Planting Seeds

I have been very busy giving and preparing to give workshops. It is a time when I read blogs, go off on tangents that the bloggers send me to and find myself thinking a lot about what I want to transmit to the participants in the workshops. Terry Freedman warns about being an evangelist. I want to plant seeds. In some people the seeds will germinate quickly. In others, it will be more like those seeds which need a fire to help them germinate. The seeds may lie dormant for a long time, but later a fire will be lit that will let them flourish.

I get very excited by the possibilities of web 2.0 and wish that others shared my enthusiasm. I worked recently with some teachers who are trying out podcasting. The seeds are flourishing. I helped them set up blogs where they will be putting up the show notes and linking to the podcasts. We have also set up a joint blog where they can document their process, share documents such as rubrics and help each other along. I am excited about this. I hope it is well used. But the seeds are there.

Next week I am giving a workshop with my colleague on 21st century literacy and web 2.0 tools. How do you gently introduce without being an evangelist? I have set up a workshop wiki. I wonder if the participants will go there. I say to myself that the participants have chosen to come to the workshop so I hope they will be open to what we are saying. Perhaps the seeds planted in the workshop will entice them to the wiki to learn more.

Gardening is always full of surprises.

Second Life for the First Time

I have finally succombed. I have started to explore Second Life. The Women of Web 2.0 offered a tour, which for me was a great way to start. I'm still just getting the hang of walking around, but I don't mind being seen as gauche. I can hide behind the anonymity of my avatar.

Our guide skyped the participants so we had the advantage of voice interaction as well as the Second Life interface. I was impressed by the Space Museum. There is certainly a lot to explore there, with many links to Internet sites to elaborate on what you are seeing. I would not be ready to take students there as, when I looked at the list of most popular places (even when I did not click "include places in Mature regions" I found arms testing and gambling. Not my speed. On a further visit (while listening to a webcast done by Steve Hargadon of EdTech Live (who is an excellent interviewer) with Sarah Robbins, I learned about more educational areas in Second Life. I can now teleport directly to the library and other educational venues. More exploring to be done. The interview is worth hearing. Sarah talks about how she tries to create an environment for her students that is different from what there would be in a face-to-face class. Otherwise there is no point to using the virtual space. She commented that some students were more comfortable, especially initially, with the virtual space. More students contributed to the discussion. Her class met face-to-face once a week and in Second Life once a week.

I know there is a lot to be said about virtual environments. I would like to see a safer virtual environment if students are going to use it. From what I understand there is a youth only section, but that bars adults. We need to have a safe place where teachers and students can interact. I know that students would find this very engaging. I'll reserve judgement until I have explored more.

Going with the Flow

I am finally taking more time to read some blogs despite the fact that many work deadlines are looming. Today Bud Hunt quoted a comment by Bruce Schauble. I'll quote it here:

"....the best classes, for me, always seem to be the ones that go sailing off in some direction I hadn't anticipated. I used to worry about having to pull the kids "back on track." In recent years I'm more interested in trying to explore with them where the new track is leading. Truth to tell, a great deal of my lesson "planning" is actually done after the fact, trying as you say, to figure out, given today's surprises, what would be a good thing to do next.

And all of that connects to the objection that I think we both share to curriculum design driven by standardized testing. There's no room there for side tracks, we've got to get to page 48 by Thursday.

The artfulness of teaching is about knowing when and how to respond on the fly to things you hadn't anticipated. And if you don't provide room for those things to happen, if you don't give the students room to make them happen, education devolves into something mechanical and soul-deadening."

This is the way I have always tred to teach - to leave room for side trips and sometimes that side-trip is better than the planned trip. I am involved in developing an online course. That is a concern for me - how to build in room for side trips. I would hate to be "teacher-proofing" the experience and thus soul-deadening the students. This was a good reminder.

You Tube and the Arts

I have been exploring youtube after reading an article from The New York Times about youtube and culture and started exploring for myself. I came across and astonishing number of videos of interest to me in a short search. In dance I was able to watch short clips of Nureyev, Alvin Ailey's company and others. I watched short clips of Glen Gould playing Bach and talking about Bach. These could be very interesting to show in arts classes. Here's an example.



It is easy to include the video in a blog, so you don't have to send students to youtube.

I've Been Tagged!

The latest blog meme going around is "five things people don't know about you" . I've been tagged. When you get "tagged" you are supposed to write 5 things about yourself that others may not know about.

So for Pam Shoemaker who tagged me.

1) I taught dance many years ago.

2) I love orchids. I buy them when they are cheap and marvel at the way they reflower under my benign neglect.

