Table For 25 Please....

I am now in my third year with my SMARTboard Interactive Whiteboard, and I am always looking for and innovative ways of enhancing my instruction for my students. With each new version of software or incorporation new features, I like to 'play' with it to see what I can do with it. This also helps me when I teach professional development classes within my district. I love my board, but I know it still has its technical limitations. One of the limitations is that only one person or one thing may provide physical input on the board at once. While this reinforces waiting ones turn, it limits the potential for more than one 'user' to participate in the learning experience at the same time. Over the last nearly three yars, it is something that I have simply learned to deal with, and it has become less of an issue than I had originally thought. Having said that, I was browing a collaborative forum for SMART Educators, and I saw "The SMART Table". While I don't necessarily see this particular technology being used in my classroom, the potential for multiple input interactive whiteboards would be.. well, it would be very cool.

I wonder what is next? Check out the movie for more info on the SMART Table.

Name, Rank, and Facebook Page...

So I was watching some new channel the other day, and the talk was all about the upcoming Obama administration. Now there will be a changing of the guard, the new administration is offering a whole slew of newly vacated positions (bye bye W!). Anyway, the new application includes 63 fields of personal and professional information. It isn't just the usual job app info that is being requested. It isn't that potential employees are asked about their families and if they own a gun. What made it interesting and different to me was the fact that one's digital life was being called into question for validation. They are asked if they have sent any e-mails that might embarrass the administration. They are asked for all Internet handles and screen names that are used by the potential employee. They are asked for blog posts and Facebook pages that might also provide cause for concern.

This piggy-backs my previous blog post regarding Will Richardson's talk at my district's Professional Development Day. Technology truly has become a give and take environment, and he is the upcoming executive branch of our government holding potential job applicants accountable for their 'actions.' If this isn't cause to start rethinking technology education and digital ethics, what other catalyst are you looking for???

Facebook and other social networking sites have also been used a tools. If you doubt it, take a look at President Elect Obama's own Facebook page. Barack Obama's Facebook Page It worked so well that an anti-Obama group put up a fake looking one to convey their messages. Even the haters love it I guess.

The Good, The Bad, and The Googled...

My district brought in ed-tech guru Will Richardson to speak at our professional decelopment day. He posed a lot of questions and spoke about his own experiences and beliefs in education. I was also fortunate enough to have been selected to participate in a small group of educators to informally speak to him afterwards.

He spoke about using technology in education, or course... but the points that resonated most with me were the following:

1) Our students are 'hyperconnected' through text messaging, instant messaging, etc. The entire network is literally 'in the palm of their hands'

2) I have already read and heard people speak about how web2.0 is more of a participant experience than a spectator sport. Will said "it's not read/write and not just read".

3) Business is now more about the conversation of the conversation about the product than the product itselves. The Internet allows people to open dialoges about their experiences in a way that is so powerful it helps to drive consumer purchases.

4) We are preparing students today for a world that we know is changing. The top ten jobs for the very near future have not even been created yet. How can we best prepare our students for success in tomorrow's world when we don't even know the skills?

and finally..

5) We must prepare our students to anticipate being "Googled". He spoke about asking school administrators if they use Google to check out potential hires, and then went on to ask them "How do you prepare your students for the job interview of tomorrow?" I found that very interesting.

Social networking can be a powerful tool. It can make or break you. It can create global and local connections that can empower students and enrich their learning experiences. On the other hand, it can damage one's credibility and destroy reputations. It can provide reasons to take a chance on someone or disregard their potential.

I believe that we need to transform the definition of technology in education. It is not hardware or software. It is not the presence or the absense of visible technology. I believe that is an underlying theme or way or thinking. The visible tech resources are used as tools to carry out this new mission.

Will said that we must "live this ourselves." Thank you Will Richardson for speaking to us and planting some ideas and cultivating other ones.

Interesting Video - Pay Attention

After our discussions on Prensky's views regarding digital natives vs. digital immigrants, this was very interesting.

"I" guess "I" am finally a member of the cult...

I finally did it. (Pardon the pun). I received some Best Buy gift cards for my birthday, and I picked up an Ipod. I thought I would never do it, as I am perfectly content listening to my CDs in my car, Internet radio early in the classroom, and even singing myself (I am not very good, but I entertain myself without causing too much distress on others). I struggled with what I could do with the gift cards. I already have a good digital camera, a digital camcorder, a fairly new laptop and desktop computer. In my classroom I have a good scanner as well. What more do I need? My wife asked if perhaps I wanted an Ipod, so yesterday I picked up a Shuffle.

