Making Connections

Taking Leave

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 01:52:00 +0000

I must confess that somewhere along the way last year I lost my energy, and a good deal of enthusiasm, for the job. I got tired, I got busy, I got drained...and more and more often I felt like I was fighting a losing battle trying to do things I saw no way of ever achieving.

I guess it's been good timing then that I've had the opportunity to take some leave in 2011. I'm taking the time to refocus my thinking about my profession - at heart I am still a teacher and I can't imagine being anything else. However, I do want to be the passioante teacher I was in another 10 years which means I need to reflect and recommit to that vision.

As I refocus, reflect and recommit to making those oh so important connections, I hope to start blogging here a little more.

Navigating Narratives in Hyperspace #1

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 22:33:00 +0000

I am a storyteller by trade- as an English teacher, a Drama teacher and a History teacher I immerse myself in stories of people, places, times and events daily. My obsession with stories, real and fictional, has been lifelong - while my parents had trouble keeping my brothers inside as children, they despaired of getting me to leave the lounge when I had a book to read (and I _always_ had a book to read). I think reading at the breakfast table (or dinner table) was what really upset them though.

The age of computers and connectivity of the internet have opened up whole new realms of storytelling. With emerging story structures such as easily constructed and published videos, animations, and interactive stories. I get incredibly excited when I get the chance to play with digital storytelling these days - hence the cyberdrama project a couple of years ago (and I'm helping another teacher revisit this later this year), the inclusion of Hyper-Narratives in our senior English program and any myriad of other smaller projects I dive into any chance I get.

This will be the first of a few posts about storytelling in a digital world.

There's something bugging me about education and digital storytelling at the moment. Earleir in the year I thought it was a one off issue, but increasingly I'm seeing the same thing and I can't keep ignoring the issue.

At the heart of my problem lies this definition:

"A Digital Story is a short movie, usually 2 - 5 minutes long, with the voice of the storyteller telling his or her own story."

When I first heard this, I squirmed. 5 minutes later, when I heard it again, I muttered. I lasted 10 minutes before I walked out, disgusted. What worried me more was that it was being said, and accepted by, a room full of English teachers (about 300 I believe). It struck me as incredibly narrow minded and "elitist" in its definition. What about projects like LonelyGirl15, Such Tweet Sorrow, Online Caroline? Aren't these digital stories too?

I moved on from the above incident smug, I suppose, in my self assuredness that I didn't have such a narrow minded approach to stories. But then...unexpectedly, Iwas confronted with the same definition. This time attached to a competition being run within my department. It's a great competition, dont' get me wrong. But why can't we use hyper-narratives to share a story about our school? Or a collection of in role tweets (not published outside the walled garden of course)? Why are entries limited to this definition:

"A digital story is made from old photographs or new photographs, or both.
Add narration and music (or sound effects) and the story is ready to share with others!"

This second confrontation with the narrow definition made me begin to question myself, then as I began preparing for the next hyper-narrative unit it made me mad and then, finally, after I began to see this definition used increasing in my PLN I took a step back and asked myself - why are they narrowing the deifition this way?

The only conclusion I have been able to come up with is that people are so daunted by the openess of "Digital Storytelling" they can't get their heads around such a broad term if it was to mean "any story told using any digital media (video, audio, images, animation, social networking, hyperlinks) or any combination of these". Admittedly, that is daunting, overwhelming, frightening even. But it's also exciting and liberating.

In my opinion fear is holding us back if education continues to define Digital Storytelling as a collection of images with audio laid over the top. Open up the defition, open up our minds and dive right in - play with the potential of the web to share your stories!

Narrowing Focus

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:34:00 +0000

One of the hardest thing about not just being a classroom teacher for me has been that by having to look at things more broadly I feel as though my pedagogical lense has narrowed.

That seems contradictary to me. And, admittedly that doesn't always sit well with me (but then, I have guilt issues).

I'm struggling with this at the moment - a lot. I desparately want to get more creative with my teaching again - I want to hand responsibility back to my students and I want to play more! Play with ipods, play with wikis, play with blogs... But I feel pressured and trapped and that my focus has been forced away from these things - the things I love about my job.

That, I suppose, is the real reason behind my neglect of my blog, and the RSS feed of blogs, and how far behind I am in listening to "Teacher2.0"... Obviously, I'm not all that happy with the current situation.

I'm looking to change this situation as of day one next term. I've got two senior English classes starting exciting units (Hypertexts - Mach 2 and Reimagining Shakespeare (Hamlet )) and I have bigger plans with more inspiration than I've felt all year.

Here's hoping things are changing!

Wiping Clean the Labels

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:22:00 +0000

Language is a powerful tool. The labels we give things reveal our preconceptions, our opinions of and our value of them. When these labels are passed down to our children and their children we are passing on our values and opinions too.

This idea is not just the basis for a lot of our study in senior English classrooms, it's something which bugs me in education. Talking with a staff member recently I realised one of the hurdles to revolutionising education are the labels and the preconceptions associated with these.

Let's have a look at some examples:

The label "classroom". Society expects a classroom to have:

30 desks and chairs,
a teachers desk,
a whiteboard (or blackboard when I was in school)
four walls
it is assumed that all desks will face the front (or will at least have the whiteboard within easy sight).

This has been the expected definition of "classroom" for years, and even though many of us find it challenging, restrictive and limiting in terms of Creating, Collaborating and Connecting our society has this deeply ingrained expectation that this is what classrooms will look like.

The label "teacher". Society expects a teacher to have:

a University degree (the more years spent studying, the more valued they should be - especially if there's a Masters degree in there),
be experts in their field (English teachers, for example, are expected to have a nearly perfect understanding of spelling, grammar and punctuation rules and be able to regurgitate this information at the drop of a hat) who magnamiously pass on their knowledge to their students

How does this definition allow for true collaboration? According to this social defintion the teacher is the expert and there seems to be little room for students to connect, collaborate and create beyond what the teacher permits.

The label "learning" (learn, learned). Society expects that learning can be:

Something you do in a 'formal' education setting (as opposed to what you learn away from school)
comparable between individuals, districts, states and even countries
measurable against a predefined set of criteria
displayed in set ways

So long as we are measuring a student's learning in predetermined ways are we really allowing for personalised learning, how are we recognising "informal" learning which students may bring to the formal learning location.

At times I struggle with these labels and I think maybe they're part of what is holding education back from change. Change is a big scarey thing for many people and at present, so long as we keep the labels we've always had, education is something which doesn't change, it's a constant in a world of variables.

