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2012 Global Education Conference Guide
An excellent guide with links to blackboard rooms in the guide. Download and use this as you jump from room to room and learn at the Global Ed conference.
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Flattening the Walls in Teacher Education - The Global Education Conference Network
Barbara Morganfield is hosting this important conversation - it is time to begin connecting our preservice teachers at the college level. "Through Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis’ Flat Classroom Projects (2013), many K-12 educators throughout the world are flattening classroom walls and providing extraordinary opportunities for students to connect, collaborate and learn from others around the globe. Through these projects, students use Web 2.0 technologies and incorporate 21st Century Skills, cultivating a rich understanding of culture and developing global awareness. This session aims to identify ways similar projects can be incorporated in college and university teacher education programs giving future teachers opportunities to develop the skills they will eventually be expected to teach. This session intends to examine the questions: What opportunities are available for teacher educators to flatten their classroom walls? How can teacher education faculty collaborate to develop global collaborative projects for their students? Can existing Flat Classrooms projects be redesigned to meet the needs of our future teachers? How? What are the challenges in developing global collaborative programs for teacher education students? What are the constraints that must be considered? What are the benefits? What are next steps? Join this session and participate in a lively discussion focusing on flattening classroom walls in teacher education. "
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Top Green Twitter Hashtags Every Environmentalist Should Know
Learn to find hashtags for your field. Here are many of them for enviornmental issues. "Top Eco-Inspired Hashtags Click each hashtag for their corresponding definitions on our Dictionary. #4change #aid #bp #cleantech #climate (#climatechange or #climateaction) #CSR #earthtweet #eco #EcoMonday – Dubbed as the #FollowFriday of environmentalism #energy (#cleanenergy) #environment (#econews) #foodjustice #gmo #green #greenbiz #greenjobs #organic #permaculture #plastic #recycle #renewablenergy #solar #sustainable #upcycling #urbanag #WaterWednesday #windenergy"
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"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is encouraging individuals and community groups in New York City to apply for grants that will allow citizen scientists to collect information on air and water pollution in their communities and seek solutions to environmental and public health problems. The EPA will award a total of $125,000 for five to 10 New York City projects related to air or water pollution."
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Citizen Science, Energy & Sustainability Projects | Scientific American
Some incredible citizen science projects that make a difference when there are natural disasters. Scientific American has been cataloging a lot of great projects including Volunteer Field Observer Programs for the spill in the Gulf, a Redwood Watch program to monitor redwoods, and earthquake monitoring and more. This page includes energy and sustainability project. I think every science class should have citizen science as part of their curriculum to add meaning and improve our world.
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Sci Starter is a fantastic website to find citizen science projects.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/13/2012
Monday, November 12, 2012
Don't let anyone despise you - fulfill your PURPOSE!
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| Boeing 757 Delta Airlines with a flat tire. (Photo credit: dirkjankraan.com) |
Out of the blue, someone lights into you.
It is their job to personally correct you and deflate that overblown tire of yours... or is it?
The Christian group Newsong has an old song "The Coldwater Committee." Lest you think they don't exist... they do.
Someone saw it to be their personal job to correct me on something last week... not at work, but something relating to this blog. I was "out of line" in their opinion and they were going to "set me straight."
I'm out of line a lot. You probably are too. None of us are perfect.
However, I let this one, anonymous stranger get to me. I let it call into question everything I've worked for since December 2005 when I started this blog. Why? Some people will never be happy.
It took a teetering, somewhat hard to understand, preacher from the Sudan in my church today to straighten me out. Here is a man who sees the worst in people. He smells the stench of death and the repugnance of those who kill each other because they are a different religion. He has lived through things I cannot understand. He drives a motorcycle as a mobile messenger through With Open Eyes and is called to minister in a very hard place. He says that people make fun of his "motorbike" and say "why don't you have a car" but, quoting Paul in Timothy - he said, "do not let anyone despise you" when you are fulfilling your purpose on this earth.
Whatever your mission or purpose. If it is your CALLING it is YOUR CALLING. If you're sure of your purpose and what you're called to do -- don't let anyone deter you from that CALLING.
While I'm totally sure I'm not perfect, I'm also sure that I'm called to write this blog. So, I'm going to take this advice and not let anyone despise me. I'll learn from criticism but also know that the decision to try to please everyone else is a decision to fail. It isn't possible and never will be.
The fact that you're breathing has someone upset -- the same with me.
Remember your noble calling, teacher. Do your best. And don't let ANYONE despise you.
Now, on to work. Have a great day!
Sunday, November 11, 2012
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/11/2012
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Global Education Conference starts Monday - get in there and start putting these on your schedule. Some great sessions. I'm only doing one this year on Monday night at 10pm where Julie and I will share the most important stories from Flat Classroom projects around the world centering around 4 aspects: the Handshake, Creative Co-Creation, Celebration, and creative "flattening" (including other types of people besides students in projects.) There are a lot of incredible sessions, so join in! "Our free, online conference starts Monday, November 12 and runs around the clock for five days. No registration is required but we do encourage you to join this network for email updates and to connect with presenters and participants. To see the conference schedule, or to attend a session or keynote, click HERE for the "Sessions and Schedule" page and follow the instructions to choose the page for your time zone. Information on using the conference software platform, Blackboard Collaborate, is also on this page. To comment on sessions or connect with the presenter or other attendees, see the discussion forum posts under GEC Accepted Proposals. If you have questions, please post them in the chat room (this shows up at the bottom of your page if you are registered and logged in) and people may respond if they are online at the time. Better yet, you can also post questions in our discussion forum."
