2009 SI Video Reflections

A Shout Out To All the Amazing SI Fellows:

Just Jess again with some suggestions for your video reflections tomorrow and Thursday. I know some of you may still be struggling with what to say, so I’ve put together some ideas that might lead you in the right direction.

Visit the SI Blog for the full post of sentence starters and suggestions…http://kmwpsi.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/sentence-starters-for-the-2009-si-video/

Filed under: KMWPsi09 , reflections, video

A few words of warning: digitial citizenship and the justified classroom

So you’re stoked. You’re ablaze with energy, inspiration, and nearly drowning in excitement. You’re ready to jump in with both feet and start swimming, a ring of fire balancing precariously on your head!

A word of warning: first, get your feet wet.

Jumping in with both feet can be the way to go, given the right situation. But more often than not, teachers inspired by the fire of a supportive community, can find themselves floundering when they return to their classrooms and try to sustain the fires of inspiration back home.

Some ideas for those first, watery steps

• Use technology as a tool for differentiation. Just because all your students could be using the tool, doesn’t mean they should. Some students will struggle with basic computer skills like copy and paste or drag and drop. What do they really need in order to be successful in the coming years? Could they explore the same skills in an equitable way without technology? Most times, the answer is yes.
• Collaborate with other teachers on shared documents. Investigate professional collaborative communities, such as TeachWeb2.0 and the English Companion Ning.
• Use something for yourself to organize your life. My own experience with using blogs has been to keep a private, personal online journal and to organize my professional life. This blog is a good example of one of the professional blogs I keep, but my school provides one that I have been learning to use more efficiently too.

Prior Precedent: Just because you can, and they have, doesn’t mean you should.

While some of us are blessed to work in technology rich classrooms where not only are we not asked to justify our use of technology, we are directed to use it well, others find themselves facing resistance from teachers, administration, and county-level hypocrisy that pressures teachers to integrate technology while blocking access to free online tools that could help them achieve their goals.  Taking time to arm yourself with research and educate yourself about the potential threats, complications, or downfalls of technology can help justify a course of action that lacks support on the local level. The following are good places to look for these critical documents.

Research & Reports

• SETDA Reports and Research
• Center for Applied Research in Educational Technology
• NCREL: Critical Issues in Technology Education
• ISTE Research & Evaluation
• U.S. Department of Education

National and State Directives

• Georgia Department of Education
• ISTE Standards for Teachers and Students
• ISTE Technology Leadership Standards
• National Council of Teachers of English
• IRA Standards (Reading)
• NCTE 21st Century Literacy

Internet Safety

• Florida Virtual School
• E-Safety Classroom Resources – E2BN

Cyberbullying

• Stop Bullying Now
• StopCyberbullying.org
• NetSmartz Workshop
• Cyberbullying.us

Netiquette

• Behave Yourself: Online Manners
• Sample Blog Acceptable Use Policy: Bud The Teacher
• Beyond Emily: Post-ing Etiquette
• E-Guides on Social Interaction: The Ten Commandments of Email
• BPL Kids Page: Netiquette for Kids
• The Core Rules of Netiquette: Remember the Human

Digital Citizenship

• DigitalCitizenship.net
• Teaching Digital Citizenship
• Digital Citizenship and Creative Content: A Teacher’s Guide
• Ning: Digital Citizenship Resources for Teachers
• ISTE Book Recommendation: Digital Citizenship in Schools
• Google Books–Digital Citizenship: The Internet, Society, and Participation

Moderated Email

• Gaggle.net
• using the Gmail hack
• Zilladog–email for kids
• Writing for Real: Email in the Classroom

Protecting and representing online identity through the use of Logos, Archetypes, and Symbols for Self

• Wikipedia entry on Stereotypes
• Wikipedia entry on Archetypes (references stereotypes)
• Wikipedia entry on Avatars (computing)
• Archetypes & symbols, Crystalinks
• Voki: Get Your Own Free Speaking Avatar
• WeeMee (Free Avatar Generator)
• Meez: Avatars. Games, Virtual Worlds
• Yahoo! Avatars (free with email registration)
• Cool Text: Free Logo Generator
• Retail Alphabet Game

My own experience

I want to stress here, that I am learning too. I am not an expert, in any sense of the word. I don’t have this all figured out, and so I rely on research,  other teachers, and my own ability to learn to gain confidence and look for support as I experiment each year with new technology and refine the way I use familiar tools.