Over the summer, I started riding a bicycle again. It was awesome, especially in the early hours of the morning. When I think back to the first truly portable audio component (the Walkman!), it felt like such a revolutionary item to have. It was relatively small and light compared to that boom box my buddy Scott used to wheel around. It made it possible to take your tunes with you, although more than one cassette (remember those???) made it quite cumbersome. Now, I can bring this teeny tiny thing with me and bring 1GB of music with me. I am not one of those people that need 300GB of music files. I don't have that kind of time or interest.

I loaded up some songs without going to that insane ITunes Music store. My musical tastes run the gamut. I have Dr. Dre and Eminem sharing drive space with the three tenors. KRS-1 from old school BDP and LL Cool J sit contently alongside Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra and Louis Prima. Pink Floyd and Led Zepplin can jam next to Public Enemy and Rage Against the Machine. My musical motto is ABC. "Anything But Country" - my apologies go out to country music fans.. I just don't get it.

Anyway...
I chose the picture above because this is the world of our children. Everything is accessible. This includes music, but also any information that is needed. It is also a place of personal space. Ipods and bluetooth headpieces make it easy to close out the rest of the world, and that is a double edged sword. As I type here I am listening to my IPOD, but I don't think I oculd hear a knock at the door (I like good music kind of loud). On one hand, is this helping to create a society that is so self-absorbed that they don't care to or understand how to interact with others? On the other hand, is this helping to create a society that can more easily multitask and thus make the insanity of this on demand need it now world more manageable?

Is this how our students should be learning? This is how many of them are spending a good of time. Think about your answer for a bit.. a good JayZ song just came on, and my bike is calling my name (as if I can hear anything now).

Pioneering Into the Unknown with Exciting but Useless Tools

I consider myself a digital pioneer, but let me explain. The teachers that showed me how to use the Commodore Pet in elementary school were digital pioneers. The teachers that taught me how to use Bank Street Writer on the Commodore 64 to replace the typewriters that prior classes had used were digital pioneers. The teachers in high school that showed us how to use the Apple IIc were digital pioneers, and the college professors that showed us how to use the Internet to perform effective research were digital pioneers.

Pioneers are termed as "a person who is among those who first enter or settle a region, thus opening it for occupation and development by others." While the Internet is certainly not new nor is technology as a whole, the ever-changing digital landscape would support the fact that as each of us enter "technology" in a different place, time, capacity and goal. It is for that reason that I consider us each pioneers to some level.

So here I am doing my best techno-Lewis and Clark exploration of applications that I can use. I am very comfortable with blogging, and I very much enjoy using it with my students. This year has afforded me the opportunity to use our class wiki in a very constructive way. Last year I tried to find a spot in my curriculum for it, but now we are using it to build a true research based knowledge base. I will be exploring digital video again, but who knows where this new class will lead me. I am thinking that we will be doing some very cool things based on their interest and enthusiasm.

What does the title mean? Well, I have been exploring applications and gadgets since the beginning of the school year, and they usually fall into one of the following categories:

1) Useless and boring
2) Engaging but cumbersome
3) Engaging but disconnected from curriculum
4) Engaging and connected to curriculum

In my quest to find 4s, I have found a few 1s, a good amount of 2s, but a whole lot of 3s. Just try a Google search for something like "technology in education" or "web 2.0 in education" and you will soon be overwhelmed with a ton of leads. It can be disenchanting when you find something that makes you think "Wow! My kids would love to see this!" but when it comes down to it, it might not be developmentally or skill level appropriate for them to actually have them learn, apply and create from, so you end up with teacher created entertainment materials that might not even be connected to curriculum. That is not (in my opinion) appropriate or effective use of technology. That's why I don't like to see educators using technology just for the sake of using technology. Add in the constraints of the school year time limit, the reality of state assessments, district mandates and student learning styles, and you can imagine how immense the challenge is.

I don't know where the answer lies, and I am not sure how to really find examples of #4 without searching on and on. It's too bad that we couldn't find a digital Sacajewah to show us the way.

TMI in the Technology Age?

This past summer, I took a grad course that explored art and architecture through technology. In all honesty, it was one of the best courses that I have ever taken. One of the selected readings was "Information Anxiety In the Internet Age" by an American architect and graphic designer named Richard Saul Wurman. One quote from Wurman really stood out to me. He writes:

We are like a thirsty person who has been condemned to use a thimble to drink from a fire hydrant. The sheer volume of available information and the manner in which it is often delivered render much of it useless to us.”

What a great picture that paints with a connection to the digital world. It seems that there is always so much information out there for us to access that demand just cannot ever exceed supply. Even though information requests are constant and we can agree that users are using more and more of the information, the digital landscape is growing at such an exponential level it is unreal. Also keep in mind that much of the information is bogus and unreliable, but it is there just the same.

