What I learned in 2011

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My big(gest) lessons and reminders of 2011:

The importance of doing what you love doing in your career.

I never have or will regret joining Moodle HQ but I never have or will regret leaving Moodle HQ this year either. Thank you Martin & Moodle HQ. I love Moodle and its community but I am really happy to be a Moodle volunteer again and get paid (less) to work with teens that I dare say majority of teaching colleagues would not want to see in their class.

The importance of expectations.

You don’t significantly change or disrupt status quo by doing more of the same (way) but harder. Changing expectations shifts things dramatically.

Picture the expectations of a kid (and his surrounds) who has been told, overtly and covertly by the system of mainstream schooling, that most he can aspire to be is a dumb poor loser with some dead-end job as his only option (like many in his family). Suddenly, he completes a great project in the field he is passionate about. He is told, for the first time in his life, that a local university is offering courses in that field, and that, on the basis of things shown and in all sincerety,  going to uni and/or getting a well paid, challenging job in the industry is a realistic option for him in a couple of years if he puts in the effort. I saw the reaction of this kid and his parents. And it gives me tingles as I write this.

The value of Big Picture.

Big Picture is not a panacea for all our educational ills. It also isn’t for every kid out there. It requires a special kind of educator to really ‘get it’ too. But from what I have seen, learned and experienced this year after working in a Big Picture school and seeing some great work of kids and colleagues in BP schools around the country and the world, it is an approach, a state of mind rather, that truly empowers.

‘School’ is deeply ingrained in our societal DNA

It is soooo damn hard to ‘forget’ what ‘school’ looks like and does. In a ‘school’ you learn to play the game (usually called ‘what does the teacher or test want me to say’) then pass … and largely forget. There is a teacher, the knower, and a bunch of students who need to be ‘taught’ stuff prescribed by often someone else and contextually remote. You need a grade to show how much you are worth. Above all – you don’t ask (tough) questions. Things like: ‘What are we doing this for?’ And if kids don’t learn, the teacher says ‘I taught them that but they didn’t learn it’ (akin to a realtor saying ‘I sold them the house but they didn’t buy it’ …).

No wonder it takes us a very long time at our school (yes, we are one, but a Big Picture one) for kids and parents to come to terms with statement/questions like: “What are you passionate about?”, “What is worth learning?”, “No, I am NOT going to tell you what to do next, but I am happy to figure it out WITH you.” “You (student) know more about this (topic) than me (teacher) already so I am going to learn with you.” Crazy stuff huh? Or is it? Ask yourself why (not).

The value of networks

You have no idea how grateful I am of my, well our, network. This goes particularly when I see you from around the planet interacting with kids at our school, kids who, in most cases, have barely left their suburb all their life. Things like comments to ‘John’s’ motorbike website or ‘Billy’s’ ‘World Of Drugs‘ wiki project (one I am hugely excited and hopeful about in 2012) are small but priceless.

Every comment here on Human, every @ reply on Twitter, every *Like* on Facebook, every email, Skype call, shared document or other interaction reinforces my liking for Stephen Heppel’s observation: Previous century was about making stuff FOR many people. This century is about helping people help each other.

and finally … drumroll …

Watching students flourish in front of my eyes in moments during the year and particularly during their Big Picture exhibitions reminds me why I want(ed) to work in education: not to be “the knower” in some field and bang on about it as if it were the most important thing in the world but watch and help others becoming knowers (of) themselves in the fields they chose and share.

PS. If I don’t post anything before Christmas/New Year it probably means I am playing with my own kids and enjoying a bit of holidays. But I do check in here and Twitter …

Have a peaceful Christmas and a wonderful New Year. Kiss your kids and loved ones and tell them you love them. Often. And mean it.

4 thoughts on “What I learned in 2011”

  1. Great post again Tomaz. Love reading your reflections and the great work you are doing. It is a real encouragement to me, being a fellow-worker in Big Picture, a few thousand km away in Shepparton Victoria.
    I very often share the words in your blog to others as you have a happy knack of writing about what I am thinking, and don’t have the skills to say it like you do. I hope you don’t mind.
    Hope to catch up again in 2012 and at the very least let’s get our students talking to each other online. Please to see that one of my students did this this week.
    Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas and a Big Picture New Year filled with more of the same successes as you have experienced in 2011.
    @scratchie aka Geoff Allemand

  2. Great post again Tomaz. Love reading your reflections and the great work you are doing. It is a real encouragement to me, being a fellow-worker in Big Picture, a few thousand km away in Shepparton Victoria.
    I very often share the words in your blog to others as you have a happy knack of writing about what I am thinking, and don’t have the skills to say it like you do. I hope you don’t mind.
    Hope to catch up again in 2012 and at the very least let’s get our students talking to each other online. Please to see that one of my students did this this week.
    Wishing you and yours a blessed Christmas and a Big Picture New Year filled with more of the same successes as you have experienced in 2011.
    @scratchie aka Geoff Allemand

  3. Cheers Geoff. Thank you for your support all along in this Big Picture caper too, not to mention your and Britnee’s comments. We’ll connect the kids (more) in 2012 for sure.

    Best wishes to you, family and your young charges!

  4. Cheers Geoff. Thank you for your support all along in this Big Picture caper too, not to mention your and Britnee’s comments. We’ll connect the kids (more) in 2012 for sure.

    Best wishes to you, family and your young charges!

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