The Satisfaction of Being Done

It is hard to believe that I have submitted all of the work for my Masters of Education final portfolio.  It has been a long road. I selected the Portfolio option to complete my final requirement.  For me this option most mirrored Project Based Learning (PBL) which is what most of my work in my studies has been about and it is the pedagogy that I teach with.  

In my work I have developed a rationale for the integration of technology into PBL.  I also have created a how-to video series that supports my 4 rationale points with various examples of technology that can be used in PBL.  The videos can be found on my YouTube Channel http://www.youtube.com/user/technology4pbl

I have used this blog as the reflection component for my portfolio.  This blog has been a spot for me to write my ideas down, and reflect upon my own learning and how this reflection can help further shape my learning.

In my last post I said that I needed to figure out what is next for me.  While there still many regular duties that I have as a teacher and much planning that I have to do as part of the Ontario Christian Teachers Academy (http://teacheracademy.ca/Homepage) , there are more important things to do right now - I get to again be more committed to my family.  They have put up with a lot of "busyness" and I need to give back.  I cannot thank them enough for their support, patience, love and firmness when needed.

I also am in dire need of rest...for a little while.  While I intend to keep being a teacher-learner, I must confess that I do not yet know what this next stage looks like.  I have discovered that I do enjoy leading workshops, and being involved in teacher training (preservice and inservice).

When I started this process,  I told myself that I would learn to play a guitar when I finished.  It is almost time to go shopping!

Revision and Reflection - revised!

It has been a while since my last post.  January and February were busy months for me - coaching, night classes, marking and teaching.  Working on my Master's portfolio was pushed to the side and I attempted it when time

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permitted.  These two months were also a transition time in my high school classes - the end of one semester and the beginning of another.

Over the last 2-3 weeks I have put in more time for my project - A rationale for using technology in Project Based Learning.  I received feedback, had an honest conversation with my advisor and I did lots of revisions.  I am happy to report that there are only a few small edits that need to take place to this version of the paper before it goes to the next advisor for review.

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I also had a great conversation with a friend of mine.  I told him that I look forward to being complete so that I can become current again in my topic.  What I mean is that most of the articles, posts, and my own work, have not changed much in the last year, as I have focussed on my project.  I have revised and reflected but I have not been able to stay as current as I would like.  Is it possible that revision and reflection can take up too much time at the expense of new knowledge?

I definitely see the value and worth in revising my work and taking the time to reflect upon it but have I lost out on anything?  What valuable findings and conversations have occurred while "I have been out"? I know that there were great tweets, and tweetchats that I missed.  What about some new articles and tech tools that I have missed that others have shared?  I have wrestled with these thoughts for the last couple of months.

I have also considered and thought a lot about when is a "work" finished?  When can I, the author, say that it is done and move on?  There were times throughout the process when I wanted to just leave it and not just for a little while.  I wonder how my students feel about some of the work that they need to do in my classes?  While each stage of the paper writing process was a part of my learning, I will admit that I stopped being excited about my topic a while back and any excitement that I still had turned to the hope of completing my work. This has been the longest that I have ever spent and focussed on a single project or topic in my academic career.  Now I look forward (after the creation of some videos for examples to accompany my paper) to seeing what is next for me.  There are several Essentials of Project Based Learning that I want to look at more intentionally: public audience, 21st Century Skills, Revision and Reflection, and there are other interests to pursue (upon completing my M.Ed. I will be purchasing and learning to play my first guitar!)

