Engage Me or Enrage Me! (Pt.2)

Wednesday, August 19th 2009 by Lisa NielsencloseAuthor: Lisa Nielsen Name: Lisa Nielsen
Email: lnielsen.professional@gmail.com
Site: http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com
About: Lisa Nielsen serves as a Technology Innovation Manager for the New York City Department of Education (NYC DOE) overseeing the creation and implementation of innovative technology and instruction. She has spent more than a decade working in various capacities in educational innovation at the NYC DOE and Teachers College, Columbia University including as manager of instructional technology professional development, literacy and instructional technology coach, teacher, librarian, and staff developer. Ms. Nielsen is a Google Certified Teacher, International Edublogger, and creator of The Innovative Educator social network, blog, and wiki all of which can be found at http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com.See Authors Posts (3)

How to Start Engaging Students with Passion-Based Learning: (Continued)

Ideas for Engaging Students in Passion-Based Learning:

Discover and Consume:
First you need to support your students in finding area of passion and deep personal interest which is an ongoing journey.  Next you may want to connect them with other students and teachers who share these interests so they have a face-to-face (f-2-f) connection with others with like interests.  Once they have identified an area of passion, help them develop strategies to learn more about their topic of interest.

• Finding Passion:
  Help students discover what passions and interests they may have.  One way to do this is by having them take an interest inventory.  While I am a fan of the Renzulli Learning Profile that helps students discover interests, learning styles, abilities, and expression styles, there are many different types of interest inventories out there. While this is a good idea for starting on the road to helping your students discover their passion, take some time to explore multiple ways to helping students find their passion.
• F-2-F Connections with Others with Similar Interests
:
  Ideally an entire school student body and staff would engage in taking a learning profile.  If so, this is a terrific way to connect students with other students with similar interests and even identify teachers with interests shared by students.  These interests can turn into elective classes in the school and provides a tremendous opportunity for students to make deep connections with other students and their teacher.  If a school wide implementation is not possible this is still powerful even if partnering with other classes or finding common interests within your own class.  As an educator you’ll want to work with your students on some conversation guidelines, starters, and extenders to support your students in engaging in meaningful and perhaps accountable talk.
• Researching Your Passion
:
  Once you’ve helped students determine some areas of passion, help them learn more about their area of interest.  Perhaps start with an encyclopedia then move to supporting students in using smart search techniques about their area of interest.  You may want to show them how to use Technorati to locate bloggers who are writing about the topics they are interested in.
• Following Your Passion
:
  Once you’ve supported students in searching for and finding their passions, show them how to follow their passions.  An RSS aggregator like Google Reader is a simple, easy to use tool made just for this purpose.  You can learn how to get started by going here.

Communicate and Connect:
Once students have found an area of passion, it is of utmost importance to know how to search and find information about areas of passion.  While it is certainly powerful for students to have friends and adults in their physical world with the shared passion, learning truly begins when the learning becomes interactive.  Technology provides a never before possible way to find and connect with others who share like interests and to develop and grow in new ways.  Here are some ideas for getting started.

• Help Students Begin Social Bookmarking
:
  Social bookmarking sites such as Diigo allow users to collect resources that will be accessible to them anytime from any computer.  The site also enables students to highlight pages and add sticky notes to record thoughts, ideas, and reflections.  What is potentially most powerful about social bookmarking sites is the ability for users to connect and communicate effortlessly with others who share a common interest.  Educators will want to work with students to model and demonstrate acceptable and appropriate ways to communicate with others online.
• Help Students Become Respectable Netizens (InterNet citiZens)
:
  Once students have used a tool like Google Reader to stay current with their favorite news sites, blogs, magazine and more it is time to begin teaching them how to meaningfully engage in conversations about areas of deep personal interest.  This is where the real learning begins and students begin making connections that lead to the development of what will soon become their personal learning network. Connecting, conversing, commenting, and making meaning with experts in the field is one of the most powerful learning practices in which students can engage. Supporting students in lending their rarely heard voice to these conversations is extremely impactful. Educators will want to work with students on best practices for commenting.
• Support Students in Identifying Learning Networks and Groups:
  Where are the physical and online networks and groups that others with this area of interest connect? Is there a MeetUp group in your area for others interested in this topic? Is there a Ning or a group on Facebook?  Is there an online community or discussion board?  Help students find these resources.  Educators will want to ensure that students and families are aware of safe, acceptable, and appropriate participation in both online and physical groups.

Create and Produce:
Here is where my thinking has changed and moved away from that of some other innovative educators. In The Blog of Proximal Development, Konrad Glogowski says, “I think it’s time to acknowledge that just because students make podcasts or contribute to blogs does not mean that they have become passionate about the topic they’re researching. If a teacher says, “I’d like you to create a podcast to share your work,” students will do it. In fact, they will even show a lot of enthusiasm because the project takes them out of their seats and often even out of their classroom. Are they really working on something that they are passionate about? Rarely.”

Like Glogowski, I don’t believe that having students create blogs, wikis, podcasts, and digital documentaries is the starting point.  It is where we bring students when they have developed areas of deep personal interest and passion; when they have read about and researched these areas; when they have joined the conversation and independently connected with others with similar passions and interests.  It is then that students are ready to create and produce.  To allow for differentiated instruction aligned to each student’s interest, ability, and learning style I recommend that rather than dictate, teachers let students select (with their guidance), what it is they might produce.

