Reflections from the Trenches

What I Learned from My Students

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:17:00 +0000

As a teacher, I spend a great deal of time planning for my students. I structure and scaffold student-centered learning experiences in my classroom and often think during that process about the "aha moment" my students will have as they work. Then, as the learning unfolds, I inevitably have the "aha moment" that I never expected. One such moment occurred just last week.

The Learning Experience -

We use the Wordly Wise Vocabulary program at our school. In the past, I have struggled a little with how to make it more "learner-centered." The biggest thing I like about the program is the usage elements that are included. Students must know how to use the words, not just memorize the definitions. So to capitalize on the usage of the words, I decided the students would create vocabulary podcasts similar to what can be found with the dictionary.com podcasts or the Princeton Review podcasts. We began by listening to some of these podcasts. Then the students worked in groups to plan their podcast including writing out the script. If they had time, they put in background music using Garageband. This was the first time the students used Garageband so there was a learning curve with that as well. They had to include the definition of the word, the origin, synonyms, antonyms and they had to use the word in context. In addition, they had to have a creative element. The podcast could be a "radio" skit, a funny story, a song or a rap. I put together a rubric for the project so the students would see what was considered quality.

The Real Lesson -

You would have thought that asking the kids to put the information into a creative format was asking them to climb Mt. Everest. I have never heard such groaning! A good number of the kids wanted to just read off their notes and list the synonyms, antonyms, etc., rather than finding a way to incorporate that into something creative. "It's too hard to be creative." "You mean we can't just read from our notes?" As a result, some of the students ended up with a "skit" which basically was a call-in radio show that somebody asks about the definition, synonyms, antonyms, etc., of the word. Only a few groups really got into the creative format. In addition, there was one group that a group member was absent during part the project work. The others basically couldn't progress with the creative aspect because that one student was not there.

It takes higher-level thinking to synthesize information into a creative format. It struck me that the responses I received from the students proved that we haven't asked our students to create often enough. They are much too good at regurgitating facts and not nearly good enough at using information in a creative format.

The final projects aren't the quality overall that I wanted to see with this; however, I think that if we repeat this project with a new set of words the students will achieve a much higher quality. It was interesting to me that some of the kids were more comfortable working with the technology tools than others. Some felt like the technology almost impeded their progress while others embraced the technology. I had one student say to me today, "How are we supposed to get work done digitally if it takes so long to learn how to use the digital tools?" Maybe, just maybe, this student hasn't had enough prior experiences using technology for learning. It's good for us teachers to remember that we have students at all different developmental levels with using technology tools too.

Big Decisions for a New School Year

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 04:27:00 +0000

It has been a while since my last post so I thought I would catch you all up on things. I've spent the past six weeks finishing up the school year and renewing/rejuvenating. During this time period, all JH and SH teachers at our school received a MacBook Pro and an iTouch. We also had three days of staff development sessions in June which included time getting acclimated to our new tools. Throw in some rest and relaxation and a trip to Memphis this week to attend iSummit 2009.

During this time, I also read an incredible book entitled Engaging Readers and Writers with Inquiry by Wilhelm. My colleague, Lauri Fields, turned me on to the book. It has been a while since I've felt so energized by a book but this book certainly did that for me. I have been struggling somewhat to find a way to solidly transform my classes with an inquiry approach. After reading the book, I felt affirmed that the direction I had been heading was indeed the right direction in order to achieve my goal. However, Wilhelm provided me with many more practical ideas to utilize with my students. He also gave me some insights on how I should be organizing the curriculum. Since I will be teaching 7th grade Language Arts this school which is a new curriculum to me, I have an opportunity to go full steam ahead with the transformation. No excuses - no looking back!

At iSummit this week, I happened to talk with my friend Susie Ross from Holy Innocents' school and we are now planning a collaboration with our students around the book, The Cay. Additionally, I learned of some teachers from St. Agnes Academy in Memphis who are looking for classes to collaborate with on the book, The Giver. These two books happen to be two required books for our 7th graders. I am looking forward to collaborating with other classes and to experience the richness that can bring into the lives and thinking of my students.

Susie Ross also shared with me how she used live blogging in her class this past school year. This is something I am going to try with our literature selections. Let's say you have 5 students sitting in an inner circle and 5 students sitting in an outer circle. The inner circle students discuss the particular section of the book under discussion. The outer circle students can't say anything, rather their job is to listen to the discussion and "live blog" what they are hearing using cover it live. After a time, the two circles of students switch positions. The inner circle students go to the outer circle and vice versa.

Some big decisions are represented in these reflections from the past six weeks. Now the work begins to make good on the decisions. Full steam ahead!

Top 10 Google Tools for Educators

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 16 May 2009 13:06:00 +0000

Just when you think Google can't possibly come up with anything new, they do it again. I've recently run across some new things from Google (at least new to me) and was blown away yet again from the "wow" factor. I am very excited about a Google workshop that we will have at our school this summer with Google Certified Educator Thomas Cooper. Thinking about it all led me to create this list of Top Ten Google Tools for Educators. The hardest part of this was narrowing it down to ten and no, I don't work for Google. :-)

In Letterman style . . .

10. Google's Advanced Search feature is a must for any educator working with K-12 students. We try to teach our students to use this feature so that they can stay safe while searching.

