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How when and where might a viewing of this be useful for you in your context? 

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How when and where might a viewing of this be useful for you in your context? 

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"Alike" is an animated short film directed by Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez
www.alike.es

SYNOPSIS:
In a busy life,Copi is a father who tries to teach the right way to his son,Paste. But... what is the correct path?
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En una vida ajetreada, Copi es un padre que intenta enseñar el camino correcto a su hijo Paste. Pero... ¿Qué es lo correcto?

CREDITS:

Directed by: Daniel Martínez Lara & Rafa Cano Méndez
Produced by: Daniel Martínez Lara & Nicolás Matji
Music by: Oscar Araujo
Production Manager: Eva Márquez Matías
Sound by: Aleix Vila

Preproduction Team:
Daniel Martínez Lara
Rafa Cano Méndez
Abel Tébar
Albert Papaseit
Esteban Errando
Pedro Florido
Miguel Ángel Bellot
Jose Molina
Claudio Espinar

Production Team:
Daniel Martínez Lara
Rafa Cano Méndez
Eva Márquez Matías
Albert Papaseit
Esteban Errando
Abel Tébar
Jose Molina
Alan Carabantes
Nacho Garranzo
Álvaro Villegas
Victor Remolina
Luis Arizaga
Pedro Florido

Collaborators:
Rude
Carlos del Olmo
Pau Martínez

More information about "Alike" in www.alikeshort.com

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What's missing? What else do we need to value in future schools?

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What's missing? What else do we need to value in future schools?

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Curriculum for Future Minds by Sunni Brown

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The work is difficult. Overcoming obstacles, facing rejection, exploring the unknown-many of us need a narrative to fuel our forward motion, something to keep us insisting on the next cycle, on better results, on doing work that matters even more.

The fuel you choose, though, determines how you will spend your days. You will spend far more time marinating in your fuel than you will actually doing breakthrough work. Richard Feynman was famously motivated by the joy of figuring things out. His scientific journey (which earned him a Nobel Prize) also provided him with truly wonderful days.

Here is a partial list, in alphabetical order, of narratives light and dark that can serve as fuel to push us to do work that others might walk away from:

Avoidance of shame (do this work or you'll be seen as a fraud/loser/outcast)

Becoming a better version of yourself

Big dreams (because you can see it/feel it/taste it)

Catastrophe (or the world as we know it will end)

Competition (someone is gaining on you)

Compliance (the boss/contract says I have to, and even better, there's a deadline)

Connection (because others will join in)

Creative itch (the voice inside of you wants to be expressed)

Dissatisfaction (because it's not good enough as it is)

Engineer (because there's a problem to be solved)

Fame (imagining life is better on the other side)

Generosity (because it's a chance to contribute)

It's a living (pay the writer)

Peer pressure (the reunion is coming up)

Possibility (because we can, and it'll be neat to see how it works in the world)

Professionalism (because it's what we do)

Revenge (you'll show the naysayers)

Selection (to get in, win the prize, be chosen)

Unhappiness (because the only glimmer of happiness comes from the next win, after all, we're not good enough as is)

They all work. Some of them leave you wrecked, some create an environment of possibility and connection and joy. Up to you.

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The work is difficult. Overcoming obstacles, facing rejection, exploring the unknown-many of us need a narrative to fuel our forward motion, something to keep us insisting on the next cycle, on better results, on doing work that matters even more. The fuel you choose, though, determines how you will spend your days.

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What are three things you learnt from Round I of our challenge?

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What are three things you learnt from Round I of our challenge?

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Starting this May, join a cohort of teachers on campus looking to complete a five-month challenge.

The challenge will ask you to launch and share a portfolio (with the support of your DLCs), and to compose and share one post per month from May until September.

In small teams, you will receive feedback from your peers, and you will be asked to respond to others. What can we learn from one another? Can networking our inquiry build connections across our community and assist in better research curation?

You will have a great deal of choice from a month menu of post provocations. Preview the menu for May here.

