I used a glogster rubric I created to give to my students to help them create the glogs they will be doing for a major geography project. I evaluated the first glog I made, "The Rock Cycle." My rating scale is: Unsatisfactory Approaching Proficient Exemplary
I gave myself the following scores for the following evaluated elements:
"REQUIRED ELEMENTS" - Exemplary There are several video clips; only one required
"CONTENT" - Proficient
"GRAPHICS" - Proficient
"APPEARANCE" - Approaching The glog is crowded and might be distracting for some; text is
very small and difficult to read
WOW! I DID it! I built my own website, and I am BEYOND excited! Okay...it's a little basic, and a little hokey, but it's a start, and I made sure I hit "save" and got a URL before the whole thing disappeared in front of me. I absolutely intend to revisit and "upgrade," but there is a time-and-a-place to "stick a fork" in an assignment and move on.
Being a digital immigrant, the words "self-promotion" have historically been preceded by the word "shameless," so I initially planned to start a wiki and just add my digital projects to each page...short, sweet, basic. But, times have changed, and "self-promotion" has really become a survival skill. A friend and I have cautiously launched a tutoring venture...I need to promote that. An acquaintance conveniently locked-in two of my summer vacation days getting free out-right instruction on putting together a Buck Institute-style project, AND digital tools training. I'm thinking: I don't even really know this person...she should be paying me for this...not a lot, perhaps, but SOMETHING.
I also think that, when this degree is said-and-done, I could possibly market myself as a consultant for professional development. As a digital immigrant teacher who is FAR FROM RETIREMENT, thank you very much, I might be useful to an administrator who would like to encourage veteran teachers to acquire and use some of these digital skills. I've never met a vet teacher who DIDN'T WANT to be on board...it's just that, as immigrants, we think differently about things, and I'm wondering if there isn't a niche market for a non-whippersnapper techie?
I'm rambling...Basically, what this means is that I didn't, obviously, just populate a wiki. I built a website that, while rudimentary, sets the foundation for recording what I've already done (and I'm pretty happy with my accomplishments, four classes into this program), and serves to help organize my thinking around my own professional development over the course of the NEXT SIX classes. I'm not in the market for a job right now...I'm CRAZY about my job. But I do intend to put this degree to work for me when I'm done, and I think I've laid that groundwork. No one can count on school districts to advance us anymore...we've got to put our embarrassment away and self-promote.
One would think that, as much "fun" as I didn't have with the webinar, or with transferring data from an old cell phone to a new computer, I would have shied away from the word "beta." Oh, no...some of us take more beating than others...WIX is a really neat site, and I would recommend it to people. You can definitely see the "beta" in it, though...It is hard to accept that the solution to so many problems is: turn the machine off and let it rest. It is (both hard to accept AND the solution). I had to do it a couple of times...amazing disappearing text boxes...wouldn't upload video...In the end, it got DONE, and that is what counts. My next step is to add an "About Me" page...I could have thrown something together, but I've already used a lot of creative brain cells, and I'm going to save that for another day.
There really is a better video reflection at: http://youtu.be/1fhPB45cp4c, but this blog site is not accepting any uploads or imports for some reason.
I really enjoyed creating the digital story about my life as a teacher-in-denial. It was fun to collect the photos, and think about a story line that would string them together. I used an old camera phone for some of the pictures, but I really didn't like the quality, and my bluetooth connections were unreliable...it is funny how you get accustomed to seeing beautiful, popping, living color, and instant technology success and response. I have been thinking about getting an iPhone, so I asked my sister if I could borrow hers for awhile. She was very generous and actually let me use it for a couple of days. I played with putting the photos into iMovie and working with that...no big deal there, and I didn't feel like I was gaining any particular new skills doing that, so I went with VoiceThread.
VoiceThread is a lot of fun, and I think the kids would really enjoy it. It might even be worth the subscription cost...it is that easy to use. Phoning in the audio LOOKED easy, and was, but the VT tutorial showed it being done with a landline. When I pressed my cellphone buttons to "advance" the slide, nothing happened...consistently. Could it be that a cell phone won't work for that particular operation? At any rate, you only get three minutes of free audio time on VT. Once your three minutes are up, they charge you $10 for an hour more. I came THIS CLOSE to just doing that, but I wasn't convinced that time was going to fix the problem, so I went ahead and did the remaining slides with the Voice Thread audio. It was fun to do the call-in thing, and I could see kids enjoying that, too...it could just add that little extra dimension or interest to creating the story. In all actuality, though, I would use the VoiceThread audio because it is so amazingly simple. It does all the timing and synchronization for you.
