Category Archives: technology

Getting in the Car: An Analogy About the Perceived Risks of Using Web 2.0 in the Classroom

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carphoto source

I know many teachers who are concerned with the idea of having an online identity. Their discomfort is such that they attempt to keep their digital footprints as small as possible. I’m aware that I need to remind myself that some teachers haven’t had enough time to spend thinking about this issue, and so they’re not aware of a lot of the fear-mongering that exists in the public and also within our profession. They also have legitimate concerns that could be addressed, in many cases through some conversation and practice.

But before teachers buy in to web 2.0 they need to see the benefits. The need to see these benefits so they’re willing to weigh the risks. So I plan to make one of my professional goals to model effective use of web 2.0 with my students and in my professional practice.

Another thing that I find helpful is using this analogy:

There are a lot of dangers that I risk when I chose to drive my car. I could get into an accident. I could hurt someone else. I could get lost and not be able to find my way home. I could drive to the mall and spend all my money on cute shoes (okay, some risks are greater than others). But I still get in the car because it’s an effective way for me to get from point A to point B. It makes it easier for me to get to work, and I can go to the mall to buy cute shoes (Many of my analogies include shoes). I know a lot of things that I can do to help reduce my risk when driving and I do those things. I’m not prepared to give up driving my car because of the risks associated with it.

For me, the car= web 2.0. Simple.

Priorities

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I’ve learned so much this year that it’s tempting to throw myself into every initiative that comes across my desk and to want to change everything about my teaching all at once.

It’s tempting.

It’s also INSANE!

So I’ve decided to set some priorities for next year, and I’m following the model that my friend Kevin shared with me, that he learned from a speaker in his Master’s class. This person held up one hand and said that he was so busy he decided that he would have five priorities (Get it? Five fingers? Five priorities. I guess you only get to have six priorities if you’re the bad guy who killed Inigo Montoya’s father, in which case you’re going to die anyway so…) not just for work, but for your life. If something doesn’t fit one of those priorities you have to say no. Easier said than done, but I’ll give it a try. I just need to figure out what my priorities are.

Well first of all, it seems important to me to make sure that my relationships with my family and friends should be at the top of my priority list.

Then health. That can be physical, mental, and spiritual.

Yikes! That only leaves three left for professional priorities!

All right, well we all know that I want to find ways to bring more web 2.0 into the classroom even if I don’t have a beautiful shiny wifi Apple-sponsored computer lab (But seriously, that would be amazing).

Two left!

Assessment and Evaluation: No big surprise there. I want to continue to refine my understanding of good assessment and evaluation practices and how to bring together the ideal and the reality in order to support students. I like this one because it encompasses a lot of other things that I’m passionate about.

One left! Well people keep asking me what my ultimate goal is in this profession. Do I want to go into admin? Do I want to go back to the board office? Do I want to go to grad school? For now, I’ve decided that my ultimate goal is to be a really really good teacher. To some people that may not sound like a terribly ambitious goal, but it is to me. I think it’s easy to become complacent in this profession. I think that you have to keep pushing yourself to get better and to continue to see yourself as a learner. I never want to have the attitude that “I’ve been doing this for 20 years; there’s nothing new anyone can tell me about teaching.”  So my fifth priority is to view myself as a professional learner. That may sound a bit too vague but I know what it means.

So that’s it for now. I may come back and revise these later. Do you have any priorities or goals for next year?

Hamlet Xtranormal

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I heard about this site that lets you create movies simply by typing.

It’s pretty simple and I think the results speak for themselves. I can think of a lot of educational applications, particulary for the media literacy strand of English. What do you think?
I couldn’t resist. Here’s Hamlet’s To Be or Not To Be soliloquy.

Doing more with less

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Rumor has it that due to decreased student enrollment in our board, there won’t be any money for computers for our schools next year. My first reaction is a new (and therefore outrageously passionate) technophile, was shock and horror. How on earth can we prepare students for 21st century without the technology resources?

Then I realized, maybe this could be an opportunity. Maybe this will be the push teachers and administrators need to stop trying to ban cell phones and mp3 players and see them for the potential learning tools they are. Maybe we can’t afford a class set of clickers, but most of our kids have cell phones they can use in conjunction with something like polleverywhere.com. Can’t afford a class set of digital cameras? Most of your kids already have them.

