Can YouTube get ANY BETTER?

I know there are many arguments against using YouTube in schools, but I came across this nifty little feature and wonder why....



YouTube has given the ability to create an embeddable player from any playlist of folder from YouTube...The above are all the videos that I have added as my favorite Ed Tech Videos. Now I DO wish that they would take away the fact that you can still link out to the YouTube site, but what a great way for teachers to provide resources to their students OR to publish student work and then create a player to embed in their blog, wiki, moodle. I added the same player to my own wiki sharing my YouTube playlist in my blog, my wiki....Hmmmm the possibilities....

Technorati Tags: youtube

When technology....attacks?

I have to admit, I was intrigued when this first hit my twitter thread via John Pederson.
When Technology Attacks. Seriously. "Schools are fighting a war..." and "...be ready to do battle" http://tinyurl.com/2qrb4x Couldn't wait to get off the beach to see what the link held for me....

It was a link to the cover article of the most recent Scholastic Administrator Magazine...
As I was reading I didn't know whether to be shocked, distressed or annoyed...

Schools across the country are waging a war against technology tools gone bad. Read how some districts defend their classrooms against the new school thuggery—from iPod cheats to cell phone punks and sneaky Web surfers.

To start an article like this...SIGH....

Drugs can be used illegally, but they are also a cure for many diseases...A hammer could be used to kill someone, but it can also be used to build shelter...Knives can be used to kill as well, but my even my 5 year old has been taught to use it to cut her food.... and as I pointed out in an earlier post....PENCILS can be dangerous perhaps we should ban THEM from the classrooms.

I have seen Will Richardson present on MANY occasions and have read his book and he is right...this is NOT an easy issue. Teachers are clamoring to use collaborative technology in the classroom and administrators are facing pressures from parents and school boards to implement policies to curb its use. But even the National School Board Association is encouraging schools to re-examine their social networking policies. I understand that the hook, the shock value is what gets folks to read, but to I am disappointed that Scholastic chose only to demonstrate the way schools have been battling "issues" and not focus on ways they have demonstrated successes.

Please, read the article, read John's response to the article, and start the conversations in your own school districts....Make this a successful tech school year in your district and then...let scholastic adminstrator know about it.

Reexamining Social Networking in Schools....?

Recently David Warlick pointed to an article in which the National School Board Association is encouraging schools to re-examine their social networking policies and the conversation surrounding this has been interesting around the blog-o-sphere. If you haven't read the NSBA's Creating and Connecting Report, I encourage you to do so...Will Richardson looked at some of the statistics and the fact that many districts have their own structured online professional communities.

As I was thinking about the implications of the NSBA article, I came across an interesting article in CNN Money about a report done by Microsoft, MTV and Nickelodeon and while I can't find the report itself, Microsoft's press release was posted globally from AllAfrica.com to IndiaInfoline, and the findings as stated in THIS report were intriguing:

  The report found:
   -- Technology has enabled young people to have more and closer
      friendships thanks to constant connectivity.
   -- Friends influence each other as much as marketers do.  Friends are as
      important as brands.
   -- Kids and young people don't love the technology itself -- they just
      love how it enables them to communicate all the time, express
      themselves and be entertained.
   -- Digital communications such as IM, email, social networking sites and
      mobile/sms are complementary to, not competitive with, TV.  TV is part
      of young peoples' digital conversation.
   -- Despite the remarkable advances in communication technology, kid and
      youth culture looks surprisingly familiar, with almost all young
      people using technology to enhance rather than replace face-to-face
      interaction.
   -- Globally, the number of friends that young males have more than
      doubles between the ages of 13-14 and 14-17 -- it jumps from 24 to 69.
   -- The age group and gender that claims the largest number of friends are
      not girls aged 14-17, but boys aged 18-21, who have on average 70
      friends.

The article goes on to examine each of these trends...with a bit of a marketing twist...
I give this as an example "And for IM, the top topics for 14-24s were: gossiping (62%), making arrangements (57%), talking about the opposite sex (57%) and flirting (55%), work or school (54%) and TV and music (52%). "Given the amount of time young people are spending on instant messenger every day presents a very powerful opportunity for brands to connect with the youth audience. When on IM, teenagers are at their most engaged and interactive," said Vogt. [Caroline Vogt, Head of International Research, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.]