While blogs, wikis, and other applications I’ve written about in the past week are becoming commonplace among many classrooms these days, I have yet to have students use them in my own. I’ve used them myself, and have attempted to gain support for collaborative use from other teachers in my building, but I’ve been reluctant to pass the torch, as it were, and allow my students to have access to blogs or wikis as part of our language arts curriculum.

It’s not that I don’t think they could handle it, eventually, it’s just that the time I spend preparing them to be responsible online citizens doesn’t always transfer into the behavior I expect in an online classroom. I sometimes wish they would come to me having had a course on digital citizenship that prepared them for the kind of online interactions I so desperately want to provide in order to deepen their learning, foster independent (or at least co-dependent) learning, and prepare them for a workplace that doesn’t yet exist.

But the reality is, they don’t, at least not in Georgia. Some states are now requiring units on internet safety, such as Virginia, Texas, and Illinois. In the meantime, who will carry the burden of implementing this training in Georgia? English teachers? Media Specialists?

Because I teach children who are sometimes not yet beyond the tender age of 13, I also have the legal responsibility to adhere to child protection laws, and I have a responsibility to parents make sure their child is safe, not only from strangers, but from other students in the class, who, following the only online literacy practices they know, pilfer music, images, and other copyrighted material for their MySpace pages, engage in less than civilized online communication with their peers, and spew personally identifiable information across the blogosphere without a second thought.

Because I often find myself having to justify my interest in using free, safe, and teacher moderated online tools, I have also found myself unwittingly falling into the role of expert learner within the larger teaching community, having to educate students, teachers, administration, and county officials. The resources posted here have been invaluable in this process.

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Canterbury_Tales

Filed under: Internet Classrooms, KMWPsi09, NWP Digital Toolbox , avatars, cyberbullying, internet safety, moderated email, netiquette, research, Standards

Networked Learning Communities

After working with you for the past several days, and thinking about the common threads that are tying these SI experiences together for me, I wanted to direct you toward an article, specifically the section on networked learning communities: If We Didn’t Have the Schools We Have Today, Would We Create The Schools We Have Today?

This article has guided me in thinking about my own role in leading the SI, and may inform some of your own thinking about your role within the SI. Please take some time to read the first section of this article, including the section regarding Networked Learning Communities. Here are some of my thoughts…

A Networked Learning Community is constructed as its members collaborate to achieve common goals, learning together as they develop solutions for problems they are addressing in common. As the learning community grows, the members of the community develop new knowledge and skills through their participation and contributions. Everyone becomes a learner in a Networked Learning Community, and the distinctions between students and teachers fade away.

The description above sounds very much like what the Summer Institute looks to achieve with their community of teachers, who are all working “to achieve common goals and develop solutions for problems they are addressing in common.”

He goes on to discuss the varying roles in these communities, and the importance of a shift from the rigid definitions of teachers and students, to that of learners:

Everyone plays an active role in a networked learning community, contributing to the community’s construction of knowledge as its members collaborate to address problems (whether the goal is learning to read or learning to fly a rocket to the moon). In the networked learning communities of the future, expert learners (we call them teachers, educators, scientists, and researchers today) are going to be recognized for their ability to learn and help others learn, as they continue to construct new knowledge and develop their own expertise. Their job will not be to teach – but to help others learn, as they model learning through collaboration to solve problems and achieve goals they have in common. (A significant part of the expert learner’s role will be organizing and managing the collaborative learning community.)