What I did not expect though, was how much my own learning would grow. Writing a blog for me is now something that I feel is necessary for an educator, as it gives me the opportunity to not only reflect on my practice, but also collaborate with others in a more in depth way then sites like Twitter can provide. I also have had a major shift in my own thinking as I am less focused on the technical aspects of a blog, but the learning implications this type of writing can have on educators and students.-George Couros

If you'd like help getting set up with your portfolio, please ask a DLC.

Sign up for our five-month challenge here.
Anticipate a time requirement of 50-60 minutes per month (includes posting, reading, and commenting).

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Starting this May, join a cohort of teachers on campus looking to complete a five-month challenge. The challenge will ask you to launch and share a portfolio (with the support of your DLCs), and to compose and share one post per month from May until September.

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What type of popular work from this year will survive to be discussed a decade from now?

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What type of popular work from this year will survive to be discussed a decade from now?

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Are Netflix Series Our Most Important Media?

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Yes Netflix, I'm still watching.... Stop judging me... Support us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/pbsideachannel We got merch! http://bit.ly/1U8fS1B Tweet us! http://bit.ly/pbsideachanneltwitter Idea Channel Facebook! http://bit.ly/pbsideachannelfacebook Talk about this episode on reddit! http://bit.ly/pbsideachannelreddit Idea Channel IRC! http://bit.ly/pbsideachannelirc Email us!

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What has been your one best professional development experience? Why was it so successful?

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What has been your one best professional development experience? Why was it so successful?

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Edcamp STEAM 2014 (Flickr/Kevin Jarrett)

Technically, if one trusts the etymology, the best way for a teacher to with other educators would be an educator conference. Unfortunately, it's often obligatory to passively listen to speeches and then "talk to someone next to you" about a prescribed topic. Meanwhile, the most enthusiastic listeners whisper to each other, or form mini-groups outside the conference walls, maybe even at a social gathering later that day. Even if it's standard professional development at a school site, the richest conversations are usually right afterward or just outside. One administrator even told me, "We don't ever make any important decisions until we've re-discussed them at a bar or coffee shop. That's where the truth comes out."

Generally speaking, unconferences offer as much expertise as a more conventional conference, but they're cost-free, with no salespeople, and the participants propose the topics on the spot and drive the conversations.

Unconferences lack a formal hierarchy and the space is open for different people to be heard and appreciated regardless of where they came from. During the lunch break of the most recent unconference in my area, I asked several of the participants about their experiences in the morning. One district employee was smiling about how there were elementary and secondary teachers connecting and sharing: "Where else do you see this?" he asked. Another participant shared a scene from one of her sessions: "Someone said, 'I'm just a para...,' and we were like, 'You're never an anything. We really wanted to hear her perspective."

To be fair, the morning wasn't perfect for everyone, and the spontaneous nature of unconferencing results in some unsatisfying conversations. The session on grant writing, for example, was a dud because everyone there wanted to learn how to write them and nobody knew where to start. One teacher went to a "STEM/STEAM" session but was disappointed that the discussion was so "general and theoretical," while he was looking for something more specific and practical. In these cases, however, attendees are encouraged to use the "Rule of Two Feet" to get up and move on to a new session. The session on grant writing, for example, promptly disbanded and they each found new groups; the "STEM/STEAM" teacher left and went to a group on "buy-in" that he "absolutely loved."

Because unconferences are unscripted by nature, it's relatively easy to participate, or even start one of your own, at whatever size is best for you. Even if you send out a group email for people to meet at a coffee shop on a particular afternoon, you're technically starting an unconference. If you're looking for something more formal, the same kind of gathering can take place at a school site, ideally one with Wi-Fi and at least a few accessible classrooms. Or if you want go big, you can create a countywide event, complete with a website, advertising and a registration process. I've experienced all three types, and they all have their own strengths and deficiencies.