I am not saying I think this is a good thing!

I am wondering though if maybe we need to change some of the labels we use if we want to really change the system. Maybe instead of classroom we need to use "Learning Environment" and instead of teacher we need to use "Facilitator". Changes to our understanding of learning though will be harder, especially as we move towards a more uniform and consistent National Curriculum.

I worry that so long as our society measures learning based on isolated "tests" we're devauling some of our best learning and for the life of me I don't know how to change that attitude. I can change how my learning environment looks and feels, I can change the way people think about me, but I don't have any power to stop or change the mandated requirements to have students' learning valued and validated.

To instigate this kind of change we need a whole lot more people on board - we need to change the community's expectation and understanding of the labels associated with education. How do we do that?

Yes, we need to change the understandings of the people on the ground, the teachers - but what about the parents, how are we changing their understanding? What about the university lecturers who are preparing the next group of teachers, have their understandings changed in the last 30+ years? What about the policy makers, what are we doing to change their understandings?

I think we need to stop looking just at getting teachers on board with a collaborative, creative and connected education system we've got to wipe clean the labels and go beyond the school gates.

Finding Motivation

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:15:00 +0000

I'll be honest and admit I've lots a bit of my drive this year - 2008 and 2009 were such intense years for me as I pushed the boundaries in my classrooms, settled into a new (intense) school and found my feet as a curriculum leader. Maybe 2010 is going to be a "slow" year, maybe I need it to be.

I've been feeling a tad guilty about that thought, especially as I seem to be slowly watching the group of teachers who had started to work with greater collaboration and transparency return to operating "solo". That's been hard to come to terms with and I'm feeling frustrated and tired of what feels like a never ending (impossible) fight.

As my energy levels have been drained fighting the feeling of uselessness I've been struggling to find a happy place with my own teaching - I'm afraid I've fallen into some bad habits and I'm not seeing enough "21st Century Teaching" in my classroom (well, not from my perspective anyway).

I was working through my Google Reader the other day when I came across a post by Shane Mason where he shared a presentation he had made to staff at his school about 21st Century Education. It's a fabulous presentation and did much to jog my memory, inspire me to take a deep breath and just get on with it - what people around me do really doesn't matter, what matters is how I best prepare my students.

I would highly recommend checking out Shane's post, 21st Century Education. Thanks for sharing, Shane.

Working within the limits

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 03:18:00 +0000

The last week I've been thinking alot about different elements of senior English work programs. I've been struggling to get my head around a upcoming unit and questioning the sequence of some of our program - or maybe I'm just getting bored after three years doing the same texts/topics.

So, this morning when someone (I'm sorry, I can't find the original tweet in my stream!) shared a link to a voicethread looking at alternative assessment for Hamlet I was very interested.

I like these ideas and I can easily see how I could work them into our middle school program (now to transform our middle school program to include Shakespeare!), however I'm not sure I could work around the mandated genre and assessment aspects of our senior syllabus.

In fact, I've been struggling with ways to avoid a repetitive senior program when of the three essential written tasks one must be expository, one imaginative, and one persuasive/reflective. Of these one can be completed in open conditions (assignment), one in unprepared exam conditions and the final as a prepped exam. Typically, expository = essay, imagiantive = narrative of some form and persuasive/reflective = argumentative essay/rationale/ Feature Articles.

Seems quite a narow range really, but with the restrictions of the syllabus how do I broaden the scope?

A kick in the behind...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 08:36:00 +0000

So, I've had a lovely holiday. I really have, I honestly did little to no work and spent a great deal o time reconnecting with things I do simply for pleasure and because of it when it came time for school to return last week I faced it with a good deal more positivity than I recall ending 2009 feeling. That's all well and good (fantastic infact), but it did leave me slightly underprepared for some of the challenges I will face in 2010 as a teacher and a curriculum leader.

On Wednesday this became incredibly apparent as I met my first class - a group of high achieving (academically) students (year 10) who are applying to start the Year 11 English six months before the rest of their peers. I wasn't really sure what to expect and I had no idea how to approach this kind of class. I had some vague notion that I didn't want to approach it "traditionally" but other than that (and a sketch of how their program would match and then diverge from their cohort's) I didn't have a clear vision. So we spent our lessons on Wednesday and Thursday discussing various poems (we're starting with a poetry study). So far (unlike other classes) they haven't written a great deal in their notebooks, we've discussed backgrounds to poems I would usually reserve for Year 12; poems from different cultures, time periods and with a variety of themes and messages. We've talked about how different readers will respond to the same text in different ways depending on their experiences and prior knowledge. We've shared our opinions and reasons behind those. At the end of our second lesson I walked away scared.

I'm not sure I can keep up with some of these kids!

They're on a whole new level and I spent much of Friday wondering how I was going to keep up with them intellectually and how I was going to have them do the assessment tasks I know are ahead of them without insulting their intelligence.

And then, suddenly, unexpectedly, late Friday night it struck me that I needed to step back and identify what was really bugging me - these guys don't need a teacher! Regardless of who was assigned as their "teacher" on the timetable, regardless of what was happening in the class around them, these students would learn. They don't NEED me to TEACH them. They need me to facilitate their education.

In accepting this as truth I've began to look at their program through completely different eyes - I'm looking for ways to personalise, to scaffold, to support and extend them. As an educator working within the boundaries of externally mandated requirements and expectations it's making me look for loopholes and opportunities - which can be challenging, sometimes it's just easier to "go with the flow". But in this case it would mean doing these learners a disservice.

So, what have I come up with so far?

Most importantly - THEY DON'T NEED ME.

But what do they need:

Guidance in mastering what they seem to do naturally in terms of deconstructing and analysing texts
Guidance in navigating the literary minefield to discover who they are as readers and authors, the texts they are comfortable with and expose them to texts which will challenge them
Support in finding their voice as critical readers and authors and voicing their thoughts and opinions to a new audience

These are all things I can do for them. But how while still working within the necessary guidelines? At this stage I'm thinking:

Give them a broader scope in selecting the texts for analysis - for example I can't think of a single reason why they need to do the same text at the same time, not in the poetry, film or even the Shakespeare unit.
Can I let them "pick their own adventure" in terms of sequence of units each semester? management wise it will get tough, but if three students were super keen to do a particular unit first (perhaps their weakest) why force them to do the same unit? Is it essential, or just easier for me?
Focus more on teaching the theory of analysis and deconstruction rather than texts - if they can take "Australia" by Ania Walwicz, a poem my Year 12 class struggle with, and offer me a completely new insight into it I'm not sure I can "teach" them text

It's a very different approach from the other teachers in my area and I admit that a concern would have to be what happens if they have another teacher in the future that refuses to work that way? Would they cope with being forced back into a passive learning scenario, would they kill the teacher, or would the teacher kill them?

