I’ve been getting a lot of flak recently for doing so much on all that “bloody TECHnology stuff”!
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Come on…not my fault!
I’ve been doing a few programmes / projects of late that are designed to put the TECHinto the ED…without forgetting the LEARNing – especially the TEACHer LEARNing!
Afterall…
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…and, Clay is a guy I choose not to disagree with too much
(unless it’s about hair-styles)!
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Now, the plan (for this current post) was to look at some of the questions that we (as TEACHers) really need to be asking ourselves as we look at ways to “use” (more) EDtech – to enhance what we need to be doing….to help our students do more with the stuff they are supposed to be LEARNing….with us!
Yes, that’s a mouthful…and a half.
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That’s because we need to be doing more than just “DOing” stuff in the classroom…
…we need to be THUNKing DOers – in our classrooms!
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What I was going to do (in this post) was look at a few of the questions all TEACHers need to ask BEFOREthey jump on the latest band-wagon or hand over their credits cards to one of the many…
…that are out there – lots of whom (sadly) are TEACHers, too!
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You know, questions like:
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This one is even “sexier” (probably because I stole and co-opted it from Clay Christensen):
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Not only the EDtech you “hire” yourself…what the school also hires – for you!
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Why, Tony?
Why do we need to question everything?
I just want to get on with my job…
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Well, because…of what Uncle Clay (the first one) tells us above – but perhaps, more importantly,
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Let’s look at an example (very) close to home (if you live here in canım Türkiyem):
I am a Turk now – can say what I want about OUR projects!
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Did it work? Is it working? Will it ever work – if we throw more money at it?
…I promised that I would stop using the phrase “21st Century LEARNing”.
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OK – so glad we got that out of the way!
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In one of my very first posts (seems like a lifetime or three ago…but it is, in fact, only 30 months) – The End of the Highway – I talked about the type of organisational culture that I saw evolving over the next few years (for the Information Age and Knowledge Economy – so now you see why I went with “21C” a wee bit later).
A culture, I suggested, that was characterized NOT by the “old world”my-way-or-the-highway approaches adopted by so many of the “bosses” we had when we were younger…but by a “new world” organisational culture grounded on:
OMG! My graphics were pretty lousy back in the day, yes?
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Now, that’s a place I want to live…the kind of place I want my grandkids to LEARN within (no, just stop asking me about that bloody “manopause” thing already)!
A trueLEARNing Culture for the 21st Century!
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But, what happens, for example, if I meet with an untimely demise – there are many Mütevelli Heyeti Presidents out there (a few YÖK employees, too) that would notbe too unhappy if Tony Hoca “disappeared” or just started sleeping with the fishes (shock-horror).
Or, perhaps…I just get eaten by Zombies…
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Those grandkids of mine might grow up (in canım Türkiyem, of course) with a wonderful degree of control over their mother-tongue…but be not so hot in their grand-daddy’s tongue.
Heck, they might even have to go though Hazırlık for a few months…
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As I suggested in my last post – all is not well in the state of “hazırlık” – apathy and lack of interest in the most important medium of global communication on the part of many hazırlık students, has evolved into a zombie-like pandemic!
The Ottoman Empire was once described as the “sick man of Europe” – today, it is Hazırlık that is being described in similar terms:
In truth…all of HigherEd in canım Türkiyem…needs a check-up!
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However, rather than help “fix”this very real problem – there is many a faculty lecturer, a head of department, a dean (or Vice Rector…even) within our so-called English-medium universities that would love us all to believe this (perhaps to cover the fact that their own English language skills are not that great or that they are still “delivering” English-medium “courses” in Turkish – of course, all down to the fact that the Hazırlık “Team” taught them nowt)!
These critical“hazırlık stakeholders” (many of whom do not even know where the hazırlık building is) just can’t get enough of passing-the-buck – or playing…
…you know how it goes, yes?
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You also know the question that always gets asked…first!
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Will they never LEARN?
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We could, of course, point all those fingers at the students themselves. I mean it’s not as if they don’t give us enoughreasons.
Reasons, I might say, are all reinforced by the things many hazırlık teachers have been overheard saying…thunking – again and again!
