K-12 conference

I viewed two of the K-12 conference posts today and liked both of them. Following Diana's suggestion, I visited "Little Kids, Big ideas". I liked that she focused on just a few tools and explored how they could be used in the classroom. I incorporated two of her ideas immediately following viewing the presentation. I went to Wall wisher and decided to incorporate a sticky note wall into my social studies wiki. I had already envisioned students sharing just a sentence or two on a topic--and I think the wall will be perfect. I might have to add a few more walls, though, as I'm not sure how many stickies fit. It also limits the number of characters, but in this case that might be fine. There were other interesting aspects of this site, but I didn't fully explore them. I also visited comic creator and made a comic for my sharing project. I still need to work out a few bugs-- but it was fun and I created a slide for my power point. I could see students using it. I plan to visit Edmoto, another recommended site, soon. She also showed how Wordle could be used as a tool to help develop deductive reasoning with students. Not bad for one short presentation.

I also enjoyed Bridging History Using 2.0 tools. This is especially good for History teachers of all levels. She also packed lots of good practical advice and tools into a short presentation. We've talked about Blogster, but the way she used it really made me want to explore it. She also talked about the ability to connect easily to primary sources. She talked about how 2.0 tools are more interactive and creative than older internet teaching techniques--but she suggested that new tools could be used to improve old ways of doing things--not to completely replace essentially good units.

Both of these presentations really addressed the feeling I sometimes have about all this--it's cool, but how can I use it in my classroom. These were practical answers to that question.

reflections on Angela Maiers' "Engaging Our Youngest Minds"

Shelley's post intrigued me, so I decided to listen to this presentation, too. Near the beginning of her talk, Maiers shows a slide of many, many names and icons of web 2.0 tools. She says that she had expected to be presenting on how to use engaging tools with young students, but ended up realizing that the real question is how to ignite long-term passion for learning. This is so important, and I agree with the presenter and with Shelley that it can get downplayed in this era of focus on standardized test scores. Shelley writes about how she tries to find the movement or reason for moving that will be so tempting that her reluctant-to-move-around preschoolers will keep doing it outside of class. Reading is so much like that, too -- with those of my students who are reluctant readers, with my own just-learning-to-read kindergarten daughter, etc. The subject area where I feel this need and this conflict most keenly, though, is probably Science. I taught Science as my "main subject" (two or three sessions a day in sixth grade, along with other subjects), for my first six years or so in Sharon. Then I did other things (taught mainly math, had a baby, taught only math, and then returned to the regular classroom in a position where first I didn't teach science at all and now I teach it only one period every couple of days) for nine years. What I always loved best about teaching science was teaching process skills, scientific thinking (As habits of mind to come to employ automatically, not as a list of process steps to memorize!), and a love of scientific inquiry! Now, in contrast, the little time that I have available in my classroom schedule for science has to be filled mostly with content -- facts. Facts had an important place before, of course, but I always felt that process skills and scientific thinking were more important for my relatively young students. Nowadays, in contrast, how do I continue to ignite a passion for science, and a commitment to scientific modes of thought, with such a huge colllection of facts to teach and so little time to teach them in? One time a couple of years ago, the parent of one of my students from about ten years earlier stopped me in the street to tell me that her daughter had been so inspired by the wackiest science investigation that we ever did, that it continued to influence her hobbies and even her career choice! Under the current circumstances of testing pressure, will I ever manage to ignite that kind of passion for science again?

OK, back to Maiers' talk: Maiers describes a neighborhood preschooler, age 5, who had become passionate about saving an injured panda and other animals. She read about them, wrote flyers, designed t-shirts to wear herself, and collected $200 in just three days! Maiers goes on to compare Halley's passion for learning and creating, to the affect of students in most school classrooms. She then points out that technology can be used either just to match Halley's interest, by giving her online books and articles to read about pandas, or to further develop and encourage her passion, by giving her ongoing research to read, access to scientists with whom she can communicate directly, a place to WRITE books as well as read them, interactions on sites such as DebateIt.com (?), etc.

I wish that Maiers had spent a little bit more of her presentation recommending some particular tools to help young students create online books, connect with scientists, have debates with far-away peers, etc. Maiers speaks about a topic of great importance, and describes a goal essential to 21rst-century teaching and learning, and I'm glad that I watched it. I just wish that Maiers' talk had offered a little bit more practical advice on how to accomplish her important goal, both in terms of balancing competing time pressures in a standardized testing environment, and in terms of making practical suggestions of particular web sites that might be useful tools in the quest to help students pursue their passions.

k12 conference

Just watched some of the k12 conference presentations: Trying to keep all my comments in one place!

Kim Cofino’s “Going Global” Keynote

I just finished watching Kim Cofino’s “Going Global” Keynote, and many thoughts come to mind. To comment I will stick with the structure that Kim’s keynote follows. I do not dare to do anything else considering it is only Wednesday night, and I can honestly say that this week has perhaps been the most challenging, both professionally and personally, that I can recall. I will spare all of you the details.

Culture shock: I totally agree with Kim (I think I can use her first name) that mobility, customization, adaptability, blending, always being on, collaboration, responsiveness, global awareness, and flexibility are not only important skills that students and teachers should have/ obtain, but these should also be part of our new approach to education in general. Being a realist, I also look at the implications and how much change would need to take place. Possible yes, I suggest small steps. Time, training, attitude, and money will all be needed to make change occur. For example, I tried to copy a set of quizzes today and the copier needed toner. I looked around for toner and there was none available. I went to a second copier and there was no copy paper. I went to the supply room to get paper and copied the quiz. That said I needed to hand staple 92 quizzes because the stapler in the copier was not working. Forty minutes later I was done!

Convergence: In this section I listened to numerous “Third Culture Kids” discuss the mostly positive aspects of living in cultures in which they were not born. The TCK’s convinced me that they were more global, and better able to “walk” into unknown situations than students who are more insulated. I see great value in these programs and admire families who are able to commit to these endeavors. However, I do not for one moment see the connection between living and learning in a different culture (International Schooling) and using technology to bring a student into that culture. Kim said that our students “don’t need to move around the world” to experience and obtain the same skills behaviors, and attitudes as the Third

Culture Kids. I have had the privilege of studying abroad for about a year’s time. During this time I lived in Geneva, Switzerland, but traveled to about 15 different countries. I was immersed in cultures and systems that were foreign and at times scary. This experience was very life altering, ranking only behind the birth of my daughter and meeting my wife. For example, I saw the Matterhorn while having the freshest and cleanest air strike my face as I skied down to Zermatt. I sipped French wine out of a fifty-year-old oak barrel while in Dijon. I floated in the Ionian Sea and felt how buoyant I was because of the increased salinity. I do not mention these experiences to relive old memories but to illustrate the point that seeing the Matterhorn on Google Earth, Skyping with a French sommelier, and reading a blog about how cool it is to float higher up in the water, does not come close to the actual experience. Yes, having our kids become more global is important. Yes, technology is allowing this to occur. Yes, teachers need to meet this challenge. I just don’t see the connection that Kim has made.

Future of Education: Kim’s suggestions are important for anyone willing to “go global” and further flatten our world. She advocates that the teacher must be “connected” first before “connecting” the classroom. Comfort is an important thing in teaching, but so is growth! Personally, I am to busy right now to judge the merits of spending more time away from my personal relationships versus spending more time creating relationships that are processed through tiny bits of data.

Google SketchUp Unleashed by Joe Bires

I just watched a video /screen cast on the powers of Google SketchUp. In brief, Google SketchUp is a 3 dimensional rendering program that is free and able to run on many different platforms. Just like the game of Othello, it takes a minute to learn and a lifetime to master. During this video, the presenter mentions that having students solve problems using a 3-dimensional approach empowers students much more than the typical 2-dimensional approach.

Many years ago I tried using Google SketchUp and failed. At that time the program was very convoluted and filled with countless bugs. Watching Joe Bires navigate through the updated version, I see that Google has simplified the learning process. Any teacher that uses design, build, or engineering within their curriculum should investigate this program. Joe Bires recommends allowing lots of play time so as to not overwhelm the students. Make sure they find success early on, if not they will not delve deeper into the program. Trust me, I know!

The iPod Touch in the Classroom By: Kern Kelley

Mr. Kelley provides a simple overview of how to get started using an ITouch or IPhone in the classroom. He then previews some basic settings and applications that may be useful in a classroom setting. Having an Iphone, I have already used the IPhone in the classroom. I now take attendance with the phone, and I keep track of my school email through the phone. In addition I have many applications that help students see and understand science content. I downloaded a seismometer app on the phone that is extremely sensitive and can be used with a projection unit. It was really neat to see kids tapping their feet 30 feet away from the phone, and watching the seismic waves get graphed through the projection system. The power that these devices offer is amazing. They are cheap, reliable, and have great potential. The number of applications that are available can be overwhelming and they are growing by the hour. Mr. Kelley suggested a website called http://www.iear.org. This site provides a solid review of applications that one might consider using in the classroom setting.

