ETMOOC – Page 8 – Counsellor Talk : Connecting with those who want to make a difference.

Topic #4: The Open Movement – Open Access, Open Educational Resources & Future of Education … So Much to Think About …

Published on March 5, 2013March 5, 2013 by Counsellor TalkLeave a comment

What do I think about topic 4? Well I think there are so many things within this topic that I will reflect on for a long time. ETMOOC is just a piece of the process when it comes to challenging what I believe about these topics.

Open Movement: While I had heard about this before ETMOOC, I had not really given it much thought. I certainly love the philosophical discussions I have been having with colleagues and most likely will continue to have discussions around this movement.

RIP Remixer’s Manifesto was interesting to view. It challenges my belief system around fair use, remix, copyright and makes me question where are we going in society around these issues. How does this impact students and where do I stand on these issues? There is so much to think about. I am hoping to learn more about these issues and as a result I will better be able to reflect on my beliefs as topic 4 progresses.

The future of education… I think that could be a whole book. I appreciate the time to reflect on these issues as they impact what I do and how I will reframe my own thinking.

I am slowly realizing why the ETMOOC has been set up the way it has. It is purposeful and process oriented. I look forward to hearing others thoughts and ideas.

Being in ETMOOC has made me think, challenge what I think, reflect, revise what I think and continue to learn and challenge myself and as a result impacts what I say and do.

Hope in My Ideal School … What Does Your Ideal School Look Like?

Published on February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 by Counsellor Talk4 Comments

After listening to Will Richardson’s blackboard collaborate talk I had to reflect on what it is that I would really want my ideal school to look like. I believe this will be an ongoing reflection as I continue to engage in my own process of learning in this digital age.

I believe I am very fortunate to be working in a self- directed learning model. I love the way students learn at Bishop Carroll High School. This model has been in action for over forty–years and is fantastic, but still evolving.

As I really reflect on what it is I would like to see in a school, the school counsellor comes out in me as my first thought is a school filled with HOPE.

Do hope and technology go hand in hand? I believe they most certainly can. This video I discovered after receiving a tweet demonstrates the importance of HOPE. Shane Lopez’s interview expresses why I want my ideal school to be full of HOPE.

http://www.gallup.com/video/123893/Engage-Students-Improve-Community.aspx

The next video called, “If students designed their own schools” made me want what these students have done in their school to be a part of what I would want in my ideal school.

What might my ideal school look like? :

Hope filled
Engaged students and staff
Mutual Respect
Low student teacher ratio where all students can be heard and helped
Creativity is encouraged and abounds
Grades would not matter
Teachers would not ever feel they had to teach to tests
Counsellors would be essential in every school starting in elementary to high school
Counsellor to student ratio would be low and every school counsellor would not have to teach a class, but would engage students through workshops or through resources online or groups or whatever the schools and most importantly the students needs were
Exercise would be a part of every students and teachers day
Positive Connections would be evident
Capable, confident students would emerge and have opportunities to move in the direction of their dreams
Students would have available to them a variety of resources and opportunities
A students needs and personality would be highly considered
Safe Learning Spaces
The building would feel more like a comfy home than an institution
Students and staff are in a constant process of being technology savvy and literate
Professional development is ongoing and supported. Funding is readily available
Breaks where students and staff were nourished and had time to connect happen on a daily basis
Celebrations of staff and students occur on a regular basis
Passion is evident

I think I could go on and on, but for today I will stop here.

HOPE abounds in my ideal school, but what will schools look like in the future? I really am not sure.

After watching the video The Future of Education: Epic 2O20. I have to really wonder are schools really prepared for what education might look like in 2020.

What do you think?

For today, my ideal school is right where I am. I love working and counselling in a Self- Directed High School. It makes me very happy and it is a very hopeful place where I belong.

