Week 4 - Blog Posting #8 -Reflection on Blogging

Week 4 - Blog Posting #7 -Second Life

My thoughts on Second Life are very limited. I’ve had an avatar for a couple of years and have tried it out numbers of times. I don’t understand how to do anything but look at things. I’ve traveled to a number of sites such as the Alamo and ISTE Island that I liked, but once again I don’t understand what to do there other than look.

I’m carrying a house, but I don’t know what to do with it. I’ve looked up how to make money and finding land, but that costs money and I don’t see that it’s worth it. On ISTE Island they have a number of free items like clothes, boats, building textures and several other things.






I’m not impressed by the graphics at all. I’ve shown it to my own three teenagers who are very much involved in using the Internet, and they aren’t interested in something with such poor graphics.

On the positive, having been involved in a meeting on Second Life, I can see how it would be useful for companies that have employees scattered around the world to meet. This would be a great tool for them. For education grades 7-12 and college it would be a great place to hold meetings as I see a number of colleges have done such as Ball State. North Carolina has an online virtual high school with a meeting room.

I can see Teen Second Life as a better tool because it doesn’t have the mature content. At this point our filters block these sites, so using them is out of the question.

I know this has been a rather negative blog on Second Life because I’m not sold on what I’ve seen. I’m not against virtual worlds. I spent a year doing Runescape and made it to level 89. I’ve watched my one son play on World of War Craft. I can see in these worlds a lot of creative learning, critical thinking, and decision-making. I look forward to getting involved with Quest Atlantis. The graphics on these sites are far better and they draw the students.

I’m sure there is excellent learning taking place on Second Life in meetings, but I don’t understand the rest.

Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice

Let’s start off by defining Communities of Practice. This video gives a good explanation of what it is, taken from Second Life:



To start off, you don’t find it at my school. I know that sounds a bit negative, but I think it reflects education today in too many places. I listened to a speaker one time that talked about speaking to the many professions and the differences. He talked about when you went into the bathroom during a break with doctors and lawyers you heard them comparing notes and talking about their professions. But when he talked to educators, and in the same circumstances, found they were talking about anything but their profession. In the environment of education it seems many of the teachers around me don’t want to get into a conversation of best practices and what works or doesn’t work.


In the article: “Communities of Practice Learning as a Social System” by Etienne Wenger I found that I agreed with the fact that is how it should be, and depending on the administration, it definitely could be set up and supported. I would love to work in a system like that, but as stated in the previous paragraph I don’t. I believe one of the contributing factors is the fact that in my state everything is about the union, and that doesn’t encourage change or growth.

Where are there communities of practice? I belong to a great group. Here is my badge:


Visit Classroom 2.0


You can find this community of practice at http://www.classroom20.com. It’s made up of teachers and administrators from around the world. You can post questions on any area of education and will get great conversation that continues on for months. I’ve started some conversations on math and joined in on conversations. You can also follow people you are interested in and they will follow you. It has over 30,000 members. This is a community that strives after best practices.

Another community is located at: http://teachertube.com. Although this site hasn’t been around very long, it is developing into a community of practice. Teachers share videos, documents, audio, photos for others to use. It has a community set up with groups, bulletins, and forums. It also has a place for blogging, to help others share what they are learning.

I’ve been involved with a personal learning community that was a great idea, but only two of us were willing to discuss. The other three would share, but were satisfied even when it was obvious what they were doing wasn’t working. Part of the problem here was the fact that the administration wasn’t supporting it.

I think that is key to a vibrant learning community within a fixed setting. I’m not saying the administration should lead it. They need to support it, and even be an equal part of it by adding to the learning. Everyone that has a stake in the learning should be involved.

Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media

What is Social Media? Wikipedia defines it as: “media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.” In other words, it supports the human need for interaction.

In an article posted on March 3, 2008 by Claudine Ryan for ABC Science Online entitled “Blogging boasts your social life: research” they state: “that after two months of regular blogging, people felt they had better social support and friendship networks than those who did not blog.” This is exactly what social media is all about.

On the negative side, there are some psychologists who fear that social networking will contribute to the death of emotional intelligence. In a blog posted September 18, 2009, by James Gurd entitled “Does social media kill communication skills?” he responds to this idea by showing that social media merely reflects and amplifies a person’s interpersonal skill, which is a very good thing. He talks about how there is worldwide monitoring of what is said on the Internet. That when something is posted that raises people’s awareness to a topic a conversation grows through blogs and twitters that analyzes, dissects, and looks at all sides. This is conversation and learning at its best and certainly dealing with emotional intelligence. Another point made in reference to twitter is the fact that getting an idea down in only 140 characters actually helps people to focus and become better communicators.

