I have been wanting to blog about the three things I am glad I did this summer, and while waiting for my youngest ball player, here goes!  This of course does not include the fantastic times spent with my family!

1. Went out and bought, not rented, “Freedom Writers“.  I have since proceeded to watch it a total of six times since then!  I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Erin Gruwell two years ago and hear her empowering talk about her experiences with her inner city students.  She and one of her students signed my copy of The Freedom Writers Diary, I left with mascara streaming down my face – just like every time I watch the movie.  If you haven’t seen it, stop reading this blog right now and go rent it!!
2. Read Clay Shirkey’s Here Comes Everybody and loved it!!  Although the world of public education is not mentioned much directly in the book, all of the ideas are certainly applicable!
3. Read Not Much, Just Chillin: The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers - A must-read for every middle school educator and frustrated parent!  Linda Perlstein embedded herself for a year with a group of middle schoolers, and her living research tied with brain research is amazing!  You’ll catch yourself saying, “So that’s why they act like that!”  You’ll see your students (or perhaps your own kids) in a whole new light!

Effective Partnerships with K-12 – Keith Krueger, CEO CoSN, Mark Nieker, Pres. Pearson Education Foundation, Bev White, CTO, Wake Co Schools

• Education typically largest recipient of funding from foundations, individuals (after religion)
• Essential to our competitiveness, our children’s future, belief that K-12 needs help
• Many of today’s partnerships don’t take off, or meet the needs of participants
•  What doesn’t work:
  • thinly veiled sales pitches
  • donated stuff schools haven’t asked for
  • well intended/not thought out
  • unsustainable “model” programs with no plan
  • chasing money for someone else’s priorities/make sure resources match your mission
  • higher ed partnerships:  major disconnect, tendency to do narrow proof of concepts, useless language, little dissemination
  • govt: complicated application process, different priorities, lack of dissemination
• What does work:
  • meeting real needs of K-12
  • high quality, vendor neutral information
  • working in coalition
  • using language of K-12 (not business)
  • foundations tend to be sustainable and provide freedom to be creative and think out of the box
  • govt:  some really good NSF (for example) projects have been done
• Self Criticism K-12
  • K-12 is totally unique and alone
  • “poor us” mentality – willingness to take anything that is given
  • historic suspicion about companies
• Need to have mutual vision
• Must have right partner(s)
• scalability & sustainability

Nieker, Pearson:

1.  Partnership must be commonly describable by all involved; must include flexibility
2. Good documentation – things that go well and things that don’t
3. Scalability – is it replicable?

White, Wake Co:

1. Spoke about the partnerships with Centennial’s 8th grade laptop initiative. (SAS, NCSU, Friday Inst)

Question:  How do we invite partnerships in rural areas where there is little industry/big business?

Answer:  Willingness to dialogue with business, not ruling out small business, parents that are involved in business, demonstrate the disconnect between the school classroom environment with the business environment, clarity of expression of needs.

Daniel Solomon, Dean, Physical/Math Sciences, NCSU

America Competes Act due to be signed by both houses.

Diversity is an issue in STEM – namely women and African Americans

Intentionally think about the problem from multiple perspectives

Cyberinfrastructure – Break Out Session

• Making it available to the masses
• Creating computerized classrooms – financial implications that accompany this
• Possibility of using iPhone for computing in the classroom
• Need for professional development – both in technology and the content areas
• Issues with relying too heavily on technology – “deskilling”
  • kids can’t make change
  • kids use calculators, but don’t understand the concepts behind it
  • kids can’t read maps, because they’ve only been using GPS
• Learning thinking skills as opposed to memorization and test-taking skills
• Diane Oblinger – papers on this generation of learners
• Assessment is a big issue
• Greater student interaction
• Schools need Instructional Tech Facilitators (with tech and curriculum background)
• Where is the media specialist’s role in all of this?