Regardless of that concern though, I don't think I'll survive this year if I don't remember Stager's quote "less us, more them" and offer them the chance to control their learning and acknowledge their ability.

Meeting these students has really been a kick in the behind for me - and one that has shaken me, scared me and excited me on a level I didn't get near in 2009!

2010 - Loving it already!

Remembering What I Believe

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Every now and again I find myself having thoughts which counter my beliefs about 21st century teaching and learning. I'll be in the car, my mind wandering into the magical realm of lesson plans, when suddenly the realisation that the activity I was daydreaming about is actually a little boring, a little pedestrian, teacher centred and very "traditional". It's at that point I walk away from the daydream and I feel suddenly alone.

For a while now, far longer than I've been blogging, I've been the one in my school/faculty trying new things, pushing the boundaries of curriculum and syllabus documents and the reality is it's often a lonely, tiring and challenging place to be in education. In the last 12 months I've been lucky enough to find my place in a wonderfully supportive and diverse Personal Learning Network full of tweets, blog posts and podcasts shared by people who are pushing the boundaries, challenging our conceptions of education and reshaping "school". My PLN is full of people I admire and aspire to be more like and through their stories and generous sharing I've come to realise that in the grand scheme of education I'm not the only one out there trying new things.

Sometimes though, my PLN isn't enough to balance out the feeling of isolation where I'm working on the ground. Especially when I'm daydreaming lesson plans and being struck with the realisation that what I was concocting was nothing like the type of lesson I encourage others to use. But, the reality is sometimes I need a wake up call, a reminder to do what it is I recommend others do.

At the 2009 Smart Classrooms Innovation Expo Gary Stager presented one of the keynotes and one of the quotes which has stayed with me and which has since taken pride of place on my office wall is:

"...less us, more them..."

And really, that's what I go back to when my idyll daydreaming of lessons is interrupted by reality. Recently, I've been thinking on this a great deal as my mind archives material from 2009 and frees up some space for thinking about 2010.

2010 promises to be an exciting and intense year (as if 2009 wasn't full on enough!). I'll be continuing in my leadership role and helping my colleagues implement a number of new projects around; curriculum compacting options for students, eportfolios for, as and of learning across the curriculum for senior students, increased collaboration between students and staff across the English faculty and digitising faculty planning, records and assessment as much as possible. And everytime I catch myself thinking what I will be doing to teach others I'm going to remind myself to think instead about how they can learn without me.

Digging Deep, Holding On and Pushing Forward

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:30:00 +0000

The 2009 school year is drawing to a close - and I say that with both a heavy heart and a huge sigh of relief. There is still so much to do before I can walk away satisfied that the job is done and yet each day I have found it increasingly hard to dig deep and find the focus, drive and energy needed to keep it up.

2009 has been a year of change and growth - both personally and professionally. The major catalyst for this has been taking on my first official leadership role as Head of Department for years 10-12 English, Humanities (Ancient History, Modern History, Geography, Economics) and LOTE (Japanese) programs. And what a ride that has turned out to be - with the expected (and unexpected) highs and lows, challenges and successes. I have to admit I've considered throwing in the towel a number of times, I've cried (behind closed doors), I've ranted and I've celebrated. More than anything though, I've grown - as a leader, as a teacher and as a person.

I have grown by...

Taking myself seriously.
I have never been comfortable being an official leader, I've always been a leader "behind the scenes", maybe it was a fear of being the target if things went wrong, or being considered "uppity", I'm not sure. It took me a good six months to start to really settle into my role, probably a little longer. I spent a lot of time second guessing myself, hesitating, looking to others. Eventually that lead to the inevitable confrontation with reality and through the mess I realised I had a choice, either step up and step down. I chose to step up and haven't looked back. I've slowly gained confidence and have started standing up for myself and my beliefs.

Trusting myself.
As the youngest member of the department I'll admit I've had moments when I didn't trust in what I was trying to bring to reality and I let others highjack my vision. I worried so much over the novels I'd selected for our literature studies I honestly lost sleep. I still worry too much, I still spend far too much of my time waiting for the reprimand over the smallest decisions. However, I'm learning to trust myself and my decisions.

Widening my world view.
I have been a Drama teacher,a junior Studies of Society and Environment teacher, a Modern History teacher, a junior English teacher and an English Communication teacher (at one deeply low point in my career I was even a year 8 German teacher despite never having spoken German). But I have never been a Geography teacher or a Vocational Education and Training teacher, I have never been the one getting grilled over the feedback from external reviews on our performance, I've never been comfortable analysing data, drawing conclusions and developing strategic responses. This year I've been all of these things and more. I've learnt to make decisions and stand by them, I've had to have hard conversations (and deal with the fall out) and I've started to see things from a different perspective - I talk now in terms of syllabus documents, strategic targets and goals, measurable outcomes.

There will always be resisters.
I am fairly certain that in the past I've been guilty of being a teacher "in the trenches" openly resisting the direction of my leaders, openly defying change. Trust me, I've learned this year that that looks and feels very different from the other side of the fence. At first I was frustrated and upset by it, but I'm not anymore. I've learnt to play a juggling game of applying pressure, forging ahead and backing off as necessary. Over the year we've made some pretty huge steps forward within the department, teaching teams and across the campus this way and I'm proud of that.

Despite the rollercoaster I've been on this year as I come to terms with my new(ish) role I just hit "submit" to submit my application to continue in the role for another 12 months. Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it's more to do with the fact that I want to continue to push forward. We've had some big successes this year and they're providing an exciting platform from which to launch our programs for 2010.

Our successes have included...

Increased collaboration.
English, out of all the subjects I work with, is notorious for being a very "traditional" subject in its teaching and learning approach. At the start of the year the teachers were very happy to each work in their isolated classrooms, going about their own thing. Our planning meetings buzz a little differently now - there's a growing recognition of the power of drawing on each of our individual strengths and specialities and a commitment to instigate a number of programs which will see the walls open far more often.

Digital Pedagogy for all.
Despite my first meeting of the year included a comment about how ridiculous working with wikis and blogs in English was and an open resentment to the inclusion of digital assessment tasks, that's mostly died down now. Even the most avid resister at the beginning of 2009 is increasingly accepting and open to learning new tools and supportive of digital activities in our classrooms.

