Building Collaborative Classrooms

Monday, February 9, 2009:

Keynote Speaker Dr. Jason Ohler  Act 48 Credit ZL013684

Dr. Ohler told a story about story telling as a method of engaging students.

Digital story telling brings all together  (art, oral, written, digital)

1. Follow DAOW of literacy
2. Attitude is the aptitude  attitude towards learning new stuff is your aptitude
3. Practice private and social literacy  co-writing
4. Develop literacy about digital tools–help students get perspective of technology tools–what are the impacts–what are the disconnections–microwave makes it possible for families to NOT eat together;  digital retouching of photos
5. fluency, not just literacy–best understands what the tools will do and how to leverage them to innovation, leadership
6. Harness both report and story..embrace story  the way we connect information in a story

Kids come to school wired for story, they understand story,….internal relationships that motivate–conflict, character,

This is a big one for me:  Use the rule of 80/20

first 80% is created and finished in the first 20% of resource base

last 20% takes 80% of resources (time)–don’t bother tweaking, it’s about the story

Students don’t need to “perfect” everything.  The learning is done in that first 20% of the time. I don’t need to allow so much time for students to complete their projects.

Hints:

Story first, tech second

Leave clicks and tricks to kids with time.

Create learning communities by  taking talent inventory

quality, wisdom—evaluation of quality, critique,

teacher as Executive Producer

Everyone gets to tell his/her own story

story core…

• problem (tension)  inquiry
• solution (resolution)  discovery
• transformation (growth)

phisyical/kinestheitc

emotion

moral

psychological

social

intellectual/creative

spiritual

realization, realizaing

iPods & Podcasting for Teaching & Learning — David Marra Senior Systems Engineer for Apple  10: 15-11:15  Cocoa Terrace  Act 48 Code–AL191858

iPod + Broadcasting

enhanced podcast includes multimedia

to be effective must be subscribed to using iTunes on a Mac or PC

150,000 free subscriptions

• students create
• teacher records class d publish for students who are absent…or who need additional help
• iMovie to create video cast
• iTunes.Stanford.edu

iTunes U–download from college courses

iTunes U K-12

Beyond Campus  organizations like Smithsonian

Podcast Producer used to record a class

• powerpoint, video, handouts

teach students to create as well as use

…”create podcasts for staff development–new and more effective ways to communicate with our employees and the iPods will help us do both.”   brian Hall CED National Semi-conductor

marketing and education

http://www.apple.com/education/podasting

will send pdf of all 4 sessions

Accessing a podcast:

• launch iTunes
• iTunes Store  podcasts and iTunes U
• Submit a podcast

beyond campus

k12

iTunes U

Apple podcast server

Where does Warwick have a place for studnets to store their iPods–then publish in iTunes

iMovie and Garageband

create in iMovie and publish as podcast

post on iTunes   what is our AUP for publishing student work

Garageband

• create music
• new podcast track–drag and drop images
• radio style sounds
• voice enhancement tools–filter sounds
• iChat AV–text, audio, video
• video conference with up to 4 people
• chapter, tracks, and bookmarks

1. Research to gather information, take notes and gather images (right-click “add image to iPHoto library”
2. In iPhoto create an album of all files
3. Launch Garageband   > Podcasts
4. Select track
5. Record
6. While playing recorded track, Add markers at important facts.  Drag images, insert links,
7. Add music

• marra@apple.com
• marrathon.com

Technology Staff Development That Works! Scott Radaszkiewicz & Dotty Katuskas   11:30-12:30 Cocoa Suite 5  Act 48 Credit  BL141655

New Hope-Solebury School District

Director of Technology Asst to the  Superintendent

Whole staff had webinar for all of staff;

registration for individual workshops on line

discovery, digital story telling, etc……

21st Century learners need

1. Capability to network
2. choice
3. ability to collaborate
4. participation in a global society

Keep all staff up to date

• newsletter  (she should have a podcast)  www.nhsd.org

“A vision of K-12 students today”    a YouTube video

How do you know if your technology staff development is effective?

How can you gauge the technology skills that your staff uses in the classroom?

