21st Century Academy

Striking a Balance Between Showing and Guiding

2012-01-09T17:20:00.000-08:00

Over the past 15 years, I have provided a lot of technology staff development for educators. Originally, I would create step-by-step handouts for the participants. This was more in teaching like the "sage on the stage". I would guide them through with "click here" and "click there". What I found was that the educators generally felt very comfortable in the initial training and liked the step-by-step directions. It seemed to work!

But....after they left the training, I found that they were very attached to their step-by-step directions. If they wanted to do something that wasn't in the instructions, they usually felt like they needed help from someone to do the task. In the long run, this is not effective. It might have worked OK when we bought static programs like Office 2000 and we kept the same program with the same features for several years.

Enter Web 2.0.......things are constantly changing like the leaves in the fall. There are new tools each day. There are updates to existing tools. Take Google Apps for Education as an example. Google continues to update the product. If I create step-by-step handouts this month, the screen shots and menu items may be different in one month. How do I effectively teach educators about these tools?

I started to go the route of teaching them the very basics of a tool and then focusing more on how to find their answers within the help options of the program. This seemed to work very well with educators who were comfortable with learning new technologies....those who were not afraid to try something. I did, however, find a portion of the teachers who were less comfortable with technology who still wanted the step-by-step directions. While I still strongly believed that I wanted them to learn how to "think technology" and figure out how to find the help themselves, I also recognized that some need the step-by-step to get past the uncomfortable feeling of learning a new technology.

I have now changed to doing a combination of demonstrating how to use a technology, providing some handouts (but just for the basics), and spending time teaching others how to learn new skills on their own. I am finding that this approach differentiates the needs of educators just like we differentiate for the needs of our own students in our classrooms.

How do you best learn technology? Please take my poll to let me know what works for you.

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You Don't Have to Be a Pro Photographer!

2011-12-04T20:32:00.000-08:00

I am not, by any measure, a great photographer. I am very much an amateur. That is why it amazes me when easy-to-use tools come along that make my photos look great! My latest tool is Picasa. This is another Google tool that is free and very easy to use. I logged into my Google account, clicked on More...Even More and scrolled down to Picasa. There is a part that you install on the computer and another part that sits in my Google Account. I decide if I want to upload a photo or an album to the web to share with others. It is a great way to organize school photos for a website.

We have a deer cam on one of our wooded areas in northern Wisconsin. The camera took this great photo of a mother deer and a yearling. It looked very similar to the right with the camera info at the bottom and the photo looking a bit "blue".

I uploaded the file into Picasa when I was uploading all the photos on the SD card. Picasa automatically put all the photos into a folder with the date. I could easily change the name of the album if I like, but I left it with the date because that made sense to me.

Next, I double-clicked on the photo in the album and several editing options came up. First, I clicked on "Crop" and quickly got rid of the camera information at the bottom of the photo. Next, I clicked on "I'm Feeling Lucky" and it changed the picture into the great photo I now have. (Please note this photo is copyrighted as I plan to make prints from it.) That was so easy!

Because the photos are now uploaded into my Picasa web album, it is really easy to insert into my blog. When I am editing my post in Blogger, I click on the insert image icon, click on "From Picasa Web Albums", and I just had to find the photo in my Picasa Dropbox. How simple is that?

We use Google Apps for Education at school, so I always have to check to see if the same features are available at school. I was thrilled to find that Picasa Web Albums is there under under More....Photos. Tomorrow, I will test it out with one of my student's accounts. That would be really slick for sharing field trip photos and class project photos on our website.

How do you use photos for education? What other free and easy tools are out there? Please add a comment to share with others who read this blog.

Learning With Your PLN

2011-11-27T20:16:00.000-08:00

I often get asked how I learned what I know about technology. That is not a simple question to answer as there are so many different avenues I use to learn about new technologies or how to use older technologies in newer ways. I think of the Beatles song "With a Little Help From My Friends". Now, not all the lyrics support my process but the "help from my friends' part definitely is. "My friends" are the people in my Personal Learning Network, my PLN.

I use a few different sites to connect with others interested in how to use technology to improve teaching and learning. The most effective one for me right now is Linked In Groups. I have joined three groups: International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Technology Integration in Education (TIE), and Wisconsin Educational Media and Technology Association (WEMTA). These three groups provide me with answers to questions I post as well as allows me to learn from others' postings and questions. If you have not already joined these groups, I suggest you give them a try. Create yourself an account at Linked In, join these groups, and start adding colleagues into your professional circle.

Another way that I learn about ed tech tools is to search sites like Slideshare and Prezi to find presentations created by others. Often times, there are wonderful presentations posted there that make it easy for me to quickly scroll through the presentation, stopping only at the points where I will learn something new.

YouTube is another great place to search for tutorials and presentations to learn about any new ed tech tools. Create an account for yourself and you can save favorites as well as subscribe to "channels". These channels are created by individuals or organizations and are gold mines for learning about ed tech. For instance, if you subscribe to Google Apps channel, you can get an email each time a new video is uploaded. The same is true for TED talks and many other great YouTube channels. Check out Michael Welsh's video on Reinventing Education. It took me two minutes to find this on YouTube.

