21st Century Learning

Learning to Learn

My life has been a whirlwind of activity since NECC and I have found it hard to keep up with blogging. I don't know why, but I feel guilty blogging when I have other deadlines looming. Do any of you experience that? Is it illogical? Should I blog anyway, much like we still get the day to day things done at work or home, even when we have extra tasks on our "to do" lists. Or should I put 100% of my attention toward the deadlines and follow Grandmas' rule of "work before play"?

I'd love to hear your take.

Disclaimer: Blogging is like play for me- sheer enjoyment. Not necessarily the writing, as for me the writing doesn't come easy, but the thrill of the hits and conversation that follows does.

Community Driven System
The purpose of stealing moments away from my already full agenda this morning though to share my experiences of the last week. I came to realized more than ever that I am a community driven woman. I believe in the power of the community, the wisdom of the crowd, that the network is more powerful than the node and that none of us are as good as all of us. I believe that School 2.0 means moving from a classroom system to a community system. And now more than ever I also believe that about PD and I mean all PD- conferences(e.g. K12Online08), workshops (e.g. most recently CABOCES Summer Instititue), ongoing, job embedded sync and asysn (e.g. PLP) and as a result I am going to change my keynotes even more to flow from a community model as well. As I reflected over the last week, I realized even my family operates as a community. I am no loan wolf.

CABOCES Summer Institute
One week ago I landed in Buffalo and was greeted by Rick Weinberg who took me to Selemanca where I would be spending the next week working with educators from the surrounding area. When the day drew closer to the conference Rick shared that unexpectedly numbers were down. I gave him the opportunity to cancel rather than bring me out for just a few people, (I am knee deep in buying my first home in Va and could have used the time) but Rick was firm that they wanted to move forward. I am so glad he made that decision because this week was an incredible week of learning for me personally.

Here are my take aways...

1. When you are focused on educational reform from a community perspective- more is not always better.

 Monday- I had 10 administrators who were with me for one day. The small number enabled me to spend time personally getting to know each attendee. I invited Karen Richardson, Chris Lehmann, and Jon Becker to attend a panel discussion answering their concerns and questions. You can listen to the panel discussion here. The strength of intimacy because of such a small number of participants in the room made me realize that relationship is a more powerful tool when trying to leverage change than having large numbers of people in a room who are passively listening to you talk.

John Norton's wine glass metaphor rings true here- (He was drinking a glass of wine when it occurred to him- hence the name) that it is better to have small numbers of highly engaged people when influencing school reform than hundreds of folks who show up but walk away unchanged by the experience.

Also, on Friday when we knew our numbers would be minimal and we had such brilliant panel members coming from the community (Darren Kuropatwa, Kevin Honeycutt, Allanah King, and Mark Clemente) we made it a teachable moment. We spontaneously opened the Elluminate session up to the world (and the world indeed showed up) and we used Ustream and a chat channel as well to show if you offer quality the community will come to you- no matter how rural or small you are.

2. My belief was reinforced that for most newbies, teaching tools in isolation is too overwhelming and a waste of time.

Tuesday I tried to lay the foundation and set the context. I also wanted to help attendees understand today's digital learner. Wes Fryer (Oklahoma), Laura Deisley (Atlanta), Meg Ormiston (Illinois), and Sue Waters (Australia) talked about personal learning networks and the tools that support them (listen in here) on Wednesday. On Thursday my plan was to look more closely at tools and their pedagogy and how they best relate to various instructional activities and then on Friday to create inquiry based instruction with an interactive model of building a PBL mini-unit. For the most part things went according to plan, but Thursday's tools, tools, and more tools left me feeling overwhelmed and tense. I know if I had been a newbie in that audience not having been given the opportunity to use the tools in a meaningful application, I would have been frustrated. The idea was to create an awareness of the tools, not mastery, so that on Friday when we created lessons using the TPCK model we would have a web 2.0 list of applications from which to choose. The result though was painful, at least for me.

I brainstormed with Rick Weinberg and Tim Clarke afterward and what we felt would have worked better was to have four tables- with one of us at each table presenting a tool. Our presentations would include the tool, an activity using the tool, and a chance to reflect on best uses of the tool. Then after 45 minutes we would break for 15 and then could present another tool. We would do that three times (12 tools) and participants could choose which tools they wanted to learn.

I really believe that the best examples of tool instruction are within the context of what you are learning. Like our heating and cooling system they should be invisible. The only time we focus on our heating and cooling is when they aren't working properly. Then we have to focus on the tool itself and decide why it isn't working.

Even Bill Fitzgerald (Funny Monkey) after his discussion on Open Source tools left the attendees with the idea of forgetting the tool- focusing instead on what you want kids to know and be able to do- then figuring out the right task and tool for the job to help kids achieve their goal.

3. What is most important to 21st Century educational reform is to listen to kids.

On Tuesday, I decided to create a panel of kids from 11th grade to college juniors and talk to them about their reflections on technology. It was the most inspiring part of my week long work. I am still learning from all they taught me during that hour. Meet Gracie, Maegan, Ryan, Jay, Danny, Christian, Thomas, Will and Jesse. You won't be sorry you did.

4. Teachers need time to reflect, explore, and build in the safety net of your workshop.

Teachers, like kids, need you to model and then let them explore authentic use with you there to help. They need to understand how to create lesson plans that use the tools in meaningful ways, but then they need to actually collaborate together to build activities that they can use in school; activities that leverage the potential of these new mediums for connecting and collaborating.

