Monthly Archives: October 2005

LearningWiki

The MASIE Center is exploring new models of content, delivery and collaboration for their Learning 2005 conference in Orlando on Oct. 30 – Nov. 2. They have placed their entire program in an interactive wiki.

Every session will be open for comments, extensions and even revisions

by all the participants. They are evolving the program from an agenda

publication to a dynamic needs assessment and content evolution tool.

Another feature of their conference is “Expo in a Bag – Learning BackPack.”

They’re putting CDs, DVDs, Brochures and White Papers from 75 of the

leading learning suppliers in the field and putting them in a nifty

backpack. Then, they added an on-line social networking system so that

participants could interact with suppliers and set up meeting times to

have more 1 to 1 discussions.

I have learned a bunch just looking around the site. Lots of

information about learning is provided prior to the conference.

They are conducting an intriguing experiment

in social networking. They are using a ‘Scattergram’ to create profiles

with participants background and interests in learning issues and

things they are looking for at the conference. The participants set up

their profile and choose words from 4 different tabs

Profiles are matched.to

all the different types in the system, which

typically will include not only people but also sessions and articles.

Partcipants can see all of the

things that might interest them, from people with whom they have a lot

in common to sessions matching their interests, and articles

containing knowledge that they might find fascinating.

I find this all very interesting. We need to try something along this

line with our students.How about a school conference on how you learn.

We just don’t spend much time on that in our schools. Isn’t that

bizarre?  Lot of food for thought here…..

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My professional development today

Jenny Levine’s blog, The Shifted Librarian, is one of my favorite blogs to read. Nobody blogs conferences as well as she does. She blogged Will’s keynote presentation at the Internet Librarian conference in Monterey, California.and I felt like I was there. Now why can’t blogs be used for

professional development in our schools? I have learned so much reading her

posts about the conference. I learned here, here, here, here, and here.

Those learnings led me to even more learning on the blogs of those who had

presented. Talk about professional development. I’m getting to pick and

I’m learning a lot and it’s powerful.

Here’s a few clips Jenny blogged from Will’s keynote.

isn’t it more important to teach our kids to find the information

they need, rather than make them memorize things they might need just

in case?

new classroom: network literacy; your network of online

teachers; not just handed one thing and told to believe it; the

knowledge resides in the network

can nagivate that network

need to rethink the way we assess knowledge; make them show they know the information

thinks the next 5-10 years are going to be very ugly for schools

because they’re going to try shut all of this down but that this won’t

work

I can just hear him.

The fact that we can get information like this so quickly, so easily is

really incredible. Go read her blog, there’s much more there.

Now

I’m going to dare to  dream. Enter the weekly faculty

meeting.  I can picture a room full of teachers reading their

blogs, then

posting to their blogs, then sharing their thinking and reflections

with each other.  Then they talk,

make plans, set priorities for their own learning. They may Flickr,

some may put together a quick podquest, others are experimenting with

new web tools that help us collaborate.  Small groups form here

and

there.and you see the principal and others interacting with the various

groups. Everyone leaves charged and

excited about what they will be sharing in the morning with their

classes. They can’t wait till the next faculty meeting to discuss what

they applied and learned upon returning to their classrooms. Most will

have already read each other’s blogs, added

info on the school wiki, gotten comments from parents, students, school

board members and others across the world. Of course the first thing

the next morning the students get involved in the conversations and

then everybody is busy applying this to their prior learning. They

blog about what they have learned, where they learned it, and then

how they made connections to show the relevance and what it meant to

them.

Wow! A school

full of learners, both students and teachers, who are working together

and seeking ways to apply all this knowledge. It’s exhilarating! Testing is out, learning

is in. There is no time for testing to merely regurgitate answers. What

a waste! Answers can easily be found. This class is too busy explaining

what they understand to each other, too busy showing others how to find

the answers, too busy sharing experiences, and most of all too busy

reaching new understandings of how we learn best..

OK, back to reality. I said in my previous post that  I’d

really like to see

blogs used for professional development but I don’t believe it will

happen anytime soon. I want to make it clear that I have absolutely no

doubts about the power of blogging for learning. I just want it to

happen sooner and realistically that probably is not going to happen.

At least not soon enough for me.

But meanwhile I’m going to keep dreaming, keep learning, keep blogging,

work at being a lot more

disruptive and keep reading blogs till we can collectively figure out

answers to bring about needed changes in education. And oh yes, thanks

to Jenny, Will, Lila, Steven, Jessamyn, Michael,

and others who provided my professional development today. It was great

and here I am at almost 10:00 PM tonight still learning. I did the

picking and it was great!

