Just Press Enter...

I've done a lot of looking around lately. I've worked in the business world, and I've worked in education for quite some time. What I've seen as I've stopped, and sometimes stared, are people using their smartphones, laptops, desktop computers and now tablet devices to be productive in their jobs, communicate, and make collaborative decisions about work and family life.

People live their mobile lives connected to mobile devices and mobile people. That's how we all work, play, and learn. If that is how we work, play and learn the question truly becomes why should technology not be integrated into the classroom? Why should it not mirror business so students can become work-ready, and mirror society, so students can become active civic participants?

I fully understand in tough economic times that technology in the hands of students are equity and money issues, but look around away from your schools and you'll see students from elementary ages through adulthood already using devices of their own, working and participating in online endeavors, living online lives. Like any other tool, technology in the classroom has to be integrated from not just a functional perspective, but also a safety and ethical perspective. Otherwise, the issue becomes a double-edged sword. It can be an avenue to truly engaging learning experiences, or a trail leading down some very negative paths with potentially some very serious consequences.

A research report entitled "Teens Kindness and Cruelty on Social Network Sites" released November 9th by The Pew Internet and American Life Project stated "95% of all teens ages 12-17 are now online, and 80% of those online teens are users of social media sites." Students are weaving their way through the world wide web wilderness with or without guidance or education about safety, ethical, and health issues. Knowing this, we cannot afford to stick our heads in the sand.

Our students need to come out of schools not only knowing how to use technologies, but also how to participate appropriately as informed global digital citizens who can filter the masses of information with which they are bombarded. Media literacy is essential so it should be woven into every lesson using any type of researched resource.

So what does technology integration look like in a well-functioning classroom? As I see it, technology offers three exceptional benefits - the ability to explore, the ability to inform and reform thoughts, and the ability to create responses to what is explored and learned. It's a reciprocal relationship centered around the content. The tools just become part and parcel of the content we are teaching.

Tools will change as technology changes, but the ability to use it to acquire and manipulate information quickly, prompt to think, rethink, analyze, synthesize, and create will always be part of the human experience. We are curious and social by nature, and technology has tapped into those human drives. Successfully integrated technology into classroom learning experiences doesn't make the devices invisible, but they're not the centerpiece of the learning experience. (Photo by Brad Flickinger via a creative commons license)

What train are you on?

As I was reading "How PowerPoint is Killing Education" by Marc Issels, I came across a statement that really caught my attention:


“The good news is that teachers do not need to jump off the technology train; they just need to change cars. They need to uncover methods of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity.”


There are several individual parts of that statement that jump out at me:

• technology train
• methods of using technology
• old-world skills
• 21st Century Skills
• critical thinking
• problem solving
• perseverance
• creativity

To me, the technology train is not the one that teachers need be on ... even if they are in the correct car. I know that may sound strange coming from a person who works for a technology department, but as I am quick to point out, I work in instructional technology .... and I feel I am way more on the instructional side than the technology side. As educators, our job is to develop, encourage, and support student learning in anyway possible ... whether that means using technology or not. I feel teachers should be on the student learning train.

The student learning train may have cars for differentiated learning, direct instruction, indirect instruction, experiential learning, independent study, interactive instruction, as well as many other ways teachers use to meet the learning needs of students. If visual art is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If hands-on learning is needed as part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there. If problem-based, product-based, or inquiry learning needs to be a part of one of those train cars, then it needs to be there. If technology needs to be a part of one of those cars, then it needs to be there too.  

We need to be choosing the best ways to meet the needs of students ... and not just using a certain teaching style or tool just because that equipment is in the classroom.

Does a doctor use every tool that is in the office to treat every single patient every single day? He or she uses the most appropriate tool for the needs of the job at hand. If I have a room full of technology equipment, but cutting an apple or folding a piece of paper is the best way to meet student needs for learning that day, then I should do what best meets the needs of students.

I also noticed how the statement at the beginning of this blog post mentions methods of using technology to help students. For an educator, just knowing how to create animations in a powerpoint presentation, how to create a path for a wiki, or how to make a pivot table in excel is not enough ... we need to know the methods of how to use that technology knowledge to help students. The "knowing how to help" knowledge does not start with technology but starts with knowing the students and knowing the content or curriculum that students are expected to know.  You have to know your curriculum and how to effectively teach that curriculum to students to be able to integrate technology with it. The focus of lessons should be on the content and not on the technology being used.

Another part of the statement that really caught my attention and made me smile was the idea of using technology to help students develop old-world skills that are also 21st century skills. Over the years, I have read, heard, and even written about 21st century skills, but never really thought of them as old world skills until now. The skills involved in critical thinking, problem solving, perseverance, and creativity are not "new" skills that we are just now promoting in education. We may be looking at them in somewhat new ways or approaching them in ways different from before, but they all involve ways of thinking .... and thinking is not a new thing in education.