For larger, more efficient unconferences, the Edcamp Foundation has a site full of resources and for anybody who wants to organize their own "Edcamp," which is simply a well-articulated version of an education unconference. Hadley Ferguson, the executive director of the foundation, told me that they trademarked "Edcamp" so that "it doesn't get diluted," but they are insistent that edcamps are free, shared, vendor-free and driven by participants. In fact, once you start a legitimate event, the Edcamp Foundation is willing to send you materials and funding to help with the organization, such as breakfast.
HOW TO DO A SMALL UNCONFERENCE
Someone once asked me: "So at your unconference, do you just skip the power points and go straight to the bar?" He was joking, but sometimes the answer is yes. In fact, the first unconference I ever attended was a "mini-unconference" called " BrewCUE, " an agenda-less gathering of educators promoted on Twitter (BrewCUE has roots in the California ed-tech organization CUE). In this particular case, about 20 teachers and administrators bought beers at the best bar in town and talked about approaches to restorative justice, classroom design and podcasts in the classroom. It was great; I'm not exactly sure why we don't do this every Friday.

If you're looking for more details, Karl Lindgren-Streicher has already written a great blog post about how to start a BrewCUE event, but I think I can sum it up here: Pick a time and a place; promote in emails and your favorite social media tool (possibly with the hashtag #BrewCUE); bring a co-organizer so that you don't have to sit alone; make a little sign (using a paper plate is fine); and consider buying the first round. If you don't want to promote drinking, coffee shops and similar places work just as well. Worst-case scenario, you have a good hour of chatting with your chosen co-organizer. As always, you're free to move around, stay late or leave early.

Candice Grossi, an elementary school principal in Lompoc, California, says that she organizes an unconference at a school site with just about 10 teachers once a month. She said she loves watching people from across the district talk with each other and share "so many resources." Since these events have such a small number of participants, Grossi admits that she has seen a group struggle because "the conversation is extremely free-flow, or nobody talks because they don't know each other." She told me that it works best when the participants "have a way of gathering their thoughts beforehand," and she recommended the use of a facilitator - somebody who doesn't dominate the conversation or act as an expert, but keeps the discussion moving along the tracks.
HOW TO DO A MEDIUM-SIZE UNCONFERENCE
The second unconference I attended was considerably more structured. It was at an elementary school, and a healthy brunch was provided. On a whiteboard at the front of the room, there was a grid of time slots and room numbers, but the spaces for topics were all blank, ready to be filled by the participants themselves. In fact, with the exception of the people who brought the breakfast and the whiteboard, everyone there was "just" a participant - there were no speakers, coaches, designated experts or even facilitators.

For the first hour, I attended a session on student blogging. About six of us talked about student privacy, student engagement and inspiring project ideas. One teacher shared a few examples of great student blogs from around the country; I shared a couple of blog posts from teachers who had learned lessons the hard way. Near the end of the hour, someone tried to thank whoever started this session, but nobody took credit. Turns out, whoever wrote "student blogging" on the whiteboard ended up going to a different session - a rare move, but one that's totally acceptable. In the second session, we talked about homework: how much is too much; how to make it meaningful; the parent perspective; and what happens when some kids get more practice than others. That was it; it was a delightful morning. And then some of us still met up for lunch afterward.

This particular event was relatively humble, and so the organization was just as simple. For a gathering like this, you'll need one big main room with a whiteboard, on which you draw up a grid for the time slots and locations for each session. You'll also need several classrooms for the sessions, Wi-Fi access, and available restrooms. At this particular event, there were just two hourlong time slots and four classrooms for about 30 educators, and it worked out great (there were six teachers in the student-blogging session, and over 15 in the homework session). As everyone meets in the main room, thank them for coming, and invite them to use sticky notes (which you provide) or markers to suggest session topics on the whiteboard. Ideally, the participants will fill up the spots on their own, but organizers may need to make executive decisions if there are any blank spaces or competing ideas. When the board is finalized, encourage the attendees to take a photo of the grid with their phones for their reference, and then set them free.
HOW TO DO A LARGE UNCONFERENCE
My third unconference was, again, entirely different from my previous experiences: It was hosted by a local state university, with more than 200 participating educators, and the Edcamp (it was an official Edcamp) was embedded within the " Better Together's California Teachers Summit ," a teacher-led network of conferences across 38 different college campus. In what could be equally described as a moment of weakness and a rush of idealistic giddiness, I had volunteered to be the "specialist," the organizer who oversees the whole process. Though I felt calmed by my good experiences at the first two, I still felt nervous about the size of the event and a little unnerved about paradoxically organizing an event that should drive itself. The day before the "summit," I found myself both preparing - and not preparing - a professional development experience that I would be both directing and not directing, overseeing a team of facilitators who were instructed to not really facilitate.