I really like the whole cell-phone digital story idea. The portability makes a story possible at any moment...that's a great writing/creativity ethic to instill in kids, and what a great way to do it! As third graders, my kids don't really have a lot of phones, and we could do the same type of thing with iPads. I like iPads a lot, but I just went camping, thinking I could take my iPad and do what I did with my sister's phone, and the relative size of the iPad made me change my mind...it just didn't seem like it would quite as much fun. Waaaaaaah...middle class American whiner...
The portability of the cell phone makes it fun to "play journalist"...uh oh...I just got a project-based-learning idea..."As a photojournalist working in...how can I tell the story of ..."
I'm going to sign-off now and see which one of our projects I can weave that into...
I am extremely lucky to work in a technology-rich school, and I have five colleagues I was able to interview for this project. Four are intermediate teachers, and one is a second grade teacher.
Because we are an elementary school, cell phones are not as “ubiquitous” as they are at the secondary level, and their use is mostly by choice, with some on-line options thrown-in so that all students included in the “cell-phone activity” have an opportunity to participate either through their phones or through a social media program such as Edmodo.
All of the interviewees are subject to the same school policy which states that technology is to be used for legitimate academic purposes and student activities are to be reasonably monitored to ensure student safety within the activity. We are EXPECTED to use technology to engage students and enrich their learning experiences.
Parent support within our school community is extremely strong, and feedback from them is almost always positive. A few noted that their child felt “left out” because they did not have a cell phone, and the family did not wish for their child to have one at a very young age. In response to that input from parents, the Edmodo options were put in place.
The first teacher I interviewed was Kelly R., second grade teacher. She uses technology EXTENSIVELY with her second graders, piloting a 1:1 iPad classroom last year. She has used “Poll Everywhere” as a way to involve her students in current events...particularly those that cover a controversial topic kids can relate to. An example she provided was a recent story about a small Oregon logging town. The kids got into cooperative groups and discussed a “to cut or not to cut” type of question, then expressed their opinion via cell phone. Then, they studied logging (at second grade level) and its economic importance and environmental impacts. They re-voted. Several students had changed their minds, and gave short explanations of the critical thinking they did to arrive at their new opinion.
Fourth grade teacher, Amy B., used the same program, “Poll Everywhere” as a behavioral award for her kids. Once the class met a particular behavioral goal, they celebrated with “electronics day” and the kids brought in cell phones and iPods. To put the phones to good use, Amy introduced them to the “Poll” technology by setting-up easy and fun familiarization-type questions. “Poll” was a key part of her informal assessment program until she acquired a classroom set of Dymo Mimio “clickers,” a kind of classroom response system. This year, her class will be participating in the “Journey North” which includes an iPhone app with which students from all over North America record and track the movements of dozens of migratory animals. Amy says the key to being successful with Poll Everywhere is: “Let the kids play with it using simple questions like ‘which animal do you like best...penguins, lions, or tigers?’ Try a few of those. They love them and they catch on really easily. After they’ve got the procedure, THEN go for the content stuff.”
Another fourth grade teacher, Carolynn B., is a science maniac. Our school is situated along a scrub oak open-space and she likes to take her students out for regular nature walks. The students are encouraged to bring cell phones or iPads along on the hikes to record interesting nature tidbits, using the photos to spark writing ideas once they are back in the classroom. “Having a camera with them makes the kids look closer at nature. They don’t just walk by it like it’s no big deal,” Carolynn explained.
Alysha K., another third grade teacher, sometimes uses cell phones as a kind of “literature blog.” Her kids usually use Edmodo to blog back-and-forth about a piece of literature they are jointly reading, but she has allowed students who have cell phones to text each other on a couple of occasions. Not many of her third graders have phones, and she has only done this a couple of times.
Sixth grade teacher, Mandy H., states that she uses cell phones in the same ways listed by proponents of cell phone use in schools in the articles we read. Her students use them to download and use apps, do research...basically, the same types of things they could use computers and iPads for...they are a great force multiplier. As I look back over these interviews, I think it is predictable that the older the kids, the more likely they are to have cell phones in school, and the more adept they are at using them for authentic socio-academic purpose.
As I interviewed my colleagues, I confirmed some things I already knew...primarily that, statistics aside, our students don’t carry that many cell phones to school...and they aren’t (like my own 8th grade son) particularly attached or “identified” with them. They enjoy using them...they are a great motivational tool. All of the teachers I interviewed use technology much more than I do, and I thought perhaps their responses to the interview would be longer and more involved. We have so many laptops, desktops, and iPads at our disposal, I think our focus has been on those. We are looking for ways to fully utilize THOSE resources, and do not need to find ways to make cell phones “fill in technology gaps.” Good problem to have. We also live in a very traditionally-minded community. I imagine parents are circumspect about sending a relatively expensive piece of equipment into school in the backpack of a kiddo who is highly likely to forget it or lose it. In addition, because we have youngsters, we do have an out-of-sight-and-off policy for cell phones...with the exception for legitimate academic use.
