Technology in the Lutheran Classroom

So is it over yet?

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 07:40:11 PST

Now that all the boycotts are done and elected officials have taken their names off of sponsorship lists, does that mean that all the hubbub about SOPA and PIPA is done? I think this video presentation by Clay Shirky, from a recent TED event, answers that question.

Full disclosure: I really enjoy listening to Clay. I've read both of this books "Here Comes Everybody," and "Cognitive Surplus" and have admittedly "drank the Kool-Aid" if you will. If anyone disagrees with his assessment of the situation, I'm open to hearing your opinion, but I think he does a splendid job of explaining the major issues with the legislation and the back-story that goes along with them.

All the more reason to involved with teaching our kids about joys of creating and using Creative Commons licensed content!

Cultural Shifts in a Fast Changing World

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 01 Sep 2011 22:12:25 PDT

Below is the text of an opinion paper I wrote for class regarding cultural change in a digital age. I thought is was relevant to post here because I share some thoughts regarding Missouri Senate Bill 54, now the Amy Hestir Student Protection Act of 2011.

If I tried to enumerate all of the ways that digital technology is, has, and will affect culture, we would surely be here many days. But to underscore my thoughts on the matter, all I need to do is point you toward section 162.069 of Missouri Senate Bill 54. It reads as follows [emphasis mine]:

SECTION 162.069 - By January 1, 2012, every school district must develop a written policy concerning teacher-student communication and employee-student communications. Each policy must include appropriate oral and nonverbal personal communication, which may be combined with sexual harassment policies, and appropriate use of electronic media as described in the act, including social networking sites. Teachers cannot establish, maintain, or use a work-related website unless it is available to school administrators and the child's legal custodian, physical custodian, or legal guardian. Teachers also cannot have a nonwork-related website that allows exclusive access with a current or former student. Former student is defined as any person who was at one time a student at the school at which the teacher is employed and who is eighteen years of age or less and who has not graduated. --(Amy Hestir Student Protection Act of 2011)

What you see in this now Missouri law is a visceral reaction to an alarming trend of sexual abuse by teachers of students. But what you also see is a fundamental misunderstanding of the shifting nature of how teachers and students communicate and relate to one another in the digital age. I believe society at-large does not understand how new technologies have transformed the teaching and learning relationships between students and their instructors (or at least provides a solid platform for facilitating change). Learning relationships have shifted from being based solely in a place (a school building), to a more holistic anytime, anywhere relationship focused on learning and is facilitated by new communication tools.

While teachers used to only be available between the hours of 8:00am to 3:00pm, interaction, sharing, and learning can now take place at any time of the day and from any location. This new Missouri law I believe, unknowingly undercuts the digital platforms that can facilitate educational change, not to mention cast suspicion upon a key component of the learning process: a sense of trust between learner and teacher (it could successfully be argued however, that abusive teachers have eroded that trust, not a protectionist law).

Teachers are already voicing their opinions regarding the unintended consequences of this new law. For example, what if a teacher is also a youth worker at a local church where it would be acceptable to carry on a Facebook faith-centered relationship? What if a teacher’s teenage child was also their class? Would parents be forced to unfriend their own children?

In general I feel that society trends toward only reactionary responses when it comes to digital change. This reactionary feeling is also mirrored in churches and congregations as well. It is the constant “black or white” thinking of many congregations that stifles the potential work of the Gospel in new and exciting ways. That is not to say that every “new thing” to come along is wonderful, but with scripture as their guide, communities of believers can make good choices and discern what change are beneficial and which ones are not. The church does its best work by wisely interpreting all change¸ whether digital or cultural, through the lens of scripture. As a wise pastor once told me, “the answer is rarely ever either/or, but most always both/and!”

The one value that must remain constant, regardless of shifting cultural norms, is wisdom. The ability to discern a situation, interpret a new idea, or look to future consequences is something that must be maintained. It is wisdom that must drive adoption of new technologies and the shifts that they bring, and it is wisdom which helps us cope with those difficult choices.

My ultimate take-away....

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 16:39:28 PST

Just finished up meeting with the LCMS Lutheran Schools Technology Cabinet. What an engaging time of thought and planning. I'm truly awed by the commitment to quality Lutheran education by everyone involved.

As we began our last day, Pastor Bill Bartlett from Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, CA opened up with a short devotion centered around the theme of the Transfiguration as being a door to Lent. A couple of thoughts really stuck with me during that time:

1. Exodus 34:29-"When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the LORD. As teachers, are we aware that being the presence of God through prayer and study is important? Not I mean really? Do your students see your face gleaming from being the presence of God? Of all the things we can do for our students, cultivating and tending a personal spiritual relationship is key.

2. Are you weary and burdened? Are you busy? I mean, really busy? I can vouch for the business for some of the people on the cabinet. It is so easy to balk at the challenges of our ministry, especially the challenge of time. Bill shared this quote with us from author Anne Graham Lotz that was very uplifting:

My duties and responsibilities at times seem overwhelming and my schedule is overfilled. But, I don’t want a vacation, I don’t want to quit, I don’t want sympathy, I don’t want money, I don’t want recognition, I don’t want to escape, I don’t even want a miracle! Just give me Jesus.

I won't try to dissect that quote. It pretty well stands on its own. The power of cross is enough.

As we prepare to enter the season of Lent, and thanks Bill for helping us do that, it is important to refocus and acknowledge that thing that makes our Lutheran schools distinct...Jesus.

image: Rough Cross 2 by Flickr User: Transguyjay. Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 License

21st Century Learners

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 22:47:57 PST

Below is the answer I gave to a discussion board post this evening for one of the classes in my masters degree program. Feel free to pick apart my thinking or let me know if there are any holes in my logic!

The writing prompt was as follows:

Post your own definition of a 21st century learner and what it means for them to be literate in the 21st century. What does this mean to you as you consider NETS-T, Standard Two, designing and developing digital-age learning experiences and assessments?

