I've been having this conversation in a few different places, and now I need to put my thoughts together. Here is a summary of some discussions and e-mail messages, a Wesley Fryer's post "Advice for designing the school of the future" and my comment there, and my forum post in the School 2.0 social network on Ning.

 It all started here:
My daughter’s school is going through seismic upgrading. 2 years of noise and upheaval… 1/2 the school sealed off, with the kids in portables, then a year later the other half goes to the portables and the kids in the potables move to the newly revamped wing. They are practically taking the roof off, half a building at a time.
After a PAC meeting I asked the principal what technological improvements were going to be made to the school…
NONE!
Not going wireless (apparently too expensive!?!?)
Not even extra electrical outlets in the rooms!
Certainly not a consideration to redesign a library built to store walls of encyclopedias. (I'll discuss this point later)

The problem is the financial handcuffs placed on the principal to meaningfully do anything to improve the school at this time. Why? Because money set aside for seismic upgrades is from very different coffers than those of renovations/improvements. What does this mean? It means that we won't spend $10,000 now to wire the school with extra plugs and create a wireless network... but we will necessarily have to do so, for $25,000 in two years, (when the walls and roof have been seismically upgraded).' [These costs are an approximate assumption of mine, and not based on any specific research done on my part.]

This well said response was given to me by Brian, our district's Manager of Information Services. He responded to my e-mail and also wrote a response to my comment on Wesley Fryer's post: 

 "I agree wholeheartedly with Wesley’s school 2.0 description and David’s concerns. The culture in bricks and mortor schools and districts takes a long time to shift… The challenge not specifically highlighted in David’s comments though is the how government and / or local district funding rules work. For a seismic project, we are very limited in what else we can “add on” to the overall scope of work. And, there are no other pots off money to draw from to “do the right thing” with the renovation. It’s unfortunate but our reality…

That said, our vision for schools would encompass the school 2.0 idea. With time, the vision can be realized."

Brian has been working on a district learning portal, and so he knows the value of having connected classrooms. But the 'right thing' can not be done at this time.

I had an interesting conversation with a former student's parent a few days ago. She works in construction for a number of different school boards, and has done so for over 15 years. Although she isn't working specifically on my daughter's school, she told me how easy it would be to first, make the school wireless (a job that literally would take minutes during the construction), and then also to run the wire to add electrical outlets to the classrooms, while the seismic upgrading is taking place. She agreed with me that financially, this task would be significantly cheaper during construction. And in her words, the reason  this won't happen is because in the case of every district she has worked for:

"They Do. They Think. They Re-Do!"

At first, I took her words in jest, but as the conversation continued, and she went back to that phrase (without exaggeration) over a dozen times. I then realized that she truly was talking from experience. I could see her frustration, she shared my exasperation, but could offer no solutions. Just as has been mentioned above, she reiterated that there is simply no additional money to do these kind of improvements. She stressed that this was especially the case with seismic upgrades because these upgrades have, in the past, been grossly over budget due to 'add-ons' that clever principals and district superintendents have added to the upgrades in the past. This has resulted in very strict limits placed on what can be done while this construction is happening.

'We can't afford it now, so we will pay significantly more to do the same thing later!' I find this so asinine. 

Another aspect to this has been the design of the school library. My daughter's school has a computer lab next door to the library, but there is no door between the two rooms. I wonder how hard it would be to place a sliding door, or remove the wall altogether?
In his post "Advice for designing the school of the future" Wesley Fryer suggests:

"I think the school of the future should be centered around the library, and include not only great places to read but also inviting places to collaborate and work together, sort of like a Starbucks atmosphere. I think the library should have a design and performance studio, which would permit students to craft high quality media products for the global stage: the web. I think an educational learning portal should serve as a primary learning centerpiece. One of the big things we need to do as school 2.0 educators is redefine our identities as teachers: It’s ridiculous for us to attempt to be experts on all the content subjects we teach. We really need to embrace the model of facilitating project-based learning, so the physical structures of school should support that pedagogical framework."

Here is part of my comment/response to his post:

I agree with you, “One of the big things we need to do as school 2.0 educators is redefine our identities as teachers” however, as you say, “the physical structures of school should support that pedagogical framework.”

As someone who is struggling with the availability of technological resources, I can say that the framework really should come first!