9. Google Reader - I don't know how I would keep up with the exploding amounts of information if it weren't for Google Reader. Oftentimes, I am at different computers during the day and Google Reader allows me the flexibility to be on any machine at any given time.

8. Google Sites - There are many uses for google sites including eportfolios and collaborative projects. This part of Google seems to be evolving almost daily. I've seen more and more features and functionality added to this over the past year.

7. Google's Wonder Wheel - This is an incredible way to search for the visual learners in the group. Basically, when you go to google.com, put in a search term. Then click on "show options." Click on Wonder Wheel. You will see nodes that can help you to determine which section of the search you want to explore.

6. Google Presentations - This is a great way for kids to work in groups on projects and not have the stress on parents that carting them everywhere creates. Each child can be in the family room of their own home, on their own computer and working together as a group in the presentations part of Google Docs. You can even start a presentation in power point and upload to Google presentations for refinement. Right now, Google presentations seems to only take .ppt files so be sure you and your students are saving Office 2007 or better files to the 97-2003 format.

5. Google Calendars - Google's calendar allows you to set up different calendars for different things. You can view all of the events from all of your calendars simultaneously and they will be color-coded. (Another plus for those visual learners.) Teachers can manage assignments for different classes and publish the calendar so students and parents can see it. You can even invite people as collaborators on your calendar so that all can input events and tasks as well. This makes a great project calendar. Read this blog entry by a teacher who is using Google Calendar for his lesson planning.

4. Google Maps - When I first heard the term "mashup," I must admit I didn't quite get the concept. Then I ran across this blog post by Jeffrey Branzburg titled Use Google Maps Mashups in K-12 Education. I recommend you read his entire post but the gist of it is that you can add data to Google Maps to make them transform from static to fantastic. There are models for us on this. For instance, the Google Planimeter site allows you to click at least 3 points on the map and it computes the area of the region for you. Interesting!

3. Google Earth - Hall Davidson from the Discovery Educator Network says this about Google Earth, "It has been a long time since a technology application got the eye-popping reaction from teachers that Google Earth gets." Google Earth allows you to plot points on a virtual globe and add information such as links to documents, descriptions, images and even videos. One great application of the use of Google Earth in K-12 education is the Google Lit Trips project. More books are being added to the Google Lit Trips and you can even create your own to submit for consideration. Another example is the US Holocaust Memorial Museum's "Crisis in Darfur." This is a great tool for developing global citizens. **Be aware that Google Earth has some functions that if not used wisely will eat up bandwidth. When using Google Earth with students, it is advisable to set ground rules so you don't crash your school's network.

2. Google Docs and Spreadsheets - Our school has really started to use Google Docs for very creative uses. We use the spreadsheets to manage sign ups for gatherings such as parent information meetings and professional development classes. Additionally, teachers who teach the same prep in high school and junior high have used Google Docs to collaborate on lesson plans. Some teachers are planning to use this to help them manage parent contact information at the beginning of this coming school year. You can upload existing documents and spreadsheets and you can download finished versions of the same. When uploading, be sure to convert the file formats to the Office 97-2003 formats. (.doc and .xls)

1. Google Forms - Ok, I know this is part of the Google Docs app but in my book it deserves a separate mention. Google forms is slowly transforming the way we gather information at our school. Because you can easily create a form and the google docs app automatically creates the spreadsheet it dumps into, it has incredible potential for K-12 education. Imagine starting a new unit with your class and needing to quickly and easily assess where the students are. The teacher can pose some questions on a google form. Now, the teacher can discuss the overall results with the students and begin a discussion on why the survey worked out that way. This can lead to developing anticipatory set for the new concept/topic. Read more ideas on how Google Forms can have an impact on student learning at the blog post titled, "Google Forms Create Great Learning Results." Adding to the "wow" factor of Google Forms is the addition of "themes" that make the forms more attractive.

I would love to hear what others think about the Google Tools.

Soundbytes from 21st Century Learning Fair

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:17:00 +0000

I've been mulling over how best to reflect on our 21st Century Learning Fair. I think the best way may be to discuss some soundbytes from the day.

"In the 21st century, the focus in classrooms needs to shift from teaching to learning."
This is something I have heard many times but there are those teachers on our campus that heard this for the first time on Tuesday. This one statement seems so simple but really entails a good deal of complexity. The shift in thinking is the biggest hurdle to overcome. Those teachers who have achieved excellence with the way school has worked sometimes need more time to truly digest this.

"In order for students to be respectful of intellectual property, they need to become property owners."
Honestly, this is the first time I can remember hearing this. It makes a lot of sense though that students would end up respecting what they can relate to. This is another reason why our students need to move from consumers to producers in our classrooms.

"If we go back to school as usual after this, then all we've done is wasted time and money."
Does school as usual exist any more? What I would think of as school as usual is long gone. Our society has changed, our communities have changed. We need to embrace the changes, figure out how to leverage them for the business of educating children and move on. We necessarily need to be different tomorrow than we were yesterday in the classroom.

Even though some of our faculty referred to Tuesday as a "tech fair." I am noting that none of the above soundbytes really have anything to do with technology. The President of our school sent out one of his Conversations with David messages to our greater school community this week. In it he discusses the history of the scribes and what happened when the printing press came along. He shared this story with our faculty at the close of Tuesday's 21st Century Learning Fair.

