LTGR Ep. #8 – Inspiration to Action
Dan and Susan explore how we move from just hearing of a good idea to trying it ourselves in our own educational practice. For this podcast, we are joined by Lorraine Leo, a Technology Teacher at two small schools in Newton, MA (Jackson School and Walnut Park Montessori). This interview was actually a conference call conducted in Skype and recorded via HotRecorder.
Show Notes:
How does someone else’s experience change my practice? How much of what you experience in professional development seminars and conferences makes a difference in how you teach? Lorraine uses a lot of technology with her students and has been very open in sharing what she’s done and how it has worked. She is especially creative in bringing virtual guests into her classroom and shared how she connected her students with an artist in a webcast a year ago. This inspired Susan to take a similar idea and replicate it recently by inviting a Navajo woman to interact with third graders. The opening of the episode is Susan and Lorraine each sharing their guest exchanges and finding people online.
Lorraine started this guest journey by following skipper Rich Wilson on a trimaran around the world. Her class connected virtually and energized both kids and teacher. Since then the guests have come non-stop! ePALS program is another means of meeting other guests. http://www.epals.com/ “Fun for me” A novelty is usually a safe bet.
What tips the scale to move people from hearing about an idea to trying it? Susan says it has to be simple enough to replicate. Lorraine looks for ideas that make learning more interesting. She shares a couple simple ideas with Skype. Dan looks at how close the problem that they’re trying to solve is a problem he also faces (in terms of likelihood of replication). This leads to a problem-solution discussion.
The whole idea comes full circle as Lorraine says Susan gave her an idea! Listeners, jump in on this … what have YOU been inspired by? Tell us that story by commenting at http://www.ltgreenroom.org or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada).
December 6th, 2006 at 9:05 am
I was inspired by Susan and NCQ Talk to try podcasting. The “problem” arose at our school when vocabulary development became part of the 2005 -2006 school improvement plan. I thought of a connection between how can I share the vocabulary strategies we were learning and the podcasting technology. So, far the problem and the technology tools used have been a great match!
I hope to inspire more podcasting at Smith, perhaps with students now that the teachers have been introduced and involved!