There are limits to these devices. With tight school budgets, I would still rather laptop computers for each student. Yes, they are more expensive, but they provide a larger screen and a far more productive typing mechanism (a full keyboard). That said, I do look forward to the possibility of having a set of ITouch/ IPhones to use within the classroom..

Digiteens: Digital Citizenship by Digital Teenagers

Presented by Vicki Davis and Westwood Schools Students

In this short video, students are taught about what digital citizenship means. The students then select an area of interest to further research. Some of these areas include internet safety, security, cyber bullying, digital health and wellness, and digital addiction. The students then create self-directed projects that communicate a researched message related to digital citizenship through collaborative efforts. These students then share and communicate their message to a larger world audience. These messages/projects seem to engage the students and are authentic.

This is such an extremely effective method of teaching and learning in the 21^st century.

Musings...

I was reading Time magazine's person of the year issue which also included commentaries on many, many aspects of the first decade of this century. Along with my complete incredulity that Usain Bolt was one of the top five persons of the year, I was amazed by all of the technological advances, innovations and improvements during the last ten years!

According to Time the average person received 13, 505 emails in 2009. Wow. For some reason I'm guessing that the students we work with probably have sent one or two more than the average.

This also makes me wonder about the time devoted to email/downloading crap to our iwhatevers/research/projects/papers/grading, etc. We're continually placing blam on the lack of 'time' to complete things, yet I wonder what the 200 million people who signed up for Facebook last year were doing with their time.

What happens come January 22nd

I believe our last class is January 21st - a new concern for January 22 and beyond.

I finally checked in with my iGoogle page last night and saw that posts were made this weekend, the very first weekend of vacation. Egad, I thought. I'm slacking. I had planned to give myself a break, enjoy the holiday and start of vacation, and enjoy (in theory) the rounds of family that have been visiting or staying. I hadn't picked up my computer in days. The lasagnas (meat and meatless), chicken parmesans, roasted vegetables... consumed my life for a change. What surprised me, was how easy it was to put all that I have immersed myself in these past months aside, and not give it a thought (except - jeesh, my rss reader is probably packed). As a matter of fact, I think I could have left this well enough alone for the duration of vacation. Scary thought for as me as I thought I had crossed this great digital divide and arrived on the web2.0 side. Is it this easily that I can leave it all behind?

With a quiet house, I thought I'd watch another K12 Online Conference presentation. Diana, I watched the one you commented on because I wanted to see about this Screentoaster thing. I like how he kept his presentation simple, clear, and directed (thought I did lose audio at the end). It was reassuring to see him present two tools that we have been introduced to in class, Diigo and Prezi. With all that is out there, I find it really helpful to see tools used repeatedly to help me get a feel for them and to see that they may really fit into my post January 21st life. I think now I may even have an idea for my digital sharing project. Need I be worried that I am still waffling (oh, a breakfast idea for family that is somehow still around - homemade waffles, yum)? One comment that Drew makes at the beginning is that if we find ourselves watching this, we are probably going above and beyond. It's nice to have that sentiment acknowledged, but it makes me wonder, will this ever be the norm for me and not above and beyond? Or will I always be caught in the middle straddling the divide?

As a humorous aside, does this blog post ring true for anyone those last few days of school with all the treats available? Don't miss the label.

reflection on digiteens

There was some powerful information in this presentation and I will definitely share it with my teenager. More than 2 1/2 times the number of car wrecks from driving while texting (DWT) as when DUI. As a parent who is just entering into the 21st century, my children have always been ahead of me in the social networking. I have always been frightened by it and tried to educate them about the dangers I was aware of. I told them the horror stories of people not getting jobs because of pictures on facebook and they would always try to reassure me of their safety by explaining how facebook or myspace worked and assuring me that only their friends could see anything. I still don't believe that and, perhaps even more importantly, who or what is a friend? I know my daughter doesn't have 837 friends, so who are all of those strangers? Just as when children were young, parents taught about safety and the school supplemented that, sometimes bringing in the experts, I feel the same should be true about these digital dangers. The school environment helps to make the education from home become more than warnings from out of date parents, reinforces and enhances the message, perhaps bringing in more professional expertise.
OK, I know this is not being read in real time, but something just happened in real time that is an exclamation point to anthing else I was going to write. I got interrupted while writing this entry to go pick my daughter up at the mall. As she was waiting at the entrance, she was suddenly hugging another teenage girl. When she got into the car and I asked her who it was, she responded, "She's Kelsey's friend, we are friends on facebook and we recognized each other from our pictures...it's great to finally meet her!" Scarey!!I then went to research her number of friends on facebook and found a new profile picture which I had to tell her to remove immediately. All that while responding to the dangers of teens in the digital age. Coincidence?

reflection on Engaging our Youngest Minds

Angela Maiers hits the nail on the head for me, not just for education but for life skills. Those who succeed will be passionate. I feel that our job as educators, and mine as a PT is to find a child's passion and find ways for giving them what they need while feeding their passion. As a school system PT my caseload is filled with children who dislike motor movement because it is challenging. This creates a vicious cyle, they avoid motor movement, never practice and therefore don't grow without intervention. My half hour or hour per week of contact with that child is just the tip of my work's iceberg. During our sessions, my quest is to show them some of the joy of movement. If I can make a connection, tieing in movement with their personal interests, and present it at a just right level, I hope that I can inspire them to desire that movement. If that movement brings them some pleasure, joy and fun, perhaps they will incorporate it into their play repetoire...wouldn't that yield far more growth than my sessions with the child? If they ever develop a passion about these activities, my goals would be accomplished.
Angela Maiers describes the philosophy of a classroom that weaves differentiated instruction into its environment. We can only hope for passionate teachers who are willing to take the time and effort to explore their students' passions and capture the opportunity for incorporating that into their learning. The quote, "Passionate learners are an endangered species" is very sad, but I also don't believe it is true. Although there is very little respect for passion with all of the preparation for MCAS that currently occurs in schools, I do believe that most teachers try to incorporate students interests and/or passions into their teaching. This does become more challenging as the students age, especially in high school where they have multiple classes for shorter periods of time. It seems as though high school students are so overscheduled in their personal lives, that there is very little time left over after completing their "have-to's" to be able to explore their "want-to's".

k12online Presentation Reflection: Kelly Hines, "Little Kids, Big Possibilities"

Hines begins by stating that those who work with elementary-aged students (under age 13) should be concerned about following the provisions of the Internet Children's Protection Act. (I forget the exact acronym. I wish we'd discussed this more in class! I know that most of the people left in the class teach middle school or high school, but there's still a big sixth-grade contingent, and it's as relevant for them as it is for me in fifth grade.)

Hines also assumes that teachers will agree with her that social networking online is useful for students this age. I still feel that this needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. Time is always an issue worth considering, whether it's classroom time or homework time. Some of my students panic if I assign homework that's due the next day and required either real creativity (finishing a story) or online access. They have very busy schedules, and count on being able to get some of their homework done in little bits of time, perhaps in the car or over breakfast (?) or something. My students have been very happy with the couple of online (on our class wiki) homework assignments I've given then so far, but only when they have a couple of days to do them.

Hines recommends Wallwisher as a safe site for social networking with students under age 13. This is partly because you don't have to create accounts using students' names or email addresses. She discusses a number of potential uses of Wallwisher with elementary students: working on academic skills such as sequencing, summarizing, and distinguishing between fact and opinion, sharing ideas and responses, providing a "back channel" to classroom discussions,

Here's an example where she used Wallwisher for "backchanneling", reinforcing content learning, and practicing the skill of organizing information: Hines showed her students a "Magic Treehouse" video on animal adaptations to a desert environment. During the video, students individually took notes using "sticky notes" on the Wallwisher site. Afterward, each student (I think individually, but I wasn't quite clear about this) sorted and organized the class's (I think the whole class's) notes. Then they discussed the different sorting methods that different students had used.

