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.
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