Moving spaces!

Hi there.

This is just to let you know that my blog will now be moving to shaunkirkblog.wordpress.com.

I will still post on this site sporadically, but the majority of any new activity is going to move to the new site which offers me a number of very useful tools.

Thanks for your continued support. See you on the other site.

The 5 Hour Film Project

How do you keep a group of 146 Grade 8 and

9 students occupied for an entire day? This was the challenge I faced this week.

On Wednesday, our school had a number of different activities happening that meant all the Grade 10 and 11 students were off campus doing either drama workshops or attending a pre-conference meeting at another Round Square school. The Grade 12s were given the day to make some serious headway on their ORTO (One Research Task Option) projects which constitute a large chunk of their year work for various subjects. This meant that there were a number of teachers who would be occupied either with the 12s or off campus with the other students and the 8s and 9s needed something to do. Enter Mr Kirk. 

Last year, when the idea was originally pitched, I tentatively used the name ‘iDay’, thinking that I would use the time to do some skills training—you know, 5 ways to maximise the effectiveness of Evernote or 3 ways Adobe Voice can be used as a study tool? However, owing to several factors, not least amongst which is the fact that such skills development stuff is rarely met with any kind of enthusiasm, I thought maybe something else was in order. Furthermore, many of the students, simply by following the ‘what does this button do?’ approach, have figured out ways to use Apps in meaningful and exciting ways. I’m sure I’ve got more to learn from them than they have to learn from me.

So, the question remained, what to do?

While I was wondering about this, I considered all the functionalities and Apps which did not require internet and which would enable me to group students around a common goal. The one that came up again and again was the camera, GarageBand and iMovie. Bearing this in mind, an idea began to form.

Last year, I had the privilege of attending the 48 Hour Film Project in Cape Town. The premise for this endeavour is that film companies gather on a Friday evening. They are then given a list of mandatory elements to feature, and then they are assigned a genre of film at random. After this, they have until Sunday afternoon to write, cast, film, edit and master their films for screening on the Sunday evening. It’s an ambitious project, and some of the end results were really amazing, especially considering the constraints the film companies faced.

Using this as a template, I put together an idea for the 5 Hour Film Project. Students were divided into groups of 15 by going through the Grade list and writing the numbers 1 to 10 next to the students. I mixed 8s with 9s to allow for a bit more interaction between the groups. Also, the 9s completed a section on making silent movies during their drama lessons last year, so I thought they could apply their expertise and simultaneously teach the 8s about what they’d learnt. 

After the groups were assembled, they were given the brief: create a movie that is no longer than 5 minutes long and which features ‘The Great Zamboni, Professional Juggler’, a key and the line, ‘Just a dream away’. The groups were then assigned random genres (drama, action, fantasy, adventure, crime, horror, romance, comedy, superhero, sci-fi) and that was it. The groups also needed to design a poster to promote their film. They had been asked to bring props and costumes with them, but they had no guidelines about thes

e and could use whatever they liked.

For the remainder of the day, the students kept themselves busy with brainstorming, storyboarding, scripting, filming and editing their films, and other students were tasked with getting the poster designed. Just about everyone was engaged and involved in the whole process and there was barely any teacher interaction required at all. People wandering around campus were met with screaming vampire-esque aliens running away from lazer blasters (Free FX for iMovie), wizards wielding their hockey stick staffs, dance offs, mermaids, terrifying school principals and sports stars all just getting on with what they needed to do. 

The day ended with a screening of all the final products which were incredibly entertaining, and considering the time they had to complete the task, pretty well polished. I will be running screenings in the Learning Commons during the week which will hopefully inspire the younger students.

All in all, the project demonstrated that when students have a clear common goal and when they are given the space to be creative, they rise to the occasion marvelously. There were no curriculum standards or lesson plans or marking grids necessary, and not once was I asked ‘Is this for marks?’. 

I feel this is a view into what modern relevant education needs to be: student centred with an emphasis on collaboration, and with teacher input only where it is necessary. They need to find their own way, trial what works and what doesn’t, brainstorm collectively and throw themselves into what they’re doing. If we can find ways to emulate this in all our subjects (to varying extents), then I think we’ll have more engaged students who are able to problem solve and think critically. 