A question to you Wesley, what can we do as teachers, as members of society who have seen the outside of Plato’s education cave.. who know that there is more to life than shadows on our school hall walls… what can we do to tear down those walls and build schools that are designed for school2.0 rather than school1890?

I think that the reality is that many brand new schools being built today are not fully embracing the possibilities of the future. Partly because we don't really know what that future looks like, and partly because of financial constraints.

I posed the following question in the Ning School 2.0 forum:

In my daughter's school, I will fight for wireless, and I will suggest more power outlets in the classes, (so that eventually if they get, perhaps, a row of computers on a wall, or even a mobile computer lab, at least students can power their computers... but what else would you ask for?

And after a few days I've only had one response, (which I will get to in a moment). What I find interesting is that nlowell has an interesting forum post asking, "What is the purpose of the classroom?" Go no further than the very first response to see Heather Burlesson's poignant statement:

"I don't think we can continue the industrial model. Today's students do NOT want to be robots, and they have the tools at hand to reject all our attempts to force them into such a mold.

How can we actively engage them while satisfying the system? I'm not sure what the answer is, but I'm fairly certain any change will have to start within the classroom itself. Transforming the "brick and mortar" into a place the kids *want* to go to - My*pace for the flesh and blood part of the day - that's the challenge we are facing at the moment."

In essence, we may not like the current 'industrial model', but we really don't know where education is going. This makes concrete suggestions difficult... there really is no blue print (no road map as they say) to the classroom of (as little as) 25 years from now.

In the one response to my question above, Librarian Nancy White points me to a David Warlick post.

Here is her entire comment:

I really loved David Warlick's response to this kind of question on his blog - his proposal? The one non-budget-blowing thing he would do first is put all school furniture on wheels! Think about this --one of the key elements of project based learning and indeed, practicing 21st century skills is student collaboration. Let's move those desks around - set up collaborative work space, and a place for presentations.

I agree that the school library is the learning and information center of the school - especially in the age of technology. If creating collaborative work spaces in classrooms seems difficult to navigate, then start with the library! This is where you'll find staff who truely understand the concept of School 2.0 - and how to collaborate with teachers to create incredible learning experiences for students using 21st century tools and resources.

I think that Warlick's idea of the classes no longer needing to be 'anchored' is indeed a good starting point. It invites the opportunity for change, and it prepares us to be prepared to try things in new ways, while also encouraging opportunities for collaboration.

So now that battle must rage on. I will be meeting with my daughter's school principal next week, and it is my goal to create a 'wish list'. It may be a moot point, but to me we cannot complain about the situation and then 'sit idly by' and allow nothing to happen.

I welcome other suggestions, other wishes, that you would want to see during a 'renovation' such as this...

 

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 Images: Lockers 1 by soundman 1024, Decaying Technology by tracer.ca, Urban Nightscape by Todd Cliff, and Head Inside: Brain Wash by NeverB4Breakfast (Yanko Tsvetkov).

 

I apologize in advance for the clinical nature of my description below... these are students currently in my class, and this blog is open for anyone to read.

Background: Student 1 is male; Students 2 & 3 are female. Student 1 and 2 'dated' earlier in the year. Student 1 and 3 are good friends... "But that's all!"

The incident: Student 1 (who is in my first class) does not log out of his Science Alive! wiki account. Student 2 (who is in my second class) goes onto the same computer and realizes that Student 1 is not logged out. She writes a wiki mail message that she addresses to all students in Science Alive! (almost 60 kids in 2 classes). Here is the message:

from	[Student 1]
to	members of sciencealive
date	May 3, 2007 1:42 pm
subject	most horrible secret!
	I TOTALLY LOVE [STUDENT 3]!

Unfortunately I was not in class when this happened- I was at a Math Learning Team meeting.

This message got to Student 3 (also in the second class) quickly. She excused herself to go to the bathroom and confronted Student 1 about this - she realized it wasn't him because at the time of the incident he did not have access to a computer. After coming back to class and doing some more digging, she discovered who sent the message. Then this new message came along:

from	[Student 2]
to	members of sciencealive
date	May 3, 2007 2:06 pm
subject	sorry folks
	i sent [student 1's] message totally sorry! :( i throw myself on [student 3's] & [student 1's] mercy... it was a bad joke swear i won't do it again!

I find all of this out the same evening via an e-mail from Student 3. She is very upset!