In this following video the question is asked: Is social media a fad? It goes on to show that not only is it not a fad; it’s more like a revolution. The numbers are staggering when you look at how many people are using social media on a daily basis and it continues to grow.





This next video is said to be the number one watched video on YouTube with over 126 million views called: Evolution of Dance. Take a look at it with the question: why is it number one?





Now that you’ve watched it why do you think it’s number one? My thoughts are that it speaks across several generations. When I watched the video it brought back memories. It also encompasses so much of what social media is about. It is very visual and musical that speaks to two of our intelligences. For some that watch it, they probably attempt to imitate what he is doing while watching it. That brings in another intelligence. The bottom line is that connects to us and we connect to it.

To sum up about social media, the hardest part about communicating in text about this subject is the fact that it is so interactive. I just wanted to use videos to explain. In doing the research I also saw that social media is becoming a major topic within the business community with many websites dealing with how to use it. It is connecting from advertising in business to our everyday personal lives to changing the way politics work. That is powerful.

Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

I’ve been interested in 21st century skills for several years now, ever since I realized the traditional way of teaching isn’t reaching the students. In my research to learn more I came across the organization: Partnership for 21st Century Skills located at http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/. They have put together a plan that connects curriculum and 21st century skills. Just as we've heard about the 3 R's of reading, writing, and arithmetic, the 21st century skills are called the 5 C's. These are critical thinking, creative problem solving, communications, collaboration, and cross cultural relationship building. Let’s take a closer look at these skills. Critical thinking and creative problem solving are skills that we need to learn to help us understand the world around us and interact with it. Communications and collaboration are skills that help us work and interact with others in our work and learning situations. Cross-cultural relationship building is something that is important in our global economy.

I’ve been working with my students for several years using group work (collaboration), having them journal and reflect on their answers (critical thinking), and doing problem solving as individuals and partners. Last year, my class connected on ePals (cross cultural relationship building) with a South Korean class and we did video chat (Skype) with the teacher. One evening five of my students connected with students from that classroom. The time difference offered some interesting challenges.

In an article posted in the Toronto Star (Canada) on Aug. 9, 2009 called No More Pencils, Lots More Fun they take you to a school district that is changing the learning culture in their school. They have changed the pedagogy of the school. In the article a statement is made that is a great explanation of why to make this change and I quote: “Jim Greenlaw, dean of the faculty of education at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology in Oshawa, says education is moving away from the "transmissional" – where teachers simply impart information – to transactional, or working together, and even to transformational, where it changes students' lives. "And if you are a fair teacher who gives students something interesting to do, then you can be more demanding because they are more interested," he says.”

Lifelong Learning is a very intriguing subject. I say that because so many people like to throw that term around, but have no clue what it means. As an example, my elementary school has that in its mission statement, yet it’s a traditional school, which lectures, uses mostly worksheets, and is constantly testing the students. I find that when they get to me the students think learning comes from a worksheet and I have to undo that philosophy.

Dr. Terry Paulson gives an interesting perspective on Lifelong Learning. Although his talk is more for an adult audience, his points are well made on its importance. He mixes some historical statements with an understanding of today’s changing world and how we should be as learners.

Week 2 - Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy

When it comes to 21scentury skills, media literacy is an area that needs to come to the forefront. According to Wikipedia Media Literacy is defined as: “the process of analyzing, evaluating and creating messages in a wide variety of media modes, genres and forms. It uses an inquiry-based instructional model that encourages people to ask questions about what they watch, see, and read.” Unfortunately, in my state of Michigan, as of this date we have not made it important at all.

In doing research into my state content standards I found nothing in the Language Arts section that comes close to what would be needed for media literacy. I even checked the technology standards and found nothing, considering they were from 2006. I did find plenty of literacy skills based on text, but no skills dealing with visual.

In the book: Media literacy in the information age: current perspectives, edited by Robert William Kubey, was written in 1997. He talks about how this subject is being handled across the globe. Canada has mandated the teaching of media literacy in every province. Quebec has made it a part of the curriculum from grade 1 through high school.

In my observations of my own children who are teenagers, they are bombarded with visual media on a daily basis. This is the world they live and operate in. I listen to them discuss a video and its quality. I’m not talking about how it looked as a picture, but how good the content was in the picture. When my son looks at an interactive electronic game (X-Box), he analyzes its quality and evaluates if it’s a game he likes. This is an automatic response to him when he talks with his friends.
He has set certain standards that he is looking for.

Even though this is part of their world they aren’t prepared to analyze and evaluate things like the informational media. On the Internet there is so much information our students need to learn how to wade through it all to find the truth. Much of it is presented in visual or video form.