I would define a 21st century learner as someone who knows how to utilize ALL of the tools available to him/her in the learning process, regardless of what the tool is. Most likely the resources will be digital, but it is a wise and learned pupil who can differentiate the correct resource for the task at hand. More importantly, I see a 21st century learner not learning in isolation, but rather learning as part of a community or network.

I get my broad rationale for this definition based on the directions I have seen my own personal learning take. Nearly all of my learning, with regards to technology use in education for example, have come from a learning network or a personal relationship within a socially connected environment (Both traditional F2F connections and online). I frequently meet new teachers, consultants, vendors, or experts based on previous connections with other teachers, consultants, etc. In the past 12 years I've been teaching, "school" has not been a variable in my learning experience. It is the connections I have made that have created the learning and none of these connections would have been possible without the digital tools of the 21st century.

In his explanation paper on the learning theory of connectivism, George Siemens concludes his ideas about 21st century learning in this way:

The pipe is more important than the content within the pipe. Our ability to learn what we need for tomorrow is more important than what we know today. A real challenge for any learning theory is to actuate known knowledge at the point of application. When knowledge, however, is needed, but not known, the ability to plug into sources to meet the requirements becomes a vital skill. As knowledge continues to grow and evolve, access to what is needed is more important than what the learner currently possesses.

Connectivism presents a model of learning that acknowledges the tectonic shifts in society where learning is no longer an internal, individualistic activity. How people work and function is altered when new tools are utilized. The field of education has been slow to recognize both the impact of new learning tools and the environmental changes in what it means to learn. Connectivism provides insight into learning skills and tasks needed for learners to flourish in a digital era.

“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.”

If learning in the 21st century is a matter of connecting, then it is up to teachers to help students create those and/or evaluate, critique, and filter those connections. In his February 2010 Blog article entitled "Teaching in Social and Technological Networks" Siemens lists what he believes are the essential roles of a teacher with regards to student learning:

1. Amplifying
2. Curating
3. Way-finding and socially-driven sense-making
4. Aggregating
5. Filtering
6. Modeling
7. Persistent presence

Not ironically, these ideas dove-tail nicely with the technology standards for teachers. Teachers are to create the environment within which learning can take place, but they are not the ones responsible FOR the learning. Teachers also assess whether learning has taken place and it is up to them to adjust the learning environment when connections aren't being made by the learner. This is a markedly different approach to the teaching/learning relationship we saw and experienced in the 19th and 20th centuries. Technology and personal access to information has fundamentally changed education in the 21st century.

Now, without got go back too much to our previous discussion about literacy (the term I'm sure we flogged pretty well), being literate in the 21st century is more than just reading and writing. Yes, one needs to know HOW to read and write, but those skills are a far cry from the ONLY skills necessary to learn in the 21st century (which it sounds like we mostly agreed upon). The more I think about it, the more I want to define literacy in the 21st century as the ability to learn.

You may have already heard this quote from Alvin Toeffler before, but I think it's worth repeating in this conversation:

"The illiterate of the future are not those that cannot read or write. They are those that can not learn, unlearn, relearn."

Teaching "New" Literacies

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 14:48:09 PDT

Got this email from one of our awesome first grade teachers this morning and I wanted to spend some time thinking about it:

"I have some photographers who will take a billion pictures of what they think is important. That’s not a big deal… When I asked them which pictures we need to keep, they truly think all of them… and they don’t. Do you have some suggestions/parameters which might help them to decide what they think is a “good” picture or what they think is “best”?"

What a great question! So, how do you teach visual literacy. Better yet, how do you help students discern, make judgments, and create meaning from visual material? How do you teach students that images not only convey meaning, but that they also create meaning in a similar way that text helps create meaning for its reader?

Here are some of my initial thoughts:

1. I wonder if a conversation needs to happen with the students about what an "important" picture is? Could that be causing the randomness of the image taking? That could very well be the case, but every good photographer knows that the best images happen in the moment and are not staged. So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff? The issue could also be that students frankly just don't want to delete anything they've done. They are so excited to have created something that they don't want to think about what to give up; they want to keep them ALL for posterity.

2. Teachers should reinforce with students the idea that images tell a story. If students can identify the "story" behind an image, they are on their way determining its potential place in and among the other "stories" in a group. Only when students begin to see that some images fit better than others will they be willing to pick and choose. The Tell a story in 5 frames Flickr image group comes to mind when thinking about this.

3. Images can be combined to convey a message in a broader context. While each image in itself can create meaning for students, putting pictures together in a sequence also create a larger "big picture" idea. Now this process can go both ways! Students can either start with the big idea and create images that support or tell the story, or they can make a judgement about what the "big picture" is based a given set of images. One is obviously more subjective than the other, but if students can come to a big picture understanding of the images, maybe we can help them re-evaluate their choices. This may very well need to be caught through aggressive modeling more than taught?

4. Along the lines of images telling a story, would be the students ability to put events in sequential order. If the bulk images can't be put in order in which the "story" of the day happens, then they shouldn't be kept. This is a skill that most early childhood and elementary teachers work on with their students. Can you use similar teaching strategies in making the transition from text to images? When students can identify the beginning, middle, and end of literature, I would think that would also be the foundation for helping students discriminate sequences in images as well; as long as images are thought of as meaningful and not just "pretty" things to look at. ECE teachers are already doing this with emergent readers anyway. Emergent readers are constantly connecting pictures to text for the purpose of helping them create meaning. Why couldn't teachers build on this process?

It would be interesting to see if research could provide a link between traditional literacy sequencing skills and the discrimination of meaning from images. What are the preparatory skills needed for students to effectively make subjective decisions about the meaning derived from images? Are both both visual and text literacy two sides of the same coin?

So is "visual literacy" really a NEW literacy or are digital photography and the Internet just amplifying something that has always been important?

