Of the three things we have learned I'd have to say that wikis are probably the tool I could use most at school. They are the tool I see used most by teachers now. The ability to work independently yet collaboratively is a huge benefit. I tutor students who are out of the classroom because of illness. One young man was able to stay connected to his classroom group's research project by using the wiki set up in class. His contribution was included in the project because he was able to get his ideas to his group even though he couldn't physically be in the classroom. Tutoring is often boring and not very effective for a homebound student. The wiki was a great tool for motivation.
Personally, del.icio.us is probably the tool I will use the most. I am only beginning to explore the possibilities. Originally I thought it was just a fancy version of my favorites list. Now I can see how the social aspect of it can help me to discriminate good sites from bad sites. It also opens me up to so many new areas.
Blogging is fun. It's the one thing we learned that I personally enjoy. However, I think that in order for it to be helpful it has to be done on a regular basis AND you have to have someone reading your blogs. It's no fun to write and not get any responses.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A lesson I needed to learn
Originally my thoughts about School 2.0 and what we have learned so far impacting what I do now were not overly positive. I know I have a greater awareness of the endless possibilities to enhance our teaching and learning. The lessons and discussions have reinforced my belief that we need to shift what we do, but I was feeling somewhat powerless to effect what I saw as large scale changes.
However, when I read the Reflection 12 blogs of some of my classmates I was suddenly revitalized. Molly talks about her new enthusiasm and how infectious she hopes it is. Brian has plans for next year even though he feels the same apprehensions that I do. And KathyS is my hero again. She gives real examples of how she is changing her little corner of the world.
These blogs reminded me that I do believe we can change what is happening in our little world and therefore what is happening in our bigger sphere. And there's the real power of what we have learned!
How powerful to have this happen at our last reflection.
However, when I read the Reflection 12 blogs of some of my classmates I was suddenly revitalized. Molly talks about her new enthusiasm and how infectious she hopes it is. Brian has plans for next year even though he feels the same apprehensions that I do. And KathyS is my hero again. She gives real examples of how she is changing her little corner of the world.
These blogs reminded me that I do believe we can change what is happening in our little world and therefore what is happening in our bigger sphere. And there's the real power of what we have learned!
How powerful to have this happen at our last reflection.
School 2.0 and Systemic Change
The core concept I took away from the School 2.0 map and article is that schools must be communities. A school is not just brick and mortar for students and teachers. The best parallel is an organized church. The building is not the church, it is a symbol. A church is its community of worshipers. The people make the church. Schools should be like that too. "School" needs to take on a broader meaning. School should be what and who we are all our lives. That is what lifelong learning really is.
This is a huge paradigm shift and can't happen overnight or even in a short 5-10 year span. This requires a core belief change. Not something easily achieved, which is why we continue to fail in our reform efforts. We expect great effort to produce great results. In guiding a cultural change we need to accept that great efforts might yield small changes. They aren't insignificant, but we can't beat our chests and crow about our big success. Real change is slow, almost insidious.
We can't start from scratch; it's just not possible. So, our focus should be how can we morph our current system into something that works for today. Success breeds success therefore we should tackle the easiest shifts, even though they may not be the most important. Without buy in you have nothing. A district that wants to move towards a School 2.0 model has to make minor, popular changes first. Have success and increase the comfort level of the reluctant participants. We can more easily design a modern information highway, than we can make the paradigm shift to a virtual classroom. I'm not saying we shouldn't get there, I believe we have to take as many people with us as possible and you don't do that by challenging their reality. We as school leaders have to make the process collaborative and non threatening.
We have the beginnings of collaboration now. We need to call attention to it and celebrate its successes. Incremental change with a common goal in mind will accomplish much more than an announcement that we are going to be the new School 2.0. Collaboration among all the stakeholders is difficult but worth striving for. This model should continue to be part of any School 2.0 discussions we might have.
A specific on the School 2.0 map that I would like to change or discard is seeing technology as a stand alone item. Our students and young people have technology embedded in their lives. It's not something they think about or study, it's just what is. The focus on the School 2.0 map is about acquiring technology, often times in lieu of other things. That's not a solution. Until we see technology as transparent we will continue to think of it as a miracle solution. It is never the solution. It is a tool to help us reach better solutions.