It's an exciting place to be in, 2010 is promising to be an exciting year as a teacher and as a leader. I just need to dig deep and hold on for five more work days...

The part we play

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 08:23:00 +0000

Today, as I walked through the crowded foodcourt of our local shopping centre, a stunning young lady stepped out of the long line she was waiting in and greeted my husband and I by name. We glanced awkwardly at each other, each hoping the other would give the necessary clue to place who we were faced with. Embarrassingly, neither of us could save the other and the poor young girl had to confront us with, "You don't recognise me do you?" We both felt awful and personally I was desperately trying to make a connection with my memory banks - we obviously knew her..but how?

Thinking on her feet the girl saved us all any further embarrassment by pulling out her Year 8 ID card...and shocked, the penny finally dropped. This was a student we had both taught for 2-3 years at our previous school...more than that, she was in the area celebrating Schoolies and her completion of 12 years of schooling. The brief encounter drew to a close and we wandered away, stunned and shell-shocked trying to figure out who else would have graduated from that cohort this year and wondering who else we might run into (given our horrible reception to our first, we were desperate to do better the next time!)

As we finished our lunch, hubby and I planned out what chores we needed to do before heading home but before we could move far from the table we suddenly found ourselves cornered by a group of between 10-15 students from the same school and rather than the awkward Year 10 students we remembered we were faced with confident young adults, smiling and happy to see us and share with us what their futures hold (amongst the group there were aspiring teachers, fighter pilots, butchers and journalists).

The rest of the afternoon has been filled with random questions and memories as we try and place each of the "new", mature faces with the students we remember. And, as one would expect, each of these sparkes another new memory and the conversation rolls on.

What I will take from our encounter today though is a deep feeling of pride - these are students we have not had contact with for two years (since we were transferred from the school) and yet they wanted to come and at the very least say hello. That, on the back of the emotional farewelling of the students graduating from my current school this year (with the conversations of thanks, hopes and dreams) I have been reminded that as teachers we often underestimate the power of our connections with students - our influence will play in their lives far longer than we are their teacher and far longer than they are at school. We have played some small part in helping them move towards their futures, to find themselves.

We need to be aware of this part we play and we need to live up to the challenge - which leaves me faced with the question, what have I done this school year to help my students become the best they can be?

My Worst Nightmare

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 01:07:00 +0000

Late last week the depth of my pedagogy was probed - the intent purely to discover if I really am just about the technology. I wasn't offended by the question, it's something I've asked myself a fair bit over the last couple of years. In answering the question though I (in typical Mobbsey fashion) made a joke that a classroom without any technology would be my worst nightmare.

Stupid joke :/ Particularly because it's not true.

I love teaching, regardless of the environment. Whether that space has laptops, data projectors, ipods, cameras, headsets - that's all just trimmings, they're the bonuses. Give me a space, a group of students ready and willing to learn and freedom to help these students get to the necessary end point - that's all I need to be happy as a teacher.

The conflict between my love for technology and my love for teaching is something I've had to come to terms with over the last twelve months. When I first started participating in the DPLA community this year I was faced with a situation which had me seriously questioning my involvement. I wasn't convinced DPLA was for me or that my pedagogy was up to the scrutiny. My doubt stemmed from a conversation about digital portfolios and students using digital tools to develop and track progress - I was frustrated because it felt as though we were being asked to do things digitally for the sake of doing them digitally.

The reality is that technology is not ALWAYS the best option in the classroom and it's fairly clear that I am percieved as being about the technology.

Honestly, that concerns me - maybe I've been talking techology too much and not enough pedagogy. It's certainly given me food for thought and inspiration for self-reflection - How do I avoid being "the technology" English teacher?

Kick Start

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:22:00 +0000

Let's pretend I have been a diligent blogger for the last month and continue on as though I made my last meaningful post just last week... thank you for indulging me in that respect...

I knew it had been coming, I'd been waiting for it, but that didn't stop me from squealing with excitement when @josephperkins sent out the invitation to hosted visits to Bounty Boulevard State School. Since first hearing Joseph speak about the work he was involved in at BBSS I'd been keen to see it in action - multiage, flexible learning environments, student led and negotiated curriculum, eportfolios...basically the stuff of my dreams.

As soon as the details came through I was up in the principal's office seeing just how far I could push my luck - turns out quite far. I was able to organise two teams (in the end three groups went) of 4-5 people each from across the 7-12 teaching teams. We deliberately invited staff who hadn't yet been tapped on the shoulder to participate in our Digital Pedagogy Master Classes to try and build some momentum and kick start these staff towards Pedagogy Licence. Got to say - it worked.

Since coming back these staff having been buzzing with possibilities - some have had an old flame reinvigorated, others had their concept of teaching and learning challenged, all have come back reflecting on what we do and how to move it forward into something else. I've had staff put together proposals for all sorts of things since we came back - Mac's (and ipods), furniture, team teaching approaches and eportfolio systems. Best of all this has been primarily from the teachers working in our senior school.

I see that as a major upside because I often find that those of us working in the senior school get trapped into focusing on the restrictions imposed on us by external expectations and loose sight of the possibilities. Just yesterday I had a senior teacher come to me excited - we've got the go ahead and necessary support (and resources) to set up ePEARL and start using eportfolios across the school (we'd all been really impressed with the system BBSS had running with their students and loved the usibility of ePEARL). Next step is or us to come up with a clear vision of how that's going to work with the senior school - personally, I can't wait to have students build an eportfolio of their English work across a year, hugely powerful opportunity.

So, cheers to @josephperkins and his students for helping get us kick started and inspiring others into a new mindset.

Two Teachers

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 11:01:00 +0000

I used stripgenerator last night to include in my DPLA belief statement. The "classroom" vision on the right certainly looks messier, but I know which one I'd prefer to call mine.

Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 07:11:00 +0000

Today I hosted our first ever Digicafe. Staff were invited to come to an informal session where they would have the opportunity to play with this week's featured "toys", chat to others about what's happening in their classrooms and the potential of different digital tools, ask questions about their ICT Certificate/ Pedagogy Licence portfolios. The real kick back was - food was provided. Teachers love a good free feed and our catering ladies do an awesome afternoon tea.

This week's featured toys - the Pulse Livescribe Smartpen, Diigo and Delicious.

