Welcome to Constructing Modern Knowledge!
garystager on July 28th, 2008
Dear Colleague:
You are about to embark on a four-day learning adventure in which computers, construction, collaboration and creativity are all part of the learning process. Please put away your “teacher hat” and spend as much time as possible in the role of a learner. We hope you find the right personal balance between a single-minded focus on project development and tinkering. Since knowledge is a consequence of experience, CMK08 seeks to create a learning environment in which a wide range of experiences are possible.
We offer lots of material with which you can work, including a variety of rich software environments for you and lots of “objects to think with.” Please look out for each other’s computers, books and other materials.
Collaborate with others, work alone or enjoy a combination of both, but please spend as much time as possible taking full advantage of the gift of time you have given yourself to learn. Fantastic speakers are part of the program, but CMK08 fought to avoid interrupting your project work for a series of speeches. Our goal is for you to return home remembering that you spent time with a speaker, rather than having listened to him or her. Along the way, you might want to think about your thinking and blog or keep a journal to assist in the reflective process. Read as much as you can. Lots of materials will be shared on the blog and in our library.
If you need to go for a walk to help clear your head, go for it. Take a swim or spend a few extra minutes at lunch, but remember that there is so much you can do and projects will be exhibited Thursday afternoon. Please don’t miss the speakers or daily reflection time. We will begin each morning at 9 AM.
If you have a question ask it! The only dumb question is the one never asked. If you want to learn a specific skill, let us know and a mini-tutorial will be arranged. Don’t be passive. The faculty and your fellow participants possess a wide range of skills and are here to help. CMK08 participants represent Preschool through 12th grade and beyond. We’ll try hard to meet everyone’s needs. This will be much easier if you temporarily forget that you are a teacher and become a learner. Embrace each learning adventure with gusto and you’ll exceed your expectations.
Welcome!
Gary
Constructing Modern Knowledge thanks the following for their generosity:
- The six member companies in The Constructivist Consortium
- The Anytime Anywhere Learning Foundation
- Tech4Learning
- Logo Computer Systems, Inc.
- Inspiration Software
- Josh Morgan of Morgan/Dorado PR
- Sibelius/M-Audio
Lesa King (www.graphicreporter.com) and iStockPhoto.com - Make Magazine
- Craft Magazine
- Peter Reynolds
- Cynthia Solomon
- Sylvia Martinez
- Melinda Kolk
- Bob Tinker
- John Stetson
- Alfie Kohn
Let’s go out and make something!
July 30th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
So I’ve looked through your program and I’m still curious:
What do the teachers DO here that changes practice?
Should sound like a familiar question.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:29 am
Darren:
I’ll see if any of the participants want to answer your question. Keep in mind that a single answer would not be in the spirit of respecting the particular needs, talents or interests of each unique student.
I’m curious about the nature of your question. Do you really not understand how spending four days learning, talking, playing and collaborating with peers and some of the world’s leading thinkers would be beneficial?
I am enormously proud that I have been able to create such experiences for the educators who trusted me with their time.
Our learning environment is filled with computers, LEGO, books, music keyboards, cameras, recorders, state-of-the-art open-ended creativity software, donuts, clay, art supplies and expert teachers spending their time sitting next to and working with participants engaged in personally meaningful sophisticated projects.
CMK attendees have built and programmed robots, manipulated atomic models, built kinetic sculptures, composed music, designed simulations, explored a variety of blank screen software environments, made roaring puppets, worked across disciplines and in domains different from their teaching assignments and much more.
Participants had the option of spending a day exploring science at the MIT Museum and then walked the Freedom Trail with a guide in character. I think those experiences were educational. The fact that two participants built an automated version of a kinetic sculpture observed at the museum suggests that learning is occurring.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:01 am
hi,
what did i do?
i flew in from israel.
i played with two new friends from texas.
i met scholars whom i would probably never meet in israel.
i met about 30 new people, who do similar things, but in a different way. now, i call them my friends.
i played with LEGO and software that doesn’t exist in Israel.
i saw my baby stand for the first time.
i had an amazing time.
i feel like that’s enough DOING for less than a week’s time.