How do you take the global look at the K-12 learning environment?

Pieces of Success: Systemic Model

Collaboration and Leadership

1. collaboration between curriculum and technology
2. buy-in from all stakeholders
3. technology plan/strategic plan

Teacher Leaders

1. teacher leaders in technology /1 per building — extra stipend
2. curriculum liasons –
3. library/media specialists
4. collaboration amongst the groups

liasons and leaders meet to collaborate

Staff Development

363 days a year

1. Act 48 professional development committee
2. summer technology academy–smart board (beyond basics), podcasts, wikis, blogs, google docs, Google Earth  give teachers what they have asked for
3. professional development days
4. conferences and workshops
5. “Pockets of Brilliance”  — teachers who are great with something teach other’s on the staff

Feedback and Evaluation

• Exit slips
• Surveys–survey monkey
• Tracking last year’s Kindergarten
• Technology walkabouts — when life is out of balance, drop everything and take a walkabout– degree of student engagement, resources being used, what choices do yo have?, what are you learning?–to have teams of administrators, teachers etc go into classes in other buildings
• The “grapevine” — tech director listens but redirects to teacher techs–

Resources and Funding

1. fiscal responsibilty and accountability
2. classrooms for the future  ($22 million currently in budget)
3. accountabiltiy block grant
4. Education Fund grants

Networking and Support

1. IU–Act 183 WAN, Tech staff development, webinars, NASA eMissions
2. Outside Vendors–Discovery, Apple, Curriculum Mapping, www.rubicon.com …need help, just ASK

Vision to Reality:

• Wikis  all teachers have
• Art portfolio podcasts
• Magic
• Earthquakes–google sketchup

The Future

1. virtual islands
2. more online learning
3. capturn staff development for the future
4. teachesr as facilitators of social networking
5. reality of turriculum

BL141655

Losing Control and Gaining Enthusiasm Cocoa Suite 3  Act 48 CL161923

• ning.com
• didn’t use student last names
• didn’t ask student
• jbickelenglish.ning.com
• check out PETE & C ning
• let students have more controlds

Technology, Assessment, and Staff Development  Act 48 DL141939

Free staff development  narrow focus for district goals

• embeddedlearning academy
• Concept to Classroom  www.thirteen.org
• annenberg  www.learner.org/resources
• annenberg www.learner.org/interactives

Keynote Speaker: Daniel Pink  Act 48  A Whole New Mind  AL027534

http://www.danpink.com/

Daniel Pink presented a very entertaining address as he shared his thoughts about the relationship between education and the economy and the relationship between education and the arts.  The following is a collection of my notes taken during the speech.  Although some of the notes may not be as valuable to others, they have meaning to me that I want to maintain here in my blog.  I hope that you will still find some meaning for yourself.

Education and the Economy

1. Pink is not an educator
2. Purpose of education is not to deliver employees  to employers;  but to make our students human, citizens.  I do agree with this.  This connects well with Esquith’s admonition that we set a larger table for our students.  Ah, yes, a liberal education!

The misalignment of education with the economy was commented on by Fairfax County VA Ass’t Superintendent, “We need to prepare kids for their future, not our past.”  The skills that prepared students in the past are no longer sufficient.  That is not to say that they are no longer important; they are just not sufficient. Today, a different set of abilities matter more.   In the past, left brain skills were prized by business;  these are still essential. Today, right brain skills are also essential; in fact they are  “first among equals.”

1. Asia ROUTINE  any work that can be reduced to a script, a series of steps, will be outsourced  necessary but not worth much
2. Automation Software is replacing the activities of the left brain
   
3. Abundance material prosperity

When choosing career direction, students today should ask themselves these three questions:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is what you’re delivering in demand in an age of abundance?

High Tech

High Concept

High Touch

Business is about novelty, customization, nuance

Education is routines, standardization, right answers

Legislators don’t get it!