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/35849460@N00/18512452/

First Year ...

... A Reflection

created from Wordle.net

Next Tuesday, July 12, marks my first year as a District Instructional Technologist with the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School System. I have very much enjoyed my first year. I have learned a lot during this year. There have been some highs and lows, but overall a great first year.

Blogging:  I have been blogging more this year. I am still not great at it, but by continuing to write, I have gotten better and will continue to get better. My biggest challenges with writing a blog is figuring out what to write about and coming up with a catchy title. As you can see from this title, I still haven't conquered that. I will continue to work on this. We write on a weekly basis (sometimes more than that) for our departmental blog. I have enjoyed this, and I think our department writes about a lot of interesting tools, web sites, ideas, etc.

Twitter: I was pretty much a "lurker"on Twitter for a long time. I kept thinking that I really had nothing to share with people and would re-tweet people who I knew had something more important to say than I did. As I got used to Twitter, I started adding to who I was following. I follow some very amazing people. Through them, I have learned so much. I have learned that by talking with each other virtually, you still get to know a person. When you are lucky enough to meet them in person, it is like meeting a good friend. I hope to meet more of my Twitter friends in the future. Someone from my PLN said this and it has always stuck with me: I am fairly bright on my own, but with my PLN behind me I am brilliant! 

Web 2.0 Tools: Because of my friends in our Skype group, my Twitter friends, and the people in my department, I have started using more Web 2.0 tools. My top 5 favorites (I will exclude Blogger and Twitter since I have talked about them previously) are:Glogster EDU; Edmodo; Symbaloo; Livebinders; and Wonderopolis/Thinkfinity. I have written about most of these in previuos blog posts.

ActivInspire: A big part of my time the last several months have been learning about ActivInspire and the Promethean ActivBoards. I have enjoyed learning the software and the educational activities that can be created with it.

Some of my highs this year was presenting for the first time at the state technology conference (NCTies), presenting for the first time at a national conference (National Center for Family Literacy), and working with teachers to help them integrate technology into their lesson plans. A low point was realizing that sometimes you can't please everyone. Let me just say that my high points far outweighed the few low points I had.

I am eagerly looking forward to year 2 and all the learning it will bring.

What Does a 21st Century Learner Look Like?

So often we hear the phrase “21st Century Learner,” but what does that actually mean? This exact question was asked of me by one of my professors awhile back and I admit, it caught me off guard. Not only was I put on the spot, but I too pondered the same question for quite some time. The only truthful way I knew to go about answering this question was to draw on my own experience and intuition. I sat and pictured my students in my classroom and visualized what I wanted to see them doing...

- Communicating
- Collaborating
- Problem Solving
- Evaluating
- Innovating

To be fair, I asked the same question in regards to teachers. ”What does a 21st Century Teacher look like?” If we are supposed to prepare these students for the future, how does that change our role as teachers? Teaching literacy, no longer means teaching someone to read and write with paper and pencil. Today, literacy is digital literacy. We need to facilitate and inspire creativity amongst ourselves and our students! As 21st Century Teachers we need to continue to...

- Design authentic and relevant lessons that engage students
- Model digital citizenship
- Communicate ideas effectively
- Collaborate using digital media/formats
- Be a life long learner!

Moving forward in 2011, we must prepare ourselves for what issues lie ahead as we strive to prepare our students for the 21st century. In order to create 21 century learners, teachers and administrators need support! Teachers need time to develop/redevelop their lessons to include the use of digital technologies. Teachers need to be comfortable with the technology they are using and not be afraid to update their methods. Teachers need strong leadership that values technology and understands how it can enhance the curriculum. Instead of pushing for high test scores, we need to teach students to think critically and decide whether or not a piece of information is credible. One must know how to identify a problem, think through solutions and explore new options if their solutions don't work. If students can do that then high test scores should follow because students can actually be problem solvers and informed decision makers. Now is the time to not just think outside the box, but think through them, be a risk takers and be creative!

Next Generation Learning

Next Generation Learning is the concept of using technology to develop learning models and personalized education pathways. Currently in the United States nearly 30 percent of students don’t complete high school and only 42 percent of students graduate from college with a bachelor’s degree. How will we address the learning styles and needs of the next generation of students and prepare them with 21st century skills?


The publication Next Generation Learning was produced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “The foundation has invested $5 billion in programs and partnerships in the United States to address” the challenges faced by our education system and lack of qualified workers that is impacting our economy. The foundation supports the Common Core State Standards Initiative that has produced a set of standards for states to follow for language arts and math skills that students need to learn to be successful in college. Based on these core standards the foundation is investing “in the development of instructional materials that align with those standards” and “assessment tools that provide real-time feedback to students and teachers.”


