Glad you're here!

I'm so happy everyone braved the snow and traffic to show up today.

COOKIE TIME!

How was your break?

Story Starter

The greedy used typewriter salesman climbed the wall in the prison for the lawyer.

SW/WC Conference - Tell me about yourself

Troy Cherry
Education Technology Coordinator
Troy.Cherry@ties.k12.mn.us


Welcome to Wikis and Blogs in the Classroom at the SW/WC Technology Conference!

I'd like to know a bit about you... please comment on this blog with:

1. What district/organization are you coming from?
2. What did you have for breakfast?
3. What is one idea you have for blogs or wikis in the classroom?
   

Am I in danger?

Hey, something's burning.

(2 weeks late) NECC - Wed 7/2, part 2

Yes, it's two weeks since I returned from San Antonio. It's been crazy busy here and I felt a little guilty taking time to blog. However, today is the day I make my triumphant return. That was completely anti-climactic. But seriously, the reason I wanted to be sure to finish up about NECC was that I needed to reflect on my favorite session ...

A Disruption in Absolutely Coming: Computers Disguised as Cellphones
Elliot Soloway and Cathleen Norris

Summary of Problem:
1 to 1 laptop programs are proving ineffective for 3 primary reasons:

1. Education software - not utilized, not available on student machines
2. Professional Development - programs not developed well, teachers don't know what to do
3. Sustainability - initial purchase is great but when they're obsolete, who will buy more?

Solution:
Use smart phone technologies as the classroom computers

1. Education software - being developed by U of Mich (hey that's Elliot the presenter's school), uses push technologies to burst applications and files of assignments to the student units. Can also differentiate instruction easily for various learners and styles.
2. Professional Development - we need to apply educational research to professional development. TREAT THE TEACHERS AS STUDENTS in those sessions. Scaffold content and skills to maximize understanding.
3. Sustainability - teacher recently polled classes and found 91% of student already had a phone. They're becoming ubiqitous to the point that we CAN require them for school.

I loved this session. It represented a shift in thinking about the current classroom. We are arriving at a point in education (that doesn't mean we're there yet) when we can require cell phones as a part of "school supplies." Almost every kid already has one. But can they do the work? Let's see... every phone, even the most basic, currently has:

• communication tool - audio, text, images (some even video)
• calculator
• camera - still and some video
• data storage
  

We want students to collaborate, they can text. We want them to record information - do you want audio, images or video? The price point is also much more feasible - even the high end smart phones are going for less than $200. The cheapest laptop you can find is around $400 for something like the solid-state (Flash-based) HP, Classmate, or Acer.

We are hampered currently by school policies. The most lax, at best, allows you to have it in your pocket but not out in class. These, say the presenters are going to be the new tool for school and if we can require pencil and paper today, we can require cell phones soon.

The technology that they are developing is pretty fascinating - especially the push tech. That's key to the teacher. They need a way to get teh info between users not just from teacher to student but also back to the teacher and between students. We've know for a long time that collaborative, project-based learning works.

Fun workshop, great to go to on the last day when I was already exhausted.



The last session, I was too pooped to really care that much. I left early to try to win projectors from Epson and inFocus and a students response system from Turning Technologies. What I did get:

The ISTE Classroom Observation Tool

Check it out here. Useful tool for anyone who need to observe or evaluate tech use in the classroom.

Thanks for reading (if there are any of you out there...)!

NECC - Wed 7/2, part 1

The Real World of Math: Delivering Authentic, Integrated Math Instruction
Scott Loomis

I went to this lecture because we are putting on content seminars at TIES and I am in charge of the one for math. If you've been a loyal reader (I still don't think I have any of those)you will remember that I was a social studies guy in my previous life in Massiveurban Publicschool System, so math instruction is not my forte but I'll be doing so that day.

Moving on. I think Scott Loomis has some terrific ideas for instruction. He employed true integration - the use of technology where the focus is on the lesson, not the technology.

• I had never known about using Text Box Objects but I like that for creating an interactive classroom worksheet if you don't have an interactive whiteboard. Only problem - not available on the Macintosh version (not even 2008).
• I like the idea of using PowerPoint for virtual manipulatives - very creative.
• Create worksheet activities (drill & practice) in Excel that employ the "If" function to aid in self-checking.
• Using the charting feature to have students analyze data sets. They learn graphing in Kindergarten so why to we still make them create their own charts on paper when tha's not the lesson. The lesson is to analyze data, let the technology do the tedious pwrk so you can get the the more advanced thinking. This is exactly to what I was referring in the last post with my "hand axe" example. We can take the learning further because we have access to technology that speeds up learning and enhances what we do.

This was a practical session with good ideas that can go directly into the classroom. THUMBS UP!


Using Real World Problems to Scaffold Decision-Making Skills
AKA – Kids as Deciders

Ahhh Bernie Dodge. King of the WebQuest, master of QuestGarden, ed tech guru from San Diego State U. If my co-worker wasn't married, she'd probably try to have an affair with him. Maybe that was sharing too much.

Let me summarize first: The process of investigating and then deciding holds an ocean of higher-order thinking. We typically do not develop this well in students. We need to teach to tests and regiment our classrooms to manage discipline which, in turn, strips decision-making from the students. He lays out some very tangible steps for what to teach. TWO SNAPS OF APPROVAL (you may notice I have roving rating systems)

I don't want to say that information is plagiarized because it's not. It reorganized. you may remember my rant about why I hate educational theory - it reorganizes old ideas with new jargon. Bernie doesn't quite do this - I don't think of him as ripping anyone off because he is creating a new perspective from previous research. Maybe I'm rationalizing because I think he is a terrific educator and theoran and feel bad criticizing him. I met him and like him, too.

The similarities noted between his presentation and other theories I've absorbed over the years:

• Problem-based learning (PBL) and Wiggins/McTighe's Understanding by Design (UBD) - His decision-making process focuses on the end product - the decision made to solve a problem. This is PBL - start with a problem and find a solution. The quest to the solution is the learning process. UBD reverse-engineers classroom lessons based on a pre-determined final product.
• Fred Newmann's Authentic Assessment - real world connection between the students and their own environments. This is also the same in PBL. Students are taught to look at an issue that they are familiar with, it generates interest and ownership because they see the problem and consequences in their own lives. This isn't a fault of Dr. Dodge's presentation, it's just good teaching practice.
• He also referenced an idea by Richard DeCharms called Pawns vs. Origins. The main idea is that students see themselves as pawns with the world happening to and around them rather than themselves as interacting with and influencing the world, or originators of ideas. This reminded me of he workshop Tuesday about Seven Habits and Seven Deadly Sins. One of Covey's chapters is "Be Proactive". Essentially, "don't let the world happen to you, plan for it and make changes happen."

As I write, I find this to be less of a criticism of Bernie Dodge and more of a diatribe of my irritation with educational theory. He is doing exactly what all researchers do - taking previous research and building upon it to find another understanding. I'm just glad that isn't a part of my chosen path. I like the application of the theories, that's the fun of education. Keep up the good work, theorans, and thank the maker for people like you so it doesn't have to be me.