Childress Chatter

I found this article from  Infinite Thinking Machine of particular interest as I read some feeds from Google Reader.

“Brightstorm: Expanding the Reach of Great Teachers”

Chris Walsh, host of the Infinite Thinking Machine series of webcasts has recently launched a new medium, Brightstorm.  He’s recruiting teachers that support his belief that video provides a powerful medium to help students learn. The numerous hours that today’s teenagers spend watching You Tube videos attest to their interest in online video as a medium. The network, Brightstorm, has recently launched 19 video based courses lead by expert teachers helping high school students deepen their understanding of college prep content and skills such as Algebra II, Geometry, SAT Math, Writing and History.  Each 5-hour interactive video courses is broken down into 10-20 minute lessons, with interactive quizzes, challenges, study guides, and discussion groups and is available for $49 per year.The video courses are not ONLINE courses that replace the ‘for credit’ course offerings. They don’t pretend to offer the full scope and sequence of traditional courses; they don’t offer assessments on student performance. Brightstorm delivers their video courses directly to learners who could benefit from additional materials to engage them in a way that matches their learning style.  A service like Brightstorm can also support teachers who are looking for ways to encourage active, independent learning, but find themselves with limited tools.

LetterPop is a great way for teachers and students to create and post online professional looking newsletters, journal entries, scrapbooks, etc.  Many templates are available to use.  Your project is stored online and you can give folks access by emailing them the link.  It would be cool to set up some group accounts for student to collaborat on projects at this site.  I am going to suggest this site to some teachers asking student to create online literary magazines.

The online conference was awesome.  I really like the idea of this type of professional development.  Teachers are always asking for ways to share ideas with each other.  Using the precious few days set aside for PD are usually reserved for administrators to plan at the building level.  I would love to see our District organize an online conference of our own.

I viewed “Telling the New Story” by David Warlick.  This session was in the leadership strand and challenged leaders to develop a vision for change.  I loved the new technology David involved in his presentation.  I noticed several of the sessions I glanced over, were basically versions of narrated slide shows.  Mr. Warlick began his presentation with a Second Life avatar, adding some humor and illustrating what could be done with this new venue.  (There was even a political add for Obama on a Second Life “billboard”.)  After an introduction by the avatar, Mr. Warlick was viewable via a web cam for the presentation.  He split the screen so the participants could view his desktop at the same time.  I found this intriguing because I always want to incorporate a lot of the newest technology into my presentations and daily routines but usually end up with the same old Power Point type of venue.

“Telling the New Story” focused on leaders helping teachers understand the need for change in order to prepare our students for a future we can’t describe.  Mr. Warlick suggested that we will need vision, courage, and skills.  He also stated that there are three types of leaders. A Master Leader is so good at what they do, people will listen and follow.  He used Michael Jordan as one example.  A Creative Leader, such as Einstein or Spielberg, are so creative that people respect them for then ingenuity and will listen and follow.  The third type he listed was a Compelling Leader.  This leader must tell a compelling new story.  Examples were Mandella and Ghandi who changed the direction of nations.  The basic new story that Warlick is suggesting that leaders in education must tell is of change.  The change from our once perfect education system that was designed to prepare citizens to do repetitive tasks on an assembly line to being producers and contributors globally.

PS.  My fonts keep changing when I take this to Word to check spelling and grammar.  I am not sure how to get the original font back.

I chose the theme of Team Work for my image search and slide show.  I am being reminded daily of how thankful I am for a great “team” of folks to work with.  Each has special talents and bring unique contributions to our group.  Thanks Team!

Credits for photos:

Ants

http://flickr.com/photos/annamir/2614830983/

annamir

Hands

http://flickr.com/photos/yckhong/363310776/

yckhong

More ants

http://flickr.com/photos/21647130@N05/2163480291/

RS Rapaka

Dogs

http://flickr.com/photos/by_lady_di/2881351371/

Diana Nevermind

Bridge

http://flickr.com/photos/waterfairy_s/2772299164/

waterfairy_s

Elephants

http://www.flickr.com/photos/superciliousness/556324366/

superciliousness

Ok..I am really struggling with this post.  I have tried my photo twice using both the saved image on my computer and linking to the URL.  I am behind on my “things” so I am moving on and will try to come back later to add the picture.  (I have some nice friends that will help me.)

I have also typed this post more than once and I have not been able to publish it, so the computer gods must not be smiling on me tonight.

Flickr was a great resource for teachers and students as they search for images to use in projects.  I chose the theme of team work and got some good images to use in a presentation.  The one I chose to insert I would call “Bridging the Gap”, which is something I find I need to do with the teachers and students that I work with.

I think using images to tell stories, illustrate poetry, remember vocabulary, and create posters are all great ideas for using Flickr in the classroom.  My favorite suggestion was using Flickr images to create virtual field trips.  I think this would be a powerful project for students to create and to view.

Thing 10

I have noticed the CC logo a few times on websites that I visit.  I first learned about Creative Commons through one of our fellow online students, Esther Brenneman.  Esther teaches a Professional Development class on Information Literacy and informed us of the meaning of the CC logo and the impact on the meaning of copyright.  I know students and teachers alike feel that if they find something on the web, they have the rights to use it.  We have been trying to educate our folks for years, but it is very hard to convince some that this is a violation of the law simply because the Internet has made everything so accessible.  I am definitely a consumer of information and media that is on the web.  When I see something powerful that helps communicate an idea or assists with teaching a concept, I have shown it or used it.  I try to take precaution to link directly to the site, but sometimes info is time sensitive and I have made a backup copy for use in that case.  We are producing training materials that we are sharing via the web.  These materials include our own directions and links to other sites for articles, examples, etc.  Technically, I the school district owns this work since we are creating it with tools provided by the district, are being paid to do this work and it is being hosted servers they own.  I think the value of CC for student work is awesome, because students tend to take more pride in work if someone recognizes they OWN it.