At times, I use Twitter to find information, although, I have to admit that it is less productive for me. I use Tweet Deck to easily see others' tweets as well as to follow specific hashtags such as #edtech. I also contribute by tweeting things I find on the Internet as well as retweeting posts that I think others will find valuable.

While these tools are not the only tools I use to learn on my own "with a little help from my friends", these are some of the key ones. Look for a future post about how to use Google Reader to stay on top of the blogs you want to read the most.

Problem or Project Based....Does It Matter?

2011-11-06T17:26:00.000-08:00

Photo by Tomasz Stasiuk on Flickr

For the past 5 years, I have been guiding teachers as they write problem based learning units. I often get asked the question, "What is the difference between project-based and problem-based?" While I know some people use these terms interchangeably, I believe their is a difference.

In project-based, the students are working on a project with a product as the result of their work. In problem-based, the students are solving a real-world problem and produce a product to show their solution. While both approaches involve students working on developing some type of product, the problem-based task is focused more on the problem solving process and less on the product. As stated on the EduTech wiki:

"Project-based learning typically begins with an end product or "artifact" in mind, the production of which requires specific content knowledge or skills and typically raises one or more problems which students must solve. Projects vary widely in scope and time frame, and end products vary widely in level of technology used and sophistication. Problem-based learning, as the name implies, begins with a problem for students to solve or learn more about. Often these problems are framed in a scenario or case study format. Problems are designed to be "ill-structured" and to imitate the complexity of real life cases."

I find that problem-based tasks are also more rigorous and often involve higher level thinking skills. If the problem task is well-defined and "ill-structured", students need to work collaboratively with other students as well as experts to figure out the best solution for the problem.

Designing the problem-based learning task scenario is often to most difficult part of the unit design. You must begin with the end in mind, determining what you want the students to learn. Then you must figure out what real-life scenarios would lend itself to this learning. That is often tough to do. You might want to contact your local Chamber of Commerce to see if they have a list of experts who are willing to help teachers come up with real-life problems related to the content they are teaching.

In problem based learning, there is a process the students' use to solve the problem. The Illinois Math and Science Academy has defined the process as shown in this image:

There are also other problem solving models such as the Big6 Research Model and the 4D's. While the Big6 process works well for initial teaching of researching information to solve a problem, it seems that middle and high school students would best benefit from using either the IMSA model or the 4D's model. It focuses more on the problem solution rather than specifically information research. While information research is necessary when solving problems, these two models seem to work better for older students who have information research skills already.

Our district did a lot of work on problem based learning several years ago. We did a comparison of Big6, Super3 (Big6 for primary students) and 4D's. While these all will work to some extent, I really like the IMSA model for upper elementary through high school. It seems to give enough guidance through the process without feeling to rigid. I am teaching a graduate course this spring which is a one-credit introduction to problem-based learning. As I prepare for this course, I will add blog posts with resources I find. I would also like to know what questions teachers have about problem-based learning. Please share in the comments below or by emailing me.

Flipped Classroom - Is It Really Innovation for Elementary?

2011-10-16T14:35:00.000-07:00

We are hearing more and more about the "flipped classroom" lately. As I started hearing this in various places, I thought I better learn about this new innovation! Of course, I don't want to miss out on a great teaching and learning strategy that uses technology, right? Well, unless I am missing something big here, I don't think the "flipped classroom" is very innovative at all for an elementary classroom....unless you are still teaching with lectures. I do, however, think there may be some uses of a modified version of this for elementary.

If you are using problem or project based learning or engage your students in a lot of hands-on activities, you will not find the "flipped classroom" as a radical innovation. I can't remember the last time I saw a teacher actually deliver an all out lecture in an elementary classroom. According to Jonathan Martin's February 13, 2011 post on 21K12 blog "For those educators who never use, nor feel the need to use, classroom time for lecturing, reversing learning probably has little significance; hence, extremely progressive educators and practicioners of pure PBL may find this innovation a bit passe."

From: User Generated Education blog

According to Jackie Gerstein, the flipped classroom should be part of a bigger model as shown above. The "flipped" part is in the asynchronous individual sections for "what" and "so what". It is not just students watching lectures, but they are responding and sharing their insights in what they learned. You will also notice in her model, that there are hands on activities and project based learning. I like how she has blended the pedagogies and used the aspects of hands on projects during class while the more traditional teaching and reflecting are done outside of class. This makes sense to me because it has the teacher working with the students during the time when they will need the most guidance...during the hands-on activities and project based learning.

John R. Sowash, on The Electric Educator Blog, explains how he had been using "reverse instruction" or "flipped classroom" for his anatomy and physiology class. As he notes, he does a lot of lectures in this course so this shift in pedagogy made sense for how he currently teaches his class. While he is pleased with his new pedagogy, is that the model of education we really want in the 21st century? He has recorded the lectures for viewing at home and now kids do the "homework" in class with his help. While this might be an improvement to classic traditional instruction, is this really where we want to get to? How about revising the course more to include some problem based learning? He does do a great job of sharing tips and tricks for making the "flipped classroom" work. Again, this is a secondary class that typically used a lot of lectures as the main mode of instruction. Check out his You Tube video on skin and body membranes.