3) I'm a mac-aholic. I work to support my habit. My first computer was a Franklin Ace (an Apple II compatible).

4) I'm intrigued by the far north and want to go there some time. I would love to see the Northern Lights in a variety of colours.

5) I have a turtle collection. My many years of working with children and Logo in its many incarnations is what started the collection. Once children know you have 2 turtles, they are eager to add.
I've always loved Ogden Nash's poem. My explorations with children using the turtle were certainly fertile.

The Turtle
by Ogden Nash

The turtle lives 'twixt plated decks
Which practically conceal its sex.
I think it clever of the turtle
In such a fix to be so fertile.

Tag - you're it! Jill Hammond Janice Stearns Lucy Gray Steve Hargadon Ian Jukes

New Year's Resolution

I guess it's that time of year when thoughts of self-reform surface. I took a hiatus from blogging as other aspects of my life became more time-consuming. And I still work to find a balance. While I think blogging is important, I also need to keep time for music, exercise and people in the real world. But I know I need to take the time to think - so 2007 resolution is to take more time to reflect.

I listened to a podcast interview done by Steve Hargadon with Will Richardson and while it didn't say anything new, it did remind me how important it is to take the time for reading and writing. I do recommend listening to the interview.

I also read some of the responses.
Steve commented on others who talked about star bloggers

Certainly, for someone like me who does not have a "large" readership,
most of the motivation for blogging is the ability to think and learn
and network. Is it different than posting to a list? For me, yes,
because my blog becomes a personal repository of my journey. In the
same way that a young person likes to bring a friend over to see their
room, the posters they have on their wall, and the music they listen
to (ergo, the appeal of MySpace, I believe), my blog is a way for
someone to come and see what I am thinking about and working on, in a
way that used to be reserved only for those who were prominent enough
to be published by traditional media.

I liked this for several reasons. I give workshops to teachers about blogs and am often asked "Why blogs? - why not just a listserve or forum as a place for a conversation? I think Steve pointed out one important reason - a personal space, a place to watch your thinking develop, a place to invite others in to view your thoughts and musings. A part of me likes to think of it as a private space, that others may see, but if they don't, that's fine. It's a place for a conversation with myself as much as a place for a conversation with others.

So - to avoid being thought of as odd - and talking to myself in the street, I hope this year to talk to myself virtually, try to make sense of where my thinking seems to be going and if others drop in, that's OK. If not, that's OK too.

Technorati Tags: blogging

Podcast with Terry Freedman

I had the privilege of interviewing Terry Freedman about the upcoming second edition of Coming of Age.

You can listen to the podcast here

Here are some links re the show.

Terry's site about Coming of Age (first edition)
http://www.terry-freedman.org.uk/db/web2/
http://www.ictineducation.org/db/webw/

Blog with information on the upcoming second edition
http://web2booklet.blogspot.com

Also of interest is Terry's presentation on the K12 Online Conference
http://k12onlineconference.org/?p=72
Selling Web 2.0 to Senior Management

I'm looking forward to seeing the second edition. The first was great!

Technorati Tags: podcasts, web2.0

K12 Online and controversy

I have been following some of the controversy around the K12 Online Conference
and have been thinking a lot about what Stephen Downes has been writing. My feeling is that one has to weigh the positives and negatives. Nothing in this world is pure any more. I understand his feeling that associating with a company may taint the speakers. However, I also know that there are many people who never get to conferences (and there is nothing quite as commercial as NECC - quite a shock the first time there). This online conference is giving access to a community and to information that may be hard for newcomers to find. It is giving people opportunities to listen / watch and decide who they wish to continue following and the great show notes give links so that people can decide who to add to their blog reads. I have not had a chance to listen to all the presentations, but I have been struck by the generosity of people who freely publish their contact information and offer help to one and all. Yes - there are probably some presenters who are involved to publicize themselves. But the majority of what I have heard just really want to share.

We are surrounded by commercialism in North America. Let's trust that most of us as educators are aware of this. In fact this is on all our agendas when we teach about literacy. Who owns the site? How does that taint the information? How do we know this information is valid? We are teaching students to be careful, judicious consumers of information. I would hope that we approach this conference, or any conference with the same wariness.

As someone who often works with teachers, this conference has provided me with a one-stop place to point some teachers to so they can be introduced to Web 2.0. I love what Jeff Utecht is doing with his LAN parties and only wish Shanghai were not so far away. Since when have people had parties around thinking about education?

There is a buzz of people who are building networks to foster their own learning. I, for one, am grateful to all those who share online.