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 11/10/2012
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E-Learning Journeys: How to attend the Global Education Conference!
My friend Julie has written a great blog post on how to attend the Gloal Education Conference. You'll want to use this as a reference.
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Global Education Conference starts Monday - get in there and start putting these on your schedule. Some great sessions. I'm only doing one this year on Monday night at 10pm where Julie and I will share the most important stories from Flat Classroom projects around the world centering around 4 aspects: the Handshake, Creative Co-Creation, Celebration, and creative "flattening" (including other types of people besides students in projects.) There are a lot of incredible sessions, so join in! "Our free, online conference starts Monday, November 12 and runs around the clock for five days. No registration is required but we do encourage you to join this network for email updates and to connect with presenters and participants. To see the conference schedule, or to attend a session or keynote, click HERE for the "Sessions and Schedule" page and follow the instructions to choose the page for your time zone. Information on using the conference software platform, Blackboard Collaborate, is also on this page. To comment on sessions or connect with the presenter or other attendees, see the discussion forum posts under GEC Accepted Proposals. If you have questions, please post them in the chat room (this shows up at the bottom of your page if you are registered and logged in) and people may respond if they are online at the time. Better yet, you can also post questions in our discussion forum."
Why not kickstart school and nonprofit building projects?
Architizer has a fantastic article about how new facilities are raising funds on Kickstarter. (Kickstarter is a funding platform for 'creative projects.')
In "How Kickstarter is Changing Architecture," they profile several instances of kickstarter being used to fund and implement needed buildings and projects:
- A "Peace and Quite Booth" in Times square"
- The Lowline project - an underground park built in Manhattan's Lower East Side (they met their goal in 8 days!)
- A New York public pool gets a new Splash House when grad students from Parsons decided they wanted to build it.
OK, let's take your mind and blow it with this one here. Two people wanted to create a special feature in a park, so they didn't take the typical route and propose to city leaders, etc. They created a Kickstarter campaign. Of course, you still have to get approval for things, but often it comes down to money, doesn't it? No one wants to be on the hook to raise more money for a dog of a project that the public doesn't support.
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| James Ramsey used Kickstarter to raise money for the Lowline Project underground park project in Manhattan. |
Now, imagine this - what if you had several potential projects at your school. You really needed some classroom space as well as a sports facility. Which do you build?
Well, why not kickstarter them? Raise the money using kickstarter or some sort of kickstarter-type program to see where the most support is. The school can match the project to raise the first X amount and it is done!
So many great projects lie dormant because the powers that be are disconnected from the moneys that be. ;-) (forgive my grammar error, but you get my point)
I think this sort of thing can transform so many things we do and it is right here in front of us. We should start using kickstarter principles in our schools or to add the enhancements that so many people need. The nice thing about kickstarter, is that different levels of support include t-shirts and other goodies, so it helps you design the campaign as part of the process - these are things that we should do anyway, but often don't.
Social media has many ideas that we can use to help cash-strapped schools. We don't have to sit on our hands and do nothing, maybe some of our projects just need a kickstart! ;-)
Oh, and if any of you are already doing this, or know of schools who are, please leave a message in the comments, I'd like to know more about successful school fundraising projects using this model and I think others would too.
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/10/2012
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aweekinthelife12-2 - Class Handshakes
Awesome class handshakes for A week in the life elementary project using Symbaloo. Great work! The project managers for this are Michelle McGarvey and Toni Barton. Awesome!
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I'm fascinated to look at this company, Silverchair, which is touted as one of the fastest growing companies in the world. They are doing things to transform scholarly publishing in a way that is sensitive to the user. I want to learn more about them, but for now, thought I'd mention their name as I'm reading up on the evolution of publishing. "Silverchair Information Systems develops products by partnering with scholarly publishers to transform content for a more valuable user experience on all devices. These products are then supported by a natively semantic platform and dedication to service we have worked to perfect over the last 18 years"
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The Library within Us by Brian O'Leary
I quite enjoyed the thoughts in a write up of Brian's speech on the evolution of publishing. I like that this speech has evolved as his thinking evolved (so many speakers never change their speeches and they SHOULD). If this is something you ponder, and most of us teachers and definitely librarians, curriculum directors, and administrators are watching this closely, you'll want to read and think about this speech. While not easy to read in the bold black type, it is one of those worth taking the time. ""It’s time to think about content, not as a product or a service, but a vehicle to reach an outcome. Literacy is important as a step toward informing and empowering individuals, groups and communities, but on its own it is not enough. As reading experiences become both portable and increasingly universal, we need to reshape our sense of publishing and build "the library within us": a collection of tools and resources that individuals can draw upon to connect with and change the world around us."" His most telling words "A year ago, I was optimistic that publishers and supply-chain partners would soon see their mutual need for a data-driven reconsideration of why publishing exists and the purposes it can serve. I’m no longer optimistic. Another year spent wrangling over the role of libraries, another year spent kicking the can down the road with respect to the widespread and debilitating use of DRM, another year spent fostering the idea that we really have embraced “digital”: these things and more have convinced me that the “opportunity in abundance” will not accrue to the incumbents. This became all too clear to me last summer. In January, I had made the somewhat ambitious pledge to “post something useful every day”. By June, 180 or so posts in, the optimism well had run dry. I just didn’t believe my own story any more."
