Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Saturday, November 13, 2010
New Web Stuff 11/14/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
La Globalización Primaria Habilidad Digital
photo © 2010 Doug Wheller | more info(via: Wylio)La Globalización Primaria Habilidad Digital
Disclaimer: This blog post was originally written in English and translated to Spanish using Google Translate. While there may be grammatical and syntax errors, especially if re-translating back to English, the overall message should remain intact.
¿Qué tipo de competencias digitales tienes? ¿Utiliza las habilidades para invitar al mundo a su clase o su mundo un solo idioma-céntrico que puede que no tenga sea invitado? ¿Enseña a sus alumnos qué hacer cuando se encuentran con algo en lÃnea que pueden ser escritos en un idioma que no lo sé, pero sigue siendo una valiosa información?
Traductor Google está haciendo una gran cantidad de aulas aplanamiento posible. Es fácil interactuar con otros lenguajes e interpretar el texto de todo el mundo. Podemos comunicarnos con casi cualquier persona en el planeta en cualquier momento en muchos formatos multimedia. El lenguaje no es la barrera de lo que solÃa ser!
El uso de Google Translate, usted y sus estudiantes pueden:
· Idiomas Traducir muchas instante, aumentando enormemente la cantidad de información que puede interactuar con Internet.
· Comunicar con los demás que hablan idiomas diferentes.
· Búsqueda de noticias e información en diferentes idiomas y en diferentes paÃses y obtener una perspectiva diferente a lo que los medios de comunicación se informa en los Estados Unidos.
Cuando te encuentras con texto que no entiendo, qué tan probable es que lo desestime, o traducir esto? ¿Qué información importante podrÃa estar perdiendo por no participar en esta competencia digital?
Friday, November 5, 2010
How can we do more with less?
In the last few workshops I’ve done with teachers, there has been an underlying theme of, “this is great, but my reality is…” And then they fill in the blank about their personal roadblocks or hurdles that must be overcome in order to do this or that to improve their professional practice.
The point is to start shifting thinking around what you have to work with, and not worrying about what you don’t have. The creativity with which you approach instructional design is way more important than the resources and tools. Socrates didn’t have a Flip cam or iPad—and he did alright! Effective teachers are effective because they know their students, maximize the resources they have, and collaborate with their colleagues. All of these characteristics enable every teacher to do the best they can with what they’ve got!
Please feel free to add your own ideas. The best thing we can do as educators is to share. Our collective ideas help to level the playing field and flatten the world!
I’m thinking about this more and more in terms of differentiated professional development. I want to have an impact on practice, I want teachers to see the application to their own work, and ultimately, I want the work I do to have an impact on children and their achievement.
All too often, though, conversations start with the “haves and have nots.” When those conversations start, it makes me wonder what the “haves” really have, and if the “have nots” have really considered the scope of what they DO have?
A lot of times, the “have nots” perspectives are situational and are more about a tool or a perceived deficit of resources than an instructional task.
So what do you do? How does a teacher do more with less? How do we design motivating and engaging learning events using the resources we have?
- More students, less teachers? Start thinking about more group/peer opportunities. Perhaps you could apply the framework for Writer’s Workshop to other content areas, and have “workshop time” where you, as the teacher, are able to work with individuals and small groups while others work from a menu of options independently or in small groups.
- Not enough materials for projects? Think of the mantra of the “Destination Imagination” program: How can we be creative and in what ways can we be creative? The emphasis for any project should be creating evidence that learning occurred. As the teacher—you don’t have to be the director of the creativity around this—the students would probably LOVE to be a part of this design conversation. Let them brainstorm resources and products and see what they come up with!
- Don’t have a Flip Cam? Did you know that most digital cameras have a video setting? Record your video and edit in iMovie or Windows Movie Maker. You can make quality videos with older technology that will look exactly like the videos made with newer technologies.
- Limited space? Think of this in terms of what Heidi Hayes Jacobs calls “New Forms” in her book, Curriculum 21. The traditional classroom is not the ONLY place where students can learn. Anything you can do to change up the environment is good for learning. The brain tends to remember anytime there are differences in what it does. I would speculate, in fact, that staying in one classroom every single day is BAD for learning. What other spaces are available at school? Auditorium? Back Field? Hallway? Corner of the gym? Library? Separate spaces for different groups for different purposes? Move the desks and have kids sit together on floor? Perhaps talk with another teacher and change your groupings? Talk to admin/faculty about shifting schedules to maximize space and time! Be creative—your students will appreciate it!
- Limited instructional time? Little time for tech integration? Think about shifting your mindset that teaching and learning has to occur just in within the scope of your classroom. You can extend your classroom online using blogs, wikis, or other social technologies. You could ask your students other ways they can engage, connect, and continue learning beyond your four walls—whether or not it involves technology. (Afterschool, Planning Time, “Working Lunches,” etc. Just remember to give yourself the time you need to prepare for all!)
- Additionally, think of the resources you need in terms of whether or not those resources are necessary for a project or activity that is no longer relevant. Doing something for 10 years in a row isn’t the greatest justification for continuing to do it. If the activity is a good one and still has relevance, consider updating/upgrading it – especially in terms of current resources, both physical and virtual. If it’s just a comfort thing, and after critical reflection doesn’t really provide the evidence of learning that it should, cut it from your program and find alternative activities within the resources you have!
The point is to start shifting thinking around what you have to work with, and not worrying about what you don’t have. The creativity with which you approach instructional design is way more important than the resources and tools. Socrates didn’t have a Flip cam or iPad—and he did alright! Effective teachers are effective because they know their students, maximize the resources they have, and collaborate with their colleagues. All of these characteristics enable every teacher to do the best they can with what they’ve got!