. . . This actually sounds to me like a great application of online technology to real classroom learning goals, with two caveats: (1) At this point in her presentation, Hines hasn't yet stated whether each student in her class had a laptop during this presentation, or whether they were in the Computer lab. In my building we currently don't have a classroom set of working laptops, or really any laptops for student use that work well. I could do an activity like this in the Computer Lab, but I'm not sure whether there's a VCR in the Lab (I guess that's a fairly easy problem to solve), and I'm not sure that having the whole class watching one video together, even with them writing these interactive sticky notes at the same time, is the best way to use our Computer Lab time (although we do watch Brainpop videos sometimes -- But students then take the quiz after the video at their own pace, and go back and study their missed answers at their own pace, so that feels a little different). . . . (2) My second concern is that most of my students do not yet touch-type. Some still have to hunt-and-peck for the letters. So, wouldn't taking notes using a computer keyboard distract them from watching the video as it continued to play?

She goes through how to set up and use a Wallwisher account in some detail. It looks pretty intuitive. You can register either directly or through a Google account, and you can maintain multiple "walls" (for multiple classes or multiple projects) through one dashboard.

Next, Hines speaks very enthusiastically about Wordle. This was interesting to me, since (although I have used Wordle once with my students, following a colleague's lead for a "getting to know you" project early in the year) I have so far seen wordle more as a "toy" than as a useful tool. I'm not completely convinced by Hines' examples of using it as a useful tool, but they are intriguing. She has made wordles of newspaper passages (using the rss feed from their local newspaper), and had students use deductive reasoning and inference to figure out which section on the paper the wordle came from. (I can see some value in that, but am not sure that it really targets the inference skills I would want to target, since it forces students to look almost entirely at the word level in order to make their inferences. I think my students would enjoy this particular activity and would get something out of it, but I'm not sure that I could completely justify it as the best possible use of our language arts time. Maybe, though, on occasion.) Another example, that I found more convincing, was that she made a wordle of an account of a stock market crash, and then students had to figure out what it was about (which was pretty easy) and also which of two possible time periods it came from (which was harder, and apparently led to a great discussion which included a lot of historical ideas and information as well as good deductive reasoning). Interesting uses of a tool that I had previously mostly dismissed! (To get an embed code for a wordle, choose the option "Save to Public Gallery". ... There are editing tools at the top, to change a wordle to make it more readable, etc.)

She discusses Comic Creators (I think that's a particular site) and comics.com. By using comic creation sites with drag-and-drop functions and the ability to get characters, etc. from sites such as Garfield.com, Hines has had her students creatively review the four basic types of sentences, sequencing in retelling a story, etc.

The final site that she recommends is edmodo.com. It's a social networking site for students and teachers, which can be used for students to turn in assignments, for the teacher to write comments back, etc. . . . My concern, here, is that the Sharon Schools have their own platform for this in Moodle. So, if I started using edmodo.com, would I just have to switch over to Moodle shortly afterward, as it comes to be used more and more within the Sharon Schools? . . . In general, after talking with Leo in the hallway one day and then seeing the email about new features coming to First Class, I have this question about a LOT of what we've learned in this class and a lot of the tools I'm seeing in these conference talks. Which ones are worth investing time in learning, and which are not because our administration and / or our computer people are going to want us to use Moodle or First Class, instead, to do similar things?

online k12 conf. talk: "Keeping the LIteracy in Twentieth Century Literacies"

Reflections on the Online k12 conference talk -- "Keeping the Literacy in 21rst Century Literacies
by Drew Schrader

This talk, aimed at "busy teachers", focused on introductory strategies for addressing traditional literacy goals in high school, while using web 2.0 tools to foster student engagement. Of the three tools the presenter highlighted, two (Diigo and Prezi) were ones we had already been introduced to in class. Serendipitously for me, the third tool (Screentoaster, which I had not previously been aware of) does exactly the sort of thing (provide an easy way to capture screen shots) that I had been most recently wondering how to do for my Learning Reflections project!

This talk had a strong theoretical basis in learning theory for reading, coming largely from a book that the presenter highly recommends -- I Read it but I Don't Get It, by Chris [Something -- Giovanni??]. Basically, Schrader says that many high school students have poor reading skills, and that many need instruction in some of the same sorts of strategies that we teach in the upper elementary grades, but which (he claims) the students frequently haven't been explicitly guided in practicing since then.

As I said, two of the tools that Schrader discusses are ones we've used / seen in class. He demonstrated how to have students use Prezi as a "mind-mapping" tool when planning their writing, and how to use Diigo (using both highlighting and sticky notes left by the teacher) to draw students' attention to important information and text features in assigned readings. Both of these seemed to me like reasonable classroom uses of these tools.

The tool I found most interesting, though, was naturally the "new" one, Screentoaster. Schrader recommends using "think-alouds" with students to model various reading comprehension strategies. To model think-alouds for his students, he can post an example of himself doing this, for an excerpt from a shared class text such as Lord of the Flies, using Screentoaster. He says the program is free (I think) and easy to use, and runs online without needing to download a porgram or button or special toolbar. You just create an account and then click "Start recording." You can include both voice and video, and when you're finished you can upload your clip to Utube, or have screentoaster.com continue to host it on their site, or you can download it as a .mov file and use it on your own computer. . . . Anyway, whether or not I would ever use Screentoaster to model reading comprehension strategies, I'm glad to know it's out there and "easy to use", for use in my "Summary of Personal Learning" project!

One final note: Schrader warns (as I have been concerned about throughout this course) that it's too easy "to put neat tools ahead of good practice", rushing out to try a new online tool with your class without really having a significant learning goal in mind for it. I think we're at a fascinating but confusing point in time, right now, where the high stakes assessments are measuring mostly content knowledge whereas many educators seem to agree that we should also be focusing on using web 2.0 tools to give students opportunities to do all sorts of experiential, collaborative, creative project-based learning -- which takes a lot of time. Schrader adresses the conflict that can too easily arise between those two goals, although he may make it sound too easy to sort out.

Class wiki helps increase parent involvement

One thing that I meant to write about last week: When we had parent conferences this fall, I had only one "no-show". This parent did not call to cancel, and did not respond to my later phone call suggesting that we reschedule. There have been some other indications that maybe this parent is not as involved in her child's school experience (for example, by signing reading logs, etc.) as we as teachers might wish. Anyway, a week or two after I introduced the class wiki, this student still had not posted anything on it. I checked with him that he had internet access at home, and he said he did. I asked if he felt comfortable with the process of accessing the wiki and posting on it, and he said he didn't. So, I showed him again and made sure he had the instructions taped inside his planner. That night, he went onto the wiki from home and posted both his own assignment (we were recording "engaging leads" from books) and several comments to other people's posts. Yay! Better yet, though, he came in the next day and said that he had shown his mother the pictures of our marionettes spinning in the "picture cube", and his group's associated myth script which is also posted on the wiki. His mom had really enjoyed seeing these glimpses into what we're doing in the classroom, and clearly he had enjoyed sharing them with her. Double yay! ! :-)

K12online keynote for the "Inside the Classroom" strand: Rachel Boyd's presentation, "A Peek for a Week -- Inside a Kiwi Junior Classroom"

This "keynote" is really a view inside the various learning strands for which Rachel Boyd uses online tools in her New Zealand classroom of six-year-olds. While she has only three classroom computers, she does have an interactive white board that she uses extensively. Through a class blog and a class wiki, both accessible from the classroom computers or the interactive white board, Boyd makes extensive use of web 2.0 resources in almost every area of her curriculum. Her students spend some of their reading and writing time reading class blogs from other schools and writing comments back. While Boyd pulls guided math groups, other kids play math games, some of them online. They even exercise to songs and music videos from U-Tube, shown on the interactive white board!

One really impressive thing is that Boyd's six-year-olds got a turn to be the tutors for a group of teachers that I think meets regularly to learn about web 2.0 tools! The kids had just completed an animation project (on the features of a healthy stream) using XtraNormal, and they taught these other teachers how to use it! Really neat for such young students to be able to officially take on that role!

Boyd fosters her students' online independence by having easy-to-find links to all of the sites that they will need readily available on their class wiki. She uses www.delicious.com to bookmark these sites, if I understood correctly.

It's clear from her presentation that Boyd has integrated internet resources and web 2.0 technology into almost every area of her curriculum, with very young children and only a few classroom computers plus the interactive white board (which is certainly a significant "plus".) It's clear that her students find these tools and the associated activities engaging. At that age, of course, almost any literacy activity is probably worthwhile in some ways! Sometimes I felt like I could see the added value in using an online tool, and sometimes I couldn't. I *did* think it was really neat, though, that her students got to teach the adults in the building about one of the tools they had become "experts" with!

