Ramblings of a Professional Learning Community

iPad Site Visits

2012-02-12T15:33:00.001-07:00

We hosted the first of four iPad site visits at our school last week. The day was an incredible success thanks to our very talented staff and students. Manitou is clearly an amazing place to teach and learn.

We organized an agenda for the day consisting of classroom visitations, student and teacher panels, and short talks on professional development and policies related to our 1:1 iPad deployment. Everyone who spoke was AMAZING. We're looking forward to our future visits.

It's not too late to register for the upcoming visits on April 5th and May 3rd. The March visit is full. The agenda is posted below.

Manitou Springs School District

Digital Learning Environments to Engage Today’s Students

“The twenty-first century is dictating that educators develop new paradigms regarding instruction. Students are utilizing new technologies to learn, to communicate, to develop relationships - school systems must become agile, flexible, and ‘smart’ to reach the modern day learner. Our school system is addressing the needs of the ‘whole, new child.’ Included in this plan is the effective use of technology. We must work to redefine classroom instruction, and empower teachers to develop instructional techniques that are not limited to the traditional classroom, and will most definitely energize and engage the twenty-first-century learner.”

Ed Longfield, Superintendent

Today’s Agenda

9:30 - 9:45 Registration

9:45 - 10:00 Welcome

10:00 - 10:10 Overview Of the Day

10:15 - 10:55 Middle School Site Visit

11:00 - 11:20 Planning and Implementation

11:20 - 12:00 Working Lunch/Student Panel

12:00 - 12:20 Teacher Panel

12:20 - 12:40 Policy Discussion

12:40 - 1:30 Break Out Sessions Session A - Elementary Visit Session B - Tech Talk

1:40 - 2:00 District Panel

Understanding MDM Models for iPad Deployment

2012-02-12T15:10:00.003-07:00

There are three basic management models Apple refers to in regards to mobile device management (MDM,) the centralized model, the personal model and the layered model.

Empowerment distinguishes one model from another. The personal model it is all about empowerment and creativity, while the centralized model it is all about restriction and consumption. Pros of empowerment are end user control of all content and access to all content. Con of empowerment: we can't protect a user from themselves.

Centralized Model

Empowers Institution
Most Labor Intensive Deployment Model
Institution Purchases Apps via VPP/App Store
Institution Retains Ownership of Apps
Content Managed in iTunes
Connectivity - Computer or WiFi

In the centralized management model the empowerment belongs to the institution (school) and the institution owns and manages all aspects of the iPad. This includes initial sync, updates, profile setup and restriction codes if deemed necessary.

Syncing multiple devices to a centrally controlled iTunes account gives education institutions the most control over the apps, content, and the end user experience on each iOS device. Groups of iOS devices are synced and maintained from the same iTunes library on a sync station, which is a computer controlled by the institution. Each iOS device must continue to be synced with the original iTunes library from which it was configured in order to receive new or updated apps purchased by the institution.

Once iOS devices have been paired with a sync station, attempting to sync apps or other content with another computer will cause iTunes to notify the user that the apps and content from the institution’s sync station must be erased from the device before the new computer can sync to it. A student missing all of the institution’s curriculum apps will quickly stand out when he or she is unable to participate in class projects requiring those apps.

WiFi sync is available in this model to make the updating process smoother and less time consuming.

One benefit of the centrally managed iPad is that the school retains the ownership of paid applications. Only one voucher code is needed to install applications on any number of iPads. Note: Under the new iBooks service agreement, books are not to be installed on institutionally owned iTunes accounts.

Personal Model

Empowers End User
Simplest Deployment Model
End User Retains Ownership of Apps
Institution Treats Apps as Consumables
Content Managed in iTunes or iCloud
Connectivity - Computer/WiFi

In the personal management model the end user controls the initial setup, iPad settings as well as the app store experience. The only role the institution has in deploying this model is to distribute iPads to students. The personal sync strategy has the least impact on an organization because the care and maintenance responsibilities are shifted to the end user, and users may be more protective of assigned devices if they can personalize them.

Layered Model

The layered model blends the institutional model and the personal model to best meet the needs of the organization and end user.

Initially, the institution preloads institution owned applications and profile settings and restrictions onto the student iPads. Management and configuration tools can be used as part of this deployment to allow the institution to control the settings and configuration of the device. The end user is then responsible for setting up the iPad, backing up data, and further enabling restriction settings if institutions so choose.

Users log into the App Store with a personal Apple ID. Students under the age of 13 would require a parent generated Apple ID per Apple’s newly updated user agreement.

To use any of the Services, you must be at least 13 years old (or, for non-U.S. users, such older minimum age as may be required by applicable local law). If you are under the required age, you may still use the Services (subject to applicable local non-U.S. law)but only if the account you are using was created and registered by your parent or legal guardian.

The layered model is a necessity if textbooks are going to be distributed to a school via the iBooks App. Under the new iBooks Store service agreement, institutions may purchase apps through the volume purchase program but may the codes may only be redeemed on personal Apple IDs. This forces all users to have their own personal Apple ID. And, since, the iTunes Apps Store User Agreement has been revised, parents may create these Apple IDs for students under the age of 13. In essence, Apple is forcing the use of the layered model upon institutions who choose to use textbooks sold through the iBooks Store.

Choosing A Model/Sync Strategy

Choosing a model for your school is perhaps the most important decision to be made prior to implementing a 1:1 iPad. The questions below form a basic decision tree to assist in selecting a model. Select the model or models that meet the most requirements and keep in mind that multiple strategies may be used across an organization.
Application Installation: Who will be allowed to install apps?

School only: Consider a centralized sync model.

Student only: Consider a personal sync model.

Both: Consider a layered sync model.

Application Updates and Deletions: Are applications allowed to be modified and new ones installed?

Yes: Consider any sync strategy.

No: Consider a centralized sync strategy.

Device Update Frequency: How often should apps or iOS versions be updated on the devices?

Frequently: Consider a layered or personal sync

Infrequently: Centralized or Layered

iTunes Syncing, Backup, and Restore: Which computer will be used for syncing and backups?

School-owned: Consider any sync strategy.

School/Personal: Consider the Layered Model

Student-owned: Consider a personal sync strategy.

Parent Technology Coffee - Social Networking

2011-11-20T14:25:00.000-07:00

We had our second Parent Technology Coffee on Tuesday, November 15th with 8 people in attendance. The conversations were rich and focused on protecting home networks and understanding social media and social networking, the draws, the dangers, and the uses of both.

After introductions we summarized how Open DNS works to filter all devices on your home network. In a nutshell, devices on a network are pointed to the OPEN DNS server instead of your internet provider's server to translate and direct you to the webpage you are seeking. Open DNS has a blacklist of inappropriate sites and when a user points to one of these spots on the internet the site is blocked.
See the blog post "Filtering Your Home Network with Open DNS" to learn more about this free, easy alternative.

We watched two short video clips (embedded into the presentation,) explaining the differences between social media and social networking. The differences are subtle, but it's important to understand them when trying to wrap your head around why these topics are so popular. Social media are the tools we use for sharing and connecting with others while social networking is the tool we use to do the connecting. In the end, the real draw of social media/networking is the ease of which we communicate and share with friends and family and the ability to make new connections. Businesses have caught on and are capitalizing on social media to deliver messages and products, even creating social networks within their organization to connect people.

The embedded presentation provides factual information regarding social media/networking. Probably the largest "unknown" to many is the large social networking community centered around gaming consoles like XBox and Play Station 3, (PS3.) Statistics state that 97% of kids aged 12-18 play computer games. When we informally surveyed (a raise of hands) our MSSD kids regarding how many had gaming consoles in the home the percentage was equivalent. A very large percentage of the 97% are playing games with others via a social network. The need to educate our kids on social networking is of utmost importance so they can remain safe and create appropriate digital footprints.

A digital footprint is like an online reputation. Sites you join and information you post all make up a person's digital footprint. To monitor a digital footprint a user needs to do is google their name. The google results will begin to shape a user's online reputation by describing who they are affiliated with and what sorts of things they do and write. Making sure digital information conveys the information about yourself that is desired is key when navigating the social media/networking waters. Common Sense Media is a terrific website that provides resources for parents and educators related to these topics.

In school students are using social networking on their own. Half of students in grades 6 and 7 are using Facebook despite the account creation age requirement of 13. In 8th grade teachers are using Facebook to share student generated work and to provide thoughtful discussions around content related articles. Following of course material via Facebook is a way to keep current information flowing through a class as students check Facebook and will spend time on thoughtful commenting when in an environment they enjoy. Imagine if students started using social networking to share book reviews or to practice foreign language. The more positive opportunities for social networking we provide, the better they will become at maintaining a positive digital footprint.

If you haven't joined the Facebook groups and pages created by the Manitou Springs School District, do so. Staying in contact with other parents and schools are just the beginning of what social networking can do for us as a community.

MSHS Facebook
MSMS Facebook Group
MSES Facebook Page

The next parent coffee is scheduled for December 13th at 9:00 AM and then repeated again at 6:00 PM. The topic is Information Management and will focus on how we keep up with the information revolution. Bring your device, (laptop, iPad or smartphone,) and you can learn some tricks to managing all this information that seems available but difficult to locate.

Filtering Your Home Network with Open DNS

2011-11-19T14:23:00.000-07:00

If you are interested in a free, easy to set-up way to filter your home network so that ALL devices accessing the internet from within your home can be safe from inappropriate sites look no further than Open DNS. This includes gaming consoles that access the internet, iPads and even phones.

DNS stands for domain name system. When you type an address like google.com into a browser the query goes to your internet server provider's DNS server. This DNS server translates the words google.com into numerical identifiers (IP address) associated with locating the website. DNS is sort of like a phone book for the internet. Human friendly names associated with numerical addresses. It's easier for us to type in a name, than a long, complex number that is difficult to remember so the DNS server does this for us.

With Open DNS, you just use them instead of your internet server provider's DNS server. The difference is that Open DNS server has a frequently updated blacklist (blocked list) of sites divided into categories like "adult," "games," etc... Parents can block entire categories or simply set a filtering level of low, medium or high, depending upon need. The advantage is that you now have an account with your dns provider that let's you customize where your kids can go on the net. Most people do not have these capabilities on all devices accessing the internet in their home. In addition to all this protection, a list of visited websites is provided through account statistics that can easily be accessed by parents.

Open DNS is easy to set up and directions for doing so are provided below.

You can also tweet @OpenDNS for assistance in setting up Open DNS if you are a twitter user.

A parent of two middle school students felt this step was essential to providing an internet environment for her kids that was safe from inappropriate websites. She's posted her journey in the MSMS Facebook Group. The staff at MSSD is always available to assist with questions in this important matter as are parents within the community should you ask.

However, as with any filter on your network, it's important to remember that nothing provides 100% safety from inappropriate content. You are your best filter and teaching our children what to do when they encounter such content will be key in keeping them safe in the future.

Student Blogging

2011-11-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've had some teachers ask me to provide them with some evidence as to why blogging might be good to do in a classroom setting. The list is quite extensive.
I'll start by stating I consider student blogging to be one of the most powerful piece of student learning. They serve as a perfect vehicle for students to demonstrate their learning to a much larger audience, thereby authenticating the learning. They also serve as the beginnings of a effective e-portfolio, an excellent tool in documenting learning.
Take some time to review the three student blogs listed below. These blogs were completed by students four years ago when I taught earth science.

So, now to the evidence for student blogging:

It is FUN! Fun!….. It is wonderful when students think they are having so much fun, they forget that they are actually learning.
Authentic audience – no longer working for a teacher who checks and evaluates work but a potential global audience.
Suits all learning styles
Increased motivation for writing – students are happy to write and complete aspects of the post topic. Many will add to it in their own time.
Increased motivation for reading – students will happily spend a lot of time browsing through fellow student posts and their global counterparts. (Ask me about these, I have a huge list of interested schools.)
Improved confidence levels – a lot of this comes through comments and global dots on their cluster maps (visits to their blogs.) Students can share their strengths and upload areas of interest or units of work eg personal digital photography, their pets, hobbies etc Staff are given an often rare insight into what some students are good at. We find talents that were otherwise unknown and it allows us to work on those strengths. It allows staff to often gain insight to how students are feeling and thinking.
Pride in their work – My experience is that students want their blogs to look good in both terms of presentation and content.
Blogs allow text, multimedia, widgets, audio and images – all items that digital natives want to use
Increased proofreading and validation skills
Improved awareness of possible dangers that may confront them in the real world, whilst in a sheltered classroom environment
Ability to share – part of the conceptual revolution that we are entering. They can share with each other, staff, their parents, the community, and the globe.
Mutual learning between students and staff and students.
Parents with internet access can view their child’s work and writings – an important element in the parent partnership with the classroom. Grandparents can make comments on student posts. Other parents can ‘adopt’ students who do not have internet access and ensured they have comments.
Blogs may be used for digital portfolios and all the benefits this entails.
Work is permanently stored, easily accessed and valuable comparisons can be made over time for assessment and evaluation purposes
Students are digital natives - blogging is a natural element of this.
Gives students a chance to show responsibility and trustworthiness and engenders independence.
Prepares students for digital citizenship as they learn cybersafety and netiquette
Fosters peer to peer mentoring. Students are happy to share, learn from and teach their peers (and this, often not their usual social groups)
Allows student led professional development and one more……
Students set the topics for posts – leads to deeper thinking activities

I can't (and won't) point to increased test scores due to student blogging. I can and will say that when students have a vested interest in their learning, everything changes.

Thanks to Gareth Scholes and Karen Mills for their Ulearn Workshop.

Global Education Conference 2011

2011-11-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

Announcing the Second Annual Global Education Conference Streaming Live Online
November 14-18, 2011

The second annual Global Education Conference, a week-long event bringing together educators and innovators from around the world, will be held Monday, November 14 through Friday, November 18, 2011. The entire conference will be broadcast online for free using the Blackboard Collaborate platform (formerly known as Elluminate/Wimba).

The conference seeks to present ideas, examples, and projects related to connecting educators and classrooms with a strong emphasis on promoting global awareness, fostering global competency, and inspiring action towards solving real–world problems. Through this event, it is our hope that attendees will challenge themselves and others to become more active citizens of the world. Let us learn, question, create, and engage in meaningful, authentic opportunities within a global context!

Keynote addresses this year will be given by noted thought leaders Alan November Chris Dede, Howard Gardner, Fernando Reimers, Esther Wojcicki, and many more. Conference sponsors include Brainpop and iEARN-USA Partner organizations are numerous as well and many will be presenting their work throughout the conference.

Last year’s conference featured 387 sessions and 60 keynote addresses from 62 countries with over 15,000 participant logins. Sessions were held in multiple time zones and multiple languages over the five days, and are currently archived as a standing educational resource at http://globaledcon.weebly.com/recordings.html.

For further information, please join our network at http://globaleducationconference.com and follow us on Twitter (@GlobalEdCon). Conference related tweets will be aggregated using the hashtag #GlobalEd11.

The Global Education Conference is a collaborative, world-wide community initiative
involving students, educators, and organizations at all levels. It is designed to
significantly increase opportunities for building education-related connections around
the globe while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity.

Google Forms

2011-11-08T07:45:00.001-07:00

Tech Tuesday was spent investigating Google Forms and the possibilities this piece of Google Docs offers to educators in a classroom setting, particularly pre/post testing. But really, what I like about Google Forms the best is the ability to capture student thinking in the learning process.

The format of Forms is clean and simple, once you understand the main features.
For instructions on how to use Google Forms visit the iPads Wiki.

Within minutes a teacher is capable of creating a form to analyze the following:

Pre/Post assess student knowledge of an essential learning, topic or unit of study
Collect information (Survey)
Evaluations of all types (Self/Student/Lesson/Unit/Course)
Quick Evaluation for student presentations (teacher fills out while student is presenting)

There are also ready-made public templates covering a wide range of document and report types to help jump-start the process. These templates are a great place to gather ideas for Google Forms.

A teacher may email the form to students or embed the form into a wiki or blog easily.

Google Forms offers seven different question types to choose from and response summaries may be viewed in spreadsheet form or in a graphic display.

