The Opinions Expressed Here Are Not Necessarily Those of the Author

Humph…you might say…how can the opinions expressed in a blog not necessarily be those of the author? Well, “here’s the deal ” (as my good friend Tom always says)…the post you are about to read, see, hear, is not my own work, but the alleged work of a school in Queensland. However, I find it very amusing…even the parts I personally don’t agree with. I can understand other people’s frustrations and laugh rather than rant about the ways they choose to exercise their rights to expression. So, listen in the spirit the video is offered…lighten up and have a laugh.

Which leads me to my next video…I noticed that many of the comments regarding the answering machine message and logged through YouTube were more than critical of teachers and of parents. My advice, accept that everyone gets to the point where they “just can’t take it anymore.” Remember Howard Beale’s famous lines…having revisited that thought, I see YouTube has that clip available too. I just couldn’t resist.

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Bummed About Gcast

I am a bit behind the announcement, but Gcast no longer provides a free podcasting service via your telephone. I don’t have the facts on why the April change in the way of business was made, but I do know that now, to use Gcast as your podcasting upload service via telephone interphase (like that language?), it will cost you about $100. Bummer for me and for kids. Of course, you can use Audacity or other open source audio recorders for free downloading of podcast capable text, but Gcast was so simple….I mourn its loss.

Technology and Understanding

After developing a conceptual argument through a Foucauldean lens, I sorted the language through Wordle for motifs and themes.

 

Checkout Wordle! This website is an easy way to create a visual representation of words through “clouds.” I tripped over this website while reading Jan Hart’s blog, E-Learning Pick of the Day (check this blog out!). Once I had seen and used Wordle, I couldn’t stop thinking about where its place was in the reality of our classrooms and it seems to me that we can use it to engage students in applying reading comprehension stratagies.

How to do that? The Wordle cloud is concept map of recurring words within a text; recurring words are signals for main ideas. After reading, have students identify main ideas and then sort the text words through Wordle to monitor conclusions. The word cloud can be used before reading, too, as a tool to activate prior knowledge and establish connections. The cloud can even inflence how kids visualize connections as they develop inferences.

The image above is the result of Wordle’s sifting of the words from a recent paper I wrote. The process is simple–you just insert text and Wordle does the rest. I copied and pasted my entire paper into the Wordle service space and Wordle did the rest, sifting through my langauge to arrive at a cloud representation of the ideas. Look at the Wordle and draw some conclusions about my paper and then read through my blog to see if the message I send in paragraph form has any semblance of the graphic you see above.

The Wordle graphic above is a conceptual representation of a theoretical argument regarding the efficacy of RtI: Response to Intervention.  I have spent much time this fall researching Response to Intervention as part of a doctoral class: Moral and Political Foundations of Educational Policy. The goal of the course was to examine the role of social and cultural theory in contemporary education. As a result, I spent hours reading and analyzing how educational theory affects practical application of policy and eventually classroom methodology, especially in how such theory plays out in meeting today’s challenge of the growing achievement gap.

One of the scariest acronyms in public education today is RtI: Response to Intervention. Really, as with anything else, it’s not the acronym that frightens, but the simplicity of nominalizing a complex, permeating educational approach. Cloaked in terminology like “individualized” and “achievement,” RtI aims at conformity and mediocrity in its quest to bring learners into the mainstream of educational thought and expectations.

Although RtI is not new, the method is new to many classroom teachers who have been teaching whole class style for years. The method is theoretically positive but practically, requires retraining and practice for teachers. The positive part of RtI is the benefit it potentially offers for all learners: find a learner’s specific need/s and learning styles and then use that information to build the bridge of understanding and excellence.

 

However, if used merely to meet mandated levels of AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), RtI becomes just another “and this too shall pass” bandage on a chronically diseased system. To be effective, RtI requires professional development for teachers as they learn to approach whole class instruction with an eye for the particular and individualized. It also demands support for these teachers in terms of time and encouragement as they reshape habituated methods into new “best practices.” In an absence of time and money, i.e. support, the concept of RtI intimidates classroom teachers, building administrators, and educational theorists.

NCTE San Anotonio–Shift Happens

The river was one reason the Alamo was located amidst what is now modern San Antonio...

Saturday morning at NCTE was a tough one for me.  I was exhausted and as a result, I missed the 8:000 am presentation by Karl Fish–a major regret because I use his youtube.video (posted at the bottom of today’s blog) as a wake-up call to teacher and others who just don’t get the power of technology in a rapidly changing world. By the way, the posted video is an update of the original, so don’t assume you’ve already seen it! Which causes me to reflect again…where was Vicki Davis? I wonder if the NCTE organizers approached her about representing the practitioners’ view of edtech pedagogy as it intersects the field of English studies: reading and writing in the vast and uncharted territories of Web 2.0?

