New Learners of the 21st Century

This Tuesday I was invited to a special documentary reception by PBS on educational technology at the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum. It was amazing! I loved going because it reminded me why I love education and technology. If you have some time, click here to watch a preview of the documentary. At the reception I was able to meet the president of PBS in Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Director of Educational Technology at the US Department of Education. After meeting the president of the PBS station in Minneapolis/St. Paul I was bold enough to ask him to take a picture with us. My friend Lindsey was very encouraging and helped me navigate the metro to get there. Some of the major takeaways I had from this experience are:

• It is irresponsible of teachers to ignore digital media.
• As adults, we try to control what kids are passionate about, but we should just allow them to be passionate because it is their passion that teaches them how to learn. Every kid has an interest and we just need to facilitate their growth and passion for that interest.
• DYN- Digital Youth Network is a hybrid digital literacy program
• There is a need for passionate and competent educators.
• The need to prepare for an uncertain future and the need to help students survive and interdependent globally connected world.
• The need to give students credit for learning they do outside of school and to help them integrate their outside life with their school life into one.
• The role of families- Families benefit from their students learning technologies. Some families facilitate the funding of technologies for their students by participating in a leasing program where they pay and they are able to take the tools home with them.
• The need to create smart systems that enable families (narrative based report cards, systems that foster longitudinal connectivity)
• Parents need to be taught the value of technology. If parents know what tech can do, they will do what it takes to make it happen for their students.
• Parents, teachers and students need to be considered one community, not separately.
• The need to give students freedom to be creative and make their contribution right now. Going from consumption to production to participation. To give students a voice to tell their stories. There is also a need to explicitly teach digital citizenship.
• Teachers should begin by asking students "So... what do you think?" and listen to their answer, then create.
• Schools are wired for technology so they should be open to the public after school for the community to benefit from them.
• We need to let our students know that who they are and what they can create matters now, not later when they get out of college, but now.
• Different mediums allow students with different learning preferences to learn.
• When kids learn technology, they share it with other kids, then they begin sharing it with their families, later they begin sharing it in their communities.
• The criteria for the use of technology is: ubiquitous, necessary, invisible.

Some of the example assignments that were discussed using technology were scavenger hunts with the use of phones to allow students to take pictures of their findings and create scavenger hunts for other students. Texting was used in these scavenger hunts to give students hints. There was a metaphor assignment in a science classroom that asked students to create a metaphor for a scientific process using digital visual representations. The What If assignment. What if Martin Luther King had not spoken up? What if World War II hadn't happened? Teachers talked about the importance of digitizing all artifacts and making them public and sharable.

The thing that really spoke to me about this presentation was the motivation, happiness, love, passion, and creativity of the teachers. It reminded me of when I was teaching middle school and high school and how much I loved my students and all the fun I had teaching them and learning from them. Working with middle school and high school kids is tough, but if done correctly, it can provide a huge sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Elder Cook

Somehow, I've been inspired and supported by Elder Cook. He has really motivated me in my research. Last General Conference he gave this talk Let There Be Light! I loved how he talked about the community and the need for good people to speak up and be heard. I felt like he was talking directly to me. At the time, I'd been working on my first article for my dissertation on caring and caring communities. Publishing an article is no easy task. I felt discouraged by all the feedback I was getting from my committee and I felt like the process was very difficult for me. Then, when I heard this talk, it just helped give me the extra energy I needed to continue. This talk helped me realize how important my message was and how important it was for me to get it published and out for others to read. My article has now been submitted and is in review. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it will be accepted for publication.

Well, that is not all about Elder Cook. Last Sunday, my first Sunday here, I was told that Stake Conference was going to be today and that Elder Cook would be speaking. I was also told to get to the stake building early so I could ensure a good seat for myself. I did just that and I learned so much from Elder Cook. He talked about the man who had faith but pleaded with the Lord to "help thou my unbelief". He talked about the woman with the issue of blood, my favorite story in the scriptures. But beyond his message, I felt great comfort to see someone I recognized from my past. Funny that it would be Elder Cook, but in a sea of new faces and new places and cold weather, I have learned to value anything that feels remotely familiar. Just seeing Elder Cook and feeling the spirit he brought to the meeting reminded me of all the General Conference meetings I've been to and the Christmas devotionals in which I've also been able to partake of that same spirit. However, on this occasion, I did not take that spirit or that familiarity for granted. I was so happy and comforted to feel the way I've felt so many times back home. Here is a picture I took of Elder Cook after he shook my hand. I didn't have the courage to ask him for a picture with me. Maybe next time...

The Arthur Sackler Gallery

Another museum we went to, right next to the Smithsonian Castle is the Arthur Sackler Gallery. Here we saw Chinese, Iranian, Persian and Japaneses art pieces. Very beautiful art. I learned that the the Chinese flowers in pictures are symbolic and have meanings depending on the type of flower. Here is a piece we saw at that museum:

The Smithsonian Castle

Yup. I've been to a castle. Now I can say I've been in a castle. This building is a fun museum full of interesting facts. In here, we found a Visitors Information Center so it was a really good choice for a place to start our explorations. We met some great people at this museum who took our picture. My favorite was this Gibson guitar that looks so new but it's pretty old, one of the first made. It reminded me of my guitar playing adventure back home. I gotta get myself a guitar...

Riding The Fast Train

It's fun riding the metro. Or as my friend's 3 year old nephew would say "the fast train". It's fun to buy a ticket and think that you can go anywhere downtown DC and not get lost or have to worry about parking. You can also go people watching and trust me... it's fun to people watch on the metro because there are some really interesting people in the world. Here I am with my friend Chrissy. We decided to go for another trip downtown and explore. The metro here is great because you can always tell which one you should get on by reading the posts at the stations. Here you can buy a ticket at these machines:

The United States Botanic Garden

Well... now I can say I've been to the United States Botanic Garden. I went with my friend Chrissy and her little 3 year old nephew (who is super cute). We were adventurous and took the metro. It was only the second time I'd been on the metro, and it was really fun. It increased my confidence knowing that I can't really get lost on the DC metro since there's only one stop that takes me home. There are some interesting people who ride the metro. The walk to the metro was freezing. Colder than Utah cold, but when we finally made it to the Botanic Garden, it was a dream come true. It is an indoor garden and the minute you step in, you feel like you're in the tropics down in some South American jungle minus the animals. Here are some pictures of the outside...

And a picture of me in the inside. Can you see me in there? I'm right in the center there.


Beautiful flowers...

Driving in DC

Driving in DC... Well, let's see...what can I say...it's just CRAZY out here. The streets for one aren't the nicely organized coordinates that Utah goes by. I have no idea how people got around in this place before GPS. Every street is different and sometimes one street has more than one name and there are small streets and curvy streets everywhere! It's just one crazy street mess. Then, the people here are not very patient with newcomers. I haven't had any major incidents yet, but I've quickly learned that DC people are busy busy people. What's even scarier is that I'm soon to be one of them:)