By using this model, John has figured out a way to save the precious class time for guiding his students. I do think this is an improvement over traditional instruction, but I would really like to see this morphed into the model Jackie has explained. By using the "flipped classroom" for delivering content and reflecting on learning, class time can be freed up for doing problem based learning.

While I know I have more to learn about this model of teaching, I do think it may work in a modified way in elementary. For example, I know that when I preteach the math lesson to my special education students for 10 minutes just prior to math class, they are better able to learn during the math instruction in the classroom. While the math class is mostly hands on work including team work, manipulatives, and figuring things out together, there are vocabulary words and prerequisite skills that help students prepare for the lesson. I plan to experiment with using a modified "flipped classroom" model where the students watch the prelesson skills in a video either just prior to class or at home the night before. If that works, it would be great to have the students watch the videos at home the night before. It would allow me to keep them in their regular classroom for those 10 minutes OR it would allow me to use those 10 minutes to catch them up on other math skills that they are lacking.

When we plan our problem based learning unit for this year, I want to see if there are places within the unit where we could use the "flipped classroom" concept for some direct teaching and student reflections. This would free up class time for students to work in groups on their solution.

I would love to hear from other elementary teachers who are attempting a "flipped classroom" model. Please share what you are using this strategy for and how it is working for you.

Symbaloo

2011-10-12T18:27:00.000-07:00

Symbaloo is a quick, easy way to organize your weblinks. It is free and you can share your Symbaloo mixes with others. Basically, Symbaloo is a grid where you place your "buttons" for your web resources. They have a grid that you can get started with. You can delete buttons, add buttons, and edit how the buttons look.

For elementary students, I really like how you can add an image to a button so it is easier for them to find it. Here is the start of mine.

Once I make it publicly available, I can post the link on our class website. I can easily share it through Facebook and Twitter. I can also add it as an app on our Joli Cloud for the netbooks in the room. I still have to find out if this would also work on an iOS or Droid-based tablet. You can also add it as an app in Google Chrome. If you can use it in so many ways, this may be a great way to get links out in a BYOD classroom.

Jeopardy Labs - Will this work for BYOD?

2011-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

As teachers are beginning to have a variety of student devices in the classroom because of B.Y.O.D., we need to find tools that work on a multitude of devices. This year, with our JoliOS netbooks, we have to change how we do some things because we don't have Microsoft Office on the netbooks. In the past, we used Jeopardy games created in PowerPoint as review games. Well, that won't work this year, so we had to find a new tool.

On one of my list servs or Twitter feeds, I found out about Jeopardy Labs. This is a free website where you can create Jeopardy style games without PowerPoint. This site was created by Matt Johnson, an undergraduate at Washington State University in Vancouver. While he willingly accepts donations, there is no charge for this service. Thank you, Matt! (BTW I will be sending a donation your way. Keep the tools coming!)

Without any training, it is very easy to create a Jeopardy game. My co-teacher created one for Latin roots review with no problems. If you know a little HTML, you can easily add in some images or media to the questions. Easy....free....no training needed. What more can you ask for?

This works great on our netbooks because it is just a web link we need to give the kids and off they go. What I need to know, however, as a potential BYOD classroom, is if it will work on other devices. Will it work on Android OS devices, iOS devices, etc? What is the best way to plan ahead without having all these devices to try it out on?

If I could get several different devices to test out our Latin roots game, I would really appreciate knowing if it worked on your device. If you have an iPad, Android device or other OS/device, please try our Latin roots game and let me know if it worked or not. I will then update the Google Spreadsheet to show which devices it works for.

In an attempt to start gathering tools that work across most devices, I started a Google Form to collect this information. If you have tools that work across most devices, please add them to the collection. The final spreadsheet will grow over time. If you see something on the spreadsheet that you think is wrong, please email me to fix it. I am hoping that we can all work together, with our vast experience with devices, and help teachers select the most universal tools for BYOD classrooms.

Delicious Stacks!

2011-10-05T19:40:00.000-07:00

Delicious has a new feature called Stacks. The idea is to bundle between 3 and 20 of your links together to share with others. I decided to give it a try. If it worked, it might be a great way to easily save and build a list of links for students to use.

First, I watched the two-minute Delicious video tutorial to see how it works. It appeared to be pretty easy, so I built a stack on PBL, problem based learning, which is one of my passions. As I started to build my PBL stack, I could not get it to work. In the video, it looked so easy.

I filtered my links by the tag PBL and I checked the box to select them all. Next to the "select all" checkbox was a droplist. I clicked on it and picked "Create Stack" and......got an error message. After several tries at it, I figured out that I was getting an error message because I had more than 20 links checked to include in the stack. You can only have 20. I went back to my list and selected some of the best links to include in the stack. Once I did that, it worked quite easily. Although the video did not match the screens exactly, I was able to figure it out.