Almost half a century later, 1492, reality is sinking in, and the Abbot of Sponheim writes "De Laude Scriptorum" (In Praise of Scribes), an impassioned defense of the need for scribes. At core, his book shouted “the old order must be preserved at any cost”. So how would the Abbot get such a vital message out to the world? Not copied by scribes. It was set in movable type to get the word to hundreds and thousands quickly. And so, the Abbot’s medium confirmed the death of his message.

Do you see any analogies for 2009 and beyond? I think about it all the time. I am consistently asking what “scribal traditions” are schools—even more specifically — Greater Atlanta Christian sustaining that may be antiquated and need to die? What new mediums, new skills, and new definitions of “educated” do our children need for a world even more changed than pre and post Gutenberg? Are we still teaching "De Laude Scriptorum", and refuse to see it?

Some very interesting questions to ponder. I am glad for the discussions that will occur as a result of the 21st Century Learning Fair. I am glad for the leadership our administration is providing. Together, utilizing collective action, we can forge ahead into the "mid" 21st Century.

21st Century Learning Fair

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 04:35:00 +0000

As a result of working with Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach and Will Richardson this year in a PLP consortium, our group decided that our school needed a day to "jump-start" a movement on our campus. The movement I am referring to is movement toward 21st century classrooms. As a school, we have already begun this movement but at a somewhat slow pace. We are hoping this special day will help to catapult us into a whole new phase.

Some incredible things have already happened just as a result of preparing for our 21st Century Learning Fair. We have 30+ faculty members facilitating break-out sessions with their peers. Now, considering these folks are getting nothing extra for the extra work I think that is pretty incredible. Our group has had to fully embrace some of the web 2.0 tools. Case in point is the presentation that Tammy Hughes and Amy Dean have prepared for their session on wikis.

Tomorrow, David Warlick will address our entire faculty and administration regarding 21st century learning and literacy. If all goes well, we'll have lots of notes being taken on the wiki by scribes in each session and at the end of the day we will all have a common vision for 21st century learning on our campus.

A Use for Twitter

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 02:59:00 +0000

One of our high school teachers is launching the use of twitter with his classes. He has set up a twitter account and sent a letter to parents and students asking them to join twitter and follow his updates. He went on to suggest to them that the students with iphones could utilize twitterific to get his updates on their iphone.

It will be interesting to see how this progresses. Right now he has about 16 kids who are already following him on twitter. Honestly, this is not an application of twitter that even crossed my mind. With so many kids at our school with iphones at this point, though, it just makes sense.

This particular teacher teaches Spanish classes. This started me wondering about other uses of twitter for his classes. What about having conversations totally in Spanish or even mostly in Spanish? What about connecting with people in Spanish speaking countries via twitter? Could this be the tip of the iceberg?

@WilsonGAC could be paving the way for future meaningful uses of this microblogging tool.

Reflecting on 2008

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 13:55:00 +0000

What I love about being a networked teacher is the resources "out there" on the Internet that I wouldn't come across any other way. For instance, this morning one of the people in my Twitter network, Kevin, put out a tweet inviting people to participate in his Year in a Sentence project. The idea behind it is that you put into one sentence the "essence" or "theme" of your 2008. For this English teacher, that is a challenge. I mean being succinct enough to put it in one sentence and still get across the profoundness of what you've experienced seems a little daunting. On the other hand, it is a little like asking kids to come up with one sentence describing the theme of a literary work. So, after many revisions, here goes: From different dimensions and aspects of life, health, educational networks, leadership, and service, this year, for me, has been about moving from the sidelines to participating in the “game” of life.

"Prepare to be amazed . . ."

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:44:00 +0000

My family is having the good fortune of visiting Cozumel, Mexico, this Christmas and working with the children at Ciudad de Angeles. My daughter has been on a mission trip to work with the kids 4 times in the past 6 years. As we were preparing for our trip, my daughter said, "Prepare to be amazed and know your life will never be the same." Wow, that's quite a statement!

It got me to thinking. What if we were able to say this to each of our students at least once a school year? Wouldn't it be great if each of our students could point to even just one thing each year and say that it truly changed his/her life? I know this may sound a little idealistic but wouldn't it be nice if education could be that meaningful? Just a thought.

Getting Students to Think Could Mean Asking Them What They Think

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 19:15:00 +0000

Most of the teachers I know would tell you quickly that they want their students to think about the content. This is something that I have as a goal as well. I told a colleague just this week that I would love to have a classroom full of thinkers. There is a poster that I put up in my classroom that simply says, "Ready, Set, Think!" But do I really mean that?

As I was observing my students write collaborative stories this week, a "light-bulb" moment occurred. In order to reach the upper levels of Bloom's Taxonomy of synthesize, evaluate and create, we might have to ask the students what they think.

Now, as someone who has actually asked this question to 6th graders before, I know that you have to be prepared for literally any answer. Asking "what do you think" opens the door to 6th grade reasoning, goals and dreams. If you listen closely to the answer, though, I guarantee you will learn more about the student than you could otherwise.

As scary as the proposition of their potential answers might be if I truly want engaged learning going on in my classroom, I'm convinced at this point that this question needs to be at the center of everything we do. The goals of engaged learning, higher-order thinking, and student ownership could all be connected to this question.

So, in the interest of life-long learning, what do you think?