Think the on-demand classroom that can go to youtube and view Obama's acceptance speech from the DNC just as easily as it can watch a schoolhouse rock video without looking for the tape or DVD. Think of the conferencing classroom that can Skype! with any connected classroom at any corner of the globe. Think of the movie star classroom that can create movies of their own and publish them for the world to see.
The Internet has brought the world to us, and us to the world.

Now let's consider the other side. All of this information has to go somewhere for us to use it. For grad school, I have been asked to dig deeper on some Web2.0 tools. I blog, my kids blog, we have a wiki, we have avatars, we have made movies, we have communicated through Skype! - although in a few days I will have a brand new class and have to start from scratch again!

If you are anything like me, you have more than one email address. I have 3 that I use often, 1 that I use sometimes and 1 that I rarely use. I have my blog, my class blog, blogs of educators that I respect and admire, my class wiki, my youtube and teachertube accounts, my rss feeds, my google docs, my Internet forums for various groups, not to mention the vast craziness that to me is the unorganized Internet.
I started to check through my list of Web2.0 sites and resources, and I found a few cool ones that I never knew about. One is EasyBib. I like it because it helps students to create bibliography entries, but they must input all of the information. So while they think that it is doing the work for them (as in formatting), they are still finding and noting the information. I found countless other tools. Some were good and some were not. Some were more appropriate for middle, high school and even college students. Some were questionable, while some looked to be trustworthy. Now I spent about 20 minutes looking at stuff, and no doubt I have only seen the tip of the proverbial iceberg, so I can only imagine the time I would have to invest to see 'a lot of it'. Add to the that the dynamic nature of the Internet, and the idea is very overwhelming!
Now if it is overwhelming to me (and I consider myself to be tech-savvy) how will an elementary school student feel? How will a high school student feel? It's like a funnel with a 500 mile input opening reducing to a 1 inch output. TMI!

I'd love to hear what the blogopshere thinks! Please feel free to comment!

Have a happy and safe Memorial Day holiday! 2 more days.. ugh..

The Culture of Going Green

I'd like to introduce you to my newest set of wheels. I have been riding this over the summer both for leisure and to run errands. I am hardly what anyone would call an "environmental activist" by any means. While I try to responsibly use our natural resources, I do not walk around preaching the end of fossil fuels and harnessing the power of the sun and wind. My desire to pedal for myself is more about personal wellness and fun. A little of it has to do with saving some gas money in the process I suppose. It is amazing how "Going Green" is not only responsible in our culture; it is also fashionable and cool.

I sometimes look over at the person in their Ultra Low Emission Vehicle or Hybrid and wonder if my V8 car that might see 3000 miles per year (and the other sees about 150 miles per year) will actually have lower annual emissions than the "green car" that sees 20K miles per year. That would be interesting wouldn't it?

Part of Social Studies is to teach our students to become responsible adults and citizens of the earth. I find it humorous (and sad) that many of the people that wrote education standards and today's laws are members of the same generation that created most of the environmental problems to begin with, so we really only have one choice. Teach the future to be more responsible. We aren't saving the Earth; it isn't going anywhere. We are saving ourselves and our future.

Aside from Earth Day, when else do we speak about personal responsibility to the Earth? I am in the early stages of designing a new Science unit on natural resources. In fourth grade, we do speak about them in the sense of renewable and nonrenewable, conservation and the like, but I'd like to do more with it. I'd like to speak about it from a Scientific point of view for my students to really understand it, but I would also like to go into the Social Studies perspective to have them really take on the responsibility and understand the value to living things.

So when the cold moves in later in the year and my bike rests waiting for warmer temperatures, it will be my mind racing to build an experience for my students that is my own contribution to a better tomorrow (I guess... and I know it sounds corny)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

If you have ever seen the Staples commercial with the parents celebrating their children's return to school, you know the significance of this song. My very own dear mother used to tell everyone that she was "hanging out the flag." I can't recall whether or not she actually did it, but for some reason I do recall Old Glory fanning in the breeze on one or two September mornings.

As I prepare myself mentally and curriculumly (can I make that a word?) for the arrival of 26 new faces eager to explore, I have to wonder how things will go? Will blogging be a success like it was last year? Will I be able to explore multimedia with this class like last year? Will we Skype! with another class? I bought a brand new web cam for us! Dare I ask if I can go farther technology-wise with them? I don't know, but I certainly hope so.

I have a little less than 2 weeks left to go, and even though I am sad to see the summer end, I did enjoy it. I spent a great deal of time with my family and working on (and finishing up!) some projects. I read some good books, and I bought a bicycle that I have been riding early in the morning while the air is crisp.