Since I made all the links public, I assume you can click on my link to my stack and get to all the links. I like that the links have pictures associated with some of them. I am not sure why some have photos and others don't. If you know, please post in the comments below. Please also let me know if you could access the links in my staff even if you are not logged into Delicious. If so, this is a great possibility for my students.

Cluster Maps to Show Blog Visitors

2011-10-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have a classroom or teacher blog, but do your visitors see where all of your readers are located? Clustr Maps is a neat way to show who is visiting your blog. If your blog is hosting student content, this can be especially motivating for the students. How excited would they be to see that someone from China or Africa visited their blog? Clustr Maps are free and can be put into many different types of sites including blogs, wikis and websites that accept HTML/Javascript.

If you click on a Clustr Map, such as the sample one on the Clustr Map website itself, it is enlarged and gives you more statistics. The statistics include which number of visitors from each country and state. It also shows the information about where the most recent visitors were from.

One teacher, Derrick Willard from North Carolina, shows how the audience on his class blog increased and locations varied over time in this SlideShare presentation. Students would be motivated by the increase in audience and also learn some geography at the same time. Tom Barrett, in his blog post, also strongly suggests that you include a Clustr Map on your class blog as helps students to realize they have a real audience.

I added a Clustr Map to this blog as a demonstration. At first, no dots show on the map. Over time, this will increase. See if your dot shows on the map!

Top News to You with Newsmap

2011-10-01T19:21:00.000-07:00

Newsmap is a neat way to see what the top news stories are in many different countries. According to their blog, "In Newsmap, the size of each cell is determined by the amount of related articles that exist inside each news cluster that the Google News Aggregator presents. In that way users can quickly identify which news stories have been given the most coverage, viewing the map by region, topic or time. Through that process it still accentuates the importance of a given article."

This would be a great tool for social studies teachers to quickly show students what the top news stories are for that day. You can click from country to country to see how the news importance changes by location. Give it a try!

Joli Cloud: A New Way of Thinking

2011-09-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

In my co-teaching classroom, we were provided with 7 netbooks this school year. These netbooks, in an attempt to reduce the price, are loaded with Joli OS. I guess the tech department really wanted to run them with Chrome OS but had issues with printing. Anyway, this is what we are using this year and I have a lot to learn. Since I like to know about the technology I am using with students, I decided to learn more about this Joli OS.

I found a video tour about the OS which provides an overview. I really like the concept of having my own Joli Cloud. What this means is that I can have my own apps organized "in the cloud". It is very easy to add apps, like Facebook and Google Docs, to my Joli Cloud. I can link in my Dropbox account as well. No matter which computer I use, I can log into my Joli Cloud and have access to all my apps.

Joli Cloud desktop

At school, we are using a shared account which means changes made on one computer are replicated across the rest of the netbooks. So far, they have all of us in the district using the same Joli Cloud account. I think we are going to want to have our own account because the desktop is already getting messy with all the different apps the teachers are adding to the account.

Is anyone else out there using Joli Cloud in the classroom? Why kind of apps are you using? Please share any tips and tricks for using this new setup.

Student Made Math Tutorials

2011-08-12T09:47:00.000-07:00

Two years ago, I received a small grant of $500 to purchase a WaCom tablet for my classroom workstation. This tablet allows users to draw on the tablet and show what they are doing on the computer screen. Now, if you have a Smartboard in your classroom, you could do the same thing with that. I also purchased Camtasia Studio to do screen recordings. With these two tools, I was able to teach my students how to create their own math tutorials.

WaCom's Bamboo Tablet

My purpose in teaching them this was two-fold. First, I needed to teach them how to write a non-fiction piece about how to do something. Secondly, I need to give them practice in reading fluency. They were able to write the directions for how to do a math process and then practice reading it until they were fluent. They used the WaCom tablet to do the math writing for their process. Once they had the screen capture of the math writing, they added the audio to the video. Not only did they learn their reading and writing skills, they also learned more about math! They were very engaged and wanted to make more once this first one was complete.

Check out a sample showing how to do Partial Products Multiplication.

Today, I came across a blog article about Eric Marcos is a sixth-grade math teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Santa Monica, California who is doing basically the same thing with a tablet PC. The blog article includes tutorials for creating screen casts. You can use free software such as Jing or CamStudio to create the screen casts as well as using the recording feature of the Smartboard software. Next time you are trying to figure out how to improve your students' math understandings, have them create a video. It is fairly easy...and the students will catch on fast!

Google+

2011-07-28T05:18:00.000-07:00

Have you heard Google's recent announcement? They are working on and soon will be releasing Google+. It is meant to be direct competition for Facebook and I think it has potential in education. Unlike Facebook, Google+ allows you to create separate circles or groups of people who only can see and interact with each other. This would allow teachers to create circles of students who can only interact with each other. The teacher, on the other hand, could see all of the circles from one place.

Another neat feature of Google+ is the Sparks area. Users can enter as many interests as they want (sports, movies, music, politics, and research topics) and then Google+ provides them with constantly updating links to content on the Internet specific to the topics they listed. Wouldn't this come in handy for a research project? I see this as using the power of the web to bring the content to the user automatically.

