TeacherTalk

Notes from May 11, 2010...

2010-05-14T10:17:00.000-07:00

In continuing with the "open invitation" to foster tech talks, and as a direct result of Wednesday's "crucial conversations" that took place May 12 at the tech building....A question was raised after it was evident that all 16 of us in attendance at the meeting, all diverse in our experiences and expectations, had voice. As we went around the table, there developed an agreement among us, that the lack of custodianship is a behavior running rampant... technically costing us lost time and financing.... but what is the solution?

Granting that accidents do happen and everyone is human, the disrespectful abuse, in regards to district-owned technology, is becoming more visible across the entire district, clearly demonstrating individuals lack of "taking" ownership in "that" which does not belong to us. This is something the community has to own in order to help us with the solution.

This question, among others, arose from the crowd...

Has "custodianship" been better represented in the 21C Class(es)* compared to what we see across classrooms, labs, and other district-owned mobile devices?

*21C - a course designed/created four years ago in our district in an effort to engage teachers and students in a 1-2-1 learning environment for Seniors

Aren't we always in search of answers?

I am hopeful for all, during the tornadic times we are living in, that each of us will find new inspiration in "The Unfolding" of what we can be hopeful to attain/gain in next year's promises.

Karla

We have shared our notes from that meeting a google doc with you here!

Forgetting My Camera!

2009-11-23T22:09:00.000-08:00

It was an interesting day in the office as I feel we have tried to build a good reputation for good technical service... so when Roxie phoned the office this morning, by the time Brad was off the phone it was just another learning experience in the grand story or helping others. I don't mean to boost or be proud, but I believe schools will weather the storm. What needs remembering is we are all in the same fleet that sails the ship.

So on Friday I told Brad I was headed to the board meeting on Monday. It was going to be a short week but busy. Of course I didn't foresee myself catching a nasty cold and suffering Sunday, at work half-baked on Monday and yet productive.

I was delighted and confused tonight. The presentations to the board, there were three, were intriguing, as the night started with the public forum presented by Paul Chaffin. I wish I had his speaking skills.

We were then kicked out of the admin office to stroll across the street for the presentation from Central Elementary teachers. I was disappointed that the PLC room was not set up for the audience to more fully enjoy the lenghty barrage of educational know-how as we all stood for what seemed a 40+ minute session. The ladies who spoke during the presentation did an excellent job of describing what they do and how the pieces are to fit together in such a way that those who are ignorant might mistake their efforts as easy and uncomplicated. This multi-disciplinary project [I am thankful...] came out of one of our TRC classrooms. What an excellent model of students creating relevance in the tools from creating their avatar, to writing their story, to recording their best audio voice all wrapped up for a feast-full Thanksgiving season.

We have much to be thankful for.

p.s. I was so upset to have left my camera across the street in my computer bag. Tonight should have been filmed! :)

Deep thinkers......

2009-01-15T12:25:00.000-08:00

We are deep thinkers.... at 8:03 a.m. today, I had another excellent response to my e-mail from district staff - not just teachers, mind you, but everyone on staff in our organization with an email account including cooks, custodians, and paras got this e-mail.

Dear Karla,

Thank you for this article. It is a small view of the world gone mad in my opinion.

I heard on TV that the biological limit of food production of the earth is about 9 billion people and we would be eating everything is site. We are at 6 billion plus and we are heading to 12 billion. Some place between here and there a lot of this article will happen. I am beyond sad. Mathus was right.

Here is an article my nephew sent to me about government. You might like it. I did.

http://www.wimp.com/thegovernment/

Thanks for the article again.

It's imperative we are touching all our senses in educating for tomorrow. [karla's words]

Thanks for sharing. It is appreciated.

Passionate Teachers.....

2009-01-14T20:00:00.000-08:00

I sent this out to our staff @ 7:30 p.m. and at 8:52 p.m. I had this message from a teacher. How wonderful and refreshing......