Abilities that matter most

1. design not function
2. story
3. symphony
4. empathy
5. play
6. meaning not just accumulation

How to move education to their future

1. experiment with new metrics–what gets measured gets done.  doesn’t because it can be measured ; find metrics for right brained things:  Rainbow Project (alternative SAT) asks different  set of questions better predictor of success in college than the SAT; JSPE (alternative to MCAT) predicts patient outcomes
2. Get real about STEM:  constrictive notion of what science, engineering, math–getting the right answer–ability to ask the right questions; the ability to observe and see; reason algorithmically AND aesthetically–non-routine savants  “What does ‘creativity’ mean?”
3. Tear down those walls–show connections between disciplines  MOST VALUABLE PREFIX  multi lingual, platform, -disciplined, -context, -cultural,
4. Infuse arts education throughout the curriculum  Creative arts are no longer a frivolous luxury but essential to achieving a competitive eduge.” Zhao
5. Promote and defend autonomy.–give teachers more autonomy, give students autonomy

“We need to prepare kids for their future, not our past.”

twitter.com/DanielPink

Creating Tech-Saavy , 21st Century Teachers  Act 48

This group of teachers, administrators and technology director developed a week-long summer inservice on technology issues.  The teachers who voluntarily attended received equipment for their classrooms and 3 hours of graduate credit from a local college.  They used data from Project tomorrow–Net Day Speak Up 2007 Survey Data to gain support from their school board to support the academy.  The data used included the following categories:

• collect and report unfiltered feedback from educators, students, and parents on key educational
• issues
• use data to stimulate local conversations
• raise national awareness about the importance of including the viewpoints of these statkeholder groups in the ducational dialogue

In the morning, participants learned about program, equipment, or topic.  In the afternoon, participants spent the time applying, creating lessons, collaborating.

Session A: How Smart is your Smart Board?

• hardware–how and where its plugged in, trouble shooting, alignmnet, buttons, icons, playing with software, internet lessons, manipulate lessons, work with and make own, interactive websites, integrating with curriculum
• follow up sessions–setting goals for integration

Session B: Multimedia

• movie maker, iMovie, YouTube, podcasting, ripping video edit out scenes
• crash course for one hour
• rest of time working with the program creating products

Session C: Video Conferencing

• teachers connect outside of classroom/ outside district/ around the world
• Magpie Power Networking — free
• CILC–cilc.org–webinar
• Organizations that provide video conferences
• Skype and webcams
• Student response systems (clickers)

Session D:  Copyright

• other options rather than just a “report.”
• teacher homepages
• google forms
• Question/Answer with student response  Will send Turningpoint presentation about copyright;
• Internet safety

Session E:  Presentations

• participants presented that projects that they created.

• how will you utilize what you have learned/or this is where I was; here is where I am now

As follow up:

School wires program — every Wednesday after school

Tech II

Professional Learning Networks…SOOOO Important Patricia Duncan Act 48 FL141625

Wallenpaupack area HS duncanpatti@netzero.net

• google
• plurk
• skype
• facebook
• yahoo
• twitter
• discovery Educator
• del.icio.us
• ning
• diigo
• facebook

http://techiescitchr.wikispaces.com

visit wiki and provide feedback

internet Overdose Song on YouTube

Functions of the PLN (personal or professional learning network)

• connect
• collaborate
• contribute

Create a network

• collaborate locally–face to face
• join professional organizations –  iste, keystones
• companies off PLN — get trained, share with others  — google teacher academy, den institute,
• webinars
• “phone a friend”  skype  25 limit;  oovoo (6 webcam screens),
• listservs
• microblogging–twitter, facebook, plurk

ning

groups.yahoo.com/group/theweb20group

teacherlibraraian.nicng.com

wwww.classroom20.com

musictechieteachers

retaggr

This is list of networking programs that can be used as professional learning networks.

This blog page is a place for me to present some of the technology integration I have observed, heard about, or actually done in English classrooms. Many of these are from teachers at Warwick High School, but there are also some that I have found through searching or collaborating with other teachers.

Program Description: The presenter will share lesson ideas that have worked to engage reluctant (and not so reluctant) learners in her English and writing classes and still meet the standards. This includes the use of Comic Life, iPhoto, iMovie, wikis, moodle, and podcasts to name a few.

If you would like to see the wiki with my notes and links, please go to http://english230.wikispaces.com