Hangouts allows you to hold a live video chat with up to 10 users at one time. This could easily be used for students to collaborate from home in the evening. Seriously, they really do work on their projects from home if we give them the right tools. This feature could also be used to hold virtual meetings, saving staff time and cost for traveling to a central site.

Ready to get started? Well, we will have to wait a bit yet. Right now, Google+ is by invitation only. It also requires Google Profiles which are not yet available in Google Apps for Education. You can request that you are notified when this is available by filling out this form.

For more information on Google+, check out the links below. I look forward to seeing how this roles out in education. Perhaps this is a safe way for school to provide social networking within our schools, especially for students too young for Facebook and other social networking sites.

Google’s interactive demo about Google+
http://www.google.com/intl/en-US/+/demo/
The Google Operating System blog article about Google+
http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2011/06/google-project.html
Engadget’s hands-on article about Google+
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/28/google-invite-received-we-go-hands-on/

Using Paideia Strategies for PBL Teamwork

2011-02-04T18:31:00.000-08:00

Over the past ten years, I have written several problem based learning units with teachers who have then implemented them with students. One area that they see students struggling with is learning how to work as a team to solve the problem. Now that I am back in the classroom, I am seeing this first hand. It appears that we often assume students know how to work in a team. What the students actually need is specific instruction and practice in developing teamwork skills.

I came across a resource that may help with this. The University of North Carolina is associated with the National Paideia Center. This center works to improve "the ability of adults and students to think and communicate so that each might become a good citizen of the world, earn a decent livelihood, and lead a good life." They have training materials as well as teacher resources. This even includes a K-1 seminar checklist for teaching students how to work through a seminar with other students.

Classrooms or schools using the Paideia, pronounced (py-dee-a), use seminar dialogue to teach both critical and creative thinking. The seminars are focused on deep understanding of a significant text. One example given on the website is for The Gettysburg Address. The purpose of the seminar is to give students a dual purpose of understanding the text but also participating effectively in the discussion. In the Gettysburg Address instructional plan, students are given participation goals for the seminar. They then self-assess on the specific participation goals. After the seminar is complete, the students are given a collaborative tastk to complete related to the topic of the seminar.

While I have some more exploring to do, I think this strategy may have potential in building the creative and critical thinking skills of students. Check out their website for more materials as well as information teacher training.

TIES 2010 Keynote Reflections

2010-12-06T08:12:00.000-08:00

The TIES Conference has begun with a bang! I am already learning a lot through my TweetDeck for Twitter as well as from the keynote with Sir Ken Robinson. He was very entertaining and reemphasized the reason why education needs to change. He seems to focus much less on the technology and much more on personalized learning. I like that.

Technology tools come and go, but personalized learning is a frame of teaching that can be used with and without many technologies. Sometimes, it seems that people get so caught up in the new gadgets and don't focus on changing the teaching. I don't just want to teach the same content in new ways. I am much more interested in making the paradigm shift to personalized learning than I am in picking out the next cool gadget. The gadgets will come..... naturally.

I am intrigued to find some schools that focus on personalized learning as described by Sir Ken Robinson. Mike O Connor, Assistant Principal in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, suggested checking out the School of One in New York. It definitely looks like one to checkout. I will continue to look for other examples...perhaps in Europe or Australia.

I also plan to read Sir Ken Robinson's book, The Element. I am anticipating some more insights and ideas for implementing in the classroom.

Looking forward to learning more today! Now waiting for Ryan Cox, Technology/Curriculum Integrationist, from St. Cloud Area Schools to present on iPod/iPad Educational Strategies.

My Year in Fourth Grade

2010-09-17T05:53:00.000-07:00

This school year, I have the pleasure of working with two job-sharing fourth grade teachers in an inclusive fourth grade classroom. We have six students with special needs in the classroom of twenty-two students. The students, both special education and non-special education, have a wide variety of needs, abilities, and interests. Throughout the year, I will be working with these teachers to provide engaging learning opportunities for these students. I will also be looking for ways to integrate technology into these opportunities for two reasons.

First, some of the special education students I am working with are very low readers. They are over 2 years delayed in reading and writing. This makes collaborative work difficult because they cannot keep up with the work. If we can integrate more technology-based projects along with using tools for accessibility, they will be able to better contribute to the collaborative work taking place in the classroom.

Second, technology skills are a necessary skill for all students. While our students are coming in with some very basic computer skills, they have a lot to learn.

So far, we have started Kidblog with them. The district decided that each student should have their own network logon for grades 2-5 at our school...why I don't really know. Each time we have used the lab so far, it has taken at least 5-10 minutes to just get the students logged into the network. This seems like such a waste of instructional time. We will see if they get quicker as the year goes on.

We have also found out that they are missing many basic skills that are inhibiting them from using the computer effectively. We are trying to figure out if they have just not been using computers much in past years OR if they just need more practice.

