The Power of Educational Technology

Edcamp Boston Revelations and Reflections

2012-04-30T16:09:00.005-04:00

Thanks to Lillie Marshall for this great Picture!

Yesterday I was privileged to help organize, along with Dan Callahan, Laura D'elia, Tracy Sokalosky and Karen Janowski, the second annual edCamp Boston. It was a great day! We had a record attendance of over 200 educators and, by all accounts, it was a great success. Here are some of the things I took away with me.

About Edcamps:
This is my second time organizing edcamp Boston, but over the last few years I have organized 5 other unconferences. What strikes me the most about organizing these events is how easy it is to do. The sponsorship and food parts take work, but other than that, you build a schedule and the participants do the work. Really! I know many of us say this, but it really is true. Once the conference gets going, there isn't much that we have to do.

Glenn and Matt teach us about Edmodo

My favorite example of this was the Edmodo session yesterday where the presenter didn't show up. Everyone in the room looked at me. I am an organizer and I got to rock the awesome red organizer shirt, but I don't know anything about Edmodo. So I did what we edcamp organizers do best, I turned the question back to the room. Does anyone here know something about Edmodo. And two wonderful participants stepped up, Glenn Blakely and Matt Cronin, and did a great job of explaining this tool. Which by the way I'm going to try with my 7th graders tomorrow.

I also discovered a new way to learn at an unconference. Rather than posting a session about something I know about and want to share, I posted sessions about something I want to learn about and discuss. I turned edcampBoston into edcampLiz. Fortunately for me, there were lots of smart folks there who could teach me what I wanted to learn.

Which right now is about iPads. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I am pretty obsessed with iPads right now. I want to thank everyone at the conference who helped push my learning and thinking on this topic. Here is what I came away with.

About iPads and...

Professional Development:

I got a lot of suggestions about how to roll iPads out to my faculty. My favorite suggestion came from Sarah Edson. She suggested assigning my faculty some games to play on the iPad. I love the idea. I think I'm going to ask folks to sign up for either Words with Friends or, my new obsession, Draw Something. We will share our usernames and I will encourage folks to play at least one game with one other colleague over the summer. Not only will this teach iPad skills, but it is a good team building and connecting tool as well.

Apps:
I got some great App suggestions yesterday. By far my favorite is Reflection, a Mac App which acts like an Apple TV, allowing you to mirror your iPad on your laptop. You can try it for free for 20 minutes, or pay 14.00 to use it. I followed up about a site license and they offered me 60 licenses at $8 each. That is a lot cheaper than an Apple TV and it works (We have been having difficulty getting the Apple TV to work at my school.)!

Another great suggestion is the website, iPad as... put together by Tom Daccord and his edtechteacher team. They have compiled a list of Apps based on learning goals. Each App has a nice description. A wonderful resource for tools.

Other Apps I walked away with include Zite, a tool for aggregating all of your news feeds into categories, Pocket, a tool for saving websites to read later, and Logmein, a free tool to use your iPad as a wireless remote for your laptop.

Finally, and thanks if you are still reading this far into my post, I created an iPad Google Group to continue the conversation. If you are interested in discussing iPads, please join and share your thoughts and questions.

And of course I welcome your comments here. If you have rolled out iPads to your faculty and students, I would love to hear your suggestions on what are some good approaches for doing this.
Thanks in adavance!

Arguments for the iPad in Education

2012-03-24T16:20:00.000-04:00

As we continue to explore the possibility of becoming a 1:1 iPad school, I am starting to put together my arguments in favor of this adoption. Here are some of my thoughts so far. I would welcome your feedback on this document!

Why 1 to 1?
In a digital world where information on a multitude of subjects is both abundant and immediately available, students today must learn to effectively access, analyze, synthesize and integrate this information on a regular basis. By providing our students with immediate access to a digital tool, such as a laptop or a tablet, we provide them with the world at their finger-tips (literally). In a time when the ability to discover an answer is more important than the ability to memorize and regurgitate the answer, we must make those answers readily available to both our students and faculty. If we want a pedagogical shift, 1:1 access to a digital tool will help both to facilitate and to force this change to happen.

