When Will They Learn?

I had a great discussion with Fiance’ over breakfast about current technology issues we’re dealing with at our places of employment.  He is an IT guy for a university, so although he isn’t an educator himself, he supports technology in his department.  He explained that the IT department is investigating the use of (edupunks, cover your ears) Microsoft’s SharePoint.  I’m not familiar with the software, so he sweetly explained how the tools would allow for collaboration between staff members and eventually students. 

My mind jumped from one “ah-ha!” to another:

1. I may not know this software, but I know what it does.  I’m familiar with sharing documents and collaborating on web-based platforms.
2. # 1 is exactly what I want my students to learn!  I can’t possibly teach them every program or tool, but with enough exposure, they’ll develop networking common sense.  They may not know exactly how to use a new tool, but they’ll tap prior knowledge of similar tools to figure it out.
3. OMG.  I’m not exposing my students to these tools.  My district does not currently allow it.  Who will teach them how to use these educational networking tools appropriately and effectively? 

Educational networking tools are blocked in my district, so if the current 8th graders are using them at all, it’s probably for pure entertainment.  Not a bad place to start, but what will they do in 5 years when their college professor asks them to respond to/create a blog or create a multi-media presentation rather than write a paper?   Will the college professors teach the freshmen how to use the tools?  If not, when will they learn?

 Question:  Does your K-12 district have a systemic technology curriculum plan?  Does the K-5 curriculum properly prepare your students for the next step?  If you work in higher education, do you feel students are entering college with “educational networking common sense”?

Hey…You…Guuuuys (and Gals)!!! Part 2

TGI-PLN (Thank Goodness It’s Personal Learning Network)

Thank you to everyone who commented on Part 1 of this post, especially MariaD for bringing to my attention (in very professional, non-D’oh! way) that I had left out possibly the most important part of social networking… sharing and collaborating!  Haven’t I learned that “Reading’ and “Watching” aren’t enough for the 21st Century?  Sheesh…where was my head?

Summer Homework for Teachers and Administrators?  Yippeee!

In Part 1, I posted links that explained RSS feeders and how to get one.  Reading blogs is not enough.  Take full advantage of them… comment.  Leave comments for the author, or for other readers.  Many bloggers will respond to comments so feel free to pose a question or expand the discussion.  When you’re ready, start your own blog!  There are plenty of platforms to choose from.  I use wordpress.com, but find the one that’s right for you.  Edublog is specifically for teachers and students and is free.  Did you say blogs for students?  Why yes, I did.  Check out Scott McLeod’s wiki on K-12 blogs.  Read, learn, create and share. (not necessarily in that order)

Continually Create Your Personal Learning Network

The biggest mystery I faced when I started this journey was “How do I find the good stuff?”.  Why reinvent the wheel?  Why not start by investigating the same “stuff” that other educators and administrators are following?  Easy:  set up a Twitter account.  The Twitter.com FAQ’s states that, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers…”  Basically you pick members that you want to follow, based on common interests such as technology and education.  Following someone on Twitter allows you to see what they post.  Then the magic happens.  Professionals from all over the world are telling youwhat they are doing!!  Workshop announcements, new blog posts, interesting articles, webcasts, IT advice…all dispensed in 140 characters or less.  Watch, learn, and interact. (not necessarily in that order)

I Learned Everything in Kindergarten:  SHARE!

Share everything**. (This is something I need to start doing more often.)   Create an online identity.  Be transparent:  the person you are online is like the person you are in real life.  (thank you, Kevin Jarrett) Post photos (professional, personal, your choice) on Flickr.com.  Create a wiki so you and colleagues (inside your building and from across the world) can collaborate on projects.  Stop sending documents as “flat” email attachments.  Give them some depth by creating files in iGoogle Docs, so you can share them with others in order to collaborate!  Share videos (again, professional or personal) on YouTube or TeacherTube.  Just get out there and experience this world.  Help create this world.

Our Students Need  Us To Learn, Share and Collaborate

We can’t teach our students about these tools unless we use them ourselves.  If we don’t share this knowledge with our students, they’ll use these tools without us.  Lack of guidance could lead to cyber-bullying or simply inappropriate online behavior.  So as you actively participate and collaborate online, think of ways your students can do the same to expand their learning and acquire 21st Century skills.

Lastly, thank you to Vicki Davis for a recent post that acknowledges and supports new bloggers like:
Kristi, Matthew Needleman, and Michelle Baldwin.

**Please remember to keep safety in mind.  It is never a good idea to share personal information such as address or phone number and students should never share any personal information!  For an opposing view on sharing, read this post on Connecting the Dots, by new blogger Mike Curtin.

Homer Simpson Clipart from:  Fabiosbest’s Public Gallery

Hey…You….Guuuuys (and Gals)!!!

