melcashen.com

I know – not very inventive but it is mine.

For the last few years I have used a free word press blog, and although they were simple enough to allow me to do my own, I am enjoying having the freedom to do what I like with it. Even if it did take me three days to choose a theme!

I will be leaving my old blog where it is for the time being, but if you have it in your RSS, on your blog or subscribe I would appreciate if you changed your link. I will longer be updating it here.

Thanks.

Image: ‘reads by the sea‘ Found on flickrcc.net

In my role I work with the Virtual Learning Environment, the project responsible for implementing a set of new learning technologies across the university, the first being Moodle.  There are many aspects to my role but I essentially work with academics supporting them in using learning technologies in learning, share good practice across the university and provide training in learning technologies.

For the past 12 years primary teaching has completely consumed me, especially in the last few years as I grew more and more passionate about empowering students, engaging them with ICT and dreaming of education reform. So why leave I hear you ask. Well there are a few reasons I guess.

• In the last few months I have come to see myself more as an educator than a primary teacher so working in the tertiary sector will allow me to build a new skill set
• I want to build change management skills and work collaboratively to bring about change. Unfortunately the lack of career structure in education means I was unable to get these opportunities in primary schools
• I was tired.  Tired of the ever increasing work load and tired of hitting my head against the same brick wall with the lack of direction of education in Victoria.

It has been very excited starting a new job and I have enjoyed reflecting on me as a learner.  Don’t get me wrong, I am constantly learning, but it is rare that I am put in a position where I the learning curve is so large.  An environment where I had to use my prior knowledge and make connections with my new knowledge. A place where I was in a state of cognitive dissonance and my head was working in overtime to sort through my new information. It was quite eye opening to reflect on the skills I used to ensure I could ‘survive.’

It was quite invigorating! And in fact it continues to excite me everyday.

So what is it that excites me so much about my new role?

• I love that I am trusted as a professional to do my job and respected in the knowledge and skills I bring to the position. I am asked what I think and how I can contribute.
• I love that collaboration is preferred and it is expected that everyone will work together. And that because of this everyone works together so well.
• I love that the vision is clear and everyone is working towards it.
• I love that the people in my team use technologies like google docs and calendars to be more efficient and organised
• I love that wellbeing is important and that you have time to get to know the people you work with over lunch because you actually get lunch!

And now I have a whole heap of new learning to share so hopefully the blog posts with be more frequent.

To make it easy on the people in my session and for those who are not in it you can access the links here.

Classroom Connections

Bingo Baker – Play the game here

Skype for Classroom

The Hockey Sweater

Smile Box

Twitter

Twitter Hashtags

Australian Twitter Hashtags

Poll Daddy

Capital City Challenge – our blog

Capital City Blog

Capital City Presentation

Our Google Doc story

Voicethread

Our Voicethread

Primary Puzzle

Student Conference Series

Google+

The discussion paper, titled New Directions for School Leadership and the Teaching Profession, focuses on three key areas of reform.

• Building on teacher training and attracting high quality to teachers to the profession.
• Establish a culture of excellence within the profession
• Promote leadership and support principals.

Image: ‘During class‘

Kickstarter is a crowd funding website, which allows people to fund projects of creativity.  It provides a platform for people to promote their ideas and facilitates the collection of funding.

When you first visit the site there are thousands of creative projects looking for funding ranging from documentaries, art exhibitions and technology to fashion, games and films – plenty of creative projects for everyone’s interests.  If you come across a project you would like to support, simply back the project with an amount of money you choose.  If the project reaches the funding goal by the deadline, your money is sent on to them to complete the project.  If it is unsuccessful in reaching its goal you don’t pay a thing.

So what do you get for backing a project?  The wonderful feeling of helping out someone, rewarding them for their creativity.  For many of the projects you get rewards depending on how much you pledge.  This reward could be in the form of your name in the credits of a book, a sample of the product or simply receiving a thank you letter from the makers.

A recently successful project, the  interactive ‘Story of Flewn‘ gave backers the opportunity to add their own character to the story, working with writers to develop the character.  Many other projects similar to this give you opportunities to add feedback, follow the creative process or become part of the team.

So why write about a site like this in an education blog you ask?  Just imagine learning about narrative writing in your classroom where you develop a character, work with authors and add creative input to an interactive text.  Students authentically having input in the creative direction of a real project, which they will be able to share with not only their friends and family but the world. For the same price of a textbook you can become part of a team, offering feedback and linking to the creative team of a storybook. This is just one example of many authentic opportunities for schools to support projects (And I imagine there are huge opportunities for students to present projects and seek backers for their own projects.)

