Making the Grade as a Teacher

I remember my dad as a Little League coach. I don't think our team was that great, but it didn't matter. It was all about fun. We would practice drills and techniques, and all became better players through the activities.

Today there is so much talk about teacher accountability. It sure does sound great on paper. We rate high schools based on their performance on state tests, graduation rates, and the percentage that go on to college. Why do we do that? It's easy! It's quantitative. It makes sense numerically. You can even plot it on a line graph.

If we rate schools, some want to rate teachers. My question is: How? When the state changes the cut scores for who knows why making year to year comparisons inconclusive? How about when your classroom population (and thus performance levels) change year to year?

If we base the measure of an educator solely on the numbers, we miss out on the qualitative attributes. A child that learns to feel good about himself or herself because of that teacher. A child that believes in themselves because of that teacher. The child that makes a great deal of progress but is still below grade level. The child that opens up socially and begins to make close friends. The child that learns to work as a team with his or her friends or classmates. The child that smiles and looks forward to school. I could go on and on. Those don't show up on a data report, and you would be hard pressed to crunch them in a data warehouse, but they are as valid as any other performance indicator.

I also wonder about something else. I am an elementary classroom teacher, so let's say that some kind of standardized test in the subjects that I teach (see the previous blog "Generally Speaking") would be used to gauge my effectiveness. For secondary teachers, they would use state tests or Regents for their respective subjects. What about guidance counselors? Are they exempt? Are they the ones responsible for graduation rates and continuing education rates? What about special area teachers like Art, Music, Physical Education, etc? Should we see how we their kids draw, sing, and how many push ups they can do? It sounds silly, but it makes me think!

What about support services? How would one rate the effectiveness of an ESL teacher? A reading teacher? Speech teacher? Occupational therapist? What about resource room teachers? Do they share the accolades or blame for their assigned students with the classroom or subject area teachers? Are they exempt? Too many gray areas for me. You can't just hold one group of educators accountable and not go near the others. It simply isn't fair.

If that were the case and I was being judged by student performance, why would I want a class of anything but the higher achievers? For the past few years, I have been the classroom teacher part of an inclusion and now a collaborative coteach class. Should I not want this assignment because of students that might be performing below grade level? What about if they cannot make what some power that be considers "adequate yearly progress"???

Of course not. I watch in awe as my kids succeed. They do it in so many ways, and not always is there a numerical grade to show for. I don't want a class of 'high achievers'... I want students ready to learn, create, and have fun. I want them to smile whenever they walk in the door and feel valuable as they contribute throughout the day. I want students that take risks and stand tall even when they fall short of their goals. I want students that come back after they have left my classroom just to say hello. I want students that recall fondly memories and achievements that happened within the walls of our classroom. Does that show up on a line graph?

Teaching is a great career and the rewards are so unbelievable. I get to work with some of the greatest kids out there. I get to work with some of the greatest education professionals in the world, and I am very grateful. The challenges that we face we must face together without playing the blame game. If we are to really prepare our students for the world of tomorrow, perhaps we need to finally stop pointing fingers and placing blame. Perhaps we need to start a real dialogue involving teachers, administrators, parents, and maybe even some politicians to figure out what skills are needed, what is outdated, and the resources that need to get there.

Not an End, but an Opportunity for a New Beginning

For two students in my class, today was the last day of school. One of them was moving, and so it truly was her last day. As I said farewell to them, I guess the reality of it all started to really sink in. All teachers know that bittersweet feeling that the end of June brings. Despite the fact that we leave so much of ourselves in that classroom every day when we go home, and despite the fact that we do look forward to the relative calmness and mental relaxation of the summer, we can't help but feel that we are incomplete without our classroom and the students that give it life. For me, it is never really a happy ending.

Tomorrow is the last day of school. All student desks are now empty, save for the nameplates that still lay proudly on their faces. Tomorrow they will come off, and for me that is the true end of school. This class will move on, and another will take its place. The bookcases of my library are covered. They are no longer inviting my students to pick literature that they might enjoy. The math center is covered, no longer offering manipulatives and counters to help foster mental math skills. The closets are closed, and the entire top of my desk is clearly visible. It has been said that an empty desk is the sign of an idle mind, and perhaps that is why mine is so 'busy'.

I will really miss my class, and I wish them all the best as they move towards the fifth grade and beyond. September really isn't that far away, and soon the classroom will be filled once again with hope and excitement. The process is renewed, and the opportunities refreshed. I will be spending part of this summer putting together plans for new projects and curriculum extended learning opportunities. I am excited as I look towards next year, even though I am looking forward to spending some more time with my family.