For as much press as the NSBA article is getting, I was surprised that this is not getting as much "airtime" Hmmm, the advertising industry is saying connect to kids, the NSBA is saying connect to kids, yes...change is tough and scary, but isn't it time we start to examine how we are connecting to kids in schools? Thoughts?

Technorati Tags: social, education, learning, teaching, schools, nsba

Connectivity...in the eyes of a 7 year old...

I am on a much needed vacation...at the Jersey Shore. The house in which we are staying does not have internet access...but there is a coffee shoppe down the street that has free wifi. I usually go there in the am to catch up on my feeds before everyone gets up. When we are lucky and the weather is just right, we are able to connect to their access...hey I go there for coffee every am any way ;-)

This morning my son was up early. He is 7 and had used his spending money yesterday to buy his 2nd webkinz. The following is the conversation we had at 6:30 am....Mind you I was up at 4:30 to finish my research...but alas, not internet access at the house...

"Mommy...I need to get on your computer...

Me too, Austin, I have work to do.

But I have to garden....Why can't you do your work on your computer and I can do my webkinz on the black one?

Because there is no internet here at the house today.

But we could play yesterday....

I know, but today we can't get internet access...you need to be able to connect to the internet to play webkinz.

So why can't you just plug it in...

Well, it is a different kind of plug you need. You know at home we have the blinky box that tells us we are connected to the internet. That box is a router, it connects your computer to the internet so you can play your games and mommy can do her work. We don't have one here at this house.

Oh....
At this point, he goes and unplugs my cell phone....

What are you doing Austin?

Calling Daddy to tell him to bring down our box.....
PRICELESS...His perception, if we have all of the tools, we can connect...to meet his objectives...hmmmmm what is this saying to us as educators?

Austin & I headed to the coffee shop when it opened at 7. He harvested his garden, set up his rooms, cared for his pets and played games while I did my research. What struck me about the whole experience was the expectation he had...that his tools would always be available...and how he was going to problem solve to be able to do what he needed to do. And watching him play--battleship...and dice kinz, the strategy he used to win the game (and he very rarely lost using his strategy) How he methodically planned his time and money to get what he needed. Reading the kinznews....did I know that if we got back to the coffee shop before it closed at 10 (pm mind you) we could get our coupon for the day..and he is 7...and in September....

I have had an interesting conversation this week with Jeff Utecht which started with a post he wrote about putting it in perspective....why do we keep barking up the same old trees...
Because there are MANY Austin's in our classes...and we want to provide them with the same rich learning experiences in schools to meet OUR objectives.

8 Random Facts

SIGH....

I have been tagged...

TWICE by Ken Pruitt, AND Chris Champion...And although 1 of my facts is I have NEVER completed a chain letter or about me email, I thought since I am on vacation and not participating in the 31 day blog challenge, I would take them up on this meme and complete...

Anyway, here are the rules:

• Post these rules before you give your facts
• List 8 random facts about yourself
• At the end of your post, choose (tag) 8 people and list their names, linking to them
• Leave a comment on their blog, letting them know they’ve been tagged

My Facts:

1. I have visited 47 out of the 50 states...Alaska, Mississippi, and Louisiana the only ones I am missing
2. I ran the Philadelphia half marathon...short of giving birth (3 times), one of my most rewarding (and challenging) accomplishment.
3. I used to drive a red convertible...sigh now a cranberry minivan.
4. I had my tonsils out as an adult...
5. I secretly love dance, dance revolution...although I am not much of a dancer it is GREAT exercise.
6. I love kid's movies ...just about as much as my kid's do
7. For years I spent my summers directing pools and summer camps.
8. Every once in a while I DO crash...although no one seems to believe this

Am tagging 8 folks I think will....a) read my blog and respond, b) won't mind being tagged (or read as a result:) or are likely to find out that I tagged them via technorati:)
Don't let me down power 8....
Diane
Scott
Jim B
Ken
Mrs. Durff
KKoz
Howard
Danielle

Candidates debate the Issues on YouTube

Thanks to Ken Pruitt for getting this discussion started . . Like Jen Dorman, I'd like to see some more chatter about the CNN/YouTube debates last week. I have to admit it is a challenge for me to sit for more than 5 minutes at a time...(those of you who know me well will attest to THAT) so having the opportunity to look at individual issues, when I have time to absorb...priceless.