Personally I love flicking through the thousands of creative projects and the feeling I get when I support a successful project. I am currently backing a couple of projects and eagerly check each day to watch the percentage of funding grow. Two projects I am excited about at the moment are Dandelion and Draw a Stickman Epic.

Dandelion – Bullying is for people with no imagination.

This is a story about a young boy who is bullied each day at school and the world he develops in his imagination, with the little help of a dandelion. It is ‘a story to encourage parents and children to talk about bullying and look at whether some problems can be solved with a little imagination.’

As a teacher, bullying is an area often talked about and discussed in our class and I work very hard to look at resilience and building skills to put students in control of how they react to others.  Not only ensuring students know how to report and seek support for bullying but also giving them skills to deal with bullying should they ever come across it.

So when I read the brief f or this project I became very excited.  A story which shows that people who are bullied are in control of how they react and the concept that with a little imagination life can take on a different look. To add to this the team have created a beautiful iPad app where children can interact with story, including a stunning moment where children can blow the seeds from a dandelion.

Draw a Stickman Epic

I have blogged previously about Draw a Stickman, a great little website where the stickman you draw comes to life in a story.  Now these guys are making a game. Similar to the website, you start by drawing a stickman who will become the hero of the game and then creativity takes over.  ’Each new level presents you with new creative problems and puzzles. You will meet a fantastic assortment of imaginary creatures that will hinder, or help, your progress through the game.’

For $10 backed to Draw a Stickman you get access to the behind the scenes development, opportunities to offer ideas and give feedback and a copy of the the game when it is released. And you get to submit your own stickman!  What a great project for the classroom.

Have you used Kickstarter in your classroom?  I would love to hear about it.

Our final day of the summit is a day of action.  Through our questions, we have been able to pinpoint the areas of action and change, which reflect what we have seen, experienced and discussed.

There are 6 areas of change which were recurring in all of the conversations;

• Transform curriculum
• Transform teacher training
• Transform learning
• Transform learning environments
• Transform support
• Transform assessment

As we form our groups for the culmination of ideas, it is a picture of empowerment as the local principals, parents and young people are the key holders of conversation.  For us who have travelled it is a great opportunity to take a back seat, allowing the people who collectively form education in Rwanda, to take control.

Sarah, a volunteer teacher from New Zealand had opened my eyes to idea of ‘fly in, fly out’ people.   They see many of these in Rwanda. Early on I resigned to the fact that I was a ‘fly in, fly out’ visitor and I was conscious of this when I responded in discussions. As someone who had only been in the country a few days I was well aware of my lack of understanding of the real obstacles that Rwandans face, so I was therefore not qualified to make decisions on their behalf.

Rwanda has shown remarkable strength in how they have shifted culture since the Genocide in 1994. As 800,00 people lost their lives, the rest of the world held back and in the end it was the troops of Kagame’s RPF, which brought an end to the Genocide.  Since then they have stood as one and stepped forward together to create a country of unity. When empowered to create your own solutions it produces an inner strength worth so much more than any gift. As aid agenceies have learnt, you can not continue to give without any ownership as it builds no inner strength or skill. Just as with education, we can not spoon feed students learning. It gives it no meaning or worth. We must own our own learning.

With these thoughts heavy in my mind I am pleased to see the actions being created by the people who will shape them for Rwanda. I sit back and hear Sam, a parent, share his ideas of using teacher training time on pedagogy, focussing on how to teach rather than what to teach.  Barack, the young entrepreneur, shares his ideas of adding school placements to teacher training. It is inspiring to hear and I can’t help wishing I could bottle it!

The  principals who have worked with us will now take these actions back to their schools.  I have confidence that these conversations will be popping up in schools all over Rwanda.  I know as I head back to Australia I will take with me the confidence that with the people I have met, and the message we share, education reform is not only a dream but has a reality about it.  I am thankful for the experiences, conversations and laughter shared with amazing people who prompted me to reflect on my own ideas and find direction in my own thoughts.

We once again become a collective in the beautiful surroundings of the Cathedral where we move into our second and third converstaions. With the more we see and the more we talk about, the more questions come to mind, making it a tough decision on which conversations to join.

• How do you teach individually in large classes?
• How do we create a secure environment for students?
• What needs to be thrown out of our practice to allow change?
• What would child centred PBL look like in a school in a developing country.
• Are teachers capable of teaching job creating skills?
• Do current assessment/exams help or hinder learning?
• How do we change the priorities of our communities?
• When we adjust minor things are we just repainting the wall?
• Do we need a new paradigm?