Update: In case you don’t read the nice comment on this post  from Jenny she pointed me to Sarah Houghton’s wonderful conference blog stream. Wow! Here I go again – some more great professional development. Great way to start a Friday morning! Thanks again, Jenny!

More on professional development

Clarence Fisher from Remote Access posts about professional development. He talks about enjoying

his professional development days and how he usually finds good ones. I

have felt the same way, for the most part. Here’s an excerpt from his

post:

But overall I found myself thinking about blogging and the conversation that

we have in this space. In the year + that I have been blogging, I have

consistently and constantly found it to be the best learning space I have ever

encountered. We write, we read, we listen, we consider, and we respond to what

each other writes or speaks about. I find myself during the day in my classroom

thinking about blogging a certain event, or watching an event unfold in my

classroom and running through a post from someone else I have recently read at

the same time.

As other’s have said, the value is in the conversation that we hold. Blogging

helps me to clarify events, think through responses, and plan for the future of

my classroom.

He ends up with this question: Will anyone besides those of us who blog understand the importance of this

space?

I’d really like to see

blogs used for professional development but I don’t believe it will

happen anytime soon. It really could put us in charge of our own

learning. It allows conversations among educators themselves. This takes me back to a post I wrote a while back, Blog for staff development. I wish we could try something like this in our schools.

Clarence

caused me to  keep thinking about my professional development over

the years though. Choices were made more for me than by me.  There

was not much built in for sharing and building among groups of

stakeholders in and outside the classroom walls. There would be plans

for collaboration and sharing but that would always be the first thing

to go when time got scarce, as it always did.  We have to be in

control of our own learning and mirror that to our students. We have to

become the independent learners we are trying to develop in our

classrooms.

Teacher stimulates learning with weblogs

[Macro error: Can’t call the script because the name “pictureref” hasn’t been defined.]
She is a master of juggling and keeping all

the balls in the air,” said House Principal Joyce Hooper. “She has so

many projects going at the same time and does all of them equally well.”. 

That quote comes from an article, Teacher stimulates learning with weblogs.

It is a feature on Hillary Meeler in the local newsletter. She has been

doing a great job blogging with the kids and it’s cool to see the local

paper recognize her good work. 

In Hillary’s own words:

“The kids feel they have a voice and people care what they think,”

Hillary Meeler said about her students who post Web logs, or blogs, on

the Internet. “They don’t even know they’re getting excited about

writing. They are so motivated.”

If you haven’t seen the class blog, BlogWrite, check it out. The

article also takes note of House Highlights. On that blog she

spotlights all the many things going on at the school.

Kudos to Hillary! She deserves it! Also, Hillary and some other local

teachers are going to be presenting at GAetc and I bet we will get more

Georgia educators blogging. Hooray!  Great work, Hillary!


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Agree to disagree

I like James Robertson’s take on wikipedia and finding truth.

Let’s take the

encyclopedia up now – how does the entry on WWI address the war? How

does it explain the hows and whys? I’ll tell you how – it uses the

(then current) academic consensus. Is that “correct” in any abstract

sense? Who knows? It might be – or it might not be. The reality is,

even WWI is still too controversial for there to be a reliable

“consensus” view. Which means that the entry – whether it’s in printed

copy or bits – is just going to be some compromise view.

Exactly how does that differ for Wikipedia and any other work? It doesn’t.

The reality is, having “anyone” be able to edit doesn’t mean that

“everyone” will. Most people don’t care deeply about any particular

subject – the ones with an interest (and, of course, the vandals) will

be the ones who show up. With the printed encyclopedia, anyone who’s

views fall outside the current academic consensus will just get cut out

immediately. With Wikipedia, they have a chance to get their take peer

reviewed and commented on.

Which leads me to the opposite view from Winer, and Ryan, and most other people – I’ll take the Wikipedia approach over the standard. It’s far more likely to allow a larger set of views fight it out.

The

more views, the more to think about, and the more to help you draw your

own conclusions. As one commenter said, agree to disagree.