Saturday’s highlight came late in the day at the 10th Annual Middle School Mosaic. Sara Kajder shared some marvelous edtech ideas and though the crowd was rather despondent (evidently exhaustion was not a unique experience), everyone valued her sharing. There were no roundtable discussions, atypical of the middle school mosaic, but those who voiced their absence also expressed their satisfaction with the session as a whole. Kylene Beers addressed us with the frankness and sincerity that is her hallmark as she voiced her passion and pledged her dedication to work towards change in the social inequities of education and learning opportunities.

Especially poignant were the student multimedia presentations from the 2007 California Teacher of the Year’s Hispanic students. I am not surprised by the quality and the depth of their creativity and emotional sensitivity. You see, I have seen this before; I have taught this way for years, even before the widespread availability of technology. We can do it teachers… but we must make the attempt. Enthusiasm and well-placed intentions will not get the job done. You, yes you, must dig your heels in and give it a try, even when it feels uncomfortable….and it will. Admit to your students this is a trial run and lighten the constraints of fore-knowledge on your teaching. Get into the “flow” of learning beside and among your students rather than in front of them.

And there was more…Sara Holbrook who not only writes for kids, but actually visits classrooms and teaches kids how to become writers themselves. Always uplifting, her poetry is at the same time physical and emotional….just what kids need. And let’s see…Robert Probst who I have never seen in a more amusing state. Of course I don’t know Robert except as a speaker (or rather sage) on the stage or the writer of respected texts…but this evening he was amusing as he poked fun at his age through the evolution of technology. I think I could pass his PowerPoint off as my own…I too began with pen and paper, only later to welcome the technologic advance of a weighty and stiff machine that looked like a minature upright piano and we called a typewriter. I feel so blessed to no longer compose by hand!!

I am far too long and haven’t mentioned everyone who was there…but some I’ve already blogged about…like my among my favorites, Teri Lesesne who must be reading in her sleep to keep up with all of the YA literature she critiques for those of us in the field!

Catching Up at NCTE

I have fallen a bit behind in my blogging; today is Monday, November 24, 2008 and I am sitting in one of the NCTE post-conference workshops. Meeting the Challenge for 21st Century Literacy for All Learners was organized by one of my favorite researchers for practitioners, Janet Allen. I’ve attended her workshops before—look back into my archived blogs.

Judith Langer, who I have cited in much of my doctoral work, was the first among a litany of intellectually stimulating speakers who are really talking to us about how to up the ante on motivating all readers, struggling readers and gifted learners as well. Judith has a great soothing voice; she spoke about significant concepts relating to the psychological development of adolescents.

Langer asserts that we must help kids learn how to 1.) develop cognitive flexibility; 2.) initiate generative thinking; 3.) cultivate openness to change; 4.) learn how to adapt. We all know that today’s new technology is tomorrow’s archaic tool. Langer warns us that new literacies require both technical skills and control of langague and thought, both as receivers and senders. We must use technologies of the world in the classroom or we will have a bifurcated society….those who have used the opportunities of education to become critical thinkers and those who were turned off by archaic practices and irrelevant content of education. That then, will deepen the gap between social classes and the ability of certain populations to acquire the kind of jobs that can support families and provide
self-esteem.

Interestingly, Carol Booth Olson just shared an interesting statistic: an estimated 85% of current jobs and 90% of fast-groewing nd best paying jobs now require a post-high school education.

Right now, Jim Burke is sharing some the 21st technologies he is using…have you used Google Docs? I haven’t, but he showed us how his kids work on an essay and share it through Google Docs and comment on one another’s work simultaneously. The only problem I have, and this is not out of experience, is that our kids are getting more and more removed from people and to remove them from the kids sitting in the very room with them seems a bit….distancing. However, the goal is engagement and writing improvement through peer editing, so I can see how using Google Docs in this way could really help build a community of learners.

Day Two at NCTE

Friday was another great day at NCTE. I’m not sure how many colleagues are here at the convention, but I’ve seen figures ranging from 6,000 to 10,000. With a crowd this size, you can meet people and run into them throughout the day…and that really builds community. First session: Marc Prensky! He was not only a motivating techie speaker, but he was funny, too! He reminisced about his own high school English teachers and opined about the canon. Actually, his thoughts parallel many of my own–we may be from the same generation. Like Marc, I don’t remember much of my high school literature, except here and there for some titles…oh, I did enjoy a couple of pieces of literature, like Thornton Wilder’s By the Skin of Our Teeth, but too many of the novels we read were canonical and without the cannon bang, at least for a teenager of the 1970’s. My best memories of literature are connected to texts from my drama class. I probably remember that one because we were engaged in dramatic representations of the text–my drama teacher did remark on my report card that, “Dea has a flair for the dramatic!”