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- “Value is carried by abundance, not scarcity, inverting traditional business propositions.”
- “As networks entangle all commerce, a firm’s primary focus shifts from maximizing the firm’s value to maximizing the network’s value.”
- “As innovation accelerates, abandoning the highly successful in order to escape from its eventual obsolescence becomes the most difficult and yet most essential task.”
- : “As power flows away from the center, the competitive advantage belongs to those who learn how to embrace decentralized points of control.”
- “The intelligence that matters most exists in boundless variety at the ends of a network, rather than in the mediated systems in the middle”.
- network protocols should be designed primarily as means for those ends, rather than to serve the parochial interests of intermediary operators.”
- A shift to networked publishing lowers barriers to the creation of content, but it amplifies the return for content providers who can leverage two-way communication and create, refine and evolve content products around the needs of the readers they serve.
- Some of those solutions will remain what we have come to know as books, but many more will be conceived, developed and delivered in forms and for purposes that we have yet to fully grasp.
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- “Everyone will have the web” (1992)
- “The browser will be the OS” (1995)
- “Web businesses will live in the cloud” (1999)
- “Everything will be social” (2004)
- “Software will eat the world” (2009)
Marc Andreessen and his view that “it has become economically viable to build huge companies in single domains.” I alluded to five bets that Andreessen had made in the last 20 years. At a high level, these are his bets:
- His idea reminds me of something Richard Nash asked last month at a NISO conference in Boston: “What if the book is the algorithm?”
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Friday, November 9, 2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 11/09/2012
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Announcing the Global Student Leadership Forum — THINK Global School
"THINK Global School in conjunction with the Flat Classroom Project® are excited to announce the formation of a Global Student Leadership Forum. After months of planning, the forum will be launched at the upcoming Global Education Conference, when students will meet online and exchange ideas and plans for future development. What are the aims? The aim of the Forum is to to encourage students (High School – Gr 9-12) to gather in a formal capacity to discuss issues and propose future directions for the world. It is also to provide a place for students to form an online community that will support and foster active discussion and interaction with a view to sharing resources, ideas and collaborate on actions globally. Virtual classroom and community networking tools and other resources will provide opportunities for students from all parts of the world to come together as a global forum virtually (and where possible in real time). The purpose of this is to: Foster leadership skills amongst young people Provide opportunities to interact online and therefore become adept at using virtual tools for interactions and co-creation Encourage global conversations about real world topics and global issues Encourage discussion about possible solutions to global issues and foster action projects" Julie and I are very excited about this project. This is an excellent opportunity for students who are leaders or who don't have the opportunity to do a lot of flattening but would benefit from interaction with others around the world. Join in!
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/09/2012
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HOW TO : Embed the Kindle Ebooks on Your Website ~ Geeky Stuffs
"But here we are going to learn how to embed the sample chapters of the ebooks available on the Amazon store." You can embed Kindle ebooks and sample chapters on your blog. This is a very cool way to do book reviews.
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Announcing the Global Student Leadership Forum — THINK Global School
"THINK Global School in conjunction with the Flat Classroom Project® are excited to announce the formation of a Global Student Leadership Forum. After months of planning, the forum will be launched at the upcoming Global Education Conference, when students will meet online and exchange ideas and plans for future development. What are the aims? The aim of the Forum is to to encourage students (High School – Gr 9-12) to gather in a formal capacity to discuss issues and propose future directions for the world. It is also to provide a place for students to form an online community that will support and foster active discussion and interaction with a view to sharing resources, ideas and collaborate on actions globally. Virtual classroom and community networking tools and other resources will provide opportunities for students from all parts of the world to come together as a global forum virtually (and where possible in real time). The purpose of this is to: Foster leadership skills amongst young people Provide opportunities to interact online and therefore become adept at using virtual tools for interactions and co-creation Encourage global conversations about real world topics and global issues Encourage discussion about possible solutions to global issues and foster action projects" Julie and I are very excited about this project. This is an excellent opportunity for students who are leaders or who don't have the opportunity to do a lot of flattening but would benefit from interaction with others around the world. Join in!
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Harvard Wants to Know: How Does the Act of Making Shape Kids’ Brains? | MindShift
Despite the fact that Texas lawmakers have "outlawed" Bloom's Taxonomy (not sure how you can outlaw a way of thinking, but ok) these researchers are studying what happens when students create. It is about time as we've been talking about the creativity crisis in the US for some time now. Creativity and creating should be part of what happens in every classroom but it can be messy and not so very discrete. Some kids can disengage (unless held accountable) and others (often those who test well) are totally lost when asked to make something original. So glad to see this happen - read the full post over at Mindshift to learn more.
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Who is accountable at Coursera?
Stephen Downes asks an important question as someone found a big error in a course at Coursera. Whose job is it to correct errors? If this error stays put and there is no system for reporting it, I think it will be telling. Many can put content up, but who is going to interact and keep it updated?
