k12 online conference presentation

My conference presentation for the k12 online conference went live today.

As a lowly educator, I offer some ways to create change where there is resistance as well as offering some reasons why change can break down. While not an expert, this is a reflection into change and lack of change in my school (despite courses and support.)

If you haven't checked out the presentations there, head over there now!

Inquiry reflection #1 (as part of CFF class)

I love the CFF classes that we take. The third class is called Inquiry Learning. I think it will be great and definitely where I am headed with my teaching. I am sure I will be discussing what I do as I have to use action research as well.

For our first reflection (which bear with me, it is better here as a blog post than static on my computer) we are to describe patterns in society where inquisitiveness is not evident.

The examples we read include (all of these are summed up here at ASCD):

• Texas A&M bonfire disaster
• The Challenger explosion
• NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy
• Not detaining Moussaoui just prior to Sept. 11th

All of these examples show where lack of questioning led to disastrous results.

How is inquisitiveness not evident in schools? I would say that many of the activities and aspects in our teaching day show a lack of inquisitiveness. From personnel to duties to management tasks, much of what we do should be overhauled. There are many "elephants in the room" as well. Those truths that no one speaks about. Let's face it, even if you questioned something, you come off as divisive and a trouble maker. Those who really get by don't rock the boat. Many good people leave.

Lack of inquisitiveness seems to be everywhere. Students and generally their parents don't have it. The current Presidential election and conservation/climate change would be an example. Clay Burrell demonstrates how questioning and searching for truth can yield much knowledge. What he demontrates for the presidential election can also be done for conservation issues. Students do not know how to do this. We know their parents can't teach them, and many of us need to practice this more ourselves. It is time to nurture a culture of inquisitiveness for the sake of our country and planet.

Questions that I have for the remainder of this class: Is there a benefit/drawback over teacher directed inquiry? How do you assess inquiry itself? Is management into the direction of questioning a bad thing?

No need to answer unless you want to. If you ahve any other instances of lack of inquisitiveness, I would love to hear from you!

Encouraging student blogging

I have started blogging in my classes which is very exciting but very "schooly" as well. It is a start.

What I do like to see is students becoming empowered to take something reserved for school into an activity pursued out of school for their own learning and enjoyment. One of my current students and a former student have a wiki they use to write outside of school. They have made many friendships around the world and have had others submit stories to be published there.

I also encouraged them to start blogging about new stories that are posted on the wiki. I hope you will take a look at their blog and also visit their wiki. They would appreciate stopping to take a look.

Do you have students who write outside of school on their own time? If so, share them here!

If you have students blogging, do you have a class blog or one for each student?

I'm in...Google Teacher Academy NY

After a few weeks of waiting, I received the email that I was accepted to Google Teacher Academy! I have tried to stay low key about the whole thing with a lot of inner whisperings and hoping.

I can't wait to learn from the great educators that will be there and from the Google team. I know of some great people who have been to the Academy, namely Vicki Davis and Kevin Jarrett. Kevin's recommendations were a great guideline and he is right: you need to believe in yourself and let your passion shine through!

Sharing what I learn there is going to be the best part of the whole experience as well as forging new relationships. Stay tuned!

Here is the video that I submitted - it had to be less than 60 seconds on one of two topics. Additionally, there were 4 essays that answered specific questions as well as background information.



Here is a brief tour of google from this site:


Tags: Google teacher academy

Am I really needed?

I have said that I plan my classes so that my students can continue along without me. Not quite so (it is nice to be needed). Some trouble shooting, reminding, cajoling needs to be done that I guess I am needed for!

Presenting as a model teacher at the Classrooms for the Future bootcamp last week threw everything off schedule. It was exhilirating to present some exciting things we have been doing in class. As a result, we are not as far as we thought we would be.

Both Biology and Science for Living are using iMovies instead of oral presenting. As iMovie 08 is formatted a little differently there is a light curve. Most students are not taught how to plan and carry out these projects and we are taking it slow. Biology is using Google Presentations to work collaboratively on their projects. Slides will be saved as images and used in the iMovie. I have thwarted their inclinations to throw many pictures and words on a slide as much of the content should be spoken. Though more time is spent than I would like, I think it is time well spent. We have spent much time on the message they wish to convey and planning out each slide.

Academic Biology is struggling with a monster of a project I am unhappy about. The Monocot and Dicot unit is relatively unfocused and has no oomph. It is part of the lack of knowing where we wanted to go. It became more of a unit of content vs. an actual project. Because of this, the students are not liking it and I am not as well. That should be amplified when I go to grade it.