Parent Technology Coffee

2011-10-20T20:38:00.001-06:00

On Tuesday, October 18th, we hosted our first parent technology coffee. The session was hosted twice, once at 9:00 AM and then again at 6:00 PM. Twenty-five parents and members of the community came together to discuss digital safety, security and the Opt-in/Opt-out choices in the iPad User Agreement sent home to students in grades 5-8 earlier this month.
For those of you that were not able to attend (or those that would like to review some of the topics and resources we discussed), this post serves as a brief re-cap of the event.
We started out with some brief introductions of staff members and attending parents. Staff members present were:

Ed Longfield - Superintendent (morning session)
Chris Burr - Middle School Principal
Russ Vogel - Manitou Springs Elementary School Principal
Cat Butler-Olimb - Technology Coordinator (morning session)
Lisette Casey - Technology Integration Specialist
Glenn Char - Parent and Facilitator for parent meetings

After introductions we talked a bit about the focus and format of the coffees. The main focus of the coffees are to build understanding of the ways that technology is changing society, and therefore, changing education. Every month we'll watch a short video related to the featured topic and then discuss the implications of the video on education and learning, always with practical examples from classrooms here at MSSD. All Manitou Springs School District parents are invited to attend. We'll always meet in the Multi-Purpose room of the SILC building at 9:00 AM and then again at 6:00 PM.
Norms for the parent coffees are as follows:

Start and end on time.
Adhere to the agenda and honor the time allotted for each item.
Engage in honest, focused, and respectful discussions surrounding the focus topic.
The coffee is not a place for discussion of school policy.

Lisette Casey spoke for a bit regarding technology integration in the classroom around the topic of today's parent coffee. Currently, Glenn Char and she are presenting the topic of digital security and safety to all students in grades 5 -8. Since many students have internet access at home via computers, personal devices and gaming consoles, the need to keep kids safe and secure online is at the forefront of everyone's mind. Many kids identify themselves as the family person responsible for performing routine maintenance and tasks necessary to keep their home networks/computers running smoothly. Detailed diagrams, schematics, and discussion about what network makeup is shared with students. This leads into a discussion about the importance of making responsible choices regarding the downloading of files. The second half of the presentation is geared toward keeping a person safe from dangerous files, predators, and cyberbullying. Movies shown during this presentation can be found under today's parent coffee topic in the iPads Wiki. A simulation is shown to students that reinforces the need to always check for reputable sources before downloading material of any type from the internet. This simulation was also shared with parents during the coffee.
Following this Glenn Char presented on the subject of digital security, The presentation elaborated on the differences between filtered and unfiltered networks and what this means for families when iPads leave the school grounds at both elementary and middle school levels.
The presentation is embedded below.

The Home Network Security Page on the iPad Wiki was shared as a resource for parents in regards to securing their home networks. A call to your internet service provider or a visit to a retail store selling routers and interent connection equipment followed by a conversation with a sales person was recommended to steer parents in the right direction. Remember, regardless of what type of content filter you employ in your house, the best filter will always be you. Talk to your child often about what to do when they encounter inappropriate sites on the internet as well as why it's important not to purposely visit these sites.
Our next coffee topic is social networking on November 15th.

A Google A Day

2011-10-10T07:49:00.004-06:00

"Information is powerful, but it is how we use it that will define us."
-Zack Matere, Kenyan Farmer.

There is no denying the need to teach kids how to search for information on the internet in efficient, safe manners. There are few sites that teach this skill better than A Google A Day.

A Google A Day is a web search engine by google that helps sharpen search skills by those who participate.
The game is quite simple in design: you're given a question and need to find the answer.
Your efforts are timed, and usually take several layers of searching to arrive at the desired outcome, however, there is of course more than one way to discover the answers. Hints can be given along the way if you get really stuck.

Users can go back in time to complete questions on days they missed, and of course, you could repeat the search of any question as many times as you'd like, trying different query approaches.

Along with the game, is the resource, "Tips and Tricks" which includes the link to "Google Inside Search," where users can learn even more about successful searching techniques in the "Features" and "More Help" sections. (There's plenty more to do at the "Google Inside Search" page, such as enjoy and learn the meanings of all the Google Logos that have graced the past Google pages).

"A Google A Day" is an excellent resource for teachers to use with students together or pass on to students for their own independent study. It can be used as bell work at the beginning of class. I can imagine classes breaking up into teams to compete against each other, or graphing their best times each day. Each daily answer could also lead to even more research for students.

The site is open at the middle school, not sure about the elementary.

Success

2011-10-01T13:45:00.003-06:00

Demitri Martin

I saw this image by Demitri Martin on Facebook the other day. It resonated.

Success is seldom a straight shot; it's often messy and adjustments are often necessary in the process of achieving success.
I'd been thinking about a Winston Churchill quote my friend and colleague Shaunda McQueeney mentioned to me - "Success in not final, failure is seldom fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts." Sometimes it takes lots of courage to keep going, especially when the road your own may seem like a bit of a mess. A clear, communicated vision helps smooth out the road. Need to work on this.

Winston Churchill also quoted, "Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." Just took a dose of enthusiasm and I'm headed forward.

Teacher Burnout and the Inbox

2011-09-27T20:26:00.000-06:00

Learning how to handle the constant stream of information that flows into our inbox on a daily basis is essential if we want to prevent burnout from the inundation of technology. Taking the following steps will help avoid burnout and lead to a successful venture leading and learning with technology.

How to avoid technology teacher burnout.

Use Pull technologies (iGoogle and NetVibes) to bring content to your fingertips instead of wasting time going out on the internet and searching for information or visiting a multitude of websites. Going to one place for online content saves time and energy.
Set a start and stop time to check your PLN (Professional Learning Network) feed page. Be habitual about checking in with your PLN daily and adhere to the stop time.
Change settings on some of your feeds when you get too busy. Switching from a daily to a weekly setting may is easy to do on most sites and may ease the burden of email overload.
Make sure you schedule down time daily. This may seem like a silly item to be reminded of but all too often taking care of ourselves is something we tend to put on the back burner.

Keeping up with and connecting to a PLN is a rewarding and positive experience for those who learn to manage their PLN well.

Classroom Management Portals

2011-09-26T21:13:00.005-06:00

Today I spent some time with teachers introducing them to iGoogle so they could use iGoogle as a classroom management portal, (CMP.) A classroom management portal is a management tool that enables a teacher to easily monitor an online classroom community and presence via a personalized homepage. The benefit of using feed pages are that the content comes to you instead of you having to visit each and every website to see what members of your classroom community are doing.

Since we are a Google Apps school and all teachers have Google accounts, iGoogle seemed the most obvious choice for setting up the CMP. iGoogle allows content in two forms, feeds and gadgets. Gadgets are specified online content that can be tailored to meet the needs of the user. For instance, I can easily add a weather gadget and enter in the cities of my choice just as easily as I can add a Facebook gadget that allows me to access my Facebook news feed.

You can also add any site that publishes a feed to your iGoogle homepage. The feed looks like any other iGoogle gadget and lets you get automatic updates from the site without leaving your iGoogle page. This feature makes checking student blogs quick and manageable.

Tabs on iGoogle can be added, customized and organized based on the teacher's needs. Some teachers may name tabs according to class schedule while others may organize tabs according to subject areas. Feeds and gadgets can be moved from one tab to another by dragging the feed into new tabs. Tabs can even be shared among teachers and students to enable blog sharing. Last semester I shared my iGoogle tabs with students so they had easy access to student blogs.

The screenshot to the right is a screenshot a teacher took of her recently created iGoogle page to be used as a CMP. Organized by class period and alphabetically, this teacher will be able to easily monitor what students are writing on their blogs. A teacher can read blogs by clicking on the plus sign to the left of the title and never have to leave the homepage. To read the blog post on the student blog a teacher needs only to click on the post title to gain access to the blog and leave thoughtful comments.

Visit your feed pages often!
In addition to using feed pages to monitor online classroom content feed pages can also be set up to monitor a personal learning network filled with educator blogs and websites.

Communication and Mobile Technologies - Sekai Camera App

2011-09-25T21:53:00.000-06:00

Sekai Camera App is a social AR (augmented reality) application that enables users to interact in social communication through digital contents attached to the real world.
By holding up your iPhone and looking through the camera view (just as if you were taking a photo), you will see location-based information (just like digital “post-its”) floating in mid air. These are called “Air Tags”.
Air Tags could be either text, pictures, or voice messages, and users can view, post and also comment on other users’ Air Tags.
We've just started using this app in school in science classes. Teachers/students are able to post questions with pictures in the air for others to respond. A few ways a teacher might use Sekai is

Warm-Ups
Interacting with multiple classes
Writing prompts
Posting classroom responses to essential questions
Alternative ways to provide agendas
Field Trips

Users must create an account before using. Comments on tags may be made by all users in the network and students need to understand the significance of this fact. Tags can be shared to Twitter and Facebook.

Communication

2011-09-25T19:54:00.002-06:00

What?

Global communication projects require participants to make connections with each other using synchronous and asynchronous communications. Synchronous communications involve participants connecting with each other live or at one given time. This type of communication may be accomplished via text and audio/video technologies. Skype and FaceTime are examples of video chats while Back Channel websites and instant messaging are examples of synchronous communications involving text only. Asynchronous communications allow participants to communicate with each other without having to be some where at any given time. In asynchronous communications participants can collaborate and communicate by leaving messages to a group, editing online spaces that multiple participants have access to, or by sending an email and have full confidence that partners will be able to view, listen to, edit, and contribute to the conversation. Knowing and understanding the technologies that support both of these types of communications increase the chances for a successful project.

So What?

Using both types of communications have been essential in my career as an educator. This summer we began a 1:1 iPad implementation that required professional development and conversation around the integration of technology. Employees of our school district our on vacation for nearly 10 weeks during the summer yet professional development had to occur. Many teachers, including myself, were away on vacation, attending conferences or simply unable to attend physical classes. Using both synchronous and asynchronous communications, we were able to hold viable professional development on a weekly basis throughout the summer.

I first created a Facebook Group for our school district around the subject of iPad applications. This asynchronous means of communication served as a space for teachers to post links to applications and websites that others might find useful as they began a search of applications to include on the student iPads in the fall. This Facebook group page continues to serve as a space for thoughtful conversations related to iPads and their use in our school district. Members of the group did not need to friend each other on Facebook in order to be a part of the conversation. This act respected the privacy of employees who wanted to separate their personal life from their professional life yet continue to use a communication tool they employees were comfortable with. The downside of the Facebook group was that not all employees were members of Facebook. These employees needed to rely on email to communicate their findings and others took responsibility for posting these findings on the group page.

I also investigated methods of synchronous communications that were comparable to Eluminate, the online, collaborative software that provides space for an online class among other means of communications. Enter WizIQ, an online teaching platform that allows a user to create classes and courses at a reasonable rate, sometimes free. Each week I uploaded content, invited staff members and held an online class. Sometimes I held the class on campus and several staff members who preferred to have face to face contact attended in person. Several staff members attended from the comfort of their own home, asking questions in the chat as the class moved along. I did quite a bit of traveling this summer so many classes were held from lobbies and living rooms of various cities. All I needed was a fast internet connection. And though I considered these classes synchronous because people attended virtually at the prescribed time, all classes were recorded and many teachers listened to the recordings if they were unable to attend due to time zone differences. I taught ten classes in this manner and thoroughly enjoyed the level of communication WizIQ allowed for our teachers this summer.

The classes on WizIQ were private but the link to my profile is not. If you are interested in watching some of these let me know.

Now What?
I've participated in three Flat Classroom® Projects. All of these projects involved both synchronous and asynchronous communications and I became quite adept at using them both inside and outside of the classroom. What I'd like to do in the future is utilized Eluminate or WizIQ technologies with multiple classes in a project. I consider the teacher meetings for these projects, and for these classes, incredible opportunities to connect with outstanding educators from all over. I'd like to take part in connecting students in a similar manner. When students have increased opportunities to connect, communicate and collaborate with each other the more equipped for a global, digital world they will be. I hope to educate colleagues about these technologies, provide opportunities for global collaboration and encourage them to participate in such projects.

FCP Teacher Project Introduction and Global Project Design

2011-09-25T17:16:00.000-06:00

I'm embarking on a 15 week course titled Flat Classroom CertifiedTeacher Course taught by Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsey. This course aims to train educators to be able to manage a global collaborative project build upon best practices of student collaboration and co-creation as modeled in the Flat Classroom ® Projects. I've participated and written about several of these projects in this blog of date. hisNow I'm looking forward to 15 weeks of learning along side of incredible educators.

Module 1 is cross posted. I've been asked to to talk about global project design. Global Project Design depends on being able to easily connect, interact, and collaboratively work toward a common goal. Pull technologies enable individuals to easily stay abreast of relevant subject matter. The ability to tailor information on the internet and have that information delivered to a user saves time and creates focus.
My PLN has allowed me to learn from others and form ideas and goals relevant to educational technology. My PLN has given me the courage to reach out to educators far and near and join them in projects that meet my goal of globally connecting students. I use Twitter, Diigo, Facebook, iGoogle, NetVibes, Zite, Flipboard, and ShowYou. I try to spend a little time in all of these every day, checking in with my morning coffee and then some throughout the day. And I love teaching others how to create PLN's. It is, without a doubt, the most important professional development I have. And, it is my PLN that has brought me here today, writing my first journal entry for the Flat Classroom Certified Teacher Project.

IPad summer Trainings

2011-06-21T17:49:00.001-06:00

IPad summer trainings for teachers are in the third week and we've had a consistent level of interest. I've been using the website WizIQ to host the online classroom since face to face meetings aren't always possible due to travel and prior commitments.

I began the trainings by introducing various tips and tricks that would aid in navigating and personalizing the iPad. We spent some time becoming familiar with the settings, making changes to many of these areas so the iPads were working for us instead of relying on the Apple default settings. Editing mail settings is an area I'd suggest spending some time so that you have access to all of your folders,trash, and sent mail.

The second class was titled "It's Not Just About the Apps - It's all about quality, flexible, individualized learning and access to content. We explored some great websites like Finding Dulcinia, NASA, Discovery Learning, The Kahn Academy, iTunesU, Wolfram-Alpha, Diigo, Flickr, and eBook collections from iBooks, Stanza, etc... Each attendant checked out a website and then used an app called Sonic Pics to relay the content of the website. They shared their movie via email with members of the class. Sonic Pics is a great app to construct a presentation using image, video, and voice.

The third class was focused on developing skills to move toward iPad fluency. I got this idea from having recently read Langwitches, a terrific blog about learning by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano. In her blog post she writes about learning a foreign language and the need for a learner to first develop skills that lead to being literate. Continuing in study a learner gains competency and becomes fluent in that particular language. Using the iPad is somewhat similar.

With this in mind we spent some time developing bookmarking skills in Safari and understanding the toolbar capabilities in Safari. Another developing skill is the ability to write, type, cut, copy and paste on the iPad. We practiced these skills in the context of Safari, email, and Notes. Unfortunately, just about this time the WizIQ site went down and the class came to an abrupt end. Such is life with free technology.

The next few weeks will focus on moving toward fluency. Feedback has been positive including requests for activities similar to the Sonic Pics activity used in week 2. Teachers have access to a Facebook group, online recordings and a slew of resources on our iPads Wikipage.

Since I'm typing this post using the Blogsy app I'll need to develop a few skills relating to adding hyperlinks. You see, I'm still working toward developing fluency as well.

dotEPUB for the iPad

2011-06-07T15:46:00.000-06:00

DotEPUB is a cloud-based software that can help you convert any webpage, web article, or blog post into an eBook. The software is extremely easy to use and almost to be true for teachers looking to create sharable eBook material by using content from the Internet.

Simply go to dotEPUB and follow the instructions based on your web browser or device. The installation on the iPad is a bit clumsy, but you'll be glad you stuck with it when you see how cool it is to save webpages as ebooks for reading at any time. New eBooks are created and saved directly in the iBooks app.

Once you have added the dotEPUB bookmarklet to your browser, find some good content on the Internet and click the dotEPUB bookmark to convert to an iBook.

ISTE Press Release

2011-05-18T09:49:00.000-06:00

ISTE Announces winners of 2011 SIGOL Online Learning Award

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE®) has named the winners of the SIGOL Online Learning Award. This award recognizes creative teachers for their pioneering use of telecommunication networks to provide innovative learning opportunities for K-16 students.
Award winners were selected from a field of exceptional submissions. Judges sought three educators who created online learning curriculum that extended beyond the classroom to engage students. Among the award winners several initiatives were recognized for excellence, in areas such as digital citizenship, independent study, and global collaboration. Award winners will be honored at ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia this coming June 26-29.

