Blogging Begins with Reading

Good blogging, just like good writing begins with reading.  After exploring and reading a few blogs, leave your overview of what you found and your reactions here. Be sure and hyperlink the blog URL as you discuss the author's work. Blog etiquette includes linking to a blog when you mention it in yours. We call it spreading the "blog love" as the more folks that link to you the higher you go in the rankings.

Comments

[Pete Cerny]

Wish there was a way to see general content of the blogs in the main edublog menu rather than having to click on each of them. Once clicked, it was difficult to get the content from some of them. The following actually provided an explanation of the blog content at the top of the blog.
http://stream.minot.k12.nd.us/blog/craig/

[Pete Cerny]

Wish there was a way to see general content of the blogs in the main edublog menu rather than having to click on each of them. Once clicked, it was difficult to get the content from some of them. The following actually provided an explanation of the blog content at the top of the blog.
http://stream.minot.k12.nd.us/blog/craig/

[Neil A. Rochelle]

I visited Scott McLouds blog http://dangerouslyirrelevent.com Professional development for the leaders

Scott maintains that when we talk about technology in K-12 schools, why must we focus on school leaders? Well, as the Wallace Foundation Learning from Leadership Project reminds us, principals and superintendents are the ones charged with setting direction and developing people. They’re the only individuals with the power to redesign the organization. Research has shown that school leadership, through both direct and indirect effects, is ‘second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school’ and that ‘leadership effects are usually largest where and when they are needed most.’ In other words, ‘the greater the challenge the greater the impact of [leaders’] actions on learning. . . . Indeed, there are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.’

Scott present a good case for why we must we focus on school leaders? Because they’re the ones with the responsibility and power to

* set the vision
* control the budget
* reassign personnel
* empower others
* alter school culture
* establish priorities
* facilitate buy-in
* reallocate resources
* ensure organizational alignment
* and so on…

Because if we don’t, the potential impact of innovative, technology-using educators and students will continue to run smack into the brick wall of their administrators’ lack of knowledge and or training.

Scot outlines that if we want to help administrators become better technology leaders, we must design professional development for them appropriately. Here are a few suggestions…

1. Change their mindset. Show them brief videos like Did You Know? Invite local business leaders to come talk about the changing workplace. Give them concrete examples of successful technology usage by teachers and students and help them understand why those examples are models of success. Collect testimonials by local educators and children about the power of technology as a learning tool. Create some cognitive dissonance and give them a reason to want to learn in the first place.
2. Have a keen understanding of their work. Understand the pressures and time demands of their positions. The nature of administrators’ work can be conceptualized as practical problem-solving. Like other educators, their learning is situated, contextually embedded in their social and physical environment. A failure to understand administrators’ jobs will result in failure of the training.
3. Ensure that training is authentic. Training for administrators must be job-embedded. No wikis just for the sake of wikis. Instead, show them how a wiki might facilitate their existing need to collaborate with others (to create some policy document, for example). Don’t teach them about blogs in the abstract. Show them how current principals are using blogs to facilitate communication with stakeholder communities and realistically address issues related to time, negative comments, and other concerns that they may have. If they can see how technology can help them better address the problems that they’re facing, they’re yours.
4. Make it easy for them to learn. Don’t just talk about podcasts. Hand them a CD or an iPod loaded with fantastic leadership-focused podcasts and ask them to listen to it while they’re driving around. Don’t make them create the Excel charts from scratch. Hand them a template into which they can just drop some numbers.
5. Make their lives easier. If what you’re showing them won’t make them more efficient or effective, if it doesn’t have a relative advantage to what they’re doing now, why are they going to bother?
6. Tap into what they already know. Many school leaders feel hopelessly lost because they struggle to make connections between what they already know and these new technology tools and systems. Help them make the connections.
7. Address their concerns about the rate of change. The technological world changes so fast that many administrators feel that both they and their school organizations have no hope of keeping up. Structure concrete learning opportunities that, over time, help show them that they can. Find their zone of proximal development and try to keep them there.
8. Comply with what we know about effective professional development. Make it safe for them to learn. Make it collaborative and social. Make sure it’s intentional, purposive, and long-term rather than a one-time “sit and get” session. Follow-up. The NSDC standards for professional development and e-learning are excellent resources for trainers.
9. Respect their time. ‘Nuf said.
10. Most importantly, focus on leadership, not tools. While it’s good for principals to know how to strategically use a few digital technologies themselves, it’s much more important that they know how to empower others, how to effectively support technology usage by students and teachers, how to evaluate when technology is used effectively, when it’s appropriate to opt out of technology usage, etc. The NETS-A are a good starting place: take each standard or performance indicator and ask, “What is that leaders really need to know about this? What do they really need to be doing in this area?”
11. That said, remind them of the importance and power of modeling. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t cut it with teachers (or students and parents). Highly-visible modeling of technology usage and life-long learning facilitates the same by others. Also, remember that sometimes a leader’s best action of all might simply be to ask a few key questions.