An aside to my thoughts on revision, I was also thinking about the role of technology in revision and reflection and more specifically how revision and reflection were completed prior to the availability of technology tools.  There were many drafts to my initial proposal and to the paper itself, on top of the drafts that were submitted to advisers.  I would often edit a "draft" about 4-5 times.  Multiply this by the drafts that were submitted and you have about 35+ versions of my work.  I guess in this secondary thought about the role of technology in revision and reflection I have a  few questions:

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1. Does technology cause us to be sloppy, careless or perhaps not as careful with our initial work as we ought to be?  I think of this in light of always wanting to be a "one hit wonder" - to complete my work and have it be "good enough" on the first try.
2. Does the use of technology make revision too easy? In grade 9, I took typing in a room full of  typewriters.  It was difficult to correct a mistake, as simple as it might have been.  Now with online tools like Google Docs or TitanPad, we can revise and revise and revise.  As I have asked before, "is a work ever done" or can/should I keep editing?
3. A bigger question might be, "does anyone other than me really care about my reflections?"  I don't mean to say that reflection is not valuable and should not be completed - quite the opposite.  Personally, I have learned a lot about myself through this series of reflections while completing my M.Ed portfolio.  I have enjoyed blogging about the process, but how much reflection has really been shared?  What about the day to day reflections or more importantly, the thoughts that I don't let leave my head while I am revising my work.

As much as I will be glad to see this portfolio come to completion, there is this weird feeling in my mind.  The feeling is similar to "buyer's remorse" - that sense of let-down after you get that new item.  With the time, effort, stress, fatigue and commitment to this process by myself and especially by my

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family, it would be easy to say that I am not doing something like this again.  However, I am already starting to ask myself - "What's next?"  I will begin to work on this idea in my next and maybe final post.

Revision and Reflection

     Earlier this week I submitted the first draft of the written component for my M.Ed. portfolio.  The title of the piece is, "A Rationale for using Technology in Project Based Learning".  I must admit that in the week that my advisor had it, I kept my Lakehead University email window open on my computer.  I was both eager and anxious about getting the feedback that I knew would be coming. While I know that the work is well received, somewhere, in the back of any learners' mind, I believe that there is the hope that the work will be done, finished, completed.  I ran through a wide range of emotions while I attempted to figure out, or actually guess, at what the feedback might be.  I wondered what the comments would be, what areas would be well done, and in particular what areas I still need to shore up.

     It continues to amaze me at how important the PBL essential of Revision and Reflection is to learning.  It would have been awesome and a relief to have had no suggestions for revision but then again this is the first draft that I have submitted.  It is also somewhat refreshing to not receive a mark but to only have comments.  In an earlier course with Dr. Paul Berger, of Lakehead University, called Critical Pedagogy, I read a piece about assessment by H. Kirschenbaum (1971) titled
 Wad-Ja-Get? The grading game in American education - referring to how often learners simply want to know their "final mark".

 The final mark, however, really can't enhance my learning or make the final product any better. This reading selection was eye opening for me and has shaped the methods that I use for assessment.  I want to provide my students with rich feedback, praise, guidance and suggestions for improvement.  I also want my students to desire these same things and to create a culture of learners who work together to build and honour each other; I want my students to not be so concerned about their mark because they have constructed it and been a part of shaping it.

     The feedback that I have just received on my first draft is rich and valuable - I will be making some changes! One great great responsibility that I have, as a learner and the owner of the work regarding feedback, is that I have the choice to implement none, some, or all of the feedback.  However, if I truly desire to to learn and, to produce better work, then I need to see each comment, idea, and suggestion as a stepping stone to these desires. While the comments initially look intimidating, and overwhelming, the more I read them and piece them together, the more I can see how valuable they are and how they are necessary.
   The Ontario Ministry of Education's document titled  "Growing Success" does a great job of explaining its three levels of assessment - For, As, and Of - see page 31 for a table that summarizes them.  Each level of assessment plays a key role in shaping the learning, the learner and the educator.

   As I go back to school tomorrow after the Christmas break, I wonder if I have sufficiently provided my student with strategies to provide and accept feedback? More importantly, I wonder if I have blessed them and honoured them through the feedback that I have provided?  I also wonder if the revisions that my students have made have been completed out of a sense of duty or if these revisions have been completed joyfully?

     I am almost done - I was excited to read in the email accompanying the feedback that "maybe 2 more edits to go depending on how you wish to deal with the remaining sections of the work." and then it will be finished.  

Kirschenbaum, H., Napier, R., & Simon, S. (1971). Wad-Ja-Get? The grading game in American education. New York: Hart Publishing.