The goal of developing innovative learning models and personalized pathways is to provide “access to high-quality, relevant and engaging content in a variety of forms” to all students. The elements of the next generation learning model include:

• Effective assessment tools that align with college preparation standards and clear postsecondary learning objectives
• Engaging digital content
• Algorithms and match student needs with content and delivery methods
• Technology-enable professional development tools
• Learning management platforms that integrate and deliver these components

Technology-based solutions can be a cost-effective way to provide effective learning solutions for schools across the nation in this time of tight school budgets.

Next Generation Learning Challenges is a nonprofit partnership that aims to “improve college readiness and college completion through the use of technology and digital media.” The main objectives are:

• To encourage more investment in technology-enabled solutions that improve the quality of learning and student outcomes for low-income students
• To support a portfolio of solutions that demonstrate evidence of success
• To encourage large institutions to partner with innovators to support adoption of their solutions
• To establish a network of collective learning among innovators and adopters

The Next Generation Learning Challenges is led by EDUCAUSE in partnership with the League for Innovation in the Community College, iNACOL the International Association for K-12 Online Learning the Council for Chief State School Officers, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation with other funders. It is the belief of these organizations that providing the intelligent use of technology in combination with new emerging evidence-based models of teaching and learning will improve college readiness and college graduation rates in the United States providing a workforce of qualified employees.

To read this publication please go to:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/postsecondaryeducation/Documents/nextgenlearning.pdf

To learn more about the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation please go to:
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/

How to turn current events into Real-World Projects

Teachers have been looking for ways to do more than talk about current events in class by finding ways to apply science and math to real-world situations. But “how do you plan for academically rigorous projects that are ‘ripped from the headlines’?”

Here are some suggestions from the article.

1. Think about creating a project where your students take the role of the problem solvers, designing a rescue within a certain amount of time. Use the rescue of the 33 trapped Chilean mine workers as an example. Have students think about what they would need to know about human biology and conditions to sustain life Include knowledge about geology and what experts they would need to create a plan to rescue the miners.
• The Learning Network has a lesson for students to create a multimedia project focusing on universal themes. http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/15/chile-y-el-mundo-connecting-the-chilean-miners-story-with-universal-themes/
2. To bring real life events closer to students teachers are implementing projects where students discuss and see events thru other students who live at the effected site, such as the Gulf oil spill in Louisiana.
• Not only can student talk and share pictures from the site but students can discuss the “psychological, economic, and ecological dimensions of the crisis.”
• Does your school use Skype, webcams or pen pals to reach students around the world?
• Voices on the Gulf provides a blog forum for students to discuss ongoing issues related to the Gulf coast - http://www.voicesonthegulf.org/
• Project-Based Learning Camp provided by Edutopia provides a toolkit real world projects using various software programs: Delicious, Twitter, Wallwisher - http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-summer-camp
3. Look at real-life events where students live, such as water shortages, forest fires, water pollution and how polluted or dwindling resources affect their lives, the eco system and what that means for the future. Have students create multimedia presentations to present to the community or to run on local TV cable.
4. Students may also want to take part in service projects where they live or to provide help to victims in other countries.
• Here’s an outline of projects from schools in the Washington area where students researched problems and designed solutions using science, art and technology. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020203425.html
5. Here’s a list of resources for teachers and students to use when developing service-learning or community service projects.
• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse - http://www.servicelearning.org/disaster_response
• Do Something promotes youth action within their communities. Students can be involved by receiving mobile volunteer alerts, posting a video, adding comments to discussion forums, setting up a DoSomething club or volunteering. http://www.dosomething.org/whatsyourthing/Disaster+Response+And+Relief/Disaster+Preparedness

To read the entire article from Edutopia please go to:
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/real-world-projects-news-events-suzie-boss

Ten Tips for Personalized Learning via Technology

How is technology being used in the classroom for more effective teaching, differentiated instruction and to meet the needs of every student in the school? This article outlines how one elementary school uses technology. Each classroom in the school has an interactive whiteboard, eight computers and access to digital cameras, flip cameras, remote-response clickers and PDAs.

Here are some tips from the teachers on how they use this technology with their students.