That was one of the most poignant stories I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time. I often try to explain this type of world to my students and they look at me with the same blank eyes. I am going to have my juniors read this tomorrow in class, and maybe somewhere later in their lives they will be richer for their exposure to such a moving and provocative story.
--Jonathan
--------------
Dorris Lessing - On not winning the Nobel Prize

I am standing in a doorway looking through clouds of blowing dust to where I am told there is still uncut forest. Yesterday I drove through miles of stumps, and charred remains of fires where, in '56, there was the most wonderful forest I have ever seen, all now destroyed. People have to eat. They have to get fuel for fires.

I'm reminded of my own political science teachers in my rural community high school days. Knowing I turn the half-century mark this month, that is saying...I'm old.

Planning Meeting....

2008-09-17T08:59:00.000-07:00

We're getting excited to get started with our new teachers in Laptop Initiative. Last night was our first time to really focus on the task at hand, our September 28th workshop. In the past, we have tried to push as much information as possible to our teachers during these monthly sessions creating overload and frustration. The discussion last night was about slowing down the amount of information and hovering longer over the applications in the iLife creative suite and our subscription based Web 2.0 apps. There is just so much to learn and explore, it's hard to know sometimes what to leave behind.

We reminisced about the 2004 & 2005 school years, when the district implemented "Focus Groups", and how it provided our Laptop teachers an extra day a month, most months, with time to work on creating new content for their classrooms as they were learning themselves. Focus Groups went away last year as NCLB reared it's ugly head and we've struggled with the time constraints ever since.

Nonetheless, our pioneering spirit propels us forward. Looking forward to leading and learning with technology!

A Sunday Event

2008-08-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

This year, we started off the year jump-starting new teachers with two-half days of tech training with new MacBooks as we enter our fifth year of Teacher Laptop Initiative. Our yearlong p.d. initiative is always a learning adventure and a cause worthy of change.

I'm never sure how much this district initiative is talked about during the interview process, and I always wonder if communicating the vision is not always talked about. I think in that case its a communication breakdown.

I seem to have felt a little resistance in the reactions of some of our new teachers when we explained our programs guidelines during the training. A training program which in my mind has lead the charge for teachers in our district to use technology in their classroom in ways that connect with kids' learning. I've been thinking about the resistance, and finally today can explain why we meet once a month on a Sunday afternoon's and why it's worth all the sacrifice.

I think we looked at the time we gave up as three hours for ourselves. It was our personal learning time. It became an issue of when could I learn at higher levels, participate in conversations about education and change using technology, creating professional learning communities, and now reaping the benefits of professional social networks. It wasn't about being a bad Christian on one Sunday a month.

I won't lie, yes it was a sacrifice of our time but I think everyone will say they sacrificed the time for themselves and for the opportunity to participate and find growth and support in a professional learning community during the year.

I certainly hope my story is a true picture of what we try to accomplish out of the tech department with teaching and learning with technology.

2008 Teacher Laptop Initiative

2008-08-11T20:27:00.000-07:00

We are excited to be welcoming 11 new teachers joining our professional learning community across our district! I know my lead tech team joins me in wanting to share with you, our passion for learning, studying, and questioning how we build sustainable community. Welcome!

Teachers have to answer the question, "What will I do to establish and communicate learning goals, track students progress, and celebrate success?" This is the path you walk on a daily basis.

Our hope is to give you the inspiration and tools to help you hook kids into learning.

Welcome to one of USD 352's professional learning communities! This list of resources I share here is the short list. Bookmarking and organization might come in handy this year.

• USD 352 Technology Vision Statement
• NETS for Teachers 2008
• Partnership for 21st Century Learning
• NETS for Students

The Pioneering Spirit & Chivalry

2008-05-07T21:26:00.000-07:00

Pioneering Spirit & Chivalry....has it disappeared?