In a YouTube video presentation by Dr. Wesch, a cultural anthropologist, he talks about the fact he has been teaching for only four years, and that every assumption about education and learning he understood was shattered within the first three years because of all the new media. He asked his students how many didn’t like school and over half their hands went up. He then asked how many do not like learning and know one raised their hands. He goes on to talk about media literacy and what it’s become in the last few years. You can find this on: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4yApagnr0s.

For my classroom I always teach the students something I learned from my work with the historians at Mackinac State Historic Parks. You need to always find at least three sources to feel comfortable that it’s true. I’ve been using the book Web Literacy written by Alan November to help my students in growing in their media literacy.

21st Century Learning? Is This the Answer!

As you read all the articles and blogs, view the videos, and sort through what everybody is saying about the change so badly needed in education you find this concept has so many parts it's hard to nail it all down. But then I read the article called: 30 Strategies for Education Reform by Prakash Nair located at http://fieldingnair.com/edreformnair1.pdf . Prakash is not an educationalist. He's an architect who's part of a global award winning company that designs and builds schools. As he worked on schools he realized that he needed to focus on how students learn in coming up with how to build a school building. As he looked at all the research, he brought together these 30 strategies for today's learning.

He begins this online guidebook with this thought and I quote: "In education, there is widespread support for the idea that every student is important and yet, in practice, systems are set up to favor a few at the expense of the many." After giving supports for why reform is needed he gives individual guidance for superintendents and board members, principals, parents, teachers, and students on how to use the guidebook. He then lists the 30 strategies while linking them to three categories (pedagogy, organization, and non-academic). After that he gives an overview of each of the strategies. He concludes the guidebook with a survey to get you to put into action what you have just read.

I highly recommend this as a great read. It brings together what everyone is saying and puts wheels on how to get going with 21st century learning and being a world class classroom and school.

Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0

When I think about Learning 2.0, I think initially about what learning is in the first place. I believe that learning has happened when a person can take the knowledge or skill they have learned and apply it elsewhere when needed. I’m reminded of what’s called the Cone of Learning, first developed by Edgar Dale in 1946. This has been a controversial idea due to the fact that some things have appeared on the cone that are not credited to him, and know one knows where the additional facts came from. But when I look at what the cone says, from my observations in the classroom, it makes sense. Notice how the doing (application) is at the highest level of remembering.





Now when you apply what this shows to learning 2.0 and what is happening on the web it meshes. This is exactly how learning is taking place on the web at the highest level (doing). You can find this cone at http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/agexed/sae/ppt1/sld012.htm.

A research paper dealing with Learning 2.0 published in
EDUCAUSE Review, vol. 43, no. 1 (January/February 2008) by John Seely Brown and Richard P. Adler called Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail,
and Learning 2.0 makes some great points. They talk about the Cartesian view of knowledge and learning that has been around in education for the last 100 years. I quote: “The Cartesian perspective assumes that knowledge is a kind of substance and that pedagogy concerns the best way to transfer this substance from teachers to students. By contrast, instead of starting from the Cartesian premise of “I think, therefore I am,” and from the assumption that knowledge is something that is transferred to the student via various pedagogical strategies, the social view of learning says, “We participate, therefore we are.” This is certainly what we are seeing when it comes to Learning 2.0 and how people are operating. Another idea they put forth is that fact that and again I quote: “We now need a new approach to learning—one characterized by a demand-pull rather than the traditional supply-push mode of building up an inventory of knowledge in students’ heads.”

My goal in my classroom is to continue to use web 2.0 more and more. I already use Google Docs, Voice Thread, blogmeister, and epals. I plan on using wikis and xtranormal. I’m also going to continue to work with my new principal to get my school up to speed.

I really like the video Learning to Change-Changing to Learn located at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tahTKdEUAPk. This was a call for change by people who are out in the real world. These are CEO’s and leaders of education that know what’s going on and why we need to change our model of learning.

We have the tools, now it’s time for the administration, teachers, and government leaders to get a clue as to why No Child Left Behind doesn’t work and make the changes, no matter how uncomfortable they are. Let’s all step out of our comfort zone, the web is waiting, but the students aren’t.

Week 1 - Blog Posting #1 - Web 2.0

Web 2.0 to me is fantastic, exciting, creative, connecting, and finally frustrating. You may wonder why I started with all those great things and then ended with a negative. The reason why I think it is frustrating is because there are so many things you can do with web 2.0 with a multitude of great sites and great applications that it can get overwhelming trying to decide what to use. About the time I find one (a website) that I think will work really well for the content I’m having the students work on, I find another one that looks equally great or even better. I’m learning to look for specific tools that do specific things and keep focused on that so I don’t get overwhelmed.