1. Deliver instruction through multiple forms of media
• Teachers access instructional videos, audio clips, animations, instructional games and other available online resources.
2. Gather and use immediate feedback on students’ understanding
• Teachers use remote-response clickers with practice questions to see where to customize subsequent lessons to meet the needs of all students.
3. Give students options
• Using digital media students are allowed to show learning through a variety of media tools.
4. Automate basic-skills practice
• Teachers use Study Island and EducationCity to identify weaknesses in student skills and then assign lessons according to the students’ needs.
5. Practice independent work skills
• Teachers have procedures so students know how to use the technology and what to do if they have a question.
6. Create a weekly “must-do” and “may do” list
• Teachers provide a list of personalized “must-do” tasks that all students need to complete and a list of “may-do” tasks that students may choose from so all students always have something to do.
7. Pretest students’ knowledge before each unit
• Teachers assess prior knowledge and tailor lessons to each child’s needs.
8. Be flexible when plans go awry
• Teachers model good problem-solving behaviors and involve students in devising alternative approaches when technology isn’t available or not working.
9. Let students drive
• Teachers let students lead the lesson at the whiteboards giving them the opportunity to capitalize on their skills.
10. Share the work of creating differentiated lessons
• Teachers work together to plan units of study with activities to meet the needs of all students.

From this list of ideas think of ways to use technology to provide differentiated instruction, feedback and choices for all of your students? Also, how are you using technology to assist in planning with other teachers?

To read the entire Edutopia article:

http://www.edutopia.org/stw-differentiated-instruction-ten-key-lessons

EDU Glogster Presentations

EDUGlogster has two new features for premium users. Presentations and Portfolios. I put together a couple of Presentations from Glogs that I had previously created or that someone else created and I added to prepared Glogs. The Presentations are listed below.





To create a Presentation, gather similar glogs together, for instance staff development, reading, social studies, etc. Even if you didn't create them yourself, you can add to prepared glogs. To add to prepared glogs: click on a glog and scroll down to find the "Rate It" box. Within this box you can Add to Favorites, Embed it, Edmodo it, and Add to prepared Glogs. Now you can combine like glogs together to make a presentation. You can then look at an individual glog by clicking on the page that is showing.

LEARN NC Fall 2010 Interactive Conference

Yesterday, October 14, I attended an interactive conference hosted by LEARN NC. The first session was on Blended Learning and the presenters were Nancy Mangum, Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at NC State University; and Bobby Hobgood, Ed.D. I had heard of blended learning before, but wasn't exactly sure what it was. What was very interesting is that the presentation modeled what blended learning is or could be. We all came up with ideas of what we thought blended learning was, shared those ideas with the group and the presenters wrote down on the SMART Board what we said, brainstormed more ideas using Bubbl.us, and then we posted the Bubble.us on Edmodo. By modeling collaboration in our "classroom", using a brainstorming tool, and some online learning, we learned more about Blended Learning. Thank you Nancy and Bobby for a very informative session.

Next was a session on Free Technology with Instructify. Instructify is a blog from LEARN NC. Jason Don Forsythe and Ross White presented this session. They talked about several of their favorite web tools that just happen to be free. The first on the list, and one of my favorites (although I use Glogster EDU), is Glogster. Glogster is a digital poster teachers and students can use for free. They also showed us Evernote and Weebly. Evernote is an online note taking application and Weebly allows you to create a free website.

The afternoon sessions were both in-person and virtual. The sessions were about what is on the LEARN NC website. Several of the items they talked about was the North Carolina digital history book, differentiated instruction, and articles on best practices.

Thank you LEARN NC for an informative conference.

Atomic Learning

Do you want to learn at your own pace, on your own time? Choose Atomic Learning. Do you want to learn how to mail merge in Word, learn intermediate skills in Excel, or refresh your skills with Twitter, Skype, PhotoStory? Choose Atomic Learning. You just had a face to face with ActiveInspire or SMART Notebook and you can't remember how to use the on-screen keyboard or adding a resource to the library; what do you do? Go to Atomic Learning and watch a short video on how to do all of the above and so much more.

WSFCS has a subscription to Atomic Learning. You can learn all of the above, plus more in Atomic Learning. Teachers can log into Atomic Learning with their WSFCS email address. Atomic Learning is a tool for educators to use to learn more about different types of technology and software. These video tutorials allow teachers to view just one part of a series, several different parts of the series, or the whole series. However they want to learn. Tech Facilitators and Principals can also assign professional development to the teachers at their school in Atomic Learning.

Discovery Education's Classroom Resources

A little known or little explored area of Discovery Education is the Classroom Resources link. You can see this tab on the Discovery Education site before you log into DE. Once you click on the Classroom Resources tab, there are all sorts of free resources to use in the classroom.

Create a word search, maze, hidden message, etc. using Puzzlemaker. Choose the type of puzzle you would like to create, fill in the information required for that puzzle; for example, the title, how big the puzzle should be, the words or numbers, clues, messages, etc. Then click "Create My Puzzle" and your puzzle appears.

The next tab is Lesson Plan Library. When you click on Lesson Plans, you can choose the grade range you are interested in: K - 5; 6 - 8; and 9 -12. After selecting a grade level, scroll over a subject to view the list of lesson plans available for that subject. Each lesson plan is divided into several different areas: objectives of the lesson; materials needed for the lesson; procedures to follow in delivering the lesson; evaluation of the lesson; the vocabulary used in the lesson; and the standards the lesson addresses.

