Moodle

Molly,

Have you heard of Moodle? I was talking with an art teacher from NJ and her district uses it. My limited understanding is that it is intended as an online class management system... but when I was able to check her page out, I was literally blown away by all that she could do & put on there... and it is open source software.

Anyway... thought I would share this with you...

Deep, Dark Secret

I'm going to reveal something of myself here. I know that I've blogged about the controversy brewing between English grammarians and tween bloggers who've adopted Internet slang to express themselves. I've always been one for showing what you know, so I never understood why anyone would purposely "dumb down" any writing.

However, I now see the light. (And it's two years after the fact.) I now can see how text messages need to, by definition, be written in brief. I can see how/why people use shorthand to write texts on cellies. You see, I text myself. I love sending text messages via cell phone. The years have passed, and I'm no longer so uber-concerned with proving to people that I do, in fact, know how to write abbreviations following AP style rules.

I guess I'm a slow, difficult product of the cyber-revolution. I think I worried too long about proper grammar. I am just not sure how to deal with the whole freedom of information and all that that entails.

How do we deal with this? Do we totally embrace this online revolution and try to create a cyberprofile for all of us? Do we ignore/deny the whole Internet presence? I'm just not sure, but I'd love to hear your thoughts.

How to Create a Successful Blog...or NOT!

If I think about the development of blogging, I am basically an amateur. This got me to thinking about why some blogs work and why other blogs fail. These are some things that came to mind.


Blogging at its core is about reading and reflecting ~ not about responding. Yes, you have to respond but mostly it is a forum for developing the brain. For example, can you imagine a class that only allowed you to write and not read. Too often I think people don't like blogs because they think they have to write something witty, pithy or intellectual. That would be nice but is not a requirement. Next, if you want people to respond to your blog post then spend time reading and then responding to other peoples posts......have a conversation.....not a monologue. And lastly, nothing piques curiosity like a hyperlink to something fabulous (even if you only think its fab) or a graphic to spruce up the content.



.........so with that said.............where are my bloggers?
Our last session is Monday. See you all there.

Waking the Digital Natives

Are you up for responding to my podcast or sketchcast?
Click on the links below:

My podcast: http://pluto.csov.org/ctig1.mp3

My sketchcast: http://sketchcast.com/view/2BT1lIs

Both of these digital tools will make the digital natives very restless! :-)

School 2.0: Can We Do it?

A couple of weeks ago I attended a workshop called School 2.0 that talked about the ways in which schooling will occur in the near future. The presenter used an interactive map (learning ecosystem, he called it) to illustrate the various aspects of learning and teaching with Web 2.0 applications and how those applications impact what teaching and learning look like.

(On a side note: In last year's CTIG, we discussed some of the Web 2.0 applications that we can use at school to engage our generation of digital learners. If you would like to listen to last year's session on that, click here.)

Back to the workshop....there was also great discussion about how there is no faster route to stagnation and death to teacher innovation than an organization that shuns risk-taking especially during this time of great change, new technology tools and in a time when administrators use traditional observations methods that don't promote innovation in instructional methods.

I found the interactive map to be thought provoking. Check out the interactive map. Once you get to the site, click on the Launch Learning Ecosystem Map (click here) and share your thoughts. I am curious to know:

1. How you feel curricular and instructional aspects would change if schools environments adopted the things in the School 2.0 learning ecosystem map?


2. How many CSOV educators would be willing to adapt to this type of learning environment?


3. How would it work at the early childhood and elementary levels?

Back to you!
Mol

Training vs. Professional Development

I just read an article in which the author talks about the difference between training and professional development. His article provoked me into deep reflection about this topic. Here is what he says:

• "Training is conducted to deepen knowledge about a specific product or strategy.Professional development is on-going learning that is connected to classroom practice and should produce changes in practice and enhance instruction over time."

I would love to know your thoughts about that statement?

Third grade blogging

We are learning to blog in third grade. We have taken a reading program called Caterpillar Reading to the next level. It is now the roots of Mrs. Corish's Online Book Club. Students use the forms they completed after reading a book for the Caterpillar program to write a summary of the book. They include their opinion of the book and any recommendation they have for reading the book. They have learned to create their account for the blog and post their summaries on the blog. Students have had such a good time reading and commenting on each other's postings.

