Not So Distant Future

In a session on streaming in the classroom–

Ustream and Mogulus have powerful capabilities for live streaming student events, class projects, etc.

David Jakes is sharing projects using Ustream.

Wendy Smith project with elementary students; video of students in advisory talking about “their technologies” while people in chat room were able to ask the students questions remotely; Wes Fryer session on digital citizenship project interacting with 3 classrooms from other states(including DarrellG’s); Science Leadership Academy broadcast professional development from the Educon conference on eight different channels; Karl Fisch on Colorado conversations again ustreamed; Parents as Partners–partners involved in meeting online via Ustream; SLA students performing a play which was broadcast via ustream.

Jakes — How does this change classrooms when they are permeable and you can extend learning beyond the four walls of the classroom?

Ewan McIntosh–
playoff between asynchronous video and streaming
Channel four in Britain has just TODAY launched “Yeardot.co.uk” a tv program which is a social network. Two film crews are going to follow young people for a year and film them.

The medium is the message as much as the content. Traditional media you have a lot of control about what ends up on the screen. Takes time to listen and reflect on what you are seeing.

By contrast, ustream chat isn’t necessarily reflective. The reflection may occur later. And you are able to watch it later on over and over until you get it or to look back on it, as with traditional media.

In UK television increasingly not being watched by younger people. Students are used to doing things when they want. Live streaming issue is that you have to schedule yourself to be there no matter how inconvenient–just like television. The streaming is on when it’s on.

Advantages of streaming–unscripted discussions with people; can get global opinions and it’s not impersonal, helps build a sense of “otherness.” (Playing a cilp of Alisa Miller Ted Talk) showing how skewed the media is in terms of how they present the world news(map of world altered to show how world is presented in mainstream western media barely shows Africa and China and U.S. is huge).

Advantage of streaming is that it allows you to have a better balance of viewpoints–to get people talking about something worthwhile.

Steve Dembo

Is going to show some new tools
Qik and Comet now, which both stream live from your cell phone or portable device.

Steve Dembo–hoping that people are going to start thinking about streaming and how the diversity of the group will come up with good uses for it.

Will is pointing out that these technologies have some downsides and how are we preparing our students with good models for using them? By using these tools for classroom projects, we have opportunities to talk about positive uses of them.

In one of the most enjoyable sessions at EdubloggerCon, we had an interesting book discussion about Clay Shirky’s book Here Comes Everybody. I’m only on chapter one, but still found the discussion of how we face what is coming and what will happen to schools fascinating. Wish we’d had time to go even deeper into it–this could have been a whole day discussion, really–and so many interesting perspectives we had there.

As we talked, I was thinking about the whole concept of how we think of teaching–traditionally thinking of students like buckets that we fill up versus thinking of the importance of talk and conversation in terms of how students learn. Isn’t one reason that “everybody” is online is for these very conversations and informal learning? So how can we be sure conversation is part of the learning process going on in our schools?

Lastly, the other best part of the session–Will had some of us sitting on the floor which really felt like a book study.

My live blogged notes are below:

I’m in a session on Leaders and how to make change happen.

Everyone wants to help kids learn, but there’s a default orientation in the climate of accountability for administrators–conception of how learning happens is different from what is going on in the conversations at places like Edubloggercon. (not sure who that was speaking)

Speaker talking–We need to talk on the ground specifics. Show administrators how on the ground tools make their jobs easier.

David Warlick is asking about why not have strands at conferences where students are demonstrating their tools to adults.

Another speaker pointing out that we need to find ways for leaders to be instructional leaders instead of managers/disciplinarians, etc.

Two questions:(from Influencer?)
Is it worth it?
Can I do it?

Administrator 2.0 academy (cliotech)

Ewan–reading quote–that for leaders the temptation is to “manage.” He’s pointing out that in Scotland as an educator, he’s expected to “get on with it” and just do his job. If the role of the leader isn’t to “do something”–what is it?

Chris Lehmann — as principal your job is to do whatever you can for teachers to help them make the job of educating students possible.

At SLA, motto is– If you aren’t afraid to lose your job, you shouldn’t have the job

AS a principal, trust has to be there. Have to model behaviors you expect teachers to use. If we expect or want teachers to use tools, we have to model that.

Steve (don’t know his name)–Trojan Horse learning….You do the training but you spend part of the time sharing information that resonates with the leaders. For example, you share the safety tips on web 2.0, but then you also emphasize the importance of social networking for students and them being on the digital playground.

Steve–We used to do staff development TO teachers. What he’s seeing lately is we create a buffet of possibilities and let the teachers live in them, and try them, in a low stakes environment. Teachers should be experimenting, playing, etc.