I like to think that everyone, both the students and myself, have become better since that first hopeful and exciting day in September. I know I have, and I thank each one of my students for letting me be a part of their lives and learning.

Have a great summer.

Teaching = Dis-Covered Knowledge

Humor me for a moment. Think back to your childhood. Let's say that in a time of great innocence, you spilled or dropped something on the floor. Now, that could have been carpeting, tile, or a wood floor. It matters not what spilled or what you spilled it on, just the fact that you spilled or dropped something. The resulting mess would no doubt get you in a ton of trouble with mom/dad/grandma/grandpa/aunt/uncle, etc.... whoever... Now you faced a moral dilemma.. what to do?

You could:
1) Don't face the problem. Don't address it. Run away and hide from it...
2) Quickly grab a rug, book, chair, or something else big enough and cover it up. If they can't see it, it is no longer a problem.
3) Take responsibility for the mess, learn how to eat food without spilling it.. all part of growing up.

OK.. enough with the fond memories...
The technology available to us as people is unbelievably immense and is changing every second. I just saw that Microsoft is developing something that enables you to use your palm or arm as a touch screen to dial a number or text... is this unbelievable??? Yes... it sure is. Technology doesn't slow down for anyone. It is up to you whether you choose to (or are able to) keep up.

One resource that I have really embraced and used as a resource for learning is Youtube (which has been bought by Google btw). I upload our class's music videos to it. I favorite videos that I then use in my instruction. I can search on a moment's notice in attempt to find content that I can use.

At this year's ASSET conference, I presented Youtube as one of the resources that educators can embrace. The participants at the workshop were excited to start working with it. I spoke about how my co-teacher and I were teaching a lesson on nutrition, and a student asked what the difference was between the various types of milks.... a search and I found this:



The discussion then went to how we make sure that milk is free from bacteria. Enter a video on Pasteurization:



In last week's blog assignment, my students were asked to identify which character or characters they most connected with, and them list character traits that support their choice(s). I found a great video by the Author of this book discussing challenges and triumphs of writing. I put it on the blog for the class to see.



In science, our class is creating Public Service Announcements for other kids about electrical safety. The project is anchored in our unit of electricity. Students are using our collaborative wikispace as a place to store the information and facts that they have gathered through their research. I won't list them here, but I have sample PSAs that my students refer back to as they create their own. Here is a PSA on nutrition by our very dear friend "Cookie Monster".



Before we even started using the wiki, I used this excellent video by Common Craft to reinforce the concept of a wiki after I introduced it:



Look.. I could go on and on about how I have been finding value in it.. but we all know that technology is a two sided sword. As Peter Parker's Uncle Ben said: "With great power comes great responsibility!" There is a ton of valuable 'stuff' on youtube, but there is also a lot of junk. Youtube is a stage where the whole world can be an actor on. 10 or 20 years ago it would have taken A BUNCH of money and connections for your video to be seen around the world. Not all of us are named Spielberg, Lucas, or Coppola, but nearly anyone can record a quick video (flip camera, digital camcorder or even a cheap web cam if your laptop doesn't have one) and upload it for the planet to see.

What do we do? We monitor our kids while they are in the lab or the classroom. We embed videos on our blogs and wikis so that they don't have to be in the "Youtube" site and see things like comments and related videos. We screen videos BEFORE we use them to ensure that they are appropriate for our classroom. We try our best to teach them how to use technology responsibly and to respect each other's views and opinions.

So what can you do about this resources, its values, and its dangers?

Well.. remember that spill?

You could:
1) Don't face the problem. Don't address it. Run away and hide from it...
2) Quickly get an Internet filtering program big enough and cover it up. If they can't see it, it is no longer a problem.
3) Take responsibility for the mess, learn how to use online video correctly and show our students how to do the same.. all part of growing up.

Now where did I put that Bounty roll? Comments welcome.

Is the Grass Really Greener or is it Artificial Turf?

Oh.. the joy of being a classroom teacher.

We are generalists in out duties, but we immerse ourselves in every subject in an effort to become specialists in all that we explore with our students. We are told that something is a top priority, along with 100 other things that are as well. We explore new educational strategies and instructional models in an effort to give our students the best learning environment in a sincere effort to reach all learning styles and both engage and challenge every student at all times through all subject areas.

To be honest, I sometimes feel like a professional juggler. Having said that, I wouldn't want it any other way. I love the rush and the unpredictability of the classroom, BUT.....