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What did I do? Well, the first thing I did was make this an office issue.

(A little digression here as I look at what makes something an office issue.)

In 9 years as a teacher I have made very few classroom issues into office issues. I have 4 D's that I think are issues that should be dealt with at an office level. The first two D's are cut-and-dry/immediate office issues. These are 'no-brainers', you break these rules and you go to the office!

1. Drugs- Alcohol is included in this category;

2. Dangerous- Not just weapons, but physical violence too. The best policy is a zero-tolerance policy... We don't solve problems this way. (Sorry President Bush, but I'd be sending you to the office);

The next 2 D's have some grey area between being an issue for the office and being an issue that I handle myself. They are:

3. Defiance- an absolute refusal to participate and/or co-operate. If you don't come to class prepared to learn, or if you aren't willing to participate with the class... If you can't offer me 5% of what I am offering you, then that probably hinders my ability to give everyone else the time and attention they deserve. I obviously can't help you, so there is no reason for you to be here. I've only ever had one student absolutely refuse to engage in learning to this point. I honestly felt that it was a disservice to keep him in the class and made this the reason to send him to the office. (I have used this as 'leverage' with other students in the past- not an ideal strategy, but sometimes a student needs to know that you have limits);

and the final 'D',

4. Disrespect- If you are going to treat me, or others in a way that is hurtful, if you are going to 'injure' others emotionally/socially... then we have a problem. Hitting someone, or physically hurting someone puts you in the 'Dangerous' category and becomes an immediate office referral. Disrespect on the other hand is a little different. If you emotionally or socially injure someone then you are defying one or two of our school beliefs : Respect and/or Inclusion.

So why was this act of disrespect an office issue? Because it was bullying! It may not satisfy the dictionary definition of bullying, 'to use superior strength or influence to intimidate (someone)', but it injured someone's dignity in a very public way. To me bullying of any kind, like physical violence, should have a zero-tolerance policy. If I dealt with this on my own, then I would be offering a perception that this is easily fixed... and it isn't. From Nails in Fence (from my Teaching Metaphors):

"When you say things in anger, they leave a scar... You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there." A verbal wound can be just as bad as a physical one."

This act, whether done simply as a joke, or with hurtful intentions, was wrong on many levels, from identity theft with the use of Student 1's account to social embarrassment of Student 3, (and Student 1 as well). It is cyberbullying because it used technology as the medium to bully. 

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 For my class, the first thing I did (while still at home) was to send out a wiki mail message to everyone. Basically it said, 'Don't use wiki mail until we get a chance to talk tomorrow.' I didn't want it used to perpetuate any more issues or, for that matter, gossip.

Next, I changed my lesson plans for Science. It was our last day for the project, (talk about putting a damper on the whole thing), and our school dance was scheduled for the afternoon so I thought this would be a great opportunity to have a lesson about bullying and cyberbullying.

Here is my Daily Agenda for Science Alive!

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Friday May 4th, 2007 Today we will take a break to talk about a serious issue... Cyberbullying! We are having this talk because of a specific wiki 'mail' issue. However, please realize that the specific issue is being dealt with appropriately... talking about an issue that has already been dealt with can be equally as hurtful. If you scroll down to March 30th, you will see that we already discussed Cyberbullying. Also, please check out April 16th to see that we brought up our school beliefs, which we first talked about when blogging and also very early on in this project, on March 16th. So, we will talk about the many faces of Bullying and Cyberbullying today- an appropriate conversation before our dance... and we will do a reflective assignment on Science Alive! on Monday. Also, I will give you until Monday to put last touches on your wiki pages! (This was something I was planning to do anyway! -Use the time well!)

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 Normally I would be equally as clinical talking about this situation with my class, so as not to single out the involved students, however this specific issue was fully public already since every student received all the mail messages mentioned above.

Once I went over the situation, I emphasized that the issue has been taken to the office and is indeed being dealt with appropriately, and that my lesson goes well beyond this one incident.

Why is this an important step? If I don't do this, then I am a bully too! I am ostracizing Student 2, and I don't want to do this! She is a wonderful kid who made a bad choice... "Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone". I've made some very stupid choices/decisions in my life. In the hockey game we call life, I'd like to think that I have a good plus/minus when it comes to good choices I've made versus bad, but that doesn't negate the bad choices as if they never existed. Student 2 made a bad choice, she is not a bad person!