LAN: Learning is Social

I was intrigued by the title LAN: Learning is Social since I teach social skills. Since the acronym LAN usually refers to Local Area Network, I was curious to view and discover what the presenter, Bryan Hughes, had to say. About five minutes into the presentation they stated that LAN stood for Learning At Night, yet at the same time this learning group was forming a learning community of colleagues who had the opportunity to connect with a network of educators around the world. The goal of this initiative was to provide a sustainable and useful learning environment. They desired to be flexible while taking risk to provide something unexpectedly unique. Three aspects, conversation, ideas and food, were going to be included as a group of colleagues joined together to view and discuss the presentations. A note of mystery was injected as it was advertised as a party from 5:00 until 7:00. As people arrived they were provided with a menu of possible presentations to view and then they broke into groups to view the selected presentation. After viewing the presentation, opportunity to speak with the presentation was made available via Skype. Then they ate dinner and discussed the presentation. I was eager to hear the result of this initiative, yet due to technological difficulties I was unable to hear the the last half of the presentation. I will attempt to finish this presentation at at later date. It seems as if this model has great potential for a unique professional development experience.

Teens without Technology

I receive sporadic updates from a site I joined while in grad school. Much of the content on the site is designed and written by teens.

A recent challenge undertaken by many of these kids is detailed in this article. The challenge required that the kids give up some form of technology...either the internet, an ipod, TV...the possibilities varied.

Reading the reactions from the kids was as interesting as they were varied. Some kids 're-embraced' reading and silence while others nearly had to enter detox to cure their technological withdrawals.

Impact on Living Abroad as a Child

I recently asked my youngest daughter how being a third culture kid for six years impacted her. She reported that she learned about other cultures, and how to adjust to living outside her comfort zone. On a negative note, she recalled wearing uncomfortable and unattractive uniforms and how strict her teachers were. When she moved to Sharon, MA she felt more comfortable in her fifth grade class and quickly developed relationships with her new teachers. Conversely, she stated that she didn't have background knowledge of the culture that she moved into when she left Barbados to live in Sharon. She felt at a loss when it came to American history and unfortunately her vast knowledge of Caribbean geography wasn't too valuable for class discussion in her new classroom. When asked how she was different from kids who had always lived in one place, she commented that many of her classmates were unaware of how big the world is; she had been exposed to different cultures so knew that everyone around the world didn't live the same way. Her eyes had been opened up. Interesting to note was her comment regarding her current education class at Elon University where at least half of the students were educated in different countries such as Egypt, and countries in Asia. It wasn't cool that she had gone to school in Barbados since most of the students had been educated abroad.

Comments on Kim Cofino Conference

About "culture shock" and being a "third culture kid": I believe Cofino is using these ideas as metaphors for how we as teachers are essentially caught in between two worlds: the traditional education system as we have known it for decades and the urgent calls for us to adapt to the changing educational needs in a new era.

Some of us are experiencing some "culture shock" as we adapt to new methods of communicating -- through blogging, through Twitter, etc. In a sense, we are also the "third culture kids." That is, on the one hand, we are working in a standardized test-driven system that has been around for ages. Yet at the same time, we are trying to depart from this system and integrate more "authentic" experiences into the curriculum.

I resonate with Jen's and Joseph's comments about the frustrations they face when even the simplest technology doesn't work. It can waste a great deal of time on learning if a class period is dependent upon unreliable technological resources. I'm not sure what the solution is, aside from, as Jen aptly points out, more money for better equipment. In the meantime, I'm not sure what the best way is to adapt to these "old" and "new" worlds.

On a separate note, I do share some of the concerns expressed by my colleagues about losing personal connections in an increasingly online world. That said, I do believe that it is important, as Cofino advocates, to give students the chance to connect with other cultures -- this is particularly valuable for students who financially would not be able to have such first-hand experiences through travel. Such an opportunity could sustain a lifelong interest in another culture and could lead to more meaningful, face-to-face experiences when the student becomes an adult.

Memories of Culture Shock

As I watched Kim Cofino's Original K12 Online Conference Going Global Keynote Post I was engulfed with memories of our first year as expatriates living on the tiny island of Barbados. Finally a topic where I am an "expert"! Culture shock is a phenomenon that I am well acquainted with. In August 1995, we seized the opportunity to experience life in the Caribbean on the island of Barbados. It was interesting to note Kim’s observation that expatriate families are often insulated from the country where they are living; we were living in a foreign nation but not truly a part of it. As Kim Cofino described aspects of culture shock, I recalled many of my experiences as embarked upon this adventure with my husband and three children. Bryan quickly adapted to the business community of Barbados where he was welcomed with open arms by nationals who wanted to learn how to grow their businesses and enter the global marketplace. I spent three hours a day driving my children to a private school which was based on a British model of education. Classmates of my children were transplanted from Canada, United States, France, Belgium, England, Germany, South Africa, as well as Barbadian nationals. Just as Kim commented, there were two groups of students...children of families who were temporarily relocated to another country and nationals who wanted their children to have an education that would prepare them to participate in a global community. She commented that culture shock, varying degrees of discomfort, can last months and even years; it took us a good year to become acclimatized and adjust our attitudes, expectations, communication and behaviors to adapt to the local culture. It took incredible flexibility to leave our comfort zone and immerse ourselves in an unfamiliar culture. We definitely learned new things about ourselves and how to interact with others. We were often thankful that the language of Barbados was English even if we couldn't always understand what was being said due to the rapid rate of speech and different accent. My children quickly picked up the "Barbadian accent". While experiencing frustration and challenges we were unaware that the impact of adapting to this new culture would energize and change us forever. The lesson that I learned that year as I attempted to emerge from the dark cloud of unfamiliarity was to always expect the unexpected.

In her presentation, Kim Cofino discussed a variety of variables she has observed while adapting to new cultures, particularly in Asia. I agree with many of her observations. We were always in constant motion, yet the pace of life in Barbados is much slower and often there was no awareness that a faster pace would be more effective. There was no customization of services; they did it the way it has been done for years and so need for change. At that time there was no striving to provide an individualized educational experience. The school did not see a need to adapt to change; there was a high resistance to change. I agree with Kim that education shouldn’t stop when the bell rings to send kids home. We sought to educate our children by traveling throughout the Caribbean while living in the area. Collaboration with other expatriates was effective in solving problems and learning how to adapt. We were aware of the need to blend our customs with the news ones that were were observing. I appreciated Kim's observation regarding blending of old and new and how this applied to incorporating technology in the classroom. We wanted to include new customs, yet maintain many of our traditions and values in an attempt to teach our children the "best of both worlds". I appreciated her comment regarding "just in time delivery" where new skills are taught as needed and in a contextual basis. Although many of our expatriate friends received "cross-cultural training" prior to relocating, we were on a need to know basis, solving problems as we encountered them. We were quick to pass on "advice" to new expatriates as they arrived to our community. I chuckled when she commented on the impact of the global community in faraway places with respect to familiar brands, and international bookstore and restaurant chains. It is interesting to note that Barbados is one location where McDonalds Restaurants did not survive. We had to rely on the locate chain, Chefette, for our fast food fix (rotis were often the choice of my children rather than hamburgers.) On a final note, since I have been rambling on while remembering...We did indeed learn to be flexible and to this day my children demonstrate a desire to respect and include others while embracing new experiences. They quickly adapt to unfamiliar situations and think nothing of navigating airports. My son is currently about to embark upon a study abroad in Australia, while my daughter ponders the options for traveling next year. After viewing the presentation last night, I asked each of them to send me an email summarizing some of their memories of experiences that impacted them. Since I found the comments shared in the video from third culture kids, I'll share these comments in a future post for anyone who is interested.

Global Approach

I thoroughly enjoyed Kim Cofino's video for a variety of reasons. The first aspect that struck me was the introduction of educators from all over the world...this technique truly created a global feel to the presentation rather than Kim simply stating, "Now imagine yourself in South America..." She also touched on a variety of attributes including, learned skills, attitudes and behaviors.

Now, as much as I enjoyed the presentation I have many questions about the practicality of some of the ideas. One that jumped out at me was what Cofino discussed about the concept of "mobility." She used the customization of food in South American countries as an example of the needs of the individual being met. She asserted that, as educators, we should, 'strive to provide individuals a personalized learning experience." I just shook my head at that thought. Sure, in a perfect world it would be wonderful. However, there is no way this will be a reality...none.

Customizing a food order is immensely different than providing individual learning experiences for each student. In fact, now that I reflect, I almost find the assertion insulting. Sure, customized learning experiences would be wonderful, but the notion is impractical.

"Learning doesn't stop when the afternoon bell rings." I embraced this concept years ago and I'm glad to hear Cofino echo this sentiment. She brings up the idea that students and teachers should have a schedule to meet their needs. This is a concept that I see as more feasible than the 'customization' idea mentioned earlier. Technology is increasingly making it more possible for teachers to operate at any hour, not just those confined between bells.