My first foray into webcasting was an amazing example of the thing I tell my kids every single day: “You almost always learn more by making mistakes than by accidentally getting something right.”
Well...I am here to bear witness to that fact. I don’t know if there will EVER be an embed code for the class I wrote, rehearsed, and delivered on WizIQ on the evening of July 29, 2012. There was a vexing program glitch and some user-based-errors that I will address later, but suffice it to say that when I reviewed the recorded webcast, I was a little bit disappointed in how it turned out. More importantly, however, I am excited to do it again, the next time better, and to explore the different ways I could use video to enhance communication with my students and families. It was EASY to see what I needed to do differently. It was FUN. And right now I am very sad (mostly because I just told Mr. Singh to call me at 0700 tomorrow: “I’m six hours behind GMT,” I told him, feeling oh-so-global at that moment and wanting to regain SOME sense of technical dignity). Given that, I should be in bed right now. But, honestly, I learned SO MUCH, that reflecting NOW is just the redemption I need.
Just a note: I was not able to find a way to actually pre-record a webcast as a part of the preparation for the WizIQ program. I did rehearse, rehearse, and rehearse some more...but the actual live webcast was the “first take.” Not being able to give recording a whirl wouldn’t have been that big of a deal...but, it did eventually lead to my using up a great deal of time with connecting the audience, etc....predictable, for sure, but I was so darned nervous about the whole thing that I daftly scheduled it for 30 minutes instead of 60 (presumably, I thought there would be some “penalty” for not using all my minutes?). At the end of 30 minutes, the program politely asked me if I would like to “extend.” I THOUGHT I took it up on the offer, but apparently I didn’t, and it cut me off in the middle of the webcast....WHICH WAS A GOOD THING...because I had spoken for WAY TOO LONG!
The PROCESS:
I did not know where to begin. I had serious doubts about the value of ME doing ANYTHING “on camera.” I’ve been a public speaker for about 30 years now...face-to-face intelligence briefings to the Secretary of the Air Force...that kind of thing. This assignment blew my mind. Perhaps it is the permanence of video. Face-to-face lessons are ephemeral...the mistakes disappear into the air as the presentation goes on. Good, bad, or otherwise, a live speaker walks away from the presentation and doesn’t have to give it a second thought. This one I would have to look at. And, IRONICALLY, that turned-out to be the POSITIVE part. When I went back to review the webcast, I saw myself in a whole new light...and it was a very positive light. I have a very pleasant, fun, approachable affect (not to wax Sally Fields here). I really SHOULD do more video, because I think parents WOULD connect with me in a very good way. I think kids WOULD get something from webcasts I provided. I put many, many fears about my basic professional competence away that night. That was NOT on my “things to learn from suffering through a webcast” list. Not even on my radar screen.
Worrying as I did about my personal contribution to something as weighty as a webcast, I struggled mightily with content. I have so MANY things I would like to webcast...mini math lessons, project guidelines and expectations...weekly newsletters...student-created video newsletters. For some reason (writer’s block), none of those seemed appropriate for this assignment. Still, I had to come up with something, so I decided to just teach. Just teach. I took the project-based learning “driving question” approach and applied it to myself: “How can I as a mentor teacher (which I’m not), help a brand new teacher solve the problem of flat and lifeless narrative writing?” Once I had that “mission,” the actual presentation came together pretty easily. I liked what I put together...I had some engaging photographs and videos of preying mantids eating crickets...I was REALLY fond of a video I found of a wildebeest that actually escaped the crocodile jaws that were clamped around one of his forelegs. It was a GREAT writing lesson...
....but it was a lousy video. What I didn’t know about video until giving it a whirl, was that it really is fast-paced and snappy. That’s probably why we love it so much...we get loads of information in very little time, and we get to move on to the next infobite...very quickly...very efficiently. My webcast (had it recorded completely)...probably would have been 30 minutes...and that would have been okay in a classroom face-to-face, switching back and forth between watching videos and practice writing, responding and reacting to kids. But in the video...it was interminable. As I discovered, I’m not personally a boring speaker, and this particular content has always been highly engaging for my students (my audience said they loved it), but the video seemed to plod. (Because at this point it seems highly unlikely that you’ll be able to see the webcast, the writing lesson focuses on writing from the point of view of the prey...the last three seconds of its life before it disappears into the mouth of a predator. It sounds awful, but the kids are crazy about it.) If I were to actually use a webcast like this to teach, I would have short bursts of video, followed by some action-item for the kids. There is no way I would sit down and record a 30 minute video of me yacking on and on, no matter how enthusiastic I think I sound.