Next in the agenda, I specifically mentioned other times that we discussed similar topics for two reasons, first to further distance my lesson from the specific issue, and then also to show everyone that this is an important issue that needs to be discussed on a regular basis.

Also, rather than having students reading this agenda on their own computer as I have done in the past, I had this on the projector screen, and I did not scroll down enough for students to see that I was extending the due date of the assignment. I wanted them focused.

So, the lesson involved 3 videos from Youtube, with a discussion after each. Here are the videos:

 

 

 

I think the discussions went well in both classes. I think I made students see that there are many faces to bullying... it is a continuum. I tried to convey that the choices they make influence others, whether we intend for this to happen or not. I hope that I helped students to see that we have a responsibility to make a positive rather than negative difference in the world, and that often we can do so with very little effort.

I also spoke of the etiquette around asking someone to dance, and turning someone down politely. I admitted to being turned down for dances many times in my life, and that I appreciated when it was done in a nice way. I reminded them that saying yes to a dance was a 2-3 minute commitment, not a lifetime one. On the other side of the spectrum, 2-3 minutes is an eternity if someone is groping you or touching you inappropriately- you have every right to stop a dance early in that case. This was a 'light' way to end a very heavy conversation, without losing sight of the main ideas I wanted to get across.

An important note: What were student 2's consequences? She was not permitted to go to the dance. Also, on Monday or Tuesday she must report back to the office, along with Student 3, and state whether they have been able to come to an acceptable resolution. If they haven't, the next step is that they can choose to have peer mediators involved. Barring that, it will become an office issue again, but I'm confident it won't get to that point. 

A side note: Student 3 stayed back after class and thanked me for giving this the attention that I did.

A final note: It would not have been too hard to handle this situation on my own. However, I think that making a very public issue such as this into an office concern raises the profile of such an incident. It validates that such behavior is simply not tolerated in our school!

Well here it is, my completed Science Alive Wiki.

 

After an incident delayed getting feedback from my students until last Monday, things got extremely busy with preparation for the Renaissance Fair and my Grade 5 Transition Retreats [the subject of a future post]. All this included 3 afternoons out of my classroom at other functions... I blinked and it was Friday afternoon. And only now have I noticed that not everyone has given me feedback yet. What I do see there is very encouraging.

Before reading the feedback, my initial impression was given in my Some Assembly Required post. To expand on that,
I wrote this in a comment (over a month ago) on Kelly Christopherson's blog.

Carolyn Foote, mentioned above also added this comment after mine:

This is brilliant feedback. It isn't rocket science for a seasoned teacher that really should know this, but scaffolding that is student directed is something we should all be reminded of from time-to-time. I think that in my excitement to get things started, and my desire to have students choose their own topic, I let technology supersede pedagogy.

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 Reading the Science Alive feedback now I realize that the comments above are fuel to make a good project great. The students loved Science Alive, and choosing their own topic was a huge highlight. Add a healthy dose of scaffolding, a little better structure with respect to time lines and expectations, and a few experts to help us out along the way, and we have a delicious recipe for one heck-of-a project pie.

I intended to put some student feedback highlights here, but I won't. If you are interested, READ THEIR WORDS.

Here is a very short summary:
• Students really liked this project. Some of them considered it the best ever!
• They loved that they got to choose their own topics.
• They felt challenged.
• They hated the issues we had dealing with crappy computers, and yet they were willing work through the frustration.
• They thought this was a valuable experience... so much so that many of them wanted to do another similar project and/or suggested that I should do this again next year.
• And finally, using their words: They enjoyed being able to share their ideas, "What I am most proud of the most from the page is when I was how I typed out information to let others read it and learn from what I learned," and being able to see what others did, "I thought this was a great project because it was always fun, and when you needed inspiration, it was easy to just click on someone else’s page, and see all the neat stuff that they’ve done, and then it makes you want to make your page just as good (or, it did for me)." Also another student commented about how a different group's project touched him, "I learned a lot of stuff over the period of time that was given. I especially enjoyed learning about the diabetes because my aunt has diabetes so it was interesting to see what she goes through and how she’s affected".
I'm proud of my students and I am very happy with our first attempt at creating wikis. I believe that for many of my students we truly did bring Science Alive!

