Educational Independence Day...

Scott McCleod recently posted on his Dangerously Irrelevant blog that:

Many of our school leaders (principals, superintendents, central office administrators) need help when it comes to digital technologies. A lot of help, to be honest. As I’ve noted again and again on this blog, most school administrators don’t know

• what it means to prepare students for the 21st century;
• how to recognize, evaluate, and facilitate effective technology usage by students and teachers;
• what appropriate technology support structures (budget, staffing, infrastructure) look like or how to implement them;
• how to utilize modern technologies to facilitate communication with internal and external stakeholders;
• the ways in which learning technologies can improve student learning outcomes;
• how to utilize technology systems to make their organizations more efficient and effective;
• and so on…

I made the same point at Edubloggercon --in order to change a system, you MUST have support from the leaders. I am fortunate in my district to have leaders who understand what it means to prepare students, and are starting to work towards creating a vision. I think (as does Scott) that this message would be much louder, and much clearer if many voices were shouting...
He urges edubloggers to blog about effective leadership Wednesday, July 4th.
Use the tag schooltechleadership--Scott has a whole list of prompts to spark your thinking.... It takes more than just a FEW DROPS to fill a bucket, just like it will take more than a few educators to change the face of education. Yes Dave, we are still in the minority as edubloggers, but as shown by your statistics (and the amount of twittering since NECC) I do believe that our voices are being heard. If you don't blog, comment on someone else's blog, track the conversations, pass them on to your district administrators. I urge you if you have a blog to take this opportunity on July 4th to reflect on the importance of leadership.

What ARE the ESSENTIAL questions....

Still reflecting on everything I learned at NECC.

One thing that was brought up on Tuesday at a meeting for PA educators at NECC, someone (and I am sorry I can't remember who) mentioned that the one thing that really stood out for them from one of the sessions he attended said that Of the 5 questions who, what, when, where, why... 4 of them you can google—the only one you can’t is WHY--Well this has been rattling around in my head ever since.

I think I am so passionate about changes in education because I was a different learner in school. The only class in HS that I ever struggled with was the one where I was only asked to recall information. Read, write, memorize...YUCK because I was looking for the explanations, the exceptions to the rules. I think about my own small children, almost every time they ask a question it is almost always followed up with "why mommy?" Yet as they move on in school somewhere along the road the "why" gets replaced with a need to cover content. What gets lost is the idea that perhaps the content would be learned BETTER if kids were given the opportunity....no REQUIRED to get to the why.

And when reviewing all of my notes I thought about how Alan November said we spend too much time on how and not enough on the when and what and WHY. He spoke about how we shouldn’t be teaching HOW to podcast but spending more time talking about when and what to podcast. In my notes, I thought about how kids then could be using those podcasts to answer the WHY question. November's session will be webcast (http://www.kzowebcasting.com/necc/) but wasn't up at the time of this post. I will definitely go back and review this webcast as he offered a lot of good things to think about when changing systems, getting kids to the why...
Need to keep that in mind when creating a plan for tech integration..
why?

Constructivist Teaching With Technology: Learning With Laptops

I have made a promise to myself that was going to try to do less live blog note-taking and more reflective blogging. Chris Lehman said to me today that he has gathered enough "stuff" here for MONTHS of thoughtful blogs and like he, I need time to reflect on it. Kurt Paccio took some good notes on his blog so I will let you look at those...

My thought of the day comes from a presentation I went to by the Arapahoe HS teachers led by Karl Fisch--of Did you Know fame...The newest version of his PowerPoint is on YouTube and even if you saw version 1, it is worth seeing this version. AND David Warlick of the LandMark Project. I watched as a team of teachers shared the process, the successes, the failures of creating a constructivist model. They shared examples, spoke passionately, and really made the walls of their school transparent. Transparency in the classroom...what a risk they are taking opening the doors of their school to the world. Think about what a paradigm shift this must be. And all with just 2 classroom carts of laptops...2 carts...known by the WORLD!!!!! How can they be SO successful....
Professional Development---THEY don't focus on the technology, while they'd LOVE to have it, the focus is on shifting from a teacher centered model to a learner center model. I listened to David Warlick saying the same thing...He actually suggested that we STOP INTEGRATING TECHNOLOGY????? If we are to come to a conclusion, it is not that we need to integrate technology.
Instead of integrating technology, we must INTEGRATE LITERACY—we need to think about what are the basic skills the kids need to be ready for their information landscape…the technology will come along—but not because we are putting their hands on machine. These machines are the pencil paper of their time, these are the tools of their time.