Technorati Tags: k12online06, web2.0

Community

I'm sitting in Prince Edward Island, visiting a friend (dialup only) and thinking about how interconnected we all are. Even with dialup I was able to listen to the Women of Web 2.0 webcast from World Bridges, follow the chat, chat on Skype with someone else, check my e-mails, read a few blogs (OK - only a few - I'm supposed to be on vacation). Tomorrow, I'll meet some people I only know through my online reading and listening and yet, I feel I will be meeting people I already know. That sense of community, of being part of something is quite amazing. Together people are building community for themselves and for their students. Something powerful is happening.

Technorati Tags: social-computing, web2.0

Podcast with Darren Kuropatwa

This is the first in a series of podcasts being done for LEARN. It is an interview with Darren Kuropatwa about the upcoming K12Online Conference.


Listen to the podcast here:

Show Notes

K12 Online Conference
Don't forget if you blog the conference to tag your post as k12online or K12online06

Darren Kuropatwa's blog:
A Difference
Inspiration for the conference came from the
Higher EdBlogCon Conference

TechCrunch
Hitchhikr

David Warlick's
blog
David Warlick's podcasts
Bud Hunt's blog
Ewan McIntosh's blog
Anne Davis' blog

From Anne Davis' blog:
Seize the Time
EdTechTalk
The Thinking Stick
Jeff Utecht

Technorati Tags: K12online

Best Practice

David Warlick blogged about best practices - what are they and who defines them as such. I really liked Terry Freedman's response

The very concept of “best practice” is flawed: best practice for whom? Who says it’s “best” practice? In the UK we (ie the educational tech community, including government agencies, have moved away from highlighting so-called best practice and towards interesting practice. What can I, for example, take from watching you and bring back to my own school? What works for you may not work in my context — but there may be one or two ideas I can adapt, if not adopt.

What is really important is the notion of sharing. So many teachers still teach in classrooms with the doors closed, not welcoming collaboration. David Warlick has also been talking about designing a new school. I think a crucial aspect has to be time. Give teachers the time to prepare and to talk together about pedagogy. Overload is a serious issue.

I have a particular concern for my home turf.

In the province of Quebec there is a shortage of math teachers among others. People are being hired to teach who have the content background but not the teacher training. I really wonder if we will see any best practices coming out of those teachers or if they will turn to "chalk and talk" as their method of delivery. I hope they will be getting inservice and will truly become teachers and not just content deliverers.

Technorati Tags: education

K12 Online 2006

I am very excited about the upcoming K12 Online 2006 conference and would encourage people to take part. I will certainly set aside some time to participate. I had the pleasure of meeting Darren this summer and know that anything he does will be done well.
Here are some highlights from Darren's post about the conference:

Announcing the first annual “K12 Online 2006″ convention for teachers, administrators and educators around the world interested in the use of Web 2.0 tools in classrooms and professional practice. This year’s conference is scheduled to be held over two weeks, Oct. 23-27 and Oct. 30- Nov. 3 with the theme “Unleashing the Potential.” A call for proposals is below.

There will be four “conference strands”– two each week. Two presentations will be published in each strand each day, Monday - Friday, so four new presentations will be available each day over the course of the two-weeks. Each presentation will be given in podcast or screencast format and released via the conference blog (URL: TBA) and archived for posterity.

THE FOUR STRANDS ARE:

Week 1

Strand A: A Week In The Classroom
Strand B: Basic/Advanced Training (one of each per day)

Week 2

Strand A: Personal Professional Development
Strand B: Overcoming Obstacles

So far there will be keynotes by
Bud Hunt, Ewan McIntosh, Anne Davis

Anyone interested in presenting should get in touch with Darren Kuropatwa Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach or Will Richardson

Technorati Tags: k12online06

For Librarians

Should there be any librarians reading this blog, I thought I would share this. Joyce Valenza a librarian I was fortunate to meet in Boston has been doing a lot of thinking about how new technologies are changing and will change how libraries function. At this site she also explores the implications of the changes. It's well worth reading. (via Will Richardson) As David Warlick says - Shift Happens. Let's make sure we understand what and how things are shifting.

What is happening with blogs?

I just finished listening to Miguel Guhlin's podcast with a group of teachers who are using blogs with their students. It takes about an hour but is worth listening to. One thing that really comes through is the social aspect of learning - how important it is to learn through conversation or written feedback. The students were motivated to write because they had a real audience, but they were also interested in reading what other students wrote and commenting on their writing.
Another important issue that came out of the podcast is the ongoing learning for the teachers. They, too, are reading blogs, learning from others in the field and reflecting on their own practice. This has certainly been the case for me and I thank all who are sharing.

