Karl Fisch: Technology as a Cornerstone of Curriculum
Yesterday Karl Fisch, Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School and the second “Featured Speaker” in our Summer Teacher Institute, shared his insight on Technology as a Cornerstone of Curriculum. Karl’s session guided participants through how learning occurs, “The Shift” that is occuring in education, literacies for the 21st century, and a vision of schools for 2020.
Using his What If video to begin the day and frame the group’s thinking, Karl asked the teachers to read and comment (via Diigo) on an except from How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School. Although the content of the article generated thoughtful discussion, the process of collabortively reading/commenting was a new experience for most of the teachers in attendance. This seemingly simple exercise revealed an important fact; if our thinking regarding education is to shift, our practice must shift as well.
Karl’s updated Did You Know/Shift Happens video, which many in attendance had seen in some form, raised the issue of literacy in a changing world. Quoting from Jason Ohler, he drove home the point, “Literacy means being able to consumer and produce the media forms of the day.” In today’s world, where media is hyper-connected and anything/everything can be published, students must learn how to filter (consume) effectively and create (produce) responsibly. In addition,with factual information only a click (or text message) away, schools need to reconsider how knowledge is acquired, processed, and demonstrated. As Karl noted when he introduced WolframAlpha, “If you are a math teacher and only assigning the odd problems, you are doing your kids a disservice.”
One can only postulate how schools will change over the next decade, but rigor must be a part of forward-thinking conversations, and Karl presented Tony Wagner’s Rigor Redefined as one framework for consideration. The classroom examples Karl shared from his own school provided a glimpse into meaningful learning, and hopefully inspired those in the room (and joining us via UStream) to reconsider their approach to curriculum and instruction.
To close the workshop, Karl posed some “Essential Questions” for further consideration; I hope that you can find time to reflect on them in the coming weeks and months:
- Capture Everything: What’s worth capturing in my classrooms? My building? My district? Audio? Video? Text-based assignments? Student work? Writing?
- Share Everything: Where can I share it? With whom? What audiences is our organization working to serve? How will they benefit from these shared items? Who needs to see what’s going on?
- Open Everything: What are the closed silos of information in our schools that shouldn’t be? What things outside of our schools have we closed (blocked)? What can we do to open both of those up?
- Only Connect: How can I help my students and teachers connect with content, with each other, and with others outside the classroom (students, teachers, experts, mentors, the community, etc.) in a meaningful way
- What questions do I have for my administrators/curriculum staff? Teaching Staff? IT Staff? Students?