July 31st, 2008 at 6:26 am
Darren,
As I have had the opportunity to experience things such as the walking tour of Boston’s Freedom Trail all the way though the rest of the program, it has changed my perspective from the standpoint of looking at ways to make things happen for not only my students but my faculty as well. So many people go to “workshops” to have the tools handed to them, to be told how to do things, to try to get the magic bullet with edtech and then walk away to go back and do the same old thing over and over again. I came with the idea of what can I learn and how can I change to make a difference in what I do for my people back at my place? While we have listened to people such as Alfie Kohn, Bob Tinker of Concord.org, Marvin Minsky of OLPC and artificial intelligence fame, we have also had the chance to work together with things we have never done before. I enjoyed the exhibit at the MIT museum so much that I came back and worked with Scott Floyd on re-creating a piece or work by Arthur Ganson. I come away from the experience understanding the importance of creating ways for students to have what I might call discovery experiences, chances to explore, to question, to fail and be congratulated for that, to dive in the deep end of the pool as opposed to only wading in ankle deep and being satisfied with that. I have done things I never had the chance to do and I now understand the importance of that doing better, But I also got to question people I have only read about and that heped to change me. If I walk away changed, and I am going to walk away changed, then I know that what I go back to will be changed as well because I of the rich experience that I have been through.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:41 am
Very fair question.
The idea is that learning to use the tools we expect students to use will help us understand how to help students decide on meaningful and “doable” projects.
All the other stuff you get out of meeting new people and making new contacts could create some interesting opportunites for collaboration.
That is a critical part of the puzzle in making a sustainable experience
It will not change practice, but it can provide the tools and insights required to move forward.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:50 am
Darren,
When I first began teaching students 15 years ago, my classroom (and basement) was filled with the sorts of materials available to us at CMK08. I had gears, motors, buzzers, robots, programming software, sensors, and assorted building supplies. The children I worked with were problem solving, making connections, self-assessing, and learning. Then, a few years later, state mandated testing was introduced. The learning experiences I had provided for my students began to transform into something I knew was wrong for my students but felt powerless to change.
What I did during my time at CMK08 and what I saw others do was identical to what my students did before mandated testing stripped away many of the deep learning experiences I tried to create. This conference has affirmed my view of pedogogy and has given me the courage to find my way back to the projects and practices I know to be best for students.
This is the first time I have ever left a conference feeling changed in some way. I know I will do things differently in my classroom this year. I’m also going to share what I’ve learned with other colleagues and show them how they can do things differently, too. The only way things will change is if we can demonstrate that this approach works. Teachers need to attend more hands-on workshops like CMK.
August 2nd, 2008 at 6:01 am
I think you bring up a very common misconception about teaching. Teaching is not a science — it is an art. This week 25 artists came together and shared how they approach their craft. Would Salvador Dali be able to quantify the changes in his art after working with Pablo Piccasso? Probably not –but they would both come away from a meeting enriched by the experience. That’s what this week was for me. Will I be a completely different teacher than I was last week — no. But I will use new brushstrokes and experiment with different colors and consider new themes for my craft.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This past week was about unleashing creativity for me, which made it unlike other conferences that I attended. I feel like the blinders have been removed as so many new experiences opened up for me. CMK was about learning about learning through doing, questioning, reflecting and appreciating that I need to unlearn “instructivsm.”
Highlights included listening to great minds discuss education - especially, Alfie Kohn and Marvin Minsky. And discussing issues with change agents - Cynthia Solomon, Sylvia Martinez, Bob Tinker and Peter Reynolds. To concur with what others have already articulated, my educational practice will be profoundly influenced by the opportunities that Gary created for us - imagination, creativity, fun, exploration, and collaboration.