Podcasting in Kindergarten

I love the idea of trying to Podcast in Kindergarten. I really need more hours in the day or a good kick in the pants to get myself started. A great service project would be for some egar older students to help the kindergarteners make podcasts. The big kids would be setting a good role model and the little kids would gain a great experience. Any Takers?

Van Keuren vs Welsh

Hey Jerry et al,
Did you get a chance to read the post that Michelle originally posted about Mr. Welsh and the subsequent responses to her posting? I would love to hear a conversation about technology integration between the two of you. If you didn't get a chance to read the dialogue, we would love to know what you thought about it.


From time to time I send out links school wide to see if anyone is interested in engaging in online collaborative projects that include the use of web interfaces such as a web cam. Last year, Michelle may remember the one that we almost set up for the class in Japan. Do you remember the ones I sent you last year about classes around the world that wanted to participate in an online collaborative math project? I never heard back from you so I thought you were not interested. Sounds like you are.......I wonder if Mr. Welsh is? :-)



Find a project that you are interested in off of this site and we can make it happen!

Global School House

http://www.globalschoolnet.org/


This type of technology is old and is severely under utilized mainly due to the gap in schools that had the technology to do so. Below is an old video from 1990's that shows how one middle school class used web interfaces in conjunction with their science class but this technology could be used in any subject area. Check it out. I am ready when you are!!!!!!!! :-)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6uQuj6W3E4



Another interesting site to check out is the Ask an Expert. http://www.askanexpert.com/


I will await your arrival in the ITC when you tell me you are READY to ROLL! :-)

Web Cams in the Classroom

At the last faculty meeting when Michelle talked about her friend in Iraq and his correspondence with her students, it reminded me of something I’ve wanted to do technology-wise. Wouldn’t it be great if Michelle’s students could talk directly with a soldier in Iraq or if any of the classes could talk directly with students in another part of the U.S or in the world for free. All it takes is a webcam, a computer and a reasonable internet provider. Could we also use it with a Smart Board?

Last year, my family and neighbors actually held a virtual baby shower here in Burke for my daughter who was in Juneau, Alaska. In fact, Nancy Moen attended. The presents were sent to her in advance and she opened them up in front of her web cam. We had a projector attached to our laptop here and showed the picture on the living room wall. The people in Juneau could also see us on their monitor.

Could we experiment with webcams? First we need someone in another location to experiment with us. Does anyone have any ideas about how we could do this?

Hey Mr. Welsh....

I have been in the field of technology integration for over 13 years. I have seen teaching practices and learning environments transform directly because of a technology tool that was used to enrich (not replace good teaching) a particular unit of study. Those practices and learning environments had one thing in common ~ a PROFESSIONAL teacher who remembers that school is a place to learn and explore new ideas despite short-sighted administrators or lame policy. I am tired of teachers who blame others for their inability to grow and push the boundaries of what learning and teaching can be…

So, Mr. Welsh you have a new $98 million building, classrooms with natural light that floods the classrooms, and each one is equipped with a ceiling-mounted LCD projector, which transfers anything you can put on your laptop, the latest, fastest, most exotic computer gadgets and computers, and an administration who wants to provide 21st centry tools and environments. What in tar nation are you complaining about? Stand up! Be a TEACHER and make it work for you and most importantly your students. Otherwise, have you heard of Monster.com??????

A recent editorial from the Washington Post...

A School That's Too High on Gizmos

By Patrick WelshSunday, February 10, 2008; B01
What's wrong with the teachers at T.C. Williams High School?

Last September, we moved into a new $98 million building in Alexandria, one of the most expensive high schools ever built. Natural light floods the classrooms, and each one is equipped with a ceiling-mounted LCD projector, which transfers anything I can put on my laptop computer -- from poetry readings at the Library of Congress to YouTube interviews with Toni Morrison and other writers -- onto a large screen at the front of the room. Students' behavior seems much improved: A cafeteria that looks like something out of an upscale mall has had a curiously pacifying effect on them, as has the presence of 126 security cameras.