Lastly, Cofino broached the subject of the need for collaboration. She states that many of today's problems are too complex for teachers to solve alone. While I consider my problem solving skills to be Sherlock Holmes'esque,' I do agree that the occasional chiming in from the Watsons of the world is necessary. Collaboration is beneficial when done properly!

Scary

The latest issue of neatoday contained a very interesting, eye-opening article about the need to remember that we must be careful to use technology responsibly and carefully! The article talked about a 30-year teaching veteran who was approached by a student concerned about 'sexting.' The teacher asked the student to forward the image to his cellphone so that he could bring it to the administration. In retrospect, this was a poor decision.

The teacher did bring the issue to administration and and the student was expelled. So, when the police came to talk to him a few day s later he thought nothing of it...until HE was being arrested. Apparently, the mother of the expelled student, seeking retribution, went to the police and complained that the teacher had the image on his cell. The police arrested the teacher on a variety of charges, including possession of child pornography.

His entire world came crashing down in the form of dismissal from his position at the school and a 7-month legal battle. After months of defending himself, and $167,000 later, he was cleared of any wrong-doing.

The judge found that the mother of the expelled student was simply being "vengeful" and the legal fees of the teacher were covered by the school board. The teacher learned a valuable lesson and I certainly reflected on my own use of technology at school.

Bridging History via Web 2.0

In the online K-12 conference, I was excited to view e-portfolio link, but was disappointed by the white screen with the English gentleman's voice in the background. Did anyone stick with it? Anyhow, I quickly moved on to Robin Beaver and Jean Moore's "Bridging History Using Web 2.0 tools." This video grabbed my interest since Jean teaches 7th grade history and ELA.

In the introduction, Jean has created a short video clip that looked a lot like the Xtranormal videos that we created some weeks back. She then moves on to explain her transformation to the web with some of her units. She focused on her Red Scarf Girl project during her Chinese history lessons. She initially used Webquest for the entire unit and had students create powerpoint presentations as the culminating activity. Today, she has moved on to Glogster because it had fewer limitations for her and for her students. I loved the concept of the virtual museum and I think my students would be equally intrigued by an activity like hers.

As I dream, though, of creating digital projects with my students, I feel slightly overwhelmed. How do teachers find the time to create the Webquest and then how did she decide whether to use Glogster versus Moodle versus a Wiki? Jean had some advantages in that her technology teacher, Robin, seemed to co-teach or at least cross plan with her on this assignment. With all the other demands placed on teachers today, there is so little time to plan cross curricular assignments. Interdisciplinary work has definitely taken a backseat to all of our meetings and MCAS demands. I am hopeful that I will find the time to create small steps towards creating a project like Jean and Robin's. However, I also realize that 21st Century Skills, if it becomes a priority, will require release time for teachers of all disciplines to collaborate and create.

The Wizard of Apps

After watching Kim Confino's keynote, I was drawn to the Wizard of Apps. Since so many of you have already commented in such detail on Kim's piece, I will comment on Joyce Kasman Valenza's "Wizard of Apps." Joyce creatively had several students dress as characters from the Wizard of Oz and she eventually showed up as Glinda, the good witch. While I doubt that I will be dressing up in costume for my students anytime in the near future, I thought the introduction certainly caught people's attention.

As Dorothy sang about leaving good digital footprints and creating a PLN, I was thinking about how important it is for students to learn about the ethics of the the digital world. Many of the parents may be too busy or too clueless about their child's digital experiences to know what is out there. How do we teach how to become "good digital citizens?" In our already compact schedules, does something need to go or will we be adding more time? Who will teach this information? If it isn't assumed by a specific department, don't we risk teaching the same things over and over or missing some components???

The websites that Joyce mentioned pipl.com, 123people, and that'snotcool.com all have merits for demonstrating to students what their digital footprint looks like. So many students in middle school probably do not consider what comments or pictures they post on Myspace or Facebook as being an issue when they go years from now to apply to college or to apply for a job. We have enough of an issue trying to stress that they need to learn study strategies and good habits for high school....

Issues of ethical behavior on the web develop every year, though, at this level. Whether it be the recent news story about the Facebook page suggesting that students hurt an assistant principal or the many bullying issues that occur in cyberspace or students that post inappropriate pictures of themselves online or text them to "friends." No school is immune and I fear that we may already be behind. Many of the students believe that they know more than we do about the web. They find ways to get past the school filter and get into Facebook or text one another. How can we educate them while expanding their uses of the digital world? How do we teach them to be good digital citizens? How do we stress good, healthy collaboration where students "question, create, and invite" rather than the dark side of the digital footprint?

Kim Cofino's Keynote

Hello all,

I just finished watching Kim Cofino’s “Going Global” Keynote, and many thoughts come to mind. To comment I will stick with the structure that Kim’s keynote follows. I do not dare to do anything else considering it is only Wednesday night, and I can honestly say that this week has perhaps been the most challenging, both professionally and personally, that I can recall. I will spare all of you the details.

Culture shock: I totally agree with Kim (I think I can use her first name) that mobility, customization, adaptability, blending, always being on, collaboration, responsiveness, global awareness, and flexibility are not only important skills that students and teachers should have/ obtain, but these should also be part of our new approach to education in general. Being a realist, I also look at the implications and how much change would need to take place. Possible yes; I suggest small steps. Time, training, attitude, and money will all be needed to make change occur. For example, I tried to copy a set of quizzes today and the copier needed toner. I looked around for toner and there was none available. I went to a second copier and there was no copy paper. I went to the supply room to get paper and copied the quiz. That said I needed to hand staple 92 quizzes because the stapler in the copier was not working. Forty minutes later I was done!

Convergence: In this section I listened to numerous “Third Culture Kids” discuss the mostly positive aspects of living in cultures in which they were not born. The TCK’s convinced me that they were more global, and better able to “walk” into unknown situations than students who are more insulated. I see great value in these programs and admire families who are able to commit to these endeavors. However, I do not for one moment see the connection between living and learning in a different culture (International Schooling) and using technology to bring a student into that culture. Kim said that our students “don’t need to move around the world” to experience and obtain the same skills behaviors, and attitudes as the Third Culture Kids. I have had the privilege of studying abroad for about a year’s time. During this time I lived in Geneva, Switzerland, but traveled to about 15 different countries. I was immersed in cultures and systems that were foreign and at times scary. This experience was very life altering, ranking only behind the birth of my daughter and meeting my wife. For example, I saw the Matterhorn while having the freshest and cleanest air strike my face as I skied down to Zermatt. I sipped French wine out of a fifty-year-old oak barrel while in Dijon. I floated in the Ionian Sea and felt how buoyant I was because of the increased salinity. I do not mention these experiences to relive old memories but to illustrate the point that seeing the Matterhorn on Google Earth, Skyping with a French sommelier, and reading a blog about how cool it is to float higher up in the water, does not come close to the actual experience. Yes, having our kids become more global is important. Yes, technology is allowing this to occur. Yes, teachers need to meet this challenge. I just don’t see the connection that Kim has made in this section.

Future of Education: Kim’s suggestions are important for anyone willing to “go global” and further flatten our world. She advocates that the teacher must be “connected” first before “connecting” the classroom. Comfort is an important thing in teaching, but so is growth! Personally, I am to busy right now to judge the merits of spending more time away from my personal relationships versus spending more time creating relationships that are processed through tiny bits of data.

Simple thoughts from a simple man!

Class wiki is taking off!

Wow -- My fifth-graders, at least some of them, are apparently more Internet-savvy than I had realized. They LOVE the wiki (or at least, the ones who are being the most vocal, right now, love it). Some kids are logging on right away to do assignments that aren't due for a couple of days -- always a good sign! And, they're figuring out (or maybe someone at home is showing them) ways to to things that I haven't taught them. For example, I asked the kids to try out five games of their choice on Johnnie's Math Page, and then to either write a review of one of the games or post a comment on which of the "engaging leads" (posted by their classmates on one of our English Language Arts pages) most makes them most want to read the associated book. On the page for reviewing math games, the first kid to post included links to the games he was describing, and the second kid included the actual picure icon of the game as her link!

The students are already devloping their/our own "norms" for posting on our wiki, by a sort of group osmosis process. When I asked them to comment on each others' posted leads, many students wrote their comments in color (also not something I had shown them). It works so well to distinguish the leads from the comments, that I changed the rest of the comments to colored text and wrote a post suggesting that we all adopt that idea for the wiki. (The colors also add interest to the page.) It's really cool that that idea came originally from the students, just following each others' example!