The technology projects that I also love to do are getting tougher and tougher to tackle with my students. The pace of the day and the limited time I can work and devote to them can suck the life out of many things. I have started to blog with my students as of last week, and they are really loving it. As a matter of fact, I am anxious to see their articles this week. My mind has been racing with music video ideas and how I can tie one to a curriculum area that we are currently exploring. (My last 2 classes have made such videos, and they were incredibly motivating and fun reteaching opportunities. They also help me to gauge what other projects my students would like to tackle.)

Lately I have been looking at the role of a technology teacher, and to be quite honest there is much that interests me. A technology teacher has more freedom to interpret the curriculum and create projects that leap "off the page" so to speak. They also must collaborate with the classroom teacher to ensure that it is anchored in curriculum. I am sure that it is not all smiles and bubble gum though, as there are some tasks in the role that might not be as rewarding. My main concern is the connection that I wrote about in my last entry. When you are a 'specials area' teacher, is there less 'ownership' of a class? I hate to definitively say "no", but from my point of view there would have to be. You are seeing almost the entire student population and not just those 23-26 kids that you are the primary person responsible for. That connection (for me) is one of the biggest rewards of teaching. I wonder how things would feel different if I was not their classroom teacher.

I'm not going anywhere, but it doesn't hurt to wonder. I'm just wondering aloud I guess.

New Year, New Challenges, New Opportunities

Here I sit three weeks into the new school year. I am just a few days from introducing the concept of blogging to them, and still I am reviewing and approving entries that are still being created by the students that I had last year. If that isn't encouragement to keep blogging, I don't know what is.

As I get to know my class both as learners, as a team and as individuals, the ideas flow like a waterfall around me. What will we be able to do? How will we be able to grow? What strengths and interests do they possess that will steer us in some new direction? How will I keep things moving and interesting/fun for them?

For back to school night, I used my Flip camera to have the students tell their families the curriculum instead of hearing it from me. I went with a Star Wars theme for the movie, called "Grade Four", and it came out really nice. It also told me that filming in the second week of school might be too soon for these kids. They were not used to such projects, and they weren't even used to me yet. Last year's kids... well they were ready but we were doing videos later in the year.

Call me insane, but now I sit here taking a break from making a new music video detailing the scientific method, which is what we have been exploring lately. As I rummage through song after song looking for that perfect beat that can be used, I still wonder if my timing is too aggressive.

Yesterday, I told my class that we might be doing a music video. They have all no doubt seen or heard about the videos that my last two classes have made, and they seemed very excited. As I did with the DMSB video, I asked them to brainstorm vocabulary and concepts pertaining to the scientific method. They went through their notes and worked in collaborative groups for about 10 minutes, and you could feel the energy in the room. We collected our words and created a class wordle that now sits poster sized in the front of the room.

Scientific method is an important part of our curriculum. It is used throughout the year embedded in the units that we explore. I know this will be fun for them, and of course I know that I will be busting my butt to get it done. I do worry that they still might not be ready, but hey.. this is the fourth week already. Let's get moving!

Happy school year to all of my fellow educators.. less than 10 months to go! :)

Can 21st Century Skills Replace 19th Century Skills?

I am very fortunate as an educator. I work in a school where the individual passions and strengths of a teacher are respected and utilized in such a way to benefit the students that we serve. We don't have a cookie-cutter system of teaching that we must conform to. We are not only allowed, but urged to develop our craft and become the best we can be. We all do things differently, but we achieve the same goals, meet the same standards, and all of that.

I aws speaking to my Library Media Specialist the other day about 21st century learning. We spoke about how the skills that will be necessary for the world of tomorrow will soon drive the learning in our classrooms. This begs the question... "What are the skills they need?"

While we don't know for sure what they are, we do have ideas and a general direction. Students need to be active learners. They need to be critical thinkers. They need to think "outside of the box". I believe that they need to be taught HOW TO, not taught WHAT.

A simpler analogy that I can refer to is the dreaded choral clap. Many teachers use this method to get student attention. This is especially useful in the lower grades (I guess, or at least that's how it appears). To me, that is more akin to training monkeys or seals than children. Are we Pavlovian training them to react to a sound or are we trying to help them to gauge the appropriateness of their actions and self-correct? The world doesn't clap when you do something wrong. It hits hard. Having students more autonomous and accountable to themselves without constant reminders and redirection from others.. that's what I hope for my students.

Back to the 21st century. There are things that many teachers do that I don't. They simply don't lend themselves to my style and my passions. If I had to assign weekly book reports to my kids, I think I'd jump out of a window (even thought I'm on the first floor). While book reports make me cringe, I have no problems asking my students to blog their thoughts. I would not want to read through pages upon pages of structured responses, but I gladly look through 25-50 blogs each week online and quite a few comments. I don't want to create scrapbooks and dioramas, but I love for my students to put on plays, create movies, and digitally tell stories.