This is a shift in thinking for me in terms of how I choose to interact in the classroom where I teach.  But perhaps that is exactly the point. It’s the classroom where “I teach” and “students learn.” At least I know most of them do. Even so, I return again to Carroll’s article, which points out the relative disconnectedness of our current educational system in regard to student teachers:

Those K-12 students, in turn, leave the teacher’s classroom and use that knowledge in ways that are not known to the faculty, the next cohort of student teachers, or to the teacher in the classroom.

Although I present myself as a learner more readily with adult peers, it’s not as common for me to do so in the middle school classroom. It does happen, but I wonder now if it’s happening often enough, and if not, if I have the skills, support, and (bravery?) to make the change happen.

Food for thought:

• In what manner and to what extent do we all find ourselves moving along the path of novice–mature learner?
• Are there ways in which your students could take on the role of mature learner in the classroom?
• How applicable are Networked Learning Communities to your own environment? Could you, would you, in a box? Could you, would you, with a fox?

Filed under: KMWPsi09, Reading , article, networked learning, Reading

NWP Digital Toolbox: Wikis and beyond!

What’s a wiki anyway? Watch this introductory video to find out, and read the overview provided by NWP, Digital Toolbox: Wikis.

Why use a wiki?

This is the question. The answer depends entirely on your needs. Wikis can be public or private collaborative spaces between administrators, teachers, parents, students, or some combination thereof. They can also serve as websites with only certain areas open for collaborative editing. Our own wiki fits into this last category, where members are allowed to edit the Summer Institute pages, but not other restricted areas of the site.

One Idea for Classroom Use

Despite being a great place for authentic, real-world research, Project Citizen could also serve as a great way to venture into collaborative research projects through the use of wikis. My good friend, Terra Mahre, has completed this project with her seventh-graders for several years with outstanding results. Group wikis, linked to a teacher moderated classroom wiki, could work to manage this kind of collaborative research project.

Wiki platforms to consider for education

• Wetpaint: Easy to navigate, organize and manage, Wetpaint offers ad-free wikispace to qualifying educators. With the option to keep your wiki private, this is a good platform for classrooms with students 13 and up (Wetpaint restricts users under 13 because of COPPA). The editing history on Wetpaint sites is a little less searchable than other platforms, but for more advanced users, this platform offers more baubles, whistles, and knobs, as well as organizational drop down menus that can prevent clutter on the navigation toolbar.
• PBworks: Previously called PBwiki (as in, as easy as peanut butter and jelly) PBworks is the new and revised version of their free, teacher moderated wikispace. I prefer this platform for first time users, because of it’s clearly recorded history and simple design.
• Wikispaces: Like almost all wiki platforms, this one provides free classroom spaces, and a simple, easy-to navigate workspace. Personally, this is my least favorite of the three that I’ve listed here. I find that there are too many editing tools available, when a few simple ones would do. I know there are plenty of educators that would disagree, so explore each and decide for yourself.

A few places to find examples of classroom wikis

• EduWikis: A great overview of educational wikis, along with classroom examples.
• Teach2.0-What about Wikis: An evolving list of resources, including classroom examples (scroll to the bottom) and a SWOT analysis.
• Wetpaint Wikis in the Classroom: Browse the list of classroom wikis to get ideas for your own.

A Sample of Ancillary Programs:

What follows is a sampling of programs I’ve found useful in both my personal and professional life. While the county in which I currently work is still, shall we say, in the process of reviewing several of these resources for classroom use, many schools are already using them with their students and leading the way for the rest of us. You can either browse the recommended tools below, or search the Top 100 Tools for Learning 2009.

VoiceThread

Used along or in combination with a blog or wiki, VoiceThread allows users to post images, video, and comments (text or voice) to what are essentially interactive slideshow presentations. Although VoiceThread is relatively new, educators around the world (including our own Jennifer Dail) have snapped up some space for their own students. In addition to Jen’s expertise, there are some good online resources to consider when considering VoiceThread for your classroom. If you have sound on your computer, you can watch the VoiceThread introduction.  There are lots of great tutorials on the site that will lead you through the basic in’s and out’s of the software. Voicethread4Education is a good place to start if looking for classroom examples.