• First Place: Hatboro-Horsham School District, Horsham, Pennsylvania, Valerie Frey, Diane Heitzenrater, Stacy Rotchford, and Andrew Osborne for "Internet Safety 101"
• Second Place: Manitou Springs School District , Manitou Springs, Colorado. Lisette Casey and Toni Olivieri-Barton for "We’ve got Sole"
• Third Place: Two Way Interactive Connections, Janine Lim, Berrien Springs, Maryland, Sue Porter, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Elaine Shuck, Sturgis, South Dakota for "Read Around the Planet"

In addition to the top winners, the judges also gave Honorable Mentions to the following projects:

• Cordill-Mason Elementary, Blue Springs, Missouri, Gail Bush and Civacon-Kanppco Engineering, Riverside, Missouri, and Chris Boucher, Honeywell FM&T, Kansas City, MO for "Engineering e-Mentors"
• Saskatoon Catholic Cyber School, Reg Nakoneshny, Saskatoon, SK, Canada for "Animation 10"
• Denton Avenue School, Lisa Parisi and Lauryn Tiedemann New Hyde, New York and Brian Crosby, Agnes Risley School, Sparks, Nevada for "Energizing Energy"
• Short Pump Elementary School, Michael Price, Richmond, VA for "Online Social Science Network"
• Geelong High School, Geelong, Victoria, Australia, Gail Casey, Darren Hobbs, Kyla Jacques, Felicity Cowey, and Kelly Roberts, for "Changing Classroom Practices and Attitudes through Online Social Media"

About ISTE
The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE ®) is the premier membership association for educators and education leaders engaged in advancing excellence in learning and teaching through the innovative and effective use of technology in PK-12 and teacher education. Home to ISTE’s annual conference and exposition and the widely-adopted NETS, ISTE represents more than 100,000 professionals worldwide. http://www.iste.org.

iPads and SMARTE Design Coming to Manitou

2011-04-14T11:23:00.000-06:00

I'm so excited! Manitou Springs School District 14 is introducing 1:1 technology next year. That 1:1 technology will be the iPad.

TO SUPPORT EFFECTIVE DELIVERY OF 21ST CENTURY INSTRUCTION AND CURRICULUM, Manitou Springs School District will provide an iPad to every student in the 5th through 8th grades for next school year. Teachers have already been using the devices to deliver instruction this year, and with one in the hands of each student, the district will move to the next level of technology integration in education.

The district plans to have select classes at the high school use the devices in 2011- 12 to help prepare for the following school year, when every student in grades 5 through 12 will have their own device.

Students will be able to take the iPads home with them to work collaboratively on projects, do web-based research on their own, OR COMPLETE HOMEWORK. Learning is no longer confined to the hours of the school day; with today’s technology, it can happen at any hour of the day from anywhere.

How will the iPad change learning at MSMS? Well, for starters it will increase student participation and engagement. There are so many interesting apps available on the iPad that excite and engage learners because of the current information they access and their interactive nature. Learners are no longer solely consumers of information but producers of content. Everyone can create on the iPad. The connectivity and portability of the the iPad allow students to connect with experts and learners anywhere in the world throughout the school day. They allow for flexible and tailored learning. Students who struggle to get their thoughts written down on paper have many apps to choose from to make this process less laborious and arrive at the same end result. We're truly moving to a student centered model of learning.

Additionally, the district will be launching the S.M.A.R.T.E. Design (science, mathematics, art, research, technology, and engineering) program for students in 6th through 12th grades in 2011-12. Students will be receiving rigorous instruction and will be applying skills via team-based projects. The 21st Century student must have extraordinary skills in reading, writing, math and science, along with the ability to
create, design, solve and apply. This program has been created to address the needs of the “whole new child.”

Manitou Springs School District – still growing strong!

Collaborative Projects Using Google Docs and Skype

2011-03-18T08:18:00.000-06:00

Skype in the classroom

7th grade classes in Colorado, USA and El Salvador were working on collaborative presentations in Google Docs related to what a day looked like for kids in their respective countries. Early in the project as students were editing their google docs excitement erupted. The other class was also online and working on the presentations. Immediately Google Apps group chat windows began popping up and student exclamations could be heard all around the room. These students were no longer separated by thousands of miles.

We very quickly shifted the entire class into the center of the room and our partners in El Salvador did the same. We got Skype up and running at both ends and within minutes were video conferencing with our partner school, and the excitement began to crescendo. We had not prepared in advance for this. It was a bit of a surprise, so there was no script, just kids engaging in discussions about each other, face to face with their partners in another country using Skype. Hobbies, favorite books, musicians and the weather were the main topics of discussion.

This impromptu skype lesson developed further as we began to prepare for our final conference with the schools, sharing our projects and asking questions of each others' culture etc... Skype allowed us to bridge the distance gap and students soon realized that kids in other countries aren't so different from one another. They enjoyed similar experiences in all avenues of life.

My collaborative partner is this project was Jennifer Garcia the Learning Resources Centre Coordinator from Academia Britanica Custaleca in El Salvador. Together we coordinated this learning experience for our students and used skype to iron out the details.

Check out the student presentations on the ABC wiki.

Online Learning Environments - Today's Meet

2011-03-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Just yesterday I was listening to someone state their child uses Facebook to do their homework. "What do you mean?" another parent asked. The person responded, "The teacher assigns a worksheet and everyone gets together to post the answers on Facebook. No need to copy papers in the morning anymore."

Students love collaboration. It's easy to take the good from the above events and incorporate them into a meaningful learning experience using Today's Meet. Today's Meet is a backchannel, a room created by someone wanting to encourage conversation about a particular topic. Anyone with the link can join in on the discussion. The backchannel is where people ask each other questions, pass notes, get distracted, provide feedback, and as in the case above, exchange answers. Tapping into Backchannels lets presenters of any kind tap into the needs of the audience and engage them at the same time.

I used Today's Meet in class the other day as a sounding board for a lesson related to image manipulation related to iPhoto. Students in the class enjoyed this means of asking and answering questions. When I first introduced them to the concept of a backchannel silly, unrelated posts began appearing. I encouraged this experimentation until the class had a handle on how the backchannel worked. Students need play time with new tools. The experimentation period provided an excellent opportunity for a quick lesson in digital citizenship, the need to be appropriate, and a reminder that everything written is visible to all. There is no delete button. I am convinced if we increase the opportunities for students to engage in appropriate, online conversations at school these behaviors will transfer to their personal life, especially when they understand the risks of poor choices.

Students quickly became comfortable with the format of Today's Meet and we focused the conversation on the topic - iPhoto editing of images. Some students actively participated in the backchannel while some checked in every so often to view the dialogue. Overall, I was very pleased with the way students helped each other solve problems from across the room. The backchannel gave everyone an equal voice in the classroom.

Mark Barnes at Learn It In 5 has created an excellent how-to video showing you how to use Today's Meet.

There are all sorts of ways to use Today's Meet in an educational setting.
First, create a room, then have students go to it, either in teams or individually.

Then:
Write a backwards story and then use the transcript mode to display the entire dialogue in reverse order (beginning to end.)
Mark Homework
Check understanding during a lesson
Review game - students post answers
Write supporting sentences to an introductory sentence of a paragraph
Write key points of a particular topic
Brainstorming a particular topic
Warmup - Post open-ended questions to get students thinking on a subject
Editing Exercise - post a sentence that needs correcting

Just be cautious about the room name when you create the room and don't leave the room online for longer than two hours unless you plan on monitoring the room.

7 Guidelines For Marketing Schools

2011-02-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Don Tapscott offers a Consumers 2.0 list at the end of chapter 7 in his book Grown Up Digital. I started thinking about the school itself being a company and the students and parent community being the consumers. The checklist at the end of the chapter is fitting if you change the last wording from Consumers 2.0: Seven Guidelines For Marketing Professionals to Seven Guidelines for Marketing Schools. As teachers I think we can, and should, apply these guidelines to our classrooms. But it doesn't stop there. These guidelines need to infuse all aspects of the school setting from the front office to the lunchroom to the recreation areas. I'll post them for further discussion.

1. Don't focus on your customers - engage them. Turn them into prosumers of your goods and services. Young people want to coinnovate with you. Let them customize your value. Open up your products and services.
Some teachers are already doing this with Web 2.0 tools and this is just the beginning. If parents and students want to make the services better, let them.
2. Don't create products and services - create consumer experiences. Add value to your offerings to make them richer experiences and use the Web to help deliver your new value.
Richer experiences lead to greater investment.
3. Radically reduce advertising in broadcast media. Shift your "Marketing Communications Spending" to digital media.
And...encourage students and parents to have a hand in the creation of these communications.
4. Develop a strategy to plug into N-Fluence networks. The three keys to Net Gen marketing are word of mouth, word of mouth, and....you get the idea.
It's time schools had a presence on social media. We're missing a great opportunity to connect with customers.
5. Rethink your brand. The brand is no longer just a promise, image, or gadget- for many companies it should become a relationship.
We've been promising educations and many believe schools are falling short. When schools build relationships with their students and parents, learning and good education are easier to achieve. Students are willing to go the extra mile for a teacher they trust and have a relationship with.
6. Bake integrity into your corporate DNA and marketing campaigns. Honesty, consideration, accountability, and transparency are the foundation of trust for this generation. Be authentic in everything you do.
Share everything worth sharing via social media, newsletters. Explanation and keeping students and parents informed on events and decisions helps build trust.
7. Move the Net Generation into the center of your marketing campaigns. They are important. They influence all generations like never before. The Four Ps - product, place, price, and promotion - are an inadequate framework to deal with the consumer of the future. Replace them with the ABCDE of marketing: anyplace, brand, communication, discovery, and experience.
We need to move towards bringing the ABCDE of marketing to our lessons so that students will walk away with incredible learning experiences.

It's time to start talking about how we can make these transitions in public education.

Emphasizing Reading and Non-Fiction Writing in Every Assessment

2011-02-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

Part of our weekly PLC sessions in our district are spent discussing what needs to occur in our classrooms as we promote and increase rigor and opportunity. Today I discuss point # 2.

Effective teachers emphasize reading and non-fiction writing in every assessment.

I'll be the first one to tell you I'm not a big fan of scripted writing, specifically when students follow scripts to paragraph writing. At the end of the day a teacher faces reading 20+ paragraphs, each having five sentences which includes a topic sentence, a red, a green, and a blue or what ever the color coding for these approaches may be. The topics may be different but the structure is the same. I don't think they promote good writing though some might argue they promote standard writing. And though there is a great deal of pressure in schools for students to perform well on state assessments we can still promote a love for or an interest in writing by providing opportunity for writing in everything they do, including assessment.

But I'm off task.... already.

Many of my thoughts on writing come from Laura Robb's book Non-fiction Writing from the Inside Out

What is important to me about writing is this:

Redefining non-fiction writing in a way that encourages creativity and relevance to both the reader and the writer.
Encouraging understanding so that students understand that the "league of writers" is not exclusive but open to everyone
Providing student examples as models of writing-in-process to encourage risk taking and exploration of unconventional approaches to writing.

But, aside from my beliefs, the first question for me is: What makes including reading and non-fiction writing in every assessment effective teaching?

If I assume the answer - it does - to the above question is correct, that there is research to back the statement up, and I'm left to document how I do include reading and non-fiction writing in every assessment - well that's an easy task. And though I do this because it jives with my beliefs and because it makes good pedagogical sense (incorporates critical thinking, etc...,) it leaves my curiosity to wonder how doing so makes me more or less effective?

So I tried doing some research and have come up empty handed.

If I am given the charge of incorporating reading and non-fiction writing into my teaching than I want to be sure what I am doing is being done well.

If you have resources to the question above, please forward them my way.

I Love Teaching

2011-02-02T14:10:00.000-07:00

Nathan Russell

I love being a part of another's learning and for that I am truly grateful I am an educator. There is something very special about being an instrumental part of someone reaching their potential, discovering something new, or seeing something in a different light for the first time. Lucky for me I get to do this on a daily basis and though sometimes obstacles arise when I least expect them, they provide a challenge that sweetens the reward for the learner, and ultimately me, the teacher.

All this sentimental hogwash arises from my just spending an hour reading over the most recent blog posts of my students. I had asked them to reflect on their learning related to a specific essential learning and to comment on what they had learned and what they were most proud of in their work. I was astounded at their comments but mostly, they were astounded at their posts. Some of those students were literally stunned when they hit the publish button and visited their site to view their work. Stunned because never before had they written so much in such little time and had it published for others to view. Stunned because after taking the time to summarize a project they realized how much they had learned. Stunned because they all saw ways to improve and when they had a free moment were returning to their work to add in those improvements. Stunned because they were beginning to realize that perhaps learning and sharing that process wasn't so bad after all. How could I not love being a part of that process?

Kids, teenagers, adults... I feel so fortunate to have the time to spend with them, to encourage them to craft their methods, to introduce new tools, to model learning in the 21st century, to share and be a part of the lifelong learning in each and everyone of their lives. Lucky me.

PLC Discussion - In Pursuit of Academic Excellence

2011-01-25T13:34:00.000-07:00

Part of our weekly PLC sessions in our district are spent discussing what needs to occur in our classrooms as we promote and increase rigor and opportunity. Today we discussed point # 1.

(This post is co-authored with Toni Olivieri-Barton)

Effective teachers know that they can influence student learning by a relentless pursuit of academic excellence.
Researchers agree that the following are examples of what we can do in our classrooms in pursuit of academic excellence.

Expectations are clear for students and parents.
Prior to students beginning an assignment, teachers supply students with exemplars of high quality work that meet the performance standard or level.
Students know what high-quality work should be like.
Students revise their work based on meaningful feedback until they meet or exceed the performance standard or level.

So how are we doing? This was the focus of today's discussion.

Expectations are clear for students and parents:

Both the MS and HS Tech teachers keep a wiki open to the public. This wiki contains a link to parent information which includes Essential Learnings (ELs) and Indicators of Success (ISs) and the syllabus.
Students are familiar with these ELs and ISs per discussions in class as well as classroom activities. Students are asked to reflect on assignments related to these EL's and IS's.

Prior to students beginning an assignment, teachers supply students with exemplars of high quality work that meet the performance standard level.

We are trying to include an exemplar and a grading checklist for all assignments. This checklist is posted as a link on the wiki assignment page and provides students with a clear set of expectations and requirements for each assignment. Individual assignments are to be reviewed first by the student prior to submitting on their blog for grading.

Students know what high quality work looks like.

Teacher/Student interaction provides direction toward achieving high quality work. By continual monitoring of student progress we can transition them to high quality work.
By providing and revisiting exemplars and comparing them to their work, students will begin to identify characteristics of high quality work and incorporate these into their own work.

Students revise their work based on meaningful feedback until they meet or exceed the performance standard or level.

Because of the way we have changed our teaching (more emphasis on student centered learning) this opens up the opportunities to work one on one with students on a daily basis. These interactions allow for personal, meaningful, feedback related to student work.

Curriculum is aligned with high standards

Our curriculum is aligned with the most recent National Educational Technology Standards (NETS Standards.) During our evaluation of standards our department crafted essential learnings and indicators of success that target the high standards of NETS. These ELs and ISs provide a vision for what students know and are able to do.
We are working to actively link every project or assessment we use back to our ELs.

Next week: Effective teachers emphasize reading and non-fiction writing in every assessment.

More discussion to come. We welcome any comments.

Letting Go of Being In Charge

2011-01-21T07:45:00.001-07:00

I keep waiting for the dam to break on my latest venture in public education - allowing students to design their own learning. Over the past few years I've read article after article about classrooms where kids choose and design their learning targets and goals in a subject they are interested in studying at a more advanced level. And, I've always dismissed the idea because, frankly, the idea freaked me out. I could envision a classroom of chaos, with students wandering aimlessly and essential learning targets being all but forgotten.

I've now made a 180 degree shift in my thinking and the results are incredible!

When my class roster included over 30 students who had already taken the grade level Tech classes previously offered I was forced to come up with something different to accommodate these students and provide them with meaningful learning experiences. Enter a student designed independent study program.

To prepare for this journey a few tracks of independent studies were developed to serve as models for students. Students could either design a course from these tracks or develop their own track built upon interest. A set of guidelines and a schedule of events were written to provide daily and weekly structure. And then, I did what I never thought I would do in a classroom - I turned the students loose.

You can hear a pin drop on the side of the room where the independent study students are busy learning, thinking, and problem solving. They tell me 90 minutes isn't enough time and that they can't wait to return. 7th and 8th grade students are reading non-fiction purposefully. When an article isn't good enough they move on to find one that meets their needs. Students write up and evaluate their projects upon completion based on the essential learnings that are met and then publish these write-ups on their blogs for teacher assessment. They comment on each other's work, share resources, keep a daily "schedule of events" and encourage success in each other. And then, they learn.

I know there's some tweaking that needs to happen on the Independent Study design and tracks and I'm open to suggestions. I'm also thankful my coworker decided to venture into this area of learning with me and is offering Independent Study at the high school level. Together, we brainstorm, offer each other support, and marvel at the intensity of student work.

I keep wondering, had I the guts to do this while teaching Physical Science, would I have seen the same results without a 1:1 computer setting that I am so fortunate to have now. The bottom line is student designed learning is positive. And, so far, the dam is holding.

2010 Global Education Conference

2010-11-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

Time: November 15, 2010 to November 19, 2010

Location: In Elluminate - see website for room details for each session

The 2010 Global Education Conference will be held November 15 - 19, 2010, online and free. Details about the conference are available at http://www.globaleducationconference.com. The conference currently has scheduled 50 keynote addresses and over 300 general sessions from 62 countries. Sessions will be held in multiple time zones focusing on teachers, students, curriculum, policy and leadership and global issues.

