Harley is one of my favorite bloggers. He puts a lot of joy in classrooms and really gets kids actively engaged in learning. Recently he posted about the process of making maple syrup for a group of fifth graders in Georgia. He had read some of the analogies that the fifth graders were creating and he incorporated that into his post. What great reinforcement for these kids! They got to think and apply their learning in such a fun way and many of them tossed analogies back to Harley. Harley’s first post brought 53 comments from the students and his second post now has 41 comments! I’m betting we will see even more comments. Plus many of the students went on to create their own posts as they excitely shared all that they were learning. Wow! Talk about connections!

I love blogging with kids! I love the connections, the joy, and the thinking that abounds. Just think of all the neuroscience that is getting applied here:

Making it relevant….

Harley made the lesson personally interesting and motivating to the kids.

Giving them a break….

Blogging like this gives kids a break from the normal routine and it was a pleasurable activity that reduced stress and let them experience novelty.

Creating positive associations……

Kids developed associations by practicing creating analogies with a positively reinforcing strategy. (See Fifth Grade Webwriters Are #1)

And the best one, allowing independent discovery learning! These kids will no doubt remember and understand this experience becaue they had a part in figuring it out for themselves. There were choices of places to go to learn and they got to use their imaginations in the process.

Harley is not only a great blogger but has the makings of a neuroscientist too! Thanks Harley for putting all that joy into learning.

I also owe a tremendous thank you to Lani whom I had the good fortune to meet through a comment on one of my classroom blogs back in 2005. We have collaborated and learned much since that time and she personally has put a lot of joy into my learning and reflecting. Lani truly makes a difference in the lives of many….

Judy Willis wrote an article on “The Neuroscience of Joyful Education” that begins with this quote:

Brain research tells us that when the fun stops, learning often stops too.

This should be posted in every classroom. She goes on to say that “A common theme in brain research is that superior cognitive inpiut to the executive function networks is more likely when stress is low and learning experiences are relevant to students.” Now I have to ask how stress free are our classrooms in which count downs to testing and focus on testing is the top priority - the end all, be all? Judy Willis points out that classrooms need to promote novelty, eliminate stress, and build pleasurable associations linked with learning. She says plan for the ideal emotional atmosphere by making it relevant, giving them a break, creating positive associations, and guiding students to learn how to prioritize information, and allow independent discovery learning.

All this got me thinking about joy in the classroom and how much joy I have seen blogging in the classroom with kids. I’m thinking in particular of the J. H. House kids as I have spent most of my time blogging with them. My next post is going to feature one of my favorite bloggers who has put a lot of joy in a few classrooms over the past few days.

What a treat! I was sinking as I thought more about the damage high-stakes testing is doing to our schools so it was so uplifting to read Sara Kajder’s article, The Book Trailer: Engaging Teens Through Technologies in this month’s issue of Educational Leadership.

It tells the story of students creating a two-minute video using still images, transitions and special effects (generated with MovieMaker or iMovie software), voiceovers, and a soundtrack. Students present the central characters, themes, or issues of the book visually and through written and voiceover narration. All trailers have to include the title of the book, the author’s name, and a presentation that is both authentic to the text and that works to “hook” readers. I also require students to submit their trailers with a piece of writing that explores the choices they made, with an analysis of the book that shows that they made decisions on the basis of the text, and not just by using the aspects of technology that would best captivate an audience.

Sara goes on to say that….

But technology is not the goal. Student writers and readers are at the center of our instruction. And we, as mindful teachers, must thoughtfully and deliberately prepare all of our students for success by critically exploring the new technological tools and then using the ones that can help us and our students to powerfully convey what we think and know.

I can’t think of a more exciting time to teach, as we’re immersed in new possibilities for working with words and with one another. When we teach creatively with emergent tools in mind, we stand a better chance of engaging reluctant students by giving what we teach real meaning. Each day is an invitation to examine, play, invent, reinvent, and join in the conversation.

Read the whole article. I’ve posted previously about Sara here and here.