Image: "Small DSLR" by Flickr user: jonr. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 CreativeCommons License

Image: "life.turns.clockwise #1" by Flickr user: delphwynd. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 CreativeCommons License

Google Earth: Still in crazy, after all these years

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 21:16:01 PDT

Note: I started writing this post about a month ago and have just now gotten around to publishing it. Since that first month, a lot has changed with the project I did with my 5th-6th graders. I'll explain more about that at the end of the post.

I still appreciate Google Earth! I can't help but use it as my "Go-To" tool when Social Studies teachers talk about embedding technology into their curriculum. I especially love Google Earth for beginning of the year activities, as basic geography skills get dusted off again in the new year (Continents, Lat./Long, features, etc). With so many tools at an educator's disposal these days, it's easy to overlook Google Earth; it happens to be my tool of choice for helping students connect everything geography. Why the rest of my staff hasn't caught "Google Earth Fever" at this point is beyond me.

We've been spending these past weeks with both 5th and 6th grades completing a geography assignment in which each student is creating a thematic tour of placemarks (five to be exact).
Then we get to use those placemarks to identify major geographic concepts (most immediately understanding latitude and longitude). We may even through some math concepts too.

If you haven't worked with Google Earth in the resent past, give it another shot! It may surprise you. There was just a recent version upgrade (5.2.1.1588). I haven't seen any significant changes for teachers, only some minor bug fixes. According to the Google Earth Blog, "This version is largely dedicated to supporting outdoor athletes and their GPS devices (hikers, bikers, runners, etc), but comes with a few other Goodies as well." Haven't quite figured out what the "other Goodies" are yet, but I'm sure they'll be made apparent over time.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
One month after beginning of projects:
So after having worked with my students on this project for the past month, I've determined that saving placemarks in a folder, is by far one of the most tricky endeavors known to man! You would think that putting a man on the moon was more difficult, but that is not the case. Oh, the tears and agony of lowly 5th graders who did not first select the folder they had created and then press, "File" and then "Save Places As!" I even tried to teach them to single-right click on the folder to save instead of using the above mentioned process...but alas...it was not to be! They only accomplished to well up in themselves feelings of inadequacy and sheer horror as they opened perfectly normal looking KMZ files, only to notice that it is missing the other three placemarks that were there just moments before. How sad! Our social studies teacher, Mr. Schroeder, has been a saint and a good sport about the whole thing. Rumor has it he sent an email to every parent in the 5th grade apologizing for the misery it was causing at home and vowed, and I quote: "I don't know what we were thinking, I promise to never do this assignment again!"

But in all seriousness, the thing that made this thematic placemarks project so difficult was that it was a multi-step assignment. As there teacher, I did not provide the best resources for reinforcing learning of the skills needed to complete the assignment. Obviously, creating resources for them to follow up with (Like this entire wiki page dedicated to Google Earth) wasn't helpful either.

The beginning of this school year I've chalked up to a major learning experience! I'll need to be sure that I don't do this project first thing in the year next year with these young of students. A little computer maturity can go along way when diving into a four or five step process!

We live and we learn....but it's not Google Earth's fault! It's still the best darn tool out there!

Image by: Pedro Ferreira Used under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Portugal License.

Access does not equal success

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 09:39:33 PDT

So I often wonder how it is that we have unprecedented access to all of the worlds knowledge on the Internet, but it doesn't actually makes us smarter. Here's my thinking--

On Twitter, for the past year or so, I've been following the International Space Station observation account (@twisst18) which gives you times and dates of when the I.S.S. is visible in your area. I received my usual daily/weekly announcement--Later that evening, I was pulling into the parking lot of my local community center when I thought, "Hey, it's 9:00pm and a clear night, maybe I'll check the International Space Station flying over head!" Mind you, since following these tweets, I have NEVER seen the ISS! So I get out the car, find a clearing where I have an unimpeded view of the South-South West sky and I stand and I wait. I waited...and I waited....and I waited, but saw nothing...oh wait, was that flashing star looking thing the ISS? I don't know! Maybe it was just a really high altitude plane?

It was at that point which I realized that even though I knew exactly where the ISS was supposed to be and when it was supposed to be there, that didn't necessarily mean I was going to see it. I had access to all the correct information, but I still couldn't see the orbiting station.

Mr. Luehmann, our 7th-8th grade science teacher, could have easily pick it out. He's used to looking at the night sky! Surely he could see it! But there I was looking like a fool, neck craned back gazing into the vast darkness called night with no moving space station visible!

I think our students have the same issue with the Internet. They have access, but don't know what to do with the information once they get it. Students lack the wisdom needed to put the information into its proper context. It is very much like the line from the epic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, "Water, Water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink."

It's for this reason that I appreciate the work of gentleman like Ian Jukes at the 21st Centur y Fluency Project. They have defined effective digital citizenship in terms of five "fluencies." The one I'm most interested in for this post is information fluency.

I remember listening to Ian present at NECC quite a few years ago when I first heard the term "info-whelm." We are drowning in it! Our students are drowning in information! We are all over-whelmed with massive amounts of content.

Information fluency is way more than just teaching students how to access information. Information fluency is about interpreting, extracting, authenticating, and perceiving. Over the years I've realized it's much easier to show students HOW to do a Google search than it is to help them make sense of the results once they get them. But I think in the end, that's what it means to be a great teacher. Showing kids what to do with it, once you've got. Access isn't the issue anymore. We've got the quantity thing figured out, now we need to work on quality.

Our kids today are living with information cups that are over-flowing. The challenge we face is not how can we make our students learn MORE (fill their "cups" with more stuff), but rather, what do I DO with the stuff that I already have! Take it one step further by asking, how can I help my students create a framework for dealing with all the info coming their way?

Thinking back to seeing, or not seeing, the International Space Station helps me empathize a little bit with my students. How irrelevant and trivial all this abundant information must seem to kids.

