I recently signed up to give an IGNITE talk at a local education event hosted by Brian Aspinall here in Halifax. It was my first time doing a speaking event with so many rules, and I’m glad I made myself do it! This is the writing I did in preparation for the event. It provides some Thank you to Erica Philips and Brian Aspinall for the opportunity and push!
I have heard from kids many times that they hate school, but I’ve never heard anyone say they hated learning. How can it be that they hate the school but not the school’s purpose? This is my why: I want to make school awesome! I want kids to feel the way about coming every day that I feel. So why is it that I enjoy school? I think I’ve figured it out, and it has a lot to do with Michael Fullen’s New Pedagogies for Deep Learning.
A few years ago I attended a pilot PD session to learn more about it. It was overwhelming and I honestly didn’t really get it. I understood it was linked to project-based learning and that the goal was about student engagement, but there was so much about it that was unclear after the two days of workshops. I was already very heavily involved in MakerEd and project-based learning so I didn’t see how it was unique. My school at the time opted out of the pilot and we all went back to business as usual. Last fall I was invited again to join this growing Deep Learning movement. There was PD for the schools involved and they were now a few years into the pilot and were all-in. It was amazing to hear about what they were accomplishing within their schools. School sounded FUN!
Here is the Cole’s Notes version of Deep Learning: We need to respect kids for who they are and how they learn. We need to move away from one-answer-is-correct worksheets that promote fixed mindsets and move towards learning activities that promote the 6Cs of Deep Learning. Fullen and his team believe that the way to do this is for teachers to focus on four areas:
- A learning environment where they feel comfortable, supported, and they have autonomy over how they learn and what they are learning about.
- Learning activities that leverage technology. This doesn’t mean “Chromebooks” is on the schedule more often or that they get to type their projects after they are done, it means technology is a tool for learning and an outlet for creativity.
- Teachers use modern pedagogical practice where students are a part of the learning process alongside their teacher. Learning activities are engaging, varied, and designed with the kids in the room in mind.
- Lastly (and this is the game changer), learning partnerships outside of the classroom are used to drive interest and make learning meaningful and purposeful. I have discovered that THIS is the ticket to engagement that I had been missing from my project-based learning activities over the years. Check out an example of a recent project here with lots of learning partners including Brilliant Labs, Makers Making Change, as well as kids and adults from around Halifax.
You probably understand why it was all still foggy for me after that initial PD several years ago. This is a steep learning curve!
Over the last several years, I’ve had my students complete Passion Projects. They get to learn about any topic they like, to learn that content in a way that works best for their learning style, and they can share their learning in a way that is meaningful to them. I’ve had Passion Projects that were presented as a plasticine diorama, student-created video games, coded robots, videos, and even one delicious project served on a platter! When reflecting on the favourite parts of their school year, students always say that passion projects are at the top of the lists alongside Breakout EDU games and the cardboard challenge. To me, Passion Projects are strongly linked to Deep Learning and are a great step towards student-centred learning.
So now I’ve told you lots of info about Deep Learning, but tonight is all about us. Why are we here for an evening event on a school night to talk about “work”? Well, I’ve made a discovery. I’ve figured out why I love coming to work every day, then I share what I’m doing on Twitter, communicate with my PLN almost daily, and make plans for projects that have more moving parts than I can track at one time.
My job IS a Passion Project.
In my daily work, I use the elements of Deep Learning and the 6Cs. I don’t mean that I only teach them, I mean I apply them myself! I am a 36-year-old adult and every year in September I start a new passion project where I leverage digital technology, work within a collaborative learning environment, learn through modern learning pedagogies and develop learning partnerships with students, parents, my community, organizations like Brilliant Labs, and PLN on Twitter. These factors that make learning awesome are the same things that make teaching AWESOME. I share my work with authentic audiences through tweets, blogs, conferences, and making myself do things that make me uncomfortable like Ignite talks. I do this because I see the value in it. I am motivated by my work because (as corny as it sounds) I am a Deep Learner. The values that I’m promoting to my students are actually the same aspects of my job that make me love it!
Our qualifications and job descriptions we agree to complete are HOW we do our job. The WHY is different for all of us. For me, a large part of it is the personal fulfillment and authentic challenge teaching offers, and the people that come along with it. Thank you for your time and for being a part of my passion project.
Jeff Hennigar 