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5/9/2016 0 Comments Book Reflection
Sirolli's book, Ripples from the Zambizi, reinforced for me that education must be a relational experience, two - three - four way communication and collaboration, a hierarchy that places the students at the top and the teacher at the bottom. While this sounds contrary, a serious look at the life experience and wisdom of Sirolli reveals not only that this is the best structure for a classroom community, it is the only way to create self motivated learners.
First, let me explain what this book is about, and why I've connected it to education. As a young man, Ernesto Sirolli spent seven years in Africa, working for an Italian NGO on projects of economic development. One experience in the Zambizi River Valley of Southern Zambia, changed his outlook on the fundamental aspects of what it means to help others. Sirolli and his team went to the Zambizi with the idea that they would teach the Zambians how to grow food. Right away, this should sound absurd. People had been growing and eating food in Zambia long before colonial European civilizations existed. But, Sirolli believed that, as Italians, they possessed a wisdom superior to the Zambian people when it came to agriculture, and were certain that all the Zambians needed was for the Italians to teach them the skills of modern agriculture. From a purely Eurocentric perspective, this made complete sense. Industrialized agriculture, after all, was one of the most influential developments in Europe, leading to economic prosperity the likes of which the world had never seen before. Sirolli and his team took one look at the fertile banks of the Zambizi, and decided to plant there. The idea was that they would foster a modern industrialized agriculture project, utilizing the latest technology and heavy equipment, and eventually turn the whole thing over to the local people. This, they believed, would have long lasting economic benefits for the entire valley community. But, it was not to be so. Right away, their efforts were frustrated by a reluctance on behalf of the locals to engage and help with the project. This outraged the Italians, who saw their reluctance as laziness and a lack of foresight. One morning, just as the crops had fully ripened, the Italians made their way to the bank of the river to take an account of all they had accomplished. What they discovered horrified them. Someone, or something, had consumed, trampled on, and destroyed every last crop they had planted. As it turned out, a large group of hippos living in the river, had waited patiently for the crops to ripen, and just as the tomatoes and zucchini reached their full juicy potential, they emerged from the river and gorged themselves. Why didn't you warn us about the hippos? Sirolli chastised the locals. "Because you never asked", they responded. From that experience, Sirolli learned a valuable lesson - if you want to help someone, "Shut up and listen!" This experience, while it exemplifies the ridiculous nature of the intransigent western approach to economic development, it certainly is not the most sinister. Sirollo remarks, "At least we fed the hippos." Other efforts have been far more damaging to local cultures and environment. Sirolli explains that the problem is routed in the way westerners approach helping people. He explains, "We either patronize them, or we are paternalistic." What he means is, we either treat them like they are incapable to getting along without our oversight, or we subjugate them into serving our needs, using the excuse that they're at least better off than they were before (or so we'd like to believe). From this, Sirolli argues, if people don't want to be helped, leave them alone. Therefore, "the first principle of aid", he asserts, "should be respect." In his book, Sirolli outlines example after example in which he took a completely different approach. He describes his work in impoverished communities in Australia, where he was able to help several people start successful and sustainable business that were, above all, routed in the passions of the individuals who live in those communities. One such story is of a small group of fishermen who found themselves unable to compete with large commercial operations moving into their area. The fisherman were passionate about their trade. Each came from a long lineage of fishermen, and were reluctant to give up. What's worse, the local government tasked with funding entrepreneurial ventures refused to back them, and probably for good reason. Sirolli points out that, moving forward there was no hope for them to compete if they continued in the same way they had fished and marketed their product for generations. On the other hand, it would be futile to ask them to turn from their passion, not to mention illogical. After all, each of them were expert fishermen. Sirolli, along with the fishermen, devised a plan to alter their marketing strategy. They would use their strengths to their advantage. Moving forward, they would market their fish as high grade in order to sell to the fast growing sushi market in nearby cities. This required some steps that were beyond the ability of the fishermen themselves, and that's where Sirolli found his place. He used his expertise to have the fish tested in order to ensure it's quality, and located a master Itamae (sushi chef) to train the fishermen on how to handle and prepare their catch to make it acceptable to the high end sushi market. Turns out, their fish was perfect and quickly gained high demand. In this way, Sirolli explains that the teacher must be a helper, and as such, a facilitator of passions. In other words, the traditional higherarchy has to be flipped upside down. In education, traditional classroom are structured in very similar ways, and it requires some imagination to apply the lessons of Sirolli's book. What if, as educators, we spent more time listening than speaking. It would require placing the tools of learning in the hands of students, providing lots of time for exploration and play, and ultimately being open to a variety of results. For example, I currently student teach in at a continuation school. The nature of the environment means that dealing with a lack of motivation is a regular theme. I recently checked in on a student who is regularly off task, if at all present for class. The students were supposed to be using ipads to research the early lives of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini using a predetermined list of online sources. Instead of researching these figures, he had become enthralled in the airplanes that were developed during WWII. He wanted to show me what he'd found and tell me all about the differences between German and American planes. I asked him if he'd be willing to continue his research and present his findings to the class. He agreed and was excited to do it. I don't know if he has a future in aeronautical engineering; he may. The point is, his development of research skills and knowledge of WWII aerospace technology was self directed, driven by his own intrinsic interests. I was a facilitator of his interests by providing the tools and guidance necessary for him to learn. What's more, the entire class will get to hear a presentation on WWII aerospace technology, something I had not planned to, nor had the time to teach. What would a classroom look like if the role of the teacher was simply to be a servant of the students passions and interests? Would that work? To what degree should students be given the freedom to decide what and how they learn?