Hopes for the New School Year

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 12:36:00 +0000

I am asked at the beginning of a new school year what my plans are for my students. People who know me know that they can expect a response that has nothing to do with technology tools. My response goes something like this, "I plan to help my students become reflective thinkers who take ownership in their learning while making connections and collaborating with others." After the inital disgust from the person asking (as if to say, "That's not what I was asking"). They respond with, "Well, what tools are you planning to use?" Now that's a different question!

This year, within the first four weeks of the new school year, all of my students have been enrolled in our moodle classroom, taken online quizzes, uploaded and downloaded files from their digital locker in moodle and posted and commented on our class blog. It is amazing to me how much time it still takes every year to get the students acclimated to these different types of tools. I am excited that this year I am not the only one using moodle or a class blog. Last year, I think there were 3 of us who used moodle all year. This year we have over 700 accounts in moodle with 16 of those being teachers. Every teacher in our Jr. High Math department is using moodle. One of our Jr. High Science teachers has really embraced the different tools in moodle and has chosen to use the blogs, wikis, etc., in moodle. While moodle is a "walled garden", if we can get teachers and students excited about using some of the tools, it doesn't take as much to help them understand the benefits of collaborating on a global basis.

My post on Fresh Faces, Fresh Ideas talks about one of our teachers who has really embraced blogging with her students. She has encouraged me to try a different approach with my own class blog in hopes of my students really "owning" that tool as well. I plan to have weeks that students are required to post on a "free topic." That topic can have anything to do with what a student their age might need to learn. As long as it is interesting and appropriate to students in 6th grade, it is a topic that can be used. I plan to encourage them to read the newspapers or RSS feeds of the same as well as magazine articles for ideas of what to write on. Their writing must include evidence of reflective thinking, how this topic relates to their own life and must include links to sources. In addition to this, we have been asked by a 3rd grade class in Canada to be their blog buddies. This is an opportunity for my students to experience the role of mentor.

This year, we will expand the use of our class wiki. Once we get started with our inital project which will really run throughout the school year, Grammar Gurus, then my hope is for the students to come up with what we need to do with the wiki that can help them and other 6th grade classes. I've been toying around with the idea of Scribe Notes much like one of our high school teachers' is doing. The difference would be that my students would be the ones putting out the information. I believe the high school teacher is actually doing that for his students. Also, since my classroom is a very active place, not much "lecturing" goes on. So I imagine the scribe notes in my class to be "recording" what went on and what the discussions were.

Part of my hope is for my students' toolbox to expand this year. By using photostory, voicethread, slideshare, google docs, flickr, etc., I am hopeful that the students will be exposed to many different kinds of tools and then take ownership in choosing those tools that best fit their own learning style. Additionally, I am on the "lookout" for great global collaborative projects to join much like Many Voices for Darfur last year.

Putting these thoughts, ideas and hopes into action as tangible learning experiences is the challenge. Wish me luck!

Fresh Faces, Fresh Ideas

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 11:21:00 +0000

This summer, one of the professional development classes that we offered was on Web 2.0 tools. It was a face-to-face version of The Power of Web 2.0 Tools. One of the teachers that participated has already put into place a class blog. We have only had three weeks of school at this point but what her students have done with the blog is quite amazing.

She simply requires the students to comment on at least one of her blog posts, post an article themselves - stick to science!, and comment on one of their classmates' blogs each month. One of the things I really like about what she is doing is that she is modeling for her students what she wants. Take a look at Science in Our Lives and read some of her posts.

I guess it is no wonder that she is getting student posts like this one: What Will the Future Be Like? Students are reading information about different science concepts as applied to the world and sharing what they find. Another post I read was Baggy Eyes . . . Why Does It Happen? The teacher is getting the kids to "wonder" about the applications of science in their world and then follow-up that wondering with research. They are linking to information found on the Internet. No doubt, as they go along, the students will get even better at evaluating the Internet sources they find and thinking critically about the information.

Having used a class blog for about five years now, I am impressed with what this teacher, new to the web 2.0 scene, is doing. She's not afraid to try things with her students. She's not afraid to give a structure and then let the students take off. This teacher is a fresh face with fresh ideas in my personal learning network.

The Power of Web 2.0 Tools: A 21st Century Learning Experience

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 01:30:00 +0000

Image by Daniel F. Pigatto

Next week, we will be launching our version of K12 learning 2.0. Shelley Paul gave me permission to use her course as a basis and tweak and change to create a 1 PLU version of the course. It is meant not to replace that course but as a 1 PLU option for those who might not feel they have the time to dedicate to a 3 PLU course. The "thinks" as they are called in this course are chunked into modules. There are four required modules. After completing the required modules, participants choose two other modules to complete for their PLU credit. Of course, all modules are visible so participants can explore further in any of the modules.

We had a good number of teachers who began the K12 learning course but for various reasons, couldn't finish it. One issue was that during the school year it was hard for them to have enough time in the week to dedicate to it. This need motivated me to work on a 1 PLU version. I felt like chunking the information into modules made sense and might help teachers not feel so overwhelmed.

My goal is to have everything available to the teachers as of day 1 of the course so they can work at their own pace. We have spent a good bit of time working with teachers on differentiating for students. I felt it was a necessity for us to find ways to differentiate for teachers in our professional development offerings. This "time" issue is one way we can differentiate.

Additionally, we have built in a "choice" component. There are four required modules in the course: Intro to Web 2.0, RSS, Blogging and Creative Commons. We felt these were foundational for everything else. Teachers will choose two other modules to work through: Wikis, Image Sharing, Social Bookmarking, Online Learning, Podcasting and Productivity with Google. Of course, teachers are always welcome to explore some of the other modules as well.

