Session 1 — Shifting Literacies

asmith@lps.k12.co.us — Anne Smith

kleclaire@lps.k12.co.us–Kristin Claire

What changes have we made in our classrooms and why? Cultural changes. Permission to change, try new things, push the boundaries. Focus on BIG QUESTIONS –constructivist teaching methodology. Kids have power and control over their learning.

Less of us teaching and more of the kids learning. Empower the kids in the classroom. Learn SKILLS rather than just CONTENT. Critical thinkers, collaborators, problem solvers.

Staff development and (technology) is KEY to success. Collaborate, pedogogy behind the methods.

reading/writing/speaking/listening have to look different in a 21st century classroom. NCTE–new literacies.

BLOGS

Transparent learning environment–invite the world in. Blogs have varying levels of privacy. Blogs archive the kids’ work over their high school careers–show that for college applications, etc. Portfolio of work. Synchronous and asynchronous learning. Clock and walls don’t matter. Anytime, anywhere learning.

Blogging guidelines–what is good? What is bad? Have the kids generate the guidelines. They hold each other accountable. Fishbowl with live blogging (inner circle/outer circle). Kids who don’t normally speak up are empowered to “speak up” on a blog.

Cover it live–live blogging, check this out. Clear expectations, hold them accountable.

Blogging as a reflective piece–metacognition. Slow down and think about what you’re doing.

Scribe posting–students take notes for the class. Absent students can read, review. Kids lead that.

Podcasts–This I Believe–embeddable players.

Personal Learning Networks. Google reader, subscribe to newspapers & blogs. Kids read and respond on their own personal blogs. What mattered? How does it relate to me? How does it relate to this class? How does it relate to the world around us? AUTHENTiC. Present the PLN entries to class.

How is my classroom organized?

Personal philosophy statement. Write their own statement. Everything else goes through that “lens.” Give broad, philosophical questions, quotes to brainstorm. Respond to all literature, etc. through that lens.

Using wikis– Help them articulate their own interest and passion rather than giving the question to them.  Give examples and let them go. Welcome page must have their personal philosophy statement. Wikis can include multimedia (music, video, photo, links). It’s a living, breathing document. This portfolio of learning can include all of their classes and continue over the years.

Session 2–Powering Up the Writer’s Workshop

Mike Porter and Mary Vedra

Notes taken on PowerPoint–need more upload space.

Roundtable Discussion

Voicethread.com (comment on pictures, see K12OnlineConference 2008)

Creative Commons (copyright) Yahoo search, Flickr creative commons

e-magazines (openzine.com)

Our school district is going to a one-to-one laptop initiative for all high school students next fall. I am lucky to be one of the trainers who will help train the rest of the staff about their new laptops and using Moodle, a popular course management system. We are in a Moodle training class this week, and another teacher was interested in my thoughts about online vs. traditional learning. I am one of the few who has much experience with online classes. I want to keep track of the thoughts I put on that discussion board, so I’m copying my rant here.

Some thoughts on online vs. traditional classrooms….
<rant>
My online teaching experience has been with adult learners, but honestly, they aren’t all that different from high school students. They may be a bit more mature in some areas and have different issues to deal with, but I still see the same types of learners and trends in behavior that exist with 17-year-olds.

I don’t see classroom teachers becoming obsolete ever. Scratch that—some individual classroom teachers can make themselves obsolete if they continue to work the same old way all their careers. I think that concept would apply to most jobs. My husband has been a lineman for 30+ years. He doesn’t work on a power line or transformer or sub-station today the same way he did in 1980. If he insisted on doing so, he would not have a job.

Sorry–getting off track. Back to the originally scheduled topic of online vs. traditional classrooms….

It takes a LOT of discipline to be an online learner. We’re all seeing that this week, aren’t we? It takes time, handling distractions and interruptions, etc. I don’t think the general population has the discipline necessary to be completely online learners. Teaching is a very hands-on, relationship-building kind of career. I guess if you were the kind of teacher who just writes the assignment on the board and sits at the back of the room reading your newspaper and let the kids figure it out on their own, then you could easily be replaced with an online class and no one would notice you weren’t in the room any more. But do you really know anyone like that? Yeah, it makes for a funny movie, but that’s it.

Frustrations can run high with online courses, especially for those who are less tech-savvy or who have any kind of learning challenge. They give up, disappear, and the teacher may not have any other way to contact the student. If they don’t log in to the class, you can’t contact them. They’re just gone.

Now, online learning certainly has many benefits. One of the greatest that I see is that students can access the material as many times as they want/need to comprehend. They can slow down or speed up through material as best suits their learning needs. In a classroom, most of the time it all happens at one pace.