Go on! Raise your hand, if you have NEVER said one of these…
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The parents?
Yes, theystarted all this…
…and dragged their kids up to be all the things they never could…be…afterall!
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There is no shortage of “targets” for our fingers – just look at how many we have in both Hazırlık…and the post-Hazırlık world (remember guys…there is a life after the proficiency exam – before, too)!
…and, let’s not forget those pesky trouble-makers – Teacher Trainers!
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BUT…
Weren’t we saying something about…a 21C LEARNing Culture?
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How does this “finger-pointing” fit in with a climate of collaboration… – and what were those other thingimejigs we all say we want to see in our institutions?
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Heck, if we look at our websites – we ALREADY have them…ALL!
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If we really believe that this type of LEARNing Culture is who we are…what we need – is there “room” for the BLAME GAME?
Sorry about that full stop…beating off Zombies here!
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Call me a “dreamer” (I take that as a compliment, BTW)!
Call me a “fool” (Mmmm, this one…not so much)!
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Is it just me…acaba…that thunks…
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A good start is this one:
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Every single “stakeholder” in every single university across canım Türkiyem has, in some way, contributed to the pandemic spread of the Lise5 Syndrome – even the parents (and those Vice Rectors I mentioned).
And, you know what?
I’m guessing many other English-medium universities around the globe…have their own strain of the Zombie virus we have been looking at.
You can take that to the bank…
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THUNKing a wee bit differently…is the key!
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If we could just get to that first “question flip”, we might have a chance…we might survive!
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Hey, you never know…we could then perhaps ask a few other questions:
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That having been said…
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…maybe, we can just keep “living” with the “walking dead”!
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NOTE from the CBO
This post is a “potted” (and updated) version of a mini-dizi I did back in May 2013 (for all you busy, busy folk). If you want to take a closer look (and consider even more “thunking questions” for the challenge that is hazırlık here in Turkey, take a look at the following posts:
Imagine for a second…we changed the way we thunk about what goes on (or should go on) in our classrooms.
You know…
…did a bit of a swap!
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Not only in what we thunk…but also in how we talk about what we thunk.
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Would the world come to an end, acaba? Would the Zombie hordes that tormented Brad Pitt and his ever-so-sweet movie family over the Summer…move into our cities, suburbs and schools?
I know, I know…the zombies have already taken our Ministries, our School Boards, our “Reform” Agenda – but Brad did “win” out in the end…did he not?
By fighting on the “front line”!
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Many of us have already taken the first step. I mean…we have been asking:
…even though we might not like the term “business”!
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AND…we already kinda recognise that…
LEARNing is sooooooo much bigger…
…and something we (as TEACHers) cannot (however much we may want to) do on behalf of our students.
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Nope!
No Zombie apocalypse!
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I mean…a few simple questions is all that it takes to get us there:
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Mmmm – ouch! But, a nice “ouch”…
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Hey, here’s a thunk…what about if all TEACHers-In-Training (you know, those lovely TEACHers-To-Be) had these questions at the heart of their “curriculum”…lecturers that “felt” these questions in their bones…and “walked their talk”.
I wonder what impact this might have on these TEACHers when they get to “do business” – in their own classrooms?
Pretty much the same in the case of humanities – …what if we had humanities educators that (instead of teaching their students “about” books or what so-and-so “meant” in lines 14-15 on page 69) help their students to LEARNabout life, work and themselves…”through” reflecting on books!
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Afterall…
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Hey, just a thunk…
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The alternative, I fear, is waiting for those other Zombies to come up with the next:
A lot of you seemed to like this notion of THUNKing – as any TEACHer worth her salt should. One of my friends also suggested that I read the follow-up book that Ian also did… – there was another?
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As it happened, I had actually bought that one , too – The Book of Thunks – but as I was moving house (I have done this soooooo many times over the last 17-18 years). The book remained packed…and it was not until I moved to big, bad İstanbul last month (and to a new house…again) that I re-discovered it.
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As was the case with the first, it was chokablock with some great thunks…some of them about LEARNing:
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The problem was…as I worked my way through the thunks, very few of them were directly linked to TEACHers. This is probably because Ianhad set up this book as a set of dinner-party conversation starters – designed to annoy the bloody hell out of unwanted guests, no doubt.
