Situated Cognition

Greetings all and welcome back to my blog!

Today in our class we discussed situated cognition. Learning and thinking within the context of the authentic situation. Students learn best when tools, activity and culture combine. Tools can be more than just literal tools, they can also be concepts. I thought of two examples in my music class. If I want students to learn how to play the drums, it's best if I give them the opportunity to play and learn through their experience. Standing up front and explaining and demonstrating are not enough and will not give a student the full knowledge of how to play. Tools can also be concepts. The concept of dynamics is an important part of music production. Rather than just showing a flashcard with the symbol "p" and telling students it stands for piano, which means soft, they would be better served by singing a song piano and then later forte (loud) to learn the contrast. They are learning through the activity of the discipline. I am not teaching music, I am teaching musicians.

Enculturation is an important part of the learning process, as well. In my music class the other day, we discussed the reasons why people make music. Most of the answers were reminiscent of " it's beautiful" and "it makes life less boring". But there were also students that I knew had never thought of this question before. Relating the context of the culture of the music world, I asked my students to name some music professions. The list varied but mostly revolved around singing and performing. I let them know that my father in law is a music producer and my goal is to have them interview him soon via Skype. By seeing how music exists in the real world, my students can see the culture of music and be inspired to either make it a career someday or play or sing for fun and add to the beauty of our world.

We also learned about SPD- Structure, Process, and Discourse…. Structures are the nouns that we want students to know...In my case, terms like dynamics, tempo, rhythm, etc....

Process is the steps you take to achieve a certain end. For my older students, I would love for them to compose a piece of music. And the discourse is the way that it's communicated. So, a wonderful lesson in music class could involve learning the basic structures of a music theory, creating and composing a piece of music and then performing that piece for the class.

In addition, students need their ABCs... :)

ABCS-

Authentic Activities

This is what real people do- not school behavior. Again, this goes back to the potential Skype session wiht my father in law. We also have a cousin works internationally as a music producer, a friend who is a music therapist, and the list goes on... possibilities to make real world connections are endless.

Background Building Activities

A vocabulary list can be a part of it but not all of it. The definition of piano as "soft" can't be skipped in order to fully understand music dynamics but it shouldn't be where I end.

Constructing Activities- the teacher coaches but gets out of the way a little bit and puts it together. This is probably going to be my biggest area of growth. I have a hard time knowing when to intervene and when to get out of the way. But I'm getting there.

Sharing Activities- with an authentic audience… Priscilla gave the example of a weatherman visiting... I love the idea of having a professional musician come for a visit. Or having the kids perform for an audience.

And lastly,

AeCTS

A- Authentic Context- Create an authentic context. Think of a real situation that would require a solution. Hmm, still need to ponder this one more for music class but I have a few ideas in the works.. just don't know how authentic they are.

E- exit experience-  if you introduce an authentic problem, you better have an exit strategy- (ie. Skype)   

C- Clear outcome... what are we trying to accomplish? This is a very important part of the process so students maintain focus.

T-Thinking Skills- stop and think about what thinking is required.  Excellent listening skills are one of the many thinking skills required in music.

S- Software skills- think about what tools you have to scaffold... computer software for putting your music together.

I'm excited about all of the many possibilities that are in front of me and my students this year. In summary,

"Good learning designs recognize concepts as tools, situate those concepts in the context of their use reflecting authentic activity, conceptual tool, and culture, and analyze content for generalizable knowledge." This is the Third Design Principle: The Knowledge Principle.

I can't wait to see what next week brings and to start incorporating these ideas in my music classroom!

The Saber Toothed Curriculum

This 70 year old book on the problems, challenges and history of education still rings true today.  Have you ever asked yourself while you were in school, why am I learning this?  This book takes a tongue in cheek look at paleolithic education and how the original intent of education was to prepare people for living in the real world.  The educational system grew and changed as time passed and became more and more abstract.  This book challenges educational thought regarding teaching practices and doing things a certain way because they've always been done that way.

The second design principle is the ENDS principle.  Good learning designs prepare learners to meet community needs by linking living and learning.  This end goal is accomplished through the acronym PICKLE, Problem Solving, Information Using, Community Participation, Knowledge, Literacy, Ethical Decision Making.

Applying this to my music classroom, I want to see how music can help solve a real world problem.  We all know that music relieves stress and provides joy.  How can I teach my students to create music that greatly enhances their lives and others?

Some ideas to link living and learning are to skype with people that are currently working in the music industry.  I have two family members that make their living as music producers.  Perhaps showing students one of the many ways that music can become a career will inspire them to stick with it.

Another idea is to help write a song that addresses a current social issue, like bullying or a girls low self esteem.  This song could be sung on the morning announcements or put out to the school in another way.  This will help students solve or at least address a problem.  It will also help them participate in their community by being aware of social issues that kids face.

The Saber Toothed Curriculum addresses the problem of education of just teaching subjects because they've always been taught and proposes a new way of doing things... making learning meaningful and powerful that will affect learners for their lifetimes.

Teachers are Designers

This blog will be the place for my musings as a music teacher who is currently enrolled in a program called Designing Digital Learning in Schools

After our first class, we were challenged to think of teachers as designers, rather than planners.  After 24 years teaching, this would be the first time I've heard teachers referred to in this way.

As teachers, our primary goal is to cause our students to learn.   Thinking of the end goal of our design... learning.... and not only just learning but learning that is meaningful and linked to real life situations.

 But how do we do that?

Instead of haphazardly and continually throwing together lesson plans, teachers need to answer this question.... "how do I move from an existing state to a desired state?"   

How do I cause my students to learn?

In my teaching practice, I've always tried to maintain a balance between the 3 C's ; Communication, Content and Child.  

Communication: In what ways am I going to communicate the lesson?  How do i best utilize every modality and technology to best communicate the lesson?  This is where design comes in... designing a lesson that will answer these questions.

Content:  How do I make this content meaningful and relevant to the student?   How do I inspire and intrinsically motivate them to want to learn this content?  Design is also involved in this step because you are designing how to make your content relevant to real life.

Child:  How do I show this child that I care about them and want to reach them?  What element of design do I employ to demonstrate my deep commitment to each and every child?

Teachers are designers because they link thoughts with actions.  They consider these questions and then design a plan to answer them.

In my experience as a teacher, my best lessons have begun with design in mind.  But I definitely have a long way to go from thinking like purely a planner to more of a designer.  
What is the bigger goal and objective?  And how do I address the 3 C's with that in mind?

My goal this week is to move away from the idea of lesson planning and move toward the idea of lesson designing.

Teachers are Designers.