Working Breakout Session

• How can we better prepare students for the literacy demands post secondary?
• Not involving our kids in their own education, they are not responsible for their learning.
• Not enough critical thinking, high level problem solving in the K-12 classroom.  How do we facilitate that in the classroom?
• Classroom management is an issue.
• Professional Development is a great need.  Pre-service training for new teachers needs to improve.
• Relevancy in math and science classes needs to be improved and addressed.
• Allow students to drive more of the content.
• Does the teacher wearing too many hats take away from quality instruction?
• Assessment requirements take away from true learning/quality learning.
• How can we make assessment relevant?
  • formative assessments
  • e-portfolios
  • performance assessments

• Community involvement is important
• Parent empowerment to be a part of the educational process; matching professional development for parents
• Moving from a traditional report card to a standards based report card?
• Place greater funding and emphasis on teacher effectiveness.
• Public doesn’t understand the need that exists
• Communication across government, school, and other public stages need to increase
• How do we maintain sustained student interest in learning?
  • global communication/collaboration
  • empowering them by celebrating their creation of new knowledge
  • creating student centered environments
• Concern about losing a large proportion of kids interested in science/math as early as late elementary/MS up through post-secondary.  Does the system defeat itself through staunch assessments and a critical value system?
• Expose students to role models and careers; as well as a support system to encourage them to stay in the STEM programs.
• Middle school years are critical as far as career development plans.
• High expectations and encouraging students in their abilities
• What can we do to prevent losing kids from the STEM areas?
  • professional development
  • stimulating students to become critical thinkers, life long learners, solution finders, risk takers
  • content through experience/experimentation

Susan Patrick – CEO, North American Council for Online Learning

• focus on K-12 virtual schools and online learning
• opens access for students and teachers
• more and more jobs these days are focused on online telecommuting and flexible schedules
• Singapore – 100% of their systems have online learning – online is blended with the traditional program
• mentioned the Partnership for 21st Century Skills‘ 6 key elements of 21st Century Learning (*21st century assessments must match the 21st century skills)
• Sharing Research to Inform Policy
  • Online learning expands options
  • Online learning is growing rapidly
  • Online learning is equal or better in effectiveness
  • Online learning improves teaching (although a lot of training is needed)
• Michigan April 2006 first state to require online learning
• the US spends more per pupil on education than any other nation (besides Switzerland), yet we are not seeing results
• “Silent Epidemic” study by the Gates Foundation on high school drop outs
  • 88% had passing grades
  • 69% were not motivated to work hard
  • 66% would’ve worked harder had they been challenged
  • 81% called for more real world opportunities
• Millenials:
  • Kids spend more time online than they do watching television
  • see information as free
  • like to collaborate virtually and face to face
  • 96% say doing well in school is important in their lives
  • children are much more involved in decision making at home
• Cyberinfrastructure – integrates hardware for computing, data and networks, digitally-enabled sensors, observatories and experimental facilities, and an interoperable suite of software and middleware services and tools.
• simulation-based engineering
• Examples:
  • Micro Observatory Online Telescope at Harvard
  • iLab Network – pairing kids with scientists using high powered microscopes to learn
• Students use the computer an average of 15 minutes per week at school!
• Need more and continued training for teacher use
• Student and teacher access for technology
• Use of digital content tied to state academic standards
• Need to measure and SHARE with policy makers the successes of our tech programs
• Creativity is highest at 6 (100 questions a day), terminal seriousness at 44 (2 questions a day), bounce at retirement
• Need to take risks, continue to question to move our efforts forward
• Leadership = Trust, Integrity, Passion

Michael Lach, Head of Math and Science, Chicago School District

• 430, 000 students, 27, 000 teachers in Chicago City Schools
• Lot of emphasis on local control; believe in the support of communities
• Ranks 49th among the 50 states in the share of education funding
• Still making good gains in both science and math
• CO’s + NSF = Math and Science Initiative
• Tools and support, increased content knowledge, extended learning opportunities all used to enhance the learning of science and math
• Use Math Thematics and Connected Mathematics as the main programs 6-8; Elementary Math Trailblazers and Everyday Mathematics
• Standard Scope and Sequence in Science
• Can correlate test score improvement with those educators who attend professional development on an ongoing basis
• They pay for teachers to take grad classes at several universities to add endorsements to their licensure
• School leadership is KEY!
• What we need more of:  formative feedback, leadership, equality in opportunity
• “Computers are not magic, teachers are magic” Craig Barrett, Intel

