bishopviard's posterous

Why share the thinking and learning in our classroom?

Reflecting on learning is a given - we know it improves the learning process (http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/learningteachingandassessment/approaches/activelearning/index.asp).

http://eduBuzz.org was the experience that absolutely engrained this for me.

An authentic audience for finished work (the audience changes perception of the worth of the work)
We're modelling that we are vulnerable, that we don't always have the answers (and we're keen for others to help)
It forces us into reflecting on why we as teachers are doing what we're doing - avoiding busy work.
You get a more collaborative view on our work, our learning, and this is where deep learning comes from.
The added potential for involving the larger school community.
Learning is constructed by what we see, hear, experience.
Sharing exposes us to the ideas of others.
Having learners think about how they were taught and if there's another way to do it.

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What we think we've learnt this morning

1. Sharing classroom practice more in order to get feedback on what I've been doing. With the National Standards, we're not talking enough about the implications so I want to instigate some discussions around that.

2. Making the effort to provide feedback ourselves on others' work - and what we're going to add to it.

3. Learning to record from the iPhone straight onto the blog at Posterous. (Record, send as email). Then thinking about what it is that's going to be of value to others and to me.

4. Giving people more than one option to get them to want to opt in, so that they're not feeling that they have to do something this way, with this device, on this tool, for this purpose.

5. Providing more opportunity for my learners (and my colleagues) to reflect on where they've been, where they're headed and how. Face-to-face is important, online is great, but it's got to be down to the individual to decide which.