SlideShare

Within my own county, SlideShare is blocked (at least as of Jan. 2009), but for the rest of you (and for those who don’t mind doing a little online work from home) SlideShare is the best new way to share slideshow presentations. You can embed slideshows right into your wiki, webpage, or blog without overwhelming your puny email inbox. And, with the option of adding narration and creating a SlideCast, your presentations can become multi-modal.

Gabcast

Record your voice from anywhere using a phone. Simple to set up, easy to manage, I’ve used this with my own classes to allows students to record narration for final drafts, piece together audio for digital projects, and record my own spur of the moment thoughts driving home. For classroom use, consider setting up separate channels, trying it out yourself, and then printing and passing out directions for a test run. Eventually, you may find that students can manage their own channels, or sign up themselves. You can also set up automatic posting to your blog, which could feed into your wiki for audio updates from the teacher. This biggest downside to this service is the inability to moderate comments as they come in. I haven’t found this to be a problem for my own classes, since I manage the channels myself, but be cautious in asking students (especially younger, less mature students) on how to manage their own channels if they sign up themselves.

Flickr

Flickr is an online photo sharing community that often works well in combination with wikis or blogs. On most platforms, you can embed flickr feeds, either from individuals or collaborative photo sharing groups. Many images are also geotagged, which could be a good way for inquiry driven research projects. I often use this site to search for images licensed by the Creative Commons to use in presentations and digital projects.

Wordle.net

Aside from just being pretty cool, Wordle can be used to preview a text, guide students in revision, and create cover art for final drafts. Simply copy and paste any brief passage (or heck, paste the whole student paper into it if you want) and see what emerges. Words that appear more often in the passage will be larger, while less frequent words are smaller. This can help students to see emerging themes in their work, identify areas for word variation, or provide a springboard to discussion where students predict what the text will be about.

Glogster.edu

Build interactive, digital multi-media posters that you can embed and share through your website, blog, or wiki. This is a great way to have students create interactive book reports, collect and share research, and present creative writing in a new way. While my own county has blocked this resource, many classrooms are making good use of this free, online tool. For more information, browse Glogster.edu or do an internet search for Glogster + education.

More options: Teach Web 2.0

The list of options continues to expand, almost daily. When you get to a place where you’re reader to explore some of the hundreds of other options being used in classrooms out there, check out TechWeb2.0. Better yet, join their wiki and add your own expertise to the  collaborative space!

Filed under: KMWPsi09, NWP Digital Toolbox , embed, gabcast, glogster, pbworks, slidecast, slideshare, voicethread, wetpaint, wiki, wikispaces

NWP Digital Toolbox: An Introduction to blogs, RSS, and Social Bookmarking

Among the tools in the National Writing Project’s digital toolbox, blogs, RSS, and social bookmarking are the one’s I use the most in my day to day life as a teacher. Reading the NWP overviews social bookmarking, blogs and RSS, is a good start for understanding how these powerful tools can work for you and your students, but when asked to explain these tools myself, I almost always rely on the Common Craft Show to do the job. Check out the following videos for an explanation of these tools “in plain english.”

Part 1: Blogs

Education and the Blogosphere

I’m certainly no expert on educational blogging. But there are plenty of online collaborative teacher communities that can provide support. Below are just a few that I’ve found through my own RSS subscriptions.