Typically, in my workshops I only have time to present the shift and the tools- never to actually jump to the most important step of helping teachers contextualize what they are learning. I walked away from this week realizing that this step is what is missing in school reform and is why in my opinion, that change is happening so slowly.

The most exciting time of the conference for me personally was to watch the groups choose a topic- create a concept web, a curriculum web, choose appropriate standards, an essential pedagogy, an appropriate tool and develop several lessons that all integrated not only core disciplines but fell together under a theme, project or problem. The creative juices really began to flow as we constructed together a killer initiating activity that would usher in our year long project and the lessons we would use to teach state mandated content from a passion-based perspective. The tools made sense because they were merely a means to an end- helping students learn about things that interested them from the perspective of a scientist, historian or author.

I am thankful to CABOCES for being willing to invest the time that allowed their educators to not only gain an awareness but to deeply reflect, discuss, and wrestle with the concepts- while facilitators and their newly formed PLN stood by to help them make informed choices about change.

ABPC 21st Century Learners Quarterly Meeting

While I obviously haven't been blogging- I have been fast at it. I would say I have been busy, but Dean Shareski (our new convener for K12Online)  has taught me we are all busy and I am not suppose to talk about how busy I am, but rather just talk about what I have been up to lately.

I keep a running "to-do" board above my desk. Lately, there have been too many "to-do" items to fit them all. My life is full of meaning, exciting and that word I am not suppose to say (whispering ...busy). So busy in fact that I forgot to share about one of my most passionate interests.

ABPC 21st Century Learners- Year 3 Culminating
Anyone who has followed me knows that one true passion I have is the incredible work I am helping to deliver in Alabama around 21st Century literacies. On May 1 we had our culminating celebration for this year's 21st Century Learners journey.

What Was Different in Year 3?
In a word-- students. ABPC's leader, Cathy Gassenheimer felt this year's project with schools needed to have an clear connection to student achievement.  We wanted to developmentally move teachers along the continuum of use and understanding of the transformative potential of 21st Century teaching and learning strategies to actually applying them in the classroom.

We created a student strand and added students as members of the team. Together we looked at how to change teaching to a self-directed process tied to student passion and rigor, as well are core curriculum standards.

During the culminating event students and other team members were led in a fishbowl exercise that turned out to be the most enlightening experience I have had so far in working towards 21st Century educational reform. Students were asked hard questions about how they learn best and evidence of those strategies used by teachers in classrooms. They were asked what do teachers need to change to be the kind of teachers that would help you learn best? Their answers were profound and I realized for the first time I think-- if we would just ask kids what they need, they know and would tell us. Wow. What a concept.

Here are some of the projects from Alabama this year:

WinterboroSchool
Our theme is:  Taking Technology to the next level- The competitive level. Our teachers have worked in harmony to help our students take their individual projects to the competitive level.  We decided to encourage and help our students to compete on the local and state level using 21st century skills we have introduced and use in the classroom throughout the year. Winning at this level helped validate that we can compete in the local and state arena using these newly acquired skills.  The publicity has also been great for the entire county.  It has been a great success.  We will display our students’ medal winning projects along with the bling bling they have won in the process. 

West Blocton
For our student project, we created a wiki. On this wiki, the students would choose a book to read that they wanted to carry on a conversation about in the wiki. Then, they would rate the book. Next, they would write why they rated the book the way they did. The next few sentences had to include a comprehension strategy that they used while reading the book. Whichever strategy they used, they had to support it with text and tell what detail from the story made them use that strategy. Then, they would write a sentence to try to encourage others to read the book, even if they gave it a low rating.

Finally, they would look at other responses other students had made and carry on a conversation about their book.

Hewitt-Trussville Middle School
Our team created a wiki as a resource for the teachers.  The wiki contains descriptions, examples, and uses for 21^st tools in the classroom.  The wiki also contains information about project based learning. 
You can find out wiki at http://21centurylearners.wikispaces.com .

Challenger Middle School
Challenger 21^st Century Team Group project:
Our professional development project is called "iTeach 2.0" and we invited the middle schools in our district to become a part of iTeach 2.0. Each school sent two teachers to a workshop we sponsored to learn about 21st century tools. We established a wiki for our team and participants to use to share ideas. Our April face to face meeting was a type of fair where each school shared a tool or project that they successfully used this semester. Our computer will display screen shots from our wiki and our display board will define data collected and cool tools explored during this year’s iTeach workshops. Our wiki is http://iteach2-0.wikispaces.com .

Student Project:
We invited 18 students to commit their own time to work on a project they would select. Twelve saw the project to completion. We gave three basic guidelines: the students must develop their project around an issue that affects teens, the project must help someone, and the project must be communicated using technology tools.  Our students brainstormed on their own private wiki and were very passionate about teen issues! They decided that they wanted to work on a project related to poverty. The students then researched and decided that they wanted to adopt an impoverished school in another country, which led them to Uganda. They formed an Invisible Children Club to raise money.

The students created posters, a website and a multi-media embedded PowerPoint to present to the student body. They learned so much about war torn

Uganda and the suffering of the children there. They have a basic knowledge of how this war started. The amazing part is that we have not taught this information to our students. They have taken a project with very few guidelines and have learned so much! For this year, the project culminated in a fund-raiser, which raised $1778 in 3 days! This has become a project that encompasses many of the 21st century skills. Our students are learning about society, geography/history, communication, discernment, teamwork and many other skills.  We will display a computer with a timeline/info about their project work and their presentation.  We will have an additional computer with screen shots of their webpage. Their website is http://www.freewebs.com/guluschoolproject/

George Hall Elementary
Collaboration is the main thesis for our project. This year collaboration projects includes Skype interview with Janis Kearney, diarist for Bill Clinton and author of "Cotton Fields of Dreams",  Elluminate session with children from the Dominican Republic and a weekly Skype collaboration with 5th grade students in West Blocton Al. We continued the wiki field trip project using Scaling where the students were proactive in the production of the projects to go online.