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 What I will focus on now are the comments that can give me perspective on my teaching, and on doing a project such as this in the future. Three key things come to mind, the first of which has already been discussed.

1. Scaffolding
Here are some comments: [Their words/spelling/grammar, no editing on my part. Students can't edit a Discussion topic like they can their wiki page.]

Since Carolyn made some great topic development suggestions above, I will look more at some other ideas.

I realize now that I didn't really give them enough of an outline. This is a challenge for topics like this... especially in a middle school where the students are still young. So many times in my teaching career I have shown a creative exemplar to students and then had a dozen photocopy-like replicas handed in. Also, in all honesty, I didn't really know what to expect from my students and so it was hard to tell them what it was I expecting! I think that if I spent more time getting them involved with their topic and exploring possibilities early on, some of this stress would have been alleviated.

I did a lot of conferencing with groups and discussing ideas, but often I didn't relate this back to specific things I wanted to see on their page. [Notice the control-freak teacher in me said "specific things I wanted to see" rather than suggestions that would enhance their learning. This is a learning curve for me as well as them.]

One frustration for me was that I taught Science for just 40 min. classes (a first for me this year having taught 80 min. classes in previous years). Take away login and log out times and sometimes it seemed that I would have just 2 or 3 really good conversations about projects and the class would be over.

Here is a very interesting comment:

The specific thing that I didn't like in this case was that the experiment that they wanted to do had way too much variability and opportunity for chance to influence their results... this group did the experiment they wanted to do it anyway. Although I don't think it was a great decision, I am glad they realized that I really did give them a choice.

The task at hand is to offer support to those that need it, and challenge those that don't - not much different than any other project. The difference from other projects is that criteria is very hard to offer when you open up a project and allow everyone to demonstrate their learning in different ways. (Note gabriela's and Claudia Ceraso's comments on my Some Assembly Required post.)

More from my students:

Scaffolding not instructions and criteria lists.

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2. Time Line

I had no idea how long this project would take. It went longer than it should, but I wanted to give ample notice when I finally did choose a date. Looking back, I gave the students notice on a Monday that it was due the following week Friday, then gave them until the following Monday... a lot of time! Yet, the lack of a stated completion date really seemed to bother students. I would love to see students keep updating their projects even now- why can't they continue to pursue their interests? However, in the future I will start with a specific due date. Will this light the fire under students' seats and get many of them on task, and/or more focussed, sooner? I don't really know?

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3. Experts

I had students research who were experts in their fields and intended to have them contact some of these people. Reality sunk in when I realized that I didn't know these adults and I would have Grade 8 students contacting strangers directly. In the future, I would want to create a specific contact page for field experts to use to contact us. Then I could route initial contact through me. I would also notify parents that this would be happening well in advance of doing it. I think that this could happen in a safe way if it is well thought out, not flying by the seat of my pants as I was doing in this first attempt.
I could also have used some experts of my own. I'll point again to Brian Crosby's Learning is Messy post, Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models and once again beg for a Web2.0 service like Fieldfindr. (I created this mock site in February and it has had over 1,200 visits since the middle of March... who can make this a reality?)

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Grades
So being neglectful and completely guilty of not creating any rubric or marking scheme for this project, you might wonder how will I mark this project?
I plan on sitting down with each group over the next little while and coming to an agreed upon mark with them. I will ask them, "How have you shown me higher order thinking skills?" and then we will have a discussion. Their written feedback (or lack of it) will play into this as well. In the end, I am starting to believe more and more that we should abolish marks altogether.

Imagine giving a 'C' to a student who writes:

Is a 'C' meaningful feedback? What are you telling that student about lifelong learning? What does the mark accomplish?

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 A Sad Note
The Renaissance Fair starts this week. Early last year I saw an Alan November webcast and decided to take the plunge with my Renaissance project... I had the students blogging! I spent hours learning how to set everything up, and more hours again developing blogging rules and lessons on using tools such as del.icio.us. The experience was wonderful! It opened my eyes to the potential of web2.0. To start off this school year I went to the computer lab and couldn't get things going again with our out-dated computers, (Mac OS9 and web browsers that need OSX). I resorted to this wiki project after two blogging experiences failed with my students due to our lack of tools. And so, after yet another success with my wiki, here I am about to abandon the blogging aspect of my project... sad indeed.

