Way Too Much of a Good Thing February 29, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Humor.add a comment
Will Richardson posted an amusing item on his blog about the Ultimate Conference Attendee. I guess with the current favoritism shown toward un-conferencing, the tools mentioned could apply to just about anyone. He includes Ustream, Twitter, VoiceThread, del.icio.us, etc. About the only things left off the list are blogs to personally reflect on the experience and Ning to set up a community for the attendees. Now I know there is such a thing as being too connected!
http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/the-ultimate-conference-attendee/
97, 98, 99… 100 February 29, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Opinion.add a comment
1 in 100 adults are behind bars. Okay, admittedly this has little to do with technology, or education, but I can’t help but wonder if there isn’t a better way than locking up so much potential. Will these numbers improve when our students are adults, or only accelerate? What else could be done with the funds it takes to imprison someone that could help them be a productive member of society?
Twitter – I’m In February 28, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Tools.add a comment
So I set up a Twitter account today. Very simple. I added a few people I would like to follow, also very simple. It will probably take a while to figure out what to do with it, so if you have any Twitter suggestions, let me know. I did find a four part set of Twitter screencasts if you want to see how to jump in to Twitter yourself. Oh, I almost forgot, my Twitter name is villagegreen!
http://www.disruptiveconversations.com/2008/02/want-to-learn-a.html
Talk About an Author Study! February 27, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Articles/Videos, Book Review.add a comment
The students at Arapahoe High School have been studying Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” and the author will be joining them for a video Skype call for a 90 minute question and answer session. Details, along with a Ustream link to see the session for your self can be found on Karl Fisch’s “The Fischbowl” blog. This takes the idea of an author study to a new level when you can include participation from the author.
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2008/02/ustreaming-and-live-blogging-daniel.html
Smart Twitter February 24, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Articles/Videos, Tools.3 comments
I guess if Howard Rheingold is hooked on Twitter, I probably don’t have many excuses left not to try it myself. I’m a firm believer in finding people who know more than I do about something and trusting them enough to see things their way. It is a great way to learn something new.
http://www.smartmobs.com/2008/02/23/why-im-hooked-on-twitter/
Colorado Conversation: Roundtable With Barbara and Clarence February 23, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in Conference Sessions, Edubloggers.add a comment
This conversation is run through http://www.mebeam.com/alpharoom.php?room=colearning
Barbara Barreda – K-8 principal from Los Angeles, CA.
Clarence Fisher – 7th and 8th grade teacher from Snowlake, Manitoba
B- our students have a limited view of the world. Working with C’s students has expanded their horizons.
C- B and I met over the Internet, through blogs, through Skype
C- we wanted ‘Thin Walls’ to go beyond an online project. A lot of it was experimental. We started off with VoiceThreads. We went from there to blogs. We did a novel study together. We’re learning to be facilitators, to get out of the way, to develop the tools as they are needed.
B- my students live below the porverty level, but in a private school, our parents make a lot of sacrifices. We work to get computers donated, we use open source solutions.
C- we’ve found that the open source and web based solutions lend themselves to collaboration better than the commercial tools.
C- we’ve worked on common rubrics, some common grading standards. It is difficult to assess (through existing standards) manners and collaboration. We’ve had to develop many of the tools ourselves.
B- some of our teachers have shifted to assessing skills.
B- we’re going to be working on that global understanding through the rest of the year.
Are you seeing a change in the writing skills of students who are collaborating online? C- they become writers of their own account. They learn the authentic voices of that are their own. They learn about voice and audience. We live in a world where experts are going away and everyone has an equal voice. B- we have a better idea of students’ thinking than we would in regular classroom interactions because we have the whole conversation. C- the ability to access and review the transcript provides a window we don’t have otherwise.
C- students are IM-ing each other, but we haven’t see much social networking. B- I have a MySpace account and haven’t seen much interaction on the part of the students.
B- we’re trying to show that these are learning spaces, not just games. C- active mornitoring on the part of the teacher helps students learn to be good digital citizens.
C- the Asus eeepc’s we got were flying off the shelves for sustained silent reading. To me reading is reading.
B- give them (teachers) permission to make mistakes and time to try new things. (I think this applies to students too!)
http://colearning.wikispaces.com/Thin+Walls
Colorado Conversation: Student Panel February 23, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Conference Sessions.add a comment
These are as close to direct quotes as I can type. My apologies if I’m paraphrasing or misquoting. These students are incredibly articulate and represent a reason for optimism for our future.
“It’s not about the technology, it’s about learning. Technology has allowed me to take charge of my learning.”
“It’s okay to fail.”
“We need to start earlier than high school.”
“Each individual education needs to be tailored to each student.”
“Laptops add so much energy to the (classroom) environment.”
“I’m a visual learner but I have terrible handwriting so I take notes on the laptop. It means less work outside of the classroom.”
“Look how many laptops there are out in the room.”
“This is preparing us for after college, for the professional world.”
“Technology can enhance your classroom, to make it more constructivist, to take it beyond the classroom.”
“It feels like it matters more when you put something online. It is more meaningful.”
“It is something that you can continue learning from even after the assignment.”
“The student can become the teacher.”
“The cell phone should be embraced in the classroom. We can text each other. We can be online. We can be live-blogging with our cell phones.”
“The cell phone is a good example of trying to add technology that isn’t necessary. When I’m in a class taking notes, I don’t need my cell phone.”
“We’re reading A Whole New Mind by Daniel Pink, and we’re blogging with him.”
“Students need to find a passion and take leadership for their own learning.”
Colorado Conversation: IT’s Elementary February 23, 2008
Posted by Matthew Woolums in 21st-Century, Conference Sessions.add a comment
IT’s Elementary: Collaborative Classroom Practices from the Lenski Elementary Teachers (Linda Jones, Boni Hamilton, Trecie Warner, Marcia Parrish, Jen Leavitt, Dana Wilhelm).
Quick introductions around the room. Participants include computer coaches, building reasource teachers, classroom teachers, tech coordinators at both building and district level, librarians, school principals, district network director.
How is technology used to support writing at Lenski? Where have we been, where are we now, and where are we hoping to go? Wikispaces will allow for student accounts that do not require student email accounts.
Step-up-to-writing teaches organization well, but the work all sounds the same. One key is to adopt vocabulary school-wide so that each grade level builds on the previous.
Selecting text and converting to table allows a process to deconstruct their writing and facilitate peer editing. Setting a goal, like every writer needs to make at least three changes, allows all levels of writers to focus on improving. Sometimes numbers can be too literal. Color coding is a key to understanding the organization of the writing, for example, one color for first sentences, one for concluding sentences, another for supporting ideas etc. Directions and examples are on the Lenski writing wiki linked below. It may be helpful to tell students (once they have learned to put them in) to remove transition words like ‘first’,'in addition’, and the students begin to vary those transition words on their own.
Only the classroom teacher can truly integrate technology into the curriculum, because only the teacher know what happens before the lab, what will happen after the lab, and what individual students will need. Classroom teachers should view the lab as an opportunity to enlist the support of additional teachers for writing. – Paraphrased from Boni Hamilton.
The focus at Lenski has been to move up the chart on Bloom’s Taxonomy.
http://colearning.wikispaces.com/IT%27s+Elementary+Collaborative+Classroom+Practices
