Monday, March 17, 2008

Why Web 2.0 is critical

The following are notes from a presentation by Steve Hargadon from Discovery Educators Network. He has also created a wiki that discusses this topic.
The topic started with this thought. Currently only 10% of web users contribute to Wikipedia. As the web continues to grow, the amount of contributors will continue to climb. already we have way more content that we know what to do with. Some reasons why?
1. New Publishing Revolution

2. Tidal Wave of Information

3. Everything is participative i.e. book reviews on Amazon

4. A society of Pro ( producer) sumers ( consumers)

5. The Age of Collaborator - probably unparalleled for looking at a topic. ( Wikipedia)

6. Explosion in Innovations -How Breakthroughs Happen ( published by his brother) talks about how we now utilize regularly the ability to transfer information from one area to another

7. World Gets Even Flatter & Faster - i.e. Skype, Twitter, Open Professional Development

8. Social Learning Moves to Center Stage - study groups versus lecture hall. Oftentimes the learning occurs in the hallways after class, during discussions, versus actually IN the classroom.
now we have open courseware and apprenticeship models that are moving towards becoming the primary model. The idea of student as expert is growing.

9. The Long Tail - this term was developed by Chris Anderson and he discusses it in his book which carries the subtitle "Why the Future of Business is doing Less with More" We currently have access to resources we couldn't access in the past. Information from experts is readily available,we can watch videotaped surgeries

10. Social Networking is Opening up the Party. Love his analogies. blogging is like walking on stilts, a wiki is like juggling, and My Space is like the bedroom wall without the parent supervision piece. As of February, 2008, at any given time, 300,000 people are on My Space, 375,000 new clients sign up daily, and their 300,000,000 subscribers qualify them to be the 3rd largest country in the world.

Mr. Hargadon has created a school 2.0 wiki that list a plethora of sites, podcasts,etc. with information about the classrooms of the future.
The second part of his presentation agree pretty much with a lot of the idea that Jamie McKenzie also proposes regarding the fact that, regardless of the technologies of the future, these "digital natives" still need to be trained in real thinking skills. His wiki lists the 6 things that You can do as a teacher to help.

The bombshell, in his words, ? Web 2.o is the future of teaching.

Sunday, March 16, 2008

Investigating Joan of Arc

The last portion of the workshop was an experiment in authentic learning for those of us attending the seminar. The example was to build a case for or against Joan, moving from thoughts to sentences by making 10 suppositions about her based on what we know. Then , support these suppositions with an investigation into some primary sources regarding joan of Arc.
Demonstrating the power of exact wording in the title to facilitate finding things using google as the search engine, we porceed to search " Joan of Arc's letters" and Letter to the English." We 'harvestied information from these sources to explain with a note any earlier suppostions that we could support. the next step/ To Google : St. Joan of Arc's Trials" and examine "The Trial of Nullification" to read the testimony of some of Joan's friends.
to finalize the assignment, we looked for images of Joan of arc, remembering that there might be a number of ways we could search. ( i.e. Jeanne D'Arc, St. Joan of Arc,etc.)
This experience lead to a discussion of the 5 standards of Authentic Instruction proposed by newmann and Wehlage. Shopuld an assignment meet all 5 standard:
1. Rooted in issues, challengs, or decisions people face in the world
2. It requires higher level thinking skills such as analysis and synthesis.
3. They are genuine problems in the world of virtual reality, virtual truth,etc. ( i.e. WorldJobSites.com, Job-Hunt.org
4. The aretof wrestling with these challenges is purposeful. They can see pay off in future for skills acquired and work well done.
5. It is meaningful, worthy and generative in the sense of promting knowledge.
(Examples for Social Studies and Language Arts from his From Now On Education Journal.)
Therein lies the challenge to teachers. To not feel compelled to keep up with technology, but to realize that technology will define the world of our students far differently than it defines out present. We have an obligation to be aware of the tools, pros and cons, so that we can teach our students to THINK well and use it WISELY. Our job is, ultimately, to prepare our students for life, not for tests, by debating, wondering and asking.