Fostering the potential

The comments on Blogging 101: Weblogs in schools make me hope more educators will get their students blogging and open that blogging up to the public so that it begins to be perceived as a powerful medium for thinking and learning. We have a long way to go in educating not only the public but some of our fellow educators, as well. I would rather develop a powerful medium for thinking than produce a polished product any day. That’s the heart of writing/blogging. There is great potential in the power of blogging and commenting. All this is not about creating a perfect product. It’s about the process and improvement and giving ownership to students of their work. It’s about making them accountable and having high expectations. Writing does not just crystalize into fluent sentences, well-organized content, and perfectly punctuated pieces. Writing is hard work. It’s not the teacher having control but doing all that is possible to do to guide the students to want to control and produce good writing. Writing is not trying to figure out and perfect every single piece you write. Good teachers stand by students during this process. They encourage, guide and help students discover and learn as they write. Students begin to recognize that their voice matters and will be heard. Caring readers recognize and respect that the more students write the more they will improve their writing skills. It takes time. The process involves learning, the shaping and reshaping of ideas, and the think-rethink process that weblogs encourage. Writing/blogging really does benefit learning. We need to encourage, cheer our students on and work at releasing them from trying to write for us or for a grade, and yes, even release them from always having a perfect product. All writers make mistakes. The goal is to give students a rich and diverse array of writing experience that will inspire them to want to write and improve that writing themselves. Fostering potential is a heck of a lot better than demanding perfection. Learning to write requires much practice and everyone has a stake in each child’s success. We need more models.

Here is a good example of a comment on one of my student blogs from Lani, a very supportive commenter, in reference to the student’s IM conversation on her blog.

You won’t be a student during the time in your elementary classroom!! You’ll be on your way to becoming a professional. I am wondering if that path to becoming a professional means you will be modeling appropriate behavior for your students and demonstrating professionalism for your teacher or principal? According to the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards website (http://www.nbpts.org), demonstrating professionalism is one characteristic of an accomplished teacher which I sense you plan to be –. Do you think your teacher or principal you work with might read your blog? I am wondering if they might consider your blog more professional if your punctuation and capitalization were more “teacherlike”? I did feel like we were in an IM conversation (where I never use capitals and punctuation) as opposed to a more formal “Teacher Cadet” blog. You have such a nice way of sharing and explaining; I mention this notion of professionalism to encourage you to strive for that excellence, even in these early days of your travels in teaching and learning. I am really interested in following your blogging and your tales of learning and teaching!!

Now that is a commenter who knows the power of encouraging and how to build common expectations for good writing, yet pointing it out to the student in a way that will hopefully get her to think about her writing. Lani is making a difference. I am so thankful for people like Lani who take the time to comment in thoughtful ways that will help students learn.

Student voices need to be heard. Write to learn, think about it. Then think about what we as educators can learn from truly listening and developing new understandings of our students. What an opportunity for us!I end with a quote from Because Writing Matters (my favorite book on writing)

Emphasis on correctness was rooted in a nineteenth-centtury model of language development. Emphasis on mechanical errors overshadowed the deep rehetorical, social, and cognitive possibilities of writing for communication and critical thinking. So, if you feel motivated to comment on a first post by a beginning group of Teacher Cadets please travel over to the class blog (that has links to the student blogs) and comment away to these students who are considering teaching as a career.

BlogWrite and Remote Access

                                                   

 

Enter Blogging 101: Weblogs go to school

Among the youngest members of the blogosphere are these fifth-grade students

at J.H. House Elementary in Conyers, GA. Their blogs have attracted

readers from across the globe.

So reads the

caption for one of these great photos above. These students are none

other than Hillary Meeler’s blogging crew from J.H. House Elementary

School. See the class blog, BlogWrite, which links to all the student

blogs. They were spotlighted on CNet, along with Clarence Fisher‘s

combined seventh- and eighth-grade class in Snow Lake, Manitoba.

More from CNet:

As blogging enters the classroom and takes its place alongside reading,

writing and ‘rithmetic, adult Web surfers have the chance to relive the

trials and tribulations of the wonder years.CNet 

says the student  entries can amuse, charm and captivate with

their simplicity and candidness. The best of them approach literature,

with real-life voices reminiscent of the fictional creations of Lynda Barry and Sandra Cisneros.

The article includes

some excerpts from the students. It was great to read  an article

spotlightighting these two teachers. Other student bloggers were also

recognized. Hats off to Hillary and Clarence! Keep up the good work!

I’ve got lots more to say on the comments that followed this article but the night is late – a post is brewing!