On the topic of NCLB

Gov. Bill Richardson had a VERY strong reaction to the video and strong feelings about what needs to be done in education...
Scrap NCLB –it doesn’t work
One size fits all doesn’t work
Doesn’t emphasize teacher training, kids with diasabilities or English learning students
Worst thing is that it takes funds away from schools not doing well…need to help those schools…
KEY to strong schools is strong teachers
Need to empasize science and math
Unlock minds in science and math
Federal program of arts


On the topic of Public or Private school


I thought it was great that they took questions FROM YouTube

If you visit the debate site you can see not only clips of the debate...but the HUNDREDS of responses to them. The Republicans will have their turn on September 17.

Ken posed a question:

What legitimacy, if any, does this bring to YouTube as a media outlet?

Ken said..."Like it or not it is time to start paying attention so that we can make an educated decision come Nov 08'.".. Jen D offered her thoughts as well..." the answer is that absolutely this legitimizes YouTube as an accepted form of creative expression. Mainstream media has been lamenting the growing power of the online community (remember the Swift Boat Veterans) for years now. People like Matt Drudge and alternative media bloggers have broken, investigated, and dispersed stories that the mainstream media simply did not want to touch. In doing so they brought an entirely new group of citizens into the ongoing national discussion and empowered them to seek their own answers and make their concerns public. I would wager that a concerned citizen cannot make their thoughts any more public than by getting their video question answered a national presidential debate. " and like the 2 of them, I agree...

What a great learning opportunity for students and what a great way for the candidates to connect to the YouTube Generation. Is YouTube blocked at your school....? This is a great argument for why it shouldn't be.

The reality of Education for first year teachers...

David Warlick had a REALLY controversial post today about a presentation to first year teachers.

He stated that only two of them were bloggers, no one knew about Web 2.0, only a handful knew what a wiki was, and no one had heard of RSS. And he posed the question about whether we were creating a bunch of hype about “Web 2.0″ just to have something to be enthusiastic about.
You need to read the post and the comments--

I thought the best way for me to write about it was by way of "skype cast" conversation between myself and a colleague (who happens to live in FL, but be working in CA at the time of the conversation) Where else but in a Web2.0 world would something like this occur?