McKenzie revisited - Engaged

The next topic discussed at the seminar was Engaging students. irionically, I have been engaged in some student projects myslef in the last week, and only now have the time to revisit my notes. The biggest problem lately- the reflection process. I am a notetaker, but I need the time to 'ponder and gather' my thoughts in order to get the most out of my experience.

The first article refered to us involved The Wired Classroom about the difference between a tech room and actually engaging the students. it reminds me of Alan November's idea about innovating rather than automating with computers.

I have to agree with Mr. mckenzie about the power of images, particularly as thinking prompts. If you check his webiste, he alsways has photos and a special section for cartoons. He discussed the value of a good image collection and bad databae ( i.e. San Francisco Museum of Art0 and a site with a better data base that expands the possibilities with searching ( I.e. Corbus collection) Two other image sites that were recommended? the National Portrait gallery at the Smithstonian and a collection of global cultural sites, The Great Mirror, collected by a geography professor from Oklahoma.
I t is important to get students to think critically about images and get them to challenge themselves to interpret what they see. One recommended way is to use this idea of puzzle as presented in the Virtual Bead Loom, a beginners software, which allows students to weave and wonder through the pattern in order to replicate the Native American design presented to them.Beading, weaving, and puzzling serve as metaphors for the student to see the ability of the mind to accept a challenge and examine things carefully to come to a final conclusion or resoultion.

While this seems random here, in addition to talking about the power of images in the classroom, Mckenzie referred to a study done in 2006 that talks about the power and affect of the media on young children, calling them Generation M.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Jamie McKenzie-Make Mystery a daily event versus routine

I was glad I decided, although at the last minute, to attend an all day Jamie McKenzie seminar. It is a nice complement to Alan November's thought about kids and understanding the grammar of the internet. McKenzie , like November in his "Thinking Zach to Think" seminar, places emphasis on technology as a tool that is used to encourage the students to THINK CRITICALLY, a skill which i often think is sorely lacking.
McKenzie's workshop was intimate, with about 25 teachers in attendance, all with laptop computers for a hands on involvement with the class. We began with an inspiration image that talked about vertical, or logical, thinking and extending it to lateral, or critical and complex, thinking. He emphasizes synthesis, and the utilization of programs , such as the 6 Traits, as synthesis tools. He suggest that teachers propose mysteries that don't necessarily have a clear answer rather than puzzles which has pieces that fit neatly together for a defined purpose. The emphasis should be on: composition,comprehension/inquiry and communication.
As an example of some of the ways we can ask students to " infer-question-picture-recall-0synthesize -flex- were demonstrated with the use of some of the Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty videos discussing society's images of women. Great example of some tools that help you to think critically about images, a recurring theme in McKenzie's presentation.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Facebook- a preventative measure?

Jean heard a speaker at ICE who told an unbelievable tale about students creating Facebook pages under some of the teachers' names. Their purpose? To damage the teachers' reputations.
anyhow, she strongly recommended that all teacher register a Facebook page in their own name, purely for the purpose of preventing others from being able to use it.So, I have a Facebook as well as a My Space page. I doubt I will EVER use them, but my children think i opened the account to spy on them. As if...!

And Twitter and Ning and Skype and...

Having just returned from a heavily tech centered week, I am feeling both overwhelmed, scared and excited with all that I have learned. Of course, what I really learned is all that I don't know. It boggles my mind what is available out there. I am SO aware that our students know so much more than we do in terms of technology. Most importantly, I worry that too many teachers, in an underpaid and overworked vocation, either can't or won't read the writing on the wall that is a call to change the way we do things.
As a result of earlier experiences, I have read both The World is Flat and A Whole New Mind and had a major epiphany. my first recommendation to anyone who either doubts life is/will be that different or those who need to validate suspicions that the world is changing quickly, should read these books and then just dive in!
This is the first blog in my own plan to "dive in". At the ICE conference, Vicki Davis challenged participants to list 3 things that they wanted to try. I know that i have heard from two other people that this challenged changed the way they did things. i am ready to try to take that challenge too.
There are so many things to check out, I hope to record my thought,observations and ideas here so that i can involve the reflective process in all this learning. I am SO much a digital immigrant in this digital world.