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SHOW YOUR WORK This book is an excellent read for anyone interested in the ins and outs of putting your work out there for all to enjoy and benefit from. Austin Kleon covers a range of topics, including why you should share your work, how you should share your work, what you should share, and the hardships that may accompany "putting yourself out there." Not everyone is going to appreciate what you share, and some people just want to tear others down.
I found a lot to agree with in this book. Before I read it, I would have to admit that I thought of sharing work only in terms of those things that you produce and are completely satisfied with. Kleon makes several points about this. First, the author urges the reader to consider sharing not just the work you produce, but the things that inspire you to produce, and the story behind your work. Those things can be just as interesting, and add an equal (even more) value to peoples lives. I suppose the crux of this argument will fall on whatever your intensions for sharing are. If your intentions are to add value to your community and inspire others to create for intrinsic reasons, then you're like to agree with this point. If your goal is to get people to admire you or your work for that purpose only, then sharing your inspiration may seem like a waste of time. I also found a few things that I didn't agree with. The book ends on a note encouraging readers to monetize what they're sharing. If your going to add value to the world, you should be able to seek a reward for that. But it shouldn't be the driving force. I tend to put a lot of my work out there, and I've never thought about making money off of it. I think it corrupts the spirit of a sharing community, and in order to charge for something you have to limit people's access to the full product. Personally, I tend to spend less than a second looking at a sample of something that someone wants me to buy; and the percentage of things that I buy after looking at it for a second, is probably somewhere around 1% of 1%. On the other hand, I tend to spend more time appreciating things that are offered free of charge; furthermore, I'm more likely to share something (not money) of value that I've created in return. All in all, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to others. It's full of great information and thought provoking ideas. If you're at all interested in either information sharing or marketing, you'll find a lot of applicable information. While I didn't agree with everything Kleon proposes in this book, I feel like I definitely grew in my conceptualization of sharing my work. 4/11/2016 0 Comments Choice Book Reflection 3Show Your WorkBy: Austin KleonChapter 7 - Quote:  Questions: How do you know when to share, and when to listen? What’s the best way to show your listening electronically? Connection: One of my favorite books is called “Ripples from the Zambezi”, by Ernesto Sirolli. It’s a collection of stories and experiences gained while Sirolli spent the first half of his career working for an Italian NGO as a community developer in Africa. His mission was always to teach. To bring some added value to the lives of the people he worked with and for. In the Zambezi River Valley, tells a story that changed the trajectory of his life. Upon arriving in the valley, the first thing he noticed is that no one was utilizing the banks of the river for agriculture. This, to an Italian, seemed absurd. To have access to such fertile land and not be growing on it was beyond comprehension, and Sirolli and his team immediately set out to bring modern agriculture to the Zambezi River Valley. They worked for months, cajoled the locals into helping, and waited. After some time the seeds they planted began to turn into amazing red tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and more. Sirolli and his team were so excited, and couldn’t believe that the locals still rarely showed up to work. He began to think that the problem was the locals were lazy. One morning, Sirolli and his team went down to the banks of the river and were horrified to discover that all of the crops they had toiled over had been completely consumed by hippos who, having patiently waited until the food was just ripe enough, came out of the river and had a feast. Sirolli found a local and screamed, “WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL US ABOUT THE HIPPOS?” To which the local calmly replied, “because you didn’t ask.” From this Sirolli learned the lesson that shaped summed up the rest of the book, if you want to know what someone needs, shut up and listen. Epiphany: Being a member of a sharing community means spending time listening rather than always contributing. Chapter 8 - Quote:  Questions: How can I get better at receiving and filtering criticism? Connection: Everyone knows, if you’re going to put