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Fairfax Teachers Say They Will 'Cheat' On New Evaluations
When teachers don't understand evaluations and are so upset they say they will "cheat" there are many problems with this. We put students on an honor code and even when the teacher is unreasonable and hard, those students are expected to be honest. Now, we have an unreasonable "test" for teachers and some say they will cheat. This "evaluation" needs to be evaluated. Many problems here. But one of the biggest problems I see is the harem scarem, unpredictable pendulum swing of evaluations and criteria used to evaluate a profession that has been around a very long time. As people work hard to weed out - it is working - more than half of teachers have been teaching less than 10 years as veterans say "enough!" You don't turn a big ship by crashing it into a reef but by slow, methodical turns of the wheel. I find teacher evaluations that many are using to be cumbersome, confusing, and inconsistent. I know of a top evaluated teacher in my area according to her hallmate, who plans her lessons twice a year and wow's the principal -- the rest of the time this teacher has a glorified study hall and does nothing. When I hear these stories of highly "evaluated" teachers, I'm convinced it is broken. My curriculum director and principal are in my room several times a month, looking at what we are doing and watching what is happening. That is a much better system, in my opinion and much more in keeping with what is happening in my classroom daily.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Your Personal Decision 2012: Whose life is it anyway?
You have decisions to make this day about YOUR life. Call this your own personal Decision 2012.
We all have to take account of our lives. Good coaches review game film with their players, likewise, it is healthy to review the game film of our own lives to determine how things need to change or move on.
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| Feelings are like laundry - when you've got too much, the only way to sort it out is to dump it out.215 |
Feelings are kind of like laundry - when you've got too much, the only way to sort it out is to dump it out. But, where you dump those feelings should be well selected. Some people use their blog or Facebook page or Twitter account as some sort of therapist. Social media has its uses but it is a God-awful therapist. Do you realize that it is inclined to agree with you, even when someone needs to look you in the eye and tell you to go down a different path? Sometimes I am WRONG and so are YOU. On social media it is way too easy to be "liked" all the way down a path to the incinerator.
So, when you choose to dump your laundry of feelings out on that table and sort it out - I, personally, think face to face with a friend or someone who can help you is better than doling it out piecemeal upon your timeline or status update.
Personally, I take great caution during these times when I sense I'm overtired, overstressed and overemotional. I take your eyes very seriously - some of you read what I write and that is a gift of your time. I want to be honest and transparent but also to be helpful. Not everything belongs out there, particularly because exhaustion causes your emotions to not line up with reality and dirty laundry is always pretty gross.
I also know, however, that as I travel this life, the most helpful posts I write are from the fray. A captain who has weathered a storm has more credibility than a new recruit from the academy setting sail for the first time. As I live through my son's senior year and the mixed emotions is brings, these are things many of you identify with or will identify with very soon.
Like a person approaching the end of the best milkshake she's ever tasted, the last sips are often savored and are the sweetest -- growing full, she still wants to enjoy those last drops. That's me. I sat yesterday at the state One Act Play competition and while the play tied for fourth at state, my son won one of the best actor awards at State. I was there for the whole thing. I didn't blog. I didn't tweet. I didn't even read my latest Mitch Rapp novel. I just watched plays and enjoyed the last sips at the bottom of this cup of my son's high school career.
It is far too easy to worship others - that includes children. I will make no pretense of worshipping my own children at the expense of my health, but I am thankful for the time to savor these moments.
There are a lot of technology things to share with you and those are coming, but today, I feel inclined just to encourage you to live your life well. Enjoy those students. Enjoy your family. Rest sometimes so you can functions. Take time to have an emotional laundry moment with your God or dear friend who is close enough to want that sort of load dumped on their table. This is a time of year with many mixed feelings and emotions and you'll want to take care of yourself so that you'll have something left to take care of those children in your care whether you are a parent or teacher.
Living for someone else is to abdicate the role you were born to play.
Take time today to make a list of the roles you were born to play. Replay in your mind how you are playing those roles right now and put things on your schedule NOW that need to happen - phone calls, visits, and time spent living this life you were born to live. Teaching is a noble calling but we have enough martyrs to the cause. Right now education doesn't need any more martyrs who quit because they are emotional wrecks, we need livers -- not chicken livers but live-ers -- people who can live as successful, healthy, happy functioning teachers who make a difference in this world.
Living for someone else is to abdicate the role you were born to play.
- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/06/2012
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A learning network with some fantastic Google hangouts- Julie and I were on this week talking about how to connect your classroom globally.
Monday, November 5, 2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 11/05/2012
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Manitou Technology - Flat Classroom 12-2a 400
A fantastic example of how a teacher takes his students through the video creation process for Flat Classroom along with some wonderful handouts. If you teach video, you will get some ideas here. Students will also benefit from it.
Take time to share and listen to classroom stories
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| elevator (Photo credit: Jose R. Borras) |
"So this is your elevator pitch?"
I said,
"No, that implies I'm selling you something. I'm not. Either you get that students need to understand how to collaborate or you don't."
and then quietly went to reading over my notes for my speech again.
"I'm so sorry, did I interrupt you?" He says.
"No problem, it isn't for everyone, but it is transformational in the classroom."
We both went on reading and doing our own thing. But later, I pondered how often this happens.
I was talking to a teacher who is doing FANTASTIC things in STEM while I was waiting for the plane in Tallahassee last Wednesday. (Hopefully he'll guest post here and share his story soon.) After listening about all the cool, amazing things he's doing, he stopped and said,
"You know I've reached out to others about this but all I got was a sales pitch, a kind of feeling like I was invading their territory."
Like bulldogs in a junk yard, there are many who think their transformation is the only one happening and no one better dare invade their turf. Their collaboration is the only one. Their exciting classroom experience is the only thing. It isn't.