I really enjoy seeing people's faces when I first show them the Livescribe Smartpen - the disbelief, the awe, the inspiration and the ideas. The idea that something which looks remarkably like a "regular" pen can do so much, so simply, just blows people away. What I particularly loved about this afternoon was the discussion that happened between teachers from different subject areas and contexts (middle school and senior school were both represented) about the potential of the tool in each of those situations. Everyone's immediate reaction was to ask how we go about getting enough to be able to use 4-5 for different groups to work with and share their sessions with the whole class later. Some fantastic cross fertilisation - and I've just got an email calling for "dibs" on it first up in the morning to use with a class. Awesome stuff!

Diigo and Delicious were received too - even the idea of being able to access their bookmarks regardless of location and which computer they were on get their attention. The ease of searching, organising, managing and accessing these sweetened the deal. What sealed it? Diigo's annotation/sticky note ability. They immediately saw potential for using with students and with colleagues to share resources and ideas. Winner!

I love days like today, they make up all the times I've felt like I'm not making much of a difference. Especially because the Digicafe wasn't our only digital win for the day! Staff who have been resistant and negative in the past about heavily digital units today got excited and enjoyed themselves playing with some of the tools they will need to be familar with for our next Year 11 English unit. For the final assessment of the year students will be produce a slidecast or video incorporating images, footage, music and a recording of themselves delivering their oral presentation. The recording of themselves can be video or audio, or they can do a little of both. While the team was talking about what the final product might look like we showed them some options (using Encoder, Audacity, and MovieMaker). Lots of laughter, lots of "Ohhh" moments, lots of happy staff = happy Mobbsey.

Today was a great day in so many ways - I think I'd better ride the wave of positivity and do some more work on my Belief Statement!

The Education Jigsaw #2

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 11:50:00 +0000

This is a working draft of part of my #DPLA Belief Statement - any and all feedback is welcome.

This follows directly on from Part One of this series of posts.

Work in the Now

The world has changed dramatically since I was in high school just eleven years ago, in no small part thanks to the rapid increase in personal computer ownership and the development of the internet as a tool for information management, communication medium and creative outlet. Technology will continue to change the world so long as we maintain our ability to imagine new possibilities and in acknowledging that fact we must remember Arthur C. Clarke’s wisdom that “We need to educate our children for their future, not our past...”

Learning opportunities must offer learners to participate in the moment of NOW – they must consider the knowledge and skills relevant to working in a world constantly shifting and adjusting. In developing learning opportunities for learners we must then consider and clarify just what knowledge and skills are important to 21st century learners?

The evolution of technology in the storage, management and accessibility of multiple and wildly varied knowledge, experiences and understandings has seen the individual, isolated nature of constructivism changed. Knowledge is no longer reliant on individual ability to store and recall prior experiences, individuals can now use technology to store and access their own prior experiences at a later date and can be further enhanced by the availability of others’ experiences.

Stephen Covey in his book, “The Leader in Me” (p.30) , also published a list of the “Top 10 Qualities and Skills Employers Seek”. These include:

Communication Skills (verbal and written)
Honesty/Integrity
Teamwork Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Self-motivation/Initiative
Strong Work Ethic
Analytical Skills
Technology Skills
Organisational Skills
Creative Minds

By acknowledging that the world of today’s learners is very different from the one most of the “learning facilitators” teaching experienced I am able to look for ways to embed NOW into the learning opportunities I offer learners. I actively seek ways to embed the development and mastery of key 21st Century Skills in the formal curriculum allowing learners the opportunity to prepare themselves for engagement in an ever changing global community.

There are some quotes and "bits" I am still sourcing to include here, the 21st Century Skills identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills included... I'll add the next bit (be themselves) tomorrow (hopefully). Please feel free to help a girl out and share your thoughts and ideas on ways to improve what I've got so far.

The Education Jigsaw

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 06:09:00 +0000

This is a working draft of part of my #DPLA Belief Statement - any and all feedback is welcome.

I am a firm believer that every individual is a learner – adult, child, parent, teacher, office worker, lawyer – learning is not limited to one discourse or one context. Learning is a process which allows us to make meaning of the world around us, to master skills relevant to our context, to question ideas, to imagine new answers, to gain knowledge.

Knowledge: "Familiarity, awareness, or understanding gained through experience or study " (from: WP1 Presentation_Tallin)

I envision the process of learning as a gigantic jigsaw puzzle – when the pieces are in the right places you reveal a picture barely imaginable when you first opened the box of disjointed pieces. When preparing to facilitate my own, students or staff learning I divide the pieces of the puzzle into these loose groupings: Learning Opportunities, Teaching Opportunities and ICTs for Learning.

Learning Opportunities

Every experience learners engage with offers an opportunity to apply a skill or understanding previously learned, or to explore something new and different. I believe that learning opportunities offered in the formal education setting must be carefully considered to ensure that they allow learners to build on the foundations, be themselves, work in the now and connect and collaborate with others.

Build on the foundations

It is essential that learners have the opportunity to use their knowledge foundations (prior knowledge and understandings) when they approach new learning experiences. Without this opportunity they will be more likely to struggle when making meaning of new information and therefore less likely to succeed at processing and mastering new knowledge.

The constructivist understanding of how people build, maintain and expand their understanding of the world around them through every experience mirrors my approach to learning. Every learner’s framework for making meaning and gaining knowledge is shaped by individual experiences depending on their social, familial, economic, and educational experiences. Therefore every experience helps learners to construct another piece of their knowledge framework and the learning opportunities offered must be carefully thought out and considered, especially when working with groups of 25-30 learners, each with different frameworks for making meaning.

In considering and planning learning opportunities for learners I draw on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Learning to scaffold learners through the new learning experience from the foundation of Remembering through to the deeper understandings of Evaluating and Creating.

Using constructivism and Bloom’s taxonomy to frame my understanding of how learners build their own knowledge forces me to see that “hands-on”, “real world” experiences are those which allow learners to expand their understanding and knowledge base. This recognises the responsibility for gaining and maintaining knowledge largely of individuals, especially as the framework for understanding is limited to the experiences of each individual, as well as ensuring I am aware of my role as a supporter and facilitating in helping learners construct their own meaning.

I want to add something in here about PBL and the power of "hands on" learning experiences, but I'm not sure if I'm even on the right track yet... I'll add the next bits (work in the now and be themselves) later tonight or tomorrow. Please feel free to help a girl out and share your thoughts and ideas on ways to improve what I've got so far.

Just get it done!

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:49:00 +0000

So, for the first week of our two week spring break I largely languished on the lounge and reconnected with my non-teacher self by knitting prolifically and watching some seriously trashy television and DVDs.