Students have more time to compose their thoughts when responding to a discussion posting. They tend to revise more, go back an tweak their message a little more, before posting or sending an e-mail. More students participate in online discussions than live conversations in a classroom. We all know the one or two kids who will always answer a question or participate in a discussion. But when you take away the pressure of speaking up in front of a group of peers and give them time to process their ideas, many more students will open up and write their thoughts/feelings/ideas/concerns in an online environment. I’ve watched my juniors do that for the last two years when we blog every week. I guess I would fall into that category too. I would never speak this much in a class.

Another benefit I’ve noticed with online learning is that students will go back and work on something more than once. Again, I see my juniors do that a lot with their blogs. They’ll post one thing, but then later that day or week, go back and add to it. They won’t ever do that with an assignment given to them on paper. They do it once (hopefully), turn it in, and forget about it. They also read each others blogs or discussion board comments, and they write to each other. These same people may never speak to each other in class. Or they may be in different hours and not have the opportunity to comment to each other were it not for the online tools. Online learning opens up HUGE opportunities to expand their learning beyond the classroom walls and time.

We’re very lucky. We’ll have the best of both worlds. We will continue to have face-to-face classes and relationships with our students, and we will have all the power and benefit of online learning tools to add to the experience. What an amazing future we have ahead of us.

</rant>
Nancy

Found out about this good TeacherTube video from Vicki Davis’ CoolCat Teacher Blog. Check it out. We can all make a difference…one day at a time.

Today

Today, I will learn more about Moodle to prepare for training other teachers.

***DRAFT***

Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of what we can’t control–these are all valid concerns. Many people who do not understand or use social networking tools have fears about them. Some of those fears are well-founded. Yes, child predators have used MySpace to stalk victims. Yes, bad people have done bad things using these tools. Yes, we are obligated as parents, as educators, and as a society, to protect and monitor our most precious resource–our children.

MySpace, Facebook, and other social networking tools are not intrinsically bad. How some people may choose to use them can be bad. They are useful communication tools. Similary, cars are not bad, but some people choose to drive while intoxicated or in an unsafe manner. They use their cars in a harmful and irresponsible manner; however, the cars are not bad. They are useful transportation tools. Most people use their cars safely and in a responsible manner. Most people use their MySpace and Facebook accounts in a responsible manner as well.

These social networking sites are powerful communication tools that allow people to remain in contact with one another, regardless of time or location. Now when kids leave home and their friends to go to college or join the military, they don’t have to “leave behind” those relationships. They can remain in contact. They can share pictures and videos. They keep their relationships alive and thriving by using their social networks.

I feel a responsibility as a parent to have MySpace and Facebook accounts to keep tabs on my teenagers’ online activities and relationships. This excellent blog post by Vicki Davis gives great advice to parents for monitoring their children’s online behavior. The nature of communication allows for many ways to do so. We always pick the best and most efficient way to communicate. Young people (and a few of us older ones too!) are finding that Web 2.0 tools like MySpace, Facebook, YouTube, and others are often the best, most efficient ways to get our messages out, to keep in touch with others, to build our personal networks.

As an educator, my accounts have become avenues for former students to re-connect with me. Sometimes current students use MySpace to contact me with a question or to turn in an assignment if they were absent from class.

As educators, we are in a “position of trust.” We have a strong influence on the young people entrusted to us. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly. Because of that position, we are held under scrutiny, examined by the communities we serve. This is not necessarily a bad thing. Part of choosing this profession is choosing to live under that public microscope. It just goes with the territory. Do I want parents of my students to look at my website? Of course I do! It’s just another place for them to be involved in their children’s education, to get in touch with me. Do I have anything to hide on my website or MySpace site? Nope.

Technorati Tags: VickiDavis InternetSafety Educators Responsiblity MySpace Facebook

Fellow educators, if you haven’t seen this video yet, please take a few minutes to watch. A few of the facts are from Karl Fisch’s Did You Know? presentation, but this takes that conversation quite a bit farther.

Pay Attention!

Technorati Tags: 21st_Century Education KarlFisch T4JordanDistrict DidYouKnow? PayAttention!

This is a great video about using technology tools in the classroom. I found it online at the T4-Jordan School District. I haven’t explored the whole site yet, but what I’ve seen so far looks like a pretty amazing pool of resources. Thanks very much to those in charge of organizing and sharing this site.

Technorati Tags: PayAttention T4JordanSchool Education Technology 21stCenturyLearning

It’s been a while since I had any thoughts that I considered worthy of blogging. But this morning I had one that I want to explore more.

So now, at age 41, I’ve finally figured out what I want to do when I grow up. What I really want to be is a pyromaniac. As a teacher, as a mother and grandmother, as a wife, and (most importantly) as a Christian, I want to go around lighting fires in the lives other people. I want to get the sparks going and watch them blaze into glory.

I think that’s one of the most important things I can do–light a fire in other people.