Here's the link to the kids' leads and comments on them:
http://dkinneyclass09-10.wikispaces.com/Engaging+Leads

So far, I am steering clear of inviting the kids to post on anything that might get them mad at each other. For example, I thought about having them post reflections on the process of writing their myths in small groups, but then decided that that would just be inviting hurt feelings since some of the groups did have to work through some conflicts, and there might still be some lingering resentment in some cases. (Did I already mention this part in an earlier post?)

Anyway, I'm thrilled with how this is going, so far! The kids who are posting comments to each others' leads are obviously reading each other's leads, and in evaluating which they like best I know they're really thinking about them. The kids who are posting math game reviews are evaluating what makes a good learning game for them -- it's great that they're thinking actively about whether or not they're necessarily learning anything from some of the "fun" games.

Yay, wiki!

Kim Cofino Conference

Culture Shock

I wonder if after moving around so many times, even though the culture shock still exists, if each new time becomes easier to get over it. Even though the "shock" might be based on something new, what you take away from experience, and what you learn from it, should help you recover from each new shock you encounter in a new environment.

I also hadn't really realized or really thought about the families or teachers in other countries aren't necessarily immersed in the culture - that they live semi separated from the culture as a whole.

"Always On"
Kim spoke of online learning being necessary for today's life style. Having access to curriculum at all times helps facilitated the learning that we expect to happen. I think that Sharon has made a good step in that direction with the implementation of Moodle at the middle school and high school level.

Although we have the "always on" model with moodle, what I do think we are missing is the collaboration piece. I think that it is daunting to think of how to "manage" it with our students. Moodle does have a wiki piece, however I haven't ventured out to work with it and the students yet.

"No one in Asia hesitates to incorporate technology into their lives when it is useful." This is a key point that we should focus on - when it is useful. I am not someone to fall into gimmicks easily. I need to see the value proven and proven again. I can't stand wasting my time on something that I do not see is useful and is the best way to get something done.

Personal Learning Network
I have found one of the things that is frustrating to me is that I feel that I am the only person in the middle school world who is teaching what I am teaching with my 8th grade in the way that I am doing it. I've tried to reach out and find blogs and twitter posts that relate to ArchiCAD in the middle school curriculum, but I am only able to find things related to high school or higher education. This is very frustrating.

More thoughts on Kim Cofino's Presentation

I just watched Kim Cofino's presentation, and there were some points that stood out to me.

1. She notes that schools need to change more quickly and be more adaptable. I am wondering how this will happen. I don't disagree with what she is saying on that topic, but being more adaptable costs MONEY. I think about our situation here in Sharon. I know so many creative teachers who are up to date on all of the new technologies that are out there for communication, social networking, presenting, and more. We want to implement these technologies in our classrooms because they are so beneficial for student learning. For example, I really wanted to do a podcast activity as an assessment for one of my classes. I thought, "hey, this really gives power to the students to create a platform to present and discuss their ideas about what we have been studying." Unfortunately, earlier in they school year, when we were using the laptop carts to work on a PowerPoint project, the problems that the students encountered really hindered the success of the project. They were able to get it done, but rather than the technology making our lives easier, it was frustrating because of all of the issues that arose with the functionality of the computers. It made me nervous about trying to do something with podcasting, a technology that less of them are familiar with than they are with PowerPoint. I really hope to implement this in the future, but I don't want to lose the educational benefit/time for students to learn when we are trying to do this... technology should make life easier, not harder in my opinion.

2. On the topic of change and adaptability, again, with money being the issue, another thought came to my mind. I, and the majority of other teachers that I work with at the high school, use our own personal laptops at school because we want to implement these 21st century skills the best that we can. I would not be able to do that nearly as easily without my personal laptop, especially because I travel from classroom to classroom during the day. I know that many districts provide their teachers with laptops. I have friends who work in towns where this is the case. Unfortunately this does cost money, and schools have so many issues to address, so this may not be the first priority. But when Kim discusses adaptability and change, I think that providing teachers with the tools that they need is really important and it directly impacts student learning if the teacher is supplied with the best tools.

3. One other thing that stood out to me was how Kim mentioned that there is a "fear of new technology" that exists amongst some teachers. I definitely see this. I was reading an earlier post on this blog about iPhones in the classroom, and I was thinking of how fearful some teachers can be when discussing this topic (although not in this class :). I myself was thinking of how useful my iPhone is-- I can enter my attendance on it when I'm not near the computer, I can post on my wiki... lots of conveniences. I'm not sure whether they should be given to students necessarily, but it is something to think about. Regardless, students have embraced smartphone technology. The pace at which they have done so has surpassed many adults, although many adults are catching up. As teachers, we need to meet students at a certain level and instead of shunning or making certain technological tools taboo, we need to continue to define when, where, and how they should be used. They have both benefits and risks, but we cannot ignore the benefits because we fear the risks.

Overall, I think certain aspects of Kim's presentation definitely resonate. I do agree with dkinney about the criticisms of what Kim says. I worry about the time that we spend on the internet (doing all of the things that dkinney mentions and more) and not having face to face time with other people. I find myself constantly online (not necessarily by choice) and wishing I could just shut my computer and sit on the couch and hang out with my boyfriend when I get home and relax. Everything is online and I like that... but we are human beings who need interpersonal connections. You can't hug someone or shake their hand through a computer. Blogging is great (although I can't see myself doing it outside of this class), but you miss the intonation in people's voices when you simply look at text. I love learning about new technology, but I never want to lose sight of the importance of real, live people and community... the idea that Americans are "bowling alone" (according to Robert Putnam) has disappeared due to online communities, but I also think that it has been emphasized in cases where people don't embrace REAL communities as well.

Kim Cofino's talk

I just listened to Kim Cofino's keynote address for the online conference. It was interesting, but I did not find it inspiring. (Throughout this course, I've found the practical aspect of learning how to use new tools more interesting than the philosophical parts.) It did make me think that if I were just starting out in my career, or had started teaching early enough to retire younger than I'll be able to, it might be fun to teach in an international school for a few years. If I didn't have a spouse and child (and I'm very glad I do :-) ), it might be an exciting alternate path to spend my life living in different places in the world and teaching in international schools. I wouldn't do it with a child, though (even if it would work for my husband's career, which it wouldn't). I understand that Kim Cofino sees lots of benefits to being a "third culture kid", but I see mostly a lack of comforting roots, and the danger of potentially not learning to make close personal connections, in putting a child through a lifestyle of frequent moves. (I know you can be a "third culture kid" without moving more than once, but to some extent the part that sounds potentially interesting to me, as an adult, would be moving every 7 to 10 years or so, to radically different places each time. I wouldn't want to put a child through that, even though Cofino presents that sort of thing as a positive.)

I found it a bit of a stretch when Kim Cofino said something like, "These experiences [like what third-culture-kids have] can now be available to anyone through meaningful Internet projects and connections."

Kim Cofino suggests that teachers prepare to be able to give kids experiences of global connectedness by first developing their own PLNs (Personal Learning Networks). The six steps she recommends trying, in this order, are (1) to use an RSS reader to be able to "learn by lurking" without needing to respond; (2) to join education-related Nings; (3) to begin to develop an online persona by starting a blog; (4) to use Skype to connect with people more personally; (5) to participate in online conferences (either downloaded like this one, or synchronously through, for example, Second Life), and (6) to use Twitter to further build your social/professional network, expand your interests, and make more real-time connections with people.

Most of these suggestions are things I do not wish to do. I have no desire to spend enough time online to need to get information through an RSS reader. Double-plus-likewise for joining a Ning!!!!! I don't anticipate spending much time blogging once it's no longer required for this course -- I don't see how I could justify continuing to take the time away from my family, friends, physical exercise, etc. for that. I've tried Skype and don't like it; it makes me feel like I'm talking through a tunnel. Online conferences seem OK, at least asynchronous ones -- I like the Internet as a source of searchable information. As for Twitter, while I can see how it could expand someone's interests and knowledge of what's available, I'd much, much rather spend my time searching purposefully for information that I already know I want.

As keeps happening with a lot of the philosophical part of this "web 2.0" stuff, I find myself more and more aware of how much I value right-here, in-person (or over the phone) connections. Our society has for quite some time been changing in ways that make it harder and harder to develop and maintain close in-person connections. No wonder lots of people want to build social and professional networks with people far away -- nothing has to change in those relationships if you or they move, for example! I really feel the time pulled away from family and local friends, though, and I don't see any degree of global connectedness ever making up for that.

This past Saturday evening an old, close friend came over. We've been friends for almost 25 years and lived near each other in three towns in two states, but in recent years we've seen each other infrequently despite living only ten minutes apart. The reasons include her work schedule and the fact that our children are very different ages, but still, a big part of what's been making me too busy to get together this fall is my spending lots of time online. In the final analysis, I'd far, far, far rather spend a couple of hours talking with my close old friend in my living room, than developing a social network with people around the world!

