meeting? I have seen kids present at conferences (including ISTE in Philadelphia 2015 and right here at CUEBC’s PSA day or the IT4K12 conference hosted by the former ERAC, now Focused Education Resources), and they are the best spokespeople. In teaching my students how to persuasively communicate, I focus on the art of rhetoric and teach them the importance of the marriage of pathos, logos and ethos, or emotional appeal, logic, and “believability or credibility” of the speaker. 

In terms of achieving my purpose of increasing equitable access to transformative learning opportunities through technology, the pathos is easy: appeal to the “why.” The kids. On an emotional level, everyone- parents, educators and hopefully policymakers alike,- all respond to thoughts of doing better for our kids, and hearing them speak for themselves (about their needs, about their learning, about their success), is more impactful than listening to an adult speak about them. It’s also inspiring to see them take the risk to speak to an audience. The logos comes in the use of student work to support good research. My video makes the case that technology engages students and amplifies their learning, and then the student work shows that. So maybe the video is a teaser and then kids talking about their learning and sharing their projects is the main course.
Certainly demonstrated success checks the “credibility, believability” box. 

This demonstration of student awesomeness then hopefully helps me with my puzzle of how to reach non-empowered student communities. Those who are in the audience (whether at PAC meetings or conferences) certainly want this level of student empowerment and awesomeness for the own students. Amiright?!