Thanks to Mike for his thoughts below:

Necessity is the mother of invention. Right?

Mushroom Risotto Comic Life Style

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Tomorrow I will be working with some teachers on using Comic Life with struggling/reluctant writers at the high school level. I wanted to model writing a piece of procedural text . So here is my “mentor text”. Read below to see what we did:Great session today! Here’s what we did:

When teaching a new format of writing, it’s helpful to have student examine a number of samples first. I brought up this article How to Fold a Paper Airplane. Then I modeled using think-aloud to highlight some of the features of procedural writing. We then moved on to look at a second example, a recipe (one of my favourites!). This time I had the “students” (teachers pretending to be students) join me in pointing out the features of the text. We also talked about what the author could add to make it easier to understand.

Based on these texts I had the “students” help me create an anchor chart outlining the features of a good piece of procedural writing. We then discussed whether or not the features were “Gotta Haves” or “Nice to Have”.

(Keep in mind that each of these lessons are meant to be “mini lessons” of about 15 minutes, spread over a number of classes.)

We then moved into modeled and shared writing. I also showed the teachers how I used Comic Life to make the recipe above.

It’s nice to have sessions where you feel like you shared something useful!

Student Engagement and Self Reflection

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I’d like to share this video created by a really dynamic York region teacher, Royan Lee. http://www.charleshowitt.ps.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/WritingInThe21stCenturysmall.mov

Royan is working on an action research project along with some other teachers (one from Peel and one from Thames Valley) on digital story-telling. Royan’s portion of the project looks at podcasting and student engagement.

What really impresses me about this video is how well the students are able to articulate not only what they learned, but HOW they learned it. They discuss the process of looking at exemplars and determining criteria and then evaluating their own work. I’m so impressed by the metacognitive skills displayed by these students. This is all a result, I believe, of their level of engagement with the task, and their teacher’s ability to structure the tasks in a meaningful and authentic way.

These students definitely know their content material, but what’s more, I think they’ve learned valuable lessons about how they think, how they create, and how they can set goals and plans to reach those goals.

Well done, Mr. Lee and students!

Where will the jobs be in the future?

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David Warlick said that “No generation in history has ever been so thoroughly prepared for the industrial age.” In other words, our current model of education is very good at preparing students to memorize and repeat instructions and tasks. Unfortunately, the skills workers need today and will need in the future are problem solving, critical thinking, creativity, and flexibility.

I was listening to CBC today on my drive back to the London from a workshop in Kintore and there was a story on Richard Florida’s article in the Toronto Star. I admit, I probably only started to pay attention because it was -23 when I left the house this morning and Florida sounds very appealing–but I’m glad I did pay attention. In the article, Florida and Roger Martin discuss the results of the study they completed on the changing structure of Ontario’ economy.

They write: “We are moving to an economy that values people’s creativity, especially a combination of analytical skills – reasoning in uncertain environments to make good decisions – and social intelligence skills – capabilities to understand other people and to work in team settings. Routine-oriented occupations that draw primarily on physical skills or abilities to follow a set formula can be done more cheaply in emerging economies.”

While there are some who still believe (or want to believe) that Canada’s manufacturing industry will always remain strong, I think at the very least we need to acknowledge the new skill-set that our students will need to be successful in our changing economy.

Click here to read the entire article.

Comic Life, Literacy, Gradual Release of Responsibility

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This is the link for my portion of a workshop on using Comic Life to improve the literacy skills of struggling student. I’m involved in the project as a literacy person, not a techie person, so that’s why you won’t see any info on HOW to use Comic Life. My colleague Bruce will be handling that.

But I thought I needed to embrace the technology and just say NO to paper handouts. So this will be made available to teachers in the project.


 

Now, you can’t view the video clip this way, but if you want to access the google doc, click here.

Technophobe embraces technology

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I watched this video posted on edutopia and it made me smile to see teacher, Jim Wilson, go from one of those “I don’t need this new-fangled technology to teach my kids. Why, in my day….” teachers to a self-professed “facilitator”. I love it! Granted, the way in which he’s using the technology may not be considered very progressive by some, but the point is, he’s trying because he realized that he can reach kids by embracing the tools that are part of their worlds.

Watch this video. I bet he’ll remind you of people you know. There’s hope!