The skill I think students need the most is learning to distinguish the good from the bad information, the noise from the music. It is this task that I believe is the quintessential action of the teacher. You can't just do the same old thing in the classroom you did before, because traditionally, you're just "filling the cup." There has got to be something more!

Wow, all this thinking and ranting from not being able to see the International Space Station! Must have been a long week :-)

image: Overflow by Flickr user: 96dpi

Wish I Was There...

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 22:02:32 PDT

Well, ISTE 2010 has almost come to a close and how I wish I could have gone. Various and sundry reasons had prevented me from going this year, but all in all, it has been a treat enjoying conversations from afar.

AAAHHH...who am I kidding...Twitter is NO replacement for being there. Some of the best conversations I've had about education have happened in many of the meet-ups (or now Tweet-ups), and vendor parties at past conferences (especially chats with @mkratzer over a cold beverage). You can't really do that online!

For the sake of not being too melancholy and whiny, I am very appreciative though of posts like this one from @henrythiele. Henry gives a quick overview of what he saw as the emerging themes of the conference (as a side note, thanks to @kevcreutz for retweeting Henry, which is how I found his post. That's what you have to love about a PLN).

But reading exciting posts, doesn't replace talking face to face with folks you have known for years, but are just "meeting" for the first time! Because that is what ISTE Conference is all about: meeting face to face and sharing.

But alas...

It is awesome to read posts like "It's Not About the Tools" from Jason Schmidt. ISTE 2010 gave Jason time to think and write about his teaching. It's posts like this that echo so many ISTE conversations from this year's conference and NECC conferences of the past. It can also be summed up in tweets like this:

I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the change in teaching that terrifies many of our colleagues and not the technology! We'll leave that for another post on another day.

So yeah, I am a bit bitter about not being able to go, but I can't deny it has been awesome to see the true power of my learning network in action. Even though I wasn't there, I got pretty darn close.

Thank you so much for those of you who took time to post, tweet, bookmark, and note-take for the rest of us! Your sharing is so important and doesn't go unappreciated!

Image above: IMG_0200 by Flickr user: ctkmcmillan

Still Amazed....

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:35:09 PST

It doesn't matter how many times I've been part of a video conference, it is still exciting to watch the connective power of the Internet at work in the classroom! Our Jr. Kindergarten class this morning was able to get in touch with a year six class from Novo Hamburgo, Brazil. Maybe it was the over 5, 000 mile classroom separation, or the idea that you are making a personal connection with someone from a completely different culture or way of life, either way it was just plain COOL!

I can't underscore enough the importance of connecting classrooms. These short but effective video chats are changing the way our children at St. John see the world. As one Kindergartner remarked, "they really do look like us!" Our first grade students said the same thing as they Skyped with another foreign county....California! Well, it's foreign to use in the midwest!

There were several hiccups during the call this morning, but those set aside, the experience gave our preschool teacher a great place to start. I think the neatest part was having a 6 year old Jr. Kindergartner be the interpreter for the group. Of course her dad was there to help out as well (Portuguese was the language of the day). Everyone involved needed the interpreter and it was a great confidence booster for that student to have such an important job during the video conference.

As some of our teachers are finding out, connecting outside their four walls can be quite addicting. Once the kids know it is possible, that with a single click they can be in touch with other kids, they want to connect ALL the time.

I am beginning to be skeptical of the "digital generation" critics who say that our kids are becoming less personable and exhibiting less social skills because of the technology. With a high-speed Internet connection, a computer, and a web-cam, our kids are making vital connections that are breaking down distance, linguistic, and cultural barriers. If anything, the technology has the ability to make them more social. The trick for the classroom teacher is to capitalize on the power of a digital connection, while helping students process that experience within the context of everyday face to face interactions.

A couple of lessons learned from this mornings video conference:

1. Choose your video conference time so as to maximize bandwidth. Because of scheduling conflicts, we started our call about the same time our teachers were sending lunch count and attendance over the network. Talk about a bandwidth nightmare! Also it was about lunch time in Brazil. The dad who helped translate said that at lunch most people in the city hit the Internet pretty hard, which also contributed to slow things down on their end. This excessive traffic bumped us off a couple of times and made caused our web-cam to not show to the Brazilian class.

2. Plan ahead....
Our preschool teacher did an awesome job of having questions prepared in advance. There wasn't a lot of down time trying to come up with questions to ask. Also, she had prepared the kids in advance to be patient for technical problems. The kids knew ahead of time that their attention needed to be brought back once any technical problems were fixed.

I'm looking forward to helping them connect again in a couple of weeks!

So when is your classroom going to adventure outside of your four walls next?

METC Tweets--Trying Something New

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 10:00:02 PST

OK...So I'm giving this a shot! METC 2010 was the first real conference I had been to where I actively engaged in Twitter conversations and actively followed the conference hashtag. The problem is that I want to aggregate them all and make them available in bit sized pieces of "yippety-yap." Enter WidgetBox.

I'm going to embed this widget and see how it works. We'll see what happens...sorry for the advertising, but that's what you get from FREE!

rjacklin #metc_csd - Twitter Searchgreat free widgetsWidgetboxMore info

Learning from the "Rules"

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 09:22:43 PST

I typically don't like throwing stones at other teachers, schools, or districts, but the computer lab rules below caught my attention and gave me cause to pause and reflect on the thoughts I had worked with earlier in the week at METC.

Computer Lab Rules
1. Come in the room quietly and go to your assigned seat. Stay in your seat.
2. Keep your hands, feet, and all objects to yourself. Don’t touch anyone else’s computer without permission.
3. Follow the directions given by the teacher. When the teacher is talking, turn your head and look at the teacher.
4. If you need to go to the restroom, raise your hand.
5. Raise your hand before changing programs or printing.
6. Treat others like you would like to be treated.
7. At the end of the period, wait at your computer until you are given permission to line up. Make sure to push in your chair and clean up your area.