Textbooks tell a story, but I want my kids to experience the story. I want them to feel the fight for independence as if they were alongside the Patriots at the Boston Tea Party, not look at it as an isolated, disonnected and irrelevant part of history. I want them to empathize with the characters in a book, not look on as a casual observer. It's nice to tackle transformative projects, but at what point will 21st century skills actually replace those that are "outdated"? How can we figure out what has become outdated?

On a probability test I gave my class about a month ago, I asked the following question:

A box contains 6 red tiles and 4 blue tiles. Sammy chooses a tile without looking. She wins if the tile is red. Cara wins if the tile is blue. What can you change in order to make this game fair for both players?

What do you think? The standard answers....
1) Remove 2 red tiles
2) Add 2 blue tiles



I had a student write the following on that test...
"Take one red tile and paint it blue"

I will not take credit for that student's thinking. I will tell you that I did say "WOW!" when I was grading it. That's not outside the box.. that's blowing it up.

When Social Networking Becomes Social Studies...

In a moment of pure insanity, I decided to tackle a new project with my students this year. I found in "Instructor" magazine the idea of starting a social network for students using people that would be studied in history. How cool would it be to have Thomas Jefferson "befriend" John Hancock, post pictures of himself and some biographical info, just like Myspace and Facebook? So, with the idea, some motivation and a whole lot of optimism, I decided to embark on "MyHistorySpace".

My class studies the Golden Age of Exploration and the people that saught fame and fortune to find the new world. People like Christopher Columbus, Ponce DeLeon, and Ferdinand Magellan might have a lot to say if given the opportunity to be part of a social network.

My library media specialist provided the students with a myriad of web sites that they could start out with. We spoke about the suffixes at the end of web sites and what they mean (.com, .net, .gov, .edu, etc.). We spoke about how those suffixes have an impact on whether or not you should 'trust' the information that you find. It went very well, and we knew that we were ready to move on.

I started with our class wiki. It became a data warehouse or a knowledge base of sorts. Using questions that asked for various biographical information, students scoured the web. They saved images that they found on a network drive. Things were moving along, but what next?

I had played with animated avatars at www.gizmoz.com before. They were quick and relatively easy... so I had my kids write "status quote" type sentences with authentic information about their explorer. They then animated a head shot picture and recorded their voices saying their quote. Of course, I had them speak (or attempt to speak) in the accent of the country that the explorer was born in.

After searching and researching, I decided to use a ning. That's where we are now. Today I formally introduced "Social Networking", the Ning and how to use it. Today, they embedded their avatars, uploaded profile pictures (of their explorer, not themselves), and they have started to write their blog entries. This class is amazing. They take it and run, and their 'tech-savviness' is wonderful. They have managed to become bloggers, wiki collaborators, multimedia producers, social networker and digital researchers. I am so proud of them! Pity the school year is coming to a close very soon.

Is this the end of the traditional biography report? I doubt it, but perhaps it is "natural progression." I'll let you know how the rest of the project goes! Feel free to check us out at http://myhistoryspace.ning.com

Earning Your Digital Citizenship

I remember getting into fights on the playground as a kid. I remember my parents sitting me down and explaining how what I did was wrong, and then they told of stories from their youth when they had experienced the same types of situations. These discussions could be used for many challenges that have faced children of many generations. I bet even the kids of colonial America were caught cheating on tests or hiding their report cards.

The challenges that face students of today are similar in concept but radically different in the manner and form in which they manifest themselves.

The video by Dan Topscott "Grown Up Digital - The Net Generation is Changing YOUR World" is very interesting and worth the minute forty eight. He begins by essentially berating the digital generation. He tells them that they are lazy, lack motivation or interest in the world around them, that their only concern is of themselves, they spend too much time in front of their technologies, yadda yadda yadda. Once the viewer is fully irritated by his words, he breaks the news that all he has said is, in reality, unsubstantiated. He also says that this new generation is the smartest generation and possesses the capability for real change.

In Passport to Digital Citizenship, Mike Ribbie takes this and runs with it. He speaks of nine elements of digital citizenship that are aligned with the new NETS student standards. While I do believe them to hold a good deal of merit, the question on my mind is "On whom should this responsibility lie?" Should this duty be placed in the hands of parents, educators or both? Is the digital realm solely the domain of technology educators or should technology as an extension to learning be part of every subject area's curriculum? In this crazy world that we live in, who has the time to invest in this most important part of socio-digital development? Perhaps we should ask "Who has more time (but surely not enough?)