Fortunately, Better Together did almost all the difficult organizational work. They reserved the Education Building at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, set up the website and registration process, provided an app for the participants, hired a caterer and set up a series of shared documents, including an up-to-the-minute schedule of the day's sessions.

With the help of a team of volunteer facilitators, my job was to greet all 200 attendees as they arrived in the morning, quickly explain the essence of an Edcamp and then provide sticky notes for them to vote on one or more session topics. My team had four different "parking lots" - huge sheets of white paper - available for the attendees to place their sticky notes. Then, as they all enjoyed the keynote speech for the Better Together conference, my team scrambled to cluster the most popular topics from the parking lots and put them on the master schedule, which we ultimately shared with the participants as a Google doc. For this event, we had three 45-minute sessions scheduled with 12 rooms available. The topics ranged from rather niche ("environment-based pedagogy"), basic ("technology in the elementary classroom"), unique ("bridging generational gaps") or fun ("Newbie teachers!").

After the schedule was created, I assigned a facilitator for each room. Ideally, they had some expertise on the subject, but it wasn't really necessary. Their job was primarily to get the discussion started and keep everyone generally on topic. For each session, there was also a shared doc for the facilitator (and ideally the participants) to share notes and links to resources for the group's future reference, or for anybody who wanted to attend but couldn't make it.

The day of the event, I just walked around, dropping in on interesting and inspiring conversations happening in almost every room. Even at lunch, I could hear the continuation of earlier discussions. I wanted to interview one group, but they were too involved in their conversation on migrant education to be interrupted. Another teacher told me she hoped that her own district would start hosting similar events.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS (AND SOLUTIONS)
What if a "spontaneous group" is spontaneously awful? Sometimes a group will be dominated by an unstoppable mansplainer, or way too big, or way too small, or it veers in a direction that doesn't interest you. There is one solution to all of these problems and others like them: Get up and leave. The Edcamp Foundation puts the Rule of Two Feet near the top of their list of tenets. Find a session that meets your needs. If there are only two of you in the session, you may have just met your best friend; if not, it's very easy to say something like, "I was hoping for a bigger session; I think I'm going to move on." In all these cases, it also helps to have an official facilitator in the room to help restrain people from dominating a discussion or taking it away from the topic.

What if you're an introvert or are concerned about participants who may be on the introverted side of the spectrum? Won't this be inherently awful for them? Since up to half of all teachers could consider themselves introverts, this is a topic I take very seriously . And yes, I've seen some unconferences promote "active participation" from everyone, which could dissuade an introvert from attending. Just like a regular classroom, however, there are different ways of participating; for one, every group could use somebody to take notes and gather resources on a shared document, or tweet the things the best things they heard with a relevant hashtag. Also, I don't subscribe to the premise that everyone has to "actively participate" - quiet listeners should feel comfortable quietly listening.

What if the attendees feel like they got ripped off by your event? This is virtually impossible, since these events are free. If somebody is charging money to sit and watch specific speeches and presentations, then it makes sense to be anxious about the quality of the product. But at an unconference, if organizers are responsible for anything, it's free food, facilitators and facilities.

And as I walked through the rooms at Cal Poly, I felt the same special type of pride a teacher feels when they aren't really needed anymore-when their students are self-driven, working hard in their own engaged groups. The "Newbie Teachers!" session was equal parts first-year teachers and well-meaning veteran teachers, and they were all telling stories and laughing. The next group had disbanded and moved on, and I shrugged. The "classroom design" session had, on their own, split into three different groups based on grade level, and they were enraptured by the examples they were showing each other on computer screens and sketches on paper.