Two Things we know
1. We are preparing kids for an unpredictable future therefore the BEST thing we can do is teach them to teach themselves

2. Nature of Information has changed therefore we MUST change how we define literacy

These 2 ideas can be merged by beginning to think in terms of LEARNING LITERACY—they will be learning for the rest of their lives and THESE are the things that we NEED to start to teach...
Learning literacy...preparing kids for their future...wow what a concept

Looking for Global Partners

One of the CFF teachers with whom I worked this past year and I spoke at the end of the year about his desire to create a "global issues" course in our HS next year. The vision is to choose some GLOBAL THEMES and have kids from around the world to have peer-peer "conversations" about them...So one of my themes for this year's NECC was to investigate global opportunities. I signed up for a session today and when I walked in and saw a room full of iMacs, I KNEW I would not be disappointed :) This session was done by some apple distinguished educators. Click HERE for the wikispace they have created.
Global Collaborative Resources

MA314 Classroom Innovations Series: Teaching and Learning in a Global Context [Workshop : Hands-on]
Julene Reed, St. Georges Independent School with Lucy Gray Monday, 6/25/2007, 8:30am–11:30am; OMNI International A Learn how to use technology and online resources to provide structured experiences so students deepen their understanding of the world as they explore environments outside the classroom.

They also had a handout with some great resources for finding global partners and projects.

Rock Our World	http://www.rockourworld.org
The GLOBE Project	http://globe.gov
Kidlink	http://kidlink.org/english
My Wonderful World	http://mywonderfulworld.org
iEARN	http://iearn.org
ePALS	http://epals.com
Global SchoolNet Foundation	http://glonalschoolnet.org
Gloriad	http://gloriad.org
Think.com	http://think.com
One World Youth Project	http://oneworldyouthproject.org
Jane Goodall Institute	http://www.janegoodall.org
Roots & Shoots	http://rootsandshoots.org
Global Voices	http://globalvoicesonline.org
Global Learning	http://globalawareness.com
Kids World	http://peacecorps.gov/kids
Kids Around the World	http://www.katw.org

I know as we sit down to plan in September we will use some of these resources. If you are interested in becoming a partner in our global issues course, please let me know...
OH and if you have any ideas about what ISSUES we should think about...should it be up to the kids...are the issues we are concerned about in the US even ISSUES in other areas of the world...the opportunities...

Raising test scores with 21st Century Skills

Wow...the title of this session is every administrator's DREAM. How can we do BOTH.
Ian Jukes will tell you exactly how and if you EVER get a chance to hear him speak, I would highly recommend it. If you are in charge of curriculum in your district you absolutely must take a look at the handouts page he has put together.
He started his session by telling us that his job is not to educate, irritate...give swift kick in your assumptions and looking at things from a different point of view. He talked about how educators have an unconscious mindset for what education should be...and quoted Lou Salza who said it is "easier to change the course of history than to change a history course…" TTWADI—that’s the way we’ve always done it. Pervasive unconscious way we do things and his societal examples were astounding. Having small children, I really connected with the analogy he made of parents teaching child how to walk independently...they continue to try and fail until they finally get it right. Yet even when they are failing, we encourage them until they do succeed. Why is it that we know intuitively that we need to prepare kids for independence and yet we continue to create a culture of dependence in our schools?

But he didn't just talk about the problems. He also gave some solutions. He said we need to start to plan with the end in mind. According to Dale's Cone of Learning we remember only 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30 % of what we see but 90 % of what we do. His idea was to use a 4 D approach: Design, Define, Develop, Debrief.

Here are some of my notes on the approach:
1. Define: have you ever given a kid an assignment and gotten back something TOTALLY different from what you expect: ready fire aim they need to know exactly what they need to know before they go out to do it. At the define stage, the kids need to identify what skills they need to complete task
• Need to define in performance terms
• Must know before they begin how that performance is going to be assessed. Determined in advance. Tell me what you think I just asked you to do…define it in performance terms
2. Design: Have you ever done a garden without thinking through it? Providing a step by step plan in advance—prevents wasted effort and a logical strategy. In the design stage things look good. Ask kids to come up with a plan in advance: Might be working in community, parents, internet…doesn’t matter WHO they learn from as long as they learn it—they have been raised in a culture of dependency—unconsciously they feel that their assessment should be from decontextualized source—if you are not going ot lecture me, how am I going to get help—instead of TELLING them what to do, I am creating a dialogue—
TWO TYPES OF LEARNING
• Determine what needs to be done
• Determine the skills you need to do it