Overall, the School 2.0 map is a conversation starter. I don't know that I see it as any more powerful than other ideas and programs we have begun to explore in regards to the schools of the future. The power will come from committment, leadership, and collaboration.
This is a huge paradigm shift and can't happen overnight or even in a short 5-10 year span. This requires a core belief change. Not something easily achieved, which is why we continue to fail in our reform efforts. We expect great effort to produce great results. In guiding a cultural change we need to accept that great efforts might yield small changes. They aren't insignificant, but we can't beat our chests and crow about our big success. Real change is slow, almost insidious.
We can't start from scratch; it's just not possible. So, our focus should be how can we morph our current system into something that works for today. Success breeds success therefore we should tackle the easiest shifts, even though they may not be the most important. Without buy in you have nothing. A district that wants to move towards a School 2.0 model has to make minor, popular changes first. Have success and increase the comfort level of the reluctant participants. We can more easily design a modern information highway, than we can make the paradigm shift to a virtual classroom. I'm not saying we shouldn't get there, I believe we have to take as many people with us as possible and you don't do that by challenging their reality. We as school leaders have to make the process collaborative and non threatening.
We have the beginnings of collaboration now. We need to call attention to it and celebrate its successes. Incremental change with a common goal in mind will accomplish much more than an announcement that we are going to be the new School 2.0. Collaboration among all the stakeholders is difficult but worth striving for. This model should continue to be part of any School 2.0 discussions we might have.
A specific on the School 2.0 map that I would like to change or discard is seeing technology as a stand alone item. Our students and young people have technology embedded in their lives. It's not something they think about or study, it's just what is. The focus on the School 2.0 map is about acquiring technology, often times in lieu of other things. That's not a solution. Until we see technology as transparent we will continue to think of it as a miracle solution. It is never the solution. It is a tool to help us reach better solutions.
Overall, the School 2.0 map is a conversation starter. I don't know that I see it as any more powerful than other ideas and programs we have begun to explore in regards to the schools of the future. The power will come from committment, leadership, and collaboration.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
WOW! Dr. Zhao
This was my favorite session! Dr. Zhao is a realist. He knows we are not doing what needs to be done, but he isn't jumping on any new "initiatives". He is just saying we need to bring common sense and vision to the problem.
I loved that he was not afraid to challenge teachers and administrators to move forward. He hooked me at the very beginning when he said that the use of technology in schools is controlled by what adults know and think is appropriate around technology and not by the limitless possibilities of technology that our students live with. He is right on the money when he talks about fear driving policy and practice. Look at our own level of "blocking"... when we first moved into the computer age our policy was "police yourself". Even students had full access unless their parents specifically chose to opt out. Now, I can't even use many of today's best sites because they are blocked for student and staff use. Our fear controls our possibilities.
Dr. Zhao also admits that throwing money at the problem is not the answer. His realistic assessment of the one computer per student drive rang true with me. It's not the most important thing that we give students the hardware, it's what we as adults allow them to do with it. His ability to let go and follow the students - letting them be active contributors- is something I would like to emulate.
Dr. Zhao is definitely someone who I will be following as he writes and talks around the world. We need more people like him in education.
I loved that he was not afraid to challenge teachers and administrators to move forward. He hooked me at the very beginning when he said that the use of technology in schools is controlled by what adults know and think is appropriate around technology and not by the limitless possibilities of technology that our students live with. He is right on the money when he talks about fear driving policy and practice. Look at our own level of "blocking"... when we first moved into the computer age our policy was "police yourself". Even students had full access unless their parents specifically chose to opt out. Now, I can't even use many of today's best sites because they are blocked for student and staff use. Our fear controls our possibilities.
Dr. Zhao also admits that throwing money at the problem is not the answer. His realistic assessment of the one computer per student drive rang true with me. It's not the most important thing that we give students the hardware, it's what we as adults allow them to do with it. His ability to let go and follow the students - letting them be active contributors- is something I would like to emulate.
Dr. Zhao is definitely someone who I will be following as he writes and talks around the world. We need more people like him in education.
Monday, February 25, 2008
A Collaborative Assigment for Earth Science
Kevin Honeycutt's podcast was very entertaining. It confirmed a lot of what I was thinking about the use of technology in school. Right now, the only technology I see being used is the School Island program - which really isn't technology at all. It's just paper and pencil review moved to the computer screen.
