Instead of using a tool that we’d all heard of, blogging, I started with the platform of collaborative learning and went from there.  I threw in some learning about our digital footprints, too.  (I opened with them Googling me and telling me about myself.  Way better than me telling them, and they learned how to do it for themselves.  I never would have told them I was a “recovering librarian,” but they learned it from my Twitter profile and thought it was great!)

We set up Google accounts for everyone and started in on Google Docs.  The group learned how to share and create documents, spreadsheets and forms.  They were so excited to see the possibility of kids working collaboratively using this tool.

Then we talked Twitter.  What does 140 characters have to do with school?  I showed them examples of breaking news events, I showed examples of fictional characters with Twitter accounts and I showed them real life examples of teachers using Twitter to tell a story.  They are not sold…yet.  But I guarentee that six months from now, someone will remember something about what we talked about and I will get an e-mail from them.  That’s the best – the seed has been planted!!

We continued on with blogging, visual images, digital storytelling, http://www.4teachers.org, webquests and library databases.  Phew.  We just barely skimmed the surface of some of those, but now they are out there.

The best part of the day was when the offer was made for the Instructional Technology staff or myself actually coming into the Literacy classrooms to either model technology instruction or help facilitate the lesson with the teacher.  The group was ecstatic! Yes, it’s true….we will be collaborative with you, so that you can model it for your students!  Woo-hoo!!

My sessions on Tuesday focused on Thinkfinity – a venture of the Verizon Foundation.  (Used to be called Marco Polo for those that remember back that far!)  Both groups were fantastic and I loved being able to spread the word about the NYS Teacher Centers partnership with Thinkfinity.

On Thursday, I co-taught Google This! with my good friend Jeremy Peters.  We presented a 3-hour course about using Google Docs, Google Reader, Google Searching and the effect of technology on our digital footprints.  Jeremy is a K-6 computer teacher for the Rochester City School District.  My latest experience is in professional development.  Between the two of us, we hope the group got the best of adult learning and also how to apply it in the classroom.

There were over 115 registrants for the conference…but I want to see more educators there next year!  You bet that I will be talking up my experience this week.  There were some other Webster folks there too, so I hope to connect with them in the fall.  For $125, attendees got 3 days of workshop sessions and lunch!  You can’t beat it!

Will I see YOU there next year??

I was asked by a a district office administrator that has been working with these middle school folks to design a new literacy course for sixth grade.  The idea is to include something in the curriculum that is about communicating electronically…which is supposed to get the students ready for future learning…aka “21st Century Learning.”  The suggestion by this administrator was blogging.

Sure – sounds simple enough.  But I have 3 hours to explain that there are about a million possibilities to use blogging, and they not only have to figure out how they are going to use it, but also the other possibilities (because in about 2 months they are going change their mind once students start blogging with them).  They also need to understand what a blog is, and how it fits in to the bigger picture of tools.  The teachers have to understand how our district blog site works and then all the outside, free, blog sites that they can pick from.  Will the blog be open only to the students?  Will the students create avatars or user names, or will they be required to put their real name?  Will the students need e-mail addresses?  Will the teachers need to create an e-mail address for them?  What parent permission form will they use?  Will the teachers approve the blog posts as they are posted or will they approve them ahead of time?  Will students have a required number of blog posts?  Will parents have access to this work?  Are teachers taking the students’ digital footprints into account in this work?  Will the teachers save the blog posts year after year?  Will students be required to comment on other students’ posts?

And I will figure it all out in 3 hours.

So as I tried to explain my concerns about focusing on one tool for 3 hours, I had a really hard time.  I needed an analogy for ed tech and how fast it changes, and how the blogging is sometimes the end and sometimes the means.  It is the automate vs. informate question.  Maybe that’s how I should have explained it…

http://www.geekchart.com/

http://feltron.com/index.php?%2Fcontent%2F2008_annual_report%2F

http://plodt.com/help/try_it

Manic Time

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/01/15/designer-presents-hi.html

http://mathsclass.net/sitemc/annualreport2008

http://sustainablydigital.edublogs.org/2009/01/28/annual-report-2008/

http://reader.google.com

• Forget a linear PowerPoint or progression of website clicks!  This is one giant white (well, it’s actually black) space!!  Zoom in, zoom out, link video, audio, write text…you name it!  Check out the showcase for great examples.
• Think about using this website with an interactive white board!

Etherpad: http://www.etherpad.com

• Ever want to share a document with 7 other users in real time?  Maybe you are a superintendent crafting a letter to parents and you want principals to have input.  Create a new pad and all 8 of you can sit in a different location and type away.  You see the changes to the document as they happen.  There is a chat window, too!  Better than a Google Document, in my opinion.
• I used it with two colleagues I met at the NYS Staff Development Conference – and I had not met them before the conference.  We all went to different sessions, but I have the notes from all of them now!