3. Develop: DO IT—put plan into action. Put paper into action. Kids asked to create a real life product. This is NOT a linear process—when we design a project there are always hiccups, always problems. It is EXACTLY like the writing process—we ask them to apply what they learn to perform THE END PRODUCT is important, but in order to improve the product you have to reflect on the process

4. Debrief: Debug CANEI constant and never ending improvement. Right now focus is on the product of learning, not the process of learning. In real life the responsibility of work happens long after the product…to prepare them for their future (not our comfort zone) need to foster independence and self reflection: What was learned, how was it learned, what were the obstacles, what would I do differently. If focus is only on the end product,
Job is not look smart—shift responsibility of learning from me to them
When kids grad from HS, they shouldn’t need us anymore

We HAVE to have the opportunity to FAIL in school there is no success without failure. There is no BIG success without BIG failure….Edison failed 1,000 times when making light bulbs rather than focusing on each attempt, he now knew 1000 ways how NOT to make a light bulb.

I thought the interaction....the how can we do this in OUR schools was the best part of the session. So let's hear it, how CAN we do this in our schools.

We teach KIDS not CONTENT

This is the philosophy of Science Leadership Academy (SLA) in Philadelphia. I had the opportunity to hear Chris Lehman speak about what fundamental changes need to happen in schools based on the trends of web 2.0. In an open forum, the following points were made:

We finally have the tools to realize Dewey’s dream=they are available…do we all have them…? If so, what are the top 2-3 structures that need to change?
These are the words / ideas of the many fantastic minds in the room…These are my notes…thoughts from around the room

• Time: Change how we use our time: Streamline paperwork, give teachers time to adopt new things. Cant do it on top of already packed curriculum
• Use data differently
o What we collect
o The way we collect
o The way we use

• Planning has to change: can’t just start a blog—expectations won’t be met
• Need more models of that kind of planning. 5 point lesson plan doesn’t fit school2.0
• Teacher attitudes not only about the structure of the day, but the structure of the year: Jump into school year rowing as fast as you can without the pre-preparation—paid teacher time during summer, end of year, mid year. ONLINE CAN BE HUGE WITH THIS…C Lehman met with teachers 1 ½ hours in back yard then online in moodle—weekly chats, live talk then threads etc…When we break down the walls of the schools, need to think who we can invite in: F Institute Wed pm… every week have time to meet and plan—be creative with common planning time

• Vision of Principal: Help learning
• CURRICULUM: Spiral Curriculum needs to be ocneected UBD curriculum planning tool
• GRADING: Stop using grades and grade books as weapons against children: learning and starting and stopping
• Location: physical location? Does it need to happen in building—What about the layout—want starbucks layout
• Role of teacher / student: Break down the wall between students and teachers—parent expectations & student expectation

HOW…
Start in kindergarten
Squarely on our shoulders teachers being willing to learn from students
Tell the kids that we don’t have all the answers
Starts with vision
Can we create a school that is different for each student—end user experience—if you get out of
1:1 laptop initiative so kids have equity home / school

Part of school 2.0 is we teach KIDS before we teach subjects
How do you evaluate teacher performance? Admin in every class every day…no evaluation of lesson plans Goals based assessment
Not using evaluation as weapons
Teacher learning must = student learning
George Lucas site…Sherman oaks elementary school…time is built in every day to review what you learn
Connect with the parents: Schools have been black boxes for years if you enter a students id # in moodle, you get a list of HW, can see website, announcements,
If you make your school transparent, parents will get involved 63 % of kids on free and reduced lunch—95 % have computer access…when told parents progress reports are ONLY available online they came flooding for tech help…
In SLA don’t make p.report available through tech as they want the teachers to come in the more we can do when use the tools: we track attendance on line, hw,
The more we can teach….
More we can get the UPPER ADMIN to blog & put themselves out there…
http://www.leadertalk.org

What is the WORST consequence of your BEST idea…what will happen if you let kids blog? what if we don’t disable ichat? You tell me…

What makes an effective international project?