After the last session, I met with the facilitators, all of whom shared my happy relief at a surprisingly easy event that was interesting and inspiring to so many educators. Then we shared our favorite photos and takeaways on social media. And finally, we started organizing our next impromptu unconference - for later that afternoon (#BrewCUE).

How Teachers Can Learn From One Another at Unconferences, Meet-ups and Edcamps

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How Teachers Can Learn From One Another at Unconferences, Meet-ups and Edcamps

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Technically, if one trusts the etymology, the best way for a teacher to with other educators would be an educator conference. Unfortunately, it's often obligatory to passively listen to speeches and then "talk to someone next to you" about a prescribed topic.

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Where do you see the conditions for creativity at your school?

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Where do you see the conditions for creativity at your school?

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How do educators learn to do this better? Why does it matter?

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How do educators learn to do this better? Why does it matter?

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That's the labor most of us do now. The work of doing what we don't necessarily feel like doing, the work of being a professional, the work of engaging with others in a way that leads to the best long-term outcome.

The emotional labor of listening when we'd rather yell.

The emotional labor of working with someone instead of firing them.

The emotional labor of seeking out facts and insights that we don't (yet) agree with.

The emotional labor of being prepared.

Of course it's difficult. That's precisely why it's valuable. Sometimes, knowing that it's our job-the way we create value-helps us pause a second and decide to do the difficult work.

Almost no one gets hired to eat a slice of chocolate cake.

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That's the labor most of us do now. The work of doing what we don't necessarily feel like doing, the work of being a professional, the work of engaging with others in a way that leads to the best long-term outcome. The emotional labor of listening when we'd rather yell.

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Which of Kim's planning steps do you want to spend more time thinking about this holiday? Why?

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Which of Kim's planning steps do you want to spend more time thinking about this holiday? Why?

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Why do we call them lessons? Or units? Or trainings? Or PD sessions? When what they really are is learning experiences. And we, as teachers, are designers of those learning experiences.

Connecting Learning Experiences

I love learning (hence the name of this blog) and designing learning experiences (or opportunities) for others is, in my opinion, one of the most fun ways to really geek out about learning. Over the past few months, I have been very fortunate to facilitate learning in a really wide variety of contexts: from admin teams for private, local schools in Singapore, to college-level keynotes, to large and small groups of international school teachers during weekday inservice, weekend and after school PD, to large and small groups of parents, to international school students, and l ong term admin and teacher professional development in the US.

It has been very interesting for me to see how many connections there are between all of these different groups, and how my experiences with each one prepare me for the next. Even when I think there's no possible overlap or relationship between the two sessions, they are actually much more similar than I would have anticipated. And not only is the content interconnected (for example creativity is a big theme), but the process for building understanding is fairly consistent.

The First "Aha" Moment

I have to admit, when I plan these sessions I don't always think about why I'm doing what I'm doing. Writing that sounds negligent or lazy, but it's not, it just feels like a natural process, perhaps since I've been doing it for a while that it's just become habit... However, last month, while working with Marysville teachers, while were talking about growth mindset and making learning fun with teachers, I realized that I tend to follow a very similar structure when I design learning experiences - for teachers, for parents, for students, for admin, for everyone!

It was one of those "aha" moments where I went back over the elements of the lesson and realized that there was a purposeful structure to how it was designed, and that although it ended up being organized in the order we used, it certainly wasn't planned that way!

Designing Learning Experiences: A 9-Step Process

Since the teachers were interested, I made an overview slide within our presentation so they could see all of the pieces of the lesson they just experienced at a glance:

So here's the lesson outline:

A little background on this particular video: the one we used could work for lots of different topics (case and point the slide pictured above is actually for the admin training day, where their focus was on student centered learning, but the teachers watched the same video and followed the same structure to focus on growth mindset). The topics are very similar, for sure, but I like the idea of not re-inventing the wheel every time. A good video can be used in lots of different ways and places.