Sharon Schulze/Colleen Karl – NC Science House

• Science House emphasis on hands-on inquiry, research based programs, teacher training
• 14 full time staff/lots of part-time; 16 years of experience
• Partnerships with many business/industry
• Year round ed programs for students; summer camps
• K-12 Teacher support – manuals, content courses, workshops, extended programs
• Bennett’s Millpond Environment Learning Project
  • student learning
  • teacher involvement
  • community engagement
  • new partnerships
  • environmental citizenship
  • experimental design and research
  • Junior/Senior year
  • Model of Place Based Learning
  • increased professional networking
  • SCOS connected to outside learning
  • teachers/students feel a part of the scientific community
  • real life practice collecting and analyzing data
  • encourage the kids to design their own equipment
  • making kids aware of new career possibilities in the sciences

Bette Manchester, Director Maine Learning Technologies Initiative

Mainelearns.org 

• 1:1 initiative began 6 years ago
• promoted by Seymour Papert to Governor Angus King
• time and money spent working with teachers PRIOR to giving the kids the laptops
• program aimed at creating equity of resources for students and staff
• from the beginning it was not about the test scores, it was about learning!
• another goal was to increase collaboration between students and their teachers through the technology
• focus on PBL!
• commitment to change needs to be systemic, there need to be purpose, move to learner centered, PLC’s, culture of risk taking
• must build communication networks, virtual networks, training leadership teams, student teams (annual conference with all involved)
• assessment for learning practices – training/resources (templates, etc.) provided to the teachers
• involved teacher leaders (classroom teacher at building level), media specialist are both part of the teacher support component
• Maine Virtual Library
•  Math teachers had the hardest time using the laptops – received a grant to help support this need
• NSF grant – Ecoscience (using simulations for math/science); currently in pilot programs across the state
• Creativity/Innovation, Critical Friends Groups, Inquiry based learning
• Project’s foundation begins with quality classroom teachers, not technologists.
• Leadership is EVERYTHING!

Blogging live from the Friday Institute:

Audience is a cross-section of educators (primary-university), government, business.

Brave New Schools, How Computers Can Change Education – written by new director of Friday Inst.

Remarks from Katherine Moore, NC State College of Ed

• 1:1 pilot project started with 8th graders at Centennial MS

Remarks from Jim Goodnight, CEO SAS Institute

•  Spoke of the 21st Century belonging to Asia – US is not feeling the “clear and present danger” it needs to in the innovation/brain “war”.  We’ve got to teach to our technologically savvy kids!

Keynote Speaker – Alan Kay – Viewpoints Research Institute (non-profit dedicated to children and learning)

• “It’s the fundamental changes that make the big difference.”
• “If there was ever an air guitar nation, it’s the United States.”
• We don’t need more scientists and engineers, we need higher quality scientists/engineers.
• “Distracting Ourselves to Death” – whenever you reset what is “normal” it makes it difficult to allow constructive criticism
• “Science is a debugging process for our bad human brains.”
• Mentioned Francis Bacon and the beginnings of real science
• No reason to make a distinction between the STEM areas to/for children.  They should be interconnected.
• The Internet has killed criticism because there is so much out criticism out on the Internet.
• Believes that more knowledge is gained in Science through reading because you can’t experiment with everything in Science.
• $100 laptop includes Etoys (worldwide authoring tool)
• Adults who teach children generally lack sufficient fluency in math thinking.
• Squeakland.org
• Never give simulations that are already written, the child should be the one to create the variables and experiment with them.
• Must use phenomenon that are in the child’s world as part of the investigation.
• Lillian McDermott – physicist who studies how people learn science

Definitely need to spend some time with the above links!

Am blogging live as we sit at the CO participating a webinar on Big6 Research model.  www.big6.org

• Valued skills   #1 Problem Solving  #2 Information Use (Fall 2001)
• Big 6 – the six steps people go through to process information and solve problems
  • Task Definition – Define the information problem
  • Information Seeking Strategies – Brainstorm range of possible sources
  • Location and Access – Where are the sources?
  • Use of Information – Engage (read, hear, view, touch)
  • Synthesis – Organize information from multiple sources/present information
  • Evaluation – Judge the product effectiveness
• Creators believe that implementing this model by teaching the steps one at a time while giving a real world problem in which to implement each step is best.
• Big 6 is non-linear – can jump back and forth in the process