The realization that video has to be fast-paced to be effective supports my thinking about kids making videos to support content knowledge. As project planners, we seem to reflexively default to “students will make a video demonstrating...”. As I was revising a project of this sort a couple of weeks ago, it occurred to me that “on-camera personality” is a communication skill all its own, and it has to be specifically modeled, taught, and practiced. We frequently put a video camera in kids’ hands assuming we are being very 21st century...only to get a final product that is flat, lifeless, and not the reflection of content mastery that we were hoping for. Being on camera, for whatever purpose, is role playing, and we need to load kids up with video communication skills just as we load them up with written communication skills. My own webinar speaks to that...video is a format that has a set of “rules” just like paragraph writing does, and we need to address those if we expect kids to produce high-quality products of their own. And I do expect that. Now I have to explicitly teach it. How fun will it be for them...I access this webinar and show them how I tried something new, and didn’t do so great...how could they help me? Hmmm...maybe I’m just a little happy this didn’t go so well...
Heeding your admonishment to reflect richly, I kept copious notes as this project went along. As I go back and look, I read that I was “not crazy” about WizIQ. I chose it because I could use what skills I already had to put together a presentation...namely slides and videos with a talking head. Now that I’ve done this, and no one got hurt, I feel confident about working with other platforms, and I have assigned that to myself as my “professional next step.”
WizIQ itself was really pretty simple to use as I intended for this project. I ended up making “scripted” slides, which isn’t really what I wanted to do. I like a more spontaneous, organic approach to creating and annotating slides, but the “pen” function was delayed and rough, and really detracted from the overall quality of the presentation, so I scrapped it. A “natural appearing” pen function is my top priority in exploring other webcasting platforms. I suspect that what I really want requires the addition of some specific hardware, but I will find out, and perhaps my school will purchase something along these lines (and I can check off “technology leadership” on my evaluation). The ability to pre-record and review was not on my mind as I struggled to develop content and gain confidence...I assumed that I could do that, and in the end, couldn’t. I also do not like WizIQ because you cannot go back and re-do a class without rebuilding it from the ground up. When I got the hook at the 30 minute point, I thought, “No big deal...I’ll go back, change the duration setting, and do this again.” My audience was game...it seemed like a no brainer, but it was not to be. It is not really in me to knowingly turn-in something that doesn’t reflect my best effort...so I guess I’ll have to accept that this is my “best effort” for this project.
The TAKEAWAYS:
I am not a lousy teacher
Video needs to be fast and snappy to be effective
“On camera” presence and communication are specific skills that need to be modeled, taught, and practiced just like written communication and face-to-face communication skills are taught and practiced. I will stop using the term “news bunnies.”
Desirable attributes of webcasting platforms include:
natural pen function
pre-record and preview function
re-record function
simple sharing
responsive on-line assistance (WizIQ definitely has this, and I used it extensively. I included a screen shot of one of my on-line troubleshooting chats. My most recent troubleshooting session [getting the embed code] introduced me to TeamViewer. I watched dumbfounded as Mr. Singh hijacked my entire computer from 10,000 miles away...I didn’t get a screen shot...I didn’t even have control of my cursor.)
free or inexpensive subscription rate
adequate creative functions at low subscription rates
minimal add-on hardware or software
intuitive interface
5) Videocasting is fun, and even old people can do it.
I have included screen shots of my class so you can see that I actually did build slides, and I actually did conduct a webinar. Maybe at 0700, Mr. Singh and I will get a realistic embed code posted, but I’m not holding my breath.
Speaking of flat and lifeless affect...I guess, if your whole face is bone,
you don't have a lot to work with in the expressiveness department. Also...I was lost in the accent and didn't hear the expletive at the end...very subtle. Well, SOMEONE had to say it!
Credits
Still photography:
Lam, Charles (2008). Preying mantis head. Wikipedia commons. Retrieved from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Close-up_of_preying_mantis_head.jpgmoreguefile. (2008 and 2009). Boy writing; girl writing; Retrieved from: morguefile.com
The following is the "embed" code provided to me (after more than an hour of TeamViewer work) by the WizIQ folks. They are going to call me tomorrow with something easier? This has been an education all its own. I have many pages of reflection notes. All I want to do right now is cry, which isn't really reflection at all, so I'll do that tomorow...
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
I attended two Simple K12 webinars this afternoon: "15 iPad Tips for Teachers" and "Differentiating to Meet the Needs of All Students." Differentiation has been around a long time...maybe it was new to this presenter's audience (he is the leader of a private school), but there wasn't much new here. It would be a great refresher...possibly some good staff development for new teachers...a targeted audience.