One of my major "Take-aways" from this years Midwest Educational Technology Conference was that first and foremost all of the students in our classroom are learners, and it is them, not us (the teachers) who are the focus. The above rules seem to reinforce the role of the teacher and not the student. Now, I'm almost sure that if I were to ask the folks who wrote the rules, "Who is the most important person in the computer lab?" they would likely say the student, but is that the focus of their rules? Do their rules reinforce their values?

So often, we communicate messages to students in subtle ways. What messages are being communicated to the students by these computer lab rules? Do your students know what the core values of your classroom or school are? Do they know that WE are there to serve THEM, not the other way around?

As teachers, specifically Lutheran school teachers, I think we quickly lose focus of the priority in our classrooms. Now if you were to ask any teacher about their calling, they would without hesitation say it is teaching kids about the love that God has for them in Christ Jesus and helping students learn about the world which God has made! But does our practice reflect our practice?

Have we sacrificed a quality (student focused, learner focused classrooms) for quantity of work? In most cases, we are not talking about quantity of student work, but quantity of teacher work! As part of our Lutheran school culture it is not uncommon for teachers to have extra ministry duties outside of the day school classroom. Do these outside demands make it possible for teachers to focus their energies what is their primary focus?

I'll admit, it is easier to work in a teacher centered classroom. If the only variable I have to think about is me, then I don't have to worry about meeting the needs of ALL the kids in class. If I'm the Sunday school superintendent, and the choir director, and an elder, and on 5 other committees, it's just easier to plan for worksheets rather than rubric driven activities!

There are without a doubt, exceptional Lutheran school teachers who go above and beyond themselves and have created students centered classrooms, differentiated lessons, and who have created classroom learning spaces that reflect student-centered values. It is these exceptional teachers who understand best that:

You're not paid to teach stuff; you're paid to cause learning.-Grant Wiggins
(Quote tweeted by @bengray. Retweeted over twelve times!)

It is these teachers who spark imagination, encourage creativity, and allow students to learn with their "whole-brain." These are the truly successful teachers and it is these teachers who know what it means be part of a Lutheran school, seeking to be the "School of Choice" in their community.

The best part? When the community comes to your school for quality Christian education, they'll most importantly get to hear the Good News of God's love for them and isn't that the most important learning that our students can ever do?

I hope this didn't come across as being too preachy. The computer lab rules above are intended to be a conversation starter. The more I consider our profession (Calling), the more clear the future becomes as to the direction of what a school is and what it should look like. I don't by any means have all the answers, but I do know that if we ask good questions and engage in meaningful conversations, we can all be part of the answers.

image "Seven Principles of Learning" byFlickr user: dkuropatwa

Design Matters--METC 2010

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 07:40:19 PST

Design Matters!--METC 2010

METC 2010--Dave Jakes

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 08:53:59 PST

METC 2010

METC 2010--Gail Lovely Sectional

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:52:49 PST

METC 2010-Gail Lovely Sectional

It's Only Fair....

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:01:52 PST

It can often be heard from my 7th grade students, "It's only fair that if we are writing on our blogs, that you should be writing in yours!" I would have to agree with them, so here we go.

I really enjoy challenging students' minds by showing them innovative and thought provoking lectures from TED Conferences presented around the world. The quality and expertise of many of the presenters is top notch. Note: caution should always be exercised and all talks previewed for age appropriateness. I know that should go without saying, but it kind of sneaks in there sometimes and when you least expect it.

Our latest TED talk blogging assignment was based on Derek Sivers' presentation called, "Weird, or just different?" (Shown below for your viewing pleasure)

One of the main reasons we take time to critically think and write on our blogs is that I firmly believe my students just need more time to practice writing about their thinking and opinions. But I don't just want them to GIVE their opinion (anyone can do that), but rather I want them to have well reasoned and articulate opinions! They should have ideas that are thought out and logically informed. This is pretty hard for Middle School kids. Now add the element of doing that writing in public (authentic audience) and things get really interesting.

I believe it is vitally important for use to give our students the opportunity and mentoring needed to be effective public writers. For me anyway, public writing can be excruciating. Not only do I worry about spelling, grammar, and usage, but there are issues of tone and perceived meaning of words and phrases.

If anyone is interested in reading their ideas on the above subject, you can check them out here

As much as possible I try not to give "direct instruction" blogging assignments (I wrote about this in an earlier post), but I hope this assignment give students time to slow down and be reflective writers.

The one area I hope to get feedback on is the spiritual implications of truth and the its' opposite. We'll see if that comes out in this groups articles.

The Clarity of Time

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 20:42:39 PST

This article has been sitting around for a while unpublished. I decided to give it a whirl and publish it.
It is amazing how time and distance provide sanity in the wake of a heated conversation or passionate comment. Clarity, I've found, is almost always gained in retrospect instead of in the moment. I don't know if that is always true for everyone, but that seems to be the case for me.

Online evaluations are tabulated and in from the November Missouri District Educator's Conference, and it was after reading the comment section that I realized I have developed a pretty short fuse when it comes to personal feedback that I don't agree with.

That was just over a week ago and thankfully I decided to practice what I preach and not post anything while frustrated. Time truly does provide clarity for me, and I think that I just need a little time to process things before I respond.

The area I was most interested in was the virtual presentation on Tuesday morning by Will Richardson. I will not go into details with regards to the half a dozen specific comments, but I would like to share the one comment that garnered the "Did you just really say that out-loud" award:

"I know that going outside of our own "circles" shows a willingness to learn from others...but Will Richardson wasn't just provacative...he insulted much of who we are and what we do. Learning based on "passion"...peer validation...virtual face-to-face over and above the dinosaur in the corner (real life teacher)...my blood was boiling."

I'm not really sure if anything else needs to be said at this point, other than I really pray that this was not what was going through the heads of the majority of teachers last November during the keynote. The comments about a glitchy connection, and wanting to have someone live, or the frustration about fellow teachers not honoring the time by talking over the PA, were warranted, but the above comment is by NO MEANS acceptable (pun intended, the conference theme was "By All Means").