After the first three days of being nearly comatose (btw, I do NOT recommend shopping whilst in a state of brain drain, you will spend too much and the top you thought looked great really won't - however, you will end up with enough pretty shoes to make that easier to cope with) I began to emerge and spent some serious time reflecting on the last 9 months. I processed what I needed to and I started to move on and accept the lessons I had been offered:

Priotise
Ask for help
Stand up for yourself
Have a back up plan
Have a support crew
Say 'No' more often
"Don't let the turkey's get you down" (sorry couldn't resist the Mao's Last Dancer quote, loved the book months ago and saw the film last night - highly recommend it)

During the second week I did teach "summer school" for students with identified literacy and numeracy support needs, and had the pleasure of working with hubby (@gravy77) with a group of 11 students for the week. Even though it was only 3 hours each day it was draining and took a big adjustment for me. This year I've taught only senior students and these students were years 6 and 7, a BIG age difference! As challenging as it was, it was rewarding and kinda fun. It let me reconnect as a teacher - without the added responsibilities that comes with being in a leadership role. It helped me remember what it is I love about teaching - working with the students, helping them make their own meaning and express themselves, and collaborating with someone who's teaching brain is very different from mine with a whole multitude of new strategies and activities.

Summer School also helped ease me back into thinking about the final term for 2009 and what needs to be achieved. There's a tad to get done and after the first couple of hours trying to pretend I wasn't phased about it, I did have a minor freakout and began preparations for the end of the world. However, since then I've calmed down, written a list, crossed a few things off said list and have begun to feel a bit more positive about it all.

One of my big priorities this term is completing my Digital Pedagogy Licence (Advanced) portfolio. I started this months ago (it feels like years to be honest) and sadly it got bumped after I developed an attitude problem towards it and conveniently got snowed with other "more urgent" things. So what's done and what's yet to do for it?

Context statement (done)
Belief statement (thanks to @jeni_wren for making me grin every time I see "grief" statement)
Item 1
Item 2
Item 3

Hmm, seems I've got quite a bit to do... ;)

I did start my belief statement (an interactive wordle) ages ago, but it wasn't quite working for me. It felt too disjointed, too messy and I got disheartened and too busy to fix it. After spending a few hours reading over drafts from others in the course I think I've come up with a solution (which is not the "I give up" one I immediately had when I read how great they all are!). I still want it to be interactive and to incorporate multimedia, but I'm going to structure it more simply and instead of the 20 odd "nodes" I had I'm streamlining to four:

From there we'll see where I get too...hopefully somewhere more productive than before!

Big thanks to @shanetechteach and @jnxyz who introduced me to the SimpleMindX app for my ipod touch, I've been using it to brainstorm all holidays and it's so easy!

Living Chaos

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:11:00 +0000

I am known amongst my friends as an advocate of chaos. I juggle a seemingless endless variety of roles, tasks and deadlines. For the most part I find to do lists ineffectual and impractical as my attention tends to get diverted easily. I've tried keeping a diary and a calendar, both get so out date so quickly it all seems a wasted effort. So, in the end I tend to just go with the flow and see what happens. Ask my husband, this is a theory I apply to every aspect of my life and one he finds incredibly frustrating as a 'planner". Chaos lets me find the most remarkable, unexpected things and it's for that reason I refuse to give it up.

Chaos isn't great all the time though. The second one element of my juggling act begins to stray from its place all others are put in jeporday.

What's got me reflecting on my love/hate relationship with chaos? The joke of a highly valued member of my PLN, the recovery and continuing fallout from a chaos disaster, and my dusty knitting needles.

I'm actually writing this post on my ipod touch after accepting that timetabling a given time to blog wasn't working for me and escaping to a coffee shop before I head to training. I forgot to grab my book as I left the house so I found myself in a newsagent and for the first time in nearly a year I indulged in my fave knitting magazine.

As I dipped into the glorious pictures of lushious yarns and beautiful knits I sighed deeply and started dreaming of bringing order to the chaos of a ball of yarn and a set of needles.

Which got me thinking, is it that I love chaos or do I really crave making order from chaos?

"Should...teaching...incorporate army training?"

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 06:41:00 +0000

The last few weeks have been the most physically and emotionally draining of my career and I am so glad we are on holidays now and I have time to pause, process and recover before approaching the final quarter of the year.

So, what have been the highlights (and the lowlights, can't ignore those, sadly)?

Attending the 2009 Smart Classrooms eLearning Innovation Expo and Teacher Awards was definitely a highlight. It was an honour to watch @shanetechteach, @jnxyz and all the other winners be recognised for their dedication to pushing the boundaries and forging new ground in the integration of digital pedagogy. These are the people who support, inspire and push me when it comes to trying new things in my classrooms and encouraging other colleagues to make the shift and leap into the great ocean of potential that is 21st century teaching and learning. The following elearning expo event was bigger and better than 2008 and left my mind spinning with new ideas, one task these holidays is to spend some time looking for ways to make some of those ideas happen!
Another highlight has to be the socialising I was able to do because of the expo. It's not often I get the opportunity to spend face-to-face time with my PLN members, but the expo sure gave us a great excuse. To all the #EQelearn and #leftovers twitter group members who were able to make dinner and/or coffee, it was awesome getting to spend time with you all and bringing the virtual conversations and support of each other into "the real world".
Seeing the preservice teacher I've been working with refuse to give up and starting to find her own feet, and finding enough courage myself to let it go a little more each day.

Unfortunately, there have been some lows in the last couple of weeks too. When these challenges arise we always learn something new about ourselves and we always come away changed, even if only minutely. I don't think I've fully processed what happened to challenge my understanding of myself this week, needless to say it has changed me though. It's making me reevaluate a few things about my position, my roles and my future.

The preservice teacher I've been working with wrote something this week, without knowing the details of what I'd been dealing with, which really spoke to me:

"...should undergraduate teaching degrees incorporate army training?"

At this stage I want to answer yes, especially after this week. As a teacher we are on the frontline. We often find ourselves blamed for literacy, numeracy, social issues and who knows what else. We are expected to work with the basics to perform miracles in behaviour, in results, in innovation. We work with young people who feel disenchanted, ignored and frustrated, and we get to be the ones they take this out on while we try to engage them in a curriculum which largely disempowers them. It takes resilence, courage, determination, optimisim and hope to take the job on and keep at it, no matter what.

And, so far that's what I take away from my lows this week. No matter what, I will keep moving forward - maybe just with some stronger armour and ammunition now!