...And a Happy Note
I can't get myself to end this post on a sad note, so I will end with a very positive observation:
This year has been cathartic for me.
• I have fully embraced using this blog as a learning tool since about November.
• I have read more and thought more about education in the last 6 months than in any given 5 years of my life.
• I am embracing technology like never before.
• I am engaging students in their learning like never before.
• I believe that we will see some (very exciting) fundamental shifts in education over the next few years.

...And Back to the Science Alive Wiki
If you have any observations that I may have missed, then feel free to be my teacher. Thanks!

In my last post about my Science Alive wiki, I mentioned that our Renaissance Fair Project was starting, (here is the assignment). I also mentioned that with our lousy computer lab, I wouldn't be blogging again as I did last year.

Well, I decided to go ahead anyway! I can't use our useless communal teacher lab, but I got to spend the 2nd half of the first class in the library using the computers there, and the next 2 days in our Computer Teacher's lab. Although I won't be able to use any lab again until next Wednesday, my students (who all have computers at home) have all started blogging.

In fact, it is 12:15am and a peek at my Meebo chat box I put on the site tells me that there are at least 2 students on the site right now! 

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Here is a very interesting dialogue that has started on one of my student's blog posts:

 

Christina K

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Comments

1. They have similar noses, forehead, similar bone structure, similar smile or smirk and if you look closely they have similar eyes. I'm not sure if they are siblings, but they might be the same person.

   ChristinaL on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 02:22 BST # |

2. Wow, their facial features look almost identical! I researched about the painting on the left and found out that it's called the "John Gesture" and is a portrait of John the Baptist. As for why he's raising his index finger, many historians think that it's because Jesus was always shown raising two fingers while he blessed people. Therefore, John wanted to show people that he was superior to Jesus as one comes before two. I don't really see any connection between John and Mona Lisa but I guess Da Vinci must have had some reason for placing these two paintings within sight beside his deathbed before he died.

   Viola C on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 02:47 BST # |

3. But why would Da Vinci make John the Baptist look like Mona Lisa? Da Vinci couldn't have actually seen John the Baptist...

   ChristinaL on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 03:19 BST # |

4. They really do look identical. So if one was John the Baptist, and the other the Mona Lisa...what's the connection that could possibly relate to the two paintings being of the same person in a different form? Was John the Baptist in a different time than Da Vinci? If he was then that's just crazy that these two people look identical. Againt eh two ideas were that they could be siblings or they could be the same person. I just don't understand why they would be the same person..

   Christina K on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 04:52 BST # |

5. I can't believe how John the Baptist and Mona Lisa, two people from totally different worlds, could look identical. I think it's more than a coincidence that Da Vinci painted them so similar. I guess it's just one more secret that Da Vinci didn't want to share with the world.

   Viola C on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 05:29 BST # |

6. Well, this is what I think. As a humanist, he opposed the church in telling how other people should live their life. Could it be that he wanted to show his dislike for the church secretly through many little things he did. Could it be that by drawing John the Baptist with similar facial features as Mona Lisa, he is showing that he may have seen John, therefore completly going against what the church and the Bible says. But then again, my ideas are crazy....

   Jessica N on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 08:03 BST # |

7. Da Vinci was a very mysterious man, so it's not very surprising that he made Mona Lisa and the John the Baptist look the same. No one would understand his geinus mind and like Viola said, this would be one more secret that Da Vinci wouldn't share with us and the world.

   ChristinaL on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:17 BST # |

8. Take a look at Mona Lisa's shoulders, compared to to other picture. They are practically the same in every way! Mona Lisa's shoulders are large and manly (no offence Mona Lisa). Now look at the other picture. Can you spot a dramatic difference?

   Sara on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:18 BST # |

9. Woah thats pretty interesting Christina!

   The picture of the guy, is probably another painting by

   DaVinci. He probably didn't want to show it to others, and hid it somewhere

   where he thought no one would find it.

   It also can be a painting of him when he was younger!

   Yeah thats all. Good Job!

   

   Tijana M on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:20 BST # |

10. also if you look in the picture of the last supper
    there is a man holding up one finger like
    the picture of John the Baptist

    JessicaT on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:26 BST # |

11. I was just looking at the picture of Mona Lisa.

    http://www.artchive.com/artchive/ftptoc/leonardo_ext.html

    I observed her close up at 200% and I noticed a really weird line going across her forehead... the line seemed really out of place. From my discovery I looked a her hair on the left side and I noticed that there was a veil type thing, maybe she was getting married, or she was getting married to John the baptist Any other Ideas?