The "Featured Content" tab has several different web links to choose from. Science of Everyday Life has a list of "Science of Summer" activities and you can learn about the Young Scientist Challenge that 3M and Discovery Education sponsor every year. More information will be coming soon to this site. Energy Balance: 101 is about schools being healthy. There is a contest teachers can sign up for and teachers, parents, and the community can find out more about being healthy and living a healthy life. Explore the Blue includes outside activities that schools and parents can explore with students to develop healthy lifestyles. Web 20.10 has lots of different types of Web 2.0 tools to use in your classroom. There is information on internet safety, media literacy, blogs, and tech tips. For all of you interested in STEM, check out Siemens STEM Academy. There are webinars, resources, contests, and teachers can become STAR's and attend professional development opportunities. Be sure to check out the other web links under Featured Content: Understanding Epilepsy, ReadyZone H1N1, Think Green®, Classroom Emergency Preparedness, New Teacher Survival, WebMath, Clip Art, NASA at 50, Kathy Schrock's Guide, Brain Boosters, Curriculum Center, Learning Adventures, and Worksheets to Go.

The other tabs under Classroom Resources are Parent Corner, Science Fair Central, Discovery Student Adventures, and Contests and Grants. At the bottom of the Classroom Resources page is a list of Featured Resources that you might also like to explore.

Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

Lots of teachers use brainstorming as a way for students to share ideas and possible solutions to a problem. Always define the problem to make sure students clearly understand the problem. Make sure all ideas are written down.

There are four basic rules to brainstorming:

1. Focus on quantity – the greater number of ideas produced generates a greater chance of producing an effective solution.
2. Withhold criticism – focus on extending ideas and suspending judgment.
3. Welcome unusual ideas – help students to look at ideas from different perspectives and not make assumptions.
4. Combine and improve ideas – help students to combine ideas to form a single better idea.

Mind Mapping Steps:

1. Once all brainstormed ideas have been written down students will move to mind mapping. At this point students should begin identifying relationships between the ideas and key points by drawing lines, arrows, or using colors.
2. Students should begin finding contrasts/similarities, cause/effect relationships. These ideas can be written down beside the linking lines.
3. Students will use the map to arrange all the items into a logical order.

Here are some free tools for Brainstorming and Mind Mapping

1. Slick Plan – create sitemaps and flow charts
• http://www.slickplan.com/
2. Thinklinkr – fully collaborative outliner
• http://thinklinkr.com/
3. Webspiration coming this fall – map ideas and organize outlines – subscription
• http://www.webspiration.com/
4. Kidspiration and Inspiration software are used in our school system for all K-12 students.
5. Diagrammr – create and share diagrams by writing sentences
• http://www.diagrammr.com/
6. Imagination Cubed – draw mind maps online, can be used with whiteboards
• http://www.imaginationcubed.com/
7. Edistorm – real time mind mapping and sticky notes
• http://www.edistorm.com/
8. Education Eye – brainstorming with a search engine
• http://www.educationeye.org.uk/
9. Mind42 – collaborative mind mapping
• http://mind42.com/
10. Mindmeister – mind mapping that can be embedded into a site
• http://www.mindmeister.com/
11. Mindomo – detailed mind mapping site with web 2.0 features
• http://www.mindomo.com/

As teachers begin creating fall lesson plans check out these sites for ways to incorporate technology into brainstorming and mind mapping with your students.

To read this article please go to Tech&Learning:
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/31158

Thinkfinity from Verizon

Thinkfinity is a website that contains lesson plans, interactive student materials, educational resources, and professional development; all for free. These resources have been created or reviewed by Content Partners. Content Partners are: Xpeditions, Science NetLinks, EconEdLink, readwritethink, ArtsEdge, Smithsonian's History Explorer, Illuminations, and EdSitement. The front page of Thinkfinity is where you can view resources just added, a calendar "Today in History", lesson plans, intereactives, blogs, etc. At the bottom of the page is where you can find the Content Partner sites. Did I mention that all of this is free?

Xpeditions is from National Geographic. You can search for lesson plans by standards, topic, or grade level. At the bottom of the page you can enter Xpedition Hall which is a virtual museum. Mapping Mars is a sample lesson plan from Xpeditions.

You can search Science NetLinks for Lesson Plans, Tools (interactives), Resources, and Benchmarks. You can also search Science NetLinks by benchmarks, grade level, or topic. Here is a sample lesson plan that includes student E-Sheets and an Interactive. The lesson is "Animal Diversity".