At the beginning of this year I gave a technology survey to a nearby high school class. One of the questions I asked was “When using a website for educational purposes do you have a method for evaluating if the information is reliable, valid, accurate, worthwihile to use? If you do have a method, be as specific as you can. Think of questions you might ask yourself or steps you take.” Here are their answers:

• I just read it.
• When I look at info, I believe it is true unless it is farfetched/ludicrous.
• Don’t have a method.
• No
• Yes, look for author, updates
• No, I take it as it goes.
• When using a website for information, I look for sources cited and a clear author. I also make sure that I use multiple sources to verify information.
• The date or domain
• I really don’t have a method.
• You can check the same information on many sites and compare the information.
• I ask myself if it sounds reasonable & if I read the same information from many websites.
• no
• I check to see if the writer has minimal errors in the article as well as making sure that it is a website ending in edu, net, org.
• I don’t really have a method.
• I look for an author or publisher and a date.
• I check multiple websites to confirm.
• No.
• (1) If it’s well known. (2) When last it has been updated.
• Does it have an alternative source? Is it credible?
• No
• I check to see what kind of website it is. Example - .com, .org, .gov, .net

Depressing, isn’t it?I imagine many of you would find similar answers in nearby classes. I’d say we’re not getting the job done and we are really doing our students a disservice by not teaching them. Julie Coiro has a nice handout, Critical evaluation on the Internet: What’s missing in the text? What’s missing in our instruction? from the IRA 2007. Pass it along….

I enjoyed being a part of Dean Shareski’s online/face2face class last week. Dean is so right when he says “Learning is Messy, but Good.” Dean is great about sharing his reflections about his learning and his students. We all get to learn and that is soooooo good.

I shared a bit about the invisible web. Here is another link I found that provides additional information, “Those Dark Hiding Places: The Invisible Web Revealed.”

David Jakes and Alan Levine talked about Del.icio.us and Twitter. Dean provides a recording of the session here.

Students shared their learnings. We truly do all learn from each other. I’ve been reading the well-written student blogs. See the links to the student blogs here. They are good reads.

The next day Brian, one of Dean’s students, posted this which certainly bears repeating:

The best comment of all was that in the future we will get 15 minutes of anonymous instead of 15 minutes of fame. This really does hit the nail on the head because with everybody publishing on the web their own movies and videos, and collaborating with wiki’s blog’s and rss feeds we will all be famous. Well famous enough for the world to see and read about us, learn from us and move farther forward and faster than without us. If this isn’t fame I don’t know what is and it is truly awesome. 

I agree. It is truly awesome….

The blogicians and the students in Darren Kuropatwa’s Pre-Cal 40S class participated in a Gizmo call last week. The blogicians had prepared some questions that they wished to ask the high school students. Gizmo has a neat feature that lets you record the conversation as you are talking. It did pretty well but does have an echo effect from time to time. As I listened to these podcasts I really marvel at the learning that occurs. I kept thinking how much was going on and how much can be fostered with these types of connections. I think you have to have a plan of action as if you just connect and talk you may lose some focus. It was a thirty minute call that was filled with some many unexpected turns that were so worthwhile.

What a good space to give kids practice with public speaking. Both ages were nervous but the experiences they got speaking will serve them so well. I think both sides learned so much from each other. The older students were unaware of some of the constraints involved while teaching elementary students (listen to the chat box podcast), the ability to look for dramatic and outstanding pictures for presentations (listen to the Flickr podcast).

On a scribe post after the Gizmo talk, Grey-M one of the high school students said the following:

I must say that trying to answer something on the spot is brutally hard (These weren’t easy questions either) so people, including me, were a little hesitant at times to respond. So that was a fun deviation from our usual routine.

The younger students are in awe of the older students but in these kind of connections they learn to step back and decide if they agree or not. They learn that that is OK.

Johnny from the blogicians posted the following after the talk:

We just did a gizmo chat and it was quite delightful with a pre call math class and it was nicely spoken by me and my classmates. Mr. K was the teacher of the class I asked about chat box and how they use it and Danny replied “We use it to learn all over the web and it sort of saves time instead of commenting”. I sort of agree with him what do you thing do you agree or do you disagree? If you don’t know what it is try looking it up and using it.

You get to discuss so much and the best part is you are having authentic conversations with the students and encourgaging their honest input. It builds great learning communities. This can only make things better in our classrooms. This is great practice for them and us. The teachers get to do a lot of learning too. We’re learning how to best orchestrate these experiences. We’re learning how to help these kids on their path to becoming global citizens. The more experience we can give the kids with this type of learning the more they will be able to help us shape its’ most effective use. These are the types of literacies we need to be developing in all our schools.
I’m still thinking about all this….. the possibilities, how to involve others, and on and on….