Obviously the person who left that comment wasn't listening. The presentation, more than anything else, wasn't as much about teachers as it was students. If the commenter would have been paying attention, Will's comments were about the shift in our information and media culture and the need for teacher's to examine their practice in light of these changes. And that was the whole reason for his talk. We need to start having this conversation and it's fascinating to me that there are a core group of people who don't want to have it!

William Bennett and his coauthors in his book "The Educated Child" commented about public schools, but I think it could also be said of parochial schools as well:
"The public school establishment is one of the most stubbornly intransigent forces on the planet. It is full of people and organizations dedicated to protecting established programs and keeping things just the way they are. Administrators talk of reform even as they are circling the wagons to fend off change, or preparing to outflank your innovation...."
I'm not exactly sure what Lutheran school teachers are trying to "protect" by not engaging in educational change conversations. Many Lutheran schools are or will die as they refuse to engage the world around them.

The main driving force behind educational change today in America as I see it is the educational technology community. It is through the pedagogically appropriate use technology that teaching learning to students begins to take flight. For in the use of technology, teachers finally have the tools to truly differentiate instruction. It is through the use of technology that teachers can utilize the passions of students to help students learn to be problems solvers and critical thinkers. It is through the medium of the Internet that students can now become world class researchers. So why don't more embrace it?

There are some theories, but in the end I think it's about teachers not doing what is right for students because they are just too afraid to engage the world around them. They hide behind statements about Internet safety and appropriateness. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of bad stuff out there. We don't call the world wide web "The Wild West" for nothing. But when we don't engage this younger generation in this information, media landscape that they are born into, ignorance will only breed more ignorance, and comments like the one above will continue to permeate the public debate about technology and learning in this century and the next.

image: "June 19th, 2009". Flickr user: crookedteethhh .

Missouri District Educator's Conference Day 2 Take-a-way.

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:18:14 PST

Pretty seamless day. A bit hectic. A little running. A little last minute stuff, but over all it was a great day.

Cindy Lane did an awesome job with her Google Tools Presentation. I learned some of the little things that just makes Google an awesome partner for teachers (Show Options is my friend!). Besides her sectional, I enjoyed just hanging out with her at lunch and swapping stories and sites.

The Technology Open House, I've decided, was a success! After spending forty-five minutes with a teacher getting the Bible on his Blackberry, I feel pretty good. Especially since I don't have a

Blackberry and don't have a Bible app on my phone.

A lot of great questions came our way from colleagues: What firewall do you use? How do you handle content filtering? What websites can I use with my first graders with an LCD projector in my room! We also spent time talking with an administrator or two about how they can incorporate connected learning into their own professional life.

I've also spent more time thinking about value. The more I think about it, the more convinced I become that teachers need to find personal value in their own learning, before we can expect them embrace self-learning using technology. That sounds backwards...seeing is how they are teachers...but old habits die hard.

Looking forward to our virtual keynote with Will Richardson tomorrow morning. We'll see how well that will be received. There will likely be some skeptical listeners, but we are hoping that some ears and minds will be open to confront the issues facing 21st century education!

You can lead a horse to water....

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:08:02 PST

I love the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." It's probably the most appropriate saying for professional development as well. There is no way you can make a teacher want to learn. If they don't want to, then they don't want to! But I do wonder if there is a way to help make them "thirsty" enough to recognize a nice cool "drink" when it's placed in front of them?

Honestly speaking, I'm not exactly sure how to do that! Well, that's not totally true. I do find myself agreeing with Will Richardson's last blog post at Weblog-ed on this point. Will suggests that the best way to engage teachers in learning is to encourage them to first be selfish learners. Selfish not in terms of ignoring the needs of others, but rather, first encouraging them to use tools to learn about something that is of maximum value for them.

In my previous post, I talked about how value needs to be created and engaged before any learning takes place. Inevitabley if you as a teacher do not find value in learning a new skill, then frankly you won't extend the effort needed to learn it. There is way too much other stuff going on to waste time learning something that has no value. But if a teacher can find value (in this case value would be attained by engaging teachers in something non-profession related) that they will begin to use those personal tools in the professional realm as well.

So again, how can you do this?

Besides making learning completely personalized, which I believe to be the best option, I envision removing the stuffines of a traditional learning environment and replacing it with a more relaxed gathering place.

At the upcoming Missouri District Teacher's Conference, which by the way is going to be a drastic departure for us in terms of what we've done before, we are organizing a kind of technology information booth. I got the idea from the work that Amy Vejraska (and other colleagues...sorry I don't remember names) did at the Midwest Educational Technology Conference last year. It seemed like a great idea, so we are going to give it a shot!

The information booth with be staffed with knowlegable teachers who can answer questions about wikis, blogs, Delicious, Diigo, Twitter, Second Life...you name it! Our hope is that the non-threatening, "Hey, come check us out" atmosphere, that most teachers will let down their guard and feel comfortable enough to ask questions, share ideas, or try out some different tools.

Will that help create value? I don't know, but we hope that the relaxed atmosphere will help break down any barriers to potentially finding out if something can have value for them.

Personalized and Non-threatening...I guess you've got to start somewhere!

Image "Thirsty Horse" by Flickr user: [alxandr]

The "Value" of Learning

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:09:20 PDT

The original title I had for the blog was, "Are you a Learner?" I could hear in the back of my mind Lisa Durff screaming...."YES!" For I know no better advocate for teacher learning than she! Thanks for your passion my co-learning friend.

Being a learner I think is one of the first callings an educator has. How can you stand if front of a class and exalt the virtue of life long learning when you yourself don't find value in learning?

I don't know, maybe you think you are too old? Maybe you think it's too hard? Maybe you find the tools too intimidating? I mean, really, what did you think teaching was going to be like?What ever the excuse, I think it boils down to do you find value in learning? Of course on this blog I'm speaking specifically about teachers learning the art of implementing digital tools into the educational process. For me, teacher technology use is a life long learning issue.