So, why did it turn out this way? I guess it is because I originally did not want everything to be PBL or authentic instruction. I know that is odd if that is where I want to actually work towards, but it is easy to forget where you are going and the year slips away. It is also hard to manage that many large projects. Instead, we tried to reign in, keep it focused, and missed some great opportunities.

This seems like a crossroads. I would really like a class where we ask big questions and it drives what the students do and they run through the meadows of knowledge picking what they need (nice thought impression...) But, there is still content. Is the best that I can achieve maybe one or two actual authentic activities, a handful of meaningful projects with many choices, and a few (like the project on monocots and dicots) activities that are just too teacher centered?

I realy should be happy that I have made any type of change and that I still have a vision to look towards. I heard once that this is a process that takes a few years to achieve. I can say I am getting better.

So what have I learned?

• More assessments of a greater variety.
  
• Student input on assessments.
• More student feedback throughout the process.
• Use the KWL chart more often (something I have not been consistent with)
• Use checklists to help drive motion in the project (not used as often with academic though they need it just as much)

I have stepped back and made changes. It has also given me an idea for a presentation at a conference as my reflection is also some of the most asked questions when I present about a wikicentric classroom. As I have always said, I am not perfect in this, but I am reflective enough and resourceful enough to make it work.

For those who have or have not tried project based learning, what are your thoughts on creating projects? Is it difficult to keep focused on content that needs to be discovered by students in the time frames that you have? What works in your classroom?

Tags: PBL, project based learning, biology education, classrooms for the future

What could this world be like?

With all of the talk of the economic crisis and environmental issues, one issue remains ignored: POVERTY. And that really does not mean lack of money. It is poverty in more than one meaning.

• Countries where this is a large disparity between the bottom and the top (and that definitely includes America). Where they lack the basic needs.
  
• Emotional and intellectual poverty (which strikes those of all economic levels)

What can you do:
Global call to action against poverty
Taking It Global

As a teacher, we see both aspects. It is difficult to prepare children for the world, when they do not even have the basics to compete.

Tags: BAD08

NEBSA Source for Learning challenge

Build the Vision

How often do you, as an educator, have the chance to provide a vision for a new technology before it is even available?

How often do industry innovators put learning first in their vision for a new technology?

Here is your chance.


The Source for Learning Teams with NEBSA on Wireless Broadband Education Competition

Two nonprofit organizations—both leaders in educational technology—have teamed to sponsor a contest that will explore exciting educational uses for the next revolutionary technology: wireless broadband. The Source for Learning, Inc. (www.sourceforlearning.org) and the National Educational Broadband Service Association (www.nebsa.org) have for years been instrumental in helping educators enhance teaching and learning through technology.

The Wireless Broadband Education Competition will create a showcase for innovative educational uses of one of the newest dimensions of the learning experience: mobility. High-quality wireless connectivity is coming soon, and it will have a major impact on education—“anytime/anywhere” learning. But how will it actually be used?

Exciting possibilities are starting to emerge—imagine, for instance:

• A class goes to a field behind the school to research native animals and habitats. While there, with no wires needed, they use the web to learn more about what they find, and share the experience via live video feed with other classrooms—from the same school or from many schools, anywhere in the world.
• A few students visit a location—for instance a “wind farm” where clean energy is generated. Other classrooms watch the visit live; they ask questions in real time as the students meet an expert and see the workings of the site. The students upload the GPS coordinates of the site; that data is merged with Google Earth layers showing wind patterns and electric power needs, for a comprehensive understanding of the experience.
• Older, non-wired school buildings add fast internet access from any room, with no wires and virtually no capital expense.
• Students use digital equipment to measure on-site water quality in real time from multiple locations without leaving their classrooms.

To stimulate creative thinking about learning supported by this new technology, SFL and NEBSA announce a competition for U.S. educators (Pre-K - 16), asking them to use their imaginations about ways in which wireless broadband could support and enhance teaching and learning. Three Grand Prize winners will receive scholarships to present their proposals at the National EBS Association Annual Convention, which will be held in Boca Raton, Florida from February 23-25, 2009. Each of the winners’ schools will also receive a $200 reimbursement to cover related school substitute costs.

Visit the competition site for full details: http://wirelessbroadbandeducation.com/. Phase One submissions are due November 1, 2008, via a simple online entry form

Stories of White-tailed deer

Do you have a story, viewpoint, or thought about white-tailed deer? Do you encounter them at some time? We are looking for stories from a wide variety of place and peoples in working with our class project.

Background:
My Biology class is studying white-tailed deer as a biodiversity problem. They are looking at issues from rural, urban, and suburban areas. As a class, they will hold a debate and each student serves on one of the 6 groups who have a viewpoint about the deer (homeowners, animal welfare and conservation, wildlife management, etc.) The groups and some information of the project can be found here.