Remember the bully on the playground when you were a kid? What about when you were cyber bullied as a kid? Remember when someone stole your identity? Oh my gosh.. remember the time that you accidently commited to buying something on the Internet without permission? What about the time you installed a virus on your mom's computer by clicking on the link in the browser? Chances are, aside from the first example, you didn't have any of those experiences as a child. How do you prevent your children from making those mistakes when you don't have your own life experiences to draw from? As cyber bullying becomes more and more prominent, bully prevention programs (as antiquated as they usually are) are being forced to come into the 21st century and address this. I had this happen in my classroom about 3 years ago, so I began an "Ethics of Technology" program with my students. If you type the word "dog" into the search field of a search engine such our beloved Google, you will be face to face with nearly 100 million results (as of this writing). How can you distinguish "good" sites from "bad" sites? This has less to do with any kind of digital divide and more to do with being an informed and intuitive web surfer and person.

I have long been opposed to 'filters' or 'blocking software' or whatever soft and fuzzy name makes you feel like you are helping kids (NetNanny comes to mind.. what the heck kind of fuzzy name is that?). It's like teaching someone to drive a car in a parking lot, giving them their license and then giving them directions to get home on the Long Island Expressway. Filters are nothing more than putting bumpers up in a bowling alley, but they don't teach the student how to filter and censor for themselves. When they get home, odds are they won't have those filters. If they do, they won't be up for very long. We need informed Internet participants, as Web 2.0 has now transformed the Internet and its power. Once again... who is to teach it?

Who am I? I am Adam Dugger, and I am probably not what Marc Prensky would call a "Digital Native". To Mr. Prensky I most respectfully say that I disagree. While I did not have an Ipod or the Internet as part of my childhood (I remember the Internet coming about when I was finishing college!), I was a digitally immersed. Dare I say a "digital pioneer?" You see, I had a Commodore 64 in my bedroom. I did my programming in BASIC computer language, and I made my own games. I used my external modem to dial up into CompuServe and surfed text based "sites" if you can call them that. I did my word processing on a dot matrix printer that made so much noise I couldn't use it too late because it would wake my family up. I had cassettes and CDs. Although we couldn't burn CDs we did "dub" cassettes. Same thing? Nobody said that was wrong, but I suppose we had to buy the first copy...

I am able to navigate technology with relative ease. I would much rather 'play' with something and figure it out than be told how to do so. I like trying to make things better by "tinkering" and these are all extensions and evolutions of what I did as a child whether with Legos, bicycles, cars or computers. Having said that, rights and wrongs must be taught, learned and to some degree experienced.

I think that the ethics of technology should begin in the home. Parents must accept technology and the collaborative nature of the Internet as "here to stay" and treat it that way. Lack of information breeds fear and distrust. Just look at how "Internet security" is viewed on news shows. Tell someone that you are on a social networking site like MySpace or Facebook and immediately the glares come out. My own mother tells me that Facebook is bad news, and nothing I can do to explain to her the positive of social networking will help sway her.

Parents alone cannot handle the burden alone. We infuse technology into our lessons and explorations all of the time. We ask our students to grab hold of this resource and use it as a tool for their learning and expression. How can we as educators ignore the "right and wrong" part of that?

Morality has always been subjective, and it comes from your experiences as a child. Right and wrong are clearly defined with a wonderful little area in the middle we lovingly call "gray". If we are to share this digital environment, not as digital immigrants or digital natives, but as digital citizens, we must coexist with respect and keep the cyber landscape lush and green. The "not so good areas" must be allowed to stay, but students should be educated citizens that can quanitatively and qualititively make informed decision based on what they have learned.

The question is "from who?" I wish I had an answer... but this brings up even more questions for me.

My Next Vista Video

Drumroll please...

While I certainly won't be walking the red carpet and having my picture taken by relentless paparazzi, I have completed my video for Next Vista through Long Island University's T.E.A.M. Educational Technology program.

I chose to create mine to help students use Classblogmeister with their teachers and classes. I suppply documentation to my students, but a video just felt like natural progression and a better way to help them on their way to blogging.

The End of Social Studies Education?

A few weeks ago, I participated in a workshop discussion entitled "Digital Technology and the End of Social Studies Education." As a Social Studies buff (it is my favorite both as a student and as an educator), I was intrigued and somewhat worried. How could it be "the end?" Isn't the person that ignores history doomed to repeat it?