Why the iPad (and not a laptop)?
There are many reasons that the iPad makes the most sense as the best tool for our 1 to 1 transition. The low screen profile makes a huge difference in a Harkness/discussion classroom, retaining the intimacy of the classroom conversation without the distraction of a laptop screen. The portability and tablet format allow the iPad to double as an e-reader for textbooks. This will lighten student backpacks and lower their textbook costs. Finally, in addition to internet access, iPad education Apps provide new and engaging ways for students to learn and understand complex concepts.

Why the iPad (and not a different tablet or a bring your own device model)?
Given that we are an Apple school, the iPad makes the most sense for us as an institution. Our faculty are comfortable with the MacOS and many already use iPhones and iPods. Maintaining a single platform for all students will make for the smoothest transition to 1 to 1 by giving all students access to the same tools, books and Apps.

What about the iPad 3 (or 4 or 5...)?
At this time the additional features of the iPad3 are not meaningful enough for us to upgrade and the new lower price of the iPad2 make it even more attractive and accessible to us. As newer models of the iPad are released, we will have to consider the lowest version when we make our App and book choices. If we look at the iPhone as a model, as each new iPhone was released, the newest Apps and Operating system continued to function on older models. Just as we replace our faculty laptops every 3 years, we will need to consider a replacement schedule for our iPads. Students should be able to make it through grades 7-12 with no more than 2 iPad purchases.

Will students and faculty continue to need access to a laptop or desktop computer?At this time faculty will definitely continue to need laptops or desktops for word processing, printing and more complex computing tasks. For some students the iPad may be sufficient for their needs, but many will continue to need access to a computer.

Photo Credit: A Bit of How I Study on Flickr by wwward0

From Dream to Reality - Making Things Happen

2012-03-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

EdcampIS Organizers Introduction

I just returned from Seattle where I helped to run edcampIS, an unconference for independent school educators following the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference. If you read my blog or know me, you know all about this. You know that I have been running unconferences for years. You know that I love them. And, I loved this one just as much as the rest. The day went wonderfully. I had conversations about iPads, about assessment, about parent education and much more. I have lots of notes and lots of ideas of things I want to try, change and do.

EdcampIS Session Board

However, my biggest take-away from this entire experience was that it ACTUALLY HAPPENED! I'm still just not over that. I had an idea, I shared it with my PLN, people stepped up (amazing people) and my idea became a reality. Over the years I have had lots and lots and lots of ideas, but this is the first time I've ever attempted something this big and had it come to fruition. I've been talking about the power of the network for a long time (blah, blah, blah), but I'm not sure I really believed it until now.

Delicious Food!

I lobbed an idea onto the interwebs and Greg Bamford, Anthony McGrann and Jac de Haan caught it and ran with it. Ben Lee opened The Northwest School to us, providing us a beautiful space, coffee, delicious food and a willingness to allow a group of strangers invade his school. Kim Sivick was there in the home stretch to lend her support.

EdcampIS Participants

Finally, there were all of the people who showed up to make the conference happen. Many of whom had never been to an edcamp or an unconference, yet were willing to open them selves up to the possibilities. I've never seen a session board fill so quickly. I hope we can continue this experience at NAISAC13 in Philly!

Now it is time to turn my attention to edcampBoston. I hope to see you there, April 28th Microsoft NERD center, Cambridge MA. Be there or be a rhombus.

Thank you also to Rachel Went-Chaney for all of her wonderful photographs of the event.

On my way to NAISAC12 and edcampIS...

2012-02-29T13:39:00.000-05:00

if the snow doesn't stop me. This would be the one storm of the entire winter, on the day I am flying to Seattle for two great conferences, the National Association of Independent Schools Annual Conference (NAISAC12) and the first Independent School edcamp (edcampIS). I'm looking forward to both, and hoping I get there tonight.