Technorati Tags: blogs, community, web2.0

Code of Ethics

When I worked in a school we had an acceptable use policy. It was quite simple - statements about taking care of hardware, respecting people etc. Today I read one on David Warlick's blog. It is much more complex but included some interesting ideas. First of all it states that ethical teachers and students..... I like the document addresses all the school users, that students can see that they are held to the same standard as their teachers.
Included in the statements about using information respectfully and citing sources were

"Tell the story of the human experience boldly, even when it is unpopular to do so.
Examine your own cultural values and avoid imposing those values on others. "

Those are important messages to give students. It's about thinking and not parroting. It's about the responsibility to be thinking citizens who think beyond oneself and one's own needs. The AUP becomes an ethical statement that goes way beyond the use of school equipment. I like it!

Technorati Tags: ethics

My new Tune Talk

I spent most of last week at a literacy workshop for teachers, consultants, librarians.... I brought my new Tune Talk mic by Belkin with me and am now working on editing some podcasts which will include some of the snippets I recorded. I'm learning. I discovered (I'm not a good manual reader) that I have to be quite close to the speaker to get a good sound level. But on the whole, I am delighted with the quality. I'll have to play around some more. More podcasts in my future.

Technorati Tags: podcasts

Introducing Teachers to Blogs

How do you get teachers excited about learning? about joining a community of learners? Teachers have so many pulls on their time from the demands of the students to the demands of the administration. Whenever I introduce blogging to teachers i always get someone who says - not another thing to check, another thing to read. How can I get them to see the power, the energy you get from being part of a community of learners?

Some of them "get it" and see the connections to what they could do with their students. And they see how easy it is to use the blogging tools. There is a sense of "I can do this". Slowly teachers will move out of their closed-door classrooms and enter the community. I just did some workshops for language arts teachers and got some aha's! One teacher even saw how she could use a bulletin board blog (not enough computers available for the real thing) to start discussion and writing within her classroom. A blog made concrete. The important thing is starting conversation.

Technorati Tags: blogs, community

Social computing?

I have moments when I feel very anti-social towards social computing. A couple of days away from my computer and the number of blog entries to read has multiplied at an alarming rate. It's summer, but everyone's brains have forgotten to take a vacation. After going to BLC I vowed to pare down my list of subscriptions. I have put in hours, making decisions, cutting out blogs that I haven't gotten around to reading, but still the number of unread entries is way too high. There's not a lot social about sitting glued to the computer. But oh, it is so adictive.

Technorati Tags: social-computing, web2.0

Sara Kajder

I have been involved in giving workshops on digital storytelling, but it is always interesting to see how others approach the subject. I am pulled by the purists who talk about personal narrative and have seen some compelling stories created by young children through to adults. Sara Kajder spoke about personal narrative as well as about some online tools for creating digital stories.

session notes:
Digital Storytelling

2 essential questions - What are the unique capacities and limits of this tool?
How does this tool allow us to do something better?

Content -- Communicate -- Create

Narrative Inquiry - A fusing of research and storytelling practice which results in a product that tells a story of how individuals understand their actions, experiences, environment and culture

using the pieces of our lives to see what really matters.

Sara Kajder has a recent book Bringing the Outside In There is a support web site

stories structure the meanings of culture

We as members of communities have social networks - digitial story -
pbs - The civil war - images of the civil war

Create a document of lives lived.
Redheads: A digital story - by a 3rd grade teacher You can see it on the storycenter.org site.

What are the elements of a digital story?

point of view
dramatic question
emotion
voice
soundtrack
economy
pacing

A reflective component - take a look at the past - who we were and who we want to become
Connect to - this is not a place to do a book report - you can make digital book reports, but that is not a digital story
Dramatic - the good ones are raw
Opening a door that is uncomfortable
Have to care about what they are writing
Voice
Soundtrack - this is just the icing - lyrics will run counter to student's voice
Economy - affects only to convey narrative meaning
Pacing - stories breathe if they are written well - the students need to learn how to unpack something

Scripts are written on the front of a 3x5 or 4x6 card because words are only 1 element

Steps of construction

- pre-writing "What do I have to say?
- artifact search (visual elements)
- draft of script , storyboard
- script-sharing circle (critical English teaching part, read aloud (used Skype to have other people present but it didn't work as well as face to face feedback) sometimes gets in other adult help) Students taught to preface feedback "If it were my story I would....)
- script revision
-construction (1 day in lab ) - first get down images. Bells and whistles , transitions are absolutely the last record narration 1 -2 sentences at a time.
- screening, viewing and discussion - invite everyone who can breathe - movie makers get a pat on the back, discussion is important too)

If people aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read and write.