"15 iPad Tips for Teachers" was very basic, but extremely useful. It packed a lot of solid information into 30 quick minutes...all of it immediately useful to teachers who have just received their first installment of iPads. At $400 a pop, my guess is these will very quickly supplant laptop carts and echelons of oft-unused desktops, so this webinar was a good introduction.
The one weakness of the show was the rapid pace. Because I've used my iPad A LOT, I was able to keep up pretty well, but I could see that if you were the novice this content targets, it could have been tough. Fifteen ideas in 30 minutes equals 2 minutes per concept, minus transitions...pretty quick pacing. It gave me quite a bit to think about vis-a-vis my own up-coming webinar, because if I do anything, it is cram loads of facts into short periods of time. I also prefer a webinar format where people can immediately ask questions, etc. On this one, you could text a question, but you had to wait for an answer...I've always appreciated more immediate give-and-take webinars. I imagine this is a very organized program, that "air time" is perhaps contracted and limited...so maybe they can't leave a lot of room for spontaneity.
The major strength of the webinar was it was very user-friendly: easy to listen to and understand, and very personable. The military figured out years ago that people listened and responded better to pleasant female voices and programmed many of their voice-operated systems using women's voices. I get it. The woman who presented this webinar was INFINITELY more engaging than the very pleasant and knowledgeable gentleman who conducted the webinar on differentiation. To think...I actually fit a model demographic of sorts.
I would absolutely participate in this type of webinar again...in fact, there is an entire week of iPad programs on tap for next week, and I'm going to share Simple K12 with my colleagues...
I can see many ways I would use a webcast in a classroom:
1) Scheduled substitute: For the REALLY IMPORTANT lesson you can't afford to be less than
"perfect." On more than one occasion, I've had to, because of content flow and field trip schedules, etc., give a pivotal lesson/activity to a sub, and every single time, it's been...well, not good. Not because the sub wasn't good, but because that lesson really took MY enthusiasm and my emphasis...not that I'm such an amazing teacher, but....
2) Pivotal lessons you know a student will miss because of extended illness, family trips, etc.
3) Lessons with challenging content that learners may want to revisit
4) Differentiated lessons: Tweak the lesson for advanced learners...add that extra you yourself can't resist that would motivate some, but totally confuse others; tweak the basic lesson for students who might need more support understanding the content.
5) Lessons with challenging content that will be a part of homework. For instance, a new or novel math procedure the students will be expected to know that parents will not know...the webinar would also serve as parent education/information.
6) Whole-class lesson delivered "individually" to students in the computer lab...would be a fun venue change-up that could enhance engagement
7) Present, explain, publish instructions and expectations for long-term projects so students can review as needed...no excuses, no confusion
8) Webcast class newsletters...teacher or student created
There would be just as many ways to use webinars with students:
1) Reciprocal teaching...if you can teach it, you've learned it (so they say)
2) Culminating project/presentation option...we are always wanting kids to "make videos," and then we struggle with establishing authentic audience...students could "recruit" their own authentic audience in much the same way I'm doing for my webinar. Parents wouldn't have to miss presentations because they couldn't get off work...
3) Cross-classroom collaboration and communication...in-school and across the globe
4) Periodic project updates written and delivered by students provided to parents.
Webcasts could really liven up classroom communication in so many different ways. Basically, if you are writing it, you can envision webcasting it. Hopefully, I can become adept enough at it to put it to at least a few of the good uses I can imagine. No doubt, there are several students out there who could take the reins and be my on-the-spot web producers...it would be a GAS to l earn to do this together!
"Globe Trotters" is a third grade project-based-learning unit we are currently building in support of the Common Core Geography Standard 2.2: "The concept of regions is developed through an understanding of similarities and differences in places." Our objective is for our students to develop a sense of wonder and respect for cultures other than their own, and to excite their motivation to explore the world independently.
The major project for this unit is a student-created glog advertising a particular country and advocating for travel to that country. We will be "selling" these promotional products to local travel agents as a means to honor and celebrate the cultures we are studying. The unit will last approximately five weeks, and I have created an EDMODO group that students will use as both homework and classwork assignments.
