Using Google Search

This week I learned about several Google search techniques, including operators. Search operators are placed in a search window as part of a search in order to filter results. For example, the operator site: limits results to the domain name. If you type, "site:blogger.com organic gardening" into the google search box, the results returned will be limited to blogger.com.

This can be helpful for research in school. Searching in general for "medical marijuana" while researching for a class debate will give you many results (26.2 million) with a wide variety of quality and usefulness. Using the operator site: to search "site:.gov medical marijuana" will return a smaller number of results (121, 000) and they will all be from government websites which will likely be better sources for your debate or research projects.

NOTE* Do not use a space after the colon when using the operator, or it will not work.

Giving Credit

Over the last few years I've been thinking about copyright and intellectual property. I haven't been thinking about it a stop-students-from-cheating kind of way (although that is an important element). Mainly I've been wondering about how to act with integrity and honour creators and their work. The internet has really complicated issues of copyright. This video gives one weird but not so uncommon example:
Like John Green, I want to honour the work of other people, but I'm not always convinced that not sharing the work of other artists is the best way to do this. My own example involves a dance recital for my kids. I recorded some of their performance in order to share it with some family members who live in other countries and who miss the small pleasures of family growing up. I uploaded the videos to YouTube with a semi-private setting, but within two days, YouTube removed one of the videos because someone complained that the music excerpt the kids were dancing to was copyright protected. I'm not upset with YouTube, but I wonder how the artist would feel about the situation. Is the artist being honoured or his/her livelihood being protected by preventing dancers from using their music or me from sharing it?

Technically I haven't shared anything that I've learned, and this is a learning log, so here is a video by John's brother Hank (you can check them out on YouTube at vlogbrothers) explaining some of what I've learned about copyright and how the internet is forcing us to change the way we think about intellectual property.

Listen and Learn

by Daniel Coy (CC BY-ND 2.0) 

This week I was thinking about listening and was intrigued by an idea from George Couros and his thinking about facilitating change in schools. He suggests that too often people think about the ultimate goal and try to convince everyone to leap to that goal asap. This isn't always an effective approach because different people may be in very different places in relation to that goal. Listening to people and discovering where they are in relation to the goal is an important first step in facilitating change. Different people will require different next steps on the journey toward a share goal.

I am working on improving listening skills and striving to make some changes, so Mr. Couros's advice is a helpful blending of the two right when I need it most.

Averages Can Be Mean

Over the last two years I've been exploring the problems and drawbacks of grading and assessment practices in school. One of the controversial elements of school, especially in high school, is the practice of assigning one number (a percentage) as a grade in a course. This number is typically an average of all the smaller percentage marks on assignments.

Using the average, or mean, of all the assignments doesn't necessarily tell an accurate story of what a student can do at the end of the course because it keeps remembering the early learning stages when the student's skills and marks were lower. A student who can consistently perform at a high level at the end of the semester, shouldn't be punished by the learning process early in the semester.

Mode can help tell a clearer story. Mode is the number that appears most often in a range of numbers. If a student begins the semester with C's and B's in a certain skill set, but over time masters that skill and regularly earns A's, mode would select A for a mark because it appears most often. Theoretically, this method would communicate a student's abilities more clearly. Of course, it is only one small part of helping improve communication.

LA Comp Learning Log

View image | gettyimages.com

Our LA Comp class is keeping a weekly learning log this semester, and I'm sharing my learning here. The big categories we are focusing on are Knowledge, Skills/Strategies, and Habits/Attitudes.

I have been learning about spreadsheets, most recently about IMPORTRANGE. It is a formula that allows information to be imported from one source into another. For example, in my case, I have a spreadsheet that I use as a grade book. It contains a separate sheet or tab for each student in class. I would like students to see this grade book, but if I share the spreadsheet with Student A, then Student A can see the entire spreadsheet, including every other student's grades.

IMPORTRANGE allows me to create a new spreadsheet for Student A and then import only the assignments and grades for Student A from my grade book spreadsheet into Student A's personal spreadsheet. The best part is that once the formula is set up, any changes I make in my grade book are automatically updated in Student A's personal spreadsheet. Cool, huh!

If you're interested in the details, leave a comment and I'll send you a link to get you started.

School, Anxiety, and the Yo-Yo

#74598588 / gettyimages.com

What does yo-yoing have to with school and learning? What is the point of these passion projects? I could write a lot in answer to these questions, but I'll try to stick to one point for this post. Passion projects help remind us that the learning process involves mistakes.

No one picks up a yo-yo and expects to perform amazing tricks flawlessly on the first try. Rookies with a yo-yo expect to try and fail many times before they successfully perform a trick, and even after they perform it, they are not surprised or devastated if they don't nail it every time they attempt it. Often we seem to take a much different approach to learning in school.

Sometimes (often?) in school we fear mistakes, forgetting that they are an integral part of learning. There are many reasons for this, and I don't want to get into them all at the moment, but I think it is clear that fear of mistakes exist in school and that this fear often gets in the way of learning. Recognizing this is an important step to removing fear as an obstacle.

Notice that I said, "removing fear as an obstacle, not removing fear entirely. Learning something new almost always comes with some fear, but that fear doesn't need to prevent you from learning if you recognize it as a normal part of the process. If we can embrace experimentation and mistakes as part of learning in school in the same way we do when learning a skill like yo-yoing, then the quality and quantity of our learning will great improve.

Think about times in your life when you've been nervous to try something, but you did it anyway and experienced something great. You jumped off the high dive, learned to ride a motorcycle, uncovered a love for art or geometry, discovered the scrumptiousness of sushi. Want another example? Check out Sarah's success in overcoming anxiety and finding new and improved learning as she practices the ancient art of yo-yoing. Anxiety, mistakes, and nerves are part of doing almost anything worthwhile. Understanding, and even embracing, them will help ensure that you learn, persevere, and succeed.

Mentorship

Some of the finest relationships in my life have been mentorships--both as the mentor and the protégée. The potential for all kinds of quality learning is almost limitless in a well-developed mentorship. Social skills, hands-on skills, theory--can all be enhanced and personalized by a mentor. Accountability and motivation are also increased by such a relationship.

But don't take my word for it; check out what your peers have to say:

"Kristiana (my cousin) gave me lots of tips and instructions that helped solidify what I had seen on tutorials. I realized that there is only so much you can learn from a video, eventually you need someone to answer your questions and talk you through it...  She's a great example for me of someone who has excelled in their instrument because of the time and effort she has put into it."
--Naomi K: Skype Saves the Day

"One thing that has become very clear to me recently is the importance of having someone who has a lot of knowledge of what you're learning and knows what  they are talking about. Whether it's an instrument or really anything else... Daniel was able to give pointers to a few different people...who had been playing a lot longer than me. Some had even learnt lies from the internet just like me. Luckily Daniel was there to correct them and even luckier, he'll always be there to correct me. His knowledge and natural musical talent will be very crucial in the success of my passion project."
--Brianna H: Much Knowledge, Very Guitar, So Music, Wow