The challenge of this lesson is to come up with a project that encompasses the best of technology without being gimmicky. Because I am not responsible for designing curriculum or even planning full lessons I am stealing a lab from the Earth Science teachers. This is how I would design it to make it technology rich, relevant, and more rigorous than it currently is.
The current lab has been around forever. The purpose is to have the students understand the long history of the earth and to provide perspective as to how much time different species of life have impacted the earth. The students are given a 20 foot piece of paper and using their Earth Science reference tables each student must place important events in Earth's history on the timeline. Then they are asked individually to complete a worksheet and questions. Usually this is 2-3 class periods.
Here's my version:
An ES teacher teaches three classes of about 22 students each. The goal would be to produce a virtual timeline which is a composite of all the research done by class groups. Each class would be divided into small groups and assigned a time period from the Geologic History of NY table in the Earth Science reference table. Their tasks would be to find out as much as they could in a class period about their assigned time period. They would be given a general outline of the categories of information needed such as the names of the periods and epochs, what lived on the Earth during that time, and what major geological events happened during that time. Using laptops or the library computer center the teams would gather and organize their info onto a project wiki. Team captains (one from each of three classes) would discuss on line and decide on a format for the information (eg., interactive timeline, YouTube video, etc.). Each group would take their raw information, adapt it to meet the format and upload it to the central project site. As the culminating task each student would log into the project and answer a series of questions using the information gathered by the groups. I would finish the unit by viewing the completed project in class and using it to inform my discussions about events in geologic history that I knew would come up again in the curriculum.
Obviously there is more to this than what I wrote here. I just wanted to use this as an example of adapting something we already have in the curriculum to a more modern and appropriate format. What is seen as a tedious project by many students has a lot of potential when presented differently.
The challenge of this lesson is to come up with a project that encompasses the best of technology without being gimmicky. Because I am not responsible for designing curriculum or even planning full lessons I am stealing a lab from the Earth Science teachers. This is how I would design it to make it technology rich, relevant, and more rigorous than it currently is.
The current lab has been around forever. The purpose is to have the students understand the long history of the earth and to provide perspective as to how much time different species of life have impacted the earth. The students are given a 20 foot piece of paper and using their Earth Science reference tables each student must place important events in Earth's history on the timeline. Then they are asked individually to complete a worksheet and questions. Usually this is 2-3 class periods.
Here's my version:
An ES teacher teaches three classes of about 22 students each. The goal would be to produce a virtual timeline which is a composite of all the research done by class groups. Each class would be divided into small groups and assigned a time period from the Geologic History of NY table in the Earth Science reference table. Their tasks would be to find out as much as they could in a class period about their assigned time period. They would be given a general outline of the categories of information needed such as the names of the periods and epochs, what lived on the Earth during that time, and what major geological events happened during that time. Using laptops or the library computer center the teams would gather and organize their info onto a project wiki. Team captains (one from each of three classes) would discuss on line and decide on a format for the information (eg., interactive timeline, YouTube video, etc.). Each group would take their raw information, adapt it to meet the format and upload it to the central project site. As the culminating task each student would log into the project and answer a series of questions using the information gathered by the groups. I would finish the unit by viewing the completed project in class and using it to inform my discussions about events in geologic history that I knew would come up again in the curriculum.
Obviously there is more to this than what I wrote here. I just wanted to use this as an example of adapting something we already have in the curriculum to a more modern and appropriate format. What is seen as a tedious project by many students has a lot of potential when presented differently.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Want to Start a HS TA Wiki?
I wonder if a wiki designed for the TA's at the HS would allow us to more easily keep up to date with what is going on in classrooms? The ability to quickly add an update or put something on the calendar might be a great tool. We share so many students in so many classrooms, yet we don't often have the time to share what they are doing. I think we could use the calendar to list upcoming tests and projects. We could use the wiki as a group to post info on issues that are important to us - maybe avoiding the e-mail conundrum of who should get what. I'm still a little unclear about privacy issues on a wiki, not sure if we could actually mention specific students. Still all in all I think this could be a very good tool for groups of people who want to be connected but can't always get face to face time. Since a wiki is more interactive, I think it would be a better tool for a group like HS TA's than a blog.
