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.

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.]

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.

Creativity and information literacy

Our new cluster concerns creativity and information literacy. At first glance, I thought the two ideas were rather mismatched. Upon reflection, though, I can see the connection. Without information literacy, it would be impossible for the New Biology folks to share their data and grapple with some of the worlds most challenging issues. The Philadelphia school uses the resources available on the web for creative project work in which I would imagine the students must analyze and utilize data from the internet. So while the two areas are separate, the 2.0 connection can clearly be made.

So the question remains. What are the ways that we can utilize the richness of the internet to foster our students collaborative and creative abilities? Some of our table and hallway conversations have been very rich. We've considered the obstacles, both in terms of resources, but in terms of the expectations on us to "cover" material. While discussing obstacles might seem like coming up excuses for not doing more of what the school in Philadelphia does, it is necessary to identify obstacles before you can remove or modify them. These conversations need to happen.

We also need to continue our discussions about these new technologies and when they are best used. As Diana suggests, books continue to be invaluable resources--and are sometimes the best way to glean specific and trustworthy information. Do students utilize different skills when collaborating face to face vs. over the internet? Should we balance our curriculum so that both are required? Should assignments be planned with student goals in mind first--or with utilizing technology first. When I first began planning my wiki for my sharing project, I began by looking for internet resources before I'd even thought about what I wanted students to learn. Three hours into things, I realized that this was completely backwards. But when educators try something new, they need to experiment--and sometimes learn how to avoid pitfalls like the one I fell into. The use of internet 2.0 tools in schools also brings up issues of etiquette. Should students be tweeting from lectures? Adults do it all the time. Is this O.K.? Is it rude? Some discussion is needed here, and I love to have some of these conversations in class with interested educators from my district.

I would also love to see what those of you who've used wikis and moodle and other resources have already done in your classrooms. I'm sure some of you have encountered problems I'll encounter and could save me some time consuming trial and error. I hope they'll be some forum for this, in a live context, as the class continues.

21st century learning

I'm seeing many different concepts thrown into this idea of 21st century skills. Many of the important ideas regarding student learning are much older than the 21st century. For example, Socrates was looking for critical thinking! But some of the other ideas come from best practices from the past twenty or so year. (Although if we spoke to a teacher teaching for 40, I'm sure he or she would say, "that's not new at all!")

The "best practice" ideas stressed again and again are that curriculum must have a purpose other than test prep or memorization for it's own sake. The most effective educational experiences are connected to the world or an authentic experience. This also means that the students work collaboratively with others and have an opportunity to develop their own understanding or what is being learned through dialogue with other learners. The point of the technology is not that it is electric. The point of using technology is that it helps us to connect to the world, collaborate with each other in new and effective ways, and gain access to a wealth of current information. It also allows us to process and present our learning in new and creative ways.

If I had to pick a classroom with just the best practices or a laptop for everyone without the best practices. (ie, connect the kids to on-line work books, essentially. Plug them in!!), I would pick a low tech best practices classroom. I think "21st century skills" can be misintepreted and turn into "land 'o on-line worksheets. " Early in the class, I read the wrong article by mistake and read about an on-line literacy program by scholastic. While they managed to get all of the proper buzz words into the abstract, the number of times they mentioned on-line assessment began to hint at a program filled with drill and kill. I kept thinking of the individualized SRA reading programs that were all the rage in the 1960s and 70s. They kept us quiet and self-correcting--and definitly not collaborating. Parts of the abstract sounded a lot like SRA on line.

Luckily, we don't have to make this choice. We are encouraged to connect our curriculum, use collaborative projects, and encourage critical thinking--and we have access to technology. True, we'd like more access and less technology breakdowns, but this gets better all the time. We'd also like, (or at least I would), to see a curriculum that allows the pace to slow down a few times a year to allow for really authentic and student directed projects. But we don't have the type of schedule that allows for no deviations or creative pathways--we just don't have the luxury of getting carried away. I've always felt in Sharon that coordinators and administrators want us to explore and try new things. They want to see the children moving and thinking and creating. We're lucky, because this isn't true in some places.

That's it for now...