                  
                                       

             
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Studies confirm a service-oriented young generation

Studies confirm a service-oriented young generation according to an article, Youths volunteer in record numbers,

in the post-gazette.com It highlights the outpouring of kid-generated

fund-raising efforts for the storm victims.  It gives lots of

other examples and points to the following statistics::

  • More than 83% of college freshmen reported in 2004

    that they did volunteer work during their last year of high school, up

    form 66% in 1989.

  • More than 80% of U.S. high schools offer some kind

    of service club as an after-school activity. Meanwhile, half of all

    high schools and one-third of all elementary schools have a formal

    service learning program connected to the curriculum.

  • Young people cite “being asked” as the main reason

    motivating them to volunteer, followed closely by the fact that “it

    makes me feel good.”

Note this:

Wendy Wheeler, president of the Innovation Center for Community and

Youth Development in Takoma Park, Md., added that “thanks to

technology, young people can be active in connecting with others. They

are much more aware of the connections with other parts of the world

than previous generations.

“They also have ways to engage with others that weren’t available

before. They can use Internet petitions, online fund-raisers and blogs

to get engaged for the common good.”

So next time someone

asks “why blog?”, say “get engaged for the common good.” It’s true. The article points out

lots more interesting things to think about on the issue of

volunteering and youth. Read the entire article. I think this will be a

good one to post on “A School of Voices”. It’s uplifting to read about the good things youth are doing.
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Back to the high school!

Today was a good blogging day!

I finally got back to the high school. The governor closed schools on

one of our meeting days (to conserve fuel). Doesn’t he know that that’s

prohibited during blogging days? Then the students and teachers had a

week off for fall break which I hope they all thoroughly enjoyed!

The Getting Heard group got to

reply to those of you who were kind enough to comment to them. They

replied to all of you so check it out. They were mesmerized by the

comments and were glued to the screen as they formed their replies.

They didn’t get to another post as they didn’t have enough time. How do

you high school teachers manage in these short class times?

I found out that one

of the students dropped out of school. I hate that. He was

a neat student. Smart, too. Another one lost. We need more options.

The Teacher Cadet group got

their blogs today (after scuffling with laptops for a while). This high

school does have a lab but it’s not available. These students are wondering about

a lot of things and have asked bunches of questions. You can read a lot

between the lines of their posts. They posted about the class and why

they’re thinking about teaching as a career. I know they’d love to hear

from those of you in the field. It’s an interesting group, too.

Well, my two blogging groups are very different and very

challenging.One group is all male. One is all female except for one

male.  I

have lots of thoughts and questions myself. I’m the real learner in

this quest. It’s great to be back in the classroom again. I really

marvel at the teachers and all they’re doing. One of the best things

about this school is observing the connections that go on between

faculty, staff and students, both in the halls and the classrooms. It’s

real at this school. It’s a school that’s truly making connections with

the kids I’m glad most of the J.H. House kids go here.

On that note, I’ve even gotten to see some of my former students. My

have they grown! They’re not in my blogging classes

(unfortunately)  but maybe later, if I can make some inroads here.

One thing keeps hitting me in the face though. 

Having technology that works and is readily available is a must! That’s

becoming more and more apparent. This is a good school, more than 500

computers, but it’s not ready and available (easily) for all students

at all times.   I don’t think many teachers who are

overwhelmed with so many expectations from so many quarters will have

time to really embrace blogging until that happens.

BoardBuzz

I made the following comment on BoardBuzz this morning:

Yes, school boards are often called on to make tough calls.

I just wanted to comment on the quality of this blog. You are blogging about

some tough issues and not afraid to take a stand. You cover a wide range of

issues and many cause me to pause and think. Plus, your blog has the comments

feature open which many other organizations neglect. I like that. Keep up the

good blogging!

Now I make note of this because I’ve had my ups and downs with school boards over my 20+ year career. Some

board members I’ve respected and appreciated, others shall I say,

we’ve had a prickly past. This is yet one more thing I’ve grown to love

about blogging. BoardBuzz has given me a whole new prospective on

school boards and what they are doing. I really like the wide range of

topics that are covered and the personal touch from the excellent

writers adds so much. They are professional and yes, even prickly at

times. Prickly  in a very good way, I might add. They allow

comments. I

love that! I did find out that they have to be approved by an

administrator but I don’t find that all bad. Those of us in education

know the kind of comments that sometimes can be hurled our way. There

aren’t a whole lot of comments on the blog. I hope that changes. Check

it out. You might want to leave a comment or two. I had posted before

their answer to “Why a weblog for NSBA?”. I’d say they’re definitely getting the job done. Keep it up, BoardBuzz!
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