Monday, November 26, 2007
Looking at Video Sites
There sure is a lot of stuff floating around in cyberspace! As part of Assignment 5 we were asked to look at a few sites where videos for school could be located. My age is really showing, because I found many of these very visually confusing, much like fast paced video games. I envy the younger students to whom this is all matter of fact.
I really liked NextVista. There was a lot of content available for math and most of it was pretty good. I found the site easy to navigate. It was easy to find content specific videos. The best part was it worked very fast. I could bring this up during a class and have the video almost instantly available.
Teacher Tube had a wonderful amount of video available. But I was totally frustrated trying to navigate the site. It was so slow! By the time I could find a video, download it to watch it, then get ready for the replay to show I could have written an entire lesson myself. Also, I couldn't get the videos to download to another site. They had to be shown from Teacher Tube. (this may have been my problem, not the site's)
You Tube made me crazy. It was way too overwhelming for me to use it as a resource. It was FUN though!
I had the most trouble with ClipBlast because the videos I was trying to watch were housed at Teacher Tube producing the same time problems.
Overall, I think that when NextVista really takes off it will be a great teaching resource. Content is being added daily. I love being able to quickly find and play a video on the math concepts I am working on in class.You Tube could be a fun diversion for students, but I can't see using it in my classroom because it is not edited or filtered. I would encourage students to access it at home and use some of the videos to reinforce what is being taught.
The best thing of all is that I think our students and teachers could do a better job than many of the videos I saw, so there is a whole new creative area to explore for project based learning.
I really liked NextVista. There was a lot of content available for math and most of it was pretty good. I found the site easy to navigate. It was easy to find content specific videos. The best part was it worked very fast. I could bring this up during a class and have the video almost instantly available.
Teacher Tube had a wonderful amount of video available. But I was totally frustrated trying to navigate the site. It was so slow! By the time I could find a video, download it to watch it, then get ready for the replay to show I could have written an entire lesson myself. Also, I couldn't get the videos to download to another site. They had to be shown from Teacher Tube. (this may have been my problem, not the site's)
You Tube made me crazy. It was way too overwhelming for me to use it as a resource. It was FUN though!
I had the most trouble with ClipBlast because the videos I was trying to watch were housed at Teacher Tube producing the same time problems.
Overall, I think that when NextVista really takes off it will be a great teaching resource. Content is being added daily. I love being able to quickly find and play a video on the math concepts I am working on in class.You Tube could be a fun diversion for students, but I can't see using it in my classroom because it is not edited or filtered. I would encourage students to access it at home and use some of the videos to reinforce what is being taught.
The best thing of all is that I think our students and teachers could do a better job than many of the videos I saw, so there is a whole new creative area to explore for project based learning.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Urban problems in suburban schools. Can AIS help?
Wow! I just read a great post at Practical Theory . It has nothing to do with blogging in the classroom, but it ignited my fire today. Carol's is one of my favorite blogs to visit because she is truly an administrator who is involved everyday with students. Carol is discussing the real problem of kids who just aren't in a mental place where they can learn in a traditional setting. This post hit close to home even though Hilton is not an urban school . We may be the quintessential suburban district, but we have those students whose home life is unimaginable for most of us. I think we try and reach these students in a number of ways. AIS is one of the tools we have. In AIS we tend to see the kids who are struggling in other places in their lives.
What we do in AIS is so different than what happens in most any other area of the HS. It's not that we are better at reaching kids, it's just that we have the luxury of being able to meet them one on one where they are at any given moment. We can use that every day to find a way to reach a student and help them learn the core content we are responsible for. We call it the social emotional piece of AIS. That's the real secret to our success.
Unfortunately, the very thing that makes us special also sets us up as an easy target. We see less students during the day than most other teachers. This is often perceived as unfair. Though I think if you asked a classroom teacher if they would want to spend every class with a group of angry, mostly undermotivated, reluctant learners they would say no. Our FTE's are constantly on the chopping block because people who have no experience with our program think it can be replicated by a classroom teacher in a study hall setting. This may be true for the academic support we give, but we are so much more. I admit I am overly invested in what we do. I was part of the team that designed AIS in the HS and I believe in it's effectiveness. It infuriates me when people think that all we should do is teach study skills and help with homework. Hilton has the 1% that is talked about in the article. We need to keep in place any tools we have which allow us to reach them.