**Webinar is not going well…we’re 35 minutes into a PAID webinar and the main speaker has yet to login and get started.  His cohorts are backpedaling quickly!  I think we will be asking for a refund…

Critical thinking skills embedded in Big6 and it is transferable across grade levels and subjects

1. Task Definition:  Teaching students to ask good questions.   Rewriting problem in their own words.  Having student brainstorm key questions that accompany the problem.  Identify key words in the problem.  Clarifying what information they need.
2. Information Seeking Strategies:  Brainstorm and prioritize list of sources.  Discussing criteria for selecting sources.  Learn differences between primary and secondary sources.
3. Location and Access (Finding Stage):  Independent gathering of resources.  Online, library, knowing whom/how to ask for help.  Using various clues in the assignment or book to help locate helpful resources.
4. Use of Information:  Engage.  Skim/scan, distinguish between fact/opinion, note taking skills, putting things in your own words, quoting correctly
5. Synthesis: Production stage
6. Evaluation:  Judging the product and the process that they have gone through to reach the end result.  The metacognitive portion of the process.

Must see instruction as a series of problems to solve with decisions for students to make.

* I really don’t see how this is new information, or a new strategy for teachers.  I find it hard to believe that these people are “selling” this as a new model.  I think good teachers who assign any kind of research assignments/projects have been conducting their lessons using this framework for years…

* Moderator (Bob Berkowitz) just commented that he nor many others use Bloom’s Taxonomy any more…  VERY DISAPPOINTING that an educator would make this comment.  After all, it seems that his model is based on Bloom’s. ??

The conversation among our group members related to teachers still assigning research projects like, “Do a report on Adolph Hitler”.  To me, these kinds of assignments lead to the frustration that was expressed by our librarians.  There is no substance, no ties to today’s real world, and absolutely no applications for the great Web 2.0 tools that could enhance the child’s learning. The kids don’t know what they are supposed to be learning or why!  So when the media specialist asks questions of the students, the kids shrug their shoulders.  It is unnecessary in our schools today.   Our next example was a social studies class who had been assigned to read a biography and write a report.  “Why was this assignment given in the first place?” is my first reaction!!  What relevance does it have for the kids?  Where is the ‘rigor and relevance’?

Photo:  Duh! 

Today’s Ripple and Splash:

Had read this story before, but it’s so much more powerful with the music and pictures. It is touching and brings back to the forefront, the real reason we are teachers! (Thanks for sending the link Aunt Lynn)
Watch it here: http://www.teachermovie.com

Photo: Children Playing

“Conversation on Cybersafety in 21st Century Classrooms”

Laura Fogle, Technology Educator/Tech4Teaching

http://www.tech4teaching.blogspot.com

http://del.icio.us/lbfogle

Web 2.0 is here to stay!  Pointed out that John McCain and Barak Obama, both have a MySpace account, and that Dora the Explorer (kids’ cartoon) has podcasting/vodcasting on her site!

YouTube bad press and other media “hype” (mentioned Lee County fight club situation) evokes “highly reactive response” from general public.  DOPA, DOPA Jr., State Initiatives, Local Policies all reactions to this response.

“Real Concerns”

Online predators – 71% reported receiving messages online from someone they don’t know (netsmarz.org)  Need to know what real statics and real numbers are!

Proactive Response:  Protection, Responsible Use, Education and Advocacy

Used analogy of giving pointed scissors to kindergartners is not appropriate, but that doesn’t mean we should ban all scissors from the school.  We teach them using rounded scissors and allow them to be guided in learning how to use the tools!

Gave out different colored strips with a question as well as several delicious link sites. 

Danita and I have this question:  “What policy changes would you recommend to address Web 2.0 concerns?” (How ironic, as this is the very issue that was heatedly discussed at our ITF meeting earlier today.)

http://k12wiki.wikispaces.com/Social+Networking+Acceptable+Use

Our Ideas: 

Policy committee for community buy in, parent involvement, student involvement, teacher representation, school board rep; staff development in Web 2.0 tools, gather large amounts of information – what are others doing?  What are the discussions in other areas?