The theme of this year's NAISAC12 is "Innovation." That seems to be the buzz word of the year. I really like their sub-title: "imagine, invent, inspire, dream." Those are great verbs and I'm hoping to do all 4 out in Seattle.

Here are some of the sessions I'm excited about:

Disruptive Innovations: Lessons Learned from Mobile Learning Devices
How to Move Tradional Faculty Members to Innovation Using Their Strengths
Re-thinking Professional Development: Inspiring Meaningful Teacher Growth
Innovative Schools, Innovative Students
You Say Tomato, I say Tomahto: Just What Does Tech-Saavy Mean?
Measuring What We Value: 21st Century Assessment Tools

If nothing else the titles are great!

And then I head to the much anticipated (by me) edcampIS, a brain-child of mine last year, that is finally coming to fruition. It has been amazing to me to organize this conference from 3,000 miles away. It would not be happening if hadn’t been for Ben Lee and The Northwest School’s generous donation of their space, and local orgainzers, Jac de Haan, Anthony McGrann and Greg Bamford who have done all of the serious legwork on the ground in Seattle. I can't believe I have never met Jac or Greg in person. I feel like I know them so well!

I can't tell you what sessions I will attend at edcampIS, because they don't exist yet! That is one of the best parts about un-conferences, the spontaneous nature of the experience. Because we post our sessions on the day of the event, we have the opportunity to hear from people who might not have presented or been accepted to present at a typical conference (like me, who's NAISAC proposal was denied). I'm really looking forward to seeing what unfolds.

I just hope the snow holds off for little while longer!

Digital Ethics - Exploring how kids use Digital Media

2012-02-12T13:24:00.000-05:00

I attended an interesting workshop about digital ethics, given by Katie Davis, a youth and digital media scholar based at Harvard Project Zero. I am always searching for digital citizenship resources that acknowledge the positives of student use of social media and don't try to scare the pants off of kids. Katie presented a very interesting perspective and posed some great questions for discussion with students. Her work is part of the Good Work Project, where you can find an extensive unit for use with High School students. I'm hoping to work some of this into my curriculum next year.

I struggle with fitting this kind of instruction into our school day. We don't have a computer class built into our schedule. How are you teaching digital ethics? Do you have any good resources to share?

Educon 2.4 Reflections 2012

2012-01-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

Lisa & Liz Presenting at Educon 2.4

There is always so much to think about on the way home from Educon. And this year was no different. As I sit home unraveling my experience, I am feeling a mix of emotions. As always it was wonderful to see my old Educon friends and meet many new ones. I attended some interesting sessions, presented an Encienda (20 slides, 15 seconds per slide), and presented a session with Lisa Thumann.

Here are some of my take-aways.

Boy is this a heady experience! Educon lives in the brain. It is a conference of ideas and ideas and ideas. Each session tries to think positively about ways we can improve our educational system. When I leave the conference I often feel my head is going to explode. The next step is to take all of these swirling pieces of something in my brain and put them together to create an actionable step in my professional life. That is the biggest challenge.

Boy do I dislike panels. I finally came to the realization that I just don't like panels. It isn't the panelists, it isn't the setting, it isn't the topic, it is the structure itself. First of all, I'm not afraid to admit I have a short attention span. Listening to people talk, without being able to interact with them, is not my favorite type of learning. I can stand a lecture if it is well crafted with a story to tell and an interesting message. The problem with panels (for me) is that the topics jump all over the place. I often feel like the panelists are just vying to get their voices heard (as opposed to having something to say). There are occasionally bits of genius mixed in, but I find it hard to pay attention enough to catch them. This year I watched the Friday night panel in the overflow room (next year I might watch from Mace's crossing ;-). If I follow the Tweets, I might glean more than if I were in the room.

Boy does the Educon crowd use social media well. The aggregation of information through a single hashtag is brilliant. I know I can look back and learn from the sessions I couldn't attend. This level of comfort brings the technology the closest to "oxygen" than any conference I've been to.