Having said that, the first day of school holds so much excitement and hope for me. My mom tells me that I was the same way as a student; barely getting any sleep the night before and waking up way early to start what might be a wonderful day. I'm not saying that I won't feel like I need another vacation in the middle of September, but I am saying that this year can be anything. We can explore anything and create anything that is possible as a class, and I look forward to the possibilities as much as the realities.

Now where did I put that flag......

Second Life Part Duex

So here I am after spending another few weeks with Second Life. I have attended a few seminars. I have met other educators. I have put together an inventory of cool clothes, cars, boats, airplanes. I can dance many different ways. I have created a persona on there that does things that I can only dream of doing, but I still have not found any way to use it with my students.

No disrespect to anyone using it, as there are many that appear to be doing so, but I can't see anything that I can directly do with my kids. There are people that are very into SL, but in my experience it has been more of a sim game than anything that will change my teaching.

Oh well... I gave it a shot. I will continue to 'play' with SL, but at this point I don't think that it will become anything more than playing.

A Tourist in My Own City?

One of the courses I am taking this summer deals with how technology shapes our very lives through the world around us. Today, our class took a trip to the city (NYC for you out of towners). We took the subway to Brooklyn, toured a few art galleries (unreal stuff btw) and then walked all around the footprint of the Brooklyn Bridge (Brooklyn side). After a fun and filling lunch break, we all walked the bridge itself right across the span. We interviewed people on the bridge for a project that we are working on.

Now here I am for the first time in my life walking across the Brooklyn Bridge. I was born in Brooklyn for cryin out loud! I have lived in NY my whole life and even now I am only a 40 minute train ride from the city itself, but this is the first time I have actually done it. The people that we interviewed were from all over the world. One woman from Austria even told me that the bridge was "one of the things that she had to see." So here I am having almost the same experience as she was having despite the fact that this was my "home turf." Add to that the fact that I have never been to the Statue of Liberty either. Okay, the Empire State Building I have of course been to, but that barely counts. It's funny how you take some things for granted. It's like you think that you have forever to get around to them, but you surely do not. I had fun today, and I would love to share the video with my students next year when we explore the waterways of New York.

Get a (Second) Life already!

Could it virtually be a classroom or is it just a game?


I am looking into virtual worlds and doing some exploration. As I sit here typing, I am wondering what the deal is with this "Second Life" simulation thing that is all the rage nowadays and gaining more and more momentum with teachers. I am exploring more out of intrigue than interest. I am wondering how (if at all) I can use this as a resource in my classroom. I am somewhat predisposed to say that there will be minimal impact to my kids because of the grade level that I teach. Perhaps older students will be more able to utilize this.

I have started reading blogs and it is very interesting how some people (educators more specifically) are so into this 'world'. To me, it still feels like a new version of Dungeons and Dragons, but this time it uses technology instead of odd dice and perhaps it is also a bit more socially acceptable.

In any event, I would LOVE to know what educators are doing. I am beginning to envision virtual field trips to far away lands of different places and times... is that possible? What skills do I need in order to do this? Create this? Am I on the right track? Am I way off here? I'd love to know what you in the blogosphere (real world) are doing with your students in the virtual world.

Blogging Creates Real Dialogue

Back in November, my fourth grade class blogged about a great author named Robert Kimmel Smith. We had been reading his books (three of them), enjoying them very much, studying the craft of his writing and working hard to improve our own writing pieces. I decided to email him to tell him all that we were doing and how much he inspired us, and then I sent him our Classblogmeister URL. To my incredible surprise, he not only wrote me back but he also dropped by our blog and left some comments!!!

He wrote that he might be persuaded to come visit us on a sunny day in June. Fast forward a few months and several email correspondences later, and on a not so sunny day in June he did arrive. Once again, I was as excited as my class. I could barely sleep last night. He spoke about his life, about his writing and about writing in general. We presented him with a "Golden Inspiration Award" about how much he has inspired us with his writing and provided enjoyment with his reading.

He is truly inspirational, and if you would have seen me today you would have thought that I just shook hands with Derek Jeter and Hideki Matsui.

What is the point? Well, the point is that the connections that we can make online can lead to friendships, admiration and respect. I feel blessed to have played a role in this connection.

This is a REAL picture - no Photoshop here!

Digital Killed the Analog Star

My camcorder was once state of the art. It was 'teeny-tiny' compared to the generation of cameras that came before it. It was relatively small and compact. It fit into one hand. Making it even more cutting edge was the swing out LCD display that you could look at while filming instead. Memories were stored on tiny tapes that were like little cousins to standard VHS tapes. Many a memory was captured for posterity using it. It is still in good shape, but with no reasonable way to bring those memories into the digital zone I found myself at a crossroad. I have been using my digital camera to record some moments of video, but it is extremely limited and the quality is not really up to par. It was time to enter the digital age.