    Katie Z on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:32 BST # |

12. This is amazing. If I was to first see these pictures I'd think they were twins. There smile is identical. Also there noses look exsactly the same. Only if there hair was the same I would think that it was the same person.

13. Amrit C. on Thursday, 17 May 2007, 21:33 BST # |

 

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There are some great observations here. My emphasis in the class is on Da Vinci the inventor and scientist, but look at the student generated interest in his artwork! Would this kind of [off topic?] interaction happen in a classroom? Would it happen if this was a paper assignment?

Now here is the challenge for me... LET THE 'CONVERSATION' HAPPEN! 

When I read, "...maybe she was getting married, or she was getting married to John the baptist..." I really wanted to post a little timeline. Earlier I actually started typing a comment suggesting that perhaps Da Vinci used the same model for both paintings, then erased it rather than posting it... I forced myself to 'bite my tongue'.

The fact is that I am not used to letting students take ownership of their learning in this way. I want to 'teach' them... isn't that my job?

But if I had put that "perhaps Da Vinci used the same model" post in after the 5th or 6th comment, would the other comments have followed?

If I chose now to comment on the century-and-a-half millenium-and-a-half chasm in time preventing John the Baptist from marrying Mona Lisa, then who will I be taking this away from? Whose voice will I be stealing? Who will I prevent from asking 'Exactly who is John the Baptist?' Who will I be stopping from researching and answering that question?

Would JessicaT have been inspired to write this post? 

 

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In Christina K's blog is the picture of John the Baptist and how he
is pointing his finger, I did some research and in the picture of the
Last Supper, there is one of the 12 deciples on the right side to Jesus
is pointing one of his fingers out. Also in another picture by Da Vinci
two versions. One was rejected by nuns, and one wasn't (the picture
above was the rejected one)

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Comments

Interesting research you have done! Thanks for putting all these together to compare! Are you going to look into the meaning behind the 'pointing finger'?

Mr. Truss on Friday, 18 May 2007, 04:54 BST # | 

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As you can see, I did comment here. Perhaps when the conversation lulls on Christina's blog, I may ask 'who was John the Baptist?'

I am hoping to promote inquiry.

It is the classic 'guide on the side' rather than 'sage on the stage' issue. However, it isn't easy to stand back and let all this learning happen without me. But, in a web2.0 world, where students are meaningfully engaging in Learning Conversations, we really must bite our [digital] tongues.

I wrote this three years ago, but recently had to make a change... As little as one year ago the second paragraph did not exist for me, and now it is placed in a position of importance. I post my Statement of Educational Philosophy now, after reading and posting a comment on Kelly Christopherson's post, which in turn was inspired by Harold Jarche's post, which in turn was inspired by Albert Ip's post, that Harold first read over two years ago... Has this kind of engagement in learning ever happened for you, coming from a text book?

I wonder how much of what I have written is 'universal' and how much of it is a product of being stuck in the current bureaucratic-age based paradigm? 

Feedback, as always, is appreciated. (Think Healthy Discord and feel free to be critical.)

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Statement of Educational Philosophy

    The goal of education is to enrich the lives of students while producing articulate, expressive thinkers and lifelong learners, that are socially responsible, resilient, and active citizens of the world. Education is about teaching students, not subjects. It is about engaging students in their learning, and maximizing the potential of each and every child. Education is about looking beyond the child’s intellect, and seeing the whole child. Education is about providing students with opportunities to be challenged and still succeed.

    Education is currently going through some dramatic changes. Technology has altered the way teachers, and students, communicate with and amongst themselves, as well as with the greater community, and with the world. New ways of communicating and sharing learning are being developed and explored. There needs to be a transformation from using technology in schools to using technology for learning. Teachers have to adapt, and be adept at making a students’ learning experience both meaningful and engaging. Teachers also need to recognize that technology has created new needs and new definitions of what it means to be literate in today’s world. However, just being literate is not enough, students must develop their curiosity, creativity, communication skills and critical thinking.