So…I decided to adapt a few of them – like the one in the very first image of this post.
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Now, that one might not make your brain go “ouch”…but it sent shivers down my back! Go on…THUNK it over for a minute – and then ask your “boss” what she thunks!
I dare YOU!
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I started by playing with this one:
OMG! That’s a bit serious, Tony…I work in the Gulf!
This little image is one of the very first I did for the blog – almost 3 years back!
It’s been downloaded so many times – hey, some people have even conntacted me and asked me for “permission” to download it (yes, there are many nice guys out there…gals, too). Others have suggested that I add a word or two…we could probably add many!
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Not that you need me to tell you…but I was kinda stating the obvious when I did this – and, I was also linking it to two other questions that TEACHers ask themselves on a Monday morning…or Sunday night:
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Very different, aren’t they?
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It’s not really a toss-up…it’s a choice!
I’ve found that the TEACHers who ask the second question “do business” very differently to those that ask the first. I’ve also “confessed” (and recently re-booted the post in which I made that confession) that I used to ask the first far more than I ever asked the second.
So…how do we get from that second question to the one I have used at the title of this post?
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Well, I thunk it’s a question of what matters…or, to be more specific, what we thunk matters…and what we do to breathe life into that thunk.
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Go back to that first image, for a minute…I was suggesting that there are 11 things that are really important in allthingsLEARNing.
If you had to choose 3 of them, what would they be?
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FUN, perhaps? It’s important, for sure…but it might not make the top 3, yes?
What about REFLECTION? Yes, that one might be in there.
FEEDBACK? The LEARNing lube…gotta have that in my top 3!
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Or, maybe, it’s EXAM PASSES!
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For me, top of the list would be:
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Come on! Only 18 words there…you know the ONE!
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Need another clue?
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It’s in there TWICE…
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OK…I know you have got it by now – but I just wanted to throw in this one, too
I know, I know…but I did take all that time to prepare it!
LEARNing has to involve change…change in the way the LEARNer thinks, feels and acts.
It’s not just about LEARNing “stuff” or it shouldn’t be. The “stuff” we are creating these days is growing at exponential rates…and if our goal, as TEACHers, is to simply TEACH this stuff, we might as well just pack up and go home – and leave it all to the tech we now have!
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This is why our questions have changed…have to change.
Just asking “What should I TEACH today”? …is a “stuff question”.
Asking “What should my students LEARN today”? is an improvement…and, asking “What should my students be able to do with what they LEARN today”? – is even better!
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However, asking:
…is a whole new ball-game.
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A ball-game that scares the crap out of many TEACHers!
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Indeed, many TEACHers I have discussed this question with tell me it’s an impossible question – especially those that work in the ELT “racket”. They tell me that primary TEACHers (even university TEACHers) have a shot at this – they are well-placed…they have enough stuff to TEACH…they can shape minds (and souls)!
A friend of mine once told me, “I’m beginning to think that all that stuff about you being a LEARNatic is true…Come on! I’m just a bloody language TEACHer…I TEACH grammar…sorry, language communication skills…I help kids with the 4 skills…and vocabulary”!
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Read that again…
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My friend is, by the way, a great TEACHer. But, he is not “great” because of his knowledge of grammar…nor because he knows how to TEACH the 4 skills (rather than just “practice” them using a silly textbook).
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…look at how he describes himself!
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I wanted to slap him upside his head when he said this! Instead…I think I made him pay the bill!
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Why do so many TEACHers put themselves down in this way?
Maybe it’s because this is what institutions have LEARNed them…I don’t know!
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My friend is a great TEACHer because he really knows how to “connect” with his students…and because the quality of his interactions with his “kids” allow him to make a real difference to the way those kids think, feel and act – and I ain’t only talking about GRAMMAR!
You see…it doesn’t really matter “what” we TEACH…what discipline we work in, yani! Afterall, none of us really “TEACHes courses”, do we?
We TEACH kids, teenagers, young adults…and even old farts like me!