Attention Administrators and Educators

Maybe you’re a classroom teacher interested in the “next big thing” in education. Maybe you’re an administrator.  Maybe you’re one of my administrators.  I have an important message for all of you.  I want to be part of the Learning Revolution.  I want you to discover the Learning Revolution.  Does “Learning Revolution” sound intriguing?  Want to learn more?  Well, from what I’ve found, there’s no easy way to summarize it.  Summer vacation is approaching so we’ll all have a ton of free time (yeah, right).  Here’s a little research that will fill up your free time and most likely throw your views of education for a loop.  That’s what happened to me:

Visit these sites:

North American Council for Online Learning
“Blocking the Future” by Scott McLeod published on The School Administrator, May 2008
Castle:  UCEA Center for the Advanced Study of Technology Leadership in Education Iowa State University
“Middle Schoolers and MySpace”by Bill Ferriter published on The Tempered Radical
“Preparing Students to Succeed in the 21st Century” by Liz Davis published on The Power of Educational Technology
“School AUP 2.0″by David Warlick published on 2cents Worth
“Get Past Teaching Apps:  Build and Use a Student Technology Toolbelt” by Vicki Davis published on Cool Cat Teacher Blog
“The Evolution of PD” by Vicki Davis published on Cool Cat Teacher Blog
“Beyond the Fear Factor with Internet Safety” by Wesley Fryer published on Moving at the Speed of Creativity
“My Greatest Hits” by Liz Davis published on The Power of Educational Technology
“Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators”by Kathy Schrock published on Discovery Education

Watch these videos:

 ”We Think” posted on The Thinking Stick
“Wikis in Plain English”by CommonCraft
“Blogs in Plain English” by CommonCraft
“The Machine is Us/ing Us”  by mwesch on YouTube

 

Read These Books:

A Whole New Mind by Daniel H. Pink
The World Is Flat by Thomas L. Friedman
Here Comes Everyone by Clay Shirky
Everything is Miscellaneous by David Weinberger
The Media Equation by Byron Reeves & Clifford Nass
Redefining Literacy for the 21st Century by David Warlick
 

I’ll also be reading and collaborating on these subjects.  Let’s meet in September to discuss our endless options.  We can discuss professional development, AUP’s, Internet safety, Web2.0, etc, etc, etc.

**Have these blog posts and sites caught your interest?  Want to stay on top of the newest posts?  Set up an RSS Reader (such as Google Reader).  Simple explanation and instructions on RSS In Plain English by Common Craft.

Readers:  Please add to this list…I know there are great sites that I’m missing!  Thanks.

Title from:  The Electric Company Television Show 
Picture by: NECC Button contest winner:  Bill Moseley

This I Believe

Thank you to Lisa Thumann for including me in this intellectual game of tag.  Following the lead of Barry Bachenheimer, Lisa listed some key beliefs of her educational philosophy.  With a belly full of delicious banana pancakes (thank you Fiance’), I’m going to attempt the same:

I believe:

• learning should be student centered.  Educators know this, but we’re often confined by curriculum, administration or simple lack of time.
• educators, just like everyone else, need to be inspired by their leaders, and supported in their quest to achieve professional excellence.  This is not achieved by limiting professional development.
• a school building should be the original “educational network” (thanks to Vicki Davis for the term).  Many of us communicate, share and collaborate online, while in our own schools teachers are reluctant to open their doors and their lesson plans in order to foster a community of learners. 
• although Education is the business of learning, growing and changing, our society/politicians have not allowed Education to learn, grow or change as much as is needed to keep up with the 21st Century world.
• there is hope.  There are many educators who love helping children learn about their world.  In my opinion, that’s half the battle.

Ann Oro and Dan Callahan …..TAG, YOU’RE IT!

My Techie Life: 1.0 and 2.0

But You’re a Techie 

I realize that there’s a fairly good chance that I use technology more often than any of the other 75 staff members in my school.  However, I really don’t see myself as someone who “overloads” herself with technology.   In my school, most people use a bit of technology (email or Internet searches) at least once a day.  Unfortunately, some of the nicest people (and some of the best teachers) are using very little technology in their personal and professional lives. 

Just recently, I realized how much technology I use on a daily basis.  Obviously, there are people out there who log MANY more hours than I do, but this is an example of a typical day in my house.  (sidenote:  My fiance’ is an IT guy, making him a bad influence.  )

Early AM:  CNN is on TV, Fiance’ checks Blackberry to see if any emails from work have come in overnight.
Work:  Our school is still Web1.0, so I teach Internet research, Microsoft Word, Publisher, PowerPoint, Excel, Kidspiration, KidPix and just started PhotoStory 3 to my K-5 students. I use an ActivBoard to teach lessons. I check work and personal email throughout the day.  I Twitter, check my Google Reader and occasionally check comments on this blog.   While doing so, I add sites to my del.icio.us.  In total, 75% of my school day is spent looking at my own or students’ monitors.
Early PM:  Email Fiance’ about dinner plans.  Check supermarket circuluar online.  Find recipe for dinner online.  Rent movie from RedBox online.  Check banking account to make sure we have money to pay for dinner…online.
Late PM:  Laptops are open while hockey/basketball/Lost/Daily Show are on TV.   Conversation includes comments such as, “Hey, did you know…” and “It says on this website that…”.   I check my MP3 player for songs I want to listen to at the gym the next day.   I check the voicemail messages on our Vonage VOIP phone system and delete the messages that I’ve already listened to via email.

