C112 (Book Club): Talking with Experts (pgs 59-90)

Welcome to the third episode in our series about the Expert Effect.  I apologize for such a delay, but sometimes our personal life takes time away from our passion projects.  I hope to get back on track with this fabulous book in hopes to help you get connected with the expert effect. 

Something we investigated in this section was talking with experts.  Our opening question made me ponder about how well we connect with others. 

Hmm…this question made me question, do I engage with experts near and far or do I tend to rely upon the known in my community?  I greatly enjoy engaging with others from my local area, but what are some benefits from engaging with others with different perspectives and ways of doing things?  How might this enrich the learning experiences of our learners, so they can develop international mindedness?  

Some of the ideas from our book club included: 

Expert talks:  getting people from different cultures, occupations, and perspectives to share their ideas and stories with our learners

Field trips:  go on physical and virtual field trips to enrich the learning experiences.  There is nothing better than touching ideas that we find in a book.  

I’ll never forget the week long science camp that I attended with my learners while living in Dubai.  We learned about life in the desert, GPS, different types of sports, and building bonds.  I can’t imagine what that must have been like for a child, because it was pretty amazing as an adult!​

Parent community:  we keep speaking about our parents, because they are a wealth of knowledge. Depending on culture, you may want to ask your parents to come into school to share their ideas, past experiences, and reflections.  Not all parents want to participate, so be mindful of this as well. ​

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​As the conversation emerged, it was really interesting that our group kept going back to some experts that we have connected to as a teacher learner.  No surprise that Trevor MacKenzie’s name kept popping up, because of his ability to connect through social media via webinars, online workshops, Toddle presentations, sketchnotes, pictures, and more. 

One of my personal favorites is Erin Dealey.  She is an author of many picture books for younger learners, but I was connected to her while teaching in Dubai through Skype for Education.  Long before the technology existed, Erin was chatting with my fourth-grade learners about her process of taking a seed story and turning it into a published piece of work.  She shared about her process, frustration, and elation once a story came together.  Erin was so relatable that my reluctant writers were eager to get started once we ended the call.  Recently, we’ve had the chance to reconnect on social media, which brought back that sparkle for writing to me as an adult learner. 

There are lesser known educators who have greatly impacted my thinking through their selfless sharing and interactions on social media.  Here are a few names to connect with if you haven’t already. 

@levi_allison42
Levi Allison is a connector of ideas and people.  He has helped me to shape so many ideas and increase my understanding of transdisciplinary learning through the lens of the specialist teacher.  He is always seeking ways to make local and global connections through reflective practice.  

@ajoytoteach
Amber Bernard is a dynamic first grade teacher who uses play to get her learners to connect to big ideas.  I always enjoy reading her posts to make me think deeper about the needs of younger learners.  Her learners are always connecting ideas back to the bigger world. 

@MathewBhavna
Bhavna Mathew inspires me to be more connected.  She is a truly globally minded educator and shares her passion through her book clubs, webinars, and free materials.  Her use of the UN Sustainble Development goals is truly inspirational and helps learners to make deeper connections to issues facing our global community. 

​Talking with Experts

Once our learners get excited to talk with experts, they can’t stop!  How do we prepare them for the experience?  One possible way to teach them how to ask a variety of open and closed questions.  A tool that I frequently use as a trainer and educator is the Wiederhold Question Matrix.  It provides leveled questions that lead to a factual, conceptual, and debatable response. 

Try it out! You can find a copy in my guide, Plan for Inquiry. 

​Chalk Talk

​To synthesize our thinking, we went into break out rooms to participate in Chalk Talk, a visible thinking routine.  Here are the steps: 

What connections can you make to others’ responses?

• We connect to active listening skills, because it means we are not just waiting for our turn to talk, but truly listening to the experts' ideas and our peers.  This is important to get our learners to connect to each other, with us, and the experts they engage with. 

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• Activating Prior knowledge is imperative before bringing in the expert. Before we bring somebody into our classroom we need to know where our students are in their journey. 

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• Follow up questions are extremely important. Guiding students on the value and purpose of the follow up question. 

What questions arise as you think about the ideas and consider the responses and comments of others?

• We use experts as part of the learning process and not as a provocation or reward for "good learning".  We might use them in finding out and going further in the inquiry cycle. 

• Some questions we have:  how do we know our learners are ready to engage with experts in the wider community?  What is part of that success criteria?  

A final question that I will leave with you:

​Please join us for our next episode as we delve into pages 91 - 130 of the Expert Effect!