Giving students a voice

In my last post, I discussed giving students more credit for their ideas and pre-existing knowledge when it comes to technology.  Now, my next task is to give students more of a voice when it comes to their technology use and possibly how they'd like to use technology in the classroom.  As many of us have already discovered, students are much more technology-savvy than we can even comprehend, and they may have great ideas of how to use technology that we haven't yet thought about.

Last week, I was considering having my student fill out a brief survey about their personal technology use. I hadn't decided on the range of questions and answers I hoped to gain from the survey, but, thinking I might have time to put something together by the afternoon, I wrote "technology survey" on the bottom of the agenda.

As it turned out, I did not have time to formulate survey questions, so that item on the agenda was erased.  However, at least ten students who had read the agenda were inquisitive about what the "technology survey" was all about, and even if we didn't have time that day to do it, could they complete it another day.  Their interest, based solely on the fact that the survey had something to do with technology amazed me.  And it wasn't just a handful of kids from the same table group asking, it was multiple students throughout the day expressing their excitement.

Eventually, I am hoping to survey my students on various aspects of technology, mainly to find out what they currently use at home, and what they would like to see used in the classroom.  However, I am waiting until I can come up with questions that will be purposeful and school-related.  For example, one idea for a question that I initially had was to ask students the top 5 websites they visit on a regular basis.  However, after further consideration, there are some questions that I may not want to know the answers to (i.e. It doesn't really impact me or the classroom if a student shares that he or she has a facebook page and spends 2-3 hours on it per week, but if said student's parents don't know about the facebook page, it would be uncomfortable information for me to know).

So-I am welcome to ideas and suggestions of ways to get students involved in the conversation.  I am more and more interested in what they already know, what they are interested in, and what they would like assistance learning more about.  If you have any ideas of helpful questions I could ask or other ways to begin the discussion, please let me know. My current focus revolves around internet use, but I'd be open to expanding the part of the survey/discussion to other aspects of technology.
[Ideally, it would be nice to just have an open conversation/discussion, but it would also be helpful to have written answers and some concrete data to work from.]

Wiki homework

Today I experimented with assigning homework on my wiki. We've been studying effective leads off-and-on throughout the fall, and I had previously gathered examples written by their classmates to share with the class. Today I posted some of those on the wiki, in categories, and assigned the students to find a lead that they really liked and type it into the wiki in the category that fit best. My two main goals were, first, to get them to think about the VARIETY of types of leads that can be engaging (since too many of them were writing question leads -- more interesting than just restating the prompt in their first sentence when writing to a prompt, but less and less interesting if too many people take that approach for a given assignment), and, second, to expose them to more good leads by having them posted publicly. (I was hoping that the kids, like me, wouldn't be able to resist reading what their classmates had posted.) It's 10:00 pm, now, and half the class has posted. Pretty good for the first time, I think! (We'll work out the glitches tomorrow. I know not everyone has computer access, and I told the class we'd work something out, but that still leaves about 7 or 8 kids who "should" have posted by now but haven't. Still, I'm really happy to see 13 student posts there to start with!)

My other motive was to experiment with ways of using the class wiki as a teaching tool, and ways of having students interact online without ending up in a quagmire of hurt feelings, etc. This sort of limited interaction, with a very clear academic focus, felt like a good place to start. I DO feel that posting on the wiki added a dimension beyond what we would have gotten without it -- some students will read each other's posts while puting their own up, and also when we share the results tomorrow in class, they'll be easy to display on the overhead projection screen.

PictureTrail (Nifty tool; used it in my class wiki)

A few sessions ago, Dennis had posted a bunch of examples of teachers using blogs with their classes. One third-grade teacher had included some pictures in her site in really nifty ways, using a tool called PictureTrail. (You can find it by googling it. I think it's just www.picturetrail.com)

I put pictures of 20 of my students' marionette puppets (for the myths project that we're doing) on a page of my class wiki. They're in a really neat rotating picture cube! (The cube turns, and periodically features one picture in a close-up, and also automatically cycles through all 20 pictures even though there would, of course, only be room for 6 on a real photo cube.) You can see it by clicking on the title of this post. Once in a while it has trouble loading; try refreshing the page if so. Usually it works well.

One potential dificulty: In 31 days, my account will automatically downgrade to a more basic level unless I pay for it. This might not be a problem, or it might be -- I haven't found a list of which features will disappear when the account downgrades, so I don't know whether my picture cube will vanish at that point, or not! (Interesting business model. There's a little bit of a "bait and switch" feel to this ploy, which I don't really appreciate. On the other hand, the things the site lets you do to display and share pictures really are very cool. I might even consider paying for it -- which is exactly how they want their bait and switch tactic to work, of course! I still wish that they had an clear, easy-to-find list of which features disappear when an initial free account downgrades to a "more basic" free account after a month. There might still be some very nice options available, for free -- I don't know.)

One more interesting issue, that maybe someone reading this can help me with: When I first looked at those example blogs that Dennis had posted, I put comments and links to some I really liked in my own blog so that I could find them easily, later. When I was trying to remember the name "Picture Trail" Iwent looking there. My comments led me easily to the right link -- but, of course, it was an ACTIVE link, so clicking on it took me to that third-grade teacher's CURRENT blog post, not to the earlier one where I'd seen the Picture Trail stuff! I looked around in her blog's previous posts a bit, but didn't find it. (In the end, I just remembered the name "Picturetrail" on my own.) I understand from the course readings a few sessions ago (on searching using current links versus cached versions) that what happened is that I was sent to the current post rather than the one I actually wanted. What I DON'T know how to do (for the future) is to make my own "cached version" of a blog entry, so that I can link to the actual post I wanted to remember, rather than the person's current blog. Anyone know how to do that?

Global Education

I came on here to write about the keynote address for the on-line conference we watched last week, and ended up reading my classmates entries here. An awful lot of us are really finding exciting ways to use 2.0 resources in our classrooms and it was great to read about so many projects--and realize that there are so many of you out there who can help me when mine gets to the stage where I'm actually using it with students.

This is what I found exciting--real projects, conducted in real public school classrooms with the actual resources I'll have to use. This is also what I found lacking in the presentation, although I agreed with every bit of it theoretically.

I'm not sure how many of you have read Bloomability by Sharon Creech. It is a kind of "grow where you're planted " tale, set in an international school in Switzerland. I loved the book when I read it and think working in an international school would be pretty amazing. But it is a little like Disney World. In many ways, it isn't real.

The speaker used aspects of Asian Culture to describe what schools need to do. I travelled to China with Primary Source several summers ago, and could recognize the qualities she cited both in the culture and in terms of school success. She made some excellent and interesting points. But to use a culture to school comparison without discussing the actual education in that culture is a serious disconnect. China, for example, supports free education only through grade 6. I was able to visit a subsidised school during my stay in china and found cinder block walls with room for 40 children who sat on benches at tables. 21st century techniques, such as collaborative learning or student centered projects were completely non-existant. Their computed lab had only painting and typing programs. There was no internet access.

So obviously, international schools, which use Westerm models and are filled mostly with people not native to that land, speak to an advantage had by some which the majority in a nation do not share. This doesn't make them bad places--they are probably wonderful places--but this issue of advantage and elitism can't be ignored.

I agreed completely with the gift of Global awareness being gained by these students--even from the safety of their schools. I was lucky enough to have some of these advantages myself. My parents took me to Haiti in grade 7, and I saw how incredibly little some people in the world have. I had to deal with my feelings of guilt over having so much--and be impressed by how some could do so much with so little. I got a true understanding that many parts of the world are not "safe". Our brakes were cut by people who wanted us to hire them as drivers. When passing the presidential palace, a taxi driver stopped and hurried us out of the car to stand at attention because the military band began playing. He was cleary afraid. I had never sensed this in the United States. I spent a summer in Sicily with the Experiment in International living in 1979. This experience was too amazing to go into too much here. But my point is, that I see the value of Global awareness.

I am frustrated when some of our students whose families have the resources choose to spend the money on "safe" and "fun" vacations such as Disney or cruises. There is nothing wrong with either of these--the cruise is yet to come--but Disney was fun. But I think more can be gained through travel which challenges our assuptions about the world. I appreciate the point made in the address that learning about other cultures helps one learn about one's own culture and oneself. Sometimes to learn, a level of discomfort is necessary. In some cases, it is healthy to ask, why do I have so much, while these people have so little?When I traveled to China, a man came up to me in a museum and asked me if I was rich. I answered, "Not in the United State", because I am rich compared to 90% of the people in China.