The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives.

There is no formal registration required for the conference, as all the sessions will be open and public, broadcast live using the Elluminate platform, and available in recorded formats afterward. Actual session links will be posted the week of the conference. See the full hour-by-hour schedule in your time zone at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/schedule.html and read more details about the sessions at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/all-sessions.html.

The Twitter account for the conference is http://www.twitter.com/globaledcon, and the "hashtag" for the conference is #globaled10. The conference Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Education-Conference/125602090788788?ref=ts.

We encourage all to actively publicize the conference! Help us spread the word. Press releases, flyers, graphics and badges are available at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/press-and-promotional-materials-web-badges.html.

Mad about Madison - A Unique Look at Professional Development

2010-11-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

I've just finished taking a class focused on GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program,) an image editing application. GIMP is a free software alternative to Adobe Photoshop so it makes it an appealing choice for teachers who want to introduce image editing software to students. GIMP allows essential image editing tasks such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, photomontages combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format.

Lots of kids are talking about GIMP and using the application at home. I thought it was time to learn how to use the application and consider using it in Tech Class. At first glance, it appeared a bit cumbersome and although I had access to tutorials on Atomic Learning and YouTube, I decided to seek out an expert and take a class from one.

Enter Madison, a sixth grader at the school I teach and resident expert in GIMP. Together, on Thursdays after school for five weeks, Madison patiently taught me the ins and outs of GIMP. I asked loads of questions and most of the time she had answers. When she didn't, she did what most teachers do, she figured it out. I appreciated Madison's willingness to help a teacher learn something new. Her excitement about the application is what piqued my interest in the first place.

I'm highly competent in the area of technology, yet I keep wondering what more I can learn from my students if I take the time. I love learning what's new and relevant in their lives. At any rate, this new route to professional development has been a great way to sneak some learning in and that's why I'm mad about Madison.

The Top Five Tech Myths

2010-10-30T08:41:00.000-06:00

This article, written by By Megan Kaesshaefer can be found on Scholastic.
Given my own experience, the myths presented below are rampant yet the realities are spot on the mark, reinforcing the need for Tech Integration Specialists in schools. Training, though important, isn't the answer as much as it is part of a solution. A Tech Integration Specialist working side by side with a teacher can do more in one hour than any day long training session because the work is relevant and specific to teacher needs. Once teachers begin using technology in the classroom, the realities of Myth #3 becomes glaringly apparent.

True or false: Technology in the classroom helps kids learn. A new survey reveals the answer, and the top five myths surrounding technology in K-12 classrooms.

Myth 1: New teachers who have greater access to technology are more likely to use it.
The Reality: A teacher's experience and age don't affect how often or well she uses tech. About 72 percent of frequent users have taught for 10 years or more.

Myth 2: Only high-achieving students benefit from using technology.
The Reality: Technology doesn't discriminate. Using technology helps to engage all types of students: high achievers, English language learners, and students with special needs.

Myth 3: Kids today are so comfortable with technology that teachers don't necessarily need to use it in the classroom.
The Reality: Kids may use tech on their own time, but fostering 21st-century skills is best done through active learning in a classroom setting. Plus, setting a good example encourages students to use technology properly and effectively.

Myth 4: Teachers and administrators are on the same page about classroom technology use.
The Reality: While 92 percent of administrators say they are "supportive" of new technology use, only 66 percent of teachers say their administrators actually are.

Myth 5: Teachers feel well prepared to incorporate technology into instruction.
The Reality: Many teachers don't feel prepared to teach 21st-century skills or use technology in instruction. Many believe advanced teacher-to-teacher training would help.

Tech Quiz
What Kind of User Are You?
Researchers used the following criteria to assess teachers' technology use. Where do you match up?

Frequent user: You've got a whiteboard and you're not afraid to use it. When it comes to classroom instruction, tech is on your radar. Approximately one third or more of your class time involves some type of technology use.

Moderate user: If the technology is available and fairly easy to implement, you'll use it on a consistent basis. You've made sure that 21-30 percent of your class time involves the use of technology.

Sporadic user: Tech isn't a major priority in your lessons. If you can get a laptop on loan, great! If not, no big deal. Approximately 15 percent of class time uses technology.

Infrequent user: Maybe technology isn't readily available, or you prefer more traditional teaching tools, but less than 10 percent of your class time involves technology.

Source: Educators, Technology and 21st-Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths, Walden University
Read the report online.

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Five

2010-08-10T17:07:00.000-06:00

Chapter Five: Creating a Strong Classroom Culture

This chapter focuses on the necessity of creating a strong classroom culture in order to sustain and drive excellence. These fives principles: discipline, management, control, influence, and engagement are synergistic and a positive classroom culture won’t sustain itself without all of them.

Notes:

1. Entry Routine – How students enter the classroom. The routine created when students enter the classroom is about making a habit out of what’s efficient, productive, and scholarly after the greeting and as students take their seats and class begins. (Pg 151)

· Students should know where to get materials for class on their way in

· Students should know where to sit

· Students should know what to do with homework

· Students should know where to find the “Do Now” (Technique 29)

I am all about the entry routine as this is probably one of the most important management techniques for a teacher to establish in a classroom. Not only does it allow teachers to take care of routine business at the beginning of class but also it empowers students to take learning into their control and students thrive with this empowerment.

2. Do Now – A short activity that you have written on the board or is waiting for student on their desks before they enter. This works because of consistence and preparation. (Pg 152)

· Be clear about what students should be working on

· Eliminate the excuses that lead to distraction

· Students can complete without direction from teacher

· The Do Now takes 3 – 5 minutes to complete

· The Do Now is in the same place every day

· The Do now requires putting pencil to paper

· The Do Now should preview the days lessons

Do Nows are my warmups. They are an essential beginning of my daily lessons and students expect them on a daily basis. Often, I will circulate the room and check their work, increasing the accountability. This activity gets students into the classroom and working immediately.

3. Tight Transitions – Quick routine transitions that students can execute without extensive narrations from the teacher. (Pg 154)

· Critical piece of a highly effective classroom

I’ve been known to practice and time transitions with my students.

4. Binder Control – A technique that emphasizes and teaches a system for storage, organization, and recall of what your students have learned.

(Pg 157)

· Required place for notes

· Required format for organizing paper, homework, etc…

Another one of my favorite techniques – I used to use a notebook method where there was a place for everything. Because the students relied on their notebooks for everything, they did not forget them. Those that did did so only once or twice.

5. SLANT – Five key behaviors that maximize students’ ability to pay attention. (Pg 158)

· S – Sit Up

· L – Listen

· A – Ask and Answer Questions

· N – Nod Your Head

· T – Track the Speaker

I think it’s very important to teach students how to listen and pay attention. Too often we expect they already know these skills when nine times out of ten they haven’t been taught them or they could benefit from a reminder. I hadn’t heard of the acronym SLANT before – I like it.

6. On Your Mark – Every Student must start class with books and paper out and pen or pencil in hand. Teach and use this expectation in every class, everyday. Teaches students how to prepare before they begin. (Pg 159)

· Be explicit about what students need to have to start class

· Set a time limit – be specific

· Use a standard consequence to administer without hesitation

· Provide tools without consequence to those who recognize in advance the need

· Include homework

Another favorite because being prepared is the key to being successful. I like the idea of providing tools without consequence when students recognize the need for these tools in advance. I also think that when students have an entry routine, a do now, and binder control it’s easier for them to be on their mark.

7. Seat Signals – A set of signals for common needs (Pg 161)

· Students must be able signal their request from their seat

· Students must be able to signal their request nonverbally

· Signals must be specific and unambiguous to keep them from becoming a distraction

· Teacher should be able to manage both request and response without interrupting instruction

· Explicit and consistent – Discipline yourself to respond only when signal is used

I like the idea of using seat signals for using the bathroom and getting a drink of water during classes. Once students are taught appropriate times to use these signals I think the time saved from distractions using them will be extremely beneficial. Look forward to implementing these into class this year.

8. Props – Public Praise for students who demonstrate excellence or exemplify virtues. (Pg 161)

Props are:

· Quick (1-3 seconds)

· Visceral – Rely on movement

· Universal – Everyone joins in

· Enthusiastic – Tone is fun and lively

· Evolving – Students may suggest ideas

Props are a great thing and I need to celebrate more greatness in class period! Need to watch the DVD for this one. We don’t do enough of this in our culture

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Four

2010-08-10T17:04:00.000-06:00

Chapter Four: Engaging Students in Your Lessons

Drawing students into the work of class and keeping them focused on the learning,

Notes:

22. Cold Call – In order to make engaged participation the expectation, call on students regardless of whether they have raised their hands. (Pg 112)

· Allows teacher to check for understanding effectively and systematically

· Increases speed in terms of pacing and rate of covering material

· Allows teacher to distribute work broadly around the room and that all are likely to be called upon

· Allows teacher to distribute work around the room more authoritatively as it establishes that the room belongs to you.

· Cold Call is:

o Predictable – students react by being prepared for the obvious

o Systematic – they come without fail, to everyone

o Positive – goal is for students to get the answer right, not learn a lesson by getting the answer wrong

o Scaffolded – questions involve a careful progression of difficulty

Cold call brings a level of accountability to a classroom that I like. It creates an atmosphere of learning where dialogue is the expectation.

23. Call and Response – Use group choral response – you ask; they answer in unison – to build a culture of energetic, positive engagement. (Pg 125)

· Accomplishes 3 Goals

1. Academic Review and Reinforcement

2. High Energy Fun

3. Behavioral Reinforcement

· Five Types of Levels

1. Repeat

2. Report

3. Reinforce

4. Review

5. Solve

All students respond to teacher signal (verbal and nonverbal)

This technique seems a bit elementary to me. I can see how it would increase the energy in a classroom but …. I haven’t watched the dvd yet, maybe seeing the technique in action will change my opinion.?

24. Pepper - Use of fast-paced, group-oriented activities to review familiar information and foundational skills. (Pg 131)

· Great warm-up activity

· Game atmosphere

25. Wait Time – Delaying a few strategic seconds after a teacher asks a questi0n and before you ask a student to begin answering it. (Pg 134)

· Answers are more reflective (use of evidence likely to increase)

· Length of correctness of student response increase

· Number of failured responses decrease (less “I don’t knows”)

· Number of students to volunteer increases

Wait time is always a good thing in the classroom and I work hard to incorporate it into my questioning. Still, that extra second ticks by ever so slowly.

26. Everybody Writes – Set your students up for rigorous engagement by giving them the opportunity to reflect first in writing before discussing. “I know what I write.” (Pg 137)

· Increase the quality of the ideas discussed in class

· Expand the number of students likely to participate

· Increases the ration since it causes everyone to answer

I love this technique and use it frequently in the classroom, though now that I teach tech the kids are writing on their blogs instead of in their notebooks. Writing provides students the opportunity to express ideas freely without judgment.

27. Vegas – The moment during class when you might observe some production values: music, lights, and rhythm, dancing. It’s the commercial break in the lesson. (Pg 141)

· Reinforces not just academics but also one of the day’s learning objectives

· Upbeat

· Short

· On the point

· Once it’s done, it’s done

If there were a technique I could embrace and be good at it would be Vegas. I think kids like these little interjections that remind them of the lesson’s objective.

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Three: You Techniques

2010-07-29T09:58:00.000-06:00

Chapter Three: Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

I/We/You - otherwise known as Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice. With I/We/You responsibility is gradually released from student to teacher. A teacher must pay attention to both the manner in which work is released to students but also to the rate at which cognitive work is released.

This chapter is a long one so I'll break them down by techniques.

You Techniques – Shifting to student practice

19. At Bats – Repetition! Lots of practice (Pg. 104)

· Great lessons should have plenty of opportunities for students At Bats.

· 10-20 repetitions instead of 2 – 3.

· Go until they can do it on their own.

· Use multiple variations and formats.

· Grab opportunities for enrichment and differentiation (push students to the next level.)

· At Bats is often contrary to the argument you hear from kids and teachers when they state “why do they have to do something 20 times? The key here is to arm your reasoning for practice with research and to take into account the importance of grabbing opportunities for enrichment in practice. Marzano’s book, Classroom Instruction That Works, states someone must do something 75 – 100 hundred times before they master the skill.

20. Exit Ticket – A single question, sentence or sequence of problems to solve at the close of a class or lesson. Allows you to check for understanding in a way that provides strong data and thus critical insights. (Pg 106)

· Quick – 2 to 3 questions

· Designed to yield data

· They make great “Do Nows” (Technique 29)

21. Take a Stand – A technique that pushes students to actively engage in the ideas around them by making judgments about the answers their peers provide. (Pg 106)

· Students process more content

· Helps teacher check for understanding

· Careful not to let technique become cursory

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Three: We Techniques

2010-07-29T09:35:00.000-06:00

Chapter Three: Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

We Technique – Portion of the lesson completed together as teacher and student.

16. Break it Down – Respond to a lack of clear student understanding by breaking a problematic idea into component parts. (Pg 88)

· Provide an example then ask for another

· Provide Context – Effective only if student knows the word or component.

· Provide a Rule – often prompts student with correct response.

· Provide the Missing (or First) Step – Best as cues.

· Rollback – Repeat the student’s incorrect response. This is often sufficient to get a student to instantly recognize their error.

· Eliminate False Choices – review insufficient choices and discuss errors.

· Breaking it down too often comes naturally. The problem with this coming naturally for me is that I don’t allow the opportunity to think of responses in advance, which doesn’t allow me to precipitate misunderstandings to a particular lesson. Advance planning will lead to stronger lesson development!

17. Ratio – Push more and more of the cognitive work out to the students as soon as they are ready with the understanding that the cognitive work must be on task, focused and productive. The goal is to get more students to participate. (Pg 92)

* Always focus on upping your ratio in the classroom

· Unbundle – Break questions into smaller parts and share the work to more students and force them to react to one another.

· Half-Statement – Express half of an idea and let the student finish it.

· What’s Next – Ask about the process, not the product.

· Feign Ignorance – Turn the tables and pretend you don’t know.

· Repeated Examples – Push

· Whys and Hows – Push for more.

· Supporting Evidence – Support opinion. This is more cognitive than providing opinion.

· Batch Process – Students respond in discussion. Limit this discussion by interjecting. It’s volleyball, not soccer. (Soccer team passes to each other continually, need teacher guidance for appropriate discussion) Three than me. Must teach habits of discussion first.

· Discussion Objectives – Focus discussion on the most productive and rigorous points only.

18. Check For Understanding – Used to determine when and whether students are ready for more responsibility and when they need material presented again i.e. Two parts: check for understanding (gathering data) and do something about it right away (responding to data.) (Pg. 97)

· Requires teacher to think of the answers to questions as data in terms of:

o Data Sets – Reflect on questions in groups

o Statistical Sampling – Sample the entire room, all levels

o Reliability – Don’t stop at just one answer

o Validity – Align questions with what students will be accountable for at the termination of the lesson or unit.

· Observation –Observation by circulating the room and checking written response is an excellent way to check for understanding.

o Easier to do when responses are standardized in a particular format (notebook entries, packets.)

· Respond to Data Quickly – The shorter the delay between recognizing a gap in mastery and taking action to fix it, the more likely the intervention is to be effective.

o Reteach using a different approach

o Reteach by identifying the problem step

o Reteach by identifying and explaining difficult terms

o Reteach at a slower pace

o Reteach using a different order

o Reteach identifying students of concern (small group)

o Reteach using more repetitions

· Checking for understanding is key during any lesson and perhaps one of the most necessary techniques if students are to get anything from instruction. I’ve always been a fan of student notebooks for observation techniques. They give me the opportunity to check on every student and then quickly confer with that student to their level of understanding. Doing something about that understanding is imperative. However, I never realized the importance of speed to correct that misunderstanding in this step. Though I correct most misunderstandings immediately, I appreciate the reminder here.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Chapter Three: I Techniques

2010-07-28T19:15:00.000-06:00

Chapter Three: Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

12. The Hook – When necessary, use a short, engaging introduction to excite students about learning. (Pg 75)

· Story – Tell a story that leads directly to the material

· Analogy – Connect to students’ lives with an interesting and useful analogy

· Prop

· Media – Picture, music, video

· Status – Describe something great

· Challenge – Give the students a difficult task and let them try to accomplish it

Hooks are short, they give way to great teaching and they are energetic and optimistic.

13. Name the Steps – Teach complex skills by breaking them down into manageable steps, giving each step a name so it can easily be recalled.

(Pg 77)

· Identify the Steps – no more than 7

· Make Them Sticky – Name the steps with a story or a mnemonic device

· Build the Steps – Design well

· Use 2 Stairways – relate to the current problem as well as any problem of the same nature as you are teaching.