I am loading the EDMODO library with third-grade appropriate resources: teacher-created glogs which include the content necessary for the students to complete the assignments; and two child-friendly on-line dictionaries. As the unit progresses, I will add more resources (hopefully those created by the kids themselves), and deeper, more thoughtful questions. The first week of assignments is designed to 1) excite kids about both the content AND the social networking process, and 2) familiarize kids with social networking procedures, protocols, and netiquette. My intent and design is for this to be meaningful, engaging homework for the students, but I know that not every kiddo will do this as homework, so the Edmodo pages will be open and running during "project" and literacy periods in the classroom. We will also use this Edmodo group as a "back channel" to process information from the films and videos we will watch in support of this unit, as well as to "ask questions" of the guest speakers we have scheduled to come in to present to the students. All of this adds an immediacy and relevancy to "active listening" and the students will be crazy about it, I'm pretty sure. To support the efficacy of this, we will spend quite a bit of time pre-unit on building our keyboarding skills.
Formal instruction that will support the procedural aspects of social networking will include lessons on the following: 1) Intro to Edmodo and demonstration and practice (using laptops or computer lab) with using the program. We will all participate in a short classroom discussion around the question: "If you could visit one country in the world next week, which one would it be and why?" The objective is for students to provide a thoughtful, complete answer to the question, then continue with a thoughtful response to another student's post. 2) Netiquette: Students must use appropriate language and be respectful and thoughtful of one another. Students should report inappropriate language or behavior to the teacher immediately. 3) How to access and use the Edmodo library. 4) How to "answer" or "reply" to questions and posts. Emphasize reading and responding to other students' posts...this is a SOCIAL activity. 5) Networking Communication Rubric: what are the expectations for using the network, and how the students will be graded on using the network. I will assess the students' proficiency in network communication through a simple, but formal rubric. I will check-in to the conversation in the evenings and note anecdotally who is participating, level of participation/depth of thinking, etc., and provide support in-class mini-lessons as needed. When we get to the portion of the unit where students are using Edmodo as a "backchannel" in support of active-listening to a video or guest speaker, we will have procedural and etiquette lessons around that, as well. Because many of my students will be completely new to Edmodo and social networking, I anticipate spending considerable time on procedures and protocols...and on emphasizing the SOCIAL in social networking. I think Edmodo will be a very concrete tool we can use to help kids internalize the skills of collaboration and communication.
Here are some screen shots showing one week's worth of homework/classwork, the Edmodo library, and the assessment rubric I will use to inform both my instruction in social networking, and my assessment of the students' growth in the key areas of collaborating and communicating.
Social Networking Screens:
Edmodo Library Resources to support homework/classwork:
Rubric to Guide and Assess Social Networking Skills and Development:
"Globe Trotters" Project-Based Learning Unit Overview:
After spending the last week browsing through the seemingly infinite universe of Web 2.0 tools, I have at best been able to name what it is I want, but cannot find: "synchronous whiteboard stylus-type collaboration." I think. It's out there...it has to be, I just couldn't find it...yet. I want something that acts like a big old piece of chart paper and a set of scented markers. My collaborators and I could synchronously (please, God, no swimcaps), brainstorm, web, list, you name it...and produce this wonderful, savable, retrievable record of our transformational musings.
I took a stress-break, I DO have a synchronous whiteboard collaboration thingy called an iPad app...life is good...but it doesn't count for this assignment...so here goes...
I used three "human filters" for this inquiry: "Web 2.0 4 Kids" by Laura McDermott, "Jog the Web" by Mark Brumley, and, of course, "Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators...Web 2.0 Tools." These sites were a good litmus test for determining which Web 2.0 sites were actually worth exploring. Many tools such as "Glogster," "Wordle," "bubbl.us", etc., appear consistently on a number of filters. There are SO MANY sites out there, it is nice to have had someone else take a look and narrow it down to the worthy. I also learned something which should have been intuitively obvious, but wasn't (to me, at least), that there is a WORLD of difference between business and educational application of the web. I looked at quite a few business sites (the quest for that synchronous whiteboard app), and NOTHING compared for intuitive ease of use to those applications developed specifically for education. Plus...we have more free stuff available to us...
My three favorite tools were 1) Wallwisher, 2) TodaysMeet, and 3)Timetoast.
"Wallwisher" is a great content-response and/or collaboration tool...it is the digital equivalent of a bulletin board...a blank slate with an invitation to comment via digital sticky note. It would be a great way for kids to practice vocabulary, comment on content, or jump-start research. It is an amazingly simple tool to use and the applications for it are boundless. As a test-drive, I set-up a "wall" called "Country of the Day: Ghana," and posted the question: How likely are you to find giraffes in Ghana? Why do you think this? It was literally as easy as using a real sticky note and pencil, and it will work on iPad, as well, so a classroom could have a number of platforms using the application simultaneously. I give Wallwisher a 23/32 possible points. Its major advantages were in the area of cost, system requirements, and education-friendly features. Its lower points were its limitations on collaboration (a teacher could enhance this easily, but it is not built-into the program), and in creation of final product (nothing super-exciting here, but the process it records could be a useful part of something bigger).