EconEdLink is from the Council of Economic Education. The main items on the front page is CyberTeach, Current Events, DataLinks, and WebLinks. You can click on one of these links to find lessons and activities, or search for a topic. A sample lesson plan from EconEdLink is The Trading Game.

ReadWriteThink is hosted by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English. There are tabs for Classroom Resources, Professional Development, and Parent and Afterschool Resources. A sample lesson plan from readwritethink is "The Tale of Despereaux: Fact or Fiction?".

ArtsEdge is from The Kennedy Center and incorporates the arts into lesson plans. The main elements to this page is Teach, Connect, and Explore. "A Lens into the Past" is a sample lesson plan from ArtsEdge.

Smithsonian's History Explorer is from the Smithsonian. This site is a little different because you can search for resources by historical era. A sample lesson plan from Smithsonian's History Explorer is "A Landmark in American Justice".

Illuminations is sponsored by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. An interactive sample on Illuminations is Vector Investigation: Boat to the Island.

EdSitement is sponsored by the National Endowment for The Humanities and has lesson plans for Art & Culture, Literature & Language Arts, Foreign Language, and History & Social Studies. "The Declaration of Independence: An Expression of the American Mind" is a sample lesson plan.

Each website can be searched by topic, grade level, or standard. They all have interactives and web links as extensions to the lesson. As a teacher, you are allowed to use, change, or copy anything within Thinkfinity for your class. If you go to a website outside of Thinkfinity or one of the partner sites, make sure to check out the copy right information for that particular web page.

By the way, did I mention that it was free?

Pixar University's Randy Nelson on Learning and Working in the Collaborative Age

A lot has been written about 21st Century Skills and jobs of the future but how do schools prepare students for jobs that don't exist yet and give students the needed skills for these job? I recently saw this video from Edutopia by Randy Nelson, Dean of Pixar University.

In this video Mr. Nelson explains what skills future employees will need and what schools must do to prepare students for new models in the workplace.

The following is an outline from the video.
Use improv as a mechanisim to help with collaboration. There are two core principles of improv.

1. Accept every offer - if you don't accept the offer it goes no where
2. Make your partner look good - always try to make your partner look good, not bad
• It's called Plusing - take a piece of work and don't judge it - say, "here's where I'm starting, what can I do with this?"
• How do I plus this?
• How do I accept the offer and make my partner look good?

How can students be ready for innovative jobs with innovative companies? How can these innovative companies find someone who has a depth of knowledge that is able to do the job? Many innovative companies will look for people who have seen failure and figured out how to turn it into something positive rather than those people who have avoided failure. The core skill of innovators is error recovery not failure avoidance.

Some predictors that innovative companies will look for:

1. Depth - Proof of a portfolio verses the promise of a resume. Students who are high achievers in school usually are high achievers in the workplace.
2. Breadth - people who are extremely broad - people who are more interested in the job and learning than they are interesting - people who want to know what you know.
3. Communication that involves translation - willing to work on communication as a destination, not a source, being able to communicate to your audience effectively. People with a broad range of experiences can effectively communicate to several audiences.
4. Collaboration means amplification - connecting a group of people who are listening to each other; interested in each other; bringing separate depths to the problem; and bringing breadth that gives them interest in the entire solution. Collaboration allows people to communicate on multiple different levels - verbally, in writing, in feeling, in acting, in pictures, and helps them find the most articulate way to get the point across to a broad range of people so every person in the group can pull together.

Schools have an untapped resource in their students. Schools need to find ways to help students build leadership skills, problem-solving skills, collaboration skills and effective communication skills. Students also need to be given the opportunity and guidance to learn how to turn failure into something positive. All students need to be challenged to achieve mastery at school to become high achievers in their future careers.

To view the entire video:
http://www.edutopia.org/randy-nelson-school-to-career-video

Image from:
http://web.lincoln.k12.mi.us/Buildings/Hs/nuzzo/web0809/Pixar.jpg
http://web.lincoln.k12.mi.us/Buildings/Hs/nuzzo/web0809/pxindex.htm

21st Century Educator in a 21st Century Classroom ...

This post is a little out of the normal for me, but I read Katie Stansberry's post "Outfitting 21st Century Classrooms with 21st Century Teachers" on the ISTE Connects Blog a couple of days ago, and I have been thinking about it ever since I read it. Just because all kinds of 21st Century technology pieces of equipment are put in a classroom does not necessarily mean that will become a 21st Century Classroom. The teacher in a classroom plays a vital role in the type of environment that will be created in the classroom regardless of what new pieces of equipment are in there.
In my mind, a 21st Century Teacher is one who works to build critical and creative thinking skills, as well as encouraging collaboration and communication, in his or her students using whatever resources (technology or not) that are available to reach that goal. You could have a classroom full of technology, including an interactive white board, a document camera, a slate, a webcam, laptops, and all sorts of things, but if the teacher in that classroom is not willing to figure out ways to try to use those pieces of equipment to help students, then all that seems to be wasted. It’s not about how much technology you can get in the classroom, but how you incorporate technology into the the curriculum.
Katie Stansberry ends her post (mentioned above) by asking questions about what we think 21st Century classrooms and teachers look like. I think I will end the same way ...