There are exciting things happening around the world. It is great to share your story with your enthusiasm but when you become territorial and refuse to share great best practices or when you're so interested in your own elevator pitch that you cut people off, you're missing out.
Get out there and read and find out what others are doing. There are some fantastic ideas and best practices happening NOW. Also realize that some things that started off viral have now gone very commercial and there are many trying to sell you things.
Flat Classroom Projects has two arms - a for profit and a not for profit side. Different projects go into each depending upon what is happening. But if you're around us long you'll understand that part of what we do is celebrate excellence in global collaboration ANYWHERE it happens.
We want to educate and inspire a new generation of global collaborative excellence from the classroom up as we train and teach Flat Classroom Certified Teachers. It is our goal that they will be the best in the world as they start their own projects. We want to help inspire a movement and we want our projects to be the pinnacle of what global collaborative excellence looks like with true Global Collaboration 3.0 (cocreation) excellence happening (see our book for more on that.) But we also celebrate excellence in global collaboration everywhere it happens. It means a lot to me that iEARN retweets our projects and we retweet theirs. Taking IT Global and Flat Classroom has co-planned and created webinars together for Connected Educator month. Working together is what we do.
Maybe it sounds like an elevator speech, but it is a passion. Some want to hear about it and others have no clue what is really happening - that we are merging classrooms to cocreate for 6-10 weeks at a time from kindergarten to college. It is powerful and exciting.
But it is always the best strategy to work with the willing. You can't push anyone up a ladder. Yes, I'm completely passionate about Julie's and my book Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds. We wrote it to be a guidebook and manual for transforming yourself, your school, and your classroom in ways that prevent burnout and help you connect with the world in powerful, meaningful ways.
We share more than 50 projects (besides our own) and stories and poured two years of our lives into making that book, what we believe, is the best book on global collaboration in education in the world. We're currently struggling with our publisher to make sure the book is as internationally syndicated as it needs to be - it is a lot harder to get in some countries than it should be -- but it is intended to be an international guidebook.
So, yes, maybe I am over the top passionate.
But never let me be so passionate about my own classroom and projects that I'm blinded to the passion and excitement emerging from the classroom of another.
- May we all be a willing listener and a positive encourager.
- May we all build a network of friends who help each other move forward.
- May we all be encouraged to be your best and share your story in your way and not cut off by those who think they have a monopoly on excellence.
Any time you are passionate about something, you (and I) will be accused of being in "sales." If that is what it takes to keep Flat Classroom going, then, I guess it will have to be some of that. But I also think you can tell a lot about a person if they can turn it off long enough to listen to, help, and encourage others.
There are a lot of educators getting started out there and if the silos of self promotion are already so entrenched, who is going to be helpful?
I believe with all of my heart that unselfish listening, empathy, and encouragement will help you do more to build up your passion than a single-minded, self-promotional diatribe about how you are God's gift to education. Education is much bigger than any of us and we are fortunate if we can play a small, humble part in moving things forward.
Arrogance and ego are a big part of what many do in this field, but those things don't make many friends. But remember that even if you are humble and helpful, if you have anything to sell -- a speech or a book, you will be accused of "selling" in some way.
Perhaps so many are so jaded that it is hard to believe that real people are trying to make a living being helpful. There is no glamour in being poor - having some money can help you do good things as well and is not a bad thing. I think that helpful people deserve to make some income, but sadly, most of that money, I'm finding, is squarely in the hand of publishers if it involves writing a book.
So, onwards and upwards here in Camilla, back to my classroom, where airports will fade into memories -- at least for a while.
Meanwhile, take time to listen to what others are doing in their classrooms this week AND share your story as well. The more current examples we have from the classroom, the better off we will all be.
Each story written, blogged, and tweeted is a gift and I hope you'll take time to share...and to listen.
- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds
Saturday, November 3, 2012
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/03/2012
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The Global Education Conference will be from November 11-16 - online - and runs 24 hours a day. Julie Lindsay and I will just do one session this year so that you can hear the many stories. This will be held on Monday November 12 at 10 pm EST -- (Julie will be in Qatar and it will be 6am Tuesday) You can check your time zone here - http://www.globaleducationconference.com/page/2012-sessions-and-schedule We want to share the most important stories from the Flat Classroom. This semester we have around 3,000 students from kindergarten through high school collaborating and merging classrooms - we've openly shared the pedagogies and best practices to make this sort of thing happen in our book Flalttening Classrooms, Engaging Minds but there is a need to tell up-to-the minute new stories that comes from a massively large project. So many projects are starting to emerge that are amazing. Whatever you're doing in your classroom, are you flattenning it? Is global competency part of what you're doing. Students are the greatest textbook every written for one another - but are you opening the book? Join us. "This session is brought to GEC by the original teachers, Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis, who flattened their classroom walls way back in 2006 using Web 2.0 and other emerging technologies. In January 2012 their book, 'Flattening Classrooms. Engaging Minds' has emerged as not just a pedagogical way forward for teaching and learning, but as a journey and a collection of stories from educators in many parts of the world who have witnessed and directed the powerful outcomes of collaborating beyond the classroom walls. The learning legacies from connecting with real world topics and real people have propelled teachers involved with Flat Classroom projects to innovative heights. You are invited to join co-founders, Julie and Vicki, along with other global collaborative teachers who are out there redesigning curriculum to go 'beyond the wow' to hear stories about strategies, challenges, opportunities, and successes that emerge through global interactions. Hear about enlightened digital citizenship ideas and realities as well as how teachers in K-12 implement and sustain a flattened classroom within their school."