After that, I was off to a presentation by the Grammar Goddesses–they have several books and are NCTE presenting queens. They used to give out tiaras to those attending their presentations, but have recently gone to golden stickers. Coincidentally enough, while there, I met Carla Beard, Web English Teacher. Everyone at the table was in absolute jaw dropping awe! Even after she left, teachers around the table continued to rave about herextensive web page. If you haven’t been there, take a look. She has compiled a repository of materials and links arranged by text title, content area and thematic approach. Several of the teachers at the table confessed to visiting the site daily.

The highlight of my day, if not Marc Prensky (and I’m not sure it wasn’t) was the session with Ellin Keene. The room wasn’t full so I had the pleasure of being front and center. Ellin has more energy than any presenter, with the exception of myself, I have ever seen. She talks a mile-a-minute sharing family anecdotes connected to school traumas and successes. She is confessional (we have a lot in common) and openly challenges the audience to broaden their view of the educational landscapes and horizons our profession.

Ended my day with a writing workshop presented by a group from Northern Illinois University. One aspect of the presentation addressed getting kids to move from the generalities of writing to specific detail using images. I love that! I believe all teaching begins with images. Another part of the presentation introduced a method to collaborate with engaging data that becomes a decision making process and culminates in a written text. Visit their site for more: talkinginclass.org

gotta run…I’ll add more links later.

Connecting to Make a Difference

Once each group generated separate lists, the time came to select this month's group of 30 words for direct instruction!

[caption id="attachment_157" align="aligncenter" width="128" caption="Music, art and reading joined together to generate their list of "should know" words."][/caption][caption id="attachment_156" align="alignleft" width="225" caption="Language arts teachers work together compiling their list of tier two words"][/caption]
I can’t believe how fast the time passes! I have been taking my camera to this month’s workshops, intending to capture the work teachers are doing, but on too many occasions, the workshop ends and I haven’t taken the camera out of the bag. During my visit to Johnston City, I did get some good shots. This is a “hands-on” vocabulary workshop. We began by learning about Isabel Beck’s three tiers of vocabulary and then formed departmental groups to generate lists of words from which we finally created a school wide vocabulary. Teachers in all content areas will teach and reinforce the learning of these thirty words for the next month.

Let me highlight some of what I have learned this month from working with teachers. You need practical applications of classroom practices that work. The extension of this goes into the classroom…kids need practical applications of academic content. For example, I have sometimes made references to my teacher groups about how to manage formative and summative assessment for differentiated instruction. This month, I provided real examples of how to take classroom practices and turn them into data collection models in a real workshop experience. I must say, I felt a sense of professional satisfaction when on my return visit, one of my teachers shared with me her own success in implementing one of my “best practices.” In having a concrete model of a theoretical practice, classroom application took place. That’s what kids need, real-life experience with concepts in order to process information into knowledge and applicable learning.

During a workshop at the Rock Island County Regional Office of Education, I shared an exhilarating time of learning with a new group of teachers. All but two had been teaching for three or fewer years; we were exuberant and the learning was rich. Another tip to take into classroom teaching: learning is best when it is emotionally engaging, passionate, and fun!! Learning is best when our brains are in the state of “flow”!

At two workshops this month, I was pleased to meet up with teachers who had been my own high school students! Both had given me a heads up to their attendance, and I looked forward to those workshops like none other.

Booting up for the New School Year

Though a new pair of boots are essential for the school year, that’s not what I’m talking about here!

 

Aren’t words fun!! I led a three-day workshop this week that started out being called “boot camp”– but after some discussion, the week-long session was retitled with the words Professional Development–a decision which better described the educational thoughts that were being shared there and the need of teachers to take part in training. That got me to thinking about words, of course, and the multiplicity of meaning…for words, for realities, for actions. Anyway, I digress….read on as digress in yet another direction….booting up for the new school year…and I don’t mean putting on my fatigues….I hope no teacher feels that way!

This week’s seminars and workshops shared classroom strategies with 4 -12 teachers that offer collaborative learning experiences and enhance students’ sense of independence. Moving away from direct instruction, we were developing stations that would allow the students to work independent of the teacher on various aspects of their content knowledge and skill building.

We also addressed reading and writing strategies…and I was emphasizing the need for mental models that allowed students to construct their thoughts in ways that reflected the individual nature of their connections and inferences. There are numerous ways to introduce and develop mental models. The easiest with the least technology demands are teacher created masters, but those just aren’t much fun for kids, nor do they allow students to be constructivists about their own way of knowing. Using technology, Word offers easy incorporation of hierarchy charts…just click on insert and there you go…change box shapes, change colors, redirect arrows, all kinds of opportunities for making and remaking connections.