yourself out there, you’re going to take a few (or a ton of) punches. People’s honesty can sometimes be brutal, whether it’s invited or not. You have to have a plan to deal with it. Not all feedback has value. If someone is just being unfairly negative, you have to learn to ignore them. Tune out the noise. The temptation is to respond back, but the truth is, you can’t fight fire with fire (which I didn’t come up with, and actually you can). But seriously, responding to them will only feed their negativity, so don’t. That being said, not all negative feedback, while it may not be tactfully worded, is wrong. Maybe I’ll just leave that there. Epiphany: If you’re going to put yourself out there, you have to be ready to take the good with the bad. Chapter 9 - Quote:  Questions: How can the need for money affect the creative process? Connection: I get it. We all need to make money. But this chapter didn’t sit well with me. I understand that making money is important, but being creative and making money are two things that are not always connected. In order to make enough money to be creative full-time, you have to be able to scale up whatever it is you’re creating and produce things that will appeal to a large audience. Your creativity should be a reflection of you. And people may not always want it. If you change what you create in order to appeal to more people, you run the risk of becoming a painter who paints houses rather than an artist. You might be making money and getting by, but just think of what you could have accomplished. Epiphany: Maybe making money by being creative isn’t for me. Chapter 10 - Quote:  Question:
How do you know when to stay and when to go? Connection: While this seems like a simple thing, in my experience it’s the hardest thing to do. We all want our ideas to be instantly loved and adored by others. This couldn’t be better exemplified than by the recent (or not so recent, depending on your perspective) boom in companies offering the service of adding hundreds or even thousands of fake followers to people’s Instagram accounts. It seems like everyone's in on it, but no one ever talks about it. I’ve never done it, but I understand why it’s so popular. The truth is, gaining a following organically is time consuming and painstaking. There’s something to be said for just hanging in there. Looking back at people who have successfully been “noticed”, it’s easy to believe that they’re creative genius was discovered overnight. In reality, most successful people work tirelessly for years and years before they see any success. I used to work as a youth director. I had a small circle of friends who ran their own youth programs. As ridiculous as it might sound, everyone secretly compared numbers. When I was first hired as a youth director, I remember a friend of mine, who had a particularly large program, said, “Don’t plan on seeing any results from your efforts for at least three years. It takes time to build relationships. Then you can expect people to show up.” That was a gem that stuck with me and encouraged me when program after program had to be canceled. But, that didn’t last forever, and he was right, eventually I had a great program. Epiphany: If it’s worth it, hang in there. 3/29/2016 0 Comments Choice Book Reflection 2Show Your WorkBy: Austin KleonChapter 4 - Quote:  Questions: What’s worth sharing? Should you share your “cabinet of curiosity” separate from your own work? Connection: While I tend to share regularly and feel like I’m pretty active in several communities, I’ve never really considered the value of sharing my inspirations or other people's work, but it makes sense. If I find value in something, why wouldn’t someone else. If something inspires me, why wouldn’t it inspire someone else. I get inspiration from all sorts of things. When I hike in the mountains, I constantly scan above me for potential climbs, or routes up peaks I might scramble to the top. They draw me in. In the same way, I tend to draw inspiration from conversations or by tuning into the exciting and creative things other people are doing. If that inspiration fall on me and is not passed along, it loses its reach. Epiphany: If something inspires you, pass it along. Chapter 5 - Quote:  Questions: What’s the best way to tell that story? Can you tell the story with the way you chose to share your work? Connection: This is a part of sharing that I think is most often overlooked. It’s easy to take for granted that other people will automatically find value in what you share. The reality is, most people will spend only moments looking at what you share before they make a judgement. Without finding some way of drawing them in, no matter how amazing your work is, it will be lost. Beyond that, the story behind your work is a huge part of your work. It contains a lot of value. It’s your process. Some of the most interesting things I’ve come across have been background stories to some other thing. I recently read a book by Yvon Chouinard, about how he founded the clothing company - Patagonia. While I like Patagonia as a company, I found it tremendously valuable, and entertaining, to hear the process behind the company. For me, it didn’t translate into any sort of increased customer loyalty, but I could see how it might. Epiphany: Every good product needs and equally good story. Chapter 6 - Quote:  Questions:
How do you know what you know? Or, that what you think you know is accurate? Connection: Sharing your knowledge is important. As a teacher, I don’t need convincing. But, when it comes to learning, if there’s one thing worse than no information, it’s wrong information, and the internet is oh so full of it. I regularly peruse through youtube watching videos about rock climbing (I know it’s lame), and I’ve often come across instructional videos made by people who think they know how to use some climbing system and winding up putting out some incredibly dangerous misinformation. What’s worse, is the number of likes and shares these videos garner from other too inexperienced themselves to know any better. While most things are not this obviously dangerous, it reinforces the point that, if you’re going to teach something you better know your stuff. Epiphany: If you’re going to teach something, make sure you know your stuff. 3/15/2016 0 Comments Choice Book Reflection 1Show Your Work By: Austin Kleon Chapter 1 - Quote:  Questions: What do you gain from sharing your work? Is there any interpersonal benefit, or creative benefit to sharing your work without receiving feedback? Are there best ways to share your work in order to create interaction rather than just throwing it out there? How do you know if what you have is worth sharing? Connection: Well, I’m certainly no genius, so this is good news for me. I really like the idea of sharing your work. I do think it has intrinsic value. Sharing your work regularly can generate community which can provide feedback. In addition, sharing your work can be exciting and inspirational. Sometimes it can be motivating. I like to share work things that I feel will create some added value in other people's lives. For example, my teaching website contains some of my more creative lessons. If I feel like I took time to create a really fun lesson, I want it to go beyond my classroom and benefit others. My hope is that it not only saves others time and energy, but also stirs some creative idea in them. Epiphany: By sharing your work, you can benefit while benefiting others. Chapter 2 - Quote:  Questions: Are people really as interested in the journey as they are in the result? Is there a best way to share your process? How much information is ideal? Connection: This resonates with my own interests personally. As I consider the people I follow on social media that I don’t have a personal relationship with, I realize that I’m drawn in by a photo, but what I really want is the story behind the photo. It has so much more value to me. It not only can inspire me in the same way the photo can, it can provide me with valuable information to improve my own experiences. Epiphany: While we tend to think of artists in terms of their paintings, the process by which those paintings are created has equal, sometimes more, value. Chapter 3 - Quote:  Questions:
Why daily? Is there really value in quantity? Connection: I think the second question is a bit easier to answer. This chapter talks about the benefit of regularity. If you consider that the goal is to build a following to generate interaction, it makes sense. People want to be fed or they lose interest. More importantly, it can break you out of the deadlock of thinking that everything you put out their has to be a masterpiece, and it can force creativity. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. If you challenge yourself to share something every day, you’ll have to get creative. I’ve experienced this as I’ve gained a small social media following on a page where I share outdoor adventures that my friends and I have gone on. The thing that will stagnate a community quickly is long absences. People don’t need to have their minds blown every time they see something you created. Especially if the point is to inspire them to create rather than envy. Epiphany: There is value in quantity, if the goal is generate interaction. 2/12/2016 6 Comments Part 3: A New Culture of Learning
2/7/2016 5 Comments A New Culture of Learning - by: Douglas Thomas & John Seely Brown Reflection 2 (Chapters 4 - 6)
2/6/2016 1 Comment A New Culture of Learning - by: Douglas Thomas & John Seely Brown Reflection 1 (Chapters 1 - 3) CHAPTER 1 Quote: "In our view, the kind of learning the will define the twenty-first century is not taking place in a classroom - at least not in todays classroom. Rather, it is happening all around us, everywhere, and it is powerful".