Boy are there a lot of good teachers at Educon. Half of what I learn by attending sessions are pedagogical teaching methods and protocols that I can try in my classrooms. I don't just come away with ideas, I come away with methodologies that I can use to support learning (regardless of the content) with my students.

Boy have I heard a lot of this stuff before. I can't deny I'm getting a little jaded. Each year we talk about the same ideas - giving students more choice, students as teachers, problem based learning, innovation, 21st century learning, higher level thinking, blah blah blah blah blah.

Using the What if, and, and, and protocol introduced to me by David Jakes, What if Educon did the talking and the walking, and each one of us left with one concrete action that we could bring back to our schools, and we made a connection with one other person who promised to support us in that endeavor, and we publicly shared our progress on completing that action, and we came back each year and built on that action until all the little pieces made a big change? Wouldn't that be cool!

5 Things I Love about Educon

2012-01-22T16:40:00.002-05:00

At my first Educon 2008

This will be my fifth Educon, and over time, my relationship with this conference has changed, from the freshman excitement of meeting everyone for the first time at Educon 2.0, to the highly anticipated sophomore year, when I couldn't wait to go back and see everyone, to my junior year, where the the familiarity of a place I know well led me to give some Educon advice, and finally my last year as a senior attendee I shared a bit of my disillusionment. And even though I should perhaps have graduated, I'm still committed to this extraordinary conference.

Here are a few reasons I keep going back.

1. The People - For this reason alone I would keep going back. My Twitter network came alive at my first Educon and now it feels like a reunion every time I go back. There are people there I only see once or twice a year, with whom I have developed strong relationships. Every year I add more people to the list.

2. The Conversations - I can always count on having interesting conversations with people who are facing the same issues I am at their schools. In so many places I am ahead of the pack, doing things others have yet to try. Not so at Educon, where I can always find someone who is far ahead of me. I learn so much from those folks.

3. The SLA students - I am always impressed and inspired by the kids who help run this conference. They are an example to me of what students can accomplish if they are given the responsibility, trust and inspiration that The Science Leadership Academy provides for them.

4. The Challenge - Challenge comes in many forms at Educon, there are people who challenge your beliefs and ask tough questions. There are events that require meeting people you don't know (which can be scary at times). And this year I am challenging myself to do an Encienda Educon presentation, something I have never done before.

5. The Sessions - I guess it is ironic that the actual sessions are last on my list. I certainly have not forgotten them. I always enjoy both presenting and attending sessions with this community. There are som many great sessions to choose from, it can be difficult to choose one.

Liz and Lisa

And then there are the purely personal reasons. Hanging out with people I have grown to love, driving 3 blocks down the road when we should be walking, laughing at Chris Craft as he freezes his South Carolina tush off, following around "my conference wife" Lisa Thumann, eating some delicious Philly steak, catching up with Joyce Valenza, David Jakes, Alec Couros and so many more I can't name them all here.

I can't believe it is less than a week away. See y'all there!

My iPad Adventure

2012-01-17T15:22:00.000-05:00

First semester has just ended and I am finally taking a breath and a moment to blog. I know it has been forever. I've been in the thick of teaching 7th grade English and setting up an iPad pilot for our school. Both have been extremely time consuming. In this post, I'll focus on my iPad adventure and save my 7th grade English stories for another day.

The Plan:
We purchased 30 iPads this fall and have disseminated them to one faculty member in each department. In addition, we will be piloting 2 iPad classes starting in the second semester (next week). We have chosen a geometry class and an art history class for our pilots, primarily because those teachers volunteered to give it a go (and their class sizes worked with our numbers).

Figuring out the set up process and actually setting up the iPads has taken an enormous amount of time. We are using the Apple Store Volume Purchasing Program to pay for our Apps. In order for the school to own the Apps, I had to create separate Apple IDs for each of our faculty members and students. I also had to set up email addresses for each Apple ID and separate email addresses/Apple IDs for the VPP program. Getting my head around all of the steps in this process was exhausting. I think I have finally figured it out.