I was asked to start by looking at the following quote:

"Our beliefs about learners and tools come via Dewey and Vygotsky, and have been informed by the 'cognitive revolution' that in the last thirty years has given these ideas scientific weight:

~ Technologies as tools that amplify and extend fundamental human capacities to observe, understand and communicate about the world- tools that give us rich data, help us manipulate and think about it, and connect us with others around it in new and powerful ways." - Bill Tally (p. 308)

Where did this little bit of quoted text come from, do you ask? It comes from an article written in the Spring 2007 edition of Theory and Research in Social Education written by Bill Tally. Ordinarily, I find articles of this nature very interesting, but I have to be honest when I say that I was less than excited when viewing the pdf and seeing "Page 1 of 17". Yep.. I was all smiles thinking of how I would be able to digest this digital dilemma in one sitting. Boy, was I in for a surprise. The article was lengthy, but it was very thought provoking and I am glad that I read it. By the way... the "end" is not speaking of finality but of cause and purpose. Rest assured, we will still be teaching Social Studies.

In many ways, I agree with Tally. He wonders why technology has not infused new life and a deeper sense of being to Social Studies education. While there are some educators that have embraced it to (in Tally's words) slow down learning, Social Studies has not "come into its own" just yet.

Why is this? Hold on.. Let's discuss the "progressive tinkerer" that Tally speaks of. These are the people that modify and shape what technology designs will best compliment instruction and support the learning of students. Being a tinkerer myself, I am intrigued even more. I am a firm believer in tinkering with something to best understand it and to find faults and/or improvements.

So let's point the blame. It must be someone's fault. First in line were the teachers. Surely they were resistant to integrating technology for whatever reason. It is sad that this belief still exists today when so many educators are using technology as a resource and investing a great deal of time into them. Do other professions reinvent themselves as well?

After that notion was dispelled, the schools were next in line. Surely you have heard the old joke about Rip Van Winkle, who awoke after a great many years of sleep to find the world a very different place. When we walked around, he was so amazed to see all of the changes in society, but when he came to a school he immediately knew what it was. He recognized it as it was, and this drives home the belief that while our world has changed, our schools have not. Tally goes on to say that technology was quickly integrated into schools, albeit at a very light and refreshing superficial way. He says that the "tasks are ruled by format and as riddled with convention as the business letter. (311) If the task is so defined and the student's expected (required) tasks are so clearly layed out, the grade will be constructed by following them and not the content or what has been created.

Tully also seems to discredit "Webquests" which have become all the in educatopia. I don't particularly care for them, as they seem too "cookie-cutter" for me. I would rather give a task and allow the students to come up with the project or outcome with me as a guide instead of restrictor. The amount of time required for technology rich projects can be staggering. This can be unrealistic to assume that teachers will invest this time willingly without issue.

This really hits home. I consider my classroom to be technology rich, and I am proud that I am able to provide such a setting. Having said that, such projects are very overwhelming even for me, and I am a tinkering tech junkie. Why do I continue? I don't know.. either I am glutton for punishment or an idiot.. or maybe both.

Tally goes on to dispell the rumor that students have some inborn ability to pick up anything digitally. I totally agree that this is not true. While the media is more natural to use, the competencies that would be taught can still be challenging. The digital world is their world (and ours too btw), but how natural is learning in this new landscape?

Tally says (last quote I promise)...

Many children who are fluent at at ease with the 'Commercial Web' i.e., who fluidly find and browse their favorite popular media sites, play games, and communicate with friends, share photos etc., have difficulty when it comes to even basic uses of the 'informational' or 'academic web' - things like executing a competent search; reading and making sense of text and graphics; identifying the source of information; copying, saving and citing information, etc

Very interesting indeed.

Looking at Museum Box (http://museumbox.e2bn.org/), I really like it. It allows the students to go as deep as they want to. It also doesn't define what type of artifacts that can be used (good or bad depending on grade level). I just looked through a few student created boxes. There was one titled "The Treatment of the Jews by the Nazis." It used text from student research and images that they had found. I would like to see the teacher directions and/or task description that brought this Museum Box to fruition, as I am interested in perhaps using it in my own classroom. It's open ended nature does lend itself to "slowing down thinking" a good deal.

When I envision Social Studies in my classroom, it is more than just facts and dates. It is a series of stories in the lives of real people. We study their experiences so that we can perhaps apply them to our own. We celebrate their triumphs and learn from their errors. We objectively validate their choices and relive their journeys through their eyes and our minds. History never repeats, right?

The Internet as a Pied Piper

The Internet is, at its very core, is a network. Social networking, blogging, link exchanges, etc. are such natural progressions of this technological necessity that it truly isn't even funny. My main hobby is cars, and I have been part of a few forums dedicated to a specific car for a long time - some as long as nearly 13 years. The exhange of information and learning from the experiences of others has made it possible for people to tackle projects that they might not have attempted before.