Educating Others about web 2.0:

conversations with parents, show sites at PTO, show them how to set up their own accounts, encourage parents to be involved with their kids’ sites, share guidelines.

Can you use Web 2.0 tools in the classroom safely? 

Lab guidelines that need to be read, discussed, and signed by each student who enters the lab.  Students told the history on each computer would be checked, consequences set up.  Teacher must be engaged, actively involved, highly structured assignments/activities.  If you wait until the students are adults, they will never have the experiences they need to grow, put responsibility back on the student with well defined consequences and follow up.

Is student activity on social networks a school issue?

What if students post fictional sites of teachers with negative content?  Mentioned a Leading and Learning Article – Point/Counterpoint.  If the activity a “substantial and material disruption to the learning environment” the school has jurisdiction to intervene in the situation?  Download material and copy for the parents to view?  Check with ISP provider to locate offender.  My Space is working to help out in these situations, ie. taking sites down, as well as any comments they’ve ever made.  Social networking sites are working to alleviate some of this negativity.

Suggested having a panel discussion with policy makers, social network reps, law enforcement, teachers, parents, etc.  GREAT IDEA!!

Although we could have continued this terrific discussion for hours, the meeting had to close!  To be continued….

Joselyn Todd – MS Science Dept. Chair/Cary Academy/Teacher Editor: MidLink Magazine

http://web1.caryacademy.org/facultywebs/joselyn_todd/

http://midlinkemergingtech.wordpress.com/

wwwikis – Presentation wiki for today (PowerPoint is included here)

Joselyn has started out discussing much of the web 2.0 vocabulary, most of today will be about wikis. 

Nature Magazine article comparing Wikipedia to Encyclopedia Britannica – comparison of errors found in each.

Designates editors and formatters in her classes to make the wikis look appealing.

How does the wiki fit into the big 21st Century Literacy picture?  Allows for collaboration, thinking critically, self directed learners, technology integration, global learning, content development, creative thinking, intellectual freedom.

Why use wikis in classroom?  Easy to use, FREE, Allows teacher monitoring (times of posts are in the history) Intellectual creativity creates Life Long Learners!

http://science7chemreview1.wikispaces.com

http://chemreactions.wikispaces.com

http://science7acidbase.wikispaces.com

http://ca7rocketry.wikispaces.com

Kids assigned to teams and asked to spend 15 minutes working on “their” page for homework.  When she looked back at the history 148 edits had been made on the page the same day the wiki was created!  Used the history to see who had contributed and when.  Used the information the kids had put on the wiki to sense what she needed to reteach or go over.

Joselyn includes David Warlick’s citation machine link for her kids, on the wiki front page.  She uploads her documents and screen casts (vodcasts) for her kids to use as reviews or when she is absent.  Took apart the periodic table and each kid did a podcast of an element.  Her kids also incorporate YouTube videos to demonstrate their chemistry concepts!  The kids use the teacher’s YouTube account to put the videos they have made/selected, up on the wiki.

If she sees errors in the wiki contributions, she points them out privately to the student and THE STUDENT makes the edit.

Cary Academy uses no filters.  Policy at the school which tries to instill responsibility.  Good stuff outweighs the bad stuff.  The school has a recording feature, so she can go to the student’s account to check where they have gone on the web.

Grading?  She asks, “who did not contribute to the wiki last night?”  The kids are aware that she has the ability to use the history to check this.

Has the kids create questions for the test (and answers) and post them on one of the pages of the wiki, along with their name.  The wiki is then used as a study guide, and she uses 20 of those kid-created questions to create the actual test.

Created a blog out of a wiki for her kids.  Only members can comment.  There is a direction page, so kids know how to use it as a blog.  Kids have their own page, they copy and paste the blog prompt given by the teacher, and then blog about it.  Others add comments (kids who comment write their name on the board drawing a line from their name to the origianl blogger’s name – so everyone knows who has gotten a comment, and who needs a comment – GREAT IDEA!).  Students must then ammend their original blog after reviewing the comments.

“It is my job to educate them on how to use these tools…whether they are using it for educational purposes or not…” Joselyn Todd 

“How will we effectively teach them [students] if we are ignorant of it ourselves.” Joselyn Todd

“Do not confine your children to your own learning…for they were born in another time.” Hebrew Proverb