N.E.R.D.

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 09:48:00 +0000

Not Even Remotely Dorky

Courtesy of "The Simpsons".

Love it.

Pause, Breathe, Reflect

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:49:00 +0000

Many thanks to the ever insightful shanetechteach for his comments and extended reflection over on Talkin' 'bout my cerebration: The Importance of Letting Go around mentoring pre-service teachers.

His comment and challenge to reflect on...

Is the learning you are proud of existent due to you?
Could the students (and do they) demonstrate the same learning in other classes?
Are you establishing yourself or the students as the dependent factor in this learning equation?

...is definitely food for thought.

Of course I want my students to succeed, regardless of possible variables (teacher, season, the progress of Australian Idol), really they need to be dependent on themselves when it comes to their learning. It's key that that they take responsibility for where they're at and sourcing what it is they need in order to learn the best they can (in any subject).

I admire the challenge Shane has set the preservice teacher he is currently working with - that the content is to come from the students themselves. I know a lot of confident teachers who would certainly find that challenging. I haven't set a similar challenge, I've held back for a couple of reasons - primarily because the approach is so far from anything they're familiar with and I like to ease them in.

Maybe I'm not as brave as Shane, maybe I should be.

I am in the lucky position to connect with a couple of colleagues working with the next generation of teachers. These colleagues are working hard to encourage these students to think of new ways of teaching, but there's still a strong focus on "traditional" teaching. Whether that's a mindset ingrained and reinforced because that's the educational model they experienced themselves in school, or because that's the only model we have to use as a measuring stick and therefore the only model we "teach" them to teach?

Oi, I sense a thinking loop beginning...

How do we shift this thinking and transform education?

I suspect that Shane's direct approach of pushing people beyond their comfort zone will have more of an impact compared to my "softyly, softly" approach.

Proud moments

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 09:27:00 +0000

My students have not yet failed to surprise me. Last term we sat down for a class meeting to discuss some issues that had arisen in the class (lack of focus, lack of engagement, lack of commitment to completing work to a high standard). It has to be one of the best spent 70 minutes sessions I've spent with the class (despite some teachers thinking otherwise). Since then the class and I have had a far more productive relationship and the quality of their work has seen a marked improvement.

In the last two weeks I've been blown away from the products of this class meeting a couple of times. The first was a conversation I had with a student on the due date of their latest formal assessment task. A student lingered after class to apologise for not handing in his best possible work and I asked if maybe I'd been setting my standards too high. His reply, "Maybe, but, nah, Miss. If you don't have high standards I won't work for you."

One of the issues we discussed was homework - they weren't doing what I set and while feeling like I was fighting a losing battle I was beginning to slack off with the setting of homework. They came clean that they wanted homework that was interesting, that helped them build English skills (vocab, expression), and that allowed them to expand their knowledge and awareness of the world. I was kind of shocked at first, these students acknowledged the importance of homework and they were willing to negotiate a deal.

Once a week they get a topic loosely linked to the unit we're studying which requires them to form an opinion and research some evidence to back it up. They get to choose if they blog it or write it in their books, but the expectation is that it'll be done by the last lesson of the week.

Some of my quietest students have taken to this new homework set up with a passion. Their blogs are always well thought out and supported with great research. So...I've been pushing buttons through the comments and challenging their thinking. Now, I have had a couple of students come to me in class and say "I saw your reply Miss, but I don't get what you're asking." But there's a couple who have left me speechless. It's clear these two are starting to think on a whole new level and it's exciting. If they're thinking like this in Year 11 I can't wait to see what they're like at the end of Year 12!

I guess that's why I'm nervous about the next few weeks and taking a step back from the class for a while. I'm going to miss them and the intellectual conversations we're starting to have, I just hope they don't slip into apathy again...

Holding Pattern

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:53:00 +0000

It never rains, but it pours...that's the saying, right?

12 months ago I was a full time classroom teacher pushing the boundaries in order to integrate ICTs in my classrooms. These days I seem to have trouble remembering the different roles I play at work and outside of work (although, admittedly the majority of them are work related) and I have a confession...

I miss the classroom.

I still have a part teaching load, but lately I've been feeling slightly (okay, greatly) overwhelmed and in many ways as though I'm not doing my best job in front of my classes, and worse I don't seem to be doing much other than spin my heels. Every time I think I've got one issue sorted something raises it's head - and it's usually urgent, immediate and OMG!

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy the role I'm in now. In fact I really enjoy having the ability to embed ICTs into the curriculum on a far broader scale than just my rooms (in fact got the go ahead over the weekend to embed another ICT unit into Year 11 English...now to find the time to upskill the staff...) and I enjoy seeing the results of my various crusades - but it's draining and finding a balance is so hard.

There are things I'd like to do that I just cannot find the time to do them! I'm frustrated and I'm tired...

Biting off a chunk...

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Image: DSP 142: Drowning in M&Ms2007-10-06, vernhart

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur and there have been times when it has felt like I'm drowning underneath the seemingly endless (growing) mountain of "To Do" in my life. At one stage my hubby did actually begin to wonder if I lived at home anymore... As usual I'm overloaded with different things, but just makes it worthwhile has been the opportunities for learning the busyness of my world has offered. Some of the stand outs have been:

Firstly, I want to publicly thank cnapi5 for inviting me to participate in the "Master Geek" presentation at his local staff professional development day. He challenged me with content I would never have thought to expose myself to - Indigenous Australian astronomy - and put up with my highjacking the session when the participants started asking questions completely irrelevant to the intended content of the afternoon...my bad, sorry about that. Working with staff from a completely different context, with content completely out of my specialty, was mentally engaging and forced me to step out of my comfort zone a little - and let's face it, that's when fun things happen! I was then super lucky enough to join cnapi5, shanetechteach, Mrs_Banjer, Lyn02 and jenni_wren for coffee and cake - and I have to say, I did feel a little less geeky when I was part of the minority who didn't have their laptop out in the cafe. It was great to meet up with people I value so highly in my PLN and I hope we can get together another time soon.

Imagine if you will a room full of education students, all bamboozled as I talked wikis, blogs and web2.0. There were frowns and there was a lot of confusion...and then my colleague and I pulled out the LiveScribe...well, didn't the eyes light up then! I was recently asked to speak with the group about how we embed ICTs into the senior English curriculum with a focus on the hypertext unit from earlier this year. It's fun to show off what we do, but the most exciting thing about the hour...seeing the next generation of teachers realise there's way more out there than they ever imagined.