We’ve been living on a tight budget, so we don’t have half of the technology toys we’d love to have.  Being “plugged in” for so much of the day doesn’t make my life feel any more efficient…but it does seem richer and I’m absolutely more informed than when I was “unplugged”.

 How plugged in are you?  Is your entire family plugged in?  Does being plugged in positively or negatively affect your family/personal/professional relationships?

 

Photo: Woman with Computer:  Bloomsburg University Residential Computing

Baby Steps

Keeping an Eye on the Prize

I’ve spent the last month gathering as much information as possible about Web2.0 and educational networking.  I’m on Twitter practically everyday, usually just to “listen” and check out the great links that people post.  I read approximately 15-20 blog posts a day.  I came to a stark realization last night while watching a video from Susan Young on Dean Shareski’s site. 

I haven’t taken much time to organize and synthesize my newly found information.  I’m crazy about the possibilities Web2.0 tools have for me and my students but I haven’t taken the time to create very much.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying stir up excitement in the 5th grade students about the possibilties, but unfortunately, it’s unusable enthusiasm.  Educational networking tools are prohibited for student use in my district.  Just because I can’t use the tools with my students doesn’t mean I can’t create samples of what I would/will do with the tools. 

 Thanks to Larry Ferlazzo’s suggestions, I checked out Bookr, an online slideshow site.   Users can pull images from Flickr and create a simple slideshow.  I think it would be perfect for young students…especially as an introduction to online collaboration.  Thanks…more trials to come!

We The People

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” 
-quote by Thomas Jefferson

Buckle your seat belt, Mr. Jefferson.  Maybe it’s because I watched every episode of the HBO miniseries John Adams that I want to believe that our government exists to help our children, not bury our educators and administrators in mounds of paperwork and time-wasting mandates.  I realize my last post was a rally cry for change.   I still believe in the cause and the “Make Noise, Make Change” motto.  However, I’ve had so many “Are you kidding me?” moments this week after hearing about various state and federal laws and requirements concerning education, that I had to share a few:

Forget “Girls chase the Boys”

• The State of New Jersey mandates that each student shall receive 2.5 hours of supervised Physical/Health education per week.  Our students receive 1 hour of Physical Education and have 2 hours of scheduled recess time.  Our principal has been told that recess does not count if the children are able to play freely.  The minutes only count if it is a structured (by a certified teacher) play time.  He also mentioned something about a 50 page Physical/Health Education survey that needed to be completed by EVERY school and turned into the state electronically….about gym class.  I’m all for kids keeping physically fit and learning about healthy living habits.  But… Are you kidding me?

Are your keyboards QWERTY?

• As the technology teacher in my school, I am required each year to answer a technology survey for the state of New Jersey.  It has improved over time, but basically asks the same questions each year.  I just don’t believe they’re asking the right questions.  My district really does put effort into improving technology, we’re just not there yet…but if you go by this survey, we look GREAT!  The survey is mostly yes/no questions:  “Do you need to use a bridging service or portal to connect outside of your district to do a video conference?”  Our answer:  No.  (They’ll never know we don’t conduct video conferences because they never asked.)  The majority of the survey wants information on where the computers are located in the building and who is using them…very few questions about how the computers are being used.  Really, are you kidding me?

NCLB Reading First, or Second, or Third…

• Thanks for Chris Lehmann’s post on Practial Theory, which covers the broken literacy program Reading First.  Praised by Secretary Spellings herself, “If ever a program was rooted in research and science and fact, this is it.”  Turns out, it was determined by the Department of Education that reading test scores of students using the program did not improve.  Six billion dollars have been spent on Reading First.  Are you kidding me?

 

Undercover School Voucher:   S-1607

• The email came this morning from my district’s NJEA representative concerning bill S-1607:  “Basically, it provides corporations the right to contribute money that would create a “scholarship” fund for students in Camden, Elizabeth, Lakewood, Orange, Paterson, Trenton, and Newark.  These contributions (about $360 million) would be drained from the State Treasury because the corporations would receive a dollar for dollar tax credit on their state taxes.”   This is from the same state government that wants to end teacher pensions because they’re out of money.  Are you kidding me?

Lastly, a new blogger complaining rather than posting her journey towards educational networking and expansion?  Are you kidding me?