Kristin Hokanson 10:06 PM
the reality of it is, even being involved in ed tech in the classroom I have seen a TREMENDOUS shift in the past 2 years. Yes these technologies have been around, but more people are using them today than ever and I think they NEED to be defined....if you ask kids if they have every responded to a blog and hardly any of them will say yes...ask them how many have used myspace...
Zachary Chase 10:07 PM
And they're using them to connect on a much larger, more consistent scale.
Kristin Hokanson 10:07 PM
and they don't understand the ethics of it.... and I agree that it needs to be brought into higher level institutions...colleges NEED to be addressing this
Zachary Chase 10:08 PM
It's the approaching equity of the situation.
Kristin Hokanson 10:08 PM
and quite frankly....5 years ago would 2 people who met randomly EVER be able to have this discussion in 2 time zones in a professional manner
10:09 PM
It almost deserves us posting THIS conversation as a response
Zachary Chase 10:10 PM
I agree.
10:11 PM
My gut reaction is there are more important arguments to be had beyond the semantics of the whole thing.
Kristin Hokanson 10:12 PM
John Pederson made a great point that in the past you would sit and absorb what you can in one inservice and then be left on your own to absorb and apply what you have learned. With the interactive web....you are never alone in applying new skills in the classroom
Zachary Chase 10:12 PM
Saying that you kept a photo gallery online 10 years ago is different than me watching my 8-year-old brother connect the digital camera and upload pics of the family vacation to Flickr It's also got to be noted that many times I'm building on what other people are doing in their classrooms unbeknownst to those teachers.
Kristin Hokanson 10:15 PM
so true--I think David's original point was quite valid--these teachers are coming out of school doing NATURALLY what we older folks (and I won't include you mr born shortly before I graduated HS in that category) had to LEARN to do. Since we learned it to use it, we are using it ethically, professionally and thinking about the implications for the future in our profession
Zachary Chase 10:16 PM
But I'm also not.I'm using tools professionally that I used first personally.
Kristin Hokanson 10:17 PM
Newer teachers do it naturally as part of their world. Exactly my point but I dont think that most people make that connection
Zachary Chase 10:18 PM
I agree From the moment I started using it, I started advocating the use of myspace in schools. It just makes sense. Using cell phones is the same thing.
Kristin Hokanson 10:19 PM
I think we need to do activities that mirror myspace, but there needs to be a separation between personal and professional use
Zachary Chase 10:19 PM
I have two myspace accounts. Mine and Mr. Chase's. The former is private, the latter public. Through the use of the latter, I've been able to communicate with my students from last year and begin signing them up for my 9th grade English course that wasn't on the schedule until two weeks ago. By using the tools in this way, I can model responsible use in a way no one ever did for me. I set up an AIM profile for my kids to communicate with me. When I talk to them there, I use (much to their dismay) Standard English. They notice it and it opens a great conversation. There's nothing covert here, no effort to usurp their ownership of the skills, I'm merely meeting them at their level. Why compete for their attention when I can use the channels that already have their attention?
Kristin Hokanson 10:23 PM
did I open a can of worms?
Zachary Chase 10:25 PM
In Bill Bryson's book A Short History of Nearly Everything, he describes how biology developed as a science and the difficulty in nomenclature. The same process is happening here. Call a swallow a Dutch Swallow or a Netherlands Swallow, it's still the same bird, pity we have to quibble over what we're going to call it while the rest of the world pushes it toward extinction.The other piece that's important, with regard to David's original post, is the knowledge that colleges are teaching new teachers how to teach, not necessarily how to think like teachers. When we talk about thinking literacies and their place in classrooms, we cannot let higher ed escape our gaze.
Kristin Hokanson 10:31 PM
that is true in all cases
10:31 PM
I have friends who did the Columbia writing program with Lucy Calkins. What they are doing is very different from how everyone else is teaching and thinking about writing and yet when we write curriculum rather than using collaborative tools to involve them in the process...they have to wait until the ONE DAY that they can all get together
Zachary Chase 10:33 PM
Can we relinquish the idea that we will wrest education initiatives away from the body politic and instead turn our attention to mandating that the reforms they decide upon are truly what reflect education's needs?
Kristin Hokanson 10:35 PM
only when we relinquish the idea that school is a 189 day 8:30-3:30 job with summers off...

Thought this would accurately reflect both use of tools and conversation….
Interesting thread…. Your thoughts?

Twitter... from kind of pointless to REALLY POWERFUL...

A global community of friends and strangers answering one simple question: What are you doing? Answer on your phone, IM, or right here on the web!

So I know there is a lot of talk about the value of tools such as twitter for education, and I have to admit, I do question it for classroom use--it has really put a new spin on my summer time professional development. Why take time out from your packed schedule to let folks know what you are doing? Well if I weren't on twitter, I wouldn't have met Zac Chase...and followed the NSDC conference in Denver while I was at the Keystone Summit, I wouldn't have been able to get updates from Building Learning Connections conference through David Jake's Chatcasts...

Let people know you are planning a digital storytelling workshop like Brian Grenier
and you will get all kinds of resources tweeted back. When Jason Hando tweeted about a flash meeting he was participating it, I was invited to try an AWESOME new tool ....Crafty shared a tip about Slidecasting making podcasts with I know right away when new blogs are posted--seamlessly...I don't have to make time to seek this all out.

I think that is the greatest value in a good professional network--I encourage all educators to start growing their networks. There are VALUABLE things to be learned that can help to provide really rich learning opportunities for THEIR students. Who's in your network?

Building School 2.0 vision from the foundation UP...

There seems to be another recurring theme that came out at the summit and that was the idea about a need for a good foundation. One of the attendees said to me on the way to dinner.... "I thought I knew a lot about using technology...but now I feel as if I was really building this phenomenal addition where others were tearing their houses down and creating a new house or vision." And that struck a chord for me...it is not about the computers. They Dewey quote in my last post When thinking about using the tools of technology we need to be careful not to force technology use as an add on to an already packed curriculum, but find a way that they become a foundation for what we are doing. I noticed when we were doing our brick activity that some of the group had already made this shift. They organized their bricks from the bottom up as the bottom terms created the FOUNDATION for the rest of the ideas...and the foundation is most important. Chris Lehman had a great post a while back that looked at some of the things we should be considering as we build the foundation of school 2.0...