I start by joining the group looking at PBL and am refreshed at Matthew’s opening statement regarding how limiting a label can be. By labeling Rwanda as a developing country we put limitations on what they can achieve and the size of the steps they can take in reform. I enjoy the opportunity to listen in this group and choose not to offer my ideas, soaking in the conversation.

Today I do move groups, making the most of the open space as I  join the group discussing how to increase community in schools. In this conversation my passion takes over and  I throw in a few questions; What creates a community? Can we force the forming of a community?  Can we make people be part of a community? Unfortunately the conversations are cut short as we are required to move on.

As the last two days have continued I have become more and more frustrated with the structure of the summit.  I was first enticed by the idea of an open summit where the collision of minds would be the focus, not the timing on the an agenda, so stopping in the middle of great conversations has been difficult for me.

As I reflect on how I feel about having these amazing conversations restricted, I try to put myself in the shoes of others at the summit. Many of the delegates are principals who have not experienced this type of open space learning before, and for them working in groups with free flowing conversation is a learning they will take back to their schools and put into practice. This reflection soon morphs into my big question of the day.

Does Rwanda first need to make the same mistakes as other countries in the world before they can really reform Education?

I had heard someone describe Rwandan Education as missing the Industrial Revolution when making a statement of how far behind in education reform they are. This should be an empowering position to be in. If we look at many of the mistakes made in education in the past, standardized testing comes to mind, does this not put Rwanda in a perfect position to reform education?  A place where there is less shift to make, less learning to unlearn.

This also correlates with my reflection on the summit itself.  If the principals involved in the summit were making leaps in the change they were experiencing, why not go all the way? Maybe this just reflects my character – why take small steps when you can get there quicker in leaps and bounds? Yes we make mistakes along the way but we also pick ourselves up quicker too. By taking more risks we can achieve more.

Set in the beautiful surroundings of the Volcanoes National Park, and walking distance from the main meeting point for the hundreds of tourists who take the trek to visit the Gorillas, Kabwende Primary School educates 1600 students a day. As I wander in and out of the classrooms, listening to kids proudly singing the national anthem and sharing their notebooks, I begin to see some commonalities appearing in the schools in Rwanda.  Teaching seems to be rote based and English is taught even when teachers don’t understand the language themselves.  Learning is generally individual, with limited opportunities for unique thinking.  Students appear fearful to break a smile and remain compliant to the teacher, even with many visitors in the room. When we walk into the room teaching seems to pause as we talk to the students and I wonder what they were learning before we stepped in.

As the senior students meet outside for a game with the visitors I take the opportunity to step into a classroom and take a seat at the back. The teacher of this Primary 4 class immediately stands out as unique.  I find myself in a Maths class where she is teaching students about dividing decimals.  She models lovely English and not once do I see her standing at the front of the class.  At one point a girl shares her learning with the rest of the class receiving feedback from not only the teacher but the students as she goes.

As the students get back to the task at hand they are working in groups to solve problems.  After finishing they swap their work and give feedback to the group next to them.  The teacher constantly gives feedback to students and keeps the learning moving, regardless of the visitors in the class.

As the students continue their tasks she comes to ask me how I found her classroom.  This teacher is surprised that her classroom has many similarities to classes in Australia.  ”I do the same teaching as you do? Is this true? Your students work in groups too?” Her planning demonstrates to me that she is a reflective teacher who knows her content and students well.

I have seen a few teachers like her in the schools I have visited and begin to wonder how Rwanda could create opportunities for these teachers to share their ideas, learn from others like them and change teaching from the coal face.

To take the teachers like this from each school and support them with leadership skills, give them opportunities to share their practice and have conversation with other like minded teachers, could start the reform of education from the classroom.

After our first two visits to schools we head back to the cathedral to form our questions and discuss what we have observed.  It doesn’t take long for the board to fill with questions.  As the first 6 are chosen they are quickly replaced by more, which will shape the discussions tomorrow.

Our first discussion questions are;

• If you could change one thing in Education what would it be?
• How can we increase the number of females in school?
• How do you address the total lack of resources?
• How do we build a bridge to a real career?
• How do we create a physical learning environment?

All good questions that could be put on the table of any staffroom, in any school, in any country!

As the questions are stuck to the wall, people choose the discussions they wish to be part of, with the freedom to move from their group and join another discussion at any time. Interestingly we all stay put, the conversations flowing and ideas bouncing.

I join the careers discussion and we start to build a conversation around many different ideas, creating more questions than answers.

• How do we engage students in real world learning?
• How can we build passions into learning?
• Could project based learning work in Rwandan schools?
• Should there be a career subject?
• Is the curriculum too limited with no variety?
• How could guided choices support students?