We will soon find out if this concept works out in practicality like it does on paper. Just another way we are trying to bring more teachers along with web 2.0.

Let's Get Disruptive

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 00:53:00 +0000

My husband likes to read a lot. He brought me an article from one of his Forbes magazines entitled “How to Change the Way Kids Learn.” The fact that he thought of me when he read that title is flattering, in my opinion, so I delved into it.

Computers have failed to improve education. That’s because no one’s gotten disruptive with technology.

This intrigued me further. Getting disruptive with technology? I’m not sure what that means but it sounds cool! I read on.

The authors state that U.S. public schools struggle to improve because they aren’t motivating the children. Ok, I see children in my classroom everyday that force me to inevitably come back to one question: why aren’t they motivated? Just today I had a student tell me in not so many words that he wanted to do the minimum, just what he can get by with. Do educators condition students in a way that encourages this notion of “just getting by?” Where did the natural curiosity and thirst for learning go? Didn’t they have it when they were 2 or 3 or 4?

If the goal is to educate all students so they have an all-American shot at realizing their dreams, we must find a way to disrupt the monolithic classroom and move toward a student-centric model.

I will admit that I proceeded to look up monolithic to make sure I understood the message. Monolithic means cut out of one stone, characterized by total uniformity and rigidity. This is a business magazine with an article that indicates the typical American classroom is monolithic, rigid and totally standardized. As an educator, I took that to heart. For all of the information on differentiation, learning styles, brain-based strategies, etc., the business world still sees our classrooms as inflexible and ineffective.

The way to implement an innovation so it will transform an organization is to implement it disruptively.

One of my goals this year is to revise the curriculum for 6th grade Language Arts so that a student-centered approach emanates from the curriculum map and other files that communicate standards. That means getting disruptive with some of the curriculum pieces. That means moving further toward an open-content type curriculum as opposed to a text-driven curriculum. Blogs, wikis, skype, wiziQ, moodle, etc., all have the potential of transformation if we get "disruptive" with them. My students will be putting together curriculum resources through our class wiki. I want the students to create resources for curriculum. How will students develop creativity without being given opportunities to create?

For now, I am still pondering, "What does 'getting disruptive' really look like?"

Defining Literacy in the 21st Century

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:25:00 +0000

While going through the feeds in my RSS reader, I noticed an article entitled "Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?" As I read the article, I was struck by how well the author, Motoko Rich, represented both sides of the debate.

As a language arts teacher, I have enthusiastically encouraged my students to read books. I typically get a good many students who really don't like to read. My assertion is that they just haven't found what they like to read yet. Case in point, I had a student one year who the first day of class came to me and said,"Mrs. Osteen, I know you mean well. But you should know that I don't like to read and you won't be able to get me to like to read either." I simply smiled and nodded, thanking him for his honesty. Around November, he came to me one day during lunch time and asked if he could eat his lunch in the classroom. "The cafeteria is noisy and I'm at a really good part in this book. I'd like to read while I eat lunch." My response? You could probably imagine that I was delighted to allow him to read and eat lunch in the classroom.

But what did I really want from this student? Was it the fact that he had a book in his hand? Not really. It was that he was totally engaged with the text.

My son purchased an iPod Touch this summer with some of the money he has earned from his summer job. One of the first things he did was to download some books on it. He sits and reads on his iTouch books like the Bourne series. He is reading with the aid of a technological device. He is engaged with reading in a way that he has to sustain through a story line. Is this better or worse than holding a physical book?

In the article mentioned above, the point is made that many teens are reading online blogs, facebook pages, etc. While I don't doubt this is true, is that all they are reading online? Maybe the responsibility for the trend of how kids are spending their time comes back to us educators.

You'd be hard pressed to find an educator that would argue against the value of reading. The question is what type of reading is most beneficial to students and in what format? Actually, maybe the format is not the issue at all. Maybe it's the "what" that's the problem. When kids choose to spend their time reading, it is because they are interested in what they are reading. The student I mention above, my son with his iTouch and Nadia from the article all chose to read something that piqued their interest. When my son is required to read books like The Great Gatsby and Our Town, he "manages" through the books. I'm not saying he shouldn't have to read some of the classics. I'm just saying that I have a hard time answering him when he asks why teachers don't let kids choose what to read for summer reading.

So what do we really want from our students when they read? Is it the fact that they have a book in their hand? Or do we want them engaged with text in a sustained and focused way?

While there will continue to be a debate of books vs. Internet on the literacy front for some time to come, I submit to you that maybe the best answer is not one or the other. Maybe what we really need is to come to a realization that both have a place in the lives of our students and that students need guidance with both types of reading. As Will Richardson states in his blog post Kids Prefer Reading Online: I think we have to help kids process and track and organize the things that they read, teach them to respond in effective ways, teach them to interact and become participants in the process in ways that don’t restrict their passion and creativity but also give them some context for what they are doing.

Where's the Respect? A 21st Century Learning Question

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 11:33:00 +0000

As I read updates on Twitter today, I saw a reference Jeff Utecht made to an article entitled Cut and Paste 'not plagiarism'. Dr. Spender was speaking to a group of educators and made the statement that what some schools (her context was universities) police as plagiarism is not plagiarism at all within the new context of web 2.0. She goes on to say that all the students are doing is remixing:
“What kids are doing in downloading text is exactly what they are doing in downloading music,” she said.
“They take bits and pieces, mixing and matching them and making something that is their own product.”