I can’t wait for the next iDay!

Time to power up!

Empowerment is a cultural thing. It depends on the environment in which one is operating. Throughout my life, I have been directly involved with technology. I’ve been interested in it, and it has been something towards which I have always been drawn. As a result, I quickly became identified as a “nerd” or a “geek”. I spent afternoons working on the computer or playing games, and I became very familiar and comfortable with the systems. As a result of having done this, I have nurtured an attitude of giving things a go. You know, the space where you have the freedom to take a shot at figuring something out. I won’t get it on the first attempt, but I’ll give it a fairly good effort. I believe this can be attributed to years of trying to get programs and games to work, to repairing internet connections and on being exposed to new platforms. One has to immerse oneself to become capable and familiar with the material. Without having gone through the trial-and-error process, I do not feel I would be as equipped to work with digital media as I am now.

I think there’s a general assumption that often happens when one observes someone being good at something. I’m certainly guilty of falling into the trap of thinking that someone is just naturally gifted and that their talent comes to them without much effort at all. Really, the exact opposite is usually true: it’s hours and hours of working at the task that creates familiarity and, eventually, mastery and not just raw talent. Of course, talent plays a part in all this—aptitude cannot be ignored completely—but it’s the effort that is made that makes all the difference. 

None of what I’m saying is particularly new or revelatory. This is all stuff that people like Malcolm Gladwell and Ken Robinson have been writing about for years. What I think hasn’t necessarily been spoken about, though, relates directly to what I do for most of my working days: deal with getting staff and students to be more capable and empowered users of technology.

Any of us who work in technology know that much of our time is spent troubleshooting. It can range from something as simple as needing to change a setting on an iPad to needing to rebuild servers to ensure that essential services are running. Almost every day, I have students and staff members coming to see me to get their digital textbooks working, or their wifi configured, or their email set up or to sort out their wireless presentation software etc. While I am always glad to help with this, I’ve begun to realise that this is not actually educationally sound practice. 

I am, first and foremost, a teacher. Our jobs as teachers are to empower others, to help them to see their own potential and to enable them to do things that they did not know they were capable of doing. Often, to do this we must push our students to do new things. We have to provide the space in which they can work things out for themselves, and, in so doing, develop the ability to be more self-reliant in future. Taking over the task for them defeats the purpose completely and often has a negative impact.

Let me illustrate this with a personal example: when I was young, I often wanted to help my father with tasks. I would try to help with the gardening, or sweeping or painting, or washing the car, but always the story ended the same way: he took over and did everything. It was always quicker and easier for him to do the job himself, so that’s what he did. Eventually I stopped offering to help and when I was asked to do things, I deliberately did a bad job so that he would just take over and I could get back to whatever I was doing (usually playing computer games). I learnt nothing. And now when I need to do things around the house, I lament the fact that I haven’t learnt them. Luckily the troubleshooting mindset I have from working with computers means I have a method of sorting out the problem, but it would be preferable if I had a clearer frame of reference. 

So, now I’m starting to employ this in my own day-to-day practice. I don’t just take the iPad or mouse from the student or teacher, I talk them through the process, or I point them in a direction. For many people, computers and technology continue to be sources of intimidation and bafflement; otherworldly pursuits for select individuals who “get it”. The problem with this is that the computer stuff is not going away. It’s not even slowing down. If people want to be equipped for life in the future (and by ‘future’ I mean any time ahead and not some dark Blade Runner-eque world), they are going to need to know how to take charge of this technology and not be trumped by it.

As teacher trainers and teachers, we need to be empowerers. We need to create spaces where our ‘customers’ feel able to take chances, to investigate, to fiddle, to ‘see what this button does’. If we’re not doing that, we are not fulfilling the fundamental purpose of our job, and that is a very sad thing indeed.

We need to ensure that our strategies for staff development are focused on taking the fear away, on helping people learn how to troubleshoot their own problems and to give things a go. Once that culture has been created, those of us who are doing the training can spend more time on extending and showing people how to make technology an even more powerful teaching tool and how to move the curriculum in exciting and meaningful directions. We are all ‘computer people’ now, and the sooner we all start acting like it, the better.