Fast forward to 2009. In a moment of absolute insanity and crazy "what the hell", I purchased a motorcycle that needed some work. When I bought it, I knew that it was a popular model, but I had no idea that the passion behind the owners of this model might rival that of my beloved Mustang.

Having served as a warehouse of information (so to speak) for the Mustang community for so long, I had somewhat forgot what it was like to post 'newbie' questions and ask others to share their experiences. Since I have a solid foundation experience for mechanical projects (My Stang has been apart and back together quite a few times for quite a few incarnations of its life), I felt confident that I could jump into the motorcycle arena with just a bit of guidance. Just about 2 months later, the bike is looking better than ever and almost ready to hit the road (some parts haven't arrived yet).

I did the same when I gutted and rebuilt my daughter's room in our house, but I didn't find message forums resources as plentiful as the fossil fuel burners. I had to look through DIY sites loaded with advertisements and Youtube provided a good amount of online video instructions (but be careful what you follow and believe). Good old books (I have some of those fossils in the basement.. hehe) are also great sources!

The piece that was lacking was the interaction of people to people. You hear so much from "those people" that our students and we lack the person to person interaction that the Internet takes away. I think that it is easy to make the arguement that the interaction is surely there, although it has manifested itself in a different form but it has evolved to another level. Just because I am not staring face to face with someone doesn't mean we aren't communicating.

If that is your absolute quantifier, then I suggest getting a web cam and a clue. The "Great Communicator" is us. The tool is the Internet, and I can only imagine how communication will evolve next. Let's hope that we will be literate enough and open-minded enough to speak its lingo.

Web 2.0: Buzzword or Transformative Tool?

In preparation for an online conversation with one of my professors, I was asked to read an article called Why Web 2.0 is Good for Learning and for Research: Principles and Prototypes. In this article, web2.0 tools are presenting as using information in a different way. The author goes on to tell us that web2.0 is in danger of becoming a buzzword much like "e-learning" once took over the pedagogical lingo scene.

I was then asked to come up with four attributes to used as criteria by which technology resources should be evaluated to see whether or not they are truly web 2.0 tools. In no particular order, here they are!

Creativity - Does this application or tool allow and foster creativity in students?

Digital Presence and Expression - Does this application or tool create or help create a digital identity for the user in a safe and secure manner?

Community - Does this application or tool encourage its users to become part of a larger community of learners and creators?

Technology - This is probably the most obvious defining attribute. A Web 2.0 tool should be anchored in technology, and use that as its arena of existence.

So having said that.. let's take a look at a few web sites to see how they do with the aforementioned judging criteria...

Classblogmeister.com - This site offers educators a place to begin a class blog.

Creativity: Yes
Users can browse through menus and options to customize blog pages at both teacher and student levels. Creativity is encouraged, and there is even an option to design one's own template instead of choosing from premade ones.

Digital Presence and Expression: Yes
Students can upload pictures (either of themselves, user selected pictures and/or avatars) to make themselves known. Students can also title their blog and each entry they create. Although students have the ability to write nearly whatever they wish, teachers can (and should in my opinion) make it so that they have final approval on all.

Community: Yes and No
This is a place where Classblogmeister excels. David Warlick, the creator and blogger in charge guru behind CBM even has a feature called "The Collaborator" through which classes can find each other based on user selected and submitted criteria. Outside of the site itself, there is a ning and an online Yahoogroup that are just as valuable for teachers to find other teachers to collaborate with. For students, the ability to find others is not as robust, but perhaps that is with good reason. If a teacher decides to post a few links to other classrooms on his or her blog site, then students can really take advantage of the global community of the educational blogosphere.

Technology: Yes!
Classblogmeister is a web site on the Internet. You can use images in your articles (although they must be hosted elsewhere.. David W. can we upload please???), you can embed flash video and animation, and audio.

Notes: I am a big fan of this site, and I am happily in my second blogging class. David Warlick provides this site for free and without any advertisements.

Voki
Voki is an avatar creator that offers its users a very dynamic, almost fun interface that allows one to create a digital representation of one's self.

Creativity: Yes!
I have to admit that the possibilities are almost endless. One can choose from a myriad of physical characteristics, and a color palette with which you can grab your own. Backgrounds can be selected or uploaded. The voice can be chosen from a list of genders, accents and then a few within those parameters. In the preliminary research that I have done, it seems that 60 seconds is the time limit for uploading voice, but that is surely enough time to get any message across.

Digital Presence and Expression: Yes!
This is where Voki truly hits the mark. Users can choose from a ton of accessories and physical characteristics to make nearly any type of identity desired. I like the fact that you can choose to use the text to speech feature for those that might not want to upload their own voice. This could be useful for younger students or those students with speech and language challenges.