My initial reaction to this article was one of but of course it is plagiarism! When I work with students, I fight against them copying and pasting (without thinking) and changing words here and there and calling that their own work. What I really want from students is for them to think about the information, organize, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate the information from a number of sources before they write.

I also wanted to shout, "but how do we teach them to respect intellectual property?"

Then I started thinking about it a little more myself. I went to the Partnership for the 21st century skills website and reflected on some of the skills listed there: Information Literacy.

Accessing information efficiently and effectively, evaluating information critically and competently and using information accurately and creatively for the issue or problem at hand

Possessing a fundamental understanding of the ethical/legal issues surrounding the access and use of information

My next stop was to revisit with the NETS for Students from the ISTE website. In particular, I looked at the Research and Information Literacy strand. Students locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media.

Now I am under the impression we need to define ethical use of intellectual property as it relates specifically to web 2.0 tools. Is it ok for a student to "remix" information and put it into a format to turn in as "their own" work? In some respect, that's kind of what I've done with this blog post. But hopefully, I have taken information from a variety of sources, thinking critically about it and drawing my own conclusions. Does this make it "my own" work?

Dr. Spender also said in the article, "I don't really care if there are bits and pieces in their initial information that is downloaded from different points. What I care about is: do they understand it and did they use that information to come up with a solution to solve a problem?"

On this level, I understand the point she is making. I believe this is one area of web 2.0 that hasn't been talked about nearly enough. In my opinion, we need to revisit our definitions of plagiarism and we need to teach our students what respect looks like in a web 2.0 world.

Image used by permission under CC license by Old Shoe Woman

What I Love About Twitter

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:15:00 +0000

I first learned about Twitter last summer. Twitter is a social networking and microblogging service that utilizes instant messaging, SMS or a web interface. You can only send out messages with a 140 character limit at one time. So what people on Twitter end up getting are short snippits of messages, not whole conversations. Frankly, when I began to explore it last summer I didn't "get it." Then it was reintroduced to me during a PLP workshop last fall by Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach. At that point, I said, "ok, I'll give it another try."

Since finding the key in who to follow, etc., I've had a tremendous experience using Twitter. Many resources have come my way because I first learned about them on Twitter. There are web 2.0 apps that I wouldn't know about today if it weren't for Twitter. Twitter helps me to keep a forward eye to what is out there and what teachers from around the world are doing with their classes.

Will Richardson recently wrote a blog post entitled What I Hate About Twitter. In his post, Will states that it feels like the “conversation” is evolving into pieces instead of wholes, that the connections and the threads are unraveling, almost literally. Wow. I guess I never expected Twitter to be a "deep" conversation, rather a quick here's what's going on and providing links to the "deeper" conversations.

My children are 17 and 20 and if I want to communicate with them on a regular basis I had better get into texting. Of course, nothing can take the place of those face to face deeper conversations that we have. However, a more consistent touch-base occurs via phone texting these days. If I didn't text, well I just wouldn't be talking with them as much. They live in the world of texting. They don't "call" their friends like I did when I was a teenager (of course then it was using landlines). They text their friends quick messages to keep up to date with each other.

I think part of Will's angst may be a generational thing. Maybe if he lived in my world of communicating with teenagers on a regular basis he would get the whole texting thing and be less annoyed with Twitter.

Lifelong Learning: A Real Key

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 11:19:00 +0000

I read an article this week from the New York Times titled "If You're Open to Growth, You Tend to Grow." The article is written by Janet Rae-Dupree. The focus of the article is on being open to growth as a key indicator of success in business. Ms. Rae-Dupree's information came from a Stanford psychologist named Carol Dweck who has written a book entitled Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. Evidently Ms. Dweck states in her book that adopting either a fixed mindset (belief that one's innate talent is all one will have) or a growth mindset (belief that abilities can expand over time) "can profoundly affect all aspects of a person's life, from parenting and romantic relationships to success at school and on the job."

While reading this article, I couldn't help but make the application to education. After all, I am a teacher. I have facilitated many professional development courses in the past and single defining moments stick out from most of those experiences. One in particular was when a teacher shared with the entire group that the majority of what he had gained from the experience is that you never stop being a learner. *Wow! If that is all he got from the experience, I guess that's a pretty good hurdle to jump.

ISTE's new NETS for Teachers are divided into five sections. Two of these sections deal with teachers as learners: model digital-age work and learning and engage in professional growth and leadership.

All of this has led me to think more about lifelong learning. What are habits of successful lifelong learners? I've listed a few here but would dearly love you sharing your thoughts as well in a comment.

View lifelong learning as essential
Begin with the end in mind
Embrace responsibility for learning
View problems as challenges
Have confidence in self as a competent, effective learner
Create your own learning toolbox
Teach/mentor others
Play

Image source: amarola

"A Smart Person is Never Bored"

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:28:00 +0000

I grew up in a household with a teacher for a mother. Now, this gives me a unique perspective when dealing with my own kids since I chose the noblest of professions as well. (ok, yes, I just showed my bias) Not only was my mother a teacher but I had four siblings. Our house never lacked for activity. However, my mother did not set out to "entertain" the kids. On the contrary, she expected we would find ways to entertain ourselves, to fill our time with experiences that were meaningful to us. She would always tell us, "A smart person is never bored." What she meant by that was that a smart person could always find something meaningful to do: read a book, ride a bike, make up games, use your imagination in creative ways.