As we try more projects, I will post what we did along with my feedback on what worked and what didn't. My hope is that other teachers can learn from our successes and mistakes. To be honest, I can see why teachers are hesitant to use technology with students when there seem to be so many hiccups in the process. Let's see if we can work some of those hiccups out and end the year with tech-savvy students!

Are you Twittering?

2009-10-20T15:24:00.000-07:00

You hear about it on the news. You read about it in the newspaper. If you work in a school district, your school's leadership may also be talking about it. What is "it"? Twitter, of course. While I would not say I am an avid Twitterer, basically because I don't have the time, I do see its power as a social networking and professional development tool and use it at least weekly.

For those of you wondering what Twitter is about, it is basically like building connections through a web page where you and your friends can share thoughts, ideas and resources. You can find people you want to "follow" and others can ask for "follow" you. This means they will see what you Tweet (or write) about in Twitter. Don't worry. If someone requests to follow you, a simple "Deny" will keep them from joining your network.

You might be asking, "So how does this help me as a teacher or other professional?" Here are some great resources to give you ideas on how to use it as well as how to get started. Please share your ideas and thoughts by posting a comment to this blog. If you want to "follow" me, my Twitter account is saellner. I look forward to see your request to follow. Let's share and learn together using this powerful easy tool!

Twitter for Teachers: Why You Should Start Tweeting Jason Renshaw lists ten reasons to start using Twitter. He also includes some guidelines to avoid the pitfalls of using Twitter.

Twenty-Seven Interesting Ways to Use Twitter in the Classroom Tom Barrett created a slideshow to showcase a variety of creative classroom uses for Twitter, including geo-tagging, historical tweets, Twitter polls, and word morphs. (Note: this is a Google Docs presentation with a swear word so use with caution.)

Nine Great Reasons Why Teachers Should Use Twitter Laura Walker shares nine ways that Twitter can be used for on-demand, effective professional development.

A Beginner's Guide to Twitter Michael Wyatt posted a wonderful 20 minute guide to getting started on Twitter. The information is very detailed and easy to follow for anyone new to Twitter.

A Teacher's Guide to Twitter Kate Klingensmith provides many practical tips for teachers just getting started in Twitter including ways to find people to follow.

Twitter for Education Here is a wiki devoted to sharing educational uses of Twitter. Contains Twitter cartoons, lists of education leaders to follow on Twitter, and helpful Twitter "do's and don'ts".

Twitter For Teachers Wiki Find a Twitter-using educator in your subject area and sign up for a Twitter mentor. Add your name to the list!

Check some of the above links out and get Tweeting!

Staying Connected

2009-08-24T18:37:00.001-07:00

As the school year begins, I am reflecting on how I stayed connected with colleagues this summer. I used Facebook almost every day to see what others were doing and share what I was up to. This may sound like a simple thing, but it really has helped me to feel connected with the other staff who work in my building. I look forward to seeing them at inservice and working with them this year.

What I am pondering is how I can use this to connect with parents and students. Is this an appropriate medium to have a "professional" account which would be separate from my "personal" account that I use with family and friends? I would appreciate your thoughts and comments on this. What do you think?

Google Books

2009-08-06T05:16:00.000-07:00

If you have not yet tried Google Books, now is the time. This online book search tool allows you to search for books by author, title,keywords, genre and a whole lot more. There is also an advanced search with many more features. Some books, such as The Red Badge of Courage, are available to read in full text online as well as as a pdf file you download. Others, such as Jodi Picoult's book Nineteen Minutes, have a limited preview that allows you to read several of the pages but not the whole book. This is great for trying out a book before you decide if you want to read the whole thing or not. Many of the newer books have a very limited preview called a snippet view.

You can then save the books you want into your "library". This is a virtual list of the books you want to save in your list. The books can be labeled which allows you to sort the books similar to how you can use tags in Delicious to sort your bookmarks.

As a teacher, I see this as having a lot of potential for teachers and students. As a teacher, I can pre-select books for a class or project and give them all the same label like SSUnit3. I can then sort my library for books with that label. Once I do that, I can copy the URL from the browser window and put them into a wiki or webpage for students to access. They can preview the books, read the ones online that are full text, and plan their reading from any Internet connected computer in the world. Here is an example of the books I have labeled with "Google" in My Library. As I add books with that label, the list is automatically updated for students I have given the webpage URL to.

If you have students who are age 13 or over, they can have their own Google account and create their own library. This could be a way for them to log their independent reading books or develop a reading list for summer. I am sure you all have more ideas, so please share them in the comments below.

Another feature is that you can write a review of the book and read others' reviews. Sounds like an authentic audience for your students to write and submit a book review. For younger students, they could email or word process their review and the teacher could submit it using her teacher account. For older students, they could submit their own.

There are many other features, so I will write about this again as I implement it in my classroom. I plan to try the RSS feed with our LMS as a way to announce new books in the library. I have already used the feature that allows me to "Find in a library" to see if a book I want to read is in a local library. With current budgets at school and home, this is a wonderful feature.

Please comment on more ideas for using this for teachers and students!

