Technolandy

Day 119 (of 2024/25) a return to some #edchat sharing via #vaespchat Sunday’s at 5pm pst (spoiler warning!) 

I’ve been enjoying the return to some Sunday education thinkings. #bcedchat was a mainstay of my Sunday evenings until the pandemic impacted the online conversations and the influence of Xs owner turning many users away and has noticeably decreased even my own engagement as I explore some of the other spaces that my students/community are on (still proud that I got a 👍 from my ‘kids’ at home for this one: https://www.tiktok.com/@ianlandy/video/7478432207493696773 ) . I still believe the education community on social media is important to influence others. In fact, it’s part of the reason for my participation as a moderator/creator for this weeks session… the vitality of modelling what we want to see. So sometimes, we need to be the change we want to see…

I am mindful that it is easy to ban and not do things – but often that leads to frustrations when things aren’t getting better – while I love AIs [the og AI – Allen Iverson] infamous derision about ‘talking about practice?!?’ There are times where practice is needed – but I also note that kids do what they see a lot more than what they’re told… so when I see recent school foci on vaping and illicit substances becoming more of a problem in schools and the number of vape and alcohol stores increasing…  while I’d wish people would wait till their brains finish developing in their mid-20s, the temptation to self medicate is very strong. 

Kids do what they see… I was reminded of that when a class of students commented that I wasn’t reading when ‘we’ were doing silent reading… so I shifted my practice from reading with students to solo modelling – and it worked… not without some design thinking iterations: they called me out for reading ‘teacher books’ (which I do read for enjoyment) and I had to better model that I do read a variety of books: from comics to graphic novels to short stories to poetry to novels to magazines… and weirdly (to me at the time) this actually worked really well to increase student rigor of reading – we went from a collection of resistant (well beyond reluctant) readers to far surpassing a thirty minute ‘dream’… even though it took awhile to get there… and achievement scores and anecdotal feedback showed that reading was no longer as hated as it was at the start of the year. As a librarian, I know modelling reading skills matters, sharing how my brain makes: connections, questions, visualizations,  inferences, and any transformations that occur!

So – if I want to see better, I’m feeling I need to model more mindfully on more/all topic areas. Though today, I’m sharing the four key topics I harp on the most (it’s just a 30 minute edchat after all…) 

Spoilers for Sunday:

Pre-chat. Please introduce yourself and tell us where you are joining us from? I like that someone on the west coat, working on the Salish Sea has been welcomed to join educators based in the eastern time zone!

PreQ: I have been writing a lot about how kids do what they see, and the intentional modelling of key skills is pretty important. Tonights chat is going to have you reflect on some key areas and the connection: because the kids are watching… #vaespchat 

Q1. In what ways do you actively demonstrate and promote a culture of reading within your communities (in & out of school environment)? #vaespchat 

Q2. How do you model the writing process for your students? Do you actively participate in assignments, demonstrate various writing styles, and move beyond formulaic structures?? #vaespchat 

Q3. Do you engage in math recreationally? How does your attitude to math influence others…?  #vaespchat 

Q4. Do you restrict your own use of personal devices, or do you model effective and intentional use by sharing your thought process (to students/others) while using them? #vaespchat