14. Board = Paper – Learning to take notes. (Pg 82)

· Expect students to make exact replicas of what is on the board. “Make your paper look just like mine.”

15. Circulate – Moving strategically around the room during all parts of the lesson. (Pg 84)

· Break the Plane – Do this within the first 5 minutes of every lesson. The plane is the imaginary line that runs down the length of the classroom parallel to and about 5 feet in front of the board.

· Full Access Required – In addition to breaking the plane you must have full access to the entire room otherwise students will quickly establish a “no fly zone” and ownership will be ceded to the students. You should never say “excuse me” to one student in order to get to another student.

· Move Without Interrupting Your Teaching

· Engage When You Circulate – work the room, make frequent verbal and non-verbal interventions.

· Move systematically but unpredictably as this exerts accountability.

· Position for Power – Always face as much of the class as possible, power position is where you see students but they can’t see you.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Chapter Two

2010-07-27T19:02:00.000-06:00

Chapter Two: Planning that Ensures Academic Achievement

Great lessons don’t just happen. They must be planned well in advance. Chapter two provides techniques that will ensure good planning before a teacher walks into the classroom to teach the lesson.
Notes:

6. Begin With the End in Mind – Not what will my students do today but what will my students understand today (Pg 57)
• Progressing from unit planning to lesson planning
• Using a well-framed objective to define the goal of each lesson
• Determining how you’ll assess your effectiveness in reaching your goal.
• Deciding on your activity
• I’ve rewritten my essential learnings in plain English and will always start with them at the beginning of my lesson planning.

7. 4MS – 4 Criteria for Effective Objectives (Pg 61)
• Manageable (objective met in a single lesson)
• Measureable – Write your objective so you can measure it at the end of class. (Exit ticket, outcome sentence)
• Made First – Write your objective to guide your activity. Begin with the end in mind.
• Most Important – Focus on what’s most important on the path to college.
• I have never thought of writing an objective to be met in a single lesson as I’ve always associated objectives with unit planning but of course this makes complete sense. It’s not that I didn’t have outcomes for daily lessons, just never thought of them as objectives.

8. Post It – Post your objective so everyone can identify your purpose for teaching (use Plain English.) (Pg 63)
• The 4MS resonates with me. I always post the day’s for all to see but fail to mention the objective. From now on this will be the first item written.

9. Shortest Path – Activities should always be the most direct route to the goal (mastery of the objective) (Pg 64)
• I’m having a hard time accepting this one 100% of the time. Sometimes most direct may not be most authentic, then what?

10. Double Plan – Always plan for both teacher and student for each phase of the lesson. (Pg 65)
• T-Charts work well for this

• I’ve always used a t-chart type idea for planning my lessons only they look more like outlines instead. Teacher phase at the top, students below. This makes sense to me. I want to know and want to communicate, in advance, what my students will be doing when I am teaching. That way, they know what I expect of them.

11. Draw the Map – Always select the appropriate classroom layout for all lessons. (Pg 67)
Ask yourself
• When should students interact?
• How should students interact?
• Which kinds of interactions support the objective?
• How does the seating layout support the above?
• Doug Lemov prefers students in pairs, in row fashion, and I couldn’t agree more. I like the proximity this arrangement provides to each student. I don’t quite agree that the primary focus is the teacher/board especially in a student-centered classroom.

Teach Like a Champion Reflections

2010-07-26T06:08:00.000-06:00

Summer reading for a teacher is always interesting. Assigned summer reading, well another story completely. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my copy of Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov. His premise is that great teaching is an art and just like great artists there are great teachers. Behind every artist there is an artisan. The book, Teach Like a Champion, provides teachers with 49 tried and true techniques that are used consistently in Teach for America schools across the nation. These tools aim to equip the classroom teachers so they too, can become great teachers. Notes for chapter one follow.

Chapter 1 – High Academic Expectations

High expectations are the most reliable driver of high student achievement, even in students who do not have a history of successful achievement. This chapter looks at five techniques that raise expectations and differentiate great classrooms from the merely good ones.

1. No Opt Out – sequence that ends with a student answering a question as often as possible (Pg 34)

· Cues vs. hints – cue guides a student into discovery, hint suggests student is incapable on own

· The place where answer can be found – teacher asks where in book answer can be found

· The step in the process that’s required – teacher asks this of class or student so student in question can be guided

· Another name for the term that is the problem – if student hears another word for the term, he/she may arrive at the answer.

· This is an old Denny McLaughlin trick I’ve been using for years but never to the extent I read here. I like, and will work at incorporating, the ideas that extend further than just asking another student for the answer and then returning back to the original student. The goal is to provide students as many opportunities for success in the classroom as possible.

2. Right is Right – Set and defend a high standard of correctness in your classroom (Pg 37)

· Hold out for all the way – do not accept partial answers

· Students should answer the question, not a question they want to answer

· Accept only the right answer at the right time. Nothing more.

· Use technical vocabulary at all times.

· Need to seriously work on the this technique as I often find myself answering – that’s close. Close is not good enough.

3. Stretch It – Sequence of learning does not end with the right answer. Reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge and test for reliability. Good for differentiation. (Pg 42)

· Ask How or Why

· Ask for another way to answer

· Ask for a better word

· Ask for evidence

· Ask students to integrate a related skill.

· Ask students to apply the same skill in a new setting

· I have to say that time constraints often keep me from stretching it. I need to remember that learning is a passion and that passion can only grow from constant stretching.

4. Format Matters – “The Complete sentence is the battering ram that knocks down the door to college.” It’s not what students say that matters but how they say it. (Pg 47)

· Identify the error

· Begin the correction

· I do use proper format in the classroom and expect my students to do so as well. I often begin corrections they must complete. I think this is essential if they are going to communicate in a future setting, as I have no idea what that future setting will be. I prepare for the most important and formal setting. Students can always practice informal speech and response on their own.

5. Without Apology – There is no such thing as boring content. (pg 51)

Alternatives to Apology

· This material is great because it’s really challenging.

· Lots of people don’t understand this until they go to college but you know it now

· This can help you succeed

· This gets more and more exciting the better you understand it

· Excellent example provided by the author at the beginning of the technique. He enrolls in a poetry class and almost doesn’t take the class because he thinks the content boring. The teacher never apologizes for teaching Yeats and the author finds himself riveted by class. I have heard myself apologize for content when teaching certain aspects of Physics or Earth Science, or most recently when reviewing the school’s Acceptable Use Policy. Will work on this!

Change

2010-07-25T09:02:00.000-06:00

Having just read Heading in a New Direction I immediately began to wonder if the only way changes will occur in the field of educational technology is if change is driven from the top as mentioned in the above blog. I sure hope not.

Who are the drivers of change? History has a unique answer to this question. Historical revolutions point at people and society being the instigators of change. Many a king or ruler have been deposed by the people they govern. Change came from within, from individuals wanting something better for themselves and their countries. The same ought to be for educational technology in the classrooms.

Leaders in educational technology need to bring awareness to teachers regarding what technology can do to increase student learning and interaction in the classroom. When teachers begin to demand the tools to allow them to become more effective in the classroom, changes can and will occur.

Reflection from the ISTE 2010 Leadership Bootcamp

2010-07-02T15:17:00.000-06:00

Being a part of the first ISTE Leadership Bootcamp was exciting. The opportunity to connect with and listen to so many visionary leaders in technology was exciting and provided the opportunity to expose myself to forward thinking in educational technology. Attending the Leadership Bootcamp affirmed my beliefs that educational technology must be progressive, question existing school policy, and expose students to the world in which they live at school.

We must begin to prepare our students for success in a knowledge based, technology driven, globally competitive world by providing time, practice and instruction in that world so they can experience that world in a safe, responsible and challenging way. No longer are schools confined by location or time as the opportunities for informal education increase. By communicating, collaborating and creating the future with our students we can begin to transform our schools into high performance environments where students are expected to be and are high achievers. However, in order to provide these experiences and environments to our students we must spend time in them and experience them ourselves. We must also reevaluate our school policies related to technology so they reflect the attitude of continuous learning.

Social online networking need not be solely for students. Lucy Gray discussed the positive opportunities that social networking has for teachers and how the sharing of such resources can strongly enhance an educators professional development. The development of a personal learning network for educators is a powerful tool and a first step in understanding the worlds our students encounter on a daily basis when they are not in school. The use of Twitter and other types of social networking connect teachers from all areas of the world and unite them in a common discussion rich in the sharing of resources. Student book reviews are no longer stagnant when students from other parts of the world comment on posts via blogs or twitter. Historical character studies become real when students reenact their lives via profile creations on Twitter. Finding opportunities to bring these tools into the classroom to enhance learning can provide engaging and authentic experiences for our students.

We have an obligation to our students to introduce them to a 21st Century global world through tools and applications that connect one another. This idea is often regarded as a fearful one by school districts because it opens the doors of our schools to the outside world. Often our school policies around the use of technology perpetrate this fear. Acceptable Use Policies are developed to provide a safety net surrounding this fear. Perhaps the most forward idea I heard at the Leadership Bootcamp came from Scott McLeod when he proposed doing away with Acceptable Use Policies and, instead, using the school discipline code to deal with problematic issues arising from the use of technology. After all, these types of disturbance are disciplinary in nature and should be treated as such. He suggested many school districts treated issues arising from the use of technology with a prohibition-type approach instead a Driving Under the Influence (DUI) approach. The prohibition approach denies the activity. For example, a ban on social networking by a school. The DUI approach puts mechanisms in place that deal with the small percentage of the population that have trouble following the law or rule. Prohibition failed in the 20th century and has no place in 21st Century schools.

Chris Lehman challenged us with a thought - "What if high school were not preparation for real life, what if high school was real life?" Ideas must live in practice. We must build systems and structures that reflect this vision if education is to succeed.

ISTE10

2010-06-30T12:58:00.000-06:00

ISTE10

Wikispaces as Platforms for Essential Learnings

2010-05-05T18:28:00.000-06:00

The curricula at Manitou Springs School District is defined by Essential Learnings. These Essential Learnings (ELs) represent what students are expected to know and be able to do in each curricular area.

Through the review of research on content, instruction, and assessment and the analysis of state and national standards, staff determine core sets of Essential Learnings for each grade level and course.

Moving these essential learnings off the shelf and into the foreground of lesson planning and assessment development may prove to be the greatest hurdle districts encounter. There are several companies designed to aid schools in their storage and tracking of ELs and we spent quite a bit of time examing the pros and cons of these organizations. Additionally, we met with other area districts who use these companies to house their ELs and determined that most were not using the services to their fullest potential for a variety of reasons. I suspect these reasons related to the large learning curve required to become fluent in the applications. These companies charged a large amount of money for their products while state funding for public education was decreasing.

So, we were faced with a decision, spend a large sum of money for a program that housed ELs and wasn't very user friendly or try to find an alternative. Though any application can be learned, the amount of staff development necessary to bring competency levels to the proficiency status also became a factor in choosing to move to Wikispaces as a platform for our Essential Learnings.

Wikispaces is fairly easy to learn and navigate. A Wikispace easily funcitions as a housing unit for information and essential learnings are no exception. However, it was the additional functionality of Wikispaces that sold us on using Wikispaces as the platform for our Essential Learnings. Through Wikispace training we're finally realizing the potential and value of having EL's easily accessible and searchable. In addition, the training has exposed teachers to the powerful and collaborative environment of Web 2.0. Suddenly, we're seeing a surge of interest in using and integrating technology in the classroom. Little by little, our essential learnings are becoming viable documents used in the classroom on a daily basis thanks to the creation of our Wikispace.

Educational Technology

2010-04-15T13:34:00.000-06:00

On March 10, 2010 the Department of Education and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) met to discuss the future of technology in K-12 education in Washington DC.

The Department of Education presented their National Technology Plan which takes a look at the following areas related to technology:

Learning
Assessment
Teaching
Infrastructure
Productivity

I'd like to take a look at these five areas related to MSSD as I think they serve as an excellent spring board in restructuring Ed. Tech.

I'd also like to offer my assistance with the teaching piece of this focused on how to better integrate technology into the classroom by continuing Tech Tuesdays at MSMS next year during our professional development time. Over the past two years Tech Tuesdays has fluctuated with attendance but rarely do we get more than five teachers attending these informal meetings to discuss using technology in the classroom.

Also, the FCC presented the National Broadband Plan which includes three recommendations:

Supporting and promoting online learning
Unlocking the value of date and improving transparency
Modernizing educational broadband infrastructure

I think the district wikispace we are about to embark on will do good job of improving transparency within our district in regards to curriculum and it's relationship to essential learnings. Stay tuned.

Personal Learning Networks and Professional Development

2010-03-19T08:23:00.000-06:00

Recently, our Professional Development (PD) team spent some time discussing the future of PD classes in our district. Given the declining enrollment in traditional offerings, our conversations focused on how to create learning environments that provide relevant content to all staff. Society has changed in regards to the demands placed on individual time constraints before and after work; however, the need to continue training in new pedagogies continues. Just how does a PD team meet these demands?

More and more teachers are discovering the benefits of life long learning through the creation of a personal learning network (PLN.) And though the validity of these PLN's are understood, the documentation of learning through these PLN's remains somewhat a mystery to most.

A dilemna arises regarding the documentation of credit from a school district when an individual begins to submit credit for their learning via their PLN on blogs, twitter, and other social networking sites. It's much easier for a school district to accept learning credits when an accredited university, college, or school district is doing the documenting despite the nature of the class or the learning. And though this dilemna is worth discussing and in need of change, it currently creates problems for school districts when these credits are being submitted for teacher relicensure requirements.

Awareness and understanding of what 21st Century Learning looks like needs to be understood and practiced by all before this chain of thought is going to change. Just as we must change our pedagogy to adapt to teaching in the 21st Century we must also adapt our learning in the 21st Century. As a result, professional development teams and the systems that document learning must also change. Change by becoming more versed in understanding how to assess 21st Century learning. Change by spending more time in PLN's so we understand what educators are doing when they speak of their own PLN. And finally, change by embracing all aspects of 21st Century learning.

How to Create a Lifelong Learning Network: Continuing Education is Based on Need to Adapt to Societal Changes

Our Brains Think Differently

2010-03-06T10:35:00.000-07:00

Just the other day I was writing an email and stumbled across the spelling of the word "alley." I couldn't remember if the word was spelled ally or alley. I looked up and asked my students. The response was brilliant. Here's how the conversation went.

Me: "How do you spell alley?"
Student: "Google it and then click on images, see what comes up."

I marveled at this brilliant response. My brain is geared to print. I grew up with dictionary pages and guide words. Using google to look up unknown spellings of words is not new to me and dictionary.com or google searches of webpages are my normal course of action when unknown spellings arise. After all, I'm proficient when it comes to internet searches. But images? This brought about a whole new understanding to how the teenage brain thinks differently than mine.

Here's a view of what comes up had I looked up the word alley:

Here's what comes up when I click google images:

Quite a different beast I'd say. Upon second review of this image search, I wondered how easy it might be for a teenager to get side tracked by the barrage of scantily clad photographs of women. What surprised me was that I didn't even remember these images popping up when I was looking up the spelling of the word "alley." To my surprise, when I did this activity for the first time, my eyes traveled directly to the image of a street alley and I went right back to my email. Would a teenager do the same?

Regardless of the response, our brains think differently and my job is to teach the teenage brain not the adult brain. Part of that teaching must involve knowledge of how to handle images like the above popping up when a student completes an image search because handle them they must. Understanding what is appropriate to view and what isn't is just as important these days as spelling the word "alley." A recent incident occurring during a news interview involving a bank employee caught on camera as he checked out pictures of naked women on his computer only emphasizes this point.

Many adults are under the impression that students are proficient in the electronic world. Though these students may be more proficient than most teachers, the truth of the matter is that students aren't as proficient as we may think. The internet is a whole new ball game when it comes to information. As teachers, we need to guide students towards the development of techniques that not only determine the credibility of information found but to determine whether or not sites are appropriate to visit based on domain names or URLs. We know they won't search the same way we do. The teenage brain is truly a different beast.

Finally, more information related to teaching internet search can be found on Finding Dulcinea website and the Finding Dulcinea blog.

Which Student Project Will Most Improve Education?

2010-03-01T21:36:00.000-07:00

As part of the project-based model of conferencing that we use for the Flat Classroom conference, we have authentic outcomes. Through this process, participants learn HOW to design global collaborative projects but we also see the best proposals and can VOTE on which of these student-created projects most deserve to come to education. We have a couple of people who have already spoken with us about supporting some of these ideas with their time and effort, but for now, we need your votes. Read each of these videos and if you wish, you may read more detail on their wiki pages (by clicking on the name of their project) and then cast your vote. Feel free to use this as a teachable experience with your college classes and students.