Many people that know me would be surprised that I don't already own a digital camcorder. I love using technology, but not 'randomly'. I, for example, do not own an Ipod or mp3 player, as I am perfectly content with the CD players in my car and home. On my computers, I do play mp3s as well as Internet radio stations. Once again, I am happy with what I have, and it works for me.

My summer semester now in T.E.A.M. is all about digital video. I have really been challenging myself in what I can do. Although I can't say for sure that I have learned anything as far as technical or application knowledge, it has given me the setting and opportunity to explore and see what I can do.

So far this summer, I have made 4 movies and 2 more on the way. I made one simple one called a "talking head" video which is just me talking and a trio of stuffed monkeys around me (Don't ask!!!), a funny video with my students based on a scene from the movie "Monsters Inc", another video detailing the making that video itself complete with raw footage and narration, and also a short video testing out the reversal of video. Next up will be our class's digital yearbook (I make one every year) and my class will be making a funny rap video based on multiplication. I have used standard applications such as Photo Story and Movie Maker, but additionally I have used a variety of applications to convert audio and video to different formats, sampled and mixed audio myself and used special effects in an effort to be up to par with the millions of "Spielberg-wannabes" whose successes are on sites like youtube.com showing most of us how just any run of the mill person can be a videographer.

So I did it, and I hope to have my digital camcorder within the next few weeks. I had been using my school's camcorder, but the school year is coming to an end in a few weeks, so it's time for me to take the jump and get our own. This will be used inside my classroom and outside of it. If you'll excuse me, I have some more memories to capture... digitally this time!

Summer - So Close and Yet So Far!

This weekend is Memorial Day. It conjures up images of parades, barbeques (most definitely), family and friends, warmer days, and most importantly, the near arrival of summer.

Today we will BBQ (although I've been grillin for a few weeks now - any excuse to fire it up). Tomorrow is the parade, and we have been going the past few years to make it. If I look at the calendar, I have five weeks left. Wow, does it feel weird to say that. Our class has been through so many challenges this year, and of course the barrage of state testing that is given to the fourth grade.

Now, I sit here with my mind on the 'summer fun', but I still have much to do, and I cannot run late. I have a health unit to finish, a poetry unit, finish a book that we are reading, a science unit, two field trips, and don't even mention the end of the year wrap up stuff. It will get done, as it gets done every year, but it can be a daunting task at times.

What's in store for me this summer? I will start out working on the district's Science curriculum, and I have 2 summer sessions of school as well. I would like to do some traveling with the family, and we are planning on doing a minor facelift of our kitchen as well (ourselves). I am finishing up the upstairs house projects, and I would like to enjoy my car hobby as well.

Two months sounds like a good deal of time, but before you know it, it is mid August and you are back in your classroom getting ready for another group of minds and hearts to challenge and embrace. It never gets old. It never gets boring, and it never stays the same. We are dynamic as we want to be, but to remain 100% the same is almost impossible.

If it ain'r fun, it shouldn't be done...

I started playing with digital video in my Educational Technology program. I firmly believe that playing and exploration are some of the best ways to learn anything, and I usually take that route when trying to learn things myself. I took our school digital camcorder and started videoing my students to use in a cute short movie.

Our school's Technology Integration Facilitator and teacher of teachers Noel Forte quickly came on board to help. Noel has used quite a few video applications, but most of all she is an absolutely wonderful person to work with. Looking at the two of us talking about what we could do, you would think that we were the elementary school children. We talked about effects, transitions, scripts, acting, music, etc, and the great thing was that our discussion went far beyond the one video that we were filming at the time. We were writing out a digital wish list of sorts - thinking "What can we do?", "What would we like to do?" and "What CAN'T we do?"
We even got our principal involved, as well as a few other teachers. Of course, yours truly prefers to be on the side of the camera opposite the lens.

I finished the video today, and the kids loved it. It makes me laugh every time I watch it, but I learned something myself. It wasn't made for any specific technical competency (although I did learn how to reverse video!). It was that we must have fun. When I do my best work, it is because I am intrinsically motivated in a quest to excel. Nobody can get me more invested in a task or project than I myself can, no matter who they are. I was fortunate enough to enjoy what we were doing despite it being challenging as well as new and intimidating. My kids were also very much into it, and I wonder if my excitement was contagious as it was visible how happy I was to be doing this.

If it ain't fun, don't do it. Does something that is labor-intensive always have to be laborious?