2. Connect the big ideas from the teaser to personal experience.

In this case, our video was about learning (specifically how to get better at it), so we asked participants to think about an experience they are having being a learner - in particular something they are really excited and passionate about.

3. Model the process of connecting to personal experience for the participants.

For this session I shared a favorite lifting story (that I need to write a blog post about soon!), inspired by this post (which, in the awesomeness of the way the internet works, I heard about on a podcast, on the treadmill in a tiny hotel gym in Addis Ababa, when I was there for the first Learning2 Africa conference in 2015).

4. Provide an opportunity to participants to document their thinking at this point in time, as an entry to the actual content to come next.

For this activity we did a T-chart. We asked participants to think about their current learning for fun on one side (part 2 above) and current learning that is forced on the other side.

5. Content

In this case we used the same structure for both teachers and admin. Teachers were focused on growth mindset, so they watched this video. Admin were focused on student-centered learning so they read this article and followed this text protocol. This is the "meat" of our session. All of the content we want to deliver comes here, in less than 10 minutes. The rest of the hour is devoted to connecting to the idea, building individual understanding, reflecting on the learning, and bridging to the next activity topic.

6. Connecting personal experience to content

For this section, we asked participants to reflect on the content from part 5 and connect back to their own learning experience. One of my favorite things I overheard was one teacher saying: "When I'm working on my hobby I always want to improve so I keep at it, nut when I'm forced to learn I give up easily and get frustrated. I think all I need to do is change my mindset when it comes learning with technology and I will enjoy it more and learn more." Um... YES!

7. Personalize the content so participants have ownership over their learning

For the teachers, we had them search for a growth mindset infographic that resonated with them, and that they could post in their classroom (side note, my favorite image that I always use in presentations is from COETAIL-graduate, Learning2 Leader for the 2015 Asia conference, and my current NIST colleague, Reid Wilson, which, bizarrely enough, I didn't realize until I facilitated this session). For the admin, we asked them to brainstorm the elements of a student-centered classroom, calling on best practice from both their experience and the content we shared with them. We actually did this in two layers, the first focusing on a "traditional" student-centered classroom (no tech) and then going back to the same brainstorm and looking at it with a "tech-rich" lens, to see if there is any difference ( check out the results here).

8. Highlight practical connections to everyday work

For the teachers, we had them brainstorm phrases or strategies that they can use to bring a growth mindset into their classroom (using this perfect infographic from Sylvia Duckworth as our inspiration). We also took all of those ideas and put them up on chart paper so we could collect and reference them throughout the week's worth of trainings and then share back at the end. For the admin we highlighted a great quote (naturally from the Great Quotes About Learning and Change Flickr pool) that connects us right back to our students.

9. Summarize the content and bridge to the next activity

In the final stage of the lesson, we take a few minutes to really summarize all of the learning, and highlight how it connects to the next activity. For the teachers, we used a Google Draw template for them to sort some key ideas because they would be learning about Google Draw later in the day and this was their chance to see a "finished product". For the admin we highlighted another great Sylvia Duckworth infographic that focuses on student engagement which was a key theme later in the day.

The Second "Aha" Moment

But wait, there's more!

Realizing that this was a process (and it's not "officially" always 9 steps, these examples just worked out that way) was just the first realization. As Chrissy and I were planning the admin training day, and then reviewing it on Google Hangout with Jeff and Ben who would actually facilitate the training (this is how a global company operates when we can't all be in the same room at the same time!), I realized that just because these steps line up for both trainings, we don't actually develop the learning experiences in that order.

Developing Learning Experiences: The Process Behind the Design

Actually the development process looks more like this:

1. Start with the goals

As anyone who's ever planned with the UbD or backwards design model, we always start with what we want participants to know and be able to do. This is our goal, or in the graphic above, our content.