Like-Write

Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference

Impact: Inspirational Museum Promoting Arts by Children Through Technology

Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference

Ah-ha: Amateurs Teaching Adults

Find more videos like this on Flat Classroom Conference

When done, please vote ONCE below. Share this with other educators.

From Cool Cat Teacher

Google Translate

2010-02-23T14:34:00.000-07:00

Google has just updated their translate features which may alleviate the need for additional translation websites and applications if you are using them frequently.

Another Flat Classroom™ Project

2010-02-18T11:46:00.000-07:00

Recently I applied and was accepted into the newest Flat Classroom Project titled the Net Generation Education 2010 Project and I couldn't be more pleased. The team of 8th graders participating in this project are excited and ready to move forward. They'll have the opportunity to work with students and teachers around the world, as well as Don Tapscott, the author of Growing Up Digital: The Rise of the Net Generation and Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World.

In this project, students will study and "mash up" the results of the 2010 Horizon Report from the New Media Consortium and Educause and Tapscott's book Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing Your World. Students will study the current research and create wiki-reports with their student partners around the world analyzing current trends and projecting future happenings based upon this collaborative analysis. This project is managed by the students who assume roles such as project manager, assistant project manager, and editors of the various wikis.

After compiling their wiki reports based upon current research, and encouraged by "expert advisors" (subject matter experts in the industry), students will then create a video in one of two strands. Video strand I competition will be the NetGenEd Challenge where students are asked to envision the future of education based upon current global technological trends. Video Strand II Competition is the Macrowikinomics Challenge where students envision the future of global social action based upon their research in current global technological trends. The video challenge will also be open to the public for submissions.

I'm really proud of the participating students as their participation shows their commitment to education, social action, and the willingness to work hard and collaborate with others from all over the world.

This is our second Flat Classroom Project and I must rave about the organizers, Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis, founders of the Flat ClassroomTM Project. Their work and support to bring down classroom walls is phenomenal.

Top Ten Mistakes in Education

2010-02-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I read an old post from Pete Reilly's Ed Tech Journeys regarding Roger Schank and Engines for Education.

Roger Schank runs Engines for Education, a non-profit organization charged with "creating new learning environments to replace out-dated and wrong-headed educational notions where much of his philosophy, vision and mission for education can be found." Their focus is on learning environments that foster learning by doing. He includes a section on his website dealing with the Top Ten Mistakes in Education which I have posted below.

The mistakes he lists and his commentary that follow are worth reading and certainly worth reflection. They serve as interesting conversation starters for school staff and the constant need to be reminded about our true purpose of education. Some may feel he swings the pendulum too far in one direction while others will feel like he hits the nail on the head.

What are the top ten mistakes in education?

Mistake #1: Schools act as if learning can be disassociated from doing.

There really is no learning without doing. There is the appearance of learning without doing when we ask children to memorize stuff. But adults know that they learn best on the job, from experience, by trying things out. Children learn best that way, too. If there is nothing to actually do in a subject area we want to teach children it may be the case that there really isn't anything that children ought to learn in that subject area.

Mistake #2: Schools believe they have the job of assessment as part of their natural role.

Assessment is not the job of the schools. Products ought to be assessed by the buyer of those products, not the producer of those products. Let the schools do the best job they can and then let the buyer beware. Schools must concentrate on learning and teaching, not testing and comparing.

Mistake #3: Schools believe they have an obligation to create standard curricula.

Why should everyone know the same stuff? What a dull world it would be if everyone knew only the same material. Let children choose where they want to go, and with proper guidance they will choose well and create an alive and diverse society.

Mistake #4: Teachers believe they ought to tell students what they think it is important to know.

There isn't all that much that it is important to know. There is a lot that it is important to know how to do, however. Teachers should help students figure out how to do stuff the students actually want to do.

Mistake #5: Schools believe instruction can be independent of motivation for actual use.

We really have to get over the idea that some stuff is just worth knowing even if you never do anything with it. Human memories happily erase stuff that has no purpose, so why try to fill up children's heads with such stuff? Concentrate on figuring out why someone would ever want to know something before you teach it, and teach the reason, in a way that can be believed, at the same time.

Mistake #6: Schools believe studying is an important part of learning.

Practice is an important part of learning, not studying. Studying is a complete waste of time. No one ever remembers the stuff they cram into their heads the night before the exam, so why do it? Practice, on the other hand, makes perfect. But, you have to be practicing a skill that you actually want to know how to perform.

Mistake #7: Schools believe that grading according to age group is an intrinsic part of the organization of a school.

This is just a historical accident and it's a terrible idea. Age-grouped grades are one of the principal sources of terror for children in school, because they are always feeling they are not as good as someone else or better than someone else, and so on. Such comparisons and other social problems caused by age-similar grades cause many a child to have terrible confidence problems. Allowing students to help those who are younger, on the other hand, works well for both parties.

Mistake #8: Schools believe children will accomplish things only by having grades to strive for.

Grades serve as motivation for some children, but not for all. Some children get very frustrated by the arbitrary use of power represented by grades and simply give up.

Mistake #9: Schools believe discipline is an inherent part of learning.

Old people especially believe this, probably because schools were seriously rigid and uptight in their day. The threat of a ruler across the head makes children anxious and quiet. It does not make them learn. It makes them afraid to fail, which is a different thing altogether.

Mistake #10: Schools believe students have a basic interest in learning whatever it is schools decide to teach to them.

What kid would choose learning mathematics over learning about animals, trucks, sports, or whatever? Is there one? Good. Then, teach him mathematics. Leave the other children alone.

Technology Integration in the Classroom

2010-01-31T12:13:00.000-07:00

A colleague of mine just posted a terrific link on Diigo this morning regarding the integration of technology in classrooms and how Web 2.0 can serve as an excellent springboard to such integration.

If you're interested in learning more about Web 2.0 and how it might fit into your classroom, this website is something you won't want to miss. It may serve as a terrific professional development opportunity. All you have to do is write up a PD proposal and submit it to the PD contact person in your building.

Should you just want to peruse the website, it has many resources and links up to many well known leaders of who practice the integration of technology on a daily basis in their classrooms.
I welcome your comments.
This video comes from the site and explores the impact of Web 2.0 tools on learning and teaching.

I welcome your comments.

Eagle Rock School Visit

2010-01-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

A week after visiting Eagle Rock School in Estes Park, Colorado I'm reminded of the importance of reflection and action. If I only return from Eagle Rock School with fond memories of the event — that would be sad indeed. As a representative of my school volunteering to attend this event, it's my responsibility to share snapshots of the school we experienced on our visit.

Eagle Rock School is a community of learners. Each student attending is hand selected by committee. Each student must adopt and live by a set of guiding principles - 8 themes + 5 expectations = 10 commitments. These guiding principles are embedded into every happening at the school. They call it "Bad Math - Good Education."

But what stood out to me most of all during the Eagle Rock visit was that each and every child was a leader and each and every student worked on fostering leadership in each other. It was the students, not the teachers, that held each other accountable for actions and success. The teachers were more like mentors or guides fostering this newly found passion for success in education that their students have discovered.

Students are well versed in sharing what they have learned through POL's or presentations of learnings. Since every student is a learner at Eagle Rock, every student shares their learnings through these presentations. These presentations are required at the end of each trimester at Eagle Rock and center around a topic of a student's choosing. The POL's are evaluated by outside educators who often comment on the outstanding quality of the presentations.

I want to bring these ideas to MSSD? I wanted to immediately test out some of these practices to see how our students responded before I forgot the intention of the visit and it became a blur in my memory.

I began implementing my own version of a POL in my reading class. During reading days students began researching a topic of their choice with the intent on preparing a presentation of their learning after a three week time period. It's been a week and students are well on their way. What have I learned:

When I first introduced the project I asked the students what they thought of the idea. About half really wanted to spend time on the project and begin working. The other half were split between being afraid of what the work might entail and those not wanting to do the work at all. As a group, we decided to go ahead with the idea.

By the third day everyone was so engrossed in their learning they begged not to take a break from their research for our scheduled read aloud day. I agreed to read aloud one day a week instead of two to honor their request.

We're into the second week now and I've learned our students are really good at projects which sets the stage for educational learning opportunities. My job, over the next week is going to be spent on encouraging and teaching the students how to delve further into research by learning how to better question what they are researching. In other words, students are doing a great job about explaining what they know but their investigating skills need honing. The good news is that everyone has a topic and everyone is participating.

The goal over the course of the semester is for students to learn through their POL's that learning can take them into new directions. After their first presentation concludes, students will have the option of continuing with their course or choosing another topic. Maybe their interest in the topic has faded or they have discovered something new about themselves and they want to pursue this new discovery. The goal is to awaken a passion in themselves about learning and how sharing these passions can trigger excitement and self respect.

Stay tuned.....

And for those of you interested in a copy of google notes taken during the visit - click here.

Lastly, inviting change isn't easy.

Field Guide For Change Agents

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier.

Tech Tuesday - Webquests in the Classroom

2009-12-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

This week in Tech Tuesday we'll spend some time talking about Webquests and how webquests may be incorporated into core curriculum.
In a nutshell, a webquest is an inquiry-oriented online learning tool. They can last one class period or one month becasue the duration is set by the teacher. Bernie Dodge is a leader in webquest design and we'll spend some time on Tuesday navigating through the Bernie Dodge Webquest website.

That's all Tech Tuesday is - 20 minutes of spending time with technology.

In case you aren't able to attend - Here are a few excellent starting points that allow easy searching for webquests applicable to curriculum.

Tate Online: http://nmolp.tate.org.uk/webquests/
General Info: http://warrigoni.com/7007/webq.htm
Science - http://www.middleschool.net/less_tut/webquests/sciwq.htm
Math (other subjects too) - http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/computing/web_quests/math/
Social Studies - http://its.guilford.k12.nc.us/webquests/socialst.html
Language Arts - http://www.rockwood.k12.mo.us/itech/webquests/wqmatrix/engla.htm
Music and Arts - http://www.techtrekers.com/webquests/
Foreign Language - http://www.rogers.k12.ar.us/users/bgilmer/webquest.html
Physical Education/Health - http://bestwebquests.com/bwq/listarea.asp?wqcatid=5&edid

And Lastly - a google wonderwheel search for webquests provided these results - http://www.google.com/search?q=webquests&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbo=1&tbs=ww:1

We Are All Technology Teachers by Kim Cofino

2009-11-29T10:02:00.001-07:00

We Are All Technology Teachers by Kim Cofino

Seven or eight years ago at MSMS we implemented a reading program in which all teachers became reading teachers for 30 minutes a day. I couldn't help but think about the analogy Kim Cofino makes in the article linked above between ESL teachers and teachers of technology. It's exactly what MSMS did with reading teachers. As difficult as it was, and still is, for all teachers to become reading teachers, we all need to make the shift to become technology teachers and truly integrate technology into everyday learning in the classroom.

This seems to be quite the order considering how fast technology changes and the pedagogical shifts needed to make this happen. The good news for MSMS is that much of the infrastructure is in place to allow this shift to happen. However, without training and support for that infrastructure, we're struggling to implement the essential tools of 21st Century teaching and learning. A good bit of time, training, and support was provided to teachers to help them become reading teachers. We need to do the same for technology if we want all teachers to become teachers of technology.

Posted using ShareThis

Searching for Presentations Just Got Easier

2009-11-21T07:52:00.000-07:00

After countless hours of searching for powerpoint presentations related to Earth and Physical Sciences last year, I've come across a site that proves to be hopeful as a powerpoint search engine. The PowerPoint-Search.com site searches powerpoints on the web by topic and provides an array of files specific to the query without having to weed through the results looking for specific file types.

Check it out.
Most authors on the web are the sharing type. Still, it's appropriate to give credit to an author when you use their work in whole or part.

What Do Your Students Say About You?

2009-11-15T17:41:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading an excellent post by Paul Bogush, a colleague of mine who teaches in Connecticut. His post reminds me how important it is to never lose sight of the big picture of education and the impact we have as teachers with every comment and action we make. Our little idiosyncrasies, our grading policies, and our words shape the children we come into contact with on a daily basis.

Paul's post points to the number of hours a middle/high school teacher spends with a student over the course of a school year (170+ hours.) How do you want to shape each and every child you teach/touch?

I'd like to pass on the opportunity to add to the slideshow on Paul's blog and found below.
Just click on the link and follow the directions.
http://moourl.com/sfam1
1-Click on an empty slide to the left.
2-Click on Insert—>then image
3-Select the image from your computer or the url
4-Flickr images need to be saved and uploaded
5-Place any personal information you would like under the image
6-Click save and close

Blog Commenting

2009-11-05T19:18:00.000-07:00

Commenting on other blogs is a skill easily attained by following a few simple practices. Take time to talk about these practices with your students and refer to them as you review blog comments together as a class.

Be nice to each other. Don't be mean to other commenters. Even bloggers have feelings. We're putting ourselves out there for the world to read our thoughts.

Connect to the post. Have a point when you comment on someone's blog. Don't ramble.

Read the whole post before you comment. Don't just comment on the comments. This will help you write a thorough and thoughtful comment.

White space is your friend. It's hard enough to read from a computer screen. Use short sentences, and short paragraphs. Write in an active voice. At least try to be grammatically correct.

Here are a few comment starters that can help raise questions and provide useful feedback for bloggers.

This made me think about…….
I wonder why…….
Your writing made me form an opinion about…….
This post is relevant because…….
Your writing made me think that we should…….
I wish I understood why…….
This is important because…….
Another thing to consider is…….
I was reminded that…….
I can relate to this…….
This makes me think of…….
I discovered……
I don’t understand…….
I found myself wondering…….

Thanks to Edublog Insights for these starters.
For more thoughts and ideas on blog commenting visit Langwitches Blog

While I Was Sleeping

2009-10-10T08:05:00.000-06:00

This morning I woke up bright and early for a Saturday and, after a warm cup of coffee, checked in with Twitter. People from all over the glove had been busy sharing news, websites and blog entries with anyone who happened to be tapped into Twitter while I was sleeping.

Part of my morning routine is to spend about five to ten minutes quickly reviewing old tweets and click on links that catch my eye so I can check them out later. Remember, the subjects of my tweets are specific to the people I follow. Your tweets can be as well.

I've listed a sampling of sites noted to give readers a taste of the richness of resources shared on Twitter.

Local Educators Study Promising Japanese Teaching Method

An article from the Washington Post discussing a new form of Professional Development that made me think of our recent Tech Fair and what Tech Tuesday's is all about.

Classics Illustrated Comic Books

This site has many classic books in comic book form. I can imagine how much fun it would be for kids to check out this site either before, after, or instead of reading one of the great classics. Options are endless, titles are plentiful.

A Library to Last Forever

Another New York Times article written by Google co-founder Sergey Brin defending the Google Books Project, one of Google's newer projects attempting to digitize the world's books. I support Google's efforts which is what caused this tweet to catch my eye. If you haven't checked out Google Books, it's worth some sniffing around time.

50 Years of Space Exploration

This tweet was a surprise because I was expecting a video or a blog entry and not the image that showed up when I went to the site. I kept thinking about th emany possibilities of using this image for independent research when I was teaching Astronomy.

President Obama On Being Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

The space news agency reporting on Obama's letter of acceptance.

10 Rare HTML Tags You Really Should Know

Now that I'm working with sixth graders on wikis and blogs I have the chance to introduce HTML code to them so they can design their pages to look like they want.

Quick Trick for Downlading YouTube videos without a 3rd Party Service

Who doesn't want to easily download those YouTube videos when you find them so you can show them multiple times. YouTube videos aren't on YouTube forever.

Edublogs and How to Use Them

Great explanation supporting blogging in a classroom. Edublogs use a WordPress environment but allow the teacher to have a bit more control of the blogging environment. Edublogs also allows users under 13 to participate. This blog is written using Blogger.

Improvements in Google Squared

A Google blog entry about the number of improvements to the amount and quality of information you can find with Google Squared, as well as new tools to sort and export the data.

Thoughts on Setting Up a Student Centered Wiki

A few days ago an I read an article by Ruth Reynard in The Journal ” More Challenges with Wikis: 4 Ways to Move Students from Passive to Active.” I use a wiki in my classroom now and it is largely teacher driven. I'm trying to change that by having the students become authors of pages themselves, editing the How-To pages, etc.... But, at the end of the day, the wiki is primarily teacher driven. Any time I can read about the like struggles of other teachers and how they are compensating for them I'm interested.

Interactive WhiteBoards

I'm always interested in what users of these boards have to say about them, especially in classrooms. This site was a double bonus because this teacher has a large number of other resources on her wiki - definitely a keeper.

Computer Lab Classrooms

Just a ton of links related to computer labs and technology. Nice find.