"You Teachers Sure Have the Life!"

I'm sure that many, if not all of us, hear that all the time. This can especially be heard now during spring recess. While the "hardest working men and women" of Corporate America and private industry are slaving away hour after hour, the educators are sitting back in their collective lounge chairs soaking up the sun and drinking Pina Coladas. If only that were true...

I acknowledge the fact that I am incredibly enjoying the time I have been able to spend with my wife and daughter this week. The weather has been incredibly perfect, and it has been great. At the same time, I have woken up three times so far thinking about things that I want to change or accomplish in my classroom before the end of the year. I have sat down on this very laptop to make a Millionaire game as a final review for the NYS Science Assessment. I have also worked on our next writing project, and I do miss my class. Granted, this has taken place between walks to the park, watching Elmo and singing songs, but even still it has happened on "my" vacation.

What non-teaching America needs to understand is that teachers really do need the downtime. The summer sounds so long - 2 whole months of being off. 184 days of work each year. It all sounds like a dream. Of course this doesn't count the time that you work outside of the classroom, for there are no overtime hours to be counted. This doesn't count the reflective and practical time that one might choose to use to better themselves as educators and as people. This doesn't count the fact that we cannot take a week off in the middle of November just because we feel like it. Our break times are controlled by contract. Please don't hold it against us. Teaching is a great job on many levels, but it is also a very difficult job to do. Many other occupations earn 3-5 weeks of paid vacation anyway.. they just spread them out.

I am certainly not taking anything away from other professions, as there are many taxing occupations out there; many I certainly would not trade places with. For some reason, too many in our American culture like to trivialize the entire educational institution. Think about that. These types of thinking and (worse yet) spoken words really show us the importance as to which educating our children is perceived.

Despite the fact that our jobs are often considered "easy" and how our salaries should be lower (just as Newsday), our work has a direct impact on both the success of the future and the current prices of homes. When was the last time that the work of private industry was on the forefront of almost every election. Hmm... Healthcare? Oil production? Think about how important those two issues are, and then consider that education is right there with those two powerhouses.

I don't expect teaching to earn a perception as the most difficult profession, but I would hope and expect that people in general will learn to understand that what we do is important and 'not so easy'. Yep.. we do deserve this break.

I'd love to know what others think!

A New Paintjob on the Old Dodge...

Let's take a trip into the past. We all know someone who had that old car. I'll call it the "Old Dodge". It burned oil, smoked out of the exhaust, sometimes overheated and often stalled if you were at a light too long. The outside was a bit forlorn. It had rust and the paint, which used to be a deep blue, was now a darker shade of gray and black. Whatever shine it once had went the way of the dinosaur.

What does this have to do with anything? Keep reading.

Tonight I participated in a workshop with Dr. Mark Weston from Long Island University's T.E.A.M. program. We were talking once again about revolution in education, using technology and making 'the shift'.

Here are my feelings, and I'd be curious as to what people out there in the blogisphere feel about them:

Technology ≠ Educational Revolution
We were asked if we could identify a classroom that was revolutionary and how long it would take. Some participants said that they would see tech items like SMARTboards and computers being used. I must respectfully totally disagree. While I feel that technology use can be an attribute of revolutionary classroom, it is more an indicator of a progressive classroom. That is far better than the same old instructional model/direction, but in this blogger's humble opinion it falls short of a revolution.

When does 'different' become 'revolutionary'?
Educators are incorporating technology more and more these days, and many are using its resources as extension activities, exploratory instruction or even as direct instructional resources. The times they are a changin'. At what point can we say that a sufficient 'shift' has occurred and we are no longer just 'changin'?

What does this have to do with the Old Dodge? Well, let's think of the Old Dodge as educational practices. With that pretty paint job fresh on it, it looks brand new again. It shines in the sun, and you no longer are embarrassed to step out of it. Start it up however, and it still possesses the same ailments and shortcomings that it had before. It still stalls at stop lights, overheats sometimes, and blows smoke. Sitting idle in the parking lot, it looks like a dream, but in the end it is still unreliable. The only way to really fix it is to totally correct all of its problems, or to junk it and start all over again.

Are you an ASSET to your school?

As I sit here next to our school's Technology Integration Facilitator and Library Media Specialist, we are at the Huntington Hilton at the 2008 ASSET conference. ASSET is the Association of Suffolk county Suppervisors for Education Technologies, and it represents a passionate group of education professionals looking to use technology as a resource to best suit the needs of their student population.

To be honest, this conference is not my scene. It pains me to be away from my classroom, but I am grateful to be exposed to such software, hardware and most importantly, progressive thinking.

