Peter Reynolds is Creative Director of FableVision
Northstar@mediaone.net
INTRODUCTION
Many schools today are providing some excellent learning experiences using technology. Ever resourceful, teachers have found ways to turn even a single, aging, Apple IIe into a catalyst for discussion, inquiry, and cooperation. Some schools have more technology available -- from videodiscs to scanners and digital camera to ISDN connection to the Internet.
Even in technology-rich schools, resourcefulness is still a prized instinct, where there never seems to be enough to go around especially when "the next new thing" seems to pop up every month.
No matter what the situation, schools that spend time doing technology planning reap the rewards. Whether planning is done by a school as a large team or a single teacher rallying around a singular vision, giving shape to the technology experiences can benefit learner, mentor and community.
Regardless of which tools, and how plentiful the tools, educators are being offered staggering amounts of technology activities to "weave" into the existing curriculum. These are multiplying daily -- truckloads of software which provide the learner with interactive experiences on everything from algebra to zoology. Add to that the Internet with it's hundreds of thousands of homepages. Teachers are now preparing for new broadband technology which will dish up software, the web, old and new television -as well as a new breed of interactive programming at 50-100 times the current speed. It's coming at us fast and furiously.
The mountain of choices dumped in front of us has turned into a galaxy of choices which at times can overwhelm us. What if there was a way to help educators sift out some powerful experiences from the nearly 10,000 titles software publishers have poured onto school shelves?
So what should guide us as we sort out this avalanche of material?
What is the organizing principle?
THE NORTH STAR APPROACH
The North Star Approach to technology takes its cues not from technology manufacturers, software developers or academic committees, but instead from the student. The NS Approach encourages the student to become an active participant in the learning voyage --to help determine the direction -- to help us know how to help guide them. To help us see what knowledge, research, additional skills they will need on their own unique life journey. After all, isn't that what this whole learning endeavor is about? Helping young people navigate productive, fulfilling, rewarding life journeys? The North Star Approach suggests that each learner develop a personal curriculum.
The North Star Approach acknowledges different learning styles and teaching styles. It is a keen observer of new brain research which is helping us tailor learning experiences to decrease stress and increase long-term memory. It acknowledges multiple intelligences. Billions of intelligences. It allows teachers to respond to emotions before test scores, interests before scope and sequence charts, spontaneous ideas before canned curriculum.
The North Star Approach challenges students to master "foundation skills." Often referred to as "basic skills" -- these tools are the cornerstones of a North Star voyage. Describing them as "basic" seems underwhelming for such vital and empowering tools of the journey.
These all make a North Star journey more rewarding and fruitful.
Here is why:
On a North Star Learning Voyage...
I need to be able communicatein order to tell you about my constellation.
I need to be able to write
to share my dreams.
I need to to be able to problem solve
and sharpen my logic
to get me through the tangled brush
that is sure to be a part of my voyage.
I need to to be able to draw upon the wisdom of others,
their stories, their histories and herstories
to help me navigate aroundshallow water and over rocky coves.
I need to be able to
be creative and innovative,
to be open to new ideas,
to strive for original thought.
I need to be able to see how I fit into the community
- how I affect it --how I can affect it positively.
I need to appreciate other
people's constellations and North Stars.
I need to be able to create more than I consume.
I need to see that learning is my responsibility.
My privilege. An ongoing gift I can give myself.
I need to be able to see -
and help others see -
that we can move this world
to a better place.
A GLANCE AT THE
NORTH STAR TECHNOLOGY CATEGORIES
The North Star Approach could happily survive on a small handful of technology tools. This is especially appealing for resourceful classrooms short on time, money and resources, and yet equally appealing to techno-rich environments searching for a truly meaningful experience in the lab or classroom. The North Star focuses on six categories of computer tools.
These are constructivist tools that depend on content or guidance coming from the student. It celebrates the blank canvas. The empty sheet of paper. The silent room. The spark of curiosity. The sudden "Aha!" The unplanned answer. The unexpected solution. The original thought!
The North Star Approach draws on a learner's personal curriculum. Relies on personal content. Nurtures personal expertise. The following four categories are cornerstones of a learner's North Star Personal Curriculum.
Each of these is like a deep well upon which to draw. It is a deep well belonging to the learner. Each can provide a wealth of inspiration for student-inspired projects, writing, reading and problem solving. Foundation skills will be provide the framework for expression . . . the learner will provide the message.
The North Star Approach invites students to become philosophers. Deep thinkers. Thoughtful about their journeys. Many students have trouble seeing beyond tomorrow. The North Star Approach helps young people explore more deeply the concept of time. It helps students see that the journey is a long one in need of planning, care and wisdom. It inspires an understanding between cause and effect. Action and consequence. The North Star Approach gives students a better sense of their own personal time lines.
The North Star Approach helps students avoid the wrenches thrown into the journey. Students are faced with more and more temptations and distractions from a thoughtful journey. Each navigator responds differently to the wrenches thrown their way, but for more and more young people (who are only a few years from becoming the adults of our society), external pressures can interrupt their navigation. Violence on television, drugs, family dysfunction, fashion, peer pressure, and sex are just some of the stronger influences on the personal journey than inner-guidance. Inner-guidance systems are often under-nourished and undeveloped, often having never been exercised at all.
These damaged voyages are due in large part to three things...
The North Star Approach applauds the shifting paradigm, albeit slow, from short term memorization to long term learning. Personal context --meaningful projects --designed by teachers and students.
THE BOOK...
The North Star Approach is a blend of the new thinking about learning. It is a reflection of the best thinking about making learning more rewarding and effective by acknowledging different learning styles, multiple intelligences, and emotional intelligences. It blends student constructed learning and creative assessment. To trigger conversation and thought about these critical issues, I wrote and illustrated a very special book called The North Star. My fourteen years working with children, schools and technology inspired me to write this allegory to help explore the issues of what really is important when you boil down all the thousand pages of educational code, the hard-wired curriculum, the standardized test, etc. (A free on-line version is available at http://www.fablevisionpress.com/northstar)
After years of watching educational technology mushroom into its own industry, I felt we were missing the point. So much effort was spent to correlate the technology plan to curriculum plan, when it seemed to me that we needed to ask some harder questions. What is the best for the learner? The only way to find out is to ASK. A real conversation, to find out what the spark is for THEM. It is a daily conversation.
Technology and the Internet is triggering a paradigm shift so dramatic that we can only guess how schools will operate in the next millennium. The rules are being rewritten. The exciting thing is that we are here to witness the evolution - to see the limitations being lifted. Anything will be possible.
The North Star Approach is not a 12 step plan. It can not be implemented as a ready-made formula. Rather it is a creative approach that can live with current plans. Amazing things can happen without changing much. Keep 90% the same, but allow for 10% North Star thinking in your day. Let your students discover their personal constellations. The stars that guide them. Let them teach YOU about their personal curriculum. Let them see the connection between foundation skills and their constellations. It will be a profound experience.
To learn more, visit http://www.fablevisionpress.com/northstar