• It's really not about the computers. School 2.0 is older than that. School 2.0 is the tradition of Dewey. School 2.0 is born out of the idea that active, engaged, constructivist learning will lead to active, engaged students and people.
• it is a place where our knowledge, our ideas, our communication is no longer bound by the walls of our school or the hours of our school day.
• creating schools that reflect the world we live in today and creating schools that teach adaptability so that we can prepare for the world we will live in tomorrow
• it is is about process as much as it is about product and it is about collaboration
• it means understanding that facts, information, skills, meaning and wisdom are different, and that each one is valuable. But it also means understanding that facts and information used to be the top of the hierarchy where as now, skills, meaning and wisdom need to be. And it means that we as educators have to understand that meaning and wisdom are co-created.

Some really powerful conversations were started at KTI Summit and already I see these conversations returning to districts so that they can begin to tear down the walls of their current systems and begin to build the foundation of this new vision from the foundation up. I know Chris Lehman had many more ideas in his posts, but I'd like to see yours...

"If we teach today's students....

the way we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow." John Dewey.

My small group unanimously felt as if they had the opportunity to not rob the students they teach of their tomorrows because they were able to attend this summit--make connections and feel the support to begin to force change in their districts. The Daggett quote that continues to resonate with me is that we cannot and will not be able to change until there is more pressure for change than resistance to change I wanted to share the project that my group created as their vision. I believe that pressure to change is there....from the teachers and students and slow as it may be coming, it is coming...

Connect, Innovate, Explore, Lead...which comes first?

I REALLY need to get things out of my "draft" and out there so this evening I am live blogging our small group discussion. Last night, each group member was given 4 bricks. Each one had one of the following words on it...Connect, Innovate, Explore, Lead.

Each attendee was asked to think about envisioning a school that would meet the needs of students in 5 years. To build this school would require all of the ideas listed on the bricks. They were asked to "build the school" stack the bricks so to say in order of importance.
Here are the notes I took and some of their visions

1. Not linear...You need to connect to lead so that you can innovate to explore new things

2. Most important thing is to lead the way in order to innovate you need to provide opportunities to explore and connect to sources & each other.

3. Connect most important--once you have connected you can explore--look at new things and become comfortable. Once you are comfortable with things you have explored you can lead other and then once you lead you start to become more innovative.

4. Mine was similar...but I BUILT FROM GROUND UP--need a foundation so most important should be at the bottom--connect to explore--you need to get connected in order to explore
innovate and then you can become a leader

5. I built from the ground up too..first you have to explore--go out of your comfort zone and be open--Once you have exposure you can make connections to curriculum and colleagues
Once you have that in a comfortable place, collaboratively you can become innovative
THEN you can be a leader

6. At first I thought of straightline design--then I realized you start by exploring, connect to others so you can innovate and lead which brings you back to exploring new things or teaching others to explore.

7 . Don't think leading can come first--need to explore new opportunities and then become innovative that will create leaders that can help others connect to students

***We got into a little discussion about connection--are we connecting to resources or people...?

9. Explore first and then become innovative connect with others and then lead the way--BOTTOM UP

9. Fingers between because really don't build on others:
Please note this is more of a prediction vs prioritization
As world more competitive--only thing that can be sold is innovation--as the world doesn't let go--education drives economy have to innovate to sell product--no competing country will be content with being second. Innovation is the greatest commodity--as a result there has ot be exploration--explore new markets Connect--people are aways going to have the desire to connect to one another--reaching out to others and are People have been reaching for leadership and not finding it.

What an interesting conversation..
What an AMAZING group of educators...
and I am leading THEM.... wonder if they realize how much the "staffers" learn from them this week...
Please add your thoughts...if you had these bricks to build with, what would your vision include?

Banning pencils from the classroom...

The theme for this year's PA Keystone Technology Integrator Summit is Banning Pencils from the Classroom... If you haven't read Doug Johnson's Article in Education World it really speaks to what educational technologists have been professing....