Flow: A dichotomy in two Apps

I have a weekly ritual on Wednesdays: I browse the App stores to see what’s changed. Usually I find something intriguing or worth playing around with, but these are seldom really significant ‘Wow, my life has changed’ Apps. In fact, what often grabs me more about the Apps is the concept they’re exploring rather than the programme itself. Take ‘The Mesh’ for example, which is the current Free App of the Week on iTunes. The beauty and power of the App lie in its simplicity. It’s not complicated, and yet it’s immensely engrossing. I found myself spending hours trying to up my score, and then suddenly I realised I was doing mathematics. To add context to that statement, you need to understand that mathematics and I are like estranged family members: we know we can’t really ever escape one another, but if we never have to engage in conversation, that’s just fine. Nevertheless, at 23:00 last night, there I was, propped up in bed trying to work out how 7, 5, 3 and 2 were going to get me to 4. As it happens, I couldn’t work it out, and my streak ended on a measly final score of 32. I will persevere again tonight!

'The Mesh'

Now, what intrigues me so much about ‘The Mesh’ is the fact that I became completely engrossed in a very short space of time. The nature of the game means there is no ‘undo’ button, and an incorrect pairing can be one’s complete undoing for the levels to come. As a consequence, one must spend time assessing the whole scenario, planning moves and anticipating outcomes. The mental arithmetic is not complicated (well, it hasn’t been for the levels I’ve managed to reach), but having to work out multiple scenarios in one’s head becomes a challenging prospect. For the example above, there are a number of different things I could try:

7 - 3 = 4; 5+2 = 7… doesn’t work

7-5 = 2; 2+2 = 4, 3… doesn’t work

3-2 = 1; 5-1=4; 7… doesn’t work

You get the idea.

Before even starting to play the level, one has to run all these simulations in one’s head. The feeling of triumph when one gets it correct is intoxicating and I’m left utterly engrossed. And it’s maths.

The second App which has caught my attention this week is ‘Flowstate’ on the Mac App store. While I’ve not yet taken the plunge and purchased the App, it’s premise is certainly food for thought. Basically, Flowstate creates the perfect environment in which to create written pieces by preventing the clutter that so often prevents us from actually completing what we’re writing. The creators posit that forcing separation between the creation and editing processes encourages the completion of tasks. The App works by asking users to select a time period to be ‘locked’ into the App. Once the time has been selected, the user must write continuously. A pause of more than 5 seconds will delete everything that has been written during the session. Furthermore, trying to exit the session before time is up will also delete everything. Quite an unnerving prospect for those of us who are used to agonising over just about every sentence we type. I’m certainly guilty of spending ages and ages staring at the screen trying to figure out the way forward. With Flowstate, there’s no time for that—at least not while you’re writing. You have to keep going, even if it’s not going to make it into the final edit. 

And that’s the whole point: it doesn’t have to be perfect. So often we get utterly caught up on ensuring that the end product is a work of perfection that we end up not finishing it, or, even worse, not starting in the first place. Flowstate prevents that from happening by forcing action, but making us let go of the obsession with perfection and simply getting us to write write write and think later. Working on a finished piece and making small tweaks here and there is far less daunting than staring at a blank page for ages, and the prospect of everything vanishing before one’s eyes means we keep pushing onwards until we have something with which to work.

Both of these Apps look at the idea of focus and flow in a different way: the first requires measured, thought-through selection, because there is no going back while the second is almost the polar opposite: go for it without reservation and deal with the aftermath later. I think both of them have a place in education. Our students should know when to apply themselves to one task with utter focus and careful consideration, especially when it comes to dealing with other people, because often we cannot take things we’ve said back after they have been said (or tweeted). Conversely, we should also be encouraging our students to dive into tasks with a sense of abandonment. Increased digitisation means that we can undo just about everything we create within Apps or programmes and our work can be altered if and when it needs to be. We need to give students the freedom to fail and not be too perturbed by this, because refining is often a better learning experience than the initial creation is. I’ll look at the culture of refinement and criticism in another blog, but for now, I think it’s worth pondering how we can use these two kinds of flow in our teaching and indeed, in our own lives. 

Txt msg?