Friday, November 2, 2012
WeMo: a Wonderful Way to add Visual Cues to Organize Your Life #Wemotivate
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| The Wemo is a smart phone enabled motion sensor and/or switch to help you manage your life that can be controlled by iphone or some very cool ways using if this then that. |
What is a WeMo?
There are two “flavors” of WeMo which can work together or separately. One looks like an outlet and can provide power or turn off power to whatever is hooked into the device. Another looks like a white burrito with a purple center cut in half and senses motion. Both have added cool new enhancements to my life in different ways.My WeMo story
I struggle with balance. Getting up at 5 am each day is important to me, but I often trip over things including the cats and whatever was left out the night before. I’ve set up my WeMo plug into the light in the den and have it do the following using if this then that:- Monday - Friday the light is turned on in the Den at 5am
- Saturday - the den light is turned on at 7am
- Any day I go to school (as seen on my Google calendar by the event marked school), the WeMo is turned off when I leave for school. It uses an interface with my Google calendar so that otherwise, the light stays on until the sun comes up.
- Every night, the WeMo turns on the light at sunset. This uses a channel on If-This-Then-That which keeps up with sunrise and sunset. I’m usually in the den and I can keep working without getting up.
- Every night, the WeMo turns the den light off at 9pm so I’ll have a cue to STOP working. One of my biggest problems is that once I start I don’t stop. When the light goes off, I have set my limit and say - OK, now I’m going to decompress before crashing.
Some people hook these devices into the family tv to turn off the TV at a certain time and establish other limits. It can also log when it is turned on and off so if you use the plug to turn things off and on, you can track this activity. You can have it log to a google spreadsheet when the WeMo switch comes off or on.
Long distance light switch.
As a funny story, when I first got it and used the remote control on my iphone to turn it off and on, I called it a “daughter control” - when I’d turn the light off and on, my daughter would groan from the den and say “Mom, stop.” Now, when I’m on the road and know everyone is in the den, I’ll actually flick the light and they know I’m thinking about them. I don’t do it a lot, but it is kind of fun to be in New Jersey, Dallas, and Chicago and control the light in my den. ;-)WeMo Motion.
My motion detector is in the kitchen. I have teenagers that I love dearly. My big problem is that I’m a heavy sleeper but I do want to know when my kids are up and about and not sleeping so I can help guide their schedules, etc. I have the WeMo Motion log the motion in the kitchen after there has been one hour of inactivity -- it writes it to a google spreadsheet so I can check up on things.Note: In this post, I share how I use Wemo, but please, scroll to the bottom and apply to GET YOUR OWN from two students of mine who are working with Belkin to put Wemo's in the hands of at least 10 USA students to test them. This is part of their 20% project for me and I'd appreciate any retweets and spreading the word to help West and Matthew talk about the Wemo! Their google form is embedded below.
Think about visual cues to help you manage your life
I’m a visual person. I know I need to stop working at 9pm but time means nothing to me. I have no internal clock that tells me what time it is and have been known to work until I collapse with exhaustion. Visual cues are perfect for me. I wish I had a dozen WeMos and am asking for another one for Christmas! I also like the fact that I’m usually on my ipad and can just hit a button to turn off the light when I’m done if I want to finish before 9pm.There are so many ways we’re going to be able to automate our homes and schools and this is just one of them. The fact that you can control via social media and all kinds of triggers is very cool.
WeMo Wonder Contest: Can your students invent cool uses for the WeMo?
Belkin had reached out to me through my initial tweet and I have 2 students who wanted to do something innovative and cool. So we discussed and pitched the idea to Belkin who was eager to do something innovative and different to get the ideas going for their WeMo line of products.Because these switches can interact with social media - tweets can turn on lights. Football scores can automatically trigger alarms -- so many things can be done with these devices.
So, I’ll let the students share information on the contest in their own words below, but you have until November 1st to apply to be a WeMo Wonder and get your free wemo.
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 11/02/2012
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The Future of Teaching? « Diane Ravitch's blog
Diane Ravitch has a very balanced interesting article on the state of education in the nation based upon some current research. Half of the nation's teachers have now been teaching less than 10 years. "But a matter that should concern us all: Current “reform” policies are driving experienced teachers out of the nation’s classrooms. This cannot be good for anyone. It is certainly not good for the young teachers, who need senior teachers to help them improve. How can a profession become “great” by demoralizing and ousting those who know the most? Who would go to a hospital in an emergency and insist on being treated by an intern, not a senior physician? Who would want their legal affairs to be handled by a lawyer who just graduated law school if they could get a senior partner instead? When will President Obama, Secretary Duncan, Bill Gates, Eli Broad, and all the other people driving current policy realize that they are inflicting harm on the nation’s education system?"
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Tony Baldasaro just unfollowed 5,000 people on Twitter | Dangerously Irrelevant
Lots of discussion about how people follow on Twitter. My reply to Scott McLeod's post: "I follow real educators and tend to stay away from foundations and PR junk sites who aren’t real. I like real teachers no matter how many followers they have because I’d like to be able to message them and them message me back. I also like to follow people who are engaging in conversation and have interesting things to say. Sometimes if people don’t follow me back and I know I won’t need to message them or them me, I’ll unfollow and put them on a list instead. " My list is half happenstance and half just who says something online.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 10/29/2012
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EVPD Google Sites & Global Collaboration! - YouTube
In this YouTube video ( a recorded Google Hangout) Theresa Allen and Janet Barnstable talk to two teachers in Siberia about how they use Google Sites in education. If you're not doing it, you should listen to this, it is a great tutorial but will also wake you up. IF they doing this in Siberia, what is your excuse? Those of you caught in the storm might want to use this opportunity for some teacher PD.