Blossomwood
Blossomwood Elementary's team project for 2007-2008 has been to obtain more technology resources for classrooms and adequately train teachers on how to use these resources.  Promethean ACTIV boards have been purchased for all classroom units and teachers have attended both training at school and online training from Promethean.  Today, Blossomwood is displaying some sample classroom flipcharts, as well as flipcharts that were used to train the faculty.

Clay-Chalkville High School
We will be presenting a Power Point presentation that highlights some of the work that our teachers have created with their classes to enhance student learning, as well as to promote communication between the classroom and the home.

For instance, we have teachers that have created wikis with the main purpose to keep the students and parents updated on assignments and projects that are coming up. At the same time, other teachers use blogs to allow the students become more involved in the learning process.

Discovery Middle School

Middle School will showcase our journey from local to global connections through a photostory.  We will highlight our challenges and how we have overcome them.  We will also share our current projects that will lead us to district wide integration of Web 2.0 tools.

Mt. Laurel Elementary
Sharing Web 2.0 Tools
Mt Laurel Elementary School is a K-3 school right outside of Birmingham. We are in our second year with the 21st Century Learning Team.

Our team's focus project was sharing Web 2.0 tools with our faculty. We conducted a survey to determine awareness and use of Web 2.0 tools and found that very few were aware of Web 2.0 tools, and even fewer were using them.

As a team we compiled a resource list of Web 2.0 tools. We held a meeting with our teachers and presented an awareness training to share the uses of each tool. We shared examples of how we had been using these tools and how students could benefit from using Web 2.0. We also encouraged them to let us help them set-up any of the tools they would think they would like to use in their classroom.

As of today, the number of teachers that are using Web 2.0 tools has changed by 60%, compared to when we initially took our survey. We now have grade levels participating in projects and teachers using these tools to create works with their students. We have teachers participating in book studies using Wiki’s, classes and parents blogging, podcasting galore, but most of all the awareness of the many tools that are available to each of them to enhance their class lessons and projects.

Cullman Middle School
Collaborative project-based teaching aligned to state content standards, reviewed by students. That is our lofty goal with this wiki. For 2008, we have selected 4 courses to focus on: Social Studies, grades 7 and 8 AND Computer Applications, grades 7 and 8

This project is designed in conjunction with the Alabama Best Practices Center's 21st Century Schools professional development. The project will be developed by a team of teachers and students from Cullman Middle School.

We hope that this will be a treasured resource for educators across the state, the country, and the world. Depending upon the success of the site, we hope to add additional areas of study in the future. We recognize the level of learning and retention of learning that project-based lessons hold for students, as well as the interest it adds to classes. On the outset, this seems like a project designed to aid teachers, and it will do that, but more importantly, this project will aid students in fostering a deeper interest in learning. With the Computer Applications courses, we are fortunate to be embarking upon new territory. At this time there are not specific standards for grade levels, only grade bands. This project will assist us in focusing on learning objectives and organizing those objectives in a sensible format. The student team will be comprised of students involved in

Cullman Middle School's SWAT (students willing to assist with technology) team. The teacher team will select a student team leader that will serve as a liaison to the teacher team.

Dean Road Elementary School
Our team sought to showcase the various ways we use the Smart Board to communicate more effectively among staff members and students. An immense part of our daily communication begins each day with our morning broadcast, WDRE, which features fourth and fifth grade students as broadcasters. Other grade levels are involved by reciting the pledge of allegiance and sharing the daily weather. All parts of the broadcast are viewed through the use of the Smart Board.

Not only do we begin our day with the Smart Board we also use this valuable learning tool in many other ways throughout the day. We display our morning messages, share interactive websites embedded in our daily lessons, and research an endless amount of information that can be easily displayed for all to see. This beneficial tool as helped foster communication through shared lessons created on the Smart Board software that assists teachers in planning and presenting the curriculum in a way that increases the students’ motivation to learn. The Smart Board, found in all classrooms, has become an irreplaceable learning tool that teachers and students just can’t seem to live without.

Fayetteville High School
The Fayetteville High School team has led a 21st Century Learners initiative for 10 schools throughout Talladega County. Modeled after the training sponsored by the ABPC, the FHS team, along with other teachers from Winterboro School, have served as mentors to over 20 teachers in their school system.  The team will display the materials used for this project as well as evaluations from some of the participants in the program.

Wrights Mill Road Elementary
Tech-Know Expo
5th grade students brainstormed topics related to technology that interest them.  Then, they volunteered to teach those topics they felt they were “Tech-sperts” in.  The students prepared presentations for the younger grades and invited parents and members of the community to attend.  Topics ranged from “Lights, Camera, Pinnacle in Action,” to iPod 101 and “How to Convince Your Parents to Let You Get A Cell Phone.”  Students taught about blogging, making avatars, using Blabber, and the latest and greatest in text messaging.

Culture Change- Breaking Down Tradition

Interesting discussion over on Student 2.0 by Sean (the bass player) a student in Scotland and a group of teachers.