What we do in AIS is so different than what happens in most any other area of the HS. It's not that we are better at reaching kids, it's just that we have the luxury of being able to meet them one on one where they are at any given moment. We can use that every day to find a way to reach a student and help them learn the core content we are responsible for. We call it the social emotional piece of AIS. That's the real secret to our success.
Unfortunately, the very thing that makes us special also sets us up as an easy target. We see less students during the day than most other teachers. This is often perceived as unfair. Though I think if you asked a classroom teacher if they would want to spend every class with a group of angry, mostly undermotivated, reluctant learners they would say no. Our FTE's are constantly on the chopping block because people who have no experience with our program think it can be replicated by a classroom teacher in a study hall setting. This may be true for the academic support we give, but we are so much more. I admit I am overly invested in what we do. I was part of the team that designed AIS in the HS and I believe in it's effectiveness. It infuriates me when people think that all we should do is teach study skills and help with homework. Hilton has the 1% that is talked about in the article. We need to keep in place any tools we have which allow us to reach them.
What's so Powerful about Blogging?
I don't think I am really getting the power of blogging...can anyone help? Certainly interaction among students is powerful for learning, but how does the teacher use this to reinforce a lesson? I'm not quite making the leap here. Kathy S talks about an English class writing a critical lens essay and how she thinks blogging could help the process. What would a successful outcome look like?
Are we as educators happy with good process or do we need to be able to assess its effectiveness? As I am exploring ways to bring blogging into our classroom I continually hit the mental roadblock that asks "How can I determine if this has been successful?". The more I read other blogs the more I think I'm missing some key idea.
At Super Cool Science Brian talks about being very excited to blog casually with his students about science related topics. This use of blogging makes more sense to me, but I see it as entertaining and welcoming, not as a true instructional tool.
So... since everyone else seems to "get" this and I don't, please send me your thoughts. I want to be as excited about blogging in the classroom as everyone else.
Are we as educators happy with good process or do we need to be able to assess its effectiveness? As I am exploring ways to bring blogging into our classroom I continually hit the mental roadblock that asks "How can I determine if this has been successful?". The more I read other blogs the more I think I'm missing some key idea.
At Super Cool Science Brian talks about being very excited to blog casually with his students about science related topics. This use of blogging makes more sense to me, but I see it as entertaining and welcoming, not as a true instructional tool.
So... since everyone else seems to "get" this and I don't, please send me your thoughts. I want to be as excited about blogging in the classroom as everyone else.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
How do I know what blogs to read?
Wow! There is so much out there in cyberspace. It's really difficult to sort through and separate the good from the bad. If our students can do that why can't they find the main idea in a paragraph??
I stumbled across a few blogs and links that intrigued me. If you want to be freaked out about internet conspiracy theories check out Big Brother Google is Tracking You. This was a blog article posted at a really good site called Moving at the Speed of Creativity. I liked the author's casual style and I liked the mix of topics addressed.
For something a little more practical try the Online Tools for Classroom Use site. This site had a great list of links for free online ed tech tools you can use in the classroom. There are useful links for every grade level.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of junk out there too. Many of the blog sites I checked out seemed to be written by self absorbed lonely people. Reminds me of the uncle at the family reunion who everyone avoids because all he can do is talk about himself and his opinions.
I'm already learning to be more discriminating in giving a site my time. I think there's a lesson I could use with students developing here, just not sure what it is.
I stumbled across a few blogs and links that intrigued me. If you want to be freaked out about internet conspiracy theories check out Big Brother Google is Tracking You. This was a blog article posted at a really good site called Moving at the Speed of Creativity. I liked the author's casual style and I liked the mix of topics addressed.
For something a little more practical try the Online Tools for Classroom Use site. This site had a great list of links for free online ed tech tools you can use in the classroom. There are useful links for every grade level.
Unfortunately, there's a lot of junk out there too. Many of the blog sites I checked out seemed to be written by self absorbed lonely people. Reminds me of the uncle at the family reunion who everyone avoids because all he can do is talk about himself and his opinions.
I'm already learning to be more discriminating in giving a site my time. I think there's a lesson I could use with students developing here, just not sure what it is.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Welcome to my Figments blog
Hi! Welcome to my blog. I created this blog to talk about technology in education with my online class. I chose Figments as the theme because this blog is a place to think out loud. No scholarly treatise here. Let's chat about what's new in technology, what you're doing in class and how it's working.
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