A couple of you asked me to elaborate a little…so, at the risk of breaching Ian’s IP rights, here you go (BUT, do try and get a copy of the book…it is lovely)!
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What I didn’t tell you (then) is that Ian is a TEACHer.
His whole book and it’s wonderful 260 thunks (I actually think there maybe 264 in there…but let’s not quibble) fell out of his work with Matthew Lipman and his P4C Programme…
Iandescribes how using this type of “approach” (Socratic…in essence) with this type of “content”…really allows kids to use that little creativity gene they have (you know, the one most schools try and surgically remove before graduation).
This is because THUNKS act as “thought hand grenades” (love that phrase)!
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Just look at these TWO:
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…or better – a couple that touch on SCHooling:
What kid is NOT going to have a field day with those?
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BTW – if I hear that any of you have told your kids (or young adults) that the “opposite” of LEARN is…UNlearn…I will hunt and track you down and then eat your first-born…click HERE to find out just why!
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The “trick”?
Well, programmes like P4C (or any “inquiry-based” approach) are designed to help kids “take back” their creative (and critical) thinking skills. They are designed to give students a “voice”…and, the stuff they “create” is nothing short of amazing!
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This means?
TEACHers need to throw the “grenade”…and get out of the bloody way!
Ianactually gives a wide range of “tips” for TEACHers (in the book)…tips that I have boiled down and ranted about on the little ole blog (from time to time):
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You know I am “right”…
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I want to say…a CONSULTing TEACHer can often do a far better job than a TEACHing TEACHer…and I’m trying to predict the thunk that might be making a noise in your heads:
Sounds like the “job” most of us “signed up” for…YES?
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Take a look at a couple more thunks from Ian:
Are you shiriously telling me that Pages 67-8 of the textbook are BETTER?
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OK…you don’t have to “replace” the textbook totally – but you could start more classes with thunks like these:
You know…many TEACHers already do – and they are much happier with their lot!
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It is these TEACHers that can also get to other questions…
…questions that MATTER, questions that make a REAL difference!
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Hey, maybe we could even organise some evening classes for “those parentals” – now that would be progress!
I think I found the book a year later, when I was in Australia.
I used it so much with advanced LEARNers…and people who wanted to take their (already great) language skills to the next level…that I wore out my first copy! But, even younger adults just love them, too.
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Neyse, when I started the blog…it just fell into my bloggery lexicon – but my questions were not necessarily designed to make anyone’s brain go “ouch”.
I guess I just wanted more of us to “thunk”…in verb form!
…and, I wanted to build my blog on educational issues and questions…EDUthunks, if you will.
These “ouches” are good for us all – afterall, is it not questions that drive all our LEARNing?
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Iantells us that “THUNK” is also the “noise that the brain makes when it starts to think about a thunk“! I loved that…and I listen to my own head whenever I get a thunk down on the blog…
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Are there any EDUnoises your head is making today?
Mmmm…this one is gonna get me in trouble, again…ain’t it?
But, not sure with whom…this time!
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Recently, I’ve been thunking a lot about “successful language LEARNing” – you might have seen a couple of the recent posts I have been doing… “bouts of bloggery” that I have been trying to squeeze in between my bouts of “ferry-hopping” with my big, little girl (and her mummy) here in big, bad Istanbul!
Yes, I am a “rovving blogger” for a couple of weeks!
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When ELL professionals think about these things – “SUCCESSful LEARNers” that is – we tend to turn to the “experts” – experts like Jack Richards:
…BTW, this is a “video-based” post (sorry, should have said this before)!
So, bookmark it– if you do not have around 35 minutes to check out all the lovely videos I’m planning to use…and “share” in this post.
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I love Jack…I do! He LEARNed me so much when I was a young(er) TEACHer… despite his matching “shirts n’ glasses” (Sorry, Jack…read that first sentence again)!
If you listen (and watch) very carefully…he says a lot of very smart things. Smart things he LEARNed from one of his students. A lot of smart things that (even more) smart TEACHers “know“…but sadly do not always “apply” to their classroom TEACHing.
Watch the video again…go on (it’s not that long)! Ask yourself:
How many of the things that Jack’s student “does”…do you “effectively” (that’s a key word here) build into the classroom LEARNing opportunities YOU develop for YOUR own LEARNers?