2. Bring it into the participants' ZPD

Once we know our content goals, we can think about how participants may be personally connected to that idea. How can we make it approachable for them? What connections can they make? How can they have a personal introduction to a big idea, so that when the big idea comes, they aren't blindsided, they're prepped and almost waiting to hear it because it's so close in their zone of proximal development.

3. Document

Once we recognize the entry point for participants, we think about how we can solidify this connection to the big ideas through documentation. We always try to make this a hands-on experience so that participants are actively doing something with their current understanding.

4. Approach

Then we think about how we might lead up to the big idea. What resources or inspirations do we have that will immediately engage participants in thinking about our big idea? I use videos or images a lot, but of course these can be all sorts of things, anything from mini-activities to short articles, too.

5. Consolidate

Now we have the real meat of the lesson complete, but we need to make sure we are really confident and sure that the big ideas from the content are clear, so we want to plan something that consolidates the thinking. This is our chance to connect the personal experiences with the content.

6. Personalize

At this point, we're feeling like participants have had a chance to really work through the content, but we want to make sure that participants are feeling ownership over the idea, so we plan an element of the lesson that highlights personalized documentation or appropriation of the big idea. Again, we like this to be an active experience.

7. Practicalities

Next we want to plan an experience that helps participants make a practical connection to the content so that it's something that makes sense in their context.

8. Role model

This is when we usually realize that we need to role model the first activity!

9. Summarize & Bridge

The last thing we think about is how this big idea connects to the next activity. In writing this, I'm thinking that we actually probably are thinking about this right at the beginning along with the goals for this session, but we might not actually take the time to plan this section until the very end when we feel like this lesson is in good shape and we're ready to start planning the next.

Final Thoughts

So, maybe this is all super obvious. It's not anything more than I would do as a classroom teacher on a regular basis, but I guess I never thought about it in quite this way before.

As a very type-a, liner thinker, I may have surprised myself a bit in recognizing that I don't actually plan these learning experiences in order. When I plan for students, I always start with the end in mind, identifying the learning goals and standards as the first step, but I don't know if I jump around quite as much as I have in this example. This shows me that as long as I have a concrete understanding of what I want participants to know and be able to do at the end of the session, and an expectation for a variety of learning activities and experiences throughout the session, I can get there in a variety of ways.

I also appreciate that this was just a one-hour session, and we follow the same type of process for all sections of the day. It's a lot of work, even though it's tons of fun, and it's good to appreciate how much effort goes into designing every learning experience for your participants, whether they be students, parents, teachers, admin or anyone else!

One of the things I really like that we're doing with these slides, now that we recognized that it is a process, is we're giving them to the teacher and the admin as a planning process format to think about their classroom lessons and their staff meetings. Perhaps if teachers or admin haven't thought about this process this deeply before, it could be a good opportunity to reflect on why we do what we do.

And quite possibly, to recognize that learning isn't the delivery of content. It's the experience of content-rich ideas, activities, processing time and reflection.

We need to be creating signature learning experiences for our students:

We have a hypothesis that signature experiences contain a vital set of insights for those of us who are designing "schools" and learning environments. Signature experiences motivate students to keep learning, to take initiative, and to carve out a future path for themselves and the world around them.

...it's essential that efforts to personalize or make learning more efficient do not lose sight of the importance of signature learning experiences for children

But among the friends we informally polled, most of whom are college educated, they reported having remarkably few signature experiences throughout their K-12 education. Some reported having none at all. Even more interesting, few of the signature experiences cited actually occurred inside the formal classroom.

How are you a designer of learning experiences for your students, teachers, admin or parents? Does your process look like this? Do you jump around as much as I've explained here or are you more linear?

Image Credits

Designing Learning Experiences by Kim Cofino, Creative Commons Licensed on Flickr

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Why do we call them lessons? Or units? Or trainings? Or PD sessions? When what they really are is learning experiences . And we, as teachers, are designers of those learning experiences. I love learning (hence the name of this blog) and designing learning experiences (or opportunities) for others is, in my opinion, one of the most fun ways to really geek out about learning.