Djakes thinks administrators need to know about technology and how it applies to the learning process. Would you be satisfied with administrators that only partially know about how teacher evaluation works? or testing works?

Student April from Illinois math and science academy (senior)– as students, we are digitally literate. Her school taught safety lessons, but had no filtering. Educated and then trusted, and students behaved responsibly.

Chris Lehmann sharing a program in NYC–two week bootcamp–four people from each school(1 admin. 3 teachers), morning theory, afternoon practical–group planned something. Those people in the academy are still leaders in technology. If we want people to get it, we have to create the time and space for people to do it. Work towards notion about coming together around innovation that moves us forward with thoughtful deliberate ideas.

I missed the opening session because I drove down from Austin this morning, but I’m sitting here now in an interesting edubloggercon meeting on social networking.

Steve(not sure who it was since I can’t see his badge) shared some great points about introducing teachers to social networking. He talked about the importance of whoever sets up the network functioning as a “Walmart greeter”–and the importance of teaching teachers about how to be in a social space, showing them what its like if they don’t set up a photo or icon online and then they look like a “stranger”–and how to create a friendly inviting presence online so they can build a network.

David Warlick is pointing out that a social network needs to be solving a problem or serving a purpose for a local group for it to continue. Julie Lindsay shared how initially in her work with Kim Cofino at her own school, they set up a private Ning, but they’ve worked hard with teachers to train them to post things on the Ning rather than emailing, and that now they’re opening it up outside the campus.

Someone else is sharing that the social network needs to be reliable and easy to learn–the “public transportation” model, so to speak.

We’re also talking about how teachers can be a little risk averse in terms of using social networking tools, because they are somewhat accustomed to being “isolated” in their rooms, schools sometimes discourage sharing or using networks, etc.

Wes Fryer is talking about digital bridges and if they are different for your local campus audience and a global audience. I think they are–I think teachers within the same building have more trouble seeing the purpose of a tool when perhaps they can just come talk to you. It takes a learning curve to think of it as a repository of information and as an extension.

A principal who is in this session just pointed out that she needs to create an atmosphere that supports teachers using social networking because she thinks it is important for just in time learning.

How are library services changing?     I’m really excited to be on a panel of oustanding librarians at NECC on “remixing” tools and strategies for a 21st century learning environment, as Cathy Nelson mentioned on her blog as well.

Joining us will be Joyce Valenza,  Anita Beaman, Judy O’Connell, Diane Cordell, and Kim Cofino(remotely) to talk about remixing roles and how librarians truly can function as change agents in their schools.

The session is not just for librarians, either!  For a collaborative partnership to work well,  we need to partner with teachers, administrators, tech coordinators, curriculum leaders, etc., and we all need to understand the potential for each other’s roles on a campus.    So we hope to have many of you join us to learn how we can all support one another more effectively.

By the way, the session is on Wednesday, at 8:30, so grab some coffee on the way!  (It’s cooler in the morning in Texas anyway ;))

One of the things that I can tell is going to be interesting about our professional learning community we have formed at my campus is the diversity of teachers involved.  We have members from departments all over campus, from English to science to special education to band.   And it’s fascinating hearing their perspectives on teaching and learning and what it looks like to them.  

 It also strikes me that one thing that happens in schools is that we tend to talk to the people we already work with–reinforcing our own beliefs, but not necessarily ever challenging them.   One of the real values of finding ways for teachers to talk across grade levels and departments is that it does offer the opportunity for fresh ideas and differing viewpoints to emerge.

As our band teacher talked at our coffee about how he works with students, it was very illuminating and somewhat different than how other teachers tend to approach things.   For one thing, he doesn’t use the same pieces from year to year, so he’s always learning new pieces along with the students.  And the idea of ensemble is very important–because if one student isn’t prepared for practice, it hinders everyone in the ensemble.  Students don’t always see their work in the rest of school that way–as part of a group where their contribution and responsibility to others is significant.

What if we treated students in our libraries or classrooms this way?  Like an ensemble where every “player” was significant to creating the music of learning?   So that students know that their work and contributions affect everyone else in the room?

At our staff retreat last August, we stumbled through an outdoor team-building exercise where a group of us had to balance on a log, and reorganize the order we were lined up in.  But we could only communicate through making animal sounds or gesturing like the animal.   But even though not all of us knew one another well–we all were committed to helping ALL of us stay on the log and winning the challenge.

Do our classrooms function this way?  Do all the students involved help all of their peers ’stay on the log’?  Everyone stumbles from time to time–but what more power is there in a classroom if students know that everyone there would be trying to help them get back on track?

Similarly, what if instead of seeing themselves as competing departments (this is high school more than elementary)–teachers saw that they were all part of an ensemble, where all the players were necessary to creating and supporting the whole?