Karen Kliegman and I will be presenting today. We will be discussing Web 2.0 tools, and she has named it "More than Just Razzle Dazzle." I love that, because once the novelty wears off and the shine dulls a bit, it is important to know that we have something of real value.

The Keynote speech is being given by Rushton Hurley, the Director of Next Vista For Learning. He is very interesting, using humor to engage us all. He is also using interactive clickers (similar to SMART Senteos) to gauge audience tech familiarity and pedagogical points of view. He is excellent, and his words are very thought provoking. Mr. Hurley said "Getting kids actively involved in learning – get them to stop and think 'why?'" We need to use new tools to accomplish that.

Fast forward q few hours, and I am sitting in the lobby reflecting about the first workshop that I attended. It was all about the SMART Technologies Senteo system, and it was excellent. I left there very excited to try them out, as our school has just received them. Now I have more work to do!

The presentation I did with Karen went very well, and I enjoyed being there. She did most of the work to be honest. I just provided some practical classroom experience reflections along with my own ramblings. My thanks go out to Karen for asking me to work with her, and to ASSET itself for putting it all together.

I hope that everyone left as optimistic and as intrigued as I am! Now the hard work comes; the age old question that has plagued me all year: How the heck does this stuff fit into my curriculum?!?!?!?!

What the Wiki are you doing????

Earlier in this school year, I started blogging with my students. I am excited and proud to say that it has been a complete success. Just today, I assigned the 15th blog of this school year to my class. Assigned is a strong word, as they truly have enjoyed them. As a matter of fact, when I don't assign a blog, I am sometimes met with grunts of displeasure that most teachers would associate with giving too much homework!

A few months ago, I had investigated using a wiki and incorporating it into my digital classroom. My students had used a wiki with Karen Kliegman and Noel Forte in our fourth grade research program, so I know they could navigate through and use one. My big challenge was the same challenge that I always faced: How does this technology fit into the curriculum. If you have read many of my previous technology blogs (does anyone really read my ramblings?), you know how I don't like using technology strictly for the sake of using technology. I'm not one of those people that wear a bright t shirt that says "Look at what technology I use in my classroom!", but I am a strong advocate of technology as an educational resource. So my dilemma was to find out where wikis would best serve the needs of my curriculum, the needs of my students and my comfort level as an educator (time investment mostly).

While in class the other evening, a professor was speaking about wikis in a different context, and it hit me. Something simple, but it just might work. I don't expect miracles, as this is late in the year and it is more of a beta test.

I added a "We're Wondering" section to the wiki. Throughout the year, my class would come up with interesting questions related to what we were exploring, and I would offer "That's a great question to look into for independent research!" Using mostly the Internet as a resource, the student, either by themselves or with my assistance, would look into the question and we would tell the class our findings. Why not capture that information digitally to build a sort of knowledge base!

That's what I did. I set it up, and I showed it to my students today. They were very interested. Each received a username and password, and some have already posted information and questions. We're off and running! I'll post updates after I see how it goes, but I am very optimistic.

What does it mean to be "tech savvy"?

In a world where technology is all around us, what does it mean to be ‘tech savvy’? I have been told by some that I am tech savvy, but I am not sure what that means exactly. If one can perform basic PC functions, do they fit the bill? What if they can use a PC, yet they are lost on a Mac? (or vice versa) Does tech savviness know platform boundaries? What about basic Windows stuff? Basic web stuff? Education specific software? Does tech savvy mean differently than “technologically proficient”? I think so. At one point does a novice become savvy and a savvy person become proficient (or an expert for that matter?)

What does this have to do with anything? I was just thinking. What do we look for in a teacher of educational technology? On what basis do we label a teacher that uses technology the best and most appropriate ways that it can be used? What evidence do we use to quantify or validate the work of a tech savvy educator? The time in the computer lab? The depth of the projects? Using technology to create extension activities that are genuine and eye opening for the class?

In this ever changing, dynamic, and insane world, what does it mean to be a 21st Century Educator? What does it take to be one? What does take to remain one? These are all subjective questions, but still they are worth pondering.

Who Needs a Board Room?

I played around with a site called Scriblink. While the idea of an interactive virtual whiteboard that welcomes collaboration is enticing and exciting, this software falls short somewhat. Its shortcomings are not its features, but its interface. It uses mouseovers that can easily jump to a function that you weren't looking for, the text editing is just that - text without any formatting save for color, lines and shapes that are basic, and a way to import images but you can't really do anything with them once they are on the board. Where it shines is the "free" tool. That's how I made the "WOW" text. I could see using JUST that tool while working with others. The shortcoming there is that you must be skilled with a mouse (or even better - the touchpad!). I used the latter with some practice.