Mindfulness Matters Especially in a MOOC

Published on February 22, 2013February 22, 2013 by Counsellor Talk2 Comments

photo by johnwilliamsphd cc

Listening to Howard Rheingold on Blackboard Collaborate in ETMOOC last night shifted my attention to mindfulness. Mindfulness is a tool we can all use in this busy, often stressful world of ours. It is certainly a tool that as a school counsellor that I can teach students to use. Especially those students who are plugged in to all kinds of devices .It is a skill I need to remind myself to use while taking this ETMOOC course. Sometimes I have my laptop, my phone, my iPad all going at the same time, especially if I want to keep up in a chat.

It is a misnomer that mindfulness is about focusing. It isn’t. Jon Kabat Zinn describes mindfulness as “the awareness that emerges through paying attention on purpose, in the present moment, and non judgmentally to the unfolding of experience moment to moment.”

In order to be mindful we need to carefully listen to ourselves. We need to shift our attention, not pay attention to where we want or need to be.

For educators here are some great resources to understand mindfulness better:

Open my livebinder: Click on this link:

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=686211

Dr. Allan Donsky MD from the Department of Psychiatry of Calgary ,is a skilled practitioner in this area. He believes one of the doorways to being fully human is: “AWARENESS >>>> CHOICE >>> ATTENTION >>> ACTION”

I liken this to what I am doing in ETMOOC

I am AWARE that I am attempting to follow many things. I can go off in many directions easily if I allow myself to do that
I make a CHOICE to focus on anything that is related to school counselling
I bring my ATTENTION to those skills, ideas, tweets, chats…
The ACTION part is that by staying in the moment I can get what I need from the experience that will be helpful for me in what I do

To be honest this is a very different learning experience for me and being mindful while having so much data and options laid out in front of me is not easy. I need to practice mindfulness in order for my students to understand it and to be able to use it myself. I need to be mindful of who is in my Personal Learning Network. I also need to model being able to shift my attention to my family, so that my children will be able to do the exact same thing. It is certainly a challenge to be able to put this into practice when I am so engaged in my ETMOOC.

Got to go … shifting my attention

Digital Storytelling At Its Finest

Published on February 21, 2013February 22, 2013 by Counsellor Talk2 Comments

What an amazing story for school counsellors to utilize as a discussion starting point with students. This is a don’t miss story that can lead to dialogue that could impact students greatly.

Digital Literacies … My Passion Motivates Me

Published on February 18, 2013February 19, 2013 by Counsellor Talk2 Comments

Being in ETMOOC is like being at a fabulous movie at home snuggled in my basement watching a movie of my choice on the big screen. Those of you in ETMOOC will understand what I am saying.

I can learn in a comfortable place
I can choose what and how I want to learn
There are so many things I can choose from
I can even get up move around, put things on pause and come back to enjoy what I am doing
I decide if what I am doing is useful to me. I get to take what I like and leave the rest
I am constantly learning even if I am not fully aware of the learning at the time
I can sit back , relax , and absolutely enjoy the anticipation and the experience
It is so enjoyable I do not look forward to it ending

The reason I am even getting better at technology is that I wanted to learn how technology could help me with my Comprehensive School Counselling Program.

I love what I do and technology is able to move me to what Doug Belshaw calls moving from digital elegance to remix.

T3S1: Digital Literacies with Dr. Doug Belshaw (#etmooc)

Certainly a few years ago I would not have believed that possible. I dabbled with technology the same way a small child would and because the tools are easier and easier I grew with the changes.

As Doug Belshaw says, “I think Mozilla understands that digital literacy is a condition, but not a threshold. It affects your identity because every time you are given a new tool, it gives you a different way of impacting upon the world.” I have found this to be more accurate as I move through this ETMOOC and try more and more ways of communicating. Being able to utilize a variety of tools has allowed me to assist students and school counsellors in a way I did not realize was possible.

I look forward in the next few weeks to be able to understand the essential elements of digital literacies in an even deeper way. Thanks to the School Counselling and ETMOOC communities, I will develop literacies and grow and change as a school counsellor which can only affect the students I serve in a positive way.