The post was inspired from some well meant questions from a caring American adult (teacher) who was chatting with Sean at 1:30am (Scotland). I think it was more the perceived inferences Sean drew from the questions that inspired his post, not necessarily the intentions of the asker, but regardless, the conversation struck a chord with me.

Where do we draw the line?
Sean asks, "Where do we draw the line?" in response to the question- “Does it seem strange to you to associate with a bunch of adults?”  There is more to the conversation- I encourage you to go read Sean's post for contextual reference for this discourse that follows.

The line Sean is talking about has more to do with the hidden rules of tradition and territory than it does with a moral or digital citizenship line of sorts. It is one that while more visible in the 21st Century has been around since Amateur radios began showing up in homes.  It also has a bit to do with motivations, goals, intellect and family culture I think. Let me explain.

It is a matter of family norms and culture
Sean's preference for adults is not new and he certainly isn't the only one. There are others who don't quite fit the mold and in some families it is by design. I homeschooled my four kids. Amber, my oldest (http://myaimistrue.com), only attended 1 year of conventional education. And Grace, my youngest, entered the traditional system in 5th grade(11-12 year olds).They mostly hung with adults and each other- which had some real advantages. Sure, they had some friends that were their own ages who they mostly saw at church or later in the collaborative school I created, but mainly they preferred adults. Why didn't that bother me? Because in our family the culture (mantra) was- I am raising adults, not kids. I wanted the end product to be adults, so having lots of interaction with adults seemed to make sense.

My kids were mature for their age and had lots of questions and interests that other kids simply were not into, so it just made more sense for them to connect with folks who could help them learn what they wanted to learn. Besides, learning in our family took place 24/7 even at 1:30am-- as we all had people we spoke to around the world. And I do not think that is so different than it was for my father as he was a Hamm Radio nut when he was a kid and up at all times of the night trying to accommodate for time zones.

And being a homeschooling family, the more interesting or diverse the adults my kids befriended, the better. Since my kids could pursue their passions in terms of content studied, we actively sought out adult mentors who could serve as SMEs (subject matter experts), and technology helped a great deal with that. My kids would often attend the college classes I taught and participate in the discussions. They felt as comfortable around adults as they did children, not because they were so different- but more because our culture and experience was different. 

Tools today are more powerful
While we didn't have the same tools we have now, we did have some. Bulletin boards and asynchronous chat boards were popular, IRC chat, and various protocols that gave us direct access to each other's machines. Sometimes I would make the relationships online and introduce my new found friends to my kids and sometimes they would introduce me to who they had met. I will admit- in the beginning of all this- there were typically more "techie types" online than there was Joe average, so less chance for a need to exercise digital citizenship (safety)  skills. It simply hadn't caught on yet. However, if I had been given a choice between my kids being online at 1:30 am talking to someone in Scotland who was a responsible adult or having them out riding around in a car, breaking curfew with other immature, age-specific peers-- well you get the idea. Plus, when you raise your kids to be responsible online and have open lines of communication there is a level of trust that is developed. And until that trust is broken, there is no reason to doubt that the relationships  they are making in person or online aren't healthy. Staying involved is the key.

I say all this to say- not all kids are the same. Not all parenting styles are the same. My kids now are all very successful and madly creative. They are well adjusted and have lots of friends. They all say they have fond memories of growing up in a house that included such different learning opportunities and access to a variety of interesting adults through both hands-on and virtual experiences. And they all have continued to develop relationships with interesting adults from around the world.

Teachable Moments and Networking

Let me help you understand the different mind set. Because the culture in our family was learning as a life style and not just when school was in- we were always on "game" in terms of teachable moments.
I remember going to WalMart and seeing two young adults (my age at the time) on bikes who were traveling long distance. I thought, what a cool experience this would be for my kids. I struck up a conversation with these strangers and invited them to stay at my house for a few days. Turns out, Jenny and Dan were from Seattle and had just gotten married. As part of their honeymoon, they decided to take a cross country bike trip for a year and Jenny, a writer was documenting it all on a laptop!!! (Remember 15 years ago laptops were not as common). Boy did I score. Here we had young, interesting adults who used higher order thinking to plan a year long trip, one was a writer, they were traveling and could share their experiences with my kids.

We got out a map and documented everywhere they had been with pins and yarn. (picture shows how we used this technique to study other things too) We researched the geography, culture, and landforms. We talked about how you plan a year long trip and the kids planned their own using their newly found skills. We  looked at bikes in general, the mechanics, how to wrench, the science behind them and the environmental impact. The curriculum we discovered in Jenny and Dan was endless. When they left- they emailed back their locations and we continued to track them on the map.

Well meaning friends asked-- How did you know they weren't mass murders? What if they had been drug addicts or had hurt your children while you slept or what if they had stolen things? All valid questions I guess but  not part of our reality, much like Sean 's feeling of  surprise, " I surprisingly hadn’t thought about it before."

Not Wrong- Just Different
That isn't to say this way is "the" way to raise a family. Homeschooling sure has gotten its share of criticism as well. It is to say that there are different ways to raise kids that are acceptable even if they do not fit into the traditional vein. And adults are not the only ones who feel discomfort with breaking tradition (Sean's post).  Teens also feel territorial about places like MYSpace. My kids use to get asked all the time if it creeped them out that I was on MySpace and Facebook. They would laugh and say not at all as I was there first. 

Bottom Line
I think the most important message I got from what Sean wrote was this- Teachers we need to ask ourselves...