• What do you think a "21st century educator looks like? How do they teach?
• Is technology necessary to give students a 21st century education?
• What role does the teacher play in the next generation classroom?"

Top 6 Technologies for the Next 5 Years

According to researchers from the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition, cloud computing and gaming are among the six technologies that will have a major positive impact on K-12 education in the next few years. The article outlines key technology areas for the next five years has been broken down into technologies that will have an impact in the near futures, technologies in the early stages of adoption, and technologies that are further out.

Cloud computing and collaborative environments will have a significant impact on education. In the next two to three years game-based learning and mobile technologies will foster collaboration and engage students more deeply in the learning process. According to the article in the next four to five years augmented reality and discovery-based learning will have an impact on education. Augmented reality is the convergence of various media tools and mobile applications to create “a portable tool for discovery-based learning, enhancing the information available to students when visiting historical locations, doing field work, interacting with real-world objects, and paging through books.”

But there were challenges identified as critical –

1. Inadequate digital media literacy training for teachers
2. Out of date learning materials and teaching practices
3. Lack of agreement on how education should evolve, despite widespread agreement that change is needed
4. A failure of education institutions to adapt to informal education, online education, and home-based learning
5. Lack of support or acknowledgement of the forms of learning that usually occur outside the classroom

Many schools have provided more computers, interactive boards, software applications and opportunities for students to enroll in online courses and within the regular school day teachers need to provide learning through real life experiences because students need to see the connections between the world, their lives and the school. Outside of the regular school day students are finding online resources, practicing skills using games and interacting with their peers through social networks. Students shouldn’t have to power down when they enter the school and not be able to communicate with the outside world.

To read the entire article written by David Nagel:
http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/04/13/6-technologies-that-will-shape-education.aspx

To read the 2010 Horizon Report K-12 Edition:
http://www.nmc.org/publications/2010-horizon-k12-report

"Tweaking" a Project that was "Tweeted"

I regularly find good ideas on many of the blogs that I follow, but some of the blogs, like Digital Tools for Teachers, share great resources almost all the time. When I looked at Stephanie's blog (@artysteph26 on twitter) a few days ago, I was not disappointed. One of her recent posts was about a Character Scrapbook Project that she found on Scholastic. The project provides a way for students to analyze characters from the books they have read. I am a big fan of "Reader Response Projects" where students are asked to "do" something with the information they have read (something more than just answering comprehension or recall questions). I think challenging students to create something encourages a deeper of level of thinking.
I posted (tweeted) about this Character Scrapbook Project on twitter yesterday since I wanted to share it with others. Today someone (@lisamonthie on twitter) sent me a message that she took the project I tweeted about yesterday and "tweaked" it by using the idea to create a glogster project. Information about that "tweaked" project can be found on Lisa's blog, Learning 2.0 in a post called "A Few Twists on a Great Lesson". Since I am also a big fan of glogster, combining a reading response project with a glog only made it better in my book! I taught glogster workshops at an elementary school a few weeks ago, and I can't wait to share this project idea with those teachers (and you)!
By the way, look at the various forms of technology communication that were involved in the creation of this project: I used my RSS reader to read a blog about the character project, then I tweeted about the project, someone read my tweet about a project someone else found, then used that information to create another project which she wrote about on her blog, and then sent me a tweet on twitter to let me know. Who says teaching is independent work? I have never met any of the people mentioned in this blog in person but we somewhat unknowingly collaborated to create a project to increase critical thinking skills for students!
I feel so fortunate to learn from others!

image from http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/scrapbook/

The Learning Power of Digital Storytelling

I recently downloaded a copy of Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner from Microsoft Education. Within this guide it states that there are many educational benefits for teachers to use digital storytelling learning projects with their students. Teachers who have used digital storytelling note that student grades improve and students are more likely to do homework and engage in classwork. Digital storytelling also helps students develop technology skills and can inspire them to be lifelong learners. When students are given the opportunity to create digital stories students are inspired to dig deeper into the subject and communicate what they learn in a creative way.