As a fifth grade teacher with students that are pre-Facebook and Twitter is blocked I’ve had to look for alternatives. My students have enjoyed blogging at http://www.classblogmeister.com. This blog site has been designed for education where nothing is posted or commented on till it goes through the teacher. It’s been great to see parents post comments to their own children’s blogs. Another site my students have enjoyed is http://voicethread.com/#home. I’ve had students tell stories through a storyboard format with audio. Voice Thread has been described as Power Point on steroids. One of the Web 2.0 tools I want to use more of this year is a Wiki. I’ve had an account with www.wikispaces.com for at least two years, but haven’t used it. Last month in our team project we used Google Docs so much it got me excited about Wiki’s so that has become a goal for my classroom.

As you’ll find in this Ted talk Web 2.0 is here to stay, but is going to move forward. Kevin Kelly talks about the next 5000 days on the web. This is a Ted talk from Dec. 2007 on what the web is and what it will become as Web 2.0 moves on to Web 3.0. He concludes with the idea that “We are the Web”. You can see this at: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/kevin_kelly_on_the_next_5_000_days_of_the_web.html. When you look at all the social connecting tools being used today you can certainly see why “We are the Web”. The users of the web are the molders of what the web is becoming.

The link: http://oreilly.com/pub/a/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html?page=1, (Sept. 30, 2005) is another great resource explaining what and where Web 2.0 came from. It goes through the history of Web 1.0 using the example of Netscape and moving into Web 2.0 with Google as its example. It follows many of the leading Web 2.0 tools and what they represent.

I look forward to working more and more with Web 2.0 tools as I immerse my students in using the Internet for their learning.

Are the Students Truly Understanding It? Are We? Part 3

This is the last of a three part look at what teaching is all about.

In this third part I will be focusing on formative and summative assessment and some of the tools available to help you get to know where each of your students is at any given time. Quoting from the first article: "What is this formative and summative assessment about? Giving final tests have been around forever (summative assessment). Asking questions of the students isn’t new either (formative assessment). But what have you done with the answers the students gave? Did they help in guiding where you were going with the material? Did it help you assess the success of your teaching strategies?"

Let's first start with questioning strategies. When a teacher asks a class a question, does it engage everyone? I would say it engages only those who know the answer or are interested in the question. What about the rest of the class? What about the shy ones, or those who don't or aren't sure of the answer? Our job is to engage all the students, or at least most of them. During most question and answer sessions you'll find many students checking out. Also, in asking the question, you ask one student for their answer. This only tells you that one student understands. What do you know about the rest of the class?

Formative assessment is a very important tool for the teacher. It should be done frequently (meaning daily) to help you assess where the students are in their learning and whether you, as a teacher, needs to make an adjustment in your approach. But it is very important that formative assessment is done correctly. All students should be engaged in the assessment. The assessment should be designed to give you instant feedback as to where each individual is. Realize right away that this is not for a grade. It's to give you feedback to where everyone is so that you can respond to it..

One easy way to do this is to use small white boards. When you ask a question each student writes down their answer on the board, and when given a cue, they show their boards to you. The reason for the cue is so the students don't just copy someone else's answer because that person had gotten it done early. If you don't have boards, or can't afford them, use blank white paper. This works great in giving you instant feedback and the students enjoy it because they find out right away whether they are understanding it and everyone is involved. The drawback to this method is that you don't have a good record of what each individual student understands. You could keep a tally with a class list to highlight students that need extra help as you scan their answers.

You may be thinking: Why go through all this hassle? Let me ask you this: Are we there for the learning, or just to present the curriculum? That is what all teachers need to decide.

Another way to assess students in a formative way is by using a Student Response System. There are several systems available. The system I use is available through einstruction. They are located at www.einstruction.com. Quoting from their website:

"You can engage every child in class material by creating an interactive learning environment in your classroom. Students who normally remain silent in class can now answer every question without fear of embarrassment. And since you see instant feedback from the entire class, you know whether to move on or continue teaching a concept. CPS also streamlines administrative tasks. Now you can spend less time grading and more time teaching."

The system uses a projector, computer with CPS software, response pad, and receiver. Your questions are displayed on the screen and every student then responds by using the response pads to input their answer. Depending on the type of system you use, the questions can be of varied types from multiple choice to short answer. The system then keeps track of the students' responses so you can see how each individual student responds. This also gives the students immediate feedback on whether they are understanding the lesson and engages every student. It also allows you, due to the instant feedback, to adjust your teaching to help them achieve greater understanding immediately.

Hopefully, I've peaked your interest. What you'll begin to see is better understanding and higher results in your summative tests. You'll also see more students engaged and becoming a part of their learning. I've had students say to me, "I'd take a test any day if I could use these", referring to the response systems. Have I seen an improvement? Yes, because I have a much better idea of where my students are at and can make the immediate adjustments to help those who are struggling.