…and, I do not mean what you simply “tell” your students is “a good idea”!
“…that EFFORT actually creates ABILITY, that people can become smart by working hard at the right kinds of LEARNing tasks – has never been taken seriously in America or indeed in any European society, although it is the guiding assumption of EDUcation institutions in societies with a Confucian tradition.”
(Resnick, L. “From Aptitude to Effort: A New Foundation for Our Schools.” Daedalus, Fall 1995, 124(4), 55-62).
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As Lauren pointed out(almost 20 years ago – WTH will we ever LEARN to listen to folk?) – the “secret” to LEARNing (LEARNing languages even) is really all about the “EFFORT”.
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…not a TEACHer’s effort…the LEARNer’s (own) EFFORT!
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OK, and to be fair, Lauren does tell us that “expert instruction” (along with clear expectations; fair evaluation; payoffs for success; the time needed to meet LEARNing expectations) and “the right kinds of LEARNing tasks” – are allvery important!
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The thing is…me (still) thunks…we TEACHers so rarely ask LEARNers what the “right kind” of LEARNing tasks are!
And, while the voices of experts, like Jack and Lauren may be good for TEACHer LEARNing – we really need to ask why it is that so little seems to “change” in the way we TEACHers (and our institutions) “do” the “business” of LEARNing.
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I have said before:
…it still is!
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Maybe, and this is just a shot in the dark here, we need different ways to promote both TEACHer and LEARNer LEARNing – and maybe “expert” instruction from “experts”…is not the way…for LEARNers!
For example, take a look at this little video:
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Wouldn’t you just LOVE to have 20-25 “clones” of Alex in every class?
Maybe not! We already have enough TEACHers on poor salaries, 11-month contracts…and no benefits!
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And, if you have a bit of time on your hands, this one, too:
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Yeah, I get suspicious of these “promo-type” videos, too!
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BUT, there’s a lot of food-for-thought in there…a LOT of food-for-thunking!
I’m guessing…students might “feel” more…about these types of “materials” – the “trick” is for classroom EDUcators to turn them into “REAL LEARNing tasks”!
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I’ll be honest (when am I ever NOT?), as an EDUcator…some of these things still scare the beejeebers out of me!
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You mean I have to forget all “my” years of “TEACHing experience”?
Wot? I have to discard all those “masters” courses I took (and am still paying for)?
You mean I have to re-thunk my “perspective” on TEACHing?
OK – maybe NOT totally!
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…but, considering our “success” levels (not just in Turkey…around the globe) – guys, we have to “do” something “different”. And, more importantly, we have to help our LEARNers “detox” and “head into the LIGHT” (no, not “that” light – the light of “REAL LEARNing”)!
We just have to LISTEN more!
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Last week, I was introduced to a young Turkish guy – named Alpay. He was a student a few years back – studying American Culture and Literature. He got so frustrated that his “high school” and “prep school” experiences were just not doing it for him…he could not “speak”…and his TEACHers…were just not helping him…at all!
He couldn’t (like Alex) travel around the globe with his parents. He did not have a great deal of spare cash (he also had to do a 2-hr commute to school everyday – and another 2 hrs back)…but he came up with his own “solution”.
He managed to scrape together enough dosh to get himself a second-hand iPod…notan iPad…notan iPhone…an iPod! He began downloading…music, TV shows, movies…and “dedicated” his 4-hrs on the bus to watching and listening to his “collection”!
The results “spoke” for themselves…when he chatted with me and my friends.
I was impressed! VERY impressed!
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His “efforts“… his “wants” and “needs” were met through an iPod…and a bit ‘o time on an Istanbul bus – not a classroom!
OK – I can hear some of you mumbling (under your breath): “He’s special, Tony – don’t be so naive”!
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Every LEARNer is “special”!
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This morning…I showed all these videos (and the rough draft of this post) to my big, little girl…she is a student and is getting ready to graduate this year.
I trust her “thunks” in matters of allthingslearning…like most students (as opposed to her TEACHers) …she is the only one that truly “knows” about “her LEARNing”.