Here is a list of the educational benefits that prepare students for success in the 21st century:

1. Encourage research
2. Fosters critical thinking skills
3. Encourage students to write and to work at becoming better writers
4. Gives students a voice
5. Tells a personal narrative
6. Helps students retain knowledge longer
7. Enhances learning by encouraging students to communicate effectively
8. Helps students make a connection between the classroom and the outside world
9. Encourages creativity
10. Works well with portfolio assessments
11. Promotes digital literacy

Another benefit of digital storytelling is that all six 2007 National Education Technology Standards (NETS) are addressed:

1. Creativity and innovation
2. Communication and collaboration
3. Research and information fluency
4. Critical thinking, problem-solving, and decision-making
5. Digital citizenship
6. Technology operations and concepts

The guide shares examples of digital stories created by students, a suggested outline of how to create a great digital story and a list of resources for teachers. The guide also helps teachers decide which tools are best suited for their students by outlining how Powerpoint, PhotoStory and Movie Makes could be used to help students research, create and share digital stories.

To download a copy of Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner from Microsoft Education please click on the link below.
http://www.microsoft.com/education/teachers/guides/digital_storytelling.aspx

Image from the Tell a Story, Become a Lifelong Learner - Microsoft Education page 3.

Don't know what to do without technology . . .

This week, I have spent several days at an elementary school in Winston-Salem. After seeing EduGlogster at NCTIES, a member of the staff wanted to learn more about that great tool. NCTIES is a great opportunity to see and experience new things.

At this school, there is a strong level of support behind using technology to support students and to aid in instruction. They want to integrate technology seamlessly into the classroom practices for both teachers and students. I overheard several teacher laughing about not knowing what to do without technology when the power went out for a little while one day.

At the beginning of the year, these teachers moved into classrooms that really did not have much in them other than technology ... there was no dry erase board, overhead, or even textbook. Although I am sure there was a little bit of grumbling at first, the teachers had to learn how to make the technology work for them in those classrooms. It was a "Sink or Swim" way to start the year. Now towards the end of the year, these teachers reflect on those "early days" and are so glad they had to learn the technology because now they don't know what they would do without it.

While I was visiting this school, I sat in on Single School Culture Meetings. At the beginning of each of these meetings (for 2 days), I presented a brief overview of EduGlogster and showed lots of examples. Sometimes when a technology tool is presented, it is received with the "oh another thing I have to make fit in" attitude. That was not the case for those two days. I could barely get through the presentation before teachers were already sharing ideas of ways teachers and students could use this for projects and lessons. The Single School Culture Facilitator thought of several ways to use EduGlogster to help out all the teachers with the Essential Standards and resources. This staff saw opportunities for learning something new and being able to use it almost immediately. That is pretty powerful learning.

I overheard many of these teachers saying, "I don't know what I would do without the technology in my classroom." I hope they would still teach the students, but I understand what they are saying.

image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/crystaljingsr/3914729343/

Building an Online Writing Toolkit

Beth Goodwin, a special ed consultant and Cheryl Oakes did a presentation in January 2010, about how to blend the resources of Web 2.0 and the needs of their students. They took their idea from Karen Janowski and Joyce Valenza who create the UDL Tech Toolkit. The Universal Design for Learning states that to promote learning for all students teachers need to use these three methods:

1. Representation
2. Engagement
3. Expression

Beth and Cheryl took ideas from UDL and created Writingtools4all to look at how the read-write web resources could help students become more independent writers. Teachers can create specific toolkits for use with their students and students can create toolkits to meet specific needs they have in writing. Since the resources Beth and Cheryl use for the toolkit are free, students would be able to use the toolkit at home or school.


Students can certainly build their own toolkits allowing them to differentiate for their needs or collaborate with other students while working on projects. By having access to these free tools at home students will extend their learning beyond the regular school day.

Here is a list of free tools that teachers and students can use to create toolkits:

1. Photopeach- use images in a presentation, project or concept.
2. Wordle – can capture vocabulary in a book, for pre-teaching and comprehension.
3. What kind of learner are you? – students can find their learning style.
4. Find a book at your Lexile – students check their Lexile reading level choices.
5. Mad Libs – students can create their own Mad Libs.
6. Library of Congress – great source of information for students and teachers.
7. Ask.com – good place to begin a research project.
8. Citation Machine – students learn to cite their sources.
9. Graphic Organizers – place to find graphic organizers.
10. Visual Thesaurus – place to look up words and see the word in a visual thinking map.
11. Awesome adjectives and Sensory words – a guide to grammar, punctuation and style.
12. Spell Checker – allows students to check spelling, grammar and use a thesaurus.
13. Create your own checklist – create a personalized editing checklist.
14. Listen to your work – the site will read text to the student.

What resources can you add to help students build an Online Writing Toolkit?
Here are a few resources that students at WSFCS have access to:

1. NetTrekker – safe search engine that has read aloud and a section on writing.
2. Curriculum Pathways – the Writing Reviser will analyze a student’s writing and provides information on how to construct a paper.

To read the entire article:
http://www.techlearning.com/blogs/27632