Digital Vacationer

2009-07-20T09:39:00.001-07:00

Last week, I was on vacation at our cottage in Eagle River in northern Wisconsin. The weather was pretty good, but we had a few days of rain. We had brought along a cellular provider's router to test to see if we could get Internet service there. We had no signal and no Internet for the week. While I too enjoy a day or two of "electronics" vacation, I found that going a whole week without the Internet in easy reach was difficult. I am so into the habit of going to the computer for easy access to information that I felt I was "back in time" using an outdated phone book to try to gather information. Staying connected with my family and friends was difficult at best. I could consider myself to be a "Digital Vacationer".

Upon returning from vacation, my first task was to fire up the home computer and check my email and social networking sites e.g. Twitter , Facebook and Ning. You may have heard of Marc Prensky's terms of "Digital Native" and "Digital Immigrant". Digital natives are those who were born into the age of home computers and other electronics. To them, life is not life without these electronics. These are the students and young teachers in today's schools. The Digital Immigrants, on the other hand, are people who grew up in homes and schools without computers and modern electronics. They have learned to use computers similar to a person who learns a new language when they move to a new country. These are many of the parents and veteran teachers.

I have always considered myself neither a "Digital Native" nor a "Digital Immigrant". To me, I would be considered a DBL, "Digital Bilingual". While I can remember the days of little electronics, I feel very comfortable in today's digital age. I can train others on how to use technology. I can use the technology with ease in my classroom. I use technology on a daily basis for my personal and professional life. I even wired my own home when we built it. Perhaps that is why I felt like a "Digital Vacationer" last week. As I was reflecting on this, I realized that perhaps that is how our students feel at school each day.

Most schools do not have 1:1 computer programs. Many do not allow students with their own computers to bring them to school and connect to the Internet. Unless a student has a study hall and can get a pass to the library or a lab, they very likely are without Internet access all day at school. I know many schools where the policy is a maximum of 5 lab sign ups per class per YEAR! Depending on who a student has for a teacher and which classes he or she is enrolled in, students can actually go weeks without touching a computer at school.

But what are they doing once they go home from "digital vacation" at school? As soon as class is dismissed, out come the cell phones and the students are texting. At home, student flock to computers to do homework (we hope) as well as socially connect with others. I have heard many comments from educators that what they do on computers is a waste of time. I challenge them to watch a teenager use a computer over time. They are searching for information relevant to them, evaluating the quality of the information and connecting with others.

Social learning is a very powerful tool, both with and without technology. If we want to get students engaged, let's use the "digital" social learning tools that they love to use. Let's build safe and purposeful social learning networks within our schools so students don't have to be on "digital vacation" during the school day. Let's get going on 1:1 laptop learning or at least allow those who have laptops to bring them to school and get on the Internet. They can share with those who don't have one! I would love it if at least half of my students brought their own laptop to school! That would open a ton of doors for their learning! I challenge you to move forward and end the "digital vacations" in our schools!

Summer Surfing

2009-06-29T05:40:00.001-07:00

It is summer. I am finishing up my June projects and look forward to being "off" of work for the next two months. But, do most teachers really take "off" the summer months? From the teachers I work with, I would definitely say "No".

I plan to work on finding progress monitoring tools and interventions for elementary math and reading over the summer months. I won't work on it every day, just rainy days or times when I want to work on it. I also plan to find many examples of how to use web 2.0 tools with elementary students. To me, that will be fun work. I don't really have time to do that during the school year, so summer is a great time to work on it.

What will you be doing over the summer months? I hope you all have some fun and relaxation as well!

Interview Project

2009-01-26T18:40:00.000-08:00

One of my recent projects involved my fourth grade students. As learning to write is difficult for these students, I try to make the writing as purposeful as possible. One of the skills my students needed to learn was how to write clear questions. I tried to think of a real-world application of writing questions. I decided that one purpose for writing questions was to conduct an interview.

As a small group, we brainstormed who they would be interested in interviewing. Of course, they were interested in interviewing the President of the United States and a few others that I thought would be difficultto arrange. They also came to the same conclusion. They did, however, come up with ideas that were feasible as well. One student decided to interview the principal as she is new to the school this year. Another decided to interview the special education paraprofessional that works in our program. A third student really wanted to interview our high school football coach.

These students then wrote their questions with a great focus on open-ended questions. We talked about the type of questions they would ask that would keep the "conversation" of the interview going. We talked about "thick" and "thin" questions. While they were learning to write quality "thick" questions, they were having a great time! The students then typed the questions into Excel so that they could easily print queue cards for the interview process.

We have been working on reading fluency as well as writing. They practiced reading their questions with fluency which gave a real purpose to the task. Once they had practiced reading the questions with fluency, then we did mock interviews. Someone else role-played the person they were going to interview. While we did this, we video-taped the mock interview. The student then watched the mock interview. I asked them to tell me what they thought they did well and what they needed to improve. The video was very clear for them in determining what they needed to improve.

Next, we conducted the real interviews. From watching the videos, it was easy to see the impact the open-ended questions had on the interview "conversation". In the future, I plan to show these videos with my next group of students before they write their questions. I think it will help them understand better why we need open-ended questions.