Recently, I've been thinking more about how to motivate teachers to want to utilize more technology tools in the classroom. Motivation I believe is the key to successful integration and implementation. I often run into teachers whom I am tasked with helping, who do not have the motivation to want to learn new things. I'm nearly convinced that being a good technology coordinator is like being a good used car salesman. If I could just "sell" you on why this tool would be good for you to use, or why this teaching strategy is better than the one you've been utilizing for the past 25 years, or why it's important to engage children in a "digital" process along side the hands-on process. Then they would get it! You've got to sell it!

Can I make someone find value in the learning of new skills? I partially agree with Dennis Grice's twitter post today, "To accept something as valuable depends on one's trust in the authority & reliability of the source." Maybe the teachers we try to lead frankly just don't trust us! I would hope that's not the case, but it could very well be.

Do some people not choose to engage in ongoing learning because they don't have "an attitude or openness" to learning new things, as put by Dave Black in a like-minded tweet?

For what ever the reason, I'm more and more convinced that learning is tied tightly to the concept of value. If you don't value it, you won't engage or learn it.

So...how then, as someone who says he takes professional development seriously, do I help my staff "value" the technology tools available to them? How do I reach the teacher at the conference sectional who comes up to me after the presentation and says, "that was all well in good, but....(insert obstacle or excuse here)?" Is it my job to sell life long learning to teachers? How do you convince someone that technology tools have changed education....dare I say, have changed learning forever!

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that I find a critical and deep connection between a teacher's technology adoption and their view of life long learning. Is that too simplistic?

Image: "It is the work." fromFlickr user shareski

Re-thinking Conferences

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:03:04 PDT

As a part of the Missouri District Educator's Conference planning committee, it has been a joy to work with some folks who are willing to take risks! Many conversations, ranging from what we want our conference to look like, to changing formats, changing locations, and even changing the number of days the conference convenes, where all important as we decided the future direction of our District's professional development opportunity.

The thing that is most clear coming out of our planning process is that our conferences need to change! No longer can we decide to end sectionals early on a Monday so teachers can go shopping at the outlet malls. Especially if this is the only professional development opportunity they have all year!

We purposely chose to follow the lead of other successful gatherings: This year a major part of our time is going to be a Learning Galleria (like poster-board sessions). We have wonderfully talented teachers in the Missouri District, but most of them would never present for an hour in front of their peers. But if we could encourage them to be at a table with hand-outs and have conversations about their projects or units, they would be more than willing to do that.

This year we are also culling our sectional load down to six. We believe we have assembled six wonderfully talented presenters that we want as many of our MO District teachers to be engaged with. The most exciting part, at least for me, is that we will get to enjoy a virtual presentation from Will Richards entitled "A Web of Connections."

God willing, this will be a powerful experience for everyone involved. We pray that the change in format will be well received the greeted with open minds.

Below is a video that I stumbled upon several months ago about re-thinking conferences and how we can better engage teachers in a more meaningful learning process. I wish we could have implemented more of their ideas this year, but as Bill Murray repeated over and over again in the movie "What About Bob," it's about "Baby Steps!"

Conference Logo "By All Means" created by Jon Fiala and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share-Alike license.

Why do YOU blog?

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 22:06:38 PDT

So...Why do you write a blog?

Why do I blog?
(As a side note, can you really call yourself a "blogger" if your average posting rate is about one every two months? Not sure, but I'm hoping YES :-)

So why do I blog?

Do I really want people to read what I write? Most definitely, but not for narcissistic reasons. For with increased readership and recognition comes responsibility for more posts, and with more posts comes more time needed for blogging. Frankly, I am having trouble making use of the time I've got now.

The reason I bring this up, is that I'm struggling with how to frame my student's blog work for this coming school year. In the past, each student has had a blog and they were in charge of writing articles that correlated to assignments and occasionally write a post about something of self interest. It was really just a form of blogging direction instruction? So how do we blog then?

After reading "The Element" by Ken Robinson, I recognize the importance of letting students write about their passion. I hear folks like Will Richardson talk about allowing kids to be surrounded with other folks who are passionate about the similar things and forming networks. So how can I encourage my students to write about those things that they are passionate about while still providing a format for classroom reflection? This is my struggle!

Our students use Classblogmeister as our blogging engine and the kids don't seem to get many comments on their writing (With the exception of Lisa Durff's class in Maryland!). It is the comments that I know encourage kids to keep writing, after all, it's nice to know you are writing FOR someone else and not just the teacher.

What are your thoughts???

I think maybe we will have students keep a blog of personal interest this year and just have them write about things they know and love. It's nicer to read something when it is engaging and written because someone wanted to, not because they had to. That's not to say that there won't be the occasional blogging "assignment," but at least it won't be the blogs ultimate purpose.

Also, my thinking is that student comments will be more worthwhile and of higher quality because they are commenting about things of interest to them as well.

Does this mean that I'm going to change my blog because I don't get any affirming comments? :-) Nope, like I said before, I write to process....but it IS nice to receive a comment every now and again.

That just means I've got to start reading and commenting more on other people's stuff. After all, community is an "All Way" street, not just one way!

(image: "blog" by inju)

Changing the teacher or changing the teaching?

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 21:43:09 PDT

I'm sure that the answer to the question posed in the title is a false dichotomy, because you can't really do one without the other. It does make for an interesting discussion starter though!

I was confronted with this questions while doing some SMARTBoard tutoring this week. We were walking through the hows of using the SMARTBoard when it became apparent that my colleague's teaching wasn't going to change. The addition of a new tool was the only thing that was going to be new. Was the fact that students could now underline words during direct instruction make them more engaged learners?