Voicethread:
Leave a thought, opinion, or story on this voicethread. We want to hear a variety, so don't be shy!

Looking at our world...

This last week moved us closer to completing work and setting the stage for transition in topics. In the last paragraph, I have a question on presentation ideas. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

In Academic, students seem to be very comfortable with our wiki, though little problems crop up (i.e. accidentally deleting whole sections.) Patience is needed for these little things. Students do catch on and working on assignments gets faster and with less incidents with time. As they are now ready for something new, we were to begin blogging. Edublogs, however, was not ready for us (maintenance issues.) Therefore, we will begin some time this next week on our class blog. Plants are easily overlooked by students and one where we are spending a bit more time. Leaf classification went well. Each group created a dichotomous key from the leaves studied in class. Each group used leaves and the key from a different group to analyze how well the key worked. They created a discussion in the tab on their team page to obtain feedback from those using the key. Homework consisted of reflection from different activities in classification and the problems/solutions of classifying. Other activities from the week: collaborative research on microscope use (not higher level thinking but to see what they remember and find out what they know) and research on grains (each group is given a different grain) which will be used when we discuss plant productivity and our food and fiber system. This next week, we apply what we have learned in studying monocots and dicots and prepare for animal classification and a survey of the animal kingdom.

In Biology, we continued research on white-tailed deer and listened to viewpoint and management thoughts of the town mayor and a state conservation officer. With new viewpoints and information, they will return to creation of a proposal and preparation for the debate in our project. Many students are unsure of themselves in speaking in front of others and many need experience. They will have a powerpoint to guide them, but I have been thinking that perhaps allowing them to form their viewpoint by podcast or short movie may be an option. If we used those methods, the town council meeting could then be a debate session on the proposals and clarification through questioning. As our periods are only 43 minutes long, they could review the movies, fill in a grid wit basic information and the debate would occur the next day. What do you think of this option?

Knee deep in projects

I am trying my best to stay on top of where I am headed, but when push comes to shove, I procrastinate. For example, I should create reflection exercises for every day for every class. Not only does it give me an idea of where my students are but will also give me a few minutes to collect my thoughts (I am really a person who has it pretty together since I do not pursue busy work in my classes but 3 preps can get rough). I also should have a better idea of how I can make work more authentic but that can be tough as there is a curriculum to follow (and a pretty tight one as well).

In my Science for Living class, I would say it will be very authentic as it is purely environmental. I have a wide variety of students, many of which are very low in basic skills. I have faith thought that I can reach most of them and give them an opportunity to show that they can learn and be successful in a class. Many are pretty excited about what we have been talking about. It is the completion that they are not so good about!

My Biology class is outstanding! They are working towards the White-tailed deer management town hall meeting. This is tough for them. About 90% of them are hunters, do not believe there is a management problem (and really here there isn't any), and have had to research and adopt a value system that is foreign to them. They are working diligently and I have lined up speakers to help them understand viewpoints. Anyone have experience with white-tailed deer (especially nuisance in housing developments)? We would love to skype people in!

Academic Biology is working on classification having classified candy then created a dichotomous key of the campus leaves. Now we will be looking at monocot vs. dicot through seeds they have planted (will compare seeds, stems, leaves, and roots), slides they will use with the moticam, and research. The work is open enough for variety and attempts to identify species in our food and fiber system. This is one example of using a portfolio type exercise to explain learning. This week we will be blogging as they enter their scientific article research online. Will let everyone know when it is live.

I am really grateful for a colleague I am working closely with. She is a great critical thinker and has some great ideas and both of us are working diligently to be paperless and really change the culture in our class with the tasks we ask students to do. As a 21st century teacher, she is still learning but she has been fearless in staying with it and working with her has been a real pleasure!

Here is an idea we have:
Dissection is coming up - intead of spacing them through the year, we are going to do them all now as well as studying preserved specimens of animals. We are kicking around the idea of a wiki textbook that covers the kingdoms, the classification, dissection of the 4 animals (crayfish, starfish, clam, pig), as well as extension to our lives (bacteria and health, etc.) We have two mini projects that we will do.

1. Research of an animals as a biodiversity dictionary (every student would get something different)
2. Create an organism using Scratch. Students would have to draw an animal and then classify it based upon what they know about animal classification.
   

What do you think?

Tags: moticam, biology, science education

Abundance and scarcity

If students can create their own learning and remove their own boundaries, what would they need school for?

Any technology which creates abundance, poses problems for any process which existed to benefit from scarcity.