Later the same week (it was an intense four days...) one of the teachers from my Academy and I both ran different workshops at the English Teachers Association of Queensland seminar focusing on the hypertext unit and using GoogleLit Trips to enrich poetry and novel studies. I've got an email I need to reply to from a group of teachers who work nearby asking for some help getting their Google Earth sorted out so they can start using it in their classrooms - WIN!

Closer to home, I've started to see some movement on some projects too, which is keeping me quite insanely busy on top of my actual day job. We're starting to see staff move through the SC PD Framework and after six months of feeling like I've been talking into the void and feeling a tad unsupported (the eye-rolling, sighs and groans) while I talk Framework, it feels good! Now to keep the momentum up and power on through it all.

So, it's all happening here (including seeking clarification on an idea I have for another ICT embedded unit in senior English...but we'll see if I can sweet talk my way out of a frowning panel before I talk more about that one...) and all I can do to stay on top of everything - take a massive bite and just keep chewing!

Thinking on it more

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 20:44:00 +0000

Thank you, Emma, mrrobbo and Adrian, for the replies to my last post. Each one of you has a slightly different take on things, which means you all have me thinking of different ways of solving the problem...maybe.

I have to agree with both Emma and mrrobbo that the learning that happens in a classroom context doesn't always have to be about the curriculum outlined in the syllabus, there's certainly a great deal more that we teach in terms of skills (21C or otherwise), concepts and understandings of the world outside of schools. This "informal" curriculum is perhaps more important that things (in my context) such as the textual features of a formal essay, the "formal" curriculum persay. I also agree that yes, "ICT can help capture, share and build on thinking - and make it visible." but so can pen and paper - that still doesn't answer the question of when is digital best?

I guess though teachers are often pressured (cornered) into focusing primarily on the formal curriculum, afterall that's what the quality of our work is ultimately judged upon by outsiders - how many students are passing or failing the formal assessment, what are we doing to help them all pass, the data. In my context I certainly feel this pressure and I admit at times it makes me feel trapped in terms of the use and integration of digital activities. As a reult, it's often the digital activities that get culled first when time starts get short in a unit, for example, Project Piglet, I don't have time to do that great little activity using xtranormal where students will create an avatar of a charcater from Hamlet to explore different ways of reading their motivations.

The xtranormal examplethen brings me to the other barriers facing teachers on a daily basis in terms of digital integration - rules and regulations. I understand why we have them, I understand that there are people who won't consider the risks, I understand that it only takes a small slip up and we all look bad (as teachers we live with that awareness every day). That being said the complexity of the rules and regulations sometimes make it far too daunting for a regular teacher to tap into the potential of digital tools in this way:

ICT provides unprecedented access - to people, information and resources. Used well, it can break barriers of time and place and provide experiences that are unsafe or impossible to do in a non-virtual way.

These are some of the restrictions that make using it for these purposes:

Time (see above)
Resources. Even in a resource rich school such as mine we get lectured at about responsible use of resources - particularly bandwidth. When there's over 1000 kids on site who at any given time may be accessing a multitude of digital (online and offline) resources (admittedly not all for 'learning') the network slows to a snail pace, the site you want to access is SLOW (or doesn't load at all), and the learning outcome linked to the activity goes out the window as the students (and teachers) get more and more frustrated. I know that other schools have it far worse. When this is a serious consideration how do we integrate digital activities such as connecting with people and resources? (I know that where there's a will, there's a way - but for many teachers this makes digital integration high investment-low return.
Copyright considerations. Oh my...what a complex, rabbit-warren this is. I'm guessing most teachers are breaking some aspect of copyright at least once a day, and I say guessing because I really can't get my head around it all. When it all becomes too hard to understand (or to conform to) teachers just won't do it. We have 25-30 students in any given classroom (for some teachers they will see over 100 students a couple of days a week) - their primary focus is on those students, if something looks like it will detract from their planning or management of that (such as considering the complexities of digital copyright) it tends to go in the "too hard' basket and the tried and true pulled out. I'm not saying teachers SHOULDN'T consider copyright, by the way.
Organisation rules. Teachers, at this point in time, are interpreting these as "keep it in the walled garden". And I completely understand why they are. It's just too risky to breach it and be the one who gets charred for it. Like the copyright issue teachers like things simple to understand. What that's doing though is that teachers are seeing some great tools out there and turning their backs on them because they're outside the "walls", or they don't understand the HOW behind things such as giving guests (experts) access to different spaces within the wall - what is okay and what isn't? And then you get the whole layer of "if I could use _(insert name of online tool here)_ this would be easy. But it's too hard because _(pick one - space limitations with the LMS/the LMS is bandwidth hungry/students don't like the tools in LMS because of what they can use outside of school)_." I don't always agree with this attitude, but I do understand where it's coming from and Emma and Adrian you've both feilding conversations like that from me in the past.

So, when teachers are faced with what they see as "brickwalls" what do they do - throw up their own brickwalls. Which is what has happened with the teacher I spoke about originally. They're frustrated for the same reason I was frustrated a few weeks ago with my DPLA - they feel like the response they're getting doesn't take their context into consideration, they're certainly not feeling understood or supported by the DPL indicators or process. Yes, self reflection is hard but it borders on torture sometimes and makes good teachers second guess themselves and critique themselves in the harshest of ways.

Adrian, your point that:

If the teacher can answer the question "Is this THE best way to improved student learning outcomes?", with an honest and informed "YES!" then in my mind the whether it is traditional or digital is irrelevant!

Is exactly what this teacher can do. They honestly believe that their use of digital tools has enhanced their students' learning. But that's not enough for the DPL write ups where teachers have to detail and justify their use of ICT. It's part of the self reflection process (well it is in my experience) that the justifying is the hardest part, and in order to demonstrate that they're aligned with "what the DPL is about" and show they're using implementing digital activities:

beyond the sexiness factor of ICT (thinking about ICT for motivation or engagement purposes) and the publishing factor (using ICT to make things look pretty or 'good copies'), and to start considering new ways of working where ICT can improve learning opportunities.

I guess my (and theirs) is that engagement helps improve outcomes and publishing to a wider audience has a profound effect on student use of language and formatting. I agree that if they were the ONLY reasons there'd be a problem, but they're not in this case but the teacher now feels as though they can't talk about those things at all. It's not fair of us to dismiss these things as being lesser reasons, especially not if we're wanting teachers to engage in the DPL process with less of a fear and resentment factor (and that's pretty big out there already).