I look forward to learning more about digital literacies in blackboard collaborate tonight with Doug. Check out his TED video:

Narrable: A Digital Storytelling Tool … Transformation… A Continual Journey in Etmooc

Published on February 13, 2013February 13, 2013 by Counsellor Talk1 Comment

Narrable : https://narrable.com/

Is another great digital storytelling tool. It is easy to learn and easy to use.

Students would find this a great tool to use for presentations. I can easily use this as a tool for sharing information about school counselling.

You can:

pick your best pictures
upload them
record your voice
share

When you share to facebook etc. You get another narrable to use for free.

Check out my first narrable… Do you think you could use this to tell your story?

A work in progress still figuring out how to embed or share on wordpress.

Thanks to Erin Luong who suggested I tweet the code first, then copy and paste the tweet from twitter to wordpress and I probably would get the link which I did. It saved me a lot of frustration being able to do it this way. So here it is:

Click on the link:
https://narrable.com/widget.html?narrable=77k1xh

Using Voicethread. A Digital Storytelling Tool.

Published on February 11, 2013February 11, 2013 by Counsellor TalkLeave a comment

As part of etmooc we are encouraged to use a variety of Storytelling tools. I had known about voicethread http://voicethread.com/ for awhile now, but this is the first time I actually used it to tell a story. I believe it will be a fantastic way to share what I want to in school counselling. It wil be a great tool to embed in our learning guides in a self- directed high school.

I bought SNOWBALL (the white mic in the picture) which is a great tool if you are doing any voice productions. I like how clear my voice turned out.

A work in progress . My voicethread …

Go to : Never Give Up to see my voicethread. I am working on making it better . I definitely need to work on the timing of my voice.

I love how you can add links to the thread , so I added one of my livebinders on depression in the first thread. I can also see how I could add this link to one of our learning guides so that students could have access to the information. Beacause you can integrate with (D2L) Desire to Learn, this will make it easy for us to use in our school.

School Counsellors in the US have been using this resource and I can see why. See the SCOPE article http://sconlineprofessionalexchange.blogspot.ca/2012/06/using-voicethread.html It will definately work as a psychoeducational tool that we can use in Student Services for various topics that relate to school counselling. I look forward to utilizing this tool more often.

My Story of Art and Flow … Visible Learning , Digital Story Telling

Published on February 11, 2013February 11, 2013 by Counsellor Talk3 Comments

Why do I love painting., because I think I might make money at it someday? No absolutely NOT.

It is because it is the ONLY thing in my life that brings me such wonderful flow. True flow in the psychological sense as described by the positive psychologist Michaly Csikszentmihaly. http://psychology.about.com/od/PositivePsychology/a/flow.htm

It brings me to a place where I am living in the moment. It is a place for me where eight hours feels like five minutes. I have never experienced this feeling in anything I do. Lacrosse brings me to that place for a very short period of time, but nothing else I have done in life has been able to bring me to this mental state.

I can only draw stick men of sorts, so I never gave painting or any Art a real try until two years ago when my neighbour and friend Cristine invited me to her place for an Art lesson.

Since then I have been hooked, moving away from my fears of feeling I can’t … to I can. It is about the process for me, the freedom to just let go. I have taken four one day lessons with four different Artists (each having their own unique style) and that is what is so freeing.

There is no one right way to do Art. Painting is so liberating for me. I look forward to it as an escape, a relaxing activity that just brings me joy and most importantly flow.

We all need a little flow in our lives especially those of us who are in the helping professions. Flow brings us to the place where we can go to recharge.

I am not going to go to that place with my Art that can be the perfectionist in me. I am just going to let go and be me with the Art. I am doing this for me and if my kids happen to like a piece of art I do, I hope someday they will keep it with them as a memory of me. The fun, who cares piece of me that just allows it to be.

Maybe they will keep the piece that they had input into, the one where they inspired me to do something different than I originally planned. It is now the piece I call “ Celebrating Family”.