Do we want what we are preaching or not? Do we want kids who know how to use these tools in powerful and pervasive ways to connect and collaborate with others from around the world-- even at the cost of breaking our comfort and relationship with the status quo. Are we willing to unlearn most of what we know and relearn new ways -- new norms-- for how healthy relationships are established and nurtured in the 21st Century? Do we believe in learning ecologies made up of very diverse people who help inform our student's interests and passions?

Model for your students how to build a personal learning network
The kids are ready for relationships defined by community and what each learner has to share- and not bound by the traditions of teachers having to be the expert. I feel I have come full circle. Now rather than looking for teachable moments with interesting adults so my kids can learn what they need to learn, I find myself looking for opportunities to learn with/from interesting students who have garnered skill and wisdom through their use of these participatory medias. I want to learn all Sean has learned in his late night ventures with interesting adults. I hope he doesn't hang with kids all the time and that his parents continue to allow him to be part of a learning community that is trying to leave education a better place.

As educators we need to get ready for a real shift in culture. The shifts that are coming will not allow "business as usual" rather it will be "business as unusual". That is why it is critical for all of us to first own these emerging technologies and the pedagogy/culture that surrounds them, by using Web 2.0 tools to connect- in an effort to chase our own passions. Through the experience of building of your own PLN, not only will you model for your students how this should be done, but you might find some transformational moments along the way -that like mine with Jenny and Dan- will leave you a better person. And do NOT discount what those younger or older than you have to offer. Use expertise and passion- not age- as criteria for who you should learning from and for who should be part of your learning network.

I look forward to your comments, concerns, and push back. Let's have this hard conversation.

Photo credit: http://www.ky4ky.com/yhn.htm

Just Came Across These...

Picked this up via MiddleWeb's biweekly newsletter-

EVERYBODY LOVES FREEBIES
http://snipurl.com/1vd88
You may have visited the Teachers Pay Teachers website in the past.
It was started a couple of years ago by teacher Paul Edelman, who
eventually sold it to Scholastic and is now the site's general
manager. Good pay, we'd guess. Anyway, you may not know that the site
features nearly a thousand free teacher-products (in addition to
5000+ you can buy for fairly small change). This link leads to a
search engine for the no-cost stuff. While you're there, you might
look into sharing or selling some work of your own.

   
Digizen.org
Digital citizenship isn’t just about recognizing and dealing with online hazards. It’s about building safe spaces and communities, understanding how to manage personal information, and about being internet savvy - using your online presence to grow and shape your world in a safe, creative way, and inspiring others to do the same. This site includes curriculum and videos about cyberbullying awareness.

Senior Year: A Teenage Wasteland

My brilliant friend Mary Tedrow posted this piece over on Teacher Magazine. It is a must read.

Senior Year: A Teenage Wasteland
In 2001, the U.S. Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley called the high school senior year a "wasteland." In 2005, researchers concluded that the majority of high school students were not challenged during their senior year in reading, writing, or math. To many teachers who work with high school seniors, these findings ring true. They best apply to the wide swath of "average" students who travel the featureless landscape called senior year. Teacher Magazine, 8/1/07 (free registration required)

To give you a taste of why the free registration is worth it, here is a piece from the article as Mary describes what the senior year *could* be...

I would go a large step further and treat the senior year as a unique capstone experience. By eliminating strict scheduling, a team of teachers and counselors could shepherd seniors through a meaningful transition. Students could work with teachers to design a schedule that would include coursework, apprenticeships, and community activities. Seniors could also accept ownership in the school community by participating in tutoring, student courts, in-house television and radio programs, designing and writing school publications, maintaining websites, or even helping interview prospective teachers. In short, let kids test the waters. Let them make decisions in close mentorship with adults.

I say-- YES. And let's take it a step further. Let's imagine the entire school experience being that meaningful. Why stop at one year?

Mary Tedrow, a National Board-certified teacher, has taught high school English and Journalism for 17 years. In the fall she will begin teaching juniors at John Handley High School in Winchester, VA.

SchoolNet and Community Building

Part of my experience at NECC was serving as a live blogger for the Teacher 2.0 Viewpoint which is part of the Global SchoolNet learning community being launched by SchoolNet. As folks passed by the SchoolNet booth I would interview them in terms of their understanding of the Teacher 2.0 concept; some of the interviews are short podcasts and some are text. I have copied them from my viewpoint blog here for your convenience. The longest podcast is nine min. most are only a minute or two. When listened to together, I think they reveal some interesting patterns of understanding.

Subscribe to the podcasts all available in one place.

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Teacher 2.0 - Being Tech Savvy is a Non-negotiable

Maggie Dean and Diane Hagler are two computer managers in elementary schools in Georgia. They took a few minutes out of their conference to share what they think of when discussing the Teacher 2.0 concept. Here are the highlights of their viewpoint and to hear more click on the podcast.

Teacher 2.0 means: being tech savvy- it isn't an option, it also means being able to use all the research tools on the Internet and then being able to show students how to use them. These teachers will need to know everything from PDAs, Ipods, to blogging.

Teacher 2.0 means: being able to use resources other than the Internet, rather it is being able to use a wide variety of media tools.

Teacher 2.0 means: being open to change, challenges and new ideas. These teachers will explore and find new and interesting ways to reach their students.

Teacher 2.0 means: better teacher preparation that prepares teachers for the real world of teaching.

Bottom line for Maggie and Diane- Spend money on teacher quality and technology for teachers as well as students.