This quote seems to be a good summation of the argument Thomas and Brown begin to unfold through chapter 1. At first it seems like a sort of, "adapt or become ineffective" attitude toward traditional classroom teaching, but later it becomes clear that the authors want to champion change in teaching pedagogy to not miss an opportunity to take full advantage of the tremendous power that new technologies are continuously bringing to education. That's something I can get behind. Though I do find myself disagreeing quite a bit with a lot of the premises the authors put forward in the their examples through the following chapters. Question: Does having access to tools that can facilitate learning mean that kids are indeed learning without the aid of a teacher? When I look around at the students I interact with (high-school students) I don't see them "messing around" on games like Scratch or Mind-craft. I see them sending selfie snapchats and playing Madden. When I was in elementary school, I played Oregon Trail. I think I was supposed to be learning about things like economy of material, the barter system, and the hardships people faced while traveling west by wagon, but in reality I remember just thinking about how lame the game was. If I had been given the choice to play Oregon Trail or Super Mario you can bet I would have chosen the later every time. Here's the thing. I learned a lot playing Mario. I learned about arcs (trying to jump from one thing to another) without even realizing. I understood that if I ran faster (increased my momentum) I could send Mario further with the same jump. I learned that sometimes games have glitches, like in the last level you could swim under some of the smaller ships as long as you kept pressing A. I was learning concepts in algebra, physics, even programming. Here's the catch - I had no idea I was learning. Connection: In my clinical practice I've made a big effort to take advantage of technology to increase student engagement and learning. Through that experience, I'm sold in the idea of adapting classrooms to take advantage of what technology has to offer. here are two caveats to that: 1 - Sometimes technology specifically designed for a classroom setting lags far behind technology used by teens outside of the classroom. In other words, it looks really lame. 2 - I've seen technology burn my students out if I use it too much. I use my computer, iphone, and ipad every day, Monday through Friday. But, I also give myself long, extended breaks from being attached to these devices. I think students need the same breaks in the classroom. I sometimes intentionally plan a lesson that only involves talking to each other using old school technology like paper and pencil. Epiphany: My "AHA!" moment while reading this chapter came as I read through the real life examples of people who were learning holistically with technology. I realized that the question is not should classrooms be adapting to the new culture of learning; rather, what will be missed if they don't? CHAPTER 2 Quote: "learning should be viewed in terms of an environment—combined with the rich resources provided by the digital information network—where the context in which learning happens, the boundaries that define it, and the students, teachers, and information within it all coexist and shape each other in a mutually reinforcing way."
I chose this quote because it makes a very important point about the how classrooms ought to be adapted in order to talk advantage of the new culture of learning. Rather than follow what the authors claim is a traditional model of teaching, classrooms should become environments where learning takes place through exploration. Question: What is the primary role of a teacher in such a setting? My belief is that the best teachers lead from behind. They facilitate and encourage rather than control. This requires a very adaptive and flexible personality. My experience so far is that students make the best connections through self directed discovery rather than teacher directed learning. Connection: I'd like to find better ways of creating project based lessons in my classroom. It's been challenging because students abilities vary widely in terms of how quickly they can pick up more abstract concepts and have realizations that carry them to some next step. I haven't yet found a balance between challenging students that pick things up quickly or while not leaving others in the dust. Epiphany: I'm not sure I had any new realization myself while reading this chapter. It did reinforce things I've already been thinking about in regards to my own classroom. CHAPTER 3 Question: "Change motivates and challenges. It makes clear when things are obsolete or have outlived their usefulness. But most of all, change forces us to learn differently."
I chose this quote because it made me stop and think about how change in my life recently has forced me to learn differently. I would say, rather than forcing me to learn differently, it has forced me to learn again altogether. I think that's the real power of change - it's outcome is often growth, whether in understanding or awareness, or both. Question: How can I create a continuous atmosphere of change in my classroom in order to force students to be more adaptable learners? That's something I'd like to really work on. If I can create a constant sense of healthy discomfort through being introduced to new situations on a regular basis, I believe my students will benefit. Connection: One way I've been doing this so far is by constantly re-arranging my desks. I have the luxury of a small number of students which make this easier. I try to think of the best possible seating arrangement for the specific lesson we're working on that day. It's often the first thing the students comment on as they enter the room. It prepares them to be uncomfortable and adapt right away. I should add that for the most part they can choose which seat they want every day, so that helps to balance and give them some comfort. Epiphany: Students should be having new experiences as often as possible in the classroom. Not hearing new concepts - having new EXPERIENCES. Whether it's talking to someone new for the first time, expressing understanding in a completely new way, or exploring a topic using a new tool, regularity and routine has to be injected with a measure of unpredictability and chaos. "Tapping the deepest energies of teachers, or any employees, requires a connection with big, meaningful themes that promise a significant, positive effect on the world." In this article, Thomas Markham highlights the tension that exist within the current state of the education system. It's a tension, according to Markham, "between inquiry and project based approaches versus testing and standards." It represents a growing question as well - why is there an increasing difference between the demands of the modern workplace and the system of education we use to prepare young people for that workplace? More importantly, how can we begin to turn that around? Markham offers four insightful ways that teachers can begin to work towards a better future in their classrooms. They are...
These simple ideas almost read like meditations for the modern educator. They cut right through the fog of outcome metrics and get down to the less tangible but more necessary outcomes of education. It's clear that we need to change our approach. As the gap widens between the demands of the modern workplace and the outcomes of our education system, we are doing a disservice to our students if we don't.
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