It was a day to remember - a day of connections and learning between some very inspiring students in Canada and Georgia.

Links to podcasts:

Podcast 1 Introduction and special bond

Podcast 2 Eddie Chris Online Safety

Podcast 3 Eddie Vincent Being responsible while blogging

Podcast 4 Emmy Danny Flickr

Podcast 5 MV Chris Craig B.O.B (Blogging on blogging) and convincing middle school teachers to let students blog

Podcast 6 Tina Vincent Grey-M The best and the worst of blogging

Podcast 7 Johnny Richard Danny Chat Boxes

Podcast 8 Eddie Aichelle How does blogging advance your learning as a fifth grade student?

I am constantly amazed at how much students learn from the comments they receive on their blogs. The other relevant aspect to this is that the learning is so applicable to the standards we are asked to teach. Today I browsed through the student blogs and reread some comments they received over the past school year. I just thought of one standard for each- I could have selected many more standards but this will give you the feel for the awesome power of commenting on our students’ learning.

Anni and Donna

Anni on her post entitled Water stated lots of good reasons supporting the need for a water fountain on her school’s playground

Donna, a teacher from Queensland, Australia commented back to share how each of their schools had rows of “bubblers” outside for student use. She congratulated Anni on her foresight in regards to this issue. Then she added more good reasons for installing a water fountain that Anni could think about as she tries to persuade her school to consider this action. Donna made the point that adequate water consumption is required for optimal brain function! Now I’d say that’s pretty relevant to student learning, right?

Here’s one standard that applies:

ELA5R3

ELA5R3 The student understands and acquires new vocabulary and uses it correctly in reading and writing.

Anni’s learning from the comment. I’ve seen her search for a word or head over to the dictionaries in the lab. Plus we now have Answer Tips installed on each blog and that makes it even easier. I love that tool! Anni will remember lots of these words because they are relevant to her. They were meant just for her. New words to add to her vocabulary – bubblers and foresight for starters in this comment.

Eddie and Darren

Eddie’s post on The Language of Math prompted a response from Darren Kuropatwa, a high school math teacher in Winnipeg, Canada. Darren made math come alive in his comment to Eddie. He explained numerous ways math is everywhere. This led Eddie to further explore and communicate about all these concepts. Were they communicating mathematically? IYou can count on it!. And that post fostered lots more comments that kept coming in over the following days. New conversations about math continued both inside and outside our classroom.

Here’s one standard that applies:

M5P3

M5P3 Students will communicate mathematically.

Eddie sums up his feelings here:

I have made new friends outside of school because of blogging. I have had teacher form other states and countries comment to my blog. I had a teacher from Winnipeg, Canada named Mr.Kuropatwa comment on my blog. He teaches senior math and the children in his class were overwhelmed because of what I knew. He even showed his class my blog and they made a podcast and sent it to me. I have also had a person named Lani comment to my blog and she is from Chardon, Ohio. She’s always trying to encourage me to write better. She always gives me tips and strategies on how to read and write better.

(The above is from The End of My Blogging Year)

Victoria and Kate

Victoria’s post, Melting Down the Ice , explains that the ice in Antarctica is melting and she points to a movie that shows how this may cause the polar bears to drown and become extinct. Victoria picked up on this concern by reading joey girl, a blog by Kate. Kate is a student in Mr. Fisher’s class in Snow Lake, Canada. Several commented on this post and information was being shared and ideas were exchanged.

This standard applies:

ELA5LSV2

ELA5LSV2 The student listens to and views various forms of text and media in order to gather and share information, persuade others, and express and understand ideas.

Victoria has done an exceptional job of applying the above standard. Her post Are We There Yet? says it all.

Now I could find many more examples and in most cases more than one standard applies. Students need practice with the standards that are being taught. Blogging is a great way to provide that practice. Blogging helps make it authentic and important to the student. They have ownership. Now again the classroom discussions are very important- it is crucial to take the time to share and reflect on how the comments are shaping our learning.

I may come back to some more of these. Better yet wouldn’t it be neat to let the students find samples. Hmmmm I’m going to ask the blogicians what they think about that.

The blogicians have been having fun with Google Maps. They each have maps that list all the locations of their commenters. When we finish I plan to make one map documenting the locations of all the students’ commenters. What fun! Plus they can add other media. Hmmm, ideas are humming!