    Teachers and school leaders have a responsibility to be mentors and role models to students. We have a responsibility to cultivate a sense of community and belonging. The quote, “It takes a village to raise a child”, rings true in so many ways. Education is a collaborative effort that needs leadership and a strong vision. Co-operation among all stakeholders is essential. A community is an essential extension of a school. Relationships between a school and its’ community, whether educational, entrepreneurial, co-operative or charitable, should not just be encouraged but pursued.

    We must value and foster relationships with parents and family. The power of having all significant adults working together to raise a child cannot be underestimated. No one understands more than an educator how valuable parent involvement is in successfully educating a child. It is vital to keep parents, our partners, informed and actively engaged in their child’s education. But all parents are not created equally, so we also have a responsibility to educate and inspire good parenting within our community. And for those children who do not have a significant adult role model at home, we have an obligation to create opportunities for our educators to provide caring guidance. Every child that cannot find an adult to connect with in a school is a child we have failed, and every child we have provided a meaningful relationship with is a success to be relished. Caring, compassion and empathy are cornerstones to a meaningful educational relationship.

    Schools with a strong leadership team, that encourage a meaningful, common vision, can help students perceive learning as a lifelong journey. In doing so, a school must encourage greatness and loathe mediocrity. Educators must maintain high expectations and strive to see students excel. Students must be given the opportunity to maximize their potential and they should be inspired to do so. Every child has the potential to attain greatness! The job of an educator is to harness a child’s abilities and set them free with the confidence and the necessary toolbox to succeed.

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... continue teaching school like it is 1890.

“Blinding ignorance does mislead us.

O! Wretched mortals, open your eyes!”

-LEONARDO DA VINCI

Here it is from Kris, a 15 year-old former student, "How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci".

I think this post should be mandatory for every student teacher to read before they graduate.

I can hear the rebuttals, and yes there are some sweeping generalizations made... but rather than being defensive, I think it is our duty as educators to make things better... in EVERY classroom. We have the tools, and the understanding of pedagogy to make things better even though logistics, economics and circumstance can impede us. What we need are the exemplars, the role models, and the educational leaders to help us get where we need to be.

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Today I went to a Learning Team Celebration where everyone on learning teams shared their successes with regards to action based research, done with colleagues, to explore areas of interest. Learning teams (as described here) promote dialogue among peers looking at areas such as the use of reading strategies, social responsibility programs, numeracy initiatives, and integrating technology to engage students in more meaningful ways. I have realized over the past few months that it isn't technology per se that will change education. Instead, it is collaboration of teachers using best practice, and of students interacting with us and each other, that will truly and meaningfully change education. Technology, such as web2.0 tools, will help make the process easier, and speed the process up.

Consider this: I have had the honour of teaching with some truly amazing teachers, and yet I have spent little or no time observing them teach. I have not been able to tap into some 'masterful' resources just a few classroom doors away from me. Collaboration is key! Is it ironic or apropos that a post about da Vinci, a recluse that hid his work, is a post that highlights the value of collaborating?

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Here are the 1st and 7th points of 10, offered by Kris in her How to Prevent Another Leonardo da Vinci post:

This is how we kill each trait that may yield another Da Vinci: 1. Curiosita (from “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci”) What? Intense and insatiable curiosity; constantly learning due to a desire to ask and answer questions The Murder: In schools, for the most part, students learn only what the teacher decides they will learn. Student questions will often go unanswered if they lead away from the material (go off-topic), or if there are time constraints on what must be learned that leave no time for these questions in class. 7. Connessione (from “How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci”) What? Acceptance and appreciation for the interconnectedness of everything in life; interdisciplinary approaches and thinking The Murder: Facts and concepts are taught in specific classes that are independent of each other, and students are moved from individual class to individual class without knowledge of how the two might be connected. Boundaries like that between art and science are rarely crossed or their connectedness even explained. Facts and ideas might be taught with no explanation of the links between them (ie, learning individual details and facts but not the big picture).

Read the whole post! If you are an educator, then I challenge you to do two things:

1. Congratulate yourself! Recognize that your are a good teacher, and that you do things within your classroom that do not hinder your students as some of these generalizations do. See the positive. Noticing the good that we do, and acknowledging it as such, encourages us to continue and improve.
2. Challenge yourself! Recognize that you have the opportunity to challenge students in new ways, and know that you too are learning... share your challenges with your peers, seek out opportunities to collaborate, with your colleague across the hall or your web friend across the world. WE will make education better than it ever has been!