Dennis Littky talks in his book The Big Picture about the importance of advisories to personalizing school for students.   But I think even our classrooms can function this way.

It takes believing in our students, though, as our teacher Valerie Taylor pointed out.  She shared some research from a dissertation at U.T. by Brian Lawrence(or Laurence?), where he explored the perspectve of deficit thinking.  When we see students as incapable of something, we tend to approach them in certain ways because we are thinking of them as doing “without” something.  But if we approaching them by valuing what they do bring (essentialist thinking) then we are able to invite them in because we believe that everyone has something to contribute.

This is key to creating an ensemble in the classroom or with a group of students or with a group of teachers.     Our respect for the fact that every member of the ensemble has something to contribute is paramount.   When people know they matter, they show up, not just physically, but mentally and creatively as well.

So I’m wondering, what do we do to foster ensemble-thinking in our classrooms?

Our new professional learning community recently got together for a summer “coffee and conversation.”   For conversation we used questions from The Big Picture by Dennis Littkey.

The conversation wound its way around to the idea of passion.  Remembering conversations at Educon in Philadelphia, I shared a conversation I had with some students who attended the conference.   A few of us were talking with them about what they got out of attending, and their comment was ‘we had no idea teachers cared so much about education.’

It made me wonder, as other bloggers have, how often we share our passion with our students.  Are they even aware we are passionate about what we do or about our subject?   What happens when we share that more openly?

Coincidentally, in the “My Turn” column in this week’s Newsweek, Biology professor Sally Hoskins evokes her passion for biology and how to share it with students.  “If my students remember nothing else, I’d be happy if they leave with the idea that, just like art of music, science is a creative process.”

She continues:

“Science isn’t old information pressed like crumbling fall leaves between the pages of forgotten books.  It’s alive–growing and shifting and blossoming.”

And yet I fear that students too often leave our classrooms and schools thinking of curriculum as something stored, dried up, and crumbling, instead of something living and breathing.  How can we make it “live” for our students?

Many ideas come to mind–bringing it into the real world, using technology tools to engage them actively in interacting with it, inviting students “in” to our curriculum process– but most of all, I think sharing our own energy and passion in a visible way is a way to bring meaning to students.

I think it’s akin to modeling a process for students by verbalizing our thoughts as we go through the process.   Do we model or verbalize our passion as we move through a lesson or work with an individual student?   Does our passion for books or our subject area become visible?  Are we sharing it with our adult colleagues but not our students in the classroom?

When we are around people who are passionate about what they do, or release our own passion and share it, it is contagious.   It sparks an interest in some thing that perhaps was unknown to the other person before.  It is a burst of life, a spark–and something that is invigorating to both the recipient and the person sharing.    Sharing our passion further inspires us to keep on going, to try new things–while inspiring others far beyond the moment when we share with them.

Hoskins’ ends her course showing a video on sea-horses because she wants to share something that her students don’t already know.  As she writes so passionately, she wants to share

“Something we’re aware of only because some passionate scientist spends 12 hours a day underwater filming it.  Something beautiful and amazing.”

So in the rush for “achievement scores” and grading, and covering the curriculum, and paperwork, and the flow of students in and out of our spaces, we need to ask ourselves–What beautiful and amazing things do I love?  And how can I let my students see that?

NECC is fast approaching!

If you haven’t registered, you still actually have until June 18!   And if you have registered but aren’t from “around here” I thought I’d share a few tips!

It’s likely to be hot.  We’ve been having an unusually hot June and so far, it shows no signs of breaking.  Of course, the Riverwalk area is somewhat cooler, and there’s quite a bit of shade all along the way, and Texans do believe in air conditioning!

So the trick is, dress for really hot weather, but have some sort of jacket/sweater or something for the “indoor weather” as the convention center is always freezing.  (It is also HUGE).

If you are a new attendee, you may not realize there is a wiki set up to give you the scoop on what is going on “in between” events in some of the lounges and cafe areas.

And there is also a NING site set up where you can already start chatting with people who’ll be there.

I created a NECC San Antonio travel wiki last summer, and if you haven’t checked it out, I’ve put some tips as to dining and fun things to do.  There’s also a page to sign up if you are an attendee who is on Twitter and want to share your info!

Hands down–one of my favorite things to do is to have a frosty mug of root beer at Schilo’s–a place locals know up off the river just above Casa Rio restaurant.   And my other favorite thing is the lovely McNay Art Institute, which is a short drive from downtown, but it’s a beautiful museum built in a Mediterranean style home and they have just opened a new addition.

And if you are from Texas and haven’t decided yet, you have a few more days (and if you are a member of TCEA, there is a discount for attending!)

See you in San Antonio!