What makes an effective international project?
This was the topic of the first session I attended this afternoon at the EdubloggerCon. I was really excited for this one as I had contact with both Vicki Davis (who skyped into my PETE& C session this February) and Julie Lindsay (who commented on our Latin American Wiki

Vicki Davis is a 10th grade introduction to computer science teacher in rural Westwood GA
At Vicki’s school…Curriculum is research / knowledge based --genuine assessment—she has given up 250 question exams in favor of project based learning.

Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay connected through k-12 Online Conference last year. Vicki ran online teacher wiki workshop. She talked about having her students read The World is Flat
CQ + EQ > IQ
That’s “Curiosity Quotient” plus “Passion Quotient” is greater than “Intelligent Quotient.”

After the conference, Julie emailed Vicki to say “I am on the other side of this flat world...let's connect our classrooms and talk about it…” and that was how it all began. They wanted to make the project wikicentric. Looked at tools--how they would link classes together, what would be the best tools. Structured the project so that there was ongoing and regular communication throughout. Individual and shared work--assessment would be based on the shared work, but still
They were experiencing the trends and writing about the trends at the same time.

The next step was the Horizon Project
Studied what college education is going to look like in the next 3-5 years. 5 classrooms, 55 students, whole new level of complexity in communications. ie kids need to respond to emails when they are sent. They established a project manager to manage the teams.
If we continue to allow our students to be ethnocentric--thinking that US is the center of the universe, we need to teach them to collaborate and build bridges with these students in other areas of the world

These students : in their classrooms: know how to tackle problems—won state literary competitions, the students were achieving new goals—I was really impressed with how much these students had achieved.
The discussion then moved
What defines an effective international project?
Consistency with both sides
Widen world for rural students
Make administrators aware of trends
Rethink stereotypes & communication: gaming
Must be part of curriculum: cultural awareness… NEED to be aware of it, see world through one another’s eyes

I thought it was interesting that Vicki commented that —while classroom is homogeneous IN the classroom= diverse because of the partners she has created
The attendees were a very diverse group and came up with amazing ideas

• GenYes
• Have to have hooks…
• Clearly defined objectives and assessements

Discipline: if you don’t have discipline in your classroom, you have no business being involved in a global collaborative project
And this was just session 1….

We talked about PROJECT BASED LEARNING and how defined curriculum is putting a damper on initiatives—how can we work these initiatives into the existing curriculum.
On a final note…the comment was made…
For a democracy our school system looks very communistic…
Your thoughts?

Edubloggercon07

So I made it to Atlanta...my luggage unfortunately :)
I just HAD to get to Edublogger proconference and I am SO GLAD I did. Will Richardson, Steve Dembo, Jeff Utecht, Chris Craft, almost my entire blogroll in the same room.

I got to attend 2 sessions this afternoon: Roundtable forums...open discussions...tough topics

Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis talking about what makes a successful international project...
Chris Lehman examining what we need to change about the "structures" of school 2.0...

Am furiously typing notes and PROMISE to get them up in less time than I last blogged.
Until then... check out the schedule on the wiki to see what you are missing

Boy I have missed this :)

An Online Conference to check out...

I was contacted this week by Anne Mason, the Online Facilitator for the ICT PD (Information and Communication Technologies Professional Development) cluster programme, an initiative of the New Zealand Ministry of Education. She wanted permission to use my Connected Classroom Video on Teacher Tube. It looks like an interesting conference so I thought I would pass the link along...should be some good information--take some time to check it out.

Time4 Online Conference: Engaging Learners in an Online Environment
http://www.time4online.org.nz
28 May - 8 June

Prepare students for the 21st Century. Explore examples of collaborative online learning and the application of Web 2.0 technologies in teaching and learning. Presenters include educators and students from New Zealand and overseas, with keynote speakers Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach , Student Voices and now included, Derek Wenmoth. Sheryl begins the conference this Monday, 28 May, with three video clips and a discussion forum.

Access audio and video links and support material, and participate in collaborative online areas. The Pre-conference Preview and activities are now available, and gaining interest throughout New Zealand and the world. We encourage you to actively participate, so register now, sign our Visitors’ Book, add a comment in the Cafe area and become familiar with the online environment before it begins this Monday, 28 May.

PA Legislators...one step forward, one step back..?