When it comes to "technology" use in schools, every responsible educator's first concerns should be student safety and educational suitability. I am suggesting that we ban one of the most potentially harmful technologies of all -- the pencil. We must eliminate them from schools because:

1. A student might use a pencil to poke out the eye of another student.
2. A student might write a dirty word or, worse yet, a threatening note to another student, with a pencil.
3. One student might have a mechanical pencil, making those with wooden ones feel bad.
4. The pencil might get stolen.
5. Pencils break and need repairing all the time.
6. Kids who have pencils might doodle instead of working on their assignments or listening to the teacher.

Sound familiar? We have all heard the same arguments against computer use and the comments on Doug's blog regarding setting up policies for student owned technologies are interesting. Ok so we are not really encouraging teachers to give up pencils and paper....and while we know that banning pencils is unrealistic, the goal this year at the Summit is to expose teachers to real world, relevant technology applications that they can in turn go back to their schools inspired and ready to share with their colleagues -- Will keep you posted as I learn from them and they from me this week.

What's On your Booklist?

I put a request on my Twitter that I knew some administrators seeking change who wanted to start a book club...to take a look at the wagon and get moving. Chris Lehman came right back with his top 2

• Moral Leadership -- Thomas Sergiovanni &
• The School and Society -- John Dewey

I remembered that Ian Jukes had mentioned some during his session at NECC so I went and looked at his site and he offered the following that seemed to deal with school change:

• Results: The key to continuous school Improvement--Mike Schmoker
• Teaching For Tomorrow: Teaching Content & Problem Solving Skills-- Ted McCain
• A Whole New Mind: Moving From the Conceptual Age to the Information Age-Daniel Pink
• Understanding By Design- Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe
• Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything --Donald Tapscott and Anthony Williams

What else should be added to our list? If we really want to begin a systemic change, what can we read to get everyone on the same page....

What KIDS want to see in schools

The other day Will Richardson wrote about a town in the UK whose solution to HS Reform was to close the high schools and open learning centers instead. This provoked a lively discussion as David Warlick reflected on what would become of his daughter who is seeking to become a history teacher.

I have very strong feelings about this...I didn't go into education because of the summers off. As a matter of fact, the amount of time I spend reflecting on practice, professional personal development, creating workshops....I have very little time off at all. I am in education because I am a lifelong learner. Marcie Hull has a great reaction as well...we need to focus on the kids and not the bottom line. I value the learning PROCESS... not the learning CONTENT. I want my own kids to learn by doing not by my telling them. And so I replied to David's post...

... As an elementary teacher and technology integrator I have had student teachers for as long as I can remember and it infuriates me that they step into my classroom, take one look at the smartboard and say "cool, I have never seen anything like that..." Even in Elementary schools when we are supposed to be differentiating preservice teachers are not taught to use tech tools to collect data, and use data to differentiate. They all use myspace and facebook (and most of them have seen kids use webkinz and club penguin) and don't see the tremendous power these tools can have in engaging the kids they are teaching. If anything they take a technology elective and learn to make powerpoints for their Open House presentation. Edutopia had an interesting article recently about what kids want to see in schools..laptops, bluetooth, cell phones, video cameras...I don't doubt that given the opportunity to create relevant learning experiences for themselves, they would. Think of the inquiry in elementary kids when they have the opportunity to really explore something hands on. Curt, I think many teachers teach as they have been taught because they were the kids that were good at "playing school" when they were in school. However, I don't think we can look at this and say until...until the Universities begin to have the discussions, until the teachers learn the skills themselves, until their is a tech literacy curriculum in place, until....this is a systemic problem and at somepoint in time it has to change. I think the thing that would impact the success is the amount of collaboration time, professional development that is given to the teachers. Would your daughter get a job in a learning center...would she keep the job...? If she was willing to be a lifelong learner herself, no doubt she would. As a lifelong learner myself, I LOVE the idea of learning centers and will surely be keeping close tabs. Thanks for another thought provoking discussion.

Gregg Farr had probably one of the most thought provoking call out to educational leaders on LeaderTalk today. So I can't help but think...what will it take for use to give kids what they want...what they NEED to be successful learners in the 21st Century? I ask not just out of curiosity for the future of my career....but for the future of my own 3 children....what will it take?

This is NOT science class...