So you'd think T.C. teachers would be ecstatic. But it's just the opposite -- faculty morale is the lowest and cynicism the highest I've seen in years. The problem? What a former Alexandria school superintendent calls "technolust" -- a disorder affecting publicity-obsessed school administrators nationwide that manifests itself in an insatiable need to acquire the latest, fastest, most exotic computer gadgets, whether teachers and students need them or want them. Technolust is in its advanced stages at T.C., where our administrators have made such a fetish of technology that some of my colleagues are referring to us as "Gizmo High."

Science and math teachers, for instance, have been told that they can't use traditional overhead projectors to present material to classes, even though the teachers say that in many cases, they're far superior to computers for getting certain concepts across. But the measure of teachers now is not whether they can convey their subject matter to students but how "paperless" their classrooms are -- how many new gizmos they use. To paraphrase the movie "Field of Dreams," if a computer company makes a classroom gizmo, the Alexandria school system will buy it.

The latest is the "school pad" -- a hand-held device that allows a teacher to roam around the room and underline whatever the LCD projects onto the screen. In other words, it saves teachers from walking a few feet to their desks to click the computer mouse. The school system ordered 77 school pads for T.C. at $495 apiece, even though one teacher said they reminded her of "the Magna Doodle pads we had as kids. It's another way to waste money for people who are too lazy to write on the board."

For a while, I thought it was just older teachers like me -- immigrants to the Internet world -- who were chafing at the so-called technology initiative, but it turns out that even the youngest teachers are fed up. "They would rather have a cyborg teaching than me," one young English teacher complained to me. "It's technology for the sake of technology -- not what works or helps kids learn, but what makes administrators look good, what the public will think is cutting edge."
The school admits as much on its Web site, which includes this entry addressing teachers:
"Imagine this headline: '[Alexandria City Public Schools] Recognized for its Premiere Educational Technology Program, Student Achievement Correlated to Technology Implementation.' What kind of technology exists at the high school that would create a headline like this?"
Principals and other administrators may live off headlines, but teachers live off whether their students learn. "Teachers shouldn't have to change how they teach to fit some technological device," said Peter Cevenini, who heads up the K-12 education division of Cisco's Internet Business Solutions Group. "Teaching is a craft, and many great teachers instruct in totally different ways. Too many school systems are becoming device-driven -- they're buying computer devices because they're there."

Kids certainly aren't fooled by all the gizmos. "The most effective teacher I have is Mr. Nickley," said senior Jamal Stone. "He isn't into all this computer stuff. All he uses is the board -- the whole board. He's lively, energetic, witty and really knows his math. He forces you to pay attention; you can't drift off even if you want to."

Stone said he feels sorry for many of the "paperless" teachers who are always having students use their school-issued laptops in class. "The teachers think their students are engrossed in class research when they're actually playing video games and surfing the Net," he said. "Whenever the computer Nazis block one game, kids just find new ones." Senior Katerina Savchyn confirmed that she sometimes uses her laptop to escape the boredom of class by playing the online "Helicopter Game."

In fact, the school-issued laptops are a problem in many ways. Students say all kinds of class time is wasted as they struggle to upload programs for class. The laptops constantly fail to connect to the wireless server, even though the computer geeks came around to every classroom a few months ago and installed new memory in every computer. The school system, which rushed into giving kids laptops three years ago, is constantly trying to play catch up with the technology.

What's truly disconcerting is that the technology overkill is turning off talented young teachers. As one of the best here -- someone whom parents seek out and students love -- put it: "There's a lot of things I like about the computers, but we're being forced to do an unreasonable number of computer activities. Many of them don't fit my teaching style. We have so many hoops to jump through that some days I come in and I'm not excited to teach. All the computer activities just take us away from students."

The administration doesn't seem to care about that. Recently, we English teachers had to get substitutes for our classes and attend an all-day technology session. An e-mail from the central office informed us that we would "examine methods for integrating technology to deepen student understanding by increasing rigor, creating relevance and building relationships with students and among students."