School districts have spent a lot of time, money, and energy on the technology needs of students and teachers. We have seen very little concurrent activity on the behalf of administrators, despite the fact that if the leaders don’t get it, it isn’t going to happen.

[Don Szatkowski]

http://visitmyclass.com/blogs/wenzloff/default.aspx

A new adventure “sharing my day” This blog has many reviews of useful sites to help you in the web 2.0 world. One link is called www.Zamzar.com
. This site allows you to convert Utube movie for use in school when it is usually blocked.

[Neil A. Rochelle]

I visited Scott McLouds blog http://dangerouslyirrelevent.com Professional development for the leaders

Scott maintains that when we talk about technology in K-12 schools, why must we focus on school leaders? Well, as the Wallace Foundation Learning from Leadership Project reminds us, principals and superintendents are the ones charged with setting direction and developing people. They’re the only individuals with the power to redesign the organization. Research has shown that school leadership, through both direct and indirect effects, is ‘second only to classroom instruction among all school-related factors that contribute to what students learn at school’ and that ‘leadership effects are usually largest where and when they are needed most.’ In other words, ‘the greater the challenge the greater the impact of [leaders’] actions on learning. . . . Indeed, there are virtually no documented instances of troubled schools being turned around without intervention by a powerful leader.’

Scott present a good case for why we must we focus on school leaders? Because they’re the ones with the responsibility and power to

* set the vision
* control the budget
* reassign personnel
* empower others
* alter school culture
* establish priorities
* facilitate buy-in
* reallocate resources
* ensure organizational alignment
* and so on…

Because if we don’t, the potential impact of innovative, technology-using educators and students will continue to run smack into the brick wall of their administrators’ lack of knowledge and or training.

Scot outlines that if we want to help administrators become better technology leaders, we must design professional development for them appropriately. Here are a few suggestions…

1. Change their mindset. Show them brief videos like Did You Know? Invite local business leaders to come talk about the changing workplace. Give them concrete examples of successful technology usage by teachers and students and help them understand why those examples are models of success. Collect testimonials by local educators and children about the power of technology as a learning tool. Create some cognitive dissonance and give them a reason to want to learn in the first place.
2. Have a keen understanding of their work. Understand the pressures and time demands of their positions. The nature of administrators’ work can be conceptualized as practical problem-solving. Like other educators, their learning is situated, contextually embedded in their social and physical environment. A failure to understand administrators’ jobs will result in failure of the training.
3. Ensure that training is authentic. Training for administrators must be job-embedded. No wikis just for the sake of wikis. Instead, show them how a wiki might facilitate their existing need to collaborate with others (to create some policy document, for example). Don’t teach them about blogs in the abstract. Show them how current principals are using blogs to facilitate communication with stakeholder communities and realistically address issues related to time, negative comments, and other concerns that they may have. If they can see how technology can help them better address the problems that they’re facing, they’re yours.
4. Make it easy for them to learn. Don’t just talk about podcasts. Hand them a CD or an iPod loaded with fantastic leadership-focused podcasts and ask them to listen to it while they’re driving around. Don’t make them create the Excel charts from scratch. Hand them a template into which they can just drop some numbers.
5. Make their lives easier. If what you’re showing them won’t make them more efficient or effective, if it doesn’t have a relative advantage to what they’re doing now, why are they going to bother?
6. Tap into what they already know. Many school leaders feel hopelessly lost because they struggle to make connections between what they already know and these new technology tools and systems. Help them make the connections.
7. Address their concerns about the rate of change. The technological world changes so fast that many administrators feel that both they and their school organizations have no hope of keeping up. Structure concrete learning opportunities that, over time, help show them that they can. Find their zone of proximal development and try to keep them there.
8. Comply with what we know about effective professional development. Make it safe for them to learn. Make it collaborative and social. Make sure it’s intentional, purposive, and long-term rather than a one-time “sit and get” session. Follow-up. The NSDC standards for professional development and e-learning are excellent resources for trainers.
9. Respect their time. ‘Nuf said.
10. Most importantly, focus on leadership, not tools. While it’s good for principals to know how to strategically use a few digital technologies themselves, it’s much more important that they know how to empower others, how to effectively support technology usage by students and teachers, how to evaluate when technology is used effectively, when it’s appropriate to opt out of technology usage, etc. The NETS-A are a good starting place: take each standard or performance indicator and ask, “What is that leaders really need to know about this? What do they really need to be doing in this area?”
11. That said, remind them of the importance and power of modeling. “Do as I say, not as I do” doesn’t cut it with teachers (or students and parents). Highly-visible modeling of technology usage and life-long learning facilitates the same by others. Also, remember that sometimes a leader’s best action of all might simply be to ask a few key questions.