First Hand: Being Here for My Kids
Love, like I'm on borrowed time
It's good to be alive"
Woke up singing Good to Be Alive this morning.
It is my son's senior year. It has been tough turning down speaking for the rest of this year, but I want to live this year with no regrets.
My friends in New Jersey saw me watch my son sack the quarterback on the big screen after the local news carried it. This past Friday, as Kip and I ate dinner on Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco with FALL CUE the next day, I had the phone on the table getting score updates from the big game. There's no place in the world I'd rather be than in the stands, at home, and at school watching this last year of my son's high school and enjoying the time with him. My daughter's a junior and I want to spend time with her while my youngest has his last year in elementary school.
Life is full of opportunities and wow, God has blessed me with so many. It is good to have choices to make. But it is important to remember that we ALL HAVE CHOICES.
I have NEVER regretted my 5 years as a stay at home Mom. Not one moment and having that experience, I'm not going to regret this either.
CHOICES
If you see time slipping away and those kids getting older, know that you too have choices. While sometimes you HAVE to go and HAVE to work - sometimes you can choose to not feed your own ego and pocketbook and instead, do what is most important and be there for your kids.
These three children of mine are a gift from God and I'm so grateful to be picked to be their Mom. I fall SO short in SO many ways but I am here, flaws and all to love and enjoy them.
So, if you don't see me about on the speaker's circuit so much this school year, I have been booking some for June and July and will likely just do 3-4 speeches next school year as well. If you want me, I'm here, just plan ahead and I will too. But there will be less of me "out there" so that all of me can be "over here" with my kids.
Now, I've got to run get dressed so I can see their One Act play performance of Hansel and Gretel - my daughter is "the mother" and my son is one of the 2 humorous "hobgoblins" belonging to the witch. I've heard they are great -- but today, I get to see it with my own eyes. Some things are just too precious to get second hand.
- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 10/25/2012
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Matt Mills: Image recognition that triggers augmented reality | Video on TED.com
My students and I have been playing with Aurasma today on our ipads and iphones. You have to have a unique image (digital or distinct images are best) and you can attach animations or videos to them. So, a book's page can have a video attached or a painting could have a description attached. It is very cool. This TED video explains the concept.
Wednesday, October 24, 2012
Take a hard look at your list today #productivity
Really, you have to do all of that? Those 50-100 things on your list, someone is MAKING you do all those things? At the end of your day, if you haven't done all that, a big buzzard of big lists is going to swoop down and whisk you to the nest where people who don't finish their list go at the end of the day?
I'm asking and reasking myself about all these things I "have" to do. Overburdened, overwhelmed, and overworked, I'm not the only teacher, parent, or professional in this plight.
Begin with 3 wins
I've begun making an active list of 3 things each day that I want to be my major accomplishments of the day. I write those three things before the day even starts:
Things like:
- "I will be successfully caught up on all grading, and provide feedback to students so they can improve."
- "I will be an excellent National Honor Society advisor today by making sure I've sent out acceptance letters and communicated all details about the poinsettia fundraiser.'
- "My family will know I love them today as I cook an excellent meal, get the house organized, and show each person that I love them."
- "I plan and have an incredibly fun trip traveling to San Francisco today."
- "I will be engaging and exciting speaker for the people at CUE today and will work to be a blessing to each of them as they go back to their schools on Monday."
- "I will seek to inspire and encourage teachers who are having a hard time today in ways that will help and inspire them to help and inspire each student in their classroom."
Things like that...
But when I have these 3 things written out -- my takeaways from the day, it gives me a lens through which to view my list so that I can focus and accomplish the most important things. At the end of my day, I should have something to show for the day besides a bunch of check marks. I should have accomplishments.
Questions about that all important list
We might "have" to do everything on our list but have we thought about WHY we HAVE to do those things?
Do they fit in with the big picture of what we want to accomplish in our lives?
Do we have weekly and monthly and yearly goals and are we constantly moving towards them?
Do our goals also include inhabiting healthy bodies that are rested and well exercised?
Do we impose limits on certain areas of our life that will consume all of the goodness out of every other area of our lives?
These are hard questions but I am looking clearly into your eyes and telling you (and myself) the hard cold facts of life:
YOU CAN CHOOSE.
You have choices. Hamsters don't HAVE to run on hamster wheels and you don't have to be slave to some list. My biggest issue with the "getting things done" model is that it is intended to capture EVERYTHING that needs to be done. Everything we think needs to be done, doesn't have to be done.
Everything can't be done. The inability to say no is a form of greed - one that wants everyone to be happy and love you. Check and see if you're breathing. Ok, if you made it to this sentence, you're breathing. To everyone out there breathing SOMEONE DOESN'T LIKE THE FACT YOU'RE BREATHING. Get over it. You're not going to please everyone and you can't do everything.
There needs to be a system for some things to fall off our list because they just aren't important. Spend your life doing something important and that is not trying to please everyone because that is impossible. Good ideas don't always make a good use of YOUR time.