Community: No
This seems to be an area that is lacking. Voki seems like much more of a 'me' application than an 'us'. There is a news feature on the main page (at first difficult to find if you don't know how to get back there) that has some articles and news feeds written by others, but for the most part, you are on your own.

Technology: Yes
Clearly this web based JavaScript site uses technology in an innovative way. It is engaging, exciting and inviting. Voki is also adding new features on a continuous basis.

Notes: Overall I like Voki, but to me it is more flash and polish than substance. It could be the icing on the cake for your students' projects or a fun way to grab their attention, but as a standalone it isn't the "cat's cyber-meow". Having said that, I do like how registration with an email is NOT required. That is a big draw for teachers. However, registering one account can allow the teacher to keep editable copies of each student or teacher Voki. I am not sure if there is a limit to how many avatars one can have (there was no mention on the site). Another "turn-off" is that the free versions will have advertising on them. Feel free to check out the Voki I made on the right. That is a preloaded voice named Mike from the US.

del.icio.us
Delicious is a social bookmarking website that is used for storing and sharing one's personal and professional website bookmarks.

Creativity: No
Delicious does give each user their own page, but it isn't specific to each person in look and feel. It is totally template driven and standardized and although I suppose one could differentiate by tags and the resulting folders, there isn't much room for personalization.

Digital Presence and Expression: Yes
Through Delicious, you can have your own place on the World Wide Web. While there isn't a pretty digital presence like those of an avatar, one can show or identify those web sites that can be useful. Tagging allows easy differentiation or reasons why such a site was chosen.

Community: Yes
You can keep links to your favorite sites, share them with others, take the recommendations of others or follow the taggings of others that you choose.

Technology: Yes!
The Internet is the playground for Delicious, so being connected is essential. Without the web, Delicious is just a flat document.

Note: At first I was weary of trying Delicious. I had my bookmarks or favorites or whatever you want to call them safely nestled within the confines of my own PC. After a few weeks of using this, I was converted. It is a powerful tool for not only keeping those bookmarks at your fingers whenever you want or wherever you are, you can easily share or use some professional voyeurism to see what others are tagging.

Flowgram
Flowgram is site that offers a way to present digital photographs
Creativity:

Creativity: Yes and No
Allow me to explain. While you are offered many variations of choice, I do feel that it is a little "PowerPointish" in a way that you are restrained by templates. Having said that I still think it is a very valuable tool for the classroom since these templates provide a solid structure that students can use as a guide.

Digital Presence and Expression: Yes
While the digital presence isn't like that of an avatar creator, you can truly express yourself however you want with Flowgram. You can share your photos, speak your mind and comment on what you have seen on specific web pages.

Community: Yes and No
Once again, there is way to see the work of others, but nothing that truly fosters community. On the other hand, one could easily use this tool to share experiences and points of view with the world. This could go either way.

Technology: Yes
Flowgram can easily be embedded into a blog or wiki. You can record audio through your microphone or upload. You can use images or text and record motions such as highlighting to redirect the viewer's attention to wherever you want it.

Notes: The few times that I have used Flowgram I really enjoyed it. It is intuitive and easy to navigate. The only thing I have noticed (and perhaps it is limited to me) is that it runs somewhat slow in this "I want it now" digital age. not horribly slow, but slow nonetheless. I am exploring the use of something like Flowgram or Voicethread with my students to share our experiences on a field trip. I am hoping to explore the importing of video as well as photographs.

So how could these tools be used in a constructivist learning model classroom?

Classblogmeister
During a study unit on the Native Americans of New York State, students would be asked to choose whether they would have preferred to have been an Iroquois man Iroquois woman, Algonquin man or Algonquian woman. They would be asked to support their choice with facts and opinions. Interaction and collaboration are truly cultivated as students evaluate and respond to each other's work.

Voki
During a study unit on European explorers, students would work to research and gather biographical information on a given explorer. They would then use an image of that person and the information that they have to write a journal entry or that person's personal reflections. Finally, the student would use everything to construct a Voki telling the story. The application by itself doesn't do much for community, but placing it in a wiki, a ning or another collaborative space will greatly help interaction.

Delicious
Students might be working to gather information for any given task and need a place to house it. This can be done collaboratively in groups or independently. The task can be anything from Social Studies research to math activities to technical expository sites for use of an application or software.

Flowgram
Following a series of lessons on writing from photographs, students might be asked to share the images of their favorite place in the whole world. They could supplement their own photos with their voices and use web sites to document the history of their chosen place and any other significance it might hold in the world outside of them.

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.

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.

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..

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......

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!

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?

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?!?!?!?!