School districts have spent a lot of time, money, and energy on the technology needs of students and teachers. We have seen very little concurrent activity on the behalf of administrators, despite the fact that if the leaders don’t get it, it isn’t going to happen.

[Kathi Weber]

I enjoyed reading about your views on the relationship between location and culture.http://bumpontheblog.etowns.net/

[tom k]

As an art teacher, I was excited to browse some of the sites posted by fellow art teachers. I came accross one by an art teacher who posted student work for comments: http://mshearman.edublogs.org/2007/06/09/202/#respond

[Pat Aroune]

Chris Lehmann's blog called practical theory (http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/), offers a reinforcing view of the connective nature of education being discussed in this conference.

[Kimberly (Kim) Rich]

Read Patrick Higgins's "Chalkdust." Beginning discussion about his son's absence and return and then, as we scroll down, we're privy to his thoughts on the teaching of Wikipedia in the classroom. In our high school, we had just ended the year with a debate among faculty members as to whether or not Wikipedia should be cited in research paper. Interesting comments, Mr. Higgins!

http://Chalkdust101.bogspot.com

[David Becker]

I checked this website out, since it stated that it was from an English teacher from Pittsburgh, two interesting things (English and Pittsburgh) that I happen to enjoy.

School currently being out, there wasn't anything new in his class to write about, though he did have some interesting things to say about how his class liked his blogging work they had to do.

One more point: looking at the number of posts submitted, it doesn't appear that he's a prolific writer, but he's out there doing it, and I like the way that he has his tags organized on the right hand side. For all I know, this is how all of them are.

David Becker

http://ifbeesarefew.blogspot.com/

[Karen Jarzynski]

Okay, so this sight is pretty cool... there are a lot of great ideas and links and this blogger actually has his/her students connected to students in Malaysia... neat, huh? OKay, that's my first attempt... here's hoping that this all works.http://teachingsagittarian.edublogs.org/

Karen

[tom k]

here is the link:
student art

[Shaheed Ali]

Hey all. I've just taken a look at Kim Cofino's "Vacation Mode" blog as a comment on the Always Learning site. It seems that tech teachers (if she is one) have the most observable fun - in class, out of class. I suppose when the rest of us non-tech teachers begin using technology we'll have fun too.

http://mscofino.edublogs.org/

[Neil A. Rochelle]

Want to try hyperlink for Sheryl's blog.
21st Century Collaborative

[Phil Stock]

I was checking out this discussion and tag about school policies for safe use.
http://www.infinitethinking.org/2007/04/how-do-we-teach-kids-to-cross-busy.html

[Neil A. Rochelle]

Want to try hyperlink for Sheryl's blog.
21st Century Collaborative

[Chris Fagan]

I visited the McToonish website and under "Riding with the Posse" there is a podcast about the value of open source communication in education.

http://www.mctoonish.com/blog/?p=204

[Garry Stone]

I looked at Brian Grenier's blog. He was a former history teacher who is now a tech coordinator.

He speaks about looking at the blogosphere like a culture and wonders if there are barriers in the blogosphere that hinder the development of the sphere similar to how geographic barriers in the real world hindered or helped the development of cultures in the real world.

http://bumpontheblog.etowns.net/

[Maria]

I checked out this blog about the 21st Century School House

The author shared about how students wrote reflective papers about what they learned during the school year using the blog. I would, too, like my students to do the same thing. Then when my students write their final reflection paper, their classmates can read each other's work like I was able to do. It was a priviledge and I want my students to have the same experience.

[Marcy Sweetman]

I would like to be thinking to myself "how will I use this in my classroom?" However, at this point I don't know enough about a blog, wiki, etc to even now how, when...to use in my classroom. Needless to say, right now I'm clueless. Back to the point of this exercise, Gail Desler had an interesting video imbeddeded into her blog about why we should have students blog. http://blogwalker.edublogs.org

[Cheryl Philipps]

http://newtrierlibrary.blogspot.com/has an excellant three minute video of how American libraries have changed over the last 100 years. What will the next 100 years bring?

[uraimondo]

http://markwoolley.edublogs.org/
Journey with learning with was an easy introduction to the new teacher user. It describes basic language and forms the basis of new material for student review - connections to other sources of information on the web and rules of conduct for users.

[Ed]

Brian Grenier offers an interesting analogy for digital immigrants like myself and their place in the world wide web in his most recent post, "Digital Geopgraphy."

http://bumpontheblog.etowns.net/

[Neil A. Rochelle]

Sherry's blog

[Jim Ross]

test of link for Beth Knittle blog