It seems these days, as my children grow older, I find myself once again in the midst of God's little wonders, a new grand baby and a new day care. It's become clear how important the development of our babies and toddlers brains and bodies are. They consume everything around them like little scientists and explorers and thrive on love. They are innocent, completely dependent, amazing creatures...exploring all faucets of their environment. Do we foster that kind of learning and passion in our students?

Love. Is it missing from the home?

It's alarming to me to recognize the social issues our communities are plagued with... and it threatens the most innocent.... our children.

We need only look around the corners of the paths we take to work and see the signs of neglect all around us.

Cultural Poverty
Apathy
Debt
Lottery Gambling
Broken-down Neighborhoods
Accountability Issues

How long will we continue to turn our eyes away and pretend we do not see?

I am not blaming ... just trying to uncover the answers to questions.

How do we bridge the gap that so clearly exists?

Laptop Focus on Professional Development

2008-01-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

This is one of those rough drafts I've been storing since 1/20/08. Figured I've said plenty of weird things by this time that I'll just let this one go out. For any blaring "English" issues please email me off list and I'll consider revising.

Today is July 13, 2008. I've been thinking deeply about my family, god, and the millions of Americans who do not know the cost of freedom! Oh, yes, I've been filling up on the Dave Ramsey podcast as well!

cheers!
-------------------------------

It's mid-year

Custom coloring pages for T-1 students. How does technology change the way you do a project? What is the added value, the higher-order thinking that you can't get without the technology?

CommunityWalk - 3rd grade (personal learning maps) might use it with the great mail race writing project.

PowerTyping.com - 5th grade (in place of MavisBeacon)

Quizlet - MusicTechTeacher.com from middle school band teacher.

ThatQuiz.com - new high school math teacher - will use to address students failure on state assessments in specific areas

iShow - new high school are teacher record his lecture to play back to students. CBModelPro - was impressed with this as a teaching tool to help them understand how to manipulate 3D objects for Jr. high/elementary students. Uses TubeTV a BUNCH. Something he uses ALL the time from Wesley Fryer's presentation! Big user of TeacherTube and YouTube for teaching his students in art classes.

GoogleBooks.com - Speech Pathologist finds it hard to use a lot of the tools we're been looking at. Didn't even realize it existed.

Skitch - didn't realize she could install the application on her computer (missed the .mov info) but she thought this might be something she could use with students

ZamZar.com - Our high school media specialist says she uses this online application on a daily basis primarily for converting word documents for students from home to school.

Cyberchase.org is also one she uses with her 2nd grader for math concepts...very cool idea place.

Open Learning....

2007-12-04T10:34:00.000-08:00

This is a copy of the email I sent to the participants of one of our Summer Institutes held in 2007, June. Please feel free to comment.

When can we bring together a collaborative group who wants to work on, learn about, and discuss the same tool(s), pedagogy, and educational philosophies in the world today? I'm looking for suggestions or comments from YOU, the user/learner/teacher.

Sunday afternoons for a 3 hour workshop, once a month works for me. I've kind of gotten used to that schedule over the past 3 years :) A Saturday afternoon might work as well but not my first choice.

If you would be interested in "being present", teaching, or just learning amongst others, I'm up for some extra-curricular activities at the Tech Building and I would be glad to help host this as a focus over the next 4 months. You all have your book. AND I have 9 extras and would open up 9 spots to those committed to the task.

Before I send out my note to the other Laptoppers, I wanted to solicit some feedback from you first. Thoughts??? Interest or no interest? Blog your thoughts here!

Topics (chapters) in Will's book include:

The Read/Write Web
Weblogs: Pedagogy and Practice
Weblogs: Get Started!
Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All
RSS: The New Killer App for Educators
The Social Web: Learning Together
Fun With Flickr: Creating, Publishing, and Using Images Online
Podcasting
What It all Means (New Literacies - The Big Shifts - Just the Beginning

Thinking more about P.D.