Digital Storytelling

Larry Ferlazzo's latest blog entry has amassed a great number of resources related to digital storytelling. In addition, several comments also point to further resources. Just in time!

Well, in the time it took me to write this at least 20 more tweets came in with more information to sift through. I'll never have time to sift through it all, but that's not the point. You take what you can, when you can. If I have 15 minutes to look, I do. It's always better to be walking.

Tech Tuesdays - Back in Action

2009-10-07T06:39:00.000-06:00

The first quarter of the school year is just about ready to come to a halt. How does time ever pass so fast? I feel like just yesterday we were all unpacking our summer boxes and preparing for a new round of students to stream through the doors.

I'd like to kick off a new round of Tech Tuesday meetings at the start of the second quarter. Tech Tuesday's will continue to be a time to get together as a staff to "talk tech." I'm becoming more and more of a believer that to really understand technology integration in the classroom you have to spend time in the environment and play. Talk Tech is an informal yet informative time to grow together as avid users and integrators of technology in the classroom.

Just a few weeks ago Edutopia launched their Top Ten Tips for Teaching with New Media download. I thought this list would be a great place to start our discussion in Talk Tech. Each week we can delve into the topic just a bit deeper. I thought these 10 Tips would be a good focus for Tech Tuesday's. And, should you feel the need to focus on a tool other than what I'm proposing below because you want to discuss something specific to you, no worries. This is a start and by no means is it a permanent list. Suggestions are always encouraged and appreciated.

Break the Digital Ice
Find Your Classroom Experts
Get Off to a Good Start
Think Globally
Find What You Need
Make Meaning from Word Clouds
Work Better, Together
Open a Back Channel
Make It Visual
Use the Buddy System

So, we'll meet in Shaunda's room at 7:30 each Tuesday. 20 - 25 minutes of tech talk. What could be more fun?

Online Communities

2009-09-17T18:44:00.000-06:00

Today I spent some time with authors Leland Anderson, Visiting Research Fellow; and Michael B. Horn, Executive Director, Education; of Innosight Institute. They have authored Alpine Online School - A Utah School District’s Move into K–8 Online Education - An Education Case Study. Some well know names were in the room, Bernie Dodge and Steve Hargadon to name a few, asking questions right along side of me; a classroom teacher in Colorado. How did I get so lucky?

Online learning communities such as Classroom 2.0 are social networks for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education. I happen to be a member and that's how I was able to spend an hour with the authors of the above mentioned case study as well as many more fascinating people over the past two years.

Membership is Classroom 2.0 is free. Live events like the examples listed above occur on a weekly if not daily basis. Each week I get an email of those events. Here is a sampling of this week's events. I think you'll see there is something for every teacher.

Tues, Sept 15th, 11am Pacific Daylight Time (US): I interview Anne Gilleran, the coordinator of the European School Leadership Network, who will give us a tour of their 60,000-school eTwinning program. http://www.futureofeducation.com/forum/topics/anne-gilleran-on-the-etwinning
Wed, Sept 16th, 1pm Pacific Daylight Time (US): The weekly MSP2 Tech Talk with Todd Williamson on "Interactive Whiteboards." At LearnCentral.org: http://www.learncentral.org/event/19505
Wed, Sept 16th, 5pm Pacific Daylight Time (US): The Classroom 2.0 LIVE Beginner Series with Sue Waters on "RSS Widgets and Personalized Home Pages." http://live.classroom20.com/classroom-20-beginner-series.html
Wed, Sept 16th, 6pm Pacific Daylight Time (US): Maria Droujkova convenes the Math 2.0 weekly meeting, this week's guest is Troy Peterson, the creator of Nibipedia. At LearnCentral: http://www.learncentral.org/event/21595
Thurs, Sept 17th, 3pm Pacific Daylight Time (US): I interview Michael Horn (Disrupting Class) and Leland Anderson about the new Innosight report on a small district's use of online learning to reach underserved students. http://www.futureofeducation.com/forum/topics/michael-hornan-innosight
Sat, Sept 19th, 9am Pacific Daylight Time (US): The weekly Classroom 2.0 LIVE show. This week: Dr. Helen Barrett the creator of ElectronicPortfolios.org, shares the electronic portfolio tools that can be used in the classroom. http://live.classroom20.com/index.html
Sun, Sept 20th, 8am Pacific Daylight Time (US): The world-wide meetup for those with Vitiligo and their frends and families, special guest this week: Emmy-award winning journalist Lee Thomas, author of the book Turning White. LearnCentral Link: http://www.vitiligofriends.org/forum/topics/our-fifth-worldwide-vitiligo

Something to Write About

2009-09-15T22:21:00.000-06:00

This evening I came across a suggested link on Twitter that pointed to a Flickr Page dealing with Great Quotes on Learning and Change. The images, along with the quotes, were very thought provoking. These images and the accompanying quotes could easily be used a blog prompts and conversation pieces. Some may be agreeable to all but most, I suspect, would stir controversy and debate; something every good blog post needs. Of course, Flickr is blocked in most school districts so most of you will need to copy and paste the photoquotes you like onto your own wikis or blogs in order for students to view and comment.

For instance, take the image from Scott McLeod, an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Iowa State University. Teachers better be talking about the future of technology in a school district or others are going to decide it for us. If you haven't gotten in on the conversation, join in. Do some research. There are lots of visions for what Technology and Technology Integration will look like in year 2010, 2015, 2020 and the best part is that teachers can be active in the design if they jump on board.

MSSD Tech Fair: Keeping Current - Growing Your PLN

2009-05-31T15:46:00.000-06:00

Personal Learning Networks are virtual spaces that employ aspects of social networking and blogging. They allow us to connect with others in our field and learn with and from them. They provide a safe and convenient place to ask questions whether we're in the information stage of gathering new ideas or in the implementation phase of new methods. PLN's allow people to keep up with current happenings in their fields.

To start growing your PLN there are a few handy tools to set in place.

Google Account and iGoogle Homepage
Twitter Account
Diigo Account
Subscribe to blogs
Ning Community (Classroom 2.0)

Sue Waters has a terrific set of instructions on her Grow Yourself Wikispace. We'll be using this wiki for a majority of our activities today.

Step 1
In order to subscribe to blogs you have to set up some sort of way to view updates in a convenient location. We'll do that by creating a gmail and iGoogle Account. You can take it one step further by signing up for Google Reader at a later date.

After you have set up your iGoogle Account, visit a few of these blogs and add them to your iGoogle homepage. By no means are these the only blogs to follow, they represent a small sampling so you can a feel for subscribing to them.
Edublogger
Cool Cat Teacher
Always Learning
You'll be able to follow any blog you visit by subscribing to the RSS feed.

Step 2
Set up a Twitter Account. Follow these simple directions. When you create your account name, make it personal. Mine is lisettecasey. This lets others easily find and relate to me. Edit your profile and put information in describing who you are and what you do. This helps others to see what you may have in common. Once you've set up a twitter account you'll need to find people to follow. View my recent post for some terrific tools to accomplish this effeciently. To learn more about other tools to utilize Twitter check out this wikispace.

Step 3
Set up and use social bookmarking like Diigo. Join groups (EdTechTalk, Discovery Network, Science Teachers to name a few) and enjoy the many benefits of a global community. I use the same username as in Twitter to make life easy.

Then start off your mornings with a dose of growing your PLN.

Exactly what does my Personal Learning Network (PLN) look like? Here’s a sample of how I spend the first half hour of every morning learning before I go to work:

Check my email.
Check in with Twitter and Classroom 2.0 to see what people are saying, blogging, what websites are being referenced, or what webinars may be available later in the day.
Visit interesting bookmarks shared through the Diigo groups I belong.
Check Facebook to see what friends and relatives, some personal some professional, are up to this day. (I can do this through TweetDeck - a Twitter platform)
I’ll check my school and student email. (Students use a unique email to access me.)
I’ll check my blog to see if I need to respond to anyone or perhaps I’ll add a new post.
I’ll review the new posts of the many blogs I follow.
Whatever new comes my way that day, I’ll click and check it out.

Using Twitter and Finding People to Follow

2009-05-30T06:57:00.000-06:00

People are always asking me why and how they should use Twitter. They've read about Twitter in the news and don't see anything worthwhile about learning what Brittany Spears or Oprah Winfrey are doing. To everyone I reply, "There is so much more."

Twitter helps grow your personal learning network. Personal learning networks are virtual spaces that employ aspects of social networking and blogging. They allow us to connect with others in our field and learn with and from them. They provide a safe and convenient place to ask questions whether we're in the information stage of gathering new ideas or in the implementation phase of new methods. Sue Waters does a nice job of detailing how to grow your PLN on her PLN Yourself Wiki.

Once you've created a Twitter account you'll need to find people to follow. There a few easy sites that help you do this very efficiently.

Mr. Tweet helps you identify relevant followers on Twitter, providing the reader with a glance at each person's profile and latest tweets.

Twellow works like yellow pages and allows you to find people to follow by occupation.

Twitter4Teachers is a wiki that lists teachers by content. It's a great resource all in one place. You'll even be able to add your name to the list if you join the wiki.

You can always do a simple Twitter Search to find people tweeting about a subject of interest. If you like what they have to say, start to follow them. I recently did this with the latest shuttle mission and ended up following one of the astronauts, Mike Massimino, while he was in space.

Finally, once you arrive at a person you'd like to follow, see who they follow. You'll never know who you might end up connecting with. Start with me if you'd like. This is the beauty of Twitter. Twitter is a global community sharing common interests and ideas of which you can instantly belong.

Science Inquiry to Technology

2009-05-25T17:26:00.000-06:00

I'm in the process of finishing up a terrific course at Colorado College about Scientific Inquiry as it relates to Physical Science. The course offered tidbits of information regarding Physics, Reading in the Content Area, Assessment, and Scientific Inquiry. In addition, I was very fortunate to have Dr. Steve Getty from BSCS join me in my classroom for a week of hands-on, authentic scientific inquiry as he field tested new curriculum for 8th graders.

As I leave the science classroom for a position in educational technology next year, I couldn't help but reflect how I would take these lessons and experiences with me to my new position. Next year holds new challenges for me. After 16 years of teaching Science I will shift to teaching Educational Technology. I’ll have the opportunity to design new curriculum and will keep the models of inquiry at the forefront in this design. Part of my responsibilities will be to work with classroom teachers directly involving the integration of technology. I see implementation of the 5E Model during this integration as a key piece to keeping technology relevant and authentic to students. By involving students in engaging activities that can serve as meaningful preassessments, I will be able to gather pertinent information relating to student skill sets related to technology. By integrating these engaging activities toward academic disciplines, technology will be able to enhance the learning in the core classrooms. My ability to communicate with teachers regarding formative assessments within these phases will be essential to the implementation of true technology integration. Various activities emphasizing technology applications can be used as explorations into both content area instruction and technology application.

I'm so excited and fortunate to have a new, open door in front of me.

Book Glutton

2009-05-03T16:04:00.000-06:00

Every now and then you come across a website that might revolutionize the way someone thinks regarding the teaching of reading. Book Glutton did just that for me last week when it was shared in one of my Diigo groups.

Book Glutton (it's free, by the way) hosts a range of book titles from all genres online. How many times have you wished students could write comments or notes directly in a textbook? Book Glutton allows for the user to leave comments and view other comments easily. Immediately I began to imagine the classroom possibilities. Students could join a class reading group and host book chats while they read. This website puts a new twist on the meaning of literature circles and could just about be my all time favorite Web 2.0 site, at least for today.

Invitation to the Future

2009-05-01T18:24:00.000-06:00

Recently a friend sent a letter she had received from her San Antonio Superintendent regarding technology in schools. It's quite an invitation to the future. I'm fortunate to work in a district that supports and encourages the use of technology in the classroom but this directive tops the cake. Hats off to Richard Middleton.

Dear Friend,

We cannot ignore the fact that today's students learn much differently than we did as children. They live in a world of computers, smart phones, video sharing and instant messaging. And they will have all of those going simultaneously while doing their homework. Using technology in ways that keep our students engaged will help ensure their success in school and beyond. For that reason, North East ISD is in the process of bringing more technology into every classroom across the district.

We know that issues arise any time we deploy new media tools, and that there is a learning curve associated with the evolution of any new system. Our support staff is committed to adapt with the changes and resolve problems as quickly as possible. All of us must also make a commitment to adapt.

We envision many changes in the future of education, such as the replacement of printed textbooks with electronic versions, more distance learning opportunities and an increased use of hand-held educational devices. To be prepared for that future, we must build a strong foundation today.

First, educators need access to professional development opportunities to effectively integrate technology as a teaching and learning tool. The district strives to help teachers build their instructional technology capacity with support, training and tools. Teacher laptops, ceiling mounted projectors, teacher Web sites, SMART Boards and wireless connectivity are just a few tools being used right now in our district.

Second, we must stay current. Technology is always evolving, and we must constantly ask ourselves how we can better reach our students and parents. Your input is vital in this process. I would like to hear from you about what methods are working successfully as well as what tools we should consider using that we haven't as of yet.

For example, how much should we take advantage of social media outlets? We know about the benefits. Instant communications like Twitter allow us to be our own media outlet. Wikis and blogs let us develop specific messages and elicit immediate feedback from a student, staff or community audience. Podcasts also keep us connected with our community and facilitate learning. Do these tools also have drawbacks or limitations? What are they?

Our use of technology offers fantastic potential for improved customer service, classroom instruction and efficiency. It also brings dangers for our students and teachers, such as cyber bullying, online predators and increased potential for cheating. E-mail me your thoughts about the pros and cons of integrating technology into the classroom and how technology will change instruction over the next five years.

Working together, we can accomplish great things. Thank you for your commitment to innovation and staying current in this technological age.

Have a great week.

Richard Middleton

Social Bookmarking

2009-04-17T14:07:00.001-06:00

Social bookmarking is the practice of saving bookmarks to a website and tagging them with keywords so others have access to them too. With a simple click I can share websites I find with anyone in the network.

This YouTube video does a nice job introducing a social bookmarking tool called Delicious.

Diigo seems to push social bookmarking one step further. Not only does it allow me to annotate or comment on websites I visit, but I can choose to let others view my comments, allowing for discourse between colleagues. In addition, Diigo allows users to create and join groups to further extend the bookmarking network. I enjoy this feature of Diigo immensely.

Look for lisettecasey on both of these sites.

The Future of the Internet

2009-04-16T05:43:00.001-06:00

This morning, as I was looking through my Diigo Group bookmarks of the day, I paused in amazement at ALL the powerful resources available to me as an educator. Many of the resources don't come up in a typical Google search when I'm looking independently. I'm glad to belong to a group with common interests because everyone is searching and sharing.

I also quickly wondered why resources with common themes don't pop up on searches despite semantics. Isn't the web smarter than that? Everything seems a bit disorganized.

Funny that someone had recommended the following video - Service Web 3.0 - The Internet of the Future. This video describes the current internet as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have a hard time fitting together. The video also provides some statistical data as to how much information will bombard the internet by 2010. (Spend some time in Diigo and this is easy to imagine.) The numbers are astronomical.

Collaboration - The Power of the Internet

2009-04-15T18:01:00.000-06:00

Several months ago I noticed a new follower on my class blog. After clicking on the profile I learned this new follower was a high school Earth Science teacher instructing in content similar to my own. Naturally, I became a follower of his class blog. A few days later I had a new friend request on Facebook from my new blog follower. His request contained a detailed message being sure to help me understand who he was and why he was requesting friendship. I accepted friendship and our professional relationship has grown from there. We've shared ideas, resources, and other bits and pieces of information that has helped me grow into a stronger Earth Science teacher. The power of the internet!

Soon our students (High School and 8th Grade) were interested in each other and we started talking about the possibility of collaborating on a joint project between our two schools. With Earth Day approaching, we decided on an Earth Day Presentation using Google Docs. The North Carolina - Colorado Collaboration Project was started. Students were divided into groups of four (one North Carolina student, two Colorado students and a project manager.) Three students would actually work on the project, the fourth would be the project manager who also was in charge of managing the work of two additional groups. The addition of the project manager (pm) was due to the disproportionate numbers between the two schools and ended up being a blessing in disguise. They are doing a tremendous job tracking student work and offering great support throughout the project.

So far, the lessons the students are learning are HUGE. Collaboration across time zones, even when the time differential is only two hours, is a difficult obstacle to overcome when communication toward a common goal is required. Email and document etiquette lessons are learned daily. Students learn first hand how easily tone can be misunderstood or misconstrued. Reaching consensus with strangers requires flexibility and understanding. Before the class period ends, students have learned more lessons in communication then they have all year again emphasizing the power of the internet.

Things I Learned Today Via Twitter

2009-04-09T19:22:00.000-06:00

People are always asking about Twitter, what it is and how I use it. I thought a convenient way to bundle this response would be to fill you in on today's Twitter highlights. Twitter runs in the background while I'm at work. If something interesting catches my attention, I'll usually mark the comment, known as a tweet, as a favorite to view at a later time.