Apparently administrators really do believe that computers are the key to building relationships. The human voice and face-to-face contact have been replaced by e-mail and Blackboard, a computer program that allows teachers and students to communicate via the Internet. I've always thought that in some ways schools should be like families, but as one experienced teacher puts it, "We're becoming like a correspondence school where all communication is faceless."
You can walk around T.C. and peer into offices and classrooms and see administrators, guidance counselors and teachers staring at their computers instead of interacting with students. To some, T.C.'s principal of two years seems more comfortable in cyberspace than in face-to-face interaction. His preferred method of communicating with teachers seems to be via e-mail, and some say they think he doesn't know who they are or what they teach.

I love my computer and all I can do with it; on the few days when it's been in for repairs, I've felt a bit lost at first, the way I do when I can't find my cellphone or my TiVo remote. But as classes go on, I feel much closer to my students without the distraction of the laptop.

Of course, the big question isn't whether teachers like spending their time learning one new gizmo after another, but whether a parade of new technologies will help kids learn. From what I can see, that's not the case. Says one math teacher: "Math grows out of the end of a pencil. You don't want the quick answer; you want students to be able to develop the answer, to discover the why of it. The administration seems to think that computers will make math easy, but it has to be a painful, step-by-step process."

A social studies teacher agrees. More than ever, he says, "our students want to push a button or click a mouse for a quick A, B or C answer. Fewer and fewer of them want to think anymore because good thinking takes time."

I see the same thing in my classes, especially when it comes to writing essays. Many students send their papers in over the Internet, and while the margins are correct and the fonts attractive, the writing is worse than ever. It's as if the rule is: Write one draft, run spell check, hit "send" and pray.

Alexandria isn't the only school system bitten by the technology bug. Many rushed into giving every student a laptop in the hopes of finding a quick fix to the technological and academic performance gaps between the well-to-do and those less so. But now, a number are abandoning the programs, saying there's no evidence that the laptops are helping students academically -- and that they may even be a distraction.

North Point High School for Science, Technology and Industry in Waldorf went with ceiling-mounted LCD projectors but nixed the idea of laptops for all students. "Our philosophy is to have whatever technology our teachers want to do their jobs better available to them," Principal Kim Hill told me. "Technology is just a tool, not an end in itself. It will never replace good teaching."
Are you listening, Alexandria?

patrwelsh@gmail.com

Patrick Welsh has taught English at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria for more than 30 years.

Podcasting

After the last CTIG meeting, I was interested again in podcasting. Although I wasn't quite sure about how podcasts would work with my 2nd graders (honestly, I was afraid they'd either be bored or not take the project seriously enough), I tried it out and....

Wow! I was blown away. Not only did they not need my help, they created more impressive podcasts than I ever thought possible. And that was just a trial run! I think the big reason they didn't need my assistance on the technology front was that they were so eager to learn and practice what I showed them. They retained more than I'd even realized. Now I see podcasts as both a learning and assessment tool, and well worth the time spent. I encourage you all to run to the ITC and try it out!

Imagine

I read the article, and a few thoughts came to mind. First, I wish I had had a college experience like Jenny! So inquisitive, so motivated, so engaged! My second thought was, "How on earth do those professors find the time to create these podcasts?" and my third was, "How on earth do Jenny and her classmates find time to create these enticing little podcasts before the big class presentation?"  

I think that in reality, once I've done a podcast once or twice, it won't take so long to make. I suppose I'm still in the initial, overwhelmed stage. I plan to work through it, though...as soon as I can manage, I really do want to have my second graders create their own podcasts. These kids love to ham it up!

So many websites so little time

I designed an evaluation form for the third graders to complete when they view a website on the grade level links. This has been a big help with exploring all of the websites in the grade level links that might be useful for our curriculum. To begin students choose a website on the third grade link and try using it. They complete the form which asks a few questions like how hard was it to use it? Was it fun? Was it helpful? Would you recommend it? They put their names on them and put them in an envelope for me to read. It saves me time and gets them acquainted with the many activities in these websites. So far they have evaluated 20 and we have many more.