But we did come away with some statements

• Children need to be confident collaborators in order to prepare themselves for careers.
• Creativity and innovation should be part of the curriculum
• We need to use the community connections in schools
• Using business projects (Eg; Collaborative groups to own a chicken and use to make as much money as possible
• Career Education should start with identifying likes/dislikes and strengths/weaknesses
• By understanding ourselves we can identify realistic goals.

We were also able to sum up some of the major obstacles, which we felt were important to identify before we could move forward.

• Students dreams and aspirations are not realistic and based around society expectations.
• Students dreams and aspirations are directed by their parents and the needs of the family.
• Students do not have the skills to think for themselves.

It wasn’t until the next morning that the biggest obstacle of all came through. One of the participants shared a question, which had been playing on her mind for some time.

“One child spends 12 years in Education while another spends this time working in the field with his family.  After 12 years they end up in the same field, digging the same patch of dirt. What is the point of education?’

We can not put an end date on education.  Learning is forever.  But to prove this we need to teach life long learning and show our students that education is something more than a piece of paper.  It is dreams, hopes, aspirations and passion with no end date on opportunity.

There continues to be more questions than answers and the one I can’t shake is, ‘How do we create a society where Education is is part of a journey, not an end product?’

After the beginnings of conversations last night over dinner, the Summit begins in earnest today.  We begin in the Anglican Cathedral of Musanze, where Bishop Mbanda officially opens the summit.  He offers questions for us to ponder as our school visits start; “How can we improve? How can the children be better builders of their lives, their communities, their nation?

As we sit in a large circle in the centre of the imposing cathedral, Stephen Harris, introduces us to the space rules.  For the 40 or so principals in the room it is the first time they have been introduced to the notion of open space learning and he explains the need for this to become a conversation space, where experience and thinking collide.  It requires conversation and questioning, with no bleaking of ideas.

With this in mind we make our way to the first school on our itinerary, Maya 1. The Government school was opened by the chuch in 1939 and the original buildings still house the 364 students, of which only 46 are girls. Although renovated in 1996, the damage from an earthquake means that some classes need to shift to one side of the room during rain.

As we walk into the first classroom 50 students sitting at long stools beam at us, ready to share their work, they proudly show us their notebooks.  Some of the older students are learning about the human skeleton and their books are filled with labelled pictures of the skeleton. Unfortunately the English of their teachers is also limited and they have not yet connected their words to their own bodies.

The principal tells us of the generous donation of English textbooks that are now stored in one of the building as the teachers have little english and limited knowledge to use them.  The teachers give their all but the obstacles are so large there is only so much they can do.

Outside, the community is gathering to see what all the brouhaha is about, 100 people all arriving at the school in several buses has definitely created some interest.  Alice is saddened by the young girl with her baby sibling on her back.  One of the many issues taking away the childhoods of these innocent children well before they should.  It is a thought we will take back to our discussion later today.

Before the reflection of what I have seen settles in it is off to our next school, Kogogo Secondary school, which sits on a picturesque hill overlooking Lake Burera.  National test scores determine entry to this Secondary School, where both boys and girls board.

My first stop is into the computer science  class where I take a seat and learn about CPU, internal and external memory.  The teacher is mesmorising.  His English is fantastic and you can see his use of repetition to ensure students are learning.  Given, it continues to be teaching and learning based on rote but as I look around, the students are listening, wanting to learn.  And there is not a computer in sight.

Next it is off to a a Swahili class, where the kids try to teach me some new words.  Although not a national language, these students are looking at moving into the banking industry and it will be a great help to their career. It isn’t long before Swahili is left behind for English as the students take the opportunity to practise conversing in the language.

I am shown around by a few students, proudly sharing with me their boarding rooms, kitchen and sports areas.  I hear of the ambitions of students around me, favourite subjects and of course the boring ones.  Richard wants to head to university to be an education minister to bring free and fair eduction to all.  Isaac wishes to travel the world and has many questions about the places I have been.  Daniel moves the chat to football and favourite teams and they start to chant Man U in response to my following Liverpool.  Laughter fills the air.

As we head back to the cathedral for our first discussions I try to put my two visits in perspective.  I can’t help but compare it to Australia and am quickly beginning to feel that we have a lot to learn from the resilient educators in Rwanda. They accept change in the face of adversity, remain positive and offer these students opportunities beyond what I expected.

Darius, a student at the Kigali Institute of Education sums up my feelings as we return to the cathedral for our first discussions;

“Despite poverty, teachers teach with courage and students are motivated.”