Google’s Wonder Wheel

• Want to see a visual representation of your next Google search?  Type your search term(s) in the box and hit search.  Under the blue line at the top of the page, click on Show Options…  Click on Wonder Wheel on the bottom of the list on the left.

Thanks to the blog dy/dan, I found out that the NBA is creating a video rulebook.

My friend Dave is creating videos of teachers in his school.

I used my Flip to record my 97-year-old grandmother talking about growing up.  She’s now on YouTube for my family to have forever.  (Sorry, it’s a private link.)

Ok…now go to the online store of ASCD or other professional/educational organizations.  You can buy all sorts of videos that are designed to help teachers teach better…to help administrators administrate better.

I’m waffling between the effect of using a video with teachers from your own district (time spent creating = high) verses purchasing a video of strangers doing the same thing (time spent creating = none).  Is the impact greater if you can capture great things in your own district?  Is the payoff larger if people can follow up with the “movie stars” personally?  Should districts create a youtube like environment for their in-house movies?  Do video tutorials have a huge impact on teachers and administrators?

Then there is the idea of video living forever.  And what are the consequences for people that live on in these videos?  The teacher is videotaped in their second year of teaching.  Twenty years later this teacher becomes the Secretary of Education for the Malia Obama presidential admistration.  (Ha!)  Would there be an impact?  If work created in the K-12 environment has copyright that belongs to the school, how do you protect those involved?  Can a person be protected?

So many questions, so little time.

We answer their question by handing them a curriculum map or a binder of assessments or the state standards or a link to our webpage (where parents have access, too), right?  So now that new teacher is feeling confident that he knows what to “do” in the coming months.

Okay, of course we don’t believe that (I hope).  What if we were to add a column to that curriculum map of red flags?  Think about a math map.  This would be for things like “Be careful in unit 6 – the students do not understand ‘rise over run.’  They will demonstrate they can remember it – but they will not be able to demonstrate understanding of it.”  Hand THAT to the new teacher.  NOW that new teacher will have the curriculum, AND the pitfalls that other teachers have faced.  This column may even include a great way to be sure the students have LEARNED whatever the concept or skill is…not just that we TAUGHT it.

Thank you Jay McTigue and Allison Zmuda.

They gave us a short article to read for homework: Craft Knowledge: The Road to Transforming Schools by Deanna Burney.  Burney ties accountability to standards of practice for teachers.  She gives the example of doctors holding morbidity conferences when a patient dies.  They review standards of practice and discuss what they could have done differently.

WOW…translate that to teachers!

What would happen if we had school-wide conferences when a student fails?  There would be no conversation defending our practice, but rather what else is there to do…  Is this a great way to start the RTI discussion or what?!!

If these are ALL OUR kids, we must change how we think about accountability.

The flexibility is out of control…sometimes I think there is TOO much flexibility, but then I laugh and remember that I couldn’t find software that was flexible enough until I met Moodle!

I’m thinking about the second year of teaching the course…what happens to the information that I create and/or post and the information that the class posts?  Can I keep it forever?  It would be great to have some longitudinal data on our new teachers.

As the Library Curriculum Supervisor, I presented our department goal update to the Board of Education in January.  I was so proud of the library lead teachers and their work to get ready for the presentation.  The BOE, however, wants more information.  Enter logic models.

The basic logic model template has places for inputs, outputs and outcomes.  I love that the outputs (or data) section is not the end…the outcomes (or impact) section takes the data and applies it to the goal or situation that is outlined on the template.

Our district uses the SMART Goal format for departments and schools.  But I find that those goals are very narrow, and do not reflect the big picture of what our staff is working on.  I think that, possibly, the logic model template could help us get a big picture look.

Ok…so let’s look at the library.  The librarians have many roles: teacher, collaborator, technology specialist, manager, and collection developer.  Our SMART goal looks specifically at librarian as teacher; it is focused on assessment.  So far, the logic model that I’m working on has a place for each of those roles, what data we collect, what work we are doing, and what our program goals are.  There is a place to include the public library as a partner.  There is a place to show how library teaching assistants and building administrators are involved.  I can also break up the program goals into short-, medium-, and long-term.

I read a great explaination of why logic models are not action plans. The logic model looks at the presumed effects and/or a hypotheses about those effects (the actual changes).  An action plan is a set of objectives and a timeline  – or what the people need to do to implement something.  It really does start with the end in mind and work backwards…thank you UBD.

We will see what the response from other curriculum supervisors and the BOE is!  For now, I’m pretty excited!

My delicious links about logic models.