YOU HAVE CHOICES.
At the top of Bloom's Taxonomy is Evaluating and creating. I find it interesting that as teachers we are trying to help our students analyze, evaluate, and create and yet we often rarely step back to analyze and evaluate our own systems of work. Should we be analyzing WHAT we are doing and evaluating how we are doing what we are doing so that we are able to create things unique and original in this world.
YOU CAN'T DO EVERYTHING.
You are a finite resource. There's only one of you and YOU have to choose. It is your job to select the plow to which you will put your hand. There are things we do not choose: cancer, illness in the family, the fact that our child has an LD -- these are things that happen. But we can always choose our attitude and we can always choose our response.
MAKE A CHOICE TODAY.
So, if, like me, you are facing this day not really sure if you're up to the task. Make choices.
For my Christian friends, there is an amazing song that I dedicate to you that says, "I will lift my eyes to the Maker of the mountains I can't climb."
So, take this day and make choices. This is your day. Unless you are living in a prison today, no one can tell you how you must think about this day and every single detail of what you do. Everyone, even those living in a prison today, can choose their own attitude.
THIS IS YOUR DAY. MAKE IT COUNT.
You are special.
- Written on my iPad using Blog Press by Vicki Davis, author, Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Teach This! Teaching with lesson plans and ideas that rock 10/23/2012
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Take Your Students on a Virtual Tour of the Tundra to Learn About Polar Bears
Take your students to the ARCTIC -- starting on October 24. Hat tip to Richard Byrne - head over to his blog to see what Discovery and Polar Bears have in store for you THIS WEEK. "Discovery Education and Polar Bears International have teamed up to offer some fantastic virtual field trips starting later this wee
Daily Education and Technology News for Schools 10/23/2012
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A School that Practices Learning-Literacy
David Warlick shares his views about learning literacy and how this looks. Do you engage your students in discussions and opportunities to understand learning and celebrate learning?
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Take Your Students on a Virtual Tour of the Tundra to Learn About Polar Bears
Take your students to the ARCTIC -- starting on October 24. Hat tip to Richard Byrne - head over to his blog to see what Discovery and Polar Bears have in store for you THIS WEEK. "Discovery Education and Polar Bears International have teamed up to offer some fantastic virtual field trips starting later this wee
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Health Issue That Can Lead Kids To Bullying
Bullying is not so easy to understand, but many are looking deeper into the whys of bullying. Those who bully should be identified to HELP them. I find it ironic that those who bullied me the worst had the most coping with real life after high school. "The study, presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics' national conference in New Orleans on Monday, found that kids with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) -- which is characterized by frequent tantrums and revenge seeking -- were six times more likely to be identified as bullies than children with no mental health disorders, while children with depression were three times more likely. Children with anxiety and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) were also around three times more likely to be bullies, according to parental reports." "There is a larger story behind why children bully," said study author Dr. Frances Turcotte-Benedict, a Brown University masters of public health student and a fellow at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence. "And part of that story may include the diagnosis of a mental health disorder."
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Studies Explore How Self-Control Works – Or Doesn’t
Numerous studies have found evidence for the idea of self-control as a limited resource — that is, a characteristic that can be depleted – but emerging research suggests that this model may not tell the whole story. Four essential mechanisms are believed to influence self-control: metabolic, cognitive, motivational and affective.
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Adolescent Sleep Deficits Linked to Athletic Injury
So many have been talking about lack of sleep. Well, now maybe the coaches will get involved. With an increased likeliness of sports-related injuries with less than 8 hours of sleep a night, getting a good night sleep is good for kids in so many ways. While you're at it -- charge the cell phone in the kitchen. It is sad to say that often many parents won't take action based on academics, even though the proof is there that less sleep harms academic performance, now that there are other impacts of lack of sleep, maybe there is enough involved to get the attention of parents and everyone involved in the lives of children. Sleep is important. You'll want to share this with your staff. "New research suggests sleeping less than eight hours a night is associated with a more than 30 percent injury risk among teen athletes. Investigators asked middle and high school athletes (grades 7 to 12) to answer questions about the number of sports they played and the time they committed to athletics (at school and through other programs), whether they used a private coach, whether they participated in strength training, how much sleep they got on average each night, and how much they subjectively enjoyed their athletic participation."
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A Bold Experiment in Integrated Learning: A Meta-MOOC. You're invited. | HASTAC
This meta mooc says it will "involve students at the center of the experiment in the future of their education." The point is that MOOCs haven't really changed much. If you think MOOCs have potential but aren't sure what, this may just be the experience for you -- I find the thought intriguing. "The excitement comes from the open structure that means we are hoping to be joined by anyone anywhere in the world, not for a conventional MOOC (Massive Online Open Learning) where talking heads tell you what they think but in a Meta-MOOC: a class where we think about how we think, learn about how we learn, collaborate on new collaborative management practices, and together actually create a platform for colearning with a "massive" group of interested others worldwide. This experiment is for anyone frustrated about MOOC's being billed as "revolutionary" learning when, too often, MOOCs simply are a video of the most conventional old-school form of teaching: the lectur
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The 3 Components of Job Satisfaction
This fantastic post by Michael Hyatt discusses the 3 components of really enjoying your job. I think the combination is quite brilliant.
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2012 PROPOSAL SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS - The Global Education Conference Network
Take time to share your global collaborative project online at the Global Education Conference.