The Global Refrigerator

I have been thinking a bit about the visual nature of learning and teaching and can't help but think about the artwork and homework I would post on the refrigerator when my kids brought home work they were proud of. In a lot of ways, the posting of our students work on Flicker or wikis or screencast works the same way. The students are motivated not only to perform for their own sake, but to share their work.
This is a continuation of my reflection of the cell phone photos for math. Eric Marcos had a great demonstration of the enthusiasm created in his students through the use of screencasting.
By using tablet pcs, a microphone and a moodle, this 6th grade class has created a website.I was so impressed with the live presentation presented by 2 students at the conference. This is really is a follow up on Darren K.'s theory of teaching like med school. When the students solve their equations on the screen, they are actually teaching it. In addition to being available for view on computers, they can also import some of the audio to an Ipod. His students have also created Mathtrain Tv ( link on the site). I haven't looked yet, but I believe they have also posted some things on You Tube, Teacher Tube, and google video. In addition to their videos, they close captioned them as a community service project to help special needs students.
The students create pseudonyms which, Marcos relates, they really enjoyed. This also provides a safety feature as well. A teacher who presented something similar at the e-pals session also has her students creat screen names for anonymity. In her case, it began the year with a Nativie American naming assignment that culminated with their first e-pal correspondence as they described why the chose their N.A. screen name and provided no other personal information.
There are some wonderful examples of students' work at the site.
The way I see it, it is an old idea with a new tool. So, it really isn't about the technology. It IS about the pedagogy.

New Pedagogies

I have been overwhelmed with the information I still need to process and the great amount of contacts/networking that is avaialbe to me and my little brain as a result of the BLC conference. While I have opened a blog there, I don't know if it pays to have more than one so, for the time being, this will have to be it.
I was blown away by the enthusiasm and creativity of Darren Kuropatwa While I have bookmarked a number of articles about cell phones and education, this was the first time I saw it in action. I might add, I was impressed. Participants were asked to take photos with their cell, send it to an address at Flickrand then shared them right away.
Kuropatwa says he adapted the idea of how things are taught at medical school to his H.s. math class. In med school, you watch it - do it- then teach it. Using these principles, he enables his students to be the teachers and amke their thinking ransparent. This is similar to a presentation that I will talk about in another post using screencasting in a 6th grade math class in Calfiornia.In both instances, not only do kids feel there is value to what they know, but they work on writing in a content area with great care as their work will be published and seen. He refered to the work of Liz Kolb as a good place to begin.
I have a lot of notes from this session that I had hoped to blog, but maybe it is TMI. In a nutshell, students took pictures of mathematic concepts with phone. Saved These on Flickr and need to tag with class name and mark the photos with hotspots that explain why something is a good visualization of the concepts. The students then used Google docs to collaboratively create a rubric for their assessments. In addition to being evaluatied by their peers, his class has connected with mentors who communicate with his class online. The students were not only finding math in the world around them, but were also creating visual study tools that they felt helped them apply the concepts and remember.
I loved his concern not with the tools, but with the pedagogy that allows us to reach the students at theire level . He teaches them to do what experts do and allows the opportunity to create lieflong learners.
Interstingly, the last part of his assignment is always a reflection which gives the students an opprtunity to evaluate what they have learned, but again in a variety of formats that speak to them. He shared some podcasts and also refered to videos also created by the students.
i was fortunate to be able to see this presentation. I had made as a goal to try to take advantage of hearing what people are doing in other countries and this was such a great follow up, for me at least, after Ewan McIntosh.

How the game works

My first inkling about what was to come at the BLC08 conference was introduced to me when I heard Ewan McIntosh of Scotland present " Not all Native Wit: From Creativity to Ingenuity." It is easiest to learn by doing things that are intuitive to you. for me, it was reading, writing and talking. For the 90% of today's 15-25 year olds who have visited a social network , it is something else. If My space were a country, it would be the 3rd largest in the world! Our job is to get to students at their level and present the opportunity to learn and create in a system that is easiest for them.


I particularly related to the 3 steps of learning that McIntosh referred to:

• Saturation - immerse yourself in everything


• Incubation - let it settle with no deadlines or stress ( and I have a LOT to do after this conference)


• Illumination - the "a-ha!" that you can then share with a larger audience

These steps relate to both teacher and student. The idea is this - tech is the tool and creativity is the pinball. We need to focus on the pinball . We don't need to teach technology as much as teach subject matter and learning USING it. Today's youth culture is a culture of participation. Our students have lots of identities online: secret spaces, group spaces, publishing, performing, participating, watching,etc. We need to create a new awareness and allow them to create new groups. ( A random fact to support the social nature of our world? 426,000 cell phones thrown away every day!)

This session was introduced using Promethean clickers in response to the question " How would students today describe school?" The most popular answer among the audience of teachers and administrators? BORING!! McIntosh suggests that our challenge is to make learning REMARKABLE!!!

His closing quote came from one of the founding fathers of our country, Ben Franklin:

"There are three types of people, those who are immovable, those who are movable and those who move."

THAT is how the game should be played.

An energizing experience

View my page on BLC Conference



I just returned from an incredibly enriching experience at the Building Learning Communities 2008 meeting out in Newton, Massachusetts. This was a 5 day ( if you include 2 days of pre-sessions that are avaiable) conference with a focus on networking, meeting teachers from around the world, and talking about our passion, teaching. The general idea that most people seemed to be signed on to is that we need to change the world of education so that it matches the world our students live in now. What is really mind-boggling is whether we are preparing them for the world they will live in and what will THAT look like?
Now that I am back home in my routine, I hope to use this blog to help review my notes and digest and share some of the many things that really got me thinking.
I think I have references this idea before that has been presented by Alan November ( and I am sure others too, but he is my favorite:) As teachers with technology our challenge is not to automate things that we already do by using computers, but to infomate and use technology as the tool it was created to be that can open brand new worlds and possibilities to both our students and ourselves.

If at first you don't succed...

View my page on NECC 2008




That's right...2 1/2 months later I am writing another entry. My summer project will be to blog at least once a week, even though it is only really for myself. I have just returned from the NECC in San Antonio, Texas. My goodness! Too much information to be honest and far too many choices. I have yet to really sit down and reflect on it all. I have a tech meeting on July 9 that I hope I will be able to share my info with,especially regarding things to have in place or start to promote at the beginning of the school year.

Initial thoughts...

• slates versus smartboards


• interactive, interactive,interactive


• let people know what is available to them


• professional development is not just key, it is crucial


• we are far from our true potential, if we were students, I would not even agree that we are putting out average effort.


• hands on is the best way to go


• teachers are the worst students...they talk, check e-mail during presentations and text message ...activities I am guessing would not be appreciated in their own classrooms.


• if our students spend 6.5 hours a day on electronic devises from cell phone to Ipods to gaming to social networking to televisions to computers, are we really attempting to reach the in the best way?

Lots of food for thought.