Connect the Dots

Do you remember Connect the Dots; those fun little puzzles comprised of a series of numbered dots that when connected in order, revealed a picture? Connect the Dot books were a big thing in the era that I grew up in. In the days before handheld electronic games, car DVD players and Netflix, Connect the Dots and activities like them were all there was to do on long car rides and in doctor waiting rooms. I spent hours connecting dots to reveal everything from animals to buildings. With the help of the Connect the Dots folks, anyone could be an artist. 

I find myself playing Connect the Dots still today, each and every time I plan a PD session for my teachers. I share a concept or tech tool with them, then guide them to "connect the dots", to understand how what we've discussed impacts instruction and learning. Obviously teaching the tech is the easy part. It's making the connection to the learning process that can be more work to accomplish. Demonstrating how to make something work is very cut and dry, but leading participants to understand the impact of what is being demonstrated requires a variety of examples, as well as explanation, and evidence. It requires context, specifically context in terms of teaching and learning. That's where it gets difficult. You see, a classroom where the teacher really has embraced teaching the 21st Century learner and the integration of digital tools will look differently than one that has not. It has to! In these classrooms, both the teacher and the students are working differently than they have in the past. They are working interdependently to collaborate, produce, and share. There is no need for these types of activities when students are listening to sit and get lectures or completing low-level worksheets. The context for providing instruction to students is different, making it harder for some teachers to connect the dots. 

If there is one thing that I've learned by working in my integration specialist position for the past year and a half, it's that teachers tend to be a literal people. Most are very willing to take the tools that are presented to them during our PD sessions and put them to use in classroom, based on examples they were provided. However fewer teachers are able to generalize what they've learned and apply it to a variety of situations to have a greater impact on instruction. It comes back to context, and for those of us who provide professional development, it is our job to provide that context for our teachers. The lack of context is not the fault of the teachers. After all, many of the things that we are sharing had not been part of the educational world until now. We have to help teachers connect the dots. As a young child I could easily connect numbered dots to form an image of a dog. I had seen dogs before, and their simple form required no more than 20 points. It was more difficult however, to complete a Connect the Dots of an image like the Eiffel Tower. I had no context for its intricate design, and the amount of numbers it required to me to connect was a big job for a five year old. It is no different for teachers. They don't just need training on how to use tech tools, but they need shown how to integrate these tools into the context of instruction. In my opinion, the best way to accomplish this is to put the teachers in the role of a learner, using what I've shared. Doing this illustrates the effectiveness of the concept or tech tool they've been presented. It helps them "connect the dots". I've asked my teachers to participate in flipped PD, chats, self-paced online PD, and more, all in an effort to help them see the new possibilities for instruction.  By learning in the format that we want them to teach, they have context, and they seem to appreciate it! The trick is to make this process as simple as creating a dog, yet as impressive as creating the Eiffel Tower.