"TodaysMeet" is an easy and fun microblog that could be used in a number of different ways, much like "Wallwisher." My first use of it in the classroom will be to post critical thinking questions around our daily read-aloud. Students will respond through the "backchannel" of the program (although not during the read-aloud...gasp!). As we got proficient at using a backchannel appropriately, I could envision us using this as an "active listening" tool during a movie or other "sit-and-git" type of activity. That would come later in the year, but it could certainly evolve as the students' academic social skills developed. I give TodaysMeet 29/32. It scores all possible points when it comes to simplicity of sign-up, safety, cost, system requirements, education-friendliness and curriculum support. It could definitely enhance collaboration, but isn't really a collaboration platform in and of itself, and it does not specifically create a "WOW" end-product.
"Timetoast" is a simple timeline creator that allows the user to add photographs and text to make simple or complex timelines. I uploaded and annotated some vacation photos with amazing ease. Kids will enjoy the process and easily produce very impressive end-products. The site itself does contain advertising, in the form of links to other commercial sites. These links often look like part of the program, and you end up accessing them whether you intend to or not. At least they are education-related. There are no specific mobile apps, but it runs just fine on iPad. I give Timetoast a 27/32. It's free, it's easy, I had to verify my e-mail address, the advertising was annoying, but unobtrusive and safe. It's real strength is in the final product...a professional-looking, photo-enhanced timeline. It is easy to imagine using this tool across a number of content areas.
There was one Web 2.0 tool I absolutely fell in love with..."Museum Boxes." I signed-up for it, and was able to watch a demonstration video and read about the history of the "museum box" concept...pretty interesting, but I was not able to experiment with the program to see how easy or challenging it was. That is testimony to its killer authentication system. It will take approximately 14 days for them to authenticate my application before they allow access to the site. This is the site I wrote a "Letter to the Creator" for. I explained that having to wait 14 days to access the site would inevitably result in my selecting another tool. Lucky this is summer, and I can afford to wait, because it is an intense information/artifact gathering tool that could be used in so many rich, authentic ways... It was (I THINK) the perfect answer to my question: How can we use technology to create or recreate a collection of historical information and artifacts that accurately portrays the (fill-in-the-blank) time period?
There were many, many other Web 2.0 tools to choose and write about. Selecting which THREE was the most difficult part of this assignment.
At first I must admit that I thought, "License my blog? Who cares? Nobody reads this, anyway...and what do I have to say that is worth 'protecting'?" Well, the truth is, in the United States in the 21st century, a vast number of us are sitting with the libraries of the world, a graphic design center, and a post-production facility right in front of us, and we are heavily engaged in creating content...whether we regard it as content or not.
We've gone from wordprocessing, spreadsheet filling drones to bonafide creatives in a very short period of time. In his book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink posits that America's great economic export is and will increasingly become its creativity and innovation (Pink, 2006). I just spent five days at a project-based-learning conference in Napa, and the creative energy in that relatively small space was AMAZING. I thought I was pretty progressive in a Boulder-coordinated-hiking-boots-and-backpack-granola-gnashing sort of way...but until I score a tattoo and a skateboard, I am nothing.
But seriously...lots of us have something to say and something to show for all of our musing and creating, and we deserve to acknowledge that in ourselves. Publishing is no longer for those who finagle a lunch with Harcourt-Brace...samizdat had a role in freeing the Soviet Union...so is it freeing our creative spirits...overground. So it's not just about "protecting" anything...it's about celebrating the legitimacy of our uniquely individual voices. It is about saying, "Thank you for liking my work...and yes, you may use it...but I thought for a great while before committing it to public view, and would like you to credit me. And...by the way, please don't make any money from it, because if anybody does that, it should be me." And, while two days ago I assumed I would assign the least restrictive license, as time went on, I thought that perhaps I would prefer it if people didn't change what I wrote or created. I mean, afterall, if they are going to cite me, I'd like it to be a citation about what I actually said or did. So, much to my own surprise, I ended up with a MOST restrictive license.
As a teacher, I will teach my students about Creative Commons licensing. They are third graders, so our understanding and application will be limited...but think how POWERFUL it will be for them to think of themselves as creators making something worth sharing purposefully and legally...something worth PROTECTING purposefully and legally. I would expect buy-in and performance to increase significantly once there was an assumed outside market and audience.