I asked her to “rank” the videos in terms of the “impact” they might have on Language LEARNers. You know what she said first?
I want to “meet” this Alpay guy…I want to “talk” to him!
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LEARNers do NOT LEARN because they “STUDY” a lot…
…they LEARN because they “WANT” to!
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The (classroom) TEACHer’s “job” (then) is…to “co-create” a classroom environment that places this at the very forefront of LEARNers‘ minds…and not by (simply) “telling” them that “study” and “hard work” will always “win out“…
…or coming up with “systems” that “force” them to do what they do NOT “want” to do!
There…I said it!
Students are sick to death (they are, you know…just ask a few of them) of TEACHers “preaching at” them (from the “pulpit” at the front of the classroom) about the virtue of “study”.
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“Tell me. I may not get it, I’m sure to forget it. Show me. I may get it, I’ll remember it for a little while. Have me do it. I’ll understand it, it may stick for awhile.”
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I found this “upgraded” version of that old Confucian chestnut this morning (ThxMohan) – my big, little girl wanted to qualify this a wee bit:
Let me “TALK” to someone that “knows”!
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Could we, as TEACHers, “do” something “more” with these thunks – a New Year’s resolution or three, perhaps?
Well, give a man an inch…on a blog, and he’ll want a bloody mile!
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A couple of days ago, Laurence did a super guest-post for us. He must have known it was pretty well-received…’cos he asked me to give him another one.
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Not a “rant” this time…but one of the most honest posts I have read for a while on “real LEARNing”!
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So, I’m going to shut up…and let him tell the story.
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Are you sitting comfortably?
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I’ve been fortunate enough to take on a class of graduate learners – the first time I’ve done so in many years. It’s a pleasurable experience, but also a tough one.
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The reason is this: I’m continually being asked similar questions by learners. “Is this right …?” “Am I doing it right?” “Do you approve of what I’m doing?” “Can I do it better?”
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My stock answer to such questions is: “I don’t know. What do you think?”
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However…this often leads to even more confusion.
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I recently came across a site explaining why learners find Top-Down Learning so congenial: it’s because they are “given the ‘Big Picture’ first, and then, maybe, the details of what’s involved in the process.” This may sound acceptable at first, but how do we know precisely what the “Big Picture” is? Is it defined by the educator, the institution, the learner, or a combination of all three?
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My graduate learners seem to be in no doubt: it’s the institution and the educator who determine their agenda.
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In my spare time, I devote a couple of hours each week to teaching my thirteen-year-old niece. Hitherto she has found the task of learning English a difficult one: many of the activities assigned to her have proved difficult for her to complete, and her grades have been correspondingly low. However this summer she made the effort to improve herself through immersion: watching films, reading books, and trying to converse with as many people in English as she could.
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The results have been fascinating: now she is more than happy to communicate in English, but more importantly, she wants to ask questions – about my life, about her own life, and the different ways in which we were brought up.
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Asking questions is the key to all learning.
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Children learn by asking questions. New recruits learn by asking questions. It is the simplest and most effective way of learning. Brilliant thinkers never stop asking questions because they know that this is the best way to gain deeper insights. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, has said: “We run this company on questions, not answers.’ He knows that if you keep asking questions you can keep finding better answers.
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My thirteen-year-old niece has understood that asking questions lies at the foundation of improving her language abilities. Instead of completing endless assignments, ask a question. Intelligent questions stimulate, provoke, inform and inspire. Questions help us to teachas well as to learn.
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Top-Down Learning may be safefor my graduate learners, but it discourages them from asking questions. Everything is nicely prepared and packaged for them, just like packets of frozen food in a supermarket. The only way I can encourage them to learn is to ask questions of them, and encourage them to ask questions of themselves in response.
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Maybe, just maybe…I should get my thirteen-year-old niece to come and give them a lesson in learning. If she had sufficient self-confidence, I would certainly do so. It would be an interesting reversal of accepted wisdom: the further you advance up the educational ladder, the more you are supposed to ‘know.’
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I wonder how it would work in practice?
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Laurence Raw
(aka @laurenceraw on Twitter)
Baskent University – Ankara, Turkey.
allthingslearning 