Here are some of the highlights from Twitter today within our building:

My teammate is wondering whether it's best to buy district technology to map curriculum or to put technology in the hands of students.

A link the Twitter information of five kids under the age of 17 who are doing incredible things with Twitter and technology. Thee kids have over 10,000 followers.

Highlights from my Twitter Followings and Followers:

Recommendations for technology to purchase for student use (This was a response to a request I submitted, or tweeted.

Read the Google Apps Blog and got some great GMail add-ons.

Invitation to Webinar hosted by Classroom 2.0 Live - Future of Education Panel Presentation on Eluminate. Excellent hour spent with Steve Hargadon, Ruth Reynard, Karen Greenwood Henke, and Jim and Sara Beeghley

A link to John Wooden defining his definition of success on TED

Read a blog post for beginner podcasting

Links to countless blogs related to education (Could be an upcoming blog post.)

And the list goes on and on and on

And then, the icing on the cake....
My 21 year old son has joined twitter!

Someone posted a link on Twitter to a Google Spreadsheet documenting how other educators around the world are using Twitter. The spreadsheet is filled with good ideas and worth checking.

Blogging

2009-04-07T17:58:00.001-06:00

I like blogging. Blogging seems to provide a number of personal satisfactions:

Increased interaction among the members of a professional community
Creative student community that continues to grow
Connection to parents - they can easily visit my blog and see what we've been up to in class
Collaboration among other classrooms world wide
Sounding board for new thoughts and ideas

I hope my posts provide others with food for thought. That's why I decided to join 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Darren Rowse is the author of ProBlogger. He's also the sponsor of this endeavor I am undertaking along with 9100 other bloggers around the world. Wow!

If you're interested, it's easy to sign up by visiting the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. Don't worry about the fact that the challenge began a few days ago. This is about becoming a better blogger not about due dates and deadlines.

Looking for my Sweet Spot

2009-03-29T13:15:00.000-06:00

I recently spent some time listening to Bob Marzano deliver a keynote speech at the March 2009 CUE conference. The CUE (Computer Using Educators) organization's goal is to advance student achievement through technology in all disciplines from preschool through college.

Bob Marzano's keynote (you can find it embedded below) addresses the question "What do we know about the effect of technology on student achievement?" The title intrigued me so I spent some time listening to what he had to say. The results are quite interesting and caused me to reflect quite a bit on my own teaching practice. The research focused on three practices: The use of white board technology, the use of technology in formative assessment, and teacher feedback and teacher interaction.

I'm new to the world of white board technology. I've rigged up a little eInstruction setup with wires running up from my computer, along the ceiling, down to the whiteboard sensor. Sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. I know I need more training, though I'm learning quite a bit teaching myself. Though Marzano's research focuses on Promethean Technology, my eInstruction works almost as nicely. Marzano mentions the "Sweet Spot" as being the conditions under which you get the projected highest increase in student achievement. What do I need to do to find my "Sweet Spot"? Here's what his study stated:

You must be an experienced teacher (have good grasp of instructional strategies,)
Who has been using the white board technology for two years,
Who uses it about 75% of the time in class,
Who has had enough training to be confident in their use of the technology.

So, how do I measure up? I have experience on my side. I've been using the technology for a few months and I have to admit sometimes I get so frustrated by not being able to manipulate the program I give up on the technology. I'm not even close to using it 75% of the time and I certainly am not confident in using this technology. This doesn't mean I'm not willing to try. The video encourages me to keep trudging along the road of the unknown. I wish there were someone else in the school joining me on this journey. Any takers? Trouble is, there's only one eInstruction setup.

He goes on to discuss the research relating to formative assessment - all of which want to make me use our clicker system more. Part II is available after you finish Part I. More on that later.

The video is worth watching.

How’s Your PLN?

2009-03-25T06:50:00.000-06:00

It’s spring break and I’ve been spending some time reading, fiddling with my new iPod Touch, relaxing and hanging around with friends and family. I can’t remember the last time I had hours on end to do what I wanted, educationally related or not.

We’re pretty fortunate in this day and age to have so much information at our disposal, all of which started me thinking about how I am developing professionally as a teacher. Learning looks very different to me now than it did several years ago. For instance, just yesterday I spent an hour with Don Tapscot, the author of Growing Up Digital. A free hour mind you, no fee attached. I happened upon a webinar sponsored by Discovery Learning through a social network called Twitter. I’m learning and staying abreast of all sorts of educationally related issues via my new “friends” who happen to live all over the world. I’m instantly connected with many well-known and respected individuals who have a wealth of information to offer in all fields of education.

Personal Learning Networks (PLN’s) have been around for a while. Now, thanks to the development of Web 2.0 technologies, they have become stronger and more relevant. The trouble as I see them, is that so many organizations haven’t figured out they exist. Despite emphasizing a 21st Century approach, their models of growth feature 20th Century Learning. Sure they have jumped on the bandwagon (and a good bandwagon it is) of online learning, but most have ignored the mounds of information social learning networks like Twitter and Diigo offer, in addition to the interesting and rich insight blogging provides.

It would be great for educators to receive credit and recognition for the countless hours spent reading, listening, and implementing what other educators and experts have to say about Pedagogy, Technology, Science Education, and 21st Century Teaching. The resources providing free professional development are immense if educators are aware of them.

So exactly what does my Personal Learning Network (PLN) look like? Here’s a sample of how I spend the first half hour of every morning learning before I go to work:

Check my email.
Check in with Twitter and Classroom 2.0 to see what people are saying, blogging, what websites are being referenced, or what webinars may be available later in the day.
Visit interesting bookmarks shared through the Diigo groups I belong.
I’ll check into Facebook to see what friends and relatives, some personal some professional, are up to this day.
I’ll check my school and student email. (Students use a unique email to access me.)
I’ll check my blog to see if I need to respond to anyone or perhaps I’ll add a new post.
I’ll review the new posts of the many blogs I follow.
Whatever new comes my way that day, I’ll click and check it out.

All this before I even leave the house. Of course, I follow up at work when and where I am able. My expanded PLN is fairly new. I can’t imagine what this list will look like in a few months.

If you're interested in developing your own PLN, check out this blog page by Lisa Nielsen, author of The Innovator Educator. She does a nice job of summing up PLN's. She includes a great video by Will Richardson that will easily get you on your way.

What Kind of Teacher Are You?

2009-03-21T18:38:00.000-06:00

I really liked the message this slideshow delivers.

101 Free Learning Tools on the Web

2009-03-21T18:19:00.001-06:00

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

101 Free Learning Tools

View more presentations from zaid.

Teacher of The Year

2009-03-20T17:12:00.001-06:00

Receiving the 2007-2008 Colorado Teacher of the Year sponsored by Teacher's Insurance was quite an honor and surprise. I owe many thanks to the students at school. Without them, there would not be an award. They are the reason I aspire to great teaching.

Professional Development

2009-03-19T07:05:00.000-06:00

I loved reading about Social Camp - Memphis. Social camps, or unconferences are facilitated, participant-driven conferences centered around a theme or purpose. The idea caused me to wonder if Social Camps, such as the one in Memphis, might be the future of professional development for organizations. I rather like the idea.

Social Camps work as follows:

A call for ideas is sent out to all participants. Those interested prepare a three minute introduction on a topic delivered on the morning of the conference or "camp."
When the three minutes are up, the floor is transferred to the next idea or introduction.
Attendees listen to the series of introductions and then vote on the topics they are interested in learning more.
The topics with the largest numbers of votes are presented in the following sessions.

I think social camps could work. I like the idea of increased exposure to a multitude of ideas because even if those ideas are not selected to be presented the seed is still planted. If people are interested in finding out more about a certain topic they have an immediate contact.

I think social camps are innovated and fresh and offer a great deal of diversity to educators. Anybody in?

Podcasting

2009-03-18T06:07:00.001-06:00

Throughout the year my students have completed several podcasts and I've not been very pleased with the masses as only 1/5 of the groups do a decent job.

There are some elements of podcasting that I've been sure to include in each project. Still, it doesn't seem to be enough to push students into the successful category.

Essential Podcasting Elements

Creation of a script or storyboard.
Clear requirements and guidelines.
Periodic due dates.
Documentation of images/copyrighted information.
Listen to podcast examples prior to start.

Struggles in podcasting with whole classes:

Last minute scrambling to get podcast published.
Developing ownership in the project.
Adequate space to record quietly.
Students suddenly locked out of iPhoto, can't incorporate photos.(Think this is a network issue, though it affected kids doing iPhoto books, not so much podcasts)

I'm not ready to give up yet so I'm thinking about how to improve the process for next year.
Improvements for next year:

First time podcasts are short, and viewing of podcasts is for feedback purposes. (We did this but the second podcast came too late.)
Try single group podcasts - one group per week instead of whole class. This step eliminates the noise factor and may help to develop ownership in the podcast since it would be the only podcast published in a given week.

I'd love your feedback. Have a listen to some of the podcasts in the archived link on our podcast page. Note the links at the top of the page are not podcasts, but iPhoto books. To view the podcasts you'll have to start at the bottom and work up.

Kids are Finished Early, Now What?

2009-03-14T08:42:00.000-06:00

My students are finishing up podcasts this week. Inevitably, some groups will be finished with plenty of time to spare. We all know the importance of being prepared for such events. Two 8th graders with a class period of doing nothing is an invitation for trouble as much as it is a waste of their time.

Someone in the EdTechTalk group on Diigo bookmarked Pixton, a website used to create comic strips online. Perfect! The site is free and easy to navigate. All a user has to do is register, wait for an email invitation (arrives immediately) and they can be on their way to creating comic strips. Once the comic strip is published, code is provided for the user to embed the comic strip or share it via email with a friend.

This coming week students finishing their podcasts early will be creating comic strips dealing with weathering and erosion and then embedding the comic strip onto their blogs.

Internet Hoax and Copy Cat Postings in Germany

2009-03-13T07:20:00.001-06:00

Seems like the subject of yesterday's post may have been a hoax as police in Germany are searching the young man's computer for proof of the conversation in the chat room prior to the school shootings.

Yesterday I asked my 8th grade students what they would have done if they were chatting with someone and that person would have mentioned a threat. Their reply - if it was they're friend, nothing, they would know they would just be kidding. If it was someone they didn't know, they'd tell their parents. No one mentioned this kind of chatter would never have occurred.

The above scenario is the goal of teaching appropriate use to students in schools and the message in yesterday's post. Students don't have rules about what is appropriate and inappropriate. Basically, anything goes.

My suggestion from yesterday still stands, stronger than ever despite the fact that the current investigation may be leaning toward a hoax. We, as educators, need to be guiding our students into the land of appropriateness so they may grow and be better citizens.

Danger in the Chat Room - A Message to Educators - Teach Appropriate Use

2009-03-12T08:59:00.000-06:00

The school shootings in Germany and the shooting rampage in Alabama have left me sad, frustrated, and wanting to take action especially after reading about how the shooter in Germany warned of his attack in an internet chat room hours before. The news article states that a father came forward after his son told him of his conversation with the gentleman the night before. The conversation ended with the shooter stating "No reports to the police now, don't worry, I'm just baiting you" and an "lol"(Laugh out Loud.)

Why don't students report this sort of traffic to authorities? All sorts of explanations may be given. It's easy to react to such attacks and search for reasons.

I suggest it's time for schools to be proactive, pick up the slack and hammer appropriate use in all settings - hallways, email, cellphones, classrooms and chatrooms. Immerse our students in these settings and teach them what is right and how to behave. Young children continue to set their own rules because there aren't many adults teaching them otherwise. One only has to look at the recent academic suspension on a student due to his comments about a professor on Facebook. Stupidity or ignorance?

Though the argument may be made that it's a parents job to teach these applications, the school setting is consistent and steady. As educators, we aren't expecting parents to teach mathematics, why are we expecting them to teach appropriate use. Times are changing and it's our job to adapt. The effects of not doing so are beginning to emerge. Does that mean inappropriate behavior will stop - probably not. But at least we've done something to educate others regarding the right thing to do.

Stuck Between Two Centuries of Teaching

2009-03-11T08:25:00.000-06:00

Why is it I feel so stuck between 20th Century Teaching and 21st Century Skills? I mean, I get that technology in the classroom is a mindset, not a skill set. I get the pedagogy has to change to be effective in reaching students today. I even get that learning and living with technology need to be somewhat equivalent in the classroom if I am ever going to completely immerse myself into 21st Century teaching. Trouble is, I'm struggling with how to do this well with a tool set available only once a week.

Learning to differentiate the mindset from the tools when the tools are only available once or twice a week has been an increasing challenge as I move away from a teacher centered classroom to a student centered one. I'm just wondering, is it truly possible? Is it beneficial to students or is it a distraction?

Does learning to think differently require total immersion into the new thought process? Does bouncing back and forth between teacher centered instruction and student centered instruction confuse kids or is it just confusing me?

I've had the luxury of utilizing our laptop library everyday for the past two weeks due to our state testing schedule and I don't want to go back to my one day a week laptop schedule. That's when I feel like learning is about the tool set, not the mindset. I'll go back to thinking - "how will I use the laptops today instead of using the laptops?" and take two steps backward.

Babysteps.....

And fortunately, in our classrooms there are laptops to use.

The Element - Ken Robinson

2009-03-10T10:52:00.000-06:00

I'm in the midst of reading The Element by Sir Ken Robinson. I love the idea of arriving at your element so I decided to wordle the following:

The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion.
It’s the place where the things we love to do and the things we are good at come together.

When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels.
Sir Ken Robinson

Here's what I came up with:

You can watch Sir Ken Robinson on Youtube.

Unlocking the Door

2009-03-09T21:16:00.000-06:00

About mid-way through a multimedia project I'm asking myself why I'm using old teaching methods with new technologies. It's like I'm afraid to change the bath water. There's something comforting about the Johnson's Baby Soap that makes me want to stick with it. I'm a bit frightened to switch it out for something a bit more relevant to my students. I wondering if this need to stick with traditional instruction methods stunts creativity. No one wants to be creative. Everyone wants to take the path of least resistance. I'm breeding this like mosquitoes in my classroom. Why? I'm thinking my pedogogy needs to change.

Here are three important factors to remember when incorporating technology into Learning:

1. Using technology in the classroom is a mindset, not a skill-set.

2. It’s not about the technology, it’s about the pedagogy.

3. We need to learn with technology the way students live with technology.

These are taken from a blog post by Kim Cofino.

The Cult of Done Manifesto

2009-03-09T20:54:00.000-06:00

I was doing a bit of professional reading for the Adam's State/Colorado On-Line class when I came across a link to Daniel Pink. His latest entry discusses the Cult of Done Manifesto.
Here's how it reads:
1. There are three states of being. Not knowing, action and completion.

2. Accept that everything is a draft. It helps to get it done.

3. There is no editing stage.

4. Pretending you know what you’re doing is almost the same as knowing what you are doing, so just accept that you know what you’re doing even if you don’t and do it.

5. Banish procrastination. If you wait more than a week to get an idea done, abandon it.

6. The point of being done is not to finish but to get other things done.

7. Once you’re done you can throw it away.

8. Laugh at perfection. It’s boring and keeps you from being done.

9. People without dirty hands are wrong. Doing something makes you right.

10. Failure counts as done. So do mistakes.

11. Destruction is a variant of done.

12. If you have an idea and publish it on the internet, that counts as a ghost of done.

13. Done is the engine of more.

So, I decided to wordle the text and here's what I came up with:

Wordle is a cool website that can creatively generate word clouds from text provided. You should check it out.

Attendance Vs. Engagement- Part II

2009-03-04T09:48:00.000-07:00

Existing.

I find many students have learned this behavior of just existing. I observe students walking in, having the correct materials, and sitting down. This is all a good start. However, many students stop there. I deplore this culture in our school; yet, I have a feeling it's pretty widespread.

The previous post about attendance vs. engagement definitely addresses this. It's a paradigm shift. Our students are supposed to strive for excellence, yet this culture of existence doesn't demonstrate a pursuit of excellence.

In this culture, wouldn't it be great for a teacher to have a daily assistant? The assistant (every class period) would make all of the anecdotal notes about student engagement, questioning, participation, etc. Couldn't we truly be professionals then? That's a pie in the sky idea, but when we are referred to as professionals, we should have all the tools and resources available to professionals in other fields. A tangent... I know.

Without the help of an assistant to keep accurate and interesting records, my mind goes back to a culture of excellence and learning. It has to be pervasive in a building- almost contagious. Kids are here to learn, not just to be. Kids are here to question, strive, seek, find, etc. Excellence begets excellence. Attendance vs. engagement wouldn't be an issue if our culture shifted.