Click here for the podcast

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Reversed Mentorship- Students as Teachers

Lillian Lee is a computer teacher for 9th grade students and shares her ideas about Teacher 2.0 in the following short podcast.

Click here to listen to her ideas.

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Major Shift- Students Teach in Teacher 2.0

"Teacher 2.0 is energy and excitement, lack of fear, and willingness to try something new."

Tom Woodard is an educational blogger who serves as an instructional technology resource teacher in Virginia. Listen as he describes his take on Teacher 2.0.

Click here for the podcast

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An IT Perspective

Tommy Matanan works as an IT support specialist in Georgia schools. He feels that teacher change is the only way we are going get students ready for the 21st Century workplace. Listen as he discusses what Teacher 2.0 means through the IT lens. 

Listen to the Podcast by Clicking Here

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Karen Henke- Wisdom of the Crowds

Teacher of Today
"I think the teacher of today's students is someone who is really open and flexible, curious, ready to learn- someone who doesn't know everything there is to know about technology, but trusts their students, parents and everyone in the community to help them learn more."

Listen to the podcast below as Karen Henke shares her ideas about Teacher 2.0, The wisdom of the crowds, and more. Click here for the podcast with Karen.

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Cathy Shields, Jen Wagner, and Karen Eini

A group of Teacher 2.0 educators from the blogosphere stopped by the SchoolNet booth and I took the opportunity to record their ideas about teacher competencies in the 21st Century.

Take a minute to listen to Cathy Shields- a technology leader and teacher in Georgia,
Jen Wagner, who leads Women of the Web 2.0, and Karen Eini an instructor in a college setting in Israel.

Click here to listen

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More Teacher 2.0

LeAnn, a technology company professional, says that teacher 2.0 from her perspective is all about building teacher community and transparency. She feels that teachers need to be in MySpace and use social networking tools to understand the world students live in today. She believes that teacher 2.0 means a teacher is passionate and able to see the individuality of a child. Teachers today need to give students true tools for learning. Students today are going to be dealing with "complex knowledge explosions" and teachers need to help them be ready. A teacher in the 21st Century should become the catalyst for learning, she actually is the most important tool available for students to use in making sense of their world. With today's changing demographic, teachers need to change their style to meet the needs of these students.

Joan Schlegelmilch is a district administrator in Virginia and defines Teacher 2.0 as someone who is not necessarily the holder of information but rather is the facilitator who can find resources and uses traditional resources. "It is going to be more important for children to find and use information and teachers need to be able to help students do that effectively." Teachers in the near future will assess student learning differently. Rather than multiple choice, we will give students problem-based senarios that will require students to apply knowledge in order to solve them. She feels this will be the standardized test of the future.

Joan believes that the way we access information is changing and how we use it is changing, so it is only natural that teachers change the way they operate in the classroom. A 2.0 teacher uses technology as a tool to accomplish instruction; they are not just playing games in the computer lab but rather using the tools in meaningful ways. These teachers are also collaborating with other teachers from around the world bringing their expertise into the classroom.

The Way to Change
"It's a little like eating an elephant," Joan says about implementing the change. We have to do it a little at a time. In her district there are teachers who are really experimenting and using Web 2.0 tools. She feels that as teachers see their colleagues experience success, others will follow. Teachers need a comfort level with ICT tools and be willing to engage in ways other than f2f venues.

VBCPS Leads the Way
Joan described several exciting projects that are taking place in the schools in Virginia Beach that involve 21st Century pedogogy. She feels that some of the classrooms really are starting to look like learning ecologies where high school kids are using electronic tools to connect and mentor elementary students all while bringing experts from around the globe into their classrooms.

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Administrator 2.0

 

Arlene Harrison is a principal in Maryland who feels that a teacher in the 21st Century will see children as an asset. She sees that teacher as someone who can think for themselves, be flexible and strive to grow professionally. A 21st Century teacher will take time to get to know each child in the classroom and then adjust their teaching based on that data. Teacher 2.0 means risk taker, someone interested in lifelong learning, an innovator and a teacher leader. "These teachers understand how to be creative and innovative within the framework of the standards and still meet the needs of the children they serve." Arlene's school is a univeristy partnership professional development school and because of the hands-on experience the preservice teachers get, she feels they come well prepared when she hires them.

Administrator 2.0
I asked Arlene about Administrator 2.0 and how her job was changing. She passionately described the new role principals must take as innovators, how they need to be role models in using these 21st Century strategies who are willing to be uncomfortable. Administrator 2.0 means a willingness to change and put themselves out there. She has found the way to move some of her teachers who are digital immigrants  forward is to take them where they are and be accepting and allow them to take mini steps in their adoption of the new strategies. She has found that she has to model for them by taking classes and attending conferences like NECC. Another strategy she uses is to model integration during her staff development meetings.

When asked if any of her teachers are blogging Arlene said that she feels that part of the problem with Web 2.0 is that the policies need to catch up with the tools, once that happens more teachers will be using these communication tools. Her teachers collaborate within a virtual community created by the school to share resources and engage each others.

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Georgia Perspective

I am at NECC asking educators about their perception of Teacher 2.0

Josh Griffis, a district IT professional in Georgia, feels that teachers in the 21st Century need to not be afraid to use the technologies they have available. He sees so much technology going under utilized and feels the real change will take place in terms of Teacher 2.0 when the next generation of teachers comes along. When I asked Josh what he felt the most important attribute of a teacher should be, he said the ability to take an interest in each child, that by getting to know students in a meaningful way teachers can use the student passion to help them learn.