Then today Scott Floyd posted a comment to the blogicians sharing how he plans to use Google Maps this summer. Check out his great post on My Maps to Visually Document and Tell Stories

Comparing viewpoints is so interesting, especially when you are trying to teach. Also humor in the classroom helps learning and I love when I get the opportunities to combine the two. This comment from Michael on one of his posts made me remember a previous post from Will. We have an interesting comparison here. Will is charged and excited about making Google Maps. He begins talking about google map directions and tells us to check out step 19. (which by the way appears to be step 15 now). Will says this is “too funny.”

Along comes Michael a bit later. Michael is a student in Blogical Minds. He’s creative, imaginative and like Will he loves Google Maps too. Now in his comment on his blog Michael listed all 38 steps of his Google directions. He wanted to make his point where someone would really understand his concern. Michael pointed with great alarm to step 22 on his list. He said, “Look at the swim across part. When people rush they make mistakes. If an ultra gullible person reads that he will do it.”

The comment Michael was making to a couple of his teachers about Google Maps is going to give me some wonderful teachable moments. Plus I can share Will’s post with them and they can compare perspectives. Anyway the aspect that Will loved about Google mapping was alarming to Michael. Different perspectives, hmmmmm. Let’s talk about that. What do we need to clarify? How should teachers approach this? Let’s talk about literal interpretations versus figurative. Let’s talk about humor and different understandings. If people interpret language literally and do not understand multiple meanings are they likely to miss the humor in some writing? Then we could toss this out for discussion. Do we really need all 38 steps to understand his concern? The teachable moments are right there and ripe for the taking. I love that about blogs. You get so many teachable moments and they are so much fun.

As a teacher I am going to get a lot of mileage out of these blog postings. What’s so neat about these moments is that through blogging we get to share. And humor is a great way to start off the day!

The bouncing baby bloggers entered the blogosphere with this delightful announcement this past February. To say that have come a long way is an understatement. Remember all you seasoned edubloggers out there, as Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach said in reply to comments on the announcement “it takes a whole blogosphere to raise a digital child.” Sheryl is their instructor for their class. Here’s the course wiki. So if you haven’t commented to any of them consider doing just that before they close the class in May. Give them the benefit of your experiences and wish them well. I’d like to whet your appetite for some of their interesting thoughts on their learning. Of course you’ll need to travel to their blogs to read some of the conclusions - a great way to spend a few minutes of your day! Enjoy!

Chris of c.michaels says Own It!

All semester our professors have been continuously talking about the idea of ownership and how students need to own their learning in order for them to better understand the material. My first impression of this idea, was that is completely ridiculous. It simply didn’t make any sense. As I heard more and more though, it made more sense and it seemed like it might actually be effective in the classroom. Now after being in the classroom for a few months and looking specifically for examples, I’ve seen it and that it does indeed work.

Kimberly of EDUC 330 (incorrectly ) labeled herself as Computer Unable in a beginning post had this to say in Learning through practice.

Working in pairs on Monday the class split up to complete a public service announcement about forest fires by using video clips, audio clips, and photos. The iMovie program proved to be simple to use with the guide, and we cut, edited, added transitions, and completed a video in one class period. I was amazed at how simple it was to create the video. I would definitely consider using this technology in an elementary classroom.

Rachel of EDUC 330 proclaims “I Have Seen the Light!!!”

Praise the Lord - I understand! To be completely honest, all throughout my learning of how to incorporate technology into the everyday classroom, I’ve had doubts. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the concept of fluidly using technology in elementary lessons without it being a huge distraction (or in my case, complication). Yes, I heard mentors talk about blogging, wikis, projects, etc. but growing up without technology in the classroom and not seeing it used, it was a stretch of the imagination for me.

Priyanka of Teachers’ Words of Wisdom expresses horror and follows up with good counter points on What, No Recess?!?!

I was horrified to read that 40 percent of American schools have or would be eliminating recess! I couldn’t believe it! In Changing The Recess Paradigm?, it talks about how quite a few schools want to cut down on recess in order to increase more academic instruction.

Megan of Megan McInnes on her post Observing Technology in the Classroom shares some real benefits in technology as a tool for learning.