As thrilled as I have been with everything Classrooms For the Future...I was equally shocked when I read in Dangerously Irrelevant today (sorry Jim ...D... comes before T... in my bloglines) about the proposed cell phone ban in Pennsylvania. As Scott points out, the vague language of the bill
"... portable electronic devices that record or play audio or video material shall be prohibited on school grounds, at school sponsored activities and on buses or other vehicles provided by the school district" can serve to prohibit well, just about EVERYTHING....HMMM.... CFF requires each classroom to be equipped with such devices.

I disagree with this as an educator, but also as a parent. I want my kids to be able to capture meaningful events... I want to be able to keep in touch with them if they are getting back late from an event.... is this not a step backward?

State Representative Angel Cruz, Democrat from Philadelphia, invites your input on this proposed bill. So go ahead, let him know what you think. I know I want my voice to be heard. If you are a blogger...reading this post...I hope you will encourage others to do the same.

To click or not to click....

As more schools move to 1:1, I am curious if anyone has found a "clicker like" system that students can log in from their lap-tops and teachers get the results. It seems silly when kids already have laptops in their hands, that you should have to put ANOTHER tool in their hands just so kids can click in...
I was catching up in my bloglines and back in April, Christian wrote in the think:lab about some Clicker-like tools--there were quite a few more mentioned in the comments. I finally got a chance to check some of them out.
Qwizdom : Needs a clicker
2Know: Needs a clicker
CPS: Needs a clicker
GRRRR...So far a clicker system built into the laptop doesn't seem to exist, maybe I am giving away MY million dollar idea....Any developers out there want to work with me:)

In the meantime, give me your take on any of these solutions:

TEACHERS..are you paying attention....

I spent an entire week at Apple training talking about what teachers need to know about teaching and learning in the 21st century, but it all REALLY hit home as I was looking over the pages of our Latin American wiki project this weekend. The whole time this project has been evolving I have been so impressed with how the kids are collaborating, but what has struck me even more was what is happening as these kids need to present their final findings.

After their research is done and the pages are completed, the final activity is for the kids to TEACH the material to their classmates and do you know what they have planned? Embedding a YouTube Video of Che Guevara speaking out about Cuba's disadvantage to view in class during the lesson. They have taped interviews an uploaded to Google Video (scroll to page bottom to view.) They are using Quia Quizzes to test prior knowledge of their classmates. One group has asked me if they could embed a news ticker for current events. Yet another is creating an activity using subetha edit where they can discuss what they learned when reading the page for homework...they are choosing to use the tools that engage them, help them to learn best.

Teachers...are you paying attention...

When students become the teachers

Today on the wiki.... gigiw writes: sp5 students-question Why is Puerto Rico not considered a Caribbean country on the countries list while Jamaica and the Bahamas are? Posted Today 8:57 am -

marthalsp5 writes: re: sp5 students-question I do believe it's because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of America and is not technically it's own independent country. Posted Today 1:45 pm -

talsp5 writes: re: sp5 students-question Technically it's not an indpendent country (since our government has pretty much infiltrated theirs). It's a Caribbean state, but not a country. Posted Today 1:46 pm -

tonymsp5 writes: re: sp5 students-question According to the facts Puerto Rico is a common wealth of the United States of America therefor it cannot be a Latin American country! (: Posted Today 1:46 pm -

vannamsp5 writes: re: sp5 students-question Puerto Rico is partially part of the United State because of their currency. It's not a independent country. Posted Today 1:49 pm -

brittanyrsp5 writes: re: sp5 students-question Martha, this is true, but the bahamas are too, if I am remembering correctly, and despite that it is U.S. territory Puerto Rico has its own history and culture, which greatly differs from that of the United States. I stand by that they should be inlcuded in this list By the way sp5= spanish 5 Seniors answering the freshman questions (and debating what they spent the last 5 years learning. Evaluating, judging, defending....all higher level skills....NONE of this coming from the teacher....just students hungry for the answers GOOD STUFF!!!!

Addicted to the idea of Going GLOBAL...

I know that both Julie and Vicki have blogged about how the Horizon Project has been somewhat consuming. While I have followed their project, I only began to understand their addiction when I became involved in my own project. Following the students' discussion board, watching the evolution of their thoughts, and how these kids are moving from simply absorbing content to actually creating content has been SUCH a powerful experience...

When asked what they think it means to present to a global audience...