So at what point do you stop the learning with your peers and really have the discussion about adopting a new teaching pedagogy. I know I don't have to be the smartest person in the classroom when it comes to content, but I had better be the smartest person in the room when it comes to leading, facilitating, and mentoring colleague and student learners. This forces me to be the pedagogy expert, not the knowledge expert and it is this "expertise" that makes us teachers...and that is new for some people, including ME! It's like learning how to teach all over again. It's times like this where I wish I wouldn't have had Ed. Psych. my freshman year!

This idea of change, as it relates to the practice of teaching, is going to have to be a common thread in all of the professional development I take part in, either as a leader or learner.

I have the opportunity to provide some in-service for a very small Lutheran school for a half-day the last Monday in July. They are getting a laptop cart and want to know if I can work with their staff and teach them "what to do with the computers." Not sure how much I can get done in 3 hours? They want me to teach them tools, but I wonder if the time should be spent working through teaching strategies? There is not enough time to do both?

The one thing I can NOT do, is teach them the same old way. Maybe modeling effective strategies will be enough? Can I differentiate enough to make the three hours worth while or will the old "spray and pray" strategy have to do for this one time meeting? Who knows how many of their minds will even be open to a new teaching paradigm with new tools?

Along these lines, I ran across an article from Educause entitled: "The Three-E Strategy for Overcoming Resistance to Technological Change." It does an awesome job of addressing the introduction of new technologies to the 92% of technology users who really need to be convinced!

Well, I don't really know where I'm going with this blog, but to say that I'm learning that being a teacher is getting harder and not easier. The rules and tools have changed so much that you can't just sit idle anymore and not be part of the change.

These are interesting times to be a teacher!

Just a little time in Second Life

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:24:27 PDT

Spent a little bit of time in Second Life tonight. That's me in the picture getting my "groove thang on" at a new Christian dance call The Fire Escape (The link is a landmark in Second Life, so you'll need an account to check it out).

I'm really impressed with how the Christian community is starting to latch on to virtual worlds. I actually went into SL this evening to join a prayer meeting in progress (thanks to Lisa Durff for the heads up).

I know joining a prayer meeting in a virtual world doesn't sound exciting, but it was! Each person had an opportunity to offer up prayer, praise, and thanks to God, it was very cool and done in a very reverant manner. I know Lutherans tend not to pray with folks from other denominations for fear of being synchronistic, but it was pretty cool to pray with the other 25 or so people there (where ever "there" really was...we may have been under water, I can't be sure).

This is just my own personal observation, but there don't seem to be a lot of faith growing communities on the Internet (that I've noticed), so when you run across them they really cause you take notice. It was awesome tonight to be able to join with other folks who share a passion for Jesus and fully trust in the work he has completed for your behalf. The LCMS Ablaze! ministry team should consider how they can be more open and receptive to online communities like Second Life or Facebook.

I really didn't have the time to spend just hanging around in SL tonight, but it was worth it! I've been thinking the past couple of days about some of the observations Clay Shirky makes in his book Here Comes Everybody about the power of latent groups. I do think Christians are a latent group, except on Sunday mornings of course, and that for the most part, we are still relatively uncoordinated on the Internet.

It was nice to be organized for an evening!

Textual Harrassment--An addition to the D.C. Curriculum

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 14:40:42 PST

It is vitally important as 21st century teachers that we engage our students in their understanding of digital citizenship! For example, getting students to think about their online posting habits. Am I posting something that is Legal, Appropriate, Responsible, and Kind (L.A.R.K)? Am I protecting myself, my computer, and my network by "thinking before I click?" As a Christian, can I Google myself and find a positive digital footprint?

These are only a few important concepts, but right now I'm struggling with how to handle the subject of online sexual behaviors?

Thanks to the EdtechTalk community for pointing me in the direction of this article from Slate on"Textual Misconduct." The number of students constantly harassing each other with texts, as well as requests for nude pictures, is on the rise. The article has me struggling with at what age level does this topic fit. Unfortunately, you'll get as many different answers as their are people, but I think the question is still legitimate.

I have broached the subject of "textual harassment" and sending inappropriate phone pictures with 6th-8th grades at school, but have not gone into much detail. So far we've framed the entire conversation around how to support a friend who might be having these issues.

I'm definitely not naive enough to think that Lutheran School students wouldn't do something as sinister as take a nude photo of themselves and send it to a boyfriend or girlfriend over a cell phone, but I'm not sure that our community is ready to have an "open and honest" discussion about it. Especially with parents decrying the evils of this new technology and it's potential to "poison the minds of our kids."

I have used the site Thatsnotcool.com, but it seems to have greater us as an individual resource for teens rather than one for the classroom (Just a heads up about the alternative life-style resources under that "need help" section. That may be a point of concern for some communities).

The balancing act that is played out in our classrooms, as it relates to student use of technology and the appropriateness of content, seems unbearable at times. As I said before, we don't want to be so naive as to think that inappropriate use doesn't happen (We've had our share of students barraging each other with texts about "going out" with other students), but at the same time we don't want to over expose them either. Is it better for students to learn about the ugliness of technology use sooner rather than later? Will they be better equipped handle situations or are they better off trying to process a request for a nude cellphone picture when it happens? What of the voices that echo our children are "growing up" too soon? Is Pandora already out of the box?

When demoing the ThatsNotCool site to our 6th-8th graders, much to my surprise, the more mature audience wound up being the 6th graders. Sure you got the occasional, "that's gross!" "Why would anyone do that?" But they were attentive, engaged, and seemed to GET IT! Instincts would tell me that the 8th graders, our more mature group (sarcasm intended), would be the target audience, but I'm not so sure.

Maybe the answer is that there is not "right time" to have these conversations? The right time for my kids, may not be the right time for your kids! But we do know that there needs to be a time. The conversation needs to be had, and I'm not sure it's taking place at home. At least yet!

So until then, how have you introduced these conversations? Are you scared? Are the stakes too high not to?

We live in interesting times.

Generations in Change--Phil Bruno

noreply@blogger.com (TechILC) — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 08:26:32 PST

LESA Keynote