“They say knowledge is power.  We say the use of knowledge is power.”
Elliot Washor  in The Big Picture by Dennis Littkey

As a group of us have been meeting at our campus to form a professional learning community, we’ve been talking quite a bit about the notion of students as a pail having information “poured” into them, versus the notion of students actively constructing knowledge.

I think to librarians, this idea comes fairly naturally.   We know that we can’t “know” everything, but that the source of our power comes in knowing how to help students find information themselves, by ferreting out the knowledge they already have within them.   Finding the information sometimes becomes more of a collaboration, and that is ultimately the goal, for students to know how to drawn on the knowledge they have to make new connections and find more information.

It’s fascinating the different expectations with which students(and teachers) approach asking questions or receiving help.  Some students expect to be a partner in finding things, and will ask a question and then work with you to figure it out.  Other students are much more passive, and ask a question, but then follow you, while chatting with other students along the way, and not really paying much attention.   Some students will take charge once they get to a set of sites or to the bookshelves–once they’ve been pointed in the right direction they are ready to take charge and winnow through what is there and select what works for them.  Each encounter is different and part of the skill set a librarian has to have is being able to facilitate with many different kinds of learners.

In The Big Picture, Littkey points out that learning is very personal.  He also posits that the “real learning happens after” the encounter.  “It’s what you do with it, how you integrate it, how you talk to your family, friends, and classmates about it” that constitutes the learning process.

Once again, I’m led to wonder if we give students enough time for that “learning after” process.  I believe that we learn as things go on the “back burner” and we process them in the background, but in the rush for “new” lessons each day, do we allow enough room for reflection?

Similarly, in library-research related encounters, are students expected to complete something at the end of the period or the next day–or are they given a few days to let the concepts go on their “back burner” while they process it, talk about it, and share it-even if they are doing something else within the classroom?

Littkey asks some very pertinent questions at the end of the first chapter:

“How do you learn best?  How would you go about teaching your ‘own capacity to learn?’

What do you look like and feel like when you are really learning?”

It’s pertinent to understand that for ourselves so that we can apply it better in our own work with students.  If we really “get” that using the knowledge is where the key is, rather than having the knowledge, then how would we approach our teaching differently?

Recently, the Texas State Board of Education passed a new Language Arts curriculum, but substituted their own version for one that had been labored on for 3 years by a group of teachers and consultants.  We don’t know much about what is in it yet, but word has it that there’s an increased focus on the basics(meaning ’skills’ like grammar) and less on other things.   Which means this curriculum will drive the tests that are written to assess it.

This morning, while reading comments to a post Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach wrote about teachers shifting gears, I ran across this comment by Jenny Luca, an Australian educator:

“Laura is Skyping into my Yr 7 classroom tomorrow. while I think this is an amazing learning opportunity that will extend my students beyond any set writing task, I have a parent complaining about too much blogging and an administrator telling me that maybe I should concentrate on the curriculum and not do this for awhile. I’m struggling with this reaction and hope that tomorrow’s experience will open some eyes as to the power of this as a learning opportunity for our students.I need to stay focused and not let the lack of understanding move me away from what I passionately believe is the future of learning. “

In his book, The Passionate Learner, Robert Fried decries the drudgery with which literacy is often taught, and suggesting that rather than overemphasize the “tactical aspects” of literacy, we see it as something much more:

“Literacy is fundamentally about intellectual power–the power of the child to reach out into the world to gain useful information, the power to express to the world valued thoughts and feelings.  From such power comes freedom, responsible citizenship, and social change.  We see on the face of every child as she or he first learns to speak the radiance of that power projected into the world.” (p.139)

He goes on to say (this point supporting Jenny’s efforts with her students) that:

 ”How we teach literacy is more important than how much we teach it.  Our goals should focus on children reflecting and building upon–in class–the reading and writing they do outside of class, on their own initiative. . . .” (p. 146)

This is the piece that I think is such an important component of how technologies can enhance, support, and extend our classrooms outside the school day.   How are we whetting students’ appetites for literacy–both reading and writing?  How are we whetting their appetites to continue to build on their own learning outside of the classroom?   How are we whetting their appetites to become writers and informed readers?

It’s not just about using technologies, but think about how Jenny’s skyping and blogging experiences will extend the learning and interest for her students far beyond the classroom.    And if every child is important, which they are, then having a variety of ways to whet their interest is so important to their embracing their own passions and interests long after they’ve left our classrooms.

Sometimes it takes courage for a teacher to take the stand and say, this is the right thing to do, and to work with their colleagues and administrators and parents to come to a common understanding.   And I do think the common understanding(which Fried talks about in his book) is really an important piece, so that everyone is moving forward together.

So here’s a shout-out to Jenny.   I hope the assignment went well today.   And a shout-out to all teachers who stand up for the kind of teaching they know is important to our students’ literacy and love of learning.