For many of us, the title of this blog harkens back to a period of digital communication where each character we typed matterd (see what I did there?). Much like Twitter posts, each text message we sent was limited to a specific number of characters, including spaces, and we had to cram as much as we could into that space. During an age where each text message cost a portion of our precious airtime (especially if it was sent in peak time), we had to make sure we got as much bang from each keystroke as we could. Thus, the language of text messaging or sms-language was born. Whole new lexicons were developed to figure out how to maximise the communication power of our 160 characters and we still adopt many of them today: “LOL” has become so commonplace that many people use it in ordinary speech, and “brb” is still an expression that many of us will hurriedly type into a chat bubble when we run to make a cup of tea, or answer a phone call. Apart from that, though, with the coming of messaging becoming almost exclusively over the internet (as opposed to via direct cellular), message length is no longer an issue with which we need to concern ourselves, nor is the number of messages we send. As a result, there has been a steady dying out of text language, because it is an unnecessary shortcut most of the time. Instead of worrying about how to make “Please can you come to see me tomorrow” as short as possible, (Pls cm c me 2mrw) we can just type the whole thing. Predictive text has made the process even easier, and even it may be on the decline as sending voice notes and using speech-to-text software is becoming increasingly easier and popular. 

Why am I bringing this up here and now, though? After all, this is meant to be an educational blog, and not simply a nostalgic look at where we’ve been. What point is there looking at an almost outdated method of communication when so many more exciting possibilities exist? 

The reason for my exploring this has to do with the hysteria that surrounded txt msgin. Parents, teachers and academics all over the world deplored the phenomenon saying that it meant people were not going to be able to spell anymore, that language sophistication was slipping and that people weren’t going to know how to communicate anymore. Well, none of that happened really, did it? As far as I can tell, there has been no catastrophic consequence of a generation of people who are unable to communicate with one another any more than there has been in the past. In fact, I would like to argue that precisely the opposite has happened: we are more in contact with each other than we have ever been. And the next generation is even more connected. This is a trend that I do not see changing.

As technology allows us to merge more and more services into one place (currently I have two text messages, an iMessage, three Whatsapps and something on Facebook messenger all waiting on my phone and on my Mac at the same time, oh and I’ve taken three calls this morning and answered a few emails while still having several face-to-face conversations with colleagues and students… and it’s 10AM), connectedness is inescapable. It has become such a part of our everyday lives that we barely register the extent to which we are communicating. If you were to imagine each conversation as a ball to be juggled, I imagine most of us would be walking around with our arms whirling around in a blur. 

Text messaging did not kill communication. Nor has it killed language. It has evolved it certainly, but that’s what’s meant to happen with a living language. Were it not for this phenomenon, then verily, I say unto thee that we would still be speaking like Chaucer did, and wherefore wouldst we wish to make that commonplace occurrence? 

The reaction of people to text messaging is akin to many reactions to any innovation that alters the way we approach things. I remember Facebook being dismissed as a fad, and I know many people did not see the point of the first iPad. This trend of resisting the new is something that is seemingly endemic and it is a huge problem. I do not propose that we all naively accept or welcome every shiny new thing that emerges from Silicon Valley or any associated philosophy, but I think we would all benefit from an attitude that says, “Let’s take a look at this thing and see what it can do.” rather than, “This challenges how I look at [insert variable here]. I don’t want anything to do with it.” Being open to new and potentially revolutionary ways of doing things presents a wonderful opportunity to reflect and consider if what we’re doing really is best practice and, even if we ultimately conclude that tried and tested is the best route, at least we’ve given it some thought, which is always helpful.

Cmnts r wlcm ;)

The Learning Commons, One Year On

It's been just over a year since the Learning Commons opened its doors, and what a year it's been! I'm going to limit the writing here and let the images speak for themselves. I am so excited by what we've been able to achieve and am even more thrilled at the prospect of many more successful years!

Laptops are just some of the new devices that are available.

With all the furniture on wheels, it's easy to fit the whole College in for a meeting.

It's not often that I get a photo with no students in it - clearly the term is almost at an end!

The mural behind the reception desk is meant to illustrate school life in all its facets. We're holistic here, so every pursuit is equally important.

Despite all the technological implements, this white board is probably the most-used resource in the room!