When a friend pointed out this poster at NECC, I was taken aback. It was a vendor poster for a company that monitored students yada, yada, yada and I got their point...the kid SHOULD be in science class but instead.... So as I continued looking at it I began thinking..."they have it all wrong". THIS is exactly what science class SHOULD be. Kids could study slope, velocity, chemical properties of certain wax and temperature to increase speed...Sometimes I wonder if these things are MORE science class for kids than their science classes actually are. If kids could relate to science the way they relate to snowboarding, wouldn't it be a much richer experience for them?


The Science Learning Network has all kinds of great resources and Exploratorium takes kids through the science of skateboarding, cycling, hockey, surfing, baseball, and other popular sports. Why not check out some of these resources for your science classes this fall...

K-12 Online Conference Presenters Announced

The official list of the 2007 K-12 Online Conference presenters and their presentation titles has been announced! There are 36 presentations (9 per strand--Classroom 2.0, New tools, Professional Learning Networks, Obstacles to Opportunites) in addition to the previously announced keynote presentations in each strand, and a pre-conference keynote by David Warlick, totalling 41 presentations. I was excited to see so MANY from my Blogroll presenting:

Classroom 2.0

Anne Davis (Araphahoe HS)
“Putting the Pedagogy into the Tools”
Dean Shareski (Ideas & Thoughts)
“Design matters”
Jeff Utecht (The Thinking Stick)
“Sustained Blogging in the Classroom”

New Tools

Anne Davis
“Learn to Blog : Blog to Learn”
Kurt Paccio and James Gates ( Tech Ruminations & Tip Line)
“The Electric Slide! Twenty-First Century Style”

Professional Learning Networks:

Jen Wagner, Cheryl Oakes, Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters (Technospud, Cool Cat Teacher )
“Webcasting for Educators: Expanding the Conversation”
Jeff Utecht
“Online Professional Development”

Obstacles to Opportunities

Lisa Durff
“Pushing the Envelope or How to Integrate Web 2.0 Tools on a Shoestring”

The conference will consist of both live, interactive/synchronous, and asynchronous events.
-8-12 October 2007 Pre-Conference
-15-19 October 2007 Week 1 (Strands 1 and 2)
-22-26 October 2007 Week 2 (Strands 3 and 4)
-27 October 2007 When Night Falls

I highly recommend you add this to your calendar and join in this amazing educational experience which begins October 8, 2007!

An invitation to the YouTube Generation

In the USA Weekend paper there was an article titled, "Documenting the War" promoting Ken Burns' upcoming World War II special. I find Burns' work fascinating and this project is no exception. From the article:

"If young people could interview a grandparent or senior neighbor, they'd learn what this generation did during the war -- how, in shared sacrifice, they made their country richer and safer than anyone could ever imagine..... That's where the YouTube generation comes in. For the series, we used 40 of the hundreds of interviews we conducted. Now, Americans are being enlisted in the recording of history. Thanks to a cooperative effort involving PBS and the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project, anyone can get a camera and conduct his or her own interviews of a loved one who lived through the war.... I'm hopeful young people will take their YouTube-honed skills and use them for something like this.

America's most respected historian is inviting the YouTube generation to join him in recording the stories of World War II - before we lose them forever. I think about all of what we are trying to do...get kids to learn content by creating... With all the technology we have access to today, wouldn't documenting oral histories would be a great way for our students to learn history and participate in something amazing. I think what blows my mind about the whole idea is that in many schools...YouTube is blocked to both teachers and student users. With ideas as great as this wouldn't it be best to teach ethics than block great content.

Some links from the article include
http://www.loc.gov/vets/vets-home.html
http://www.pbs.org/thewar/

Wouldn't it be cool to have students gathering oral histories on a variety of topics and other historical events. And why not use TeacherTube to share them?

Here are some other resources and guides on preparing oral histories.
http://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/services/oralhistips.aspx
http://dohistory.org/on_your_own/toolkit/oralHistory.html
http://cnets.iste.org/teachers/pf/pf_oral_history.html

Setting the Wagon in Motion...