Despite the fact that this is not the greatest web-based application out there, it raises several key questions. First, is a truly interactive collaborative digital space that far away? Second, what implications (or possibilities) does this hold for the classroom of tomorrow? I like to think that walls that keep us physically inside our classroom do not exist digitally, so there ya go. Meeting rooms might not be needed, or at least not at the size and importance that they once had. There is a ton of space out there on the Internet... pull up a kiosk sometime.

Therefore, while Scriblink might not be the digital tool to expand our technological horizons, it might be the grandfather (grandmother?) to the application that is. I wonder if the inventor of Pong ever envisioned the video games of today...

Oh Shift!

In our T.E.A.M. survey (you can't imagine know how much I love filling out surveys), it was asked how I felt after watching "Did You Know 2.0" on YouTube. I watched it, and I felt many emotions. I was surprised with predictions like China being the number one English speaking country in 10 years (but whether that is based on total population or a relative percentage I don't know), and how today's learners will have 10 to 14 jobs by their 38th birthday. I guess gone are the days of working in the same job for 20 or 30 years. Our economic environment has changed greatly, and it seems to be moving faster than ever.
The video demonstrates how powerful the Internet is as a medium to reach people, as a resource for children of all ages.

Education has always meant to prepare students for the world they would soon inherit. They are the policy and decision makers of tomorrow, and each day we give to them we do truly build and invest in our futures. How can we prepare our students today for the challenges of tomorrow without knowing what will make them "21st Century Literate?" How can we integrate skills into our curriculum that will be relevant to jobs that do not exist yet? I guess the fact that many of us are thinking about this helps plant the seed of educational reform to some extent. Call it a subconscious pedagogical awareness of sorts.

The most powerful quote to me was Albert Einstein's:

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

My own daughter, who is not even two, knows the computer as a source of information. She enjoys watching her favorite Disney channel characters singing and dancing using online video sites like Youtube. She doesn't fear technology - she embraces it. She will grow up in a world - an on demand world where information is all around her. My hope is that she will be able to differentiate the useful from the useless. I also hope that she will guide the wave of knowledge and not be swept up by it.

Teaching the American Evolution

Well, the new semester of T.E.A.M. has officially begun, and I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Mark Weston, our new mentor. He challenged us with this notion of educational revolution, and asked if we believed it to be inevitable. Of course, I said yes. My philosophy is that our classrooms are true extensions of the world around us, therefore if the world is constantly changing so shall our classrooms. New social situations, economical environments, life skills, technologies, instructional models, facilities and our ever changing population make education an inheritantly dynamic setting.

That being said, I challenge with the comparison of revolution vs. evolution. Revolution is defined as a radical and pervasive change in society and the social structure, especially one made suddenly. Now "suddenly" is a subjective word, and I think it should also be based on the change that it is relavent to. Evolution, on the other hand, is defined as a gradual, peaceful, progressive change or development.

Getting back to Dr. Weston's question, I believe that change is inevitable based on the reasons I mentioned above, but I challenge that it's more evolutionary than revolutionary. I don't believe that it is realistic to think that there will be this dramatic shift in education. The basic principles are there, but the media, resources, theories and practices will change, or evolve. I believe that whatever change in roles that teachers and students alike will go through will be gradual.

Today's teachers are increasingly taking the role of facilitator, helping students along a path of exploration and self-discovery rather than depositing information into the minds of students like putting money in a bank, but the change has been relatively gradual.

In the fourth grade, we study the American Revolution, where the colonists (founding mothers and founding fathers) decided to seperate from British rule and be free. They fought a war over it, risked it all and won (obviously). The life of a colonist was much like it was before, but they had control over their own decisions and their destiny. Perhaps the education revolution won't change too much of the day to day, but rather the big picture and the direction taken... maybe allow educators to play a greater role in educational policy and have politicians stick to politics.

I look forward to interacting more with Dr. Weston.

Start Your Engines!

Yes... I do love Mustangs... and I wanted to play with inserting an manipulating an image. That is a 1993 Mustang Cobra doing a sweet launch... anyway...

Another 2 weeks and the new semester will begin. I wonder what new technologies will be introduced and explored. I wonder how this semester will creep into my teaching, my classroom, and the lives of my students.

I would love to embrace a new technology-based project for my class for the second half of the year. The "CrayCast" project was a huge success, and they are enjoying our Classblogmeister page very much. Both take a decent amount of time to set up, but in the end they are well worth it. I guess I am looking for the next big thing (along with educators all over the place!)

Only time will tell I suppose. Just like that 'Stang above, all we can do is point our noses forward, keep our eyes open and forge ahead!