I loved reading about Vicki Davis’ blog post Wiki Wiki Teaching about her first experience using wikis in the classroom.  First, I was impressed that she took something she learned at a conference (GAETC) and immediately applied it to her classroom.  So many times we get so full of ideas at conferences, but seldom find the time to work on the implementation.  The truly wonderful outcome of her wikis was the student enthusiasm and ownership they took.  Giving the students some control and creative license can certainly turn them on and usually inspires them to go above and beyond the requirements of an assignment. And last, but not least, the enthusiasm of the teacher and her students spilled over to others in the school.  It seemed to be a grass fire as it spread.  Today’s technology seems to be the catalyst for real change in our classrooms.

Students used the Code Blue wiki to house a collection of materials from sixth grade students learning about the human body.  It was a cute design to format it like each was a doctor specializing in a different part of the body.  I saw some creative writing and factual information.  It was a nice way for the students to collaborate and collect information and a great way to store the information for classmates to read and review.

Teachers utilized the Salute to Seuss wiki to collaborate on resources for elementary students to use as they celebrate Dr. Seuss by reading his books and creating an online presentation. The Student Gallery housed some final projects.  As I viewed this site, I was a little concerned about copyright.  I saw a lot of images and full text of Suess books.  I know that copyright is something we struggle with in our district.  We are working on information literacy classes for all our schools.  Copyright issues will be a major focus of this class.

The world was encouraged to contribute to the Schools in the Past and Thousands Project.  Schools in the Past wiki was used by first graders to interview parents and grandparents to find out how schools have changed. I found myself intrigued and reminiscent about my school experiences.  I contributed to their wiki about the book mobile visiting my elementary school.  The Thousands Project wiki was a fifth grade class posting a new question about the environment or ecology monthly.  Their goal was to receive 1000 responses from students and visitors from around the world.   I checked several months of posting and saw less than 100 posts on each.  It seemed their goal was set a little too high and maybe just collecting these responses wasn’t enough.  The teacher might have been able to increase the interactivity, by asking the students to comment or write responses to the entries.

Using wikis is a great idea for student collaborative projects.  We had a class that used wikis for the first time.  The teacher emailed me and asked if she should be concerned about the IM type of words/spelling the students were using.  We worked together and talked to the students about their desire to make this a “real world” project.  We suggested they work as if they were a group of employees in a real business, producing a product.  After they simulated these adult roles, they also emulated more professional writing as well.

Reading all these posts can be addictive.   I plan to use some of my lunchtime each day, but realize it will take much more time to keep up with all this information.  Of course, some I can delete. I subscribed to some food and nutrition articles from the NYT and realize that I can’t be healthy ready 99 ways to use mashed potatoes.

I really wish I was at the Handhelds convention in London or could have attended the Open source convention.  Since GAETC is right around the corner, I was interested to read a techLearning blog by Cheryl Oakes titled, “What is the Best Way to Plan for Your Professional Development.”  http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/10/what_is_the_best_way_to_plan_f.php  Cheryl offers some very practical and useful tips for making the most of a conference experience.  One of the best key phrases in the article is HAVE A PLAN.  It is so easy to get overwhelmed at a conference by all the information.  Doing a little research beforehand on the topics and speakers is a very helpful tip.  Having a plan to bring back something you can use immediately is a wonderful tip to guide conference goers.  Talking about what you saw and heard with others can help solidify your experiences and spark enthusiasm in others!  I will spread this one around.

“Blog” seems to be a term to define a lot of different types (genres) of writing posted to the web.  There is informational writing such as the student posting of class notes on the SP-817 Math Blog.  Many people use the term blog synonymously with the term web site.  There is opinion or persuasive writing such as Will Richardson’s, “Why Can’t We Do This?” and Vicki Davis’, “Spies Like Us.” There are also interpretive and creative writings like “Duck with a Blog” by the second grade students.  There are also blogs that teach and instruct like Ann Davis’, “A Rationale for Blogging” and Chris Pearson’s, “The Ripe Environment.”

No matter which genre is used, I think blogs are particularly valuable when they allow for comments to be posted in response to the writing.  Allowing others to post their opinion and begin a conversation is the truly revolutionary component of a blog.  Reading comments and responses to comments can be challenging to follow at times, but a great way to expand the thought process.

The uses for blogging for educational purposes increase daily.  The blog by Ann Davis had a wonderful summary of some very valid reasons for teachers to be using blogs to teach. 

• Blogs provide a space where students and teachers can learn from each other.
• Blogs help learners to see knowledge as interconnected as opposed to a set of discrete facts.
• Blogs can give students a totally new perspective on the meaning of voice.
• Blogs foster ownership and choice.
• The worldwide audience provides recognition for students that can be quite profound.
• The archive feature of blogging records ongoing learning. It facilitates reflection and evaluation.
• The opportunity for collective and collaborative learning is enormous.
• Blogging provides the possibility of connecting with experts on the topic students are writing.
• The interactive nature of blogging creates enthusiasm for writing and communication.
• Blogging engages students in conversation and learning.
• Blogging encourages global conversations about learning.
• Blogging provides the opportunity for our students to learn to write for life-long learning.
• Blogging affords us the opportunity to learn about the power of the published word and the responsibilities involved with public writing