Pam Whimpie, a teacher in Georgia, says that educators today need a keen understanding of how knowledge is changing and to know that it is increasing expotentially and because of that, there is an need to make the classroom student-centered. She feels the teachers she works with are in the emergent stage of Teacher 2.0.

Pam's attribute list for Teacher 2.0 includes a Willingness to collaborate and someone who doesn't focus on the textbook but ratherlooks more at problem solving.

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A Teacher's Take on 2.0

Ginger Long, a teacher in Illinois added to the conversation we are having here at NECC around Teacher 2.0, "Teachers need to think more creatively and collaboratively, not just in a linear fashion. They need to understand that there are multiple ways of looking at a problem." Listen as she discusses administrator 2.0, digital natives and more.

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Tech at NECC

I am here at NECC outside the SchoolNet booth and there is noticable excitement around the launch of their new virtual learning community for educators- Global-SchoolNet! I took the opportunity to talk with a few educators who happened by the booth about the concept of Teacher 2.0 to try and get a feel of what others think.

Michael Graf, District IT Director in Western NY said that Teacher 2.0 needs to include the ability to determine which software applications and other information tools will bring harm to the network. He feels that teachers should have an understanding of how certain tools impact the network's integrity. He also believes that educators of the 21st Century need to focus more on relationships. "If there is a negative to Web 2.0, it is that takes away from face-to-face time", shared Graf. Teachers need to be more invested in their students and Graf believes technology helps narrows that border. Teachers today need to understand that parents are an important part of the picture even in terms of technology use in the classroom.They need to include their buy-in every step of the way.

Listen to the Podcast from Alabama Educators The next group that wandered by were district administrators from Alabama. Aimee Smith, April Chamberlain, and Shawn Nutting were very intentional as they shared their conceptual framework around 21st Century skills and Teacher 2.0. Listen as they discuss Teacher 2.0 competencies and what they preceive to be the needed skillset for teachers to work as an information management team. "Teacher 2.0 educators are collaborators, connectors, self-starters, and relationship builders."
Click here for podcast

Bill Ferriter's Book List

My colleague Bill Ferriter was asked by his administrator to put together a list of books that may be helpful to the learning teams in his school yesterday.  Thought you guys might be interested in his list----caught him on Skype and he said I could share it with you! I noticed my friend Will's book made his list!

On Teaming
One of the challenges that many learning teams face is understanding the different stages of team development.  Mastering positive habits is essential for any group of teachers that are committed to collaboration, and yet these habits are elusive and poorly understood in a profession where isolation has been the norm.  These titles will help teachers and teams to understand what teaming looks like in action and provide strategies for improving efficiency:

Camel Makers:  Building Effective Teacher Teams Together
109 pages.  Copyright 2003
http://tinyurl.com/2jxum9

This title, written for the National Middle School Association by Daniel Kain, is a great read for teams that are still working through the storming and norming process of community building.  Written partly in fable form, it tracks the work of an imaginary team working to develop the world's first camel.  Teachers will clearly see the successes and struggles that teams must work through as they grow to know one another as collaborators.  The end of each chapter draws from extensive research on team development to make suggestions about behaviors and practices that lead to success.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team
227 pages.  Copyright 2002
http://tinyurl.com/3c3mkm

This title, which has been widely embraced by corporate America as a tool for developing highly productive teams in any organization--also uses the story of a fictional team as a foundation for exploring the kinds of issues that teams must work through in order to be successful.  Most interesting is a conversation of the important role that trust plays in a team's successful development.  Healthy conflict is also introduced and explored in detail.  Perhaps most valuable are ancillary materials that are readily available in the book and online that teams can use to assess their own development.

Teacher Teams that Get Results
248 pages.  Copyright 2007
http://tinyurl.com/2owt3o

This new book, released by Corwin Press, contains a collection of 61 practical strategies that teams can use to improve their efficiency and to establish practices that are likely to bring success.  The strategies
offered are approachable and easy to understand---and are broken into categories like "Building Resilience," "Creating Solutions," and "Determining Priorities."  While many of the ideas in this book may seem basic to professional developers, they will strike teachers new to teaming as valuable for creating the structures necessary for teamwork.

On Student Development
Professional Learning Teams remain committed to ensuring the success of every student.  In order to be effective, this commitment must be centered on an understanding of the nature of the student populations served.  These titles will help teachers to better understand the unique characteristics of
middle school children:

Not Much, Just Chillin:  The Hidden Lives of Middle Schoolers
267 pages.  Copyright 2003
http://www.notmuchjustchillin.com/

This title, written by a Washington Post reporter who followed a group of middle school students through one complete year, is an engaging look into the lives of children written from the perspective of an outsider.  While it doesn't directly deal with the development of professional learning communities, it draws the needs---both social and academic---of middle grades children into focus, driving conversations about instruction tailored for students of this unique grade grouping.

The Myth of Laziness
270 pages.  Copyright 2003
http://tinyurl.com/2dtauu

In this title, Dr. Mel Levine---expert on learning disabilities from the Center for Development and Learning in Chapel Hill---makes the case that student failure can often be tracked back to 7 learning challenges that can be identified and addressed through specific strategies taken by parents, students and teachers.  Written through the lens of students that Levine has worked with in his career, each chapter will resonate with teachers who will recognize students struggling with similar problems.  Most valuable, however, is a checklist that can be used to identify which learning challenge individual students are struggling with.  Without a doubt, this title is a must read for teachers interested in beginning to serve struggling students well.