2007-11-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

I'm at the end of listening to Wesley Fryer's "Moving at the Speed of Creativity", Podcast 200: Moving Beyond the Fear Factor With Internet Safety. A must listen for all educators, in my humble opinion. Wesley reiterates what I've learned through Kal-Tech, journal articles, and the books I continue to read ..... that we must "cultivate" the leaders we need ... the teacher-leaders we need! Here's a clip of what Wesley is speaking about:

"Leadership has got to be inspired ... visionary. We need change agents. We need transformational leaders. Are these folks hard to come by? Yes they are, but we must "cultivate" them. We must cultivate the leaders we need, because THAT, more than anything else, makes or breaks any innovation that your going to try in schools."

This paragraph describes how I have felt about our teacher laptop initiative from it's infancy. That it was/is about building relationships and cultivating leaders...creating change agents. We can't just do this by learning/teaching/showing the technology and it's tools. It's still more about pedagogy and shifting of paradigms. It's about learning to unlearn. It's hard work and it takes more effort than a 1/2 day Focus Group can provide 6 times a year.

"Can change happen from the bottom up?" I used to emphatically say YES! What has become clear to me is my answer today ... "only when it hits critical mass". How much farther is critical mass?

Inspiring this moment...

2007-10-23T19:24:00.000-07:00

It seems the inspiration is being sucked out of our minds with the happenings of systemic fallout within our own walls.

Kevin Honeycutt's three tweets tonight got me thinking...[thank you!]

1)I'm calling them learning networks rather than social networks so some don't fear we're socializing!
2)Kids will be on social networks, whether we are or not..why not build positive ones?
3)They are bionic (showed my age) environments that can empower engaged learning

I am reminded of the 2004 Keynote at T+L in Denver and how inspiring it was to hear Ken Robinson in person. I posted and shared his Ted Talks video with my last Kal-Tech team during our May 16, 2007 final team meeting at FHSU. I am constantly amazed at how much I can learn. It becomes more clear to me that information is always new even when it's old. This post only 5 days old...

I can now go back to a mentor at my school and explain to them in a mature manner why i left. I am so close to graduating but my school system is dragging me down. This lecture taught me so much and gave true expression to my views on education. This man is a visionary and has the proper ideas. For once an adult sees the value in youth. Thank you!

Do Schools Today Kill Creativity? (YouTube video)

All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education

Why does it have to be so difficult??

Are we listening to our peripheral voices out here? Are we choosing to ignore them.

Reflections....

2007-09-11T18:45:00.001-07:00

After yesterdays meeting, I owe apologies to friends. Seems I'm doing that a lot these days and it’s only a slam on my own behaviors. You see, that's really what this is all about. I'm wrestling with my own behaviors and beliefs. My ability or inability to create culture change, the stress of many, many wonderful things that are HAPPENING in our district! The stresses of a few things that are mandated like KIDS and PowerSchool and some that aren’t…pedagogies.

As we try to move our classrooms into the new learning landscape, it's critical we learn how to unlearn.

Making sense of P.D.

2007-09-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

The following message was typed in my e-mail program and intended to be sent via that form of communication, but I need to change my mode of communication. Not for everything, but for some things...

Dear Tech Team,

See you tonight. I'll have salsa and chips!! Arrive anytime for chatting! We do need to focus our discussion from 4 - 5 p.m. on Sunday night's event.

Would everyone take a look at Moodle sometime during the day today? Please explore our content from last year. We know it can't necessarily look the same, knowing what all we've learned over the past 15 months. Or can it?

I would like you to think about the many tools we have used, still use, want to use more of, want to use what's yet to be invented, and on and on. Tools come and go and we have some good ones on the shelf still; Moodle, iWeb, Wikispaces.com, Blogger.com, Classroom 2.0.

What I would really like to do with staff this year is take them in to Classroom 2.0. This is not a new idea, nor is it original but I've been thinking about it ever since I joined back in April. There was valuable learning there for me, my January 2007 Kal-Tech team, and for you guys too? :-) Originally conflicted about Classroom 2.0, only because I thought it might be a stopping point instead of a starting point. It's about learning to unlearn as Will Richardson and many others have said.