I've been actively trying to find a pen pal project with Egypt for a project on current day Egypt with my class. I've tried epals, a contact at the middle eastern resource center, flat classroom, ilearn, ($100.00 to join--and that doesn't guarentee a project...), joined a Global ning... None of this seems to be helping. I do plan to try another burst of leads--I have some in mind and welcome other--but may need to shift directions. These networks aren't really helping me so far.
But seeing what the rest of you have done in real classrooms. That is very helpful.

Publishers Weekly Best of 2009

Here's a list from Publishers Weekly of the best books of 2009. I always like to take a look at the "best of" lists to see what I've read, what I've missed, and what surprises me. Generally what surprises me is how much I've missed. Oh well. Haven't had much of chance to read these last few months...

IPHONES in the classroom

Last week in class, I was in the #1 group and we examined the technology piece. One of the technologies was the IPHONE. When I saw think link on Safari this morning, I realized that some places are already piloting the IPHONE in the classroom. Some of us keep hoping to get a few extra computers in our classrooms for research and writing, but perhaps we will be bypassing the computers and heading straight for phones. I wonder how high schools and college/universities are able to set limits on the uses of cell phones in the classroom. For example, do students still try to text and cheat? Are students using the technology to anonymously bully other students in the classroom? How do we take the benefits of mobile technology and eliminate the problems?

Even if we get past any potential issues, who provides the IPHONES to every student? Will students be expected to have one when they enter or will the schools be purchasing them? What happens if one student loses it? forgets it? breaks it? I think it is an exciting possibility that we could create a new immediate technology if it could be distributed equally and limits were set to protect students from abuse.

Giving the students more credit

Last week, I realized just how eager students are to learn and appropriately use technology.

First, a student of ours sent an Animoto get-well video to the other teacher on my team, who had been out sick for a few days.  This was amazing to me, as I was so excited to learn about Animoto and teach students about it. Little did I know, many of them already know about it and were using it proficiently!!

Second, I showed my math classes a "who wants to be a millionaire" game that was great to review material.  I actually linked the them to the site by creating a sharetabs page, which was really helpful.  However, if I had to do it again, I would rethink what I named my sharetabs page because I chose sharetabs.com/?spak, and once you create a page, (unless I'm missing something) you cannot go back to edit or add links.
That being said, I was also pleasantly surprised to recognize that at least 5 students logged back onto the sharetabs to access the game I posted after class was over.  (You are able to see how many times a page has been viewed)

Finally, I gave my students a writing assignment where they were required to write about their idea of a utopia, and several students opted to create videos for "extra credit." Although I wasn't planning on offering extra credit, I was so excited about the intrinsic motivation for learning/creativity/use of technology, I decided to encourage the projects and was very pleased with the results.

So, in summary, the terrific realization of the week is that I really should include my students in more discussions and activities using technology.  Although some of them have demonstrated otherwise, the majority of them are eager to learn, and just as ready to explore the the web 2.0 tools as I am.

Class wiki update with glog (click here to see)

Following Suzanne's inspiring example, I have now successfully created a glog and embedded it as the home page of my classroom wiki! I've even set up links within it that match my menu choices in the wiki (although if you click on the links within the glog instead of on the menu bar, it opens up a whole new window rather than just jumping directly there).

It was fun to do, but it took many hours. I'm still thinking of making glogs with students -- maybe have each kid make a book poster with links to character traits of the main character, backed up by evidence, examples, and quotes from the book. I'm not quite as happy with the final results of my glog as I expected to be, though -- it's just not as exciting as I thought it would be to look at, partly because it does not fill the screen unless you right-click and tell it to (in which case you can't see all the glog elements, any more). In fact, when I first embedded my glog into my wiki it seemed WAY too small. I changed the dimensions in the embed code to half again as large, which helped, but what would help more with the whole impressiveness thing would be to turn the page to a landscape orientation, which I haven't seen any information on how to do, or if it's even possible. Any suggestions, anyone?

Of course, it took all of my free time today to do this, so now I really need to spend tomorrow on other things!

How change student account names in glogster?

Does anyone who's experimented with glogster know whether it is possible to change the names on student accounts? (They are generated with very random, hard-to-remember userids.) I see how to change the passwords, but not the names.

Great glogging tutorial

I followed Suzanne's original link to check out glogster. Haven't actually made a glog yet, but I found this powerpoint tutorial REALLY clear and easy to follow. (I wanted to post the link before I accidentally clicked away and lost track of it. The link is in the title of this post.) It's all screen shots with arrows and explanatory notes, so you don't have to watch a video or be tied to the pace of a video tutorial.

Yay Class Wiki!

On Tuesday wikispaces.com approved my request for an upgrade to a free Plus account for K-12 teachers. This made my wiki ad-free (although I think it already was), and allowed me to set up accounts for my fifth-grade students without needing to submit email addresses for them. I set the accounts up very easily on Tuesday night (just by making a two-column spreadsheet of usernames and passwords and then following a few easy and well-guided steps), and on Wednesday I introduced my students to the wiki. They used it in class to work on editing the myth puppet show scripts that they have been writing in small groups. That went very well.

Then, today (Friday) one of my students mentioned that she had, on her own initiative, gone on to the wiki from home and continued working on her group's script in the evening. Wow! Yay!!! That's exactly the sort of thing that I was hoping would happen, but I never expected it to happen so soon or so spontaneously!

A wiki really turns out to be the perfect tool for this particular project. Groups had already written a first (and in some cases second) draft of their scripts, and most were already typed up. It was easy to upload the ones that were already typed, and easy for me to type in the ones that weren't. I found the editor a little bit annoying when working on the ones that had been uploaded from pre-existing files -- the cursor often jumped to a different place than where I wanted it when I would first start editing a page. The kids haven't complained about this at all, though, so either it isn't happening as much as I'd thought, or it isn't bothering them enough to mention to me.

The wiki is not only a good collaborative tool for this group writing project, it's also a great management tool. Before, I had folders (the manila kind, riding around in my backpack every day) full of script drafts. Some had been typed at school, some by me at my house, and some by kids at their houses. It was hard to keep track of which script was at which stage of editing, and hard to figure out how we were ever going to find time to finish the project. I thought about putting all of the files into the Shared folder on our school's server, which would also have collected them in a central place and allowed all of the kids and me to access them freely -- but only at school. I don't have that kind of time at school, to type in drafts and check students' editing -- I only have time to do that in the evenings and on weekends. And, YAY again, the wiki allows me to do just that, while also allowing the students to access and work on their files easily from school or home!

I typed up instructions for accessing the wiki and editing pages, and had each child glue them inside his / her homework planner. That's working great -- they've brought the planners to the school library, computer lab, and mini-lab, both with and without me, and easily followed those instructions to use the wiki.

One of my groups (actually it's kind of amazing that it's just one, at this age) has had some conflicts around two different kids really wanting to own their group's story. One useful "safety" feature of the wiki is that with the Show Page History option, if they ever argue over who's made what changes to their story and whether or not that's fair I'll be able to track that information down very easily.

(After all of the scripts are done, students are going to make or find background scenery either in KidPix or by drawing their own and scanning it into the computer. They'll use KidPix Slideshow to record their scripts, so that they can concentrate fully on manipulating their marionettes during the actual performance. For the performance, we'll lower the Smartboard (or whatever it's called) screen in the Computer Lab as far as it goes, and project the background scenery onto it. The stage is a refrigerator box (that size, anyway), which will be in front of the screen and covered with a black sheet. The kids will stand on chairs on either side of the box to manipulate their puppets. Hopefully we'll then film the whole thing, and I'll be able to post it on the wiki. We'll just have to be careful not to film the puppeteers themselves, in the couple of cases where parents haven't given permission for their kids' pictures to be posted.)


What's next for the class wiki after this project? I'm thinking of trying a "Choose Your Own Adventure"-style book with my kids, on the wiki (sort of like a hypertext book)! I've been doing a paper version of this project with kids for years, off-and-on. It's a high-interest project that the kids love. I'm thinking that on the wiki it could be pretty free-form, with each student adding as much or as little as he/she wishes since the need for tight pre-planning is so much less than with a pencil-and-paper version. I could use it for practice writing and punctuating dialogue if I make it a requirement to include some dialogue on each page of the story. Or I could do the same things with adverbs, or with strong verbs, or multi-sensory descriptions. Then, kids who are interested could experiment with me to find ways of using different tools to illustrate or add sound to some of the pages. This could be a very cool next project! :-)

P.S. - I tried to make the title of this post link to my class wiki page. I'm not sure if it will work. If it does and you choose to follow the link, please explore beyond the first page (which is nothing much, right now) to the Myths Project page, where the kids are working on their scripts. It still won't look like much, but there's lots of great student work going on, there!