On Documenting Practices that Work
A central focus of any learning team should be identifying and then amplifying instructional practices that work.  By documenting our teaching, we can--as a group--begin to more effectively serve students with teaching ideas that work.  What's more, we can eliminate practices that are inefficient!  These titles will help teachers to better understand how teachers can engage in reflective study of instruction:

Teacher-Researchers at Work
295 pages.  Copyright 1999
http://tinyurl.com/3ymxk4

This title---published by the National Writing Project---outlines the specific steps that teachers working through action research should take to collect information about practices and to document the impact of their instruction.  Topics covered include tools used to record steps taken while researching, data points that can be used to evaluate the impact of instructional practices, strategies for observing the impact of teaching, and structuring your findings for public review.  Also valuable are a collection of research reports completed by teachers in several content areas that serve as samples of what qualitative research looks like for classroom teachers.

Guiding School Improvement with Action Research
Copyright 2000.  216 pages.
http://shop.ascd.org/productdisplay.cfm?productid=100047

Written by Action Research Guru Richard Sagor, this title begins by making the case that teachers must document the impact of their instructional practices in order to elevate their status as professionals and to establish ownership over their work.  Without making efforts to document impact, teachers are often pushed aside in instructional decision making by those who believe that standardized testing is a more effective measure of student learning---and teacher performance.  Sagor then goes on to outline the steps that teacher researchers should take to identify instructional practices that work.  His text is approachable and easy to understand, leading teachers through the process of action research step-by-step.

On Instruction
Teachers working in isolation often find themselves relying on familiar practices that they find comfortable rather than stretching their collection of instructional strategies.  The following books can serve to introduce teams of teachers to new practices that are worth experimenting with:

Summarization in Any Subject
Copyright 2005.  225 pages
http://shop.ascd.org/productdisplay.cfm?productid=104014

Summarization is a critical thinking skill that requires students to wrestle with their understanding of content introduced by teachers across all disciplines.  While often associated with reading teachers, effective summarization practices will increase student learning and retention in any classroom.  This title, written by an accomplished teacher from Virginia, introduces readers to 50 specific strategies that can be used for summarization in any subject.  Each strategy is described in 2-3 pages, complete with rationale, process for implementation and variations.  What makes this title particularly interesting is that strategies are grouped by categories including those that are quick, involve artistic expression,
involve movement, or those that rely on writing and verbal expression.

Socratic Circles:  Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and
High School
Copyright 2005.  162 pages
http://tinyurl.com/6ucah

One instructional practice that has been proven to move students beyond simple memorization of content are seminars.  The challenge for teachers, however, is learning to structure seminars that are engaging and meaningful to students.  This title makes that process approachable and easy.  Beginning with a rationale for seminars, the author then moves on to provide templates and tools that can be used to introduce students to the process, to evaluate student performance during seminars and to provide feedback after seminars have been completed.  By far one of the most practical titles on structuring seminars, this book will change your instructional practices in a profound way.

Deeper Reading:  Comprehending Challenging Texts, Grades 4-12
Copyright 2004.  223 Pages
http://tinyurl.com/2jolxg

One of the mistakes that educators often make is assuming that reading instruction begins and ends at the elementary level.  In reality, meaningful reading instruction must continue throughout a child's K-12 career.  This title works to provide practical pre, during and post reading strategies to teachers of all content areas and grade levels.  What makes it particularly valuable is that the strategies offered are simple yet engaging, requiring small changes on the part of classroom teachers yet yielding remarkable
results in a short period of time.

Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms
Copyright 2006.  148 pages.
http://www.corwinpress.com/booksProdDesc.nav?prodId=Book228840

The children that we serve in today's classrooms are some of the first to have spent their entire lives connected.  They are comfortable with digital learning in ways that most educators aren't.  What's more, they are some of the first who must become comfortable with technology to succeed in a world that is sprinting towards a future that will see global connections creeping into every profession.  Despite this reality, technology use in most classrooms remains simple.  This title, written by a widely respected classroom technology expert, seeks to provide the technological "know-how" necessary for educators to become more adept at using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom.  It provides practical strategies and step-by-step suggestions for introducing blogs, podcasts and wikis into your instruction.

Teacher 2.0 Blog

Just wanted to let all of you know that I have been asked to contribute to Teacher 2.0 - a new blog on "How the Internet can be used to create learning communities that advance professional development and improve classroom instruction."   The blog is promoted by David Deschryver and Denis Doyle of SchoolNet, with an impressive list of contributors. They invited Barnett Berry to participate and he asked me to be a co-contributor with him. I am quite humbled. There is one other educator on the list of contributors- Dana Huff.

I think this blog is a wonderful opportunity for all of us to engage policy makers and educational reformers around a topic of which we are all very passionate. I hope you will visit the blog often and engage in the conversations and ideas through your comments. Plus, I could use your moral support! Here is my first co-post.

Check the blog out at: http://edustatblog.com/

In addition, School Net is also hosting a conference: EduStat Summit 2007

June 6,7,8 2007
Columbia University
Teachers College, NYC

Teacher 2.0™: Developing the 21st Century Workforce

Teacher 2.0™: What are the core competencies for teachers, administrators and school staff in the twenty-first century?  How will we attract, develop and advance talent?  How will organizational design affect student achievement?  How will technology modernize school administration? As we set higher standards for our children, how will we equip educators for the new challenges they face in 21st century schools?