Ketup writes: re: Presenting for a global audience

Since this project has a chance of being global, I feel, just like Lauren, that we should be cautious about what we write. I also agree with Dani, that we should use reliable resources. We should show alot of respect to other cultures; speak the facts!

jillh writes: re: Presenting for a global audience

We need to presnt our facts concisely so other people don't have to wade through tons and tons of compiled information. With people all the over the world who can view things, it's important to say what you want to say as understandably as possible...and for us people, that means nothing as extremely complex as I know some of us are used to writing. it's like on YouTube--if your video description is more than a few sentences, less people will read it.

laurencl3 writes: re: Presenting for a global audience

The idea of our information going global not only frightens me because it means that people outside of our school might be scrutinizing our work, but also amazes me because i think this is an excellent way to get our school and our abilities as such gifted students out into the world! But like I said, the whole global think kind of freaks me out, so to make sure that we look like we know what we're doing and not embarrass ourselves, we should check and double check our facts before posting them, only use the discussion boards for latin america- related topics, etc. And because it seems like this might be our last project of the year (fingers crossed!) it goes without saying that we should put our best work out into the world and show how much we have grown in our first year of high school because we want to show people that we really are ADVANCED and worthy of the Humanities course.

Checking facts, do our best work, being concise, showing respect....all 21st Century Skills...

When asked about collaboration

owaisn2 writes: re: Working Collaboratively

Every individual in the gropup should have his/her own personal job/assignment to do so that the group is able to collect and share information in an appropriate fashion
reginab1 writes: re: re: Working Collaboratively

Dividing up the research and assigning jobs are important; but before we jump into that I think the group should discuss general facts, prior knowledge and their own interests to make sure everything is covered and people are researching what they're interested in. That way, the work will be easier and there's less chance of one person having to pull through a lot of work on a topic that was forgotten.

It has been so great to have them using tools outside of the classroom for this collaboration. Check out how THIS page has evolved--using discussion tools and the wiki mail system.

Thanks so much to Jim G for pointing out our little Latin America Wiki Project... He has way more Latin American readers than the ONE I have (Thanks Jeff D) The Clustr Map shows the students how truly global their work is.....The in-class conversations about what countries actually qualified as Latin American....SO different from GIVING the kids the countries to research. Can't help but think about how cool would it be for them to learn about these regions not from other students in their school, but by students who actually live in the countries they are studying...
SO...If you are reading this ... and you are in a Latin American country OR you are reading this and you KNOW someone who is in a Latin American country...PLEASE pass along our wikispace.
http://learninglatinamerica.wikispaces.com

Great Graphing Lesson

So I am probably too late to get the free dvd :) but this one is worth passing along.
Do you teach graphing to your students? If so THIS one I found via Chris Craft and Steve Dembo is a great lesson complete with videos and plans. The idea that we can describe things that happen with mathematical graphs isn't new, nor is the idea that this is an effective introduction to a linear unit.

What this teacher did (in his own words)

I went out and taped ten events. They were simple. I walked down two flights of stairs. I ran up a hill. I drove my car. Each event was exactly fifteen seconds long.

I put a handout on every student’s desk with a graph ready for each event.

I played each event and then paused the video. I asked questions like, “When the clock started, was I up high or down low?”

He has the lessons, description AND videos on his site--check it out, I know I will be following it.

Thinking outside the box...

I have been following some really cool projects these days. I have been fascinated by Vicki Davis & Julie Lindsay's Flat Classroom and Horizon Project. Julie just posted today a whole list of global collaborative projects. Watching these kids collaborate and create, care about their content, and deal with critical issues is very inspiring. I think these skills: collaborating, evaluating, and creating are so critical in the 21st Century and it has caused me to start thinking outside the box. As a technology coach, it is my job to get teachers to work on making the technology use a seamless part of their instruction and I am really excited about a project that we have just started. While on a MUCH smaller scale then the projects mentioned above, we have created a wikispace for the kids to study aspects of Latin American culture and teach one another what they have learned. We JUST started today and so far I am impressed with the discussion that is going on...the planning, the collaborating....I can't wait to see how this project takes off. If you get a chance...check it out.
http://learninglatinamerica.wikispaces.com
I'd love to get some feedback to pass along. It would be interesting to see how the kids react to a global audience.
PS Looks like from my Clustr map that I don't have any Latin American readers....if you know of any that may want to contact us to collaborate or check our information.....
How's that for a shameless plea for readers ;>)