All of this came to mind as I was reading Will Richardson's blog post entitled, "Get Off the Computer!" He talks about an experience he had with his own children. Additionally, Laura Deisley, in her blog post entitled "Drumming it Out," addressed the same issue as a reaction to Richardson's post by reflecting upon her own childhood. It is interesting to me that edubloggers are bringing this issue to light. I have thought for some time that the children growing up in our present society are being conditioned to "expect" to be entertained, not "bored."

Maybe this is a product of our educational system? Ok, just stay with me for a minute here. When at school if all a child experiences is an education that is "done to him/her," (i.e. lecture) then a child becomes conditioned to sit back and wait for people to bring things to him/her. Think about the opposite for a minute. When a child experiences a classroom that is active and student-centered, then he/she gets the message that learning is not something "done to him/her" but something he/she must do.

I said earlier that my mother expected us kids to use our imaginations in creative ways. I remember my brothers putting on a lion tamer's show for a birthday party for me and my sister. I remember many a summer day in the garage playing "school" or playing "The Price is Right." All of these kinds of experiences encourage creativity. After reading Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind and Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody, I am left with this question: Can we really afford not to encourage creativity-building experiences for our kids?

Image Source: Flickr, original uploaded by keb

K12 Learning 2.0

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:50:00 +0000

Among other things that I am involved with this summer, I am coaching a group of educators through an online class called K12 Learning 2.0. Shelley Paul from Woodward Academy in Atlanta, Georgia, came up with this professional development class after becoming familiar with PLCMC Learning 2.0. The course is designed as a self-guided online learning adventure. I provide guidance through regular help sessions (online and face to face), email and phone support. I am using wiziQ for the online help session platform. The class is pretty intensive but the teachers involved with it this summer seem to be managing pretty well for the most part. This past spring, I had a group of teachers go through this class but only two actually finished. The demands of the school year combined with the intensive nature of the course (for the average teacher)seemed too much. I am planning to revise and "chunk" the "things" creating a part 1 and a part 2 to build in a structure that hopefully will encourage more success during the school year. This class has really opened up a whole new world for me in terms of professional development opportunities for educators. It truly is a new kind of professional development.

Where Do They Find the Time?

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 31 May 2008 21:10:00 +0000

Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody, explores the shift in media from television to blogs, wikis, and podcast production. It seems that people have the time to create participatory media because they aren't watching as much TV. He compares the current shift to the one experienced during the Industrial Revolution. Will these tools improve productivity or are they the new television?

Teaching as a Profession

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 31 May 2008 20:46:00 +0000

I am currently reading Clay Shirky's Here Comes Everybody. Shirky makes a lot of good points and I am only on chapter 4. He talks about professionalism and the current nature of professionalism. "There is an instructive hypocrisy here. A professional often becomes a gatekeeper, by providing a necessary or desirable social function but also by controlling that function." That quote started me thinking about the teaching profession. Do teachers try to "control" the function of educating in our society? Then another quote from Shirky's book hit me, "Professional self-conception and self-defense, so valuable in ordinary times, become a disadvantage in revolutionary ones, because professionals are always concerned with threats to the profession."

Is it the nature of teachers as professionals that is holding the education "revolution," if you will, back? Do teachers have to step outside of themselves as professionals in order to move forward with education in the Conceptual Age?

Yes, I know that Shirky was not making a direct correlation between his remarks and the teaching profession. But I can't help wondering what the application is to the teaching profession.

The Moment of Calm in a Student-Centered Classroom

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Thu, 01 May 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Student-centered learning, a learning experience that engages the students completely, a learning experience that is owned by the students, is not an easier way to teach. Wait! Before you click away from this post, let me explain what a typical day in a student-centered learning approach is like.

(Enter classroom) "Mrs. Osteen, our group needs to work on X today."
"Mrs. Osteen, I worked on the wiki last night at home but ran into some trouble. Can you help me?"
"Mrs. Osteen, did you remember to bring the video camera for our group?"
Amidst the choruses of requests and statements, I manage to put my laptop, requested camcorder and books down on the desk. You see, the kids arrived at the classroom before I did.

"Ok, everybody, have a seat for a minute so we can touch base," I say. "Let's talk about where we are and what we need to accomplish." (I suppose this part is done really more for me than the students.) After a brief period of checking in, students scatter everywhere gathering materials and organizing people and tasks. As groups get started, I mingle through the room stopping briefly at each group presenting the students with an opportunity to ask me questions and presenting myself with an opportunity to make important observations about the group. I hear one group say, "Let's meet in the moodle chat room tonight and figure out this part." Another group is discussing the order their video clips should go in to make a good movie. A third group is putting finishing touches on their script for a skit they plan to perform for the class.

After making my way through the room, I arrive back at my desk to sit for a brief moment when I realize "it" has happened. Just at that moment, all seems right with the world and a peace and calm come over me. It's the period of calm that happens when students settle in and are directing their own learning with minimal assistance from me. That "moment of calm" makes all of the commotion worthwhile.

So it took me two months on and off to put together the structure for the student-centered learning experience. Ok, so I had to rearrange three other things to make it so we could have the laptop lab when we needed it. And yes, sometimes my ears do hurt from all of the noise. But in the "moment of calm" none of that matters. The peace that comes over me is in the knowledge that what is going on is true learning.