Online programs
Bubble Share
Eyespot does not allow for as much audio control
jumpcut - any user can post video and films - not a safe place
opsound - metasite to upload their own musical content and get safe music

Technorati Tags: BLC06, digital-storytelling

Andy Hargreaves Sustainable Leadership

Last night I went to see "An Inconvenient Truth" - Al Gore's movie on global warming. The message is clear and straightforward - we all have to contribute to the solution. But there is a solution. We have to move from a "me" society to a "we " society. Until we see that our actions and those of others have effects far beyond our immediate vicinity, we will not change. Andy Hargreaves also talked about social responsibility - how a sustainable school is one which is in harmony with its surroundings. Magnet schools, private schools, etc. afffect not only those who attend them but also those who don't . We have to start working together for change.

Notes from the session:
Professor at Boston College
His powerpoint is available at his site. http://www.andyhargreaves.com
es.com He did not show most of the Powerpoint but it is an excellent reference.

Andy Hargreaves is a passionate and eloquent speaker.

Links between professional learning communities
moving into the age of post-standardization
Spenser Foundation -- looking at 8 secondary schools in Canada and US - looking at change - followed over 30 years

work in UK - has left behind the age of standardization (as have most of Canada, Australia, Singapore and even Japan)
building on positive peer pressure rather than fear and compliance
America is conlonizing the model that most English-speaking nations are leaving behind
have to equip ourselves as educators
how do you lose your integrity? how do you lose your moral way?
Ian McKuen - The Innocent - character makes tiny shifts step--by-step, each of which make sense in relationship to the last one but the whole do not make sense and he finds himself way over his head. He lost his moral core - not by big dramatic moments, but by small adjestments and suddenly finds himself in a place he should not be. We have to be sure this does not happen to us, that we do not lose our integrity.

What is unsustainable - American policy
What is sustainablity? not only whether it can last but also without compromising the development of others in the surrounding environment, now and in the future. (also about social justice)

What is the oppositie? unsustainability?
imposed short-term targets
In the UK, targets in literacy and numberacy failed miserable (National Literacy Standards). What improvements there were were due to test items being made easier.

What does a sustainable company look like -

• Put purpose before profit
• Start slowly, advance persistently
• Do not depend on a single, visionary leader

In US - what is happening?

focusing on reading and math at expense of the arts and other "frills"
focusing on the 20% just below passing to make test scores look better
rates of literacy go up but rates of reading for pleasure go down

Schools are becoming the Enron of education

What is sustainable leadership?
- 7 principles
1) Depth (it matters)

Learning leads to Achievement leads to testing
NOT data driven instruction Testing leads to achievement leads to learning
We need evidence informed practice. The first year things may get worse but in the 2nd year it starts to get better and continues to.

2) Endurance (it lasts)

Sustainable leadership - few things succeed less than leadership succession. - your best legacy is in principles, practices and people
All school improvement plans should have succession plans - where the school is, where it is going, what kind of leadership it needs
- professional learning communities
from slide - Professional learning communities

Transform knowledge
Shared enquiry
Evidence informed
Situated certainty

3) Breadth (it spreads)

distributed and shared leadership
veteran dominated leadership is exclusionary - does not give space to young
novice dominated leadership - driven by enthusiasm rather than expertise - leads to burnout
Best culture is a blend of older and younger
provides mentoring
reciprocal learning

4) Justice (it does not harm the surrounding environment)

5)Diversity (it promotes diversity and conhesion)

networks
respond to changes - in the environment
network schools together
peer support and positive peer pressure

You learn more from people who are different from you, than ones who are the same

6) Resourcefulness (it conserves expenditure)

7) Conservation (it honours the past in creating the future)

From the Powerpoint:
Leaders of sustaining learning:

• Passionately advocate and defend deep learning for all students
• Combine and commit to old and new basics
• Put learning, before achievement, before testing
• Make learning the paramount priority
• Become more knowledgeable about learning
• Make learning transparent
• Be omnipresent witnesses to learning
• Practise evidence-informed, inquiry-based leadership
• Promote assessment for learning
• Engage students in decisions about their learning
• Involve parents in their children’s learning
• Model effective adult learning
• Create the emotional conditions for learning

Hargreaves & Fink, 2006

Technorati Tags: BLC06