LEGO Mindstorms Robotics

Custom beanbags, affectionately known as Plops

It's been an exciting road and there's only more to come. This year alone we've added over 1300 media items to the collection and it's just going to grow bigger and bigger.

Next stop: 1:1 devices!

Pause... focus and... SQUIRREL!

Those of you who are tuning in to my ramblings every day will notice that I didn’t post yesterday. Believe it or not, it was a literal interpretation of the proposed topic in the little book of prompts. The topic for the 8^th was ‘Unplug’ and it talked about how we know when to unplug from all the electronics and take a break. I decided to take this to heart, and I unplugged for the evening. I spent the time meditating before going to bed, which proved to be a most wonderful exercise.

Today, the topic is to talk about addiction and the things that distract us from achieving what we want to achieve. I’m particularly guilty of this, because more often than not, my aspirations for doing well are stymied by one of my own flaws. Consequently, this post is about what to do to help yourself avoid distractions and get back on track.

1.            Is it a distraction in the first place?

To answer this question you need to be honest with yourself. Are you browsing the internet looking for something that is pertinent to what you’re doing or are you just wasting time? Do you really need to take an hour’s break or is that excessive? Only you will know the answer to these questions, and you need to be truthful with yourself. Sometimes you really do need to take an evening off and that’s ok as long as you really are going to get stuck in with renewed energy the next day.

2.            Why is your mind wandering?

Have you ever completed a project where the time just seemed to disappear completely? Have you ever been so absorbed in what you were doing that you didn’t notice people around you? I feel confident in thinking that nearly every one of us has and this is a beautiful place to be. I’m also fairly sure we did it without needing to be on some kind of medication. The point I’m making here is that if you are really and truly engaged in what you are doing, your mind won’t wander. This means that if you want to avoid being distracted, you need to work on making what you’re doing meaningful and engaging for yourself. If that’s not possible, perhaps you need to re-evaluate the task’s importance.

3.            What’s bothering you?

Things that upset, worry or concern us are like termites gnawing away at our ability to focus and think clearly. Anxieties and problems tax our already-taxed brains and prevent us from performing optimally. This is where time out can be helpful if it is used as a way to work through whatever is weighing on your mind. However, if you do nothing but dwell on your issues without working on ways to resolve them, then the time out is going to do more harm than good.

Problems, whatever they are, need to be addressed in some way. Ignoring thoughts and emotions is a dangerous strategy, because they always surface again, and often at the most unhelpful times. Addressing a problem does not necessarily mean resolving it, though. It means you take the time to suit your action to the scenario. Worrying about anything is counter-productive, because your worrying about something will have no effect on it whatsoever. Worrying about not being able to pay the rent at the end of the month is not going to make money materialise or your landlord give you a break; worrying if people will like you is not going to do anything to their states of mind. The only person worrying will affect is you, and it will do so negatively. Worrying has got to go and this is a form of resolution.

If anything else is bothering you or upsetting you, you need to go through the steps outlined in the serenity prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the determination to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

To simplify:

• If you cannot change something, let it go. They are draining and wasting your precious energy.
• If you can change something, then do it. What are you waiting for? Make a plan, and get stuck in. Sometimes just getting started is all you need.
• Don’t dwell on matters for too long. You need to take the time to think about whether the issue is worth all the effort in the first place. This is where meditation is extremely helpful.

4.            Keep your eye on the end

Remember that whatever you’re doing is for a purpose. If you believe strongly in that purpose, then you need to keep your mind focused on that. Yes, doing sit ups now might be a pain and they might not be all that fun, but in the end, you’re getting to get fitter and stronger and that’s the whole point isn’t it. Writing reports, doing research and going to talks might seem tedious at times, but if you remember what it is you want to achieve and you focus on how what you’re doing leads to that goal, it becomes a whole lot easier.

5.            Lighten up

Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I look at a map of the world, or I watch a video about the size of the universe. Sometimes our problems seem enormous and insurmountable, but we need always to bear context in mind. You are a single person in one place on an enormous planet that is but a tiny speck in the colossal universe. Somehow, every time I do this, my problems seem a little less massive.

This is advice I give to my students too, and it is advice I try to live by, but I mess up often. Lightening up means not beating yourself up when you get distracted. You’re only human after all.