Student-centered learning, a learning experience that engages the students completely, a learning experience that is owned by the students, is not an easier way to teach. But for this teacher, it is well worth the effort.

The Ning Approacheth . . .

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:32:00 +0000

A group of 5 educators from our school has been participating this year with Will Richardson's and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach's Powerful Learning Practice consortium. Many things have come about as a result of our work there but our big project is to build a Ning network for teachers at our school.

Our school has experienced tremendous growth in the past ten years. This brings about "growing pains" when it comes to issues like communication and collaboration among colleagues. We have been looking for something that would increase the opportunities for sharing among our faculty without requiring significantly more time in meetings. We believe the Educational Network that we are starting in Ning will provide just that.

Why do it?

To effectively provide for sharing, collaboration, and communication among GACS faculty.
To streamline our resources into one portal.
Provide an avenue for discussions on school improvement efforts identified through research.
To work together on issues that impact teaching and learning daily.

What's on it?

Modeled after the PLP network on Ning
Delicious bookmarks
Blogs
Forums
Resources, including videos

Important departmental discussions
Continued conversations from PLU classes
Modeling 21st century skills through staff development classes
Portal for all Web 2.0 tools

Groups, like Tech Guides, can have designated space
Faculty book discussions
Interest area groups

This week we began a "campaign" to educate our faculty about the Ning. Most have never even heard the word "Ning" before. This will be a whole new experience into the world of social networking for a lot of them. Our idea is to send out email messages that pique their interest and then send out an invitation outlining what to do to get going on the network. After one of our consortium members sent out the first two emails, she received some great feedback.
This is what the email looked like:

One of our teachers replied to it with, "Yes, yes and yes. I can't wait!"

This past Thursday I worked with a group of 5 teachers on different web 2.0 tools. We spent our time together discussing the Ning, getting registered on it and exploring it. One of the participants started his own group. Another kept saying, "This is great! Look at all of these great resources!"
This week has been very encouraging. The hope is that this new tool will make a difference not only for our connections with each other as teachers but also for our students' educational experience.

Personalizing Learning

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 01:07:00 +0000

I read David Warlick's post entitled "What Place Personalization." He asks a good question in his post, "So what is it in the learning experiences that we maintain for our students in our classrooms that calls on their uniqueness, that asks them to personalize? If, rather than expecting them to turn in work that is the same as everyone else, we expected them to express what they are learning in a way that is unlike anyone else, might this be one way of starting to integrate, among other things, the Creativity and Innovation that the new ISTE NETS are calling for?"

Reflecting on my own classroom, I am wondering if I scaffold the learning in ways that provides for students to express their uniqueness while achieving academic standards. It is a balancing act. I have seen teachers who foster a good bit of creativity but the students don't always achieve the academic goals. In other words, the creativity is fun but lacks substance. I have seen other teachers who seem to bring students to great heights of academic achievement but don't necessarily provide for a uniqueness to be expressed. So how do we bring the two together? Foster creativity while achieving substance?

Many of us have been working on developing educational experiences that are differentiated. I think this is a good first step. Is the key to learning experiences that call on our students' uniqueness, asking them to personalize, inside our students themselves? Do we need to some extent take ourselves out of the equation?

For now, I have no answers just questions. What do you think?

21st Century Learning: Not Just for Kids

josteen@greateratlantachristian.org (Julia Osteen) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:24:00 +0000

I recently read a blog post by Will Richardson titled URGENT: 21st Century Skills for Educators (and Others) First. In this post, he talks about attending a conference where experts were talking about educational reform who aren't part of "networked learning." Will states, "from none of them did I get the sense that they could give a great response to a request to model their uses of technology to teach and learn effectively, especially in the context of networks."

I believe that this is very unfortunate. All too often in my education career, I have come across folks who have espoused different approaches to education while using a typical "death by lecture" style themselves. The power behind what they are saying gets lost in the translation because of what they are doing.

Part of the move to 21st century skills includes the idea of lifelong learning. This is something that I have heard about now for at least ten years if not longer. There's not an educator I've met who has not said they want their students to be lifelong learners. Some of these same educators, however, don't apply the concepts of lifelong learning themselves. I've been part of groups of people in staff development efforts who have said that they don't have the time to be active with the learning going on. What I want to say back to them is that they can't afford to not be active.

I was working with small groups of educators this past week and several said that they are concerned about using web 2.0 tools with their students because there is so much on the Internet now that is not true. My response was that's why we need to use web 2.0 tools with students so they can learn how to think critically about what comes along. These same educators, however, don't always apply the critical thinking skills themselves to what they find on the Internet.

I have heard Will Richardson say more than once that we need to start with the teachers. Teachers need to become active participants in networked learning. While I don't disagree with this, I know that some teachers won't take that step until they think it is something they need to do to "keep up" with their students.

We've been discussing at our school the need for these approaches to be used in all of our staff development classes, whether they are "technology oriented" or not. This summer we will have a mini-conference of sorts where teachers are leading 14 different sessions on topics important to our school's improvement efforts. The hope is that we will convince all of the leaders of these sessions that it is important for all of us to continue these conversations in a social network we have set up specifically for our school. If we can take this step, then perhaps we will have a chance to truly make an impact regarding the use of 21st century skills.