Really Cool Map Mashup

I have to admit--I have always been VERY social. So when I saw that a PA group started for NECC attendees I was very excited. Now I would be able to tell which of my friends in my networks were going to be there....but Atlanta is a big city, how would I know where everyone was staying?
I started by creating a google map--only to discover that I was the only one who could add placemarks. So I started my quest for map mashups that would allow multiple users to add bookmarks.....I have always liked frappr, but found that when I was on my district network I was unable to access it. Then I found platial. The basic concept is this: you create a map of a certain locations, add bookmarks and people can comment on the bookmarks you added or add their own. I created a map for PA NECC attendees so they could add the placemarks of where they were staying--neat because it could be embedded into the wikispace for the PA group as well.
Platial has some pretty cool maps....like good eats in NY and some cool features, like you can limit who can add to your map.....Then I started to think about OTHER more educational applications. What about creating a map of the battles of Gettysburg. Teacher can bookmark the sites, students can comment on what happened there. OR a map of natural disasters--kids can add the location and others can comment. If you are visiting my blog today--take some time to click on my platial map and let me know where you are visiting from!!!!

Understanding Tragedy in a Connected World...

Like many, I have struggled all day to make sense of what happened yesterday. Our schools are supposed to be sacred places. In a place where people come not only to learn, but to share their knowledge, to produce citizens to make this world a better place, such things should not happen.

My babysitter was a Virginia Tech Student. She found out today that one of her friends was killed in the massacre.

While I don't want to exploit what is a terrible tragedy, I can help but think.... think about how many students at Tech were getting their information from off campus through cell phones and text messaging...think about how a tech alert system in place may have changed the outcome...think about how the first footage from the scene was from a student's cellphone. I think too of how because of media and instant information repeated over and over, how painful this loss must be for those who are living it. My sitter is one of my friends on Facebook, I left her a message on her wall to let her know I am thinking about her and her friends. A group was started in her friend's memory on Facebook. In less than an hour this group grew from 71 members to over 370. I marvel at the power of the tools that are bringing people together in such difficult times...allowing them to communicate, to express, to grieve. There has been so much negative press about the dangers of sites like myspace or facebook and here is an example of how it is bringing people together in very powerful ways.

Vicki Davis talks about a world where technology is a friend, journalist, and tool of safety. where wikipedia has more reliable information than a single news source.

I grieve with the world and continue to pray for the families, students, and faculty who were affected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech.

Are you paying attention....

I came upon this video via Wesley Fryer's Moving at the Speed of Creativity--In the spirit of Karl Fisch's Did you Know PowerPoint and many of the other conversations being held about how to reach kids and teach them how they learn, I thought it worth posting. Not only does it have lots of good information, but the references on each slide to support. Not only that it offers ways to actually reach these digital natives. Interesting that it actually has more views on TeacherTube than on YouTube--let's hope that continues to stay unblocked in most districts.




Don't let yourself get STUCK.

Get ready for the future....

I came across this via Durff's Blog and Apple Learning Interchange...
As we move towards 1:1 in my school district, I think it is well worth passing along as food for thought.

Let’s have a little competition at school and get ready for the future. I will use a laptop and you will use paper and pencil. Are you ready…?

I will access up-to-date information - you have a textbook that is 5 years old.
I will immediately know when I misspell a word – you have to wait until it’s graded.
I will learn how to care for technology by using it – you will read about it.
I will see math problems in 3D – you will do the odd problems.
I will create artwork and poetry and share it with the world – you will share yours with the class.
I will have 24/7 access – you have the entire class period.
I will access the most dynamic information – yours will be printed and photocopied.
I will communicate with leaders and experts using email – you will wait for Friday’s speaker.
I will select my learning style – you will use the teacher’s favorite learning style.
I will collaborate with my peers from around the world – you will collaborate with peers in your classroom.
I will take my learning as far as I want – you must wait for the rest of the class.
The cost of a laptop per year? - $250
The cost of teacher and student training? – Expensive
The cost of well educated US citizens and workforce? - Priceless

It is worth noting that this was originally posted on Abilene, Kansas High School Dialogue Buzz website during the spring of 2003. . Given that 96% of students say that school is important for their success, and only 20% say it is meeting their needs and the fastest growing set of computer users today are 5-7 year olds. Given that at the time of this posting, in 2003 4%of US school districts were involved in a 1:1 initiative. By 2011, it is estimated that 24% of districts will be involved in a 1:1 deployment. The question shouldn't be are we ready...it should be are we moving fast enough?