Exploring Creative Commons licensing gave me a whole new appreciation for where we are as a creative culture. I am beyond THRILLED to have so many resources to draw from as I create reality-based, engaging learning experiences for my students. My son returns in August from Africa with some gifted writing about his experiences. The Smith-Corona part of me called my Olivetti-friend-in-publishing and asked what avenues we should explore to "get him published." "Does he have a blog?" she queried. Done deal. Now it's just the marketing...and that's sitting on my desktop, too.
There is a big part of me that believes creating an avenue for "owning" and "sharing" drives "creating" and "sharing" to new heights. And that is the unique power and mystique of our particular American culture.
Pink, Daniel H. (2006). A whole new mind. Why right brainers will rule the future. Penguin.
New York, New York.
I am currently a third grade teacher in a politically and socially conservative district (Douglas County Schools, Douglas County, Colorado), yet I have the most advanced and progressive technology and pedagogy at my disposal (you think YOU'RE confused). Actually, it's a great school and classroom environment, and I will not complain. We are expected to learn and use technology to its fullest, and that brought me to the Instructional Media program...five minute introductions to prezi and glogster at weekly staff meetings just weren't cutting it.
I come from an inner city, ESL background. As a first-year teacher, I pioneered the first "Spanish-to-English transition" program in Denver Public Schools in 1997. After taking a break to raise a son, I re-entered teaching in one of the most affluent counties in the known universe. While I sometimes roll my eyes, I feel extremely fortunate to have the opportunities I have to grow as a teacher and to work with so many rich curricular and technology resources. My intent is to take these rich experiences, and SOMEHOW, SOME WAY translate them to teaching in Africa...my first love among all first loves.
My current school is developing from the ground-up. We are teaching with a project-based learning philosophy and heavily infusing technology into our every day learning experiences. I frequently joke with my principal that if she could, she would require ALL of us to enroll in this EDIM program...it fits that closely with what we do.
This is my fourth Wilkes course. Each course has been extremely relevant and immediately useful. I don't know any other grad student teachers who can say that they take what they did for university work the night before and put it to use the next day for kids, but this is, quite literally, a program that does that. That's why I chose it, but more often than not, big ideas disappoint. This Wilkes program has NOT disappointed. Three courses later, I have, quite honestly, ticked-off a couple of "digital natives" with my newly acquired expertise...one that is usually a bit above their own...Well, honestly, I myself do get a little vexxed when an immigrant uses better English grammar than I do, so I guess I understand.
Four Wilkes University EDIM courses....$4800.00.
Three chagrined digital natives...PRICELESS.
In Five Minds for the Future, Howard Gardner states that "if we are to fashion persons who respect differences, we need to provide models and offer lessons that offer such a sympathetic stance." (Howard Gardner, 2007).
The "Africa Virtual Field Trip" is intended to do that through a mix of media experiences showcasing northern, western, eastern, and southern African cultures. Once the students have enjoyed the teacher-created field trip, they will create glogs about countries of their own choosing.
Children are naturally fascinated by Africa because of its wildlife, and this field trip taps that interest, then focuses the students' attention on the human interest stories that the continent offers. Respecting another culture has little to do with a zoological interest...the kids need to focus on the PEOPLE. Each country glog includes a video about the life of a typical child from that nation...helping the student connect personally to life within that culture. Students can compare and contrast their own life experiences with those of a contemporary child living in Africa.
What teachers do and do not include in individual learning experiences affects children's attitudes toward the content, including culture-based content (Gardner, 2007). I wanted to avoid the typical "beleaguered nation" narrative assigned to Africa, and was careful to select images and media experiences which focus on the positive side of the African experience. However, Africa's endemic problems are the world's problems, and I felt it was important to include the stories of malaria and water accessibility. Who knows which empathic child will grow-up to be a part of the solutions to those, or other, global problems. Genuine respect coupled with genuine empathy and caring and powerful motivators for engagement and change.
Our third grade standards include studying regions, which we have chosen to loosely interpret as "continents and oceans." This field trip will serve as a model for student teams to construct their own continental field trip...eventually culminating in a "virtual travel agency" of geography learning opportunities. This research will also support the students' creation of a "Where in the World is..." video project.
Children can only come to respect other cultures through gaining and constructing knowledge about them. Otherwise, they are left with disjointed news images and puzzling stereotypes that hinder understanding and the development of genuine respect.
Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
The African Virtual Field Trip supports these Colorado State Standards:
Social Studies 2.2: Geography: The concept of regions is developed through an understanding of similarities and
differences in places.
2.1: Geography: Use various geographic tools to develop spatial thinking
Reading/Writing/Communicating 2.2: Comprehension strategies are needed when reading informational or
persuasive text
3.2: Students plan, draft, and write a variety of informational texts
4.4: Researching a topic and sharing findings are often done with others
Gardner, Howard. (2007). Five minds for the future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