• Contribute to or Intern for a Blog, Magazine, or Newspaper:
  Once a student has become immersed in an area of passion and is exposed to those who are publishing in their area of interest, you may want to encourage him/her to inquire about submitting their own post.  This is a great opportunity for a student to publish in an authentic medium to an authentic audience and provide him/her with the opportunity to have experienced experts to guide them and edit their work.  A student may also want to consider interning for their favorite blog magazine or columnist.  A set up fresh eyes and ideas are welcomed by many writers.  This work can provide students with the experience and professionalism that is helpful if they decide to make the committment to writing their own blog or column.
• Join a Cause
:
  Is there an organization that already exists for others with this area of interest?  If there is help students learn how to join, volunteer, and contribute to the group. May the student has an area of expertise or interest that would be beneficial to the cause. Perhaps the student loves photography and can take pictures at an event, maybe s/he is good in using an online publishing program and could make fliers.  Perhaps the student has a network of younger potential group members or knows how to navigate online environments.
• Write a book:
  If you have students that enjoy writing, consider having them work to publish their own book using one of the free online publishing sites like Blurb or LuLu. Not only is it free to publish the book, but students get their own isbn number and can even make a profit if anyone purchases the book. Help students determine who might be interested in contributing to the book? Could this student find someone in the field to revise and edit the book?  Should the book be written collaboratively or individually?  Where can the student promote his or her new book?
• Join or Start a Group or Club:
  Encourage students to find or start a physical group or club that meets at a set time either talking, writing, or engaging in a particular activity. If  a group does not exist, have students research how to start, maintain and build a group. Help students determine the group’s audience. Will this be a school or community based group? Where, when and how often will the group meet?  Will their be a contract that members will sign? What are the groups goals and objectives?
• Start of Join an Online Group:
  If there is not already a group aligned to the student’s interest and targeted audience, perhaps s/he could start one incorporating many of the same considerations that a virtual group would have. If such a group already exists encourage an interested student to take a leadership role in the online community. Perhaps they can serve as a guide, lead discussions, build membership, etc.
• Create a Digital video:
  Is there a powerful message or personal story that a student has found would be important to share?  Then perhaps a student would like to create a video. Now that s/he has an established PLN and base of materials from their RSS reader they have a solid foundation from which to start. Help students determine who from their PLN would be good candidates for collaboration; what resources may they want to pull from?  Help students with a strategy for evaluating and citing their sources.
• Participate in a Podcast:
  Is there a podcast that your student listens to?  If so, encourage him or her to contact the people running the show and participate as a guest. Help students prepare by noticing the components of an effective podcast, coming up with ideas for an engaging topic, determining materials they’ll need to prepare, and ways to inform others of their appearance and build an audience.
• Design a Game:
  Is your student a gamer? If the topic is one that others might be interested in learning about or testing their knowledge, perhaps your student can design a game. Scratch is a free and fantastic tool and online community for students with some interest in programing, but there a variety of options students can explore for such an endeavor.

• Participate in a Contest or Competition:
  There are contests and competitions in a variety of areas of interest. Help your students explore what may be right for him/her. Students interested in architecture and engineering might be interested in investigating the Future City Competition.  Students interested in building, design, and mechanics and engineering may be interested in participating in Robotics Competitions.
• Take Advanced Classes
:
  Just because your not in college doesn’t mean you are not ready for college level material in an area of deep personal interest.  I did just taking college courses beginning at age 15 while I was still in high school.  See what local colleges have to offer and ask if you can take, audit, or get a scholarship for a class. Students may also be interested in investigating online line options like YouTube Edu that organizes the video channels of more than 100 colleges and universities.

WHAT NEXT?

Glogowski observes in his blog that, “I really don’t see that passion around me. My colleagues seem to be concerned with outcomes and expectations, not the passion that they can awaken in their students. Many K-12 students also seem to be going through the motions and ‘playing school.’”

In the blog The Big Picture Erin Murphy shares, “I think about students, and it seems that there are some students who are just born with fires lit in their hearts for particular topics.  Then there are others who aren’t really sure what they want to do with their lives – they enter schools and jobs blindly chasing after money the so-called “right way to live.”  And there are some students who find nothing of value in school for them, and so they stop and go on to jobs where they can feel useful and feel like they are actually learning.  But can we change learning to light fires for students who have a spark in need of kindling?

Can we shift from what Glogowski describes as “playing school” and change how we measure success? Can we start judging an educator’s effectiveness by how s/he answers the question, “How are you helping your students discover and connect with their passions and become contributors to communities in which those passions are developed?”

If educators begin to embrace passion-based learning we can do that and indeed it may be possible to say, “Yes we can” in response to Erin Murphy’s question, “Can we light fires for students who have a spark in need of kindling?”  If we do, we will be truly be developing life-long learners who have the knowledge to discover and pursue their passions, whatever they may be for the rest of their lives.

Similar Posts:

• Engage Me or Enrage Me! (Pt.1)
• Innovative Ideas for Educating English Language Learners (Part 1)