General Reference and Support

• SupportBlogging.com: Not only does this site offer suggested platforms for classroom blogs, but it also offers a wealth of research and other reading to help justify it’s use
• TeachWeb2.0: An ongoing, constantly evolving list of tools and tips from educators around the globe, this is one of my favorite and most reliable sources for information regarding online classroom tools. Not only does it help new users understand what these tools are, teachers work on the site together to create a SWOT analysis, add classroom examples, and otherwise evaluate the usefulness of different platforms.
• Blog Basics from Teachers First: For those who would like to learn the basics of blogging, this site provides virtual hand-holding through the entire process of first time classroom blogging.
• EduBlog Tips On Blogging With Students: Edublogs offer the option of private, teacher-moderated classroom blogs with a wide network of support and resources. There are different levels of membership options, including those that offer upgraded options for a fee.
• Top 100 Education Blogs via OEDb: Organized by content, level, and type, a good place to browse educational blogs

My Favorite Educational Blogs

• Making Teachers Nerdy: Provides basics and useful overviews of what’s on the web. A great place for beginning and advanced learners alike.
• iLearn Technology: I love, love, love this site. Although a lot of the resources aren’t applicable to my own classroom, I find so many great resources here to share with other content areas, especially elementary grades.
• Free Technology for Teachers: Free is the key word with this blog. I know I won’t have to pay for the resources recommended here, and the overview of each item is a fantastic way for me to get ideas for my own class.
• Weblogg-ed: Will Richardson’s blog on education. While this blog is not really light reading, I turn toward Will’s blog when I’m in the mood for more serious and out-of-the-box ideas.
• Get Schooled via AJC: I use this feed to stay on top of local educational news in my area. Chances are, your local newspaper has a feed too.
• NCTE Inbox Blog: Anecdotal incites to the teaching of English.
• NWPs Current Feed Content: Subscribing to the National Writing Project’s current feed keeps me current with articles, events, and discussions going on through the site.

More Favorites

• How Stuff Works: This is a great resource for, interesting, bizarre, and fun informational reading.
• Popular Science: It is what is sounds like. More great, engaging reads for the reluctant.
• LifeHacker: While not really an “educational” blog in the strictest sense of the word, I often find things on this feed that are useful for me in my personal and teaching life.

Part 2: RSS

While the Common Craft Show recommends Google Reader for managing your RSS subscriptions, there are other options out there. I prefer to use Bloglines for my subscriptions because of it’s ease of use, simple design, and no fuss organization. Will Richardson, author of Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, also offers a printable guide to RSS for educators.

More RSS Subscription Services to Consider:

• Alltop: this service touts itself as an “online magazine rack” and reflects this idea in it’s design. Preview Alltop’s Top Education News for a preview of the design. I like Alltop’s design for managing student blogs, or for assembling suggested reading for classroom research or projects.
• The Definitive Top 5 Online RSS Readers: Still not sold? Take a look at this short list of the most popular, and user friendly feed readers online.

3 Ideas for Classroom Use

1. Student Research: One of the most relevant purposes for RSS is for research. Students can assemble specific search queries to keep tabs on current events or to learn more about topics that interest them. These days, most periodicals (Scientific American, National Geographic) have an RSS component linked to their site, which could make for interesting weekly reading reports or class discussion (in person or through their blogs).
2. Parent Contact: Why not teach parents a new way of keeping track of their child’s learning life? Whether you are a parent or a teacher, you can benefit from subscribing to your teacher’s blogs, and receive updates each time they post (if they are using them, that is).
3. Let the Principal become your Pal: Principals, and other administrators, could subscribe to the blogs of teachers in their buildings, and post their own weekly update to send to parents and teachers alike.

Part 3: Social Bookmarking

Chances are, once you get a hang of subscribing to blog feeds, you’ll come across lots of links that you want to save and share with colleagues and friends. Social bookmarking is (in my opinion) the most efficient way of handling bookmarks. Not only can I access websites that I’ve saved to my delicious account from anywhere in the world (provided I have internet access) I can share my links with networked friends and professional contacts who might benefit from what I know, and vice versa.