What was the neatest thing for me to see was there was a student in the class that had a few disabilities. I thought it was so neat how well his project was done. Using this technology of making a video really seemed to suit his learning style and the limitations he had. Now I can see how important technology can be for students like him, he could present what he learned in a technological fashion allowing him to learn and do the same projects as his classmates.

Andrew of Learning Enhanced Technology shares a new tool, WOT, that sounds quite interesting.

WOT is a social networking device designed to enhance internet safety and reliability. I downloaded Wot yesterday as a browser extension for Firefox and am intrigued. WOT allows you to check the reliability of a website based on user feedback, so that when you go to a website the WOT icon shows whether or not other users view the website as safe and reliable based on a general trustworthiness meter, reliability as a business partner, as a keeper of personal information, and as a safe destination for children.

Sarah of Sarah’s Technology Enhanced Learning posted about students’ reactions to technology in “Teaching about Plane Shapes” .

I can’t put into words how shocked I was by the student’s reaction to the laptop, it was the equivalent of buying a new driver a brand new car when they get their license. They were absolutely thrilled and their excitement for technology really made me think about how much I take computers and my laptop for granted. It also made me think about how little the students must be using the computers in their school if it seems so novel to them when I presented them with a computer. I also found it unique how I was able to take a technology free lesson and turn it into a technology friendly lesson. I know that it strengthened this lesson.

Sharlene of If you give a girl technology shares a post entitled “Education In a Non-Traditional Classroom Setting” about an after school program that she finds promising.

Going above and beyond the required basics of model after-school programs, this program provides economically disadvantaged students opportunities that may not have been readily available to them prior to this experience.

Monica of Me & Technology has a profound post that will touch your heart. The title of the post is The Missing Piece Meets the Big O.. by Shel Silverstein.

Wednesday evening, a 20 year old sat in the children’s books’ section and read this short simple story, but found a strong and courageous message

Angel of Ariana’s mom posts thoughtfully about Protecting Our Students!

The tragedy at Virginia Tech has really caused me to think of my life, my future career and my family and put everything into perspective. The story of the Professor who was a Holocaust survivor and risked his life and died trying to save his students touched me deeply. It caused me to reevaluate what my role as a teacher will be.

Jennifer of techlife is feeling Technologically Torn.

Technology has its pros and cons and there are definitely situations when it is difficult to determine which side outweighs the other.

Lizzie of The new and improved technological Lizzie shares her continuing journey to use technology in the classroom with this post, So I used Technology…a little bit.

I had this wonderful lesson plan all ready and created to use to integrate technology within my classroom, but as soon as I had it done my class was done learning about that subject. So I switched really quickly into integrated technology into the science circus that I taught with Angel.

Katie of Designs for Tech gives a thorough Lesson Plan Critique.

Even though the lesson was quite stressful, it was 100% worth the stress and effort. The students begged for math to continue when I told them the lesson was done and I am scheduled to go back in a week to allow the students more time to play math games during their “Friday fun.”

Lydia of Technology Enhanced Learning has many good reflections on her blog. Her closing statement on High Stakes resonates with me.

Hopefully soon, our nation will return to valuing more than test scores.

Amy of EDUC 330 is seeing the value of having her materials on a wiki in Wikis and Webquests.

I always wondered why W&M was pushing for us to create an online portfolio. It is so inconvenient to make and it’s almost like learning another language. However, today it hit me when i was talking to my CT. I was planning the math lesson for next week and she asked me if she could look at my lesson plan to review it and make sure it fit into her curriculum. I told her that the lesson plan is saved on my computer and that I didn’t have access to it now. I was in the process of making another appointment with her when it hit me that I had uploaded it onto my wiki. I pulled up the wiki and my lesson was there! We were able to look at it right then and there. It felt really cool to have my stuff on the web and I didn’t even have to e-mail it to myself or print it out. Now I understand a little better how an online portfolio could come in great handy!

Amaya of Amaya’s Edutastic Blog has a really intriguing post on Teaching is Candy…No…Cookies…and I’m A Cookie Monster!

I challenge all three of the people who read this blog to pose a simple question to someone today, and see if you can’t change their life for the better. Maybe you’ll get a “fine” or maybe a “well, thank you, how are you?” But, you could get a “well, I have this problem with my mother, well, not really with my mother, but, wait, sit down and I’ll tell you… I think I want to be an elementary school teacher, but I’m not sure and I really need to talk to someone about it, but my mom lost her cell phone.” Don’t you wish you’d listened before?