And better yet, if you can, use online technologies for engaging mind maps. Traci Gardner of NCTE blogged about this very subject this week, so rather than me reiterate her fine work, go ahead and read Traci’s blog. She provides a variety of web sites that can fill your specific classroom and student needs.

I don’t know about you, but I always looked towards late summer with torn emotions: excited to get back into the classroom but sorrowful that the summer break was coming to an end. Even now, as a professional development provider, I feel that same sense of duality. Rested from a Door County Vacation and energized through summer classes and new reading, I look forward to sharing ideas and experiences with a new set of teachers. But I must confess, I will miss lazy mornings and long lunches sitting on my porch with the Golden Retriever at my feet and Joe, my black tom, curled up in my lap. 

 

 

 

 

 

Wikipedia: a teaching resource

I am enhancing a workshop that I share with teachers on the classroom use of Wikipedia. Now, you may be surprised at this, but I still encounter teachers who don’t even know what Wikipedia is!! That is shocking, but I value these teachers because anyone who takes the time to attend a workshop on a topic they know nothing about clearly is a learner! I will also note that more and more, when I ask who allows Wikipedia to be used by students for early stage research, more and more teachers are raising their hands.

Anyway, the point is, I found a blog entitled Traffic Statistics for Wikipedia Articles that links to a site, Wikipedia Traffic Statistics, showing the top 500 Wikipedia articles and the number of visits to each of those site by year. From that site, you can visit the actual site…then I suggest you go to the discussion tab and click on that tab to see how reputable the site itself is. Of course, you will see sites that a teacher would never take a student to…however, there are some excellent sites on the list…like Speed of Light which is rated as a “featured” article in Wikipedia which means it has been “peer reviewed” by an editorial board and found to be reputable and even valuable to the field of physics in the accuracy and importance of the information offered.

There is much to learn about Wikipedia and there are many ways that all content areas could be using it to engage their students and increase learning!!! I have been giving a two-hour workshop on using Wikipedia to teach the skills of Critical Literacy. There is so much there, that my workshop will be expanding to a full day to incorporate reading comprehension, Critical Literacy and writing….mulitple literacies using emerging technology!!! I almost put this baby to bed before further investigation. If you are interested in Wikipedia, check this blog out, right here on WordPress: The Way Things Work. And then go to Larry Sanger’s (founder of Wikipedia) new online encyclopedia, Citizendium. The plot thickens and my curiousity is peaked!!

 

 

The Personal Commitment of Technology

Technology and personal commitment–sounds like an oxymoron! But, I had a pretty cool experience this last week that evoked all three of those terms or responses. I was doing a workshop at Rock Island High School a week ago, showing teachers how easy podcasts can be to make using Gcast. In preparation for my demonstration, I even made a podcast while they were entering into the presentation room and finding their seats. I started the workshop by playing the podcast…I was impressed at how the room feel silent as they heard my voice ring out through the district’s audio system, announcing that the “We are here at Rock Island High School today to learn how technology can help us differentiate instruction…” And then I moved from having them listen to a podcast to demonstrating how easy one can be to make–even with a cell phone. And so, I offered my cell phone to a teacher and we fumbled together to make that happen….but it flopped!!! And I was frustrated and tired–remember, I had just returned from Africa, gotten home late Saturday night and here it was, Monday. Well, you may know the feeling….when it comes to technology, hope for the best but have a backup plan. I showed them some existing podcasts that I had made and then moved to another cool tool I have written about before, VoiceThread, a digital storytelling web tool that I truly believe has exceptional potential for reaching learners and providing literacy and learning experiences.

So, you are asking, “Where does the personal commitment and technology come together here?” Several days after this debacle (a bit of an exaggeration, but when you are in front of the room!!!), I received a personal email from Garage Band apologizing for the difficult I had experienced. The email went on to explain that the transmission was not being read as an MP3 and on and on with explanation and regret!!! 

I’ve tagged this entry “caring” because I felt cared for, even though the recognition of my struggle came several days later, I was amazed that the the seemingly impersonal tool I was using to demonstrate connecting with kids came back to connect with me.

I was back at Rocky this week and feared I might get booed off the proverbial stage, but instead, several teachers expressed their curiosity about how podcasts can work for them and kids. One teacher that particularly touched my heart was a special ed teacher who had not taken much interest in technology outside of his personal use. He now sees a real advantage that could be placed in the hands of his kids…to express through audible words the learning that they are unable to show as fully in a written text.

Rocky Math and Reading teachers collaborate on a unit of differentiated instruction.

English and Math Freshman Academy teachers meet weekly to develop upcoming units and lessons.

Susan and Yolanda are working on a R.A.F.T. assessment for The Odyssey.