While there are many social bookmarking services available, delicious.com is the one I know and love, and while others have shiny baubles, widgets, knobs, and such, I always find myself returning to delicious for it’s simplicity, ease of use, and familiarity. To find my bookmarks on delicious, or to join my network, search the main page for jmill123 or visit my delicious homepage: delicious.com/jmill123

Other Social Bookmarking Sites to Consider

• Top 5 Online Social Bookmarking Services: A good overview of the more useful and user preferred social bookmarking services available online.
• SecondBrain: Although the “shiny baubles, widgets, and knobs” of this service have me stumped, this one makes the list for its ability to add documents and serve as an electronic portfolio. New to the scene, and less well known than other bookmarking sites, it has a fun name and potential to move it’s way into the top 5 list.

Filed under: KMWPsi09, NWP Digital Toolbox , blogging, blogs, digital toolbox, education, educational, NWP, rss, social bookmarking

Adding Categories and tags to your posts

Hello SI Participants!

Many of you have asked about adding Categories to your blog posts. Without further ado, I am glad to present the WordPress HowTo Video on: Adding categories and tags to your posts!

done

Tired of searching the internet for everyone’s blog? Try adding them to your Blogroll using the Links feature.

Want to know more cool stuff? Check out the Getting Started section of the WordPress Help Forum.

For more information on the NWP Tech Toolbox, check out the Technology Integration page on the wiki.

Developing Your Blog, continued (courtesy Dr. Darren Crovitz)

1. Create a blog post with hyperlinks (i.e, turn words or a phrase into a link, like this). Basically, instead of copying the actual link directly into a post (which looks really awkward) you can turn words or phrases into links. For instance, if you were talking about how great the Arizona State Sun Devils football team is, you could link that phrase to an appropriate website. Similarly, if you think the Georgia Bulldogs are no good, you can create another link showing why. To do this, in the text field for your post, highlight the word or phrase you want to turn into a link, and click the “chain link” icon in the toolbar. Paste in the appropriate web address.
2. Create a blog post with an embedded image. To do this, locate and download a free image using a site like Spffy or EveryStockPhoto. Then create a new post, type an introduction, and then upload your image by clicking the “Add an Image” icon in the “Upload/Insert” toolbar. Then upload the image. (You can also link directly to the image if you like. Try both ways.)
3. Create a blog post with an embedded video clip. This may sound hard but it’s actually pretty easy. Go to YouTube and copy the URL (the web address) for a video clip of your choice. Create a new post, type an introduction, and then click “Add Video” in the “Upload/Insert” toolbar. Click the “From URL” tab at the top of the page, paste the URL in the space provided, and WordPress should automatically format it correctly.

Blog Widgets

1. Experiment with widgets on your blog (widgets are small applications that add various functions, from a calendar to file-sharing). In your Dashboard view, go to “Appearance,” “Widgets” to see a list of the available widgets.
2. To add a widget to a sidebar area on your blog, click “Add,” and then “Save Changes.” You can re-order widgets in a sidebar by grabbing them and moving them around.
3. Other widgets require you to create accounts with other sites in order to use the application. Experiment with some that look interesting (I like Box.net and Vodpod). Drag a widget to the Sidebar and click “Edit” for instruction on how it works and what it does. This is usually a very easy process, and you can always change it back if you don’t like it.

Play around with other features of your blog. Notice that by clicking “Users” on the right side of the Dashboard, you can allow other people controlling access to your blog…this may be helpful should you choose a blog as a group project platform.

Filed under: KMWPsi09, NWP Digital Toolbox

KMWPsi First Day Reflections

Wow, am I impressed. This was my first official day of working with everyone at the KMWP Summer Institute, and I am blown away by the incredible talent, gratitude, and energy I am getting from everyone here. Not to mention a delicious breakfast–thanks Amy and Jen!

I have to admit, I was way nervous (¡ estaba muy nervioso!) for the first day, especially since we had so much to accomplish. But everyone quickly put me at ease with their good vibes and willingness to learn. I am so excited to be involved with such a great team. Thanks to everyone for making my job easy and fun. I can’t wait to see what you all will do over the course of the next few weeks!

Filed under: KMWPsi09 , first day, KMWP, nervous