I was sorry that I was unable to attend the Model Schools Conference in Washington, DC this past week. If there is anywhere edubloggers need to be it is there! I am fortunate in my district to have some really dynamic leaders who have "future vision" who attended the conference and starting to set the wagon in motion.
Because of my trip to NECC, I was following based on the wiki and blog of a friend who's district is committed to a Rigor & Relevance Framework. One thing that disturbed me was that in a conference for building rigor, relevance and 21st C skills...Jen noted there was no wireless and she only witnessed four other conference attendees who recorded their notes on a laptop. None-the-less if you are interested in learning more about Daggett--check out the links above. I think it is important to point out that t was during the nightly round-table discussions and dinners with the district’s team of 18 administrators and staff development facilitators that the really significant conversation occurred. (kind of like blogger cafe, or dinner conversations at NECC) If there is one thing I can suggest is that district teams attend conferences TOGETHER--be it NECC, PETE & C, Model Schools, Governor's Institute for Innovation and Education, Educon2.0....WHATEVER so that they can have TIME to discuss the impact of the session information on the district’s leadership.

from Jen Dorman's notes...the things that stood out for me as we start to build a plan to move forward...

Students who perform well in our school system do not necessarily perform well in life – skills valued in school are not the core skills and values in real life
The primary aim of education should not be to enable students to do well in school, but to help them do well in the lives they lead outside of school. They are good at studying to learn, but are they really ready to work? I kept seeing repeated that the top 5 new-hire skills included: Communication skills, honesty/integrity, teamwork, interpersonal, strong work ethic.

Kids need to learn from others – even if they are not like you . . .I recall an activity during I believe it was Alan November's session at NECC where we were asked to recall the names of faces...alone it was difficult, but together... You can’t teach kids you don’t know . . . relationships (Carol Ann Tomlinson), relationships are foundational to designing educational experiences that are appropriately rigorous and relevant

According to Jen's notes, the Model School Sessions did suggest some things to leave behind – industrial model of education, low expectations for students (esp. special education and ELL), pure disciplines (content), trainings not attended by leadership (if it’s important enough for them to be here, it’s important enough for you to be here), “this is the way we have always done it”, assign teachers based on seniority, using state assessments as the solution to the problem--WOW, some heavy ideas here...definitely a team decision...Ian Jukes at NECC referred to it as TTWADI (that's the way we always did it)

Highly effective teachers teach very little – they are facilitators of R/R learning--once again a concept that was reinforced at NECC..

Other countries invest in global skills:

* most other industrial countries start world language instruction in primary grades
* international benchmarking and exchange
* technology
* study abroad programs

I read about the importance of Professional Development. One school described the layers of support:

* 3 days of preservice induction
* 10 days of orientations for lateral entries (not trained to be teachers, career changes)
* School based orientation
* School based mentors
* M & M Meetings – mentor/mentee (monthly school based social/professional development) – help them to develop relationships to keep them in-district
* Peer classroom observations and feedback (praise and constructive criticism)
* BTI Lead Teacher Walk Thrus
* Opportunities to observe other peers
* Weekly contact w/school-based mentor
* Moodle . . .
Chris Lehman and Karl Fisch both described similar types of opportunities in their success stories

For many schools it was a FOUR YEAR PROCESS

1. Identify leaders (top-down support) who recognize the need for school/state-wide change
2. Develop partnerships Involve the community
3. Determine guiding principles (ICLE kit contains 12)
4. Establish plan (mission statement and vision, strategic plan involving all students, parents, and staff)
5. Develop advisory boards who can implement practices (organic and natural component of curriculum and instruction)
6. Focus on professional development

Again, I was not there...just reading notes and reflections but it seems to me that the Model Schools, Administrators, Edubloggers....are all speaking the same language, they are just doing it in different places...Scott McLeod suggested we blog leadership for Independence Day --He has some great starting points on his blog today. It will be exciting to all sit down together, compare notes, put the wheels on the wagon (or restructure as the case may be) and get movin'

Hi, My name is Kristin....

and I am addicted to blogging...

When I came across this post in my aggregator, and started to think of my recent twittering, I thought I should give it a try.

78%How Addicted to Blogging Are You?

Apparently I have a problem. For fun, check out your own addiction score and let me know if you are worse than me :)

My posts are all rated G in case you were wondering:

Karl Fisch at NECC

So I am still getting through all of my things from NECC. I recorded Karl Fisch's session and with permission uploaded to my podOmatic page. This was new tool for me but I think podOmatic could be a great resource for teachers in the classroom. Am playing with odeo too.

If you missed Karl's session and want to hear the recording you can check it out
http://khokanson.podomatic.com/