Nevertheless, this year it may be a great starting place for teachers who need to understand the "power" of networks. Right now, our staffs, in my opinion, do not understand the "power of networks", and only understand the peripheral version of working in the "wisdom of crowds", aka. Teams. It is assiduous work.

I still believe we need to create a mini Kal-Tech. The book studies, the small group discussions, the intensive learning. http://kaltech-team155.wikispaces.com/Agendas

And...we also want teachers to experience the creative side of content creation. This "side" has been the meat of our Sunday Laptop Initiative program from it's inception thanks to the power of teams. You know who you are. [smile] If we empower teachers in "knowing" how to create content ... in their personal lives, their professional learning, and with their students ... all the while, showing them prime examples of infusion with technology, we will have done well.

What tools are of must worth? For our district, here's my focused list; Blogs, Wikis, iWeb, Moodle. What is our audiences focused list? I'm sure this list must seem blah and life-less in the whole big picture of our teaming experience and our own individualized knowledge.

What's the temperature out there? Are we focused enough? Do we have a shared vision? What external factors do WE see as a negative force field?

Building on the power of team...

2007-06-11T21:24:00.001-07:00

Today, I was not working in my zone, my erg, my strengths. I feel like, on a scale of 1 to 5, I preformed at 2.

I have an awesome team of teacher leaders forming within our district. It is so exciting I just can't stand not shouting about it! My lead tech team is awesome! The level of investment in professional staff development they give is passionate. They only survive through the intrinsic motivation that feeds their desire to educate all children who pass through our hands.

Our grass roots teachers are becoming practitioners equipped with 21 century pedagogy and skills. If you haven't been following our posts over at the usd352summerinstitute07 blog, we have had 12 students in class for four six-hours days plus two virtual students working in "Web 2.0 and the Digital Classroom". I know I speak for the entire team when I say we are so proud of you. So many had to have day-care providers for two and more children and the entire team has sacrificed family time to attend. These teachers are not getting paid extra. They come to learn! Bravo! Teacher leaders? Absolutely!

The trick is keeping the momentum going and remaining an active participant in the "social networks" we are creating.

I leave you with a great post by Will Richardson at Weblogg-ed who writes about passionate based learning.

Enjoy!

The meaning of tags..

2007-06-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

Why would you think tags are important? Are they important?

Rethinking literacies?

2007-06-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

How do we need to rethink our ideas of literacy when we must prepare our students to become not only readers and writers, but editors and collaborators as well?

Changes in teaching?

2007-06-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

What changes must we make in our teaching as it becomes easier to bring primary sources to our students?

Changes in curriculum?

2007-06-04T07:44:00.000-07:00

What needs to change about our curriculum when our students have the ability to reach audiences far beyond our classroom walls?

Musings about dictionary.com

2007-04-21T06:36:00.000-07:00

Dictionary.com is a resource I use on nearly a daily basis. I keep it on my bookmarks tool bar. I'm such a bad speller. To have INSTANT feedback with a list of choices has been very powerful for me. How could I manage a paper dictionary of 500,000 words? I can only anticipate how powerful it will be for our students when they gain access all day to the tools that can empower their own learning. :)

Actually, I have not used Dictionary.com as much lately. Hmmmm, must be getting better at spelling? Sooo......when I wanted to make a note this morning about Intellectual Property Rights, in my "design" notebook, I was stumped. Told you I was a bad speller. hehe When I typed in my misspelled word for intellectual at Dictionary.com and choose the correct spelling, the following page just amazed me. THIS is just another Web 2.0 tool!

There is much to learn and much to do over the horizon!

Global Work Ethic

2007-03-16T13:38:00.000-07:00

Name one thing you agreed with and one thing you disagreed with while listening to Alan November's podcast.

Thinking About Podcasts....

2007-03-15T19:37:00.001-07:00

Did you find a podcast you could use with your class? What was it and how would you use it?