This project was very engaging for the students. It provided a real purpose to writing "thick" questions. Because of the real purpose, the students understood that we needed quality questions. I will definitely use this project again with students who need to work on writing quesitons and reading fluency. Along the way, the students also learned some great life skills such as writing a thank you note to the person they interviewed. They were very proud of their work. If you would like to see their videos, you can check out these two videos that students gave me permission to post on my classroom website. Please leave us feedback as we like to hear what others think of our projects!

http://connect.pulaski.k12.wi.us/faculty/saellner/stuproj.cfm

How to Delay a Post in Blogger

2008-11-04T19:24:00.001-08:00

Ever write a blog post that you want to appear on a later date? If you are using Blogger, this is very easy to do. When you are ready to post the blog for a later date, click on "Post Options" at the bottom of the blog post window. On the right hand side, set the post date and time. Then save and your post will appear on the date and time that you had set it for! How convenient!

This same feature is available in Edublogs. Read this blog post for directions on completing this same task there!

So, the next time you have a lot of great blog ideas OR prior to going on vacation, create a few posts and set the dates for them to appear on your blog. Now, enjoy your vacation!

Wordle: Web 2.0 Tool for Vocabulary and Word Images

2008-10-18T07:03:00.000-07:00

Have you discovered Wordle yet? This neat Web 2.0 tool allows a user to create a word graphic, such as the one below, from words, blog posts, or other electronic writings. (Click here for a larger image with similar wording.)

Wordle is a great way for students to take a group of related words and study how they are connected. This would be an interesting way to start a unit of study with students. You could show them the Wordle graphic and ask what they already know about how these words are related. You could also use it as a way to encourage reflection of what they learned in a unit of study.

Wordle allows you to make choices as to which words are larger. Perhaps students could decide how all the words are connected and select the three words that they feel have the most importance on the topic.

Just a word of caution about clicking on the random images. There is no filtering of content. While most of the Wordle images are appropriate, there were a few that I came across that were not appropriate for elementary school and only one that I found that was not appropriate even for high school. I would suggest that students use this tool with guidance, especially for elementary age students.

One teacher uses Wordle as an assessment tool. What other ways could you see to use this neat Web 2.0 tool?

Web 2.0 Decisions

2008-09-24T18:11:00.000-07:00

My class is getting settled into some routines and I feel like I am getting grounded back in the realities of teaching in an elementary special education classroom. I really want to integrate Web 2.0 tools into reading and writing as much as I can. I have started to work on several different ideas for using these types of tools with my students.

First, I decided that I should begin with student email use. Now, I know this is not a Web 2.o tool, but this is where I think I should begin. Reason one is that this is one of the benchmarks in the Information and Technology Literacy Curriculum as well as being one of the most commonly used communication tools...for adults. I thought I could start by having my students each send an email to a parent or other important adult explaining what they are learning in my classroom. By giving them some practice with email, I can teach them some etiquette as well as supervise the communication. Once we move on to blogs and wikis, I will again reinforce the etiquette skills we learned when using email. Another reason for choosing email first is because some of the Web 2.0 tools that I want to use with students requires an email address for account creations. By teaching and using email first, we will be ready for this.

Our school uses the free Gaggle accounts for student email. Our new library media aide has setup my students in the system and added them to my teacher account for supervision. I plan to set the accounts so that they can only email the class at this point. I need to do some lessons with them on proper email etiquette and plan to have them practice within our group for a week or two. I looked for a long time for lessons on email etiquette for elementary students. All I could find was for adults. I will adapt what I found for my students and post it on my site for others to use.

Do you know of any resources for teaching what email is and what email etiquette is? How about some project ideas? Please share if you have ideas!

Planning for the 21st Century

2008-09-05T18:59:00.001-07:00

Often I hear educators discussing 21st Century learning, particularly now that the Partnership for 21st Century Learning has released their framework and many states are now officially adopting it as a basis for school change.

There are many great thinkers out there trying to guide schools and professionals as they change from industrial revolution teaching and learning to global learning. Ian Jukes, from the Info Savvy group, does a great job explaining to others WHY we need to change what we do in schools because even kids' brains have physically changed due to all the media that they now use. Marc Prensky's "Digital Immigrants, Digital Natives" concept is hard to disagree with. David Thornburg, from the Thornburg Center, has been speaking for 10 years about the need to change education. This list can go on and on with all the great thinkers and planners of today.

It is time for the educational field to move beyond discussing 21st Century learning to implementing change in education. I have spent the past 10 years reading, listening and studying these great thinkers and planners. Change in education boils down to a few key components that will change education so that students are engaged and teachers can achieve their goal of preparing students for the future....their futures. The key components needed to change 20th Century teaching and learning into 21st Century teaching and learning include a strong base in student-centered problem-based learning centered around real-world problems that focus on creating content for real audiences using a variety of technology and non-technology communication and collaboration methods.

What is your school doing to move teaching and learning into the 21st Century? What has really changed in the past 20 years? What are the plans for changing your school in the next 10 years?