Please feel free to add your own ideas. The best thing we can do as educators is to share. Our collective ideas help to level the playing field and flatten the world!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
New Web Stuff 11/04/2010
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Resources from NYSCATE's iPad for Administrators workshop
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 28, 2010
New Web Stuff 10/29/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
New Web Stuff 10/28/2010
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
UPDATE: Is Anybody Asking The Kids?
A few weeks ago, I blogged about all of the discussion around what’s wrong with education today and the passion with which everyone is talking about it. I wondered if anyone was asking the students what they thought about the state of things.
So I asked kids, through a Google survey, what they thought of the state of things. I asked the following questions:
Here are a sampling of some of their responses (paraphrased):
I included both generalizations combining several like responses, as well as some singular responses that I thought were significant. There were 80+ responses, and you can see the actual data HERE.
In general, I thought the responses had a positive tone, that things aren’t, perhaps, as broken as the media is making them sound. This was not a scientific survey, nor was the sample of respondents that broad, but I do like that students actually participated, and were honest about what they think.
I think there are a few illuminating discoveries here, though; inferences I’m making from what the students said:
I think more emphasis needs to be placed on the students’ voices in all this talk of school improvement and reform. I also think we need to differentiate the conversation based on populations of kids in our actual schools rather than trying to set national goals that only a fraction of our schools can realistically reach. We need to consider the improvement of teachers and not put our energies into ridiculous measures and evaluations that don’t paint an accurate picture of teacher performance.
We need to listen to the kids. They are the reason we do what we do. Don’t they deserve to be heard as loudly as the adults who think they know what’s best? There’s an old Hebrew proverb that fits here, based on an image I saw created for the “Great Quotes” FlickR group that says, “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.”
Another important message here should be what we can collectively do to start enhancing our professional practice, leaving the traditional behind, and really start preparing these kids for a world where they will be expected to collaborate and communicate on a global scale, as well as think critically and creatively to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet. Worksheets and lectures aren’t going to prepare them, but those that depend on them can’t be dismissed--we need to build capacity around what works, be collaborative as professionals, and share the journey that is going to have the biggest impact on student achievement and real 21st Century preparation!
So I asked kids, through a Google survey, what they thought of the state of things. I asked the following questions:
- What is working in education right now?
- If you could make only ONE change at school right now, what would you change?
- What else would you like to see change at school?
- Where do you go to school?
- How do you like to learn?
Here are a sampling of some of their responses (paraphrased):
- Many students talked about liking hands-on opportunities
- They liked learning with peers in groups or in pairs
- Less violence – bullying addressed
- Like using technology and see it as something that is working in education
- One student wrote that they want to feel safe and be able to trust their teachers
- One student wrote that he would like for someone to ask him about his opinion…
- I think the technology helps a lot in schools, and having the teachers know how to work them instead of wasting the whole period fumbling around trying to understand the technology.
- Clubs for different subjects to extend the learning for interested students
- I personally like teachers that don't stop or rest until you understand and can do it over and over again correctly.
- I would change some of the classes students have to take, like health, I took it in 7th grade, and now in 8th grade, I think if you all ready took the class, you shouldn't have to take it again, I know all this stuff from 7th grade, why should I have to learn it again?
- I would change school hours. I would extend the hours by at least 1 or 2 hours long so that we could really pass the End of Grade tests because I think that if we have more time in the classes then more people would understand things to the point were you'll know it...
- Less Lectures!
I included both generalizations combining several like responses, as well as some singular responses that I thought were significant. There were 80+ responses, and you can see the actual data HERE.
In general, I thought the responses had a positive tone, that things aren’t, perhaps, as broken as the media is making them sound. This was not a scientific survey, nor was the sample of respondents that broad, but I do like that students actually participated, and were honest about what they think.
I think there are a few illuminating discoveries here, though; inferences I’m making from what the students said:
- Students want to be valued for their experiences and be voices in curricular decisions.
- Students want to go beyond a comprehension level of knowledge. They want to know their content on a deep level.
- Students want bullying/school violence to be addressed. (I work in a lot of schools that have programs in place or plan singular anti-bullying events. What is the outcome of these programs? How do they know / provide evidence for whether or not the program is working and/or valued by the students? Do students have a voice in the program design, implementation, and/or reflection?)
- Students want someone who really cares about them and their learning. It reminds me of a book I read years ago called Inviting School Success by William Purkey. There are a myriad of other books on inviting behaviors and personal relationship building, but I like the simple and overarching message in Purkey’s book: Trust and Respect, the foundations of invitational theory, are at the root of promoting successful classroom practices. (I included a link to the book, knowing the price is steep, but used copies are inexpensive.)
I think more emphasis needs to be placed on the students’ voices in all this talk of school improvement and reform. I also think we need to differentiate the conversation based on populations of kids in our actual schools rather than trying to set national goals that only a fraction of our schools can realistically reach. We need to consider the improvement of teachers and not put our energies into ridiculous measures and evaluations that don’t paint an accurate picture of teacher performance.
We need to listen to the kids. They are the reason we do what we do. Don’t they deserve to be heard as loudly as the adults who think they know what’s best? There’s an old Hebrew proverb that fits here, based on an image I saw created for the “Great Quotes” FlickR group that says, “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.”
Another important message here should be what we can collectively do to start enhancing our professional practice, leaving the traditional behind, and really start preparing these kids for a world where they will be expected to collaborate and communicate on a global scale, as well as think critically and creatively to solve problems that we don’t even know are problems yet. Worksheets and lectures aren’t going to prepare them, but those that depend on them can’t be dismissed--we need to build capacity around what works, be collaborative as professionals, and share the journey that is going to have the biggest impact on student achievement and real 21st Century preparation!
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