Shake Up Learning: Ch. 15: The Dynamic Learning Framework

Shake Up Learning - Dynamic Learning

My classes can be dynamic sometimes, but not as often as I'd like. I try to connect previous lessons with current lessons by using overarching themes. My history classes focus on the BAGPIPE themes (Beliefs, America in the World, Geography and Environment, Peopling, Identity, Politics and Power, Economics). We are always connecting back to the themes, and over time students see the connections between topics and events as well. This keeps our learning from being “we’re done with that” to “this is how it connects to the current day.” We also do the National History Day project, which we begin in September and present in February. Students research and revise throughout the year. Other than that, I need to incorporate more dynamic learning. I wrote about how I could do that in my blog: Opportunities for Dynamic Learning

I couldn’t say for sure what percentage of assignments in my classes are dynamic, but the number needs to be higher. I don’t know if I could make 100% of my assignment dynamic, but I will start by increasing dynamic assignments and decreasing my use of static assignments.

As a Social Studies teacher I often hear students say that the topics that we are covering don’t matter. It’s hard to convince a student that they do matter when all assignments are static. If the teacher is constantly giving students assignments that are over as soon as they are turned in, then there is no connection to the future. There is no connection to anything at all. The teacher, then, is assuring the student that the topic no longer matters after your assignment is graded. I don’t want that. I want my students to see the value in what they are learning, so they pay closer attention and become productive citizens who think about the consequences of their actions before they act. Utilizing dynamic assignments is one way that I can help my students to understand the importance of Social Studies.

Without even knowing what the 4 C’s were, I can say that I integrated them about half of the time. My students are given many opportunities to collaborate and communicate. I gave plenty of opportunities to think critically, though some of those opportunities were optional and students did not take advantage of them. I am aiming to incorporate the 4 C’s as much as I can from now on.

Push Boundaries with Dynamic Learning

Shake Up Learning: Ch. 14: The Dynamic Learning Model

Chapter 14 of Shake Up Learning covers the 4 C's and the ISTE Standards. Below are two infographics that I created showing the 4 C's.

These are the difficulties that my students and I have with the 4 C's, and some ways that I plan to address them:

1. Creativity - Sometimes students are afraid to be creative. Some students believe that their grade in the class might be negatively affected if they move too far outside of the box, but I have been working to change this. I give my students experience points (XP) in my gamified class for creativity. Students do not lose grade points if they choose not to be overly creative, but they are motivated to try to be creative in order to gain XP.
2. Communication - Some students do not enjoy communicating to the class as a whole. Though there are other options (small groups, using tech to speak anonymously, etc.), students must become accustomed to speaking in front of others. Sometimes communication can become a problem if students are not friendly with each other. The same can be true if students are working with their friends. Too much communication can be distracting if it is off task!
3. Collaboration - Students do pretty well with collaboration, but some students are strong leaders and others choose not to put much effort into group work. I’m aiming to solve this problem by assigning roles. In my gamified class, students are broken into teams. Each team has a warrior, a mage, and a healer. One day I could make the warrior the spokesperson, the mage the recorder, and the healer the task keeper. The next day I could switch up the roles, or create new ones.
4. Critical Thinking - Critical thinking is important, but it requires more than the minimum effort. Some students have days where the minimum effort is all that they are willing or able to put forth, or they might not understand the activity or the material, or they might have difficulty voicing their thoughts. In these cases it is difficult for students to think past the obvious and dig deeply into a concept.

As for the ISTE Standards, I am not yet familiar with them! I need to dig into the ISTE standards more, and make sure that I am really implementing them. I have helped my students meet some of them, but we have done so without being knowledgeable about them.

Some dynamic learning upgrades that I am thinking about include reaching out to our global community more through Twitter, creating a project in which my students take on an entrepreneurial role, and perhaps having my students author a children’s book about digital citizenship that they can share with the elementary students. These would be dynamic because they can change over time. As entrepreneurs, my students can alter their products. We can share on Twitter throughout the school year. The digital citizenship books could be shared with multiple classes over multiple years.


Visit Kasey Bell at Shake Up Learning to read more about dynamic learning.