We also had to work out an iPad agreement and an iPad insurance plan for parents and students. Thanks to all of you who sent me prototypes. I used a little bit of everyone's agreements. Thanks especially to Patrick Larkin, principal of Burlington High School and to Scott Reisinger, headmaster of Bancroft School who have helped clear the path to make this easier for the rest of us.

My Progress
At this point all of piloting faculty members have received their iPads (right before winter break). I have met with them as a group once to show them how to purchase Apps. I am planning to meet with each of them one-on-one in the next two weeks and we are meeting as a group at the end of the month. I have to finish setting up student iPads this week and will hand them out next week at the start of the new semester.

The Future
It is hard to budget for a future iPad program when you aren't sure you really want one. The difficulty is that this is all based on the success of the program. It may be that we don't think iPads are right for us or there may be some newer technology that we think is even better. At this point I'm taking this journey one step at a time. I can't quite see the end of the road, but I'm confident each step will bring me closer.

Have you tried piloting iPads? Do you have any wisdom to share? Are you thinking of trying out your own pilot? I welcome your comments, questions, and suggestion!

5 Things I hate about the Kindle Fire

2011-11-19T19:36:00.000-05:00

I was ready to love it. I put my name on the list the day it was announced. I waited and waited. When it finally shipped, I tracked that shipment like a hawk. Then it arrived.

My school has recently decided to do an iPad pilot. We are deploying 30 iPads and budgeting for more next year. I thought the Kindle fire might just be a cheaper alternative. Well it's not and this is why.

1. Boy is it heavy! It is supposedly lighter than an iPad, but if you held one in each hand you wouldn't think so. It is shaped like a brick and feels like one too. I tried reading a book on it and my arms felt like falling off.

2. The App store is lame. I admit I am not used to an android device, but I looked for several apps that I use on my iPhone and my iPad and couldn't find them in the Kindle App store.

3. No fetch feature. There doesn't seem to be a way for the Fire to let you know when you have new mail or it is your turn to update your Words With Friends. You have to manually check for all updates. I also can't figure out how to add multiple e-mail accounts to the mail feature. Maybe that is just me being obtuse, but I have looked everywhere for a way to add an additional account.

4. Not so fast. I haven't noticed that the new "silk" browser is particularly fast. Supposedly it is super speedy. It isn't slow, but it doesn't seem much faster than my phone (and I have an iPhone 3GS).

5. It is neither here nor there. It is a smaller heavier feeling iPad and a bigger much heavier iPhone and an eReader with a lot of glare. If I want to type something, or check out some cool Apps, I'll use the iPad. If I want something small to check in on my email, my Twitter feed and my Words with Friends I will use my phone. If I want to read a book, I will use a traditional Kindle. I haven't figured out when or where I would use the Fire.

OK. I know I am privileged to have so many devices to choose from. I know it is a cheaper alternative to the iPad. I know the video streaming is cool. It just doesn't do it for me. And did I mention is is heavy like a brick?

I wanted to like it. I really did. It just doesn't live up. Do you have one? Do you agree? I'm interested in your opinion. Please let me know what you think.

P.S. My fall has been crazy at school so I haven't been blogging, but I have lots of things to share - some cool video projects and some iPad deployment advice, so stay tuned.

Marching Backward into the Future

2011-10-24T14:35:00.000-04:00

“We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

http://www.flickr.com/photos/derbaum/14504516/

- The Media is the Massage. An Inventory of Effects. McLuhan & Fiore. p74

Everything we look at is shaped by our experiences. We come from a 20th century perspective and it is incredibly difficult to imagine what the 21st century will bring. When I started teaching 20 years ago, could I have envisioned an iPod, a netbook, a Kindle? We had the beginnings of an Internet, but nothing like the global interactions of today. And yet it was my job to prepare those 6th graders for their future.

Those 6th graders are now about 32 years old. Do we feel the 32 year olds of today are not productive? Are they not capable of doing the jobs we need them to do? If I taught them to think and to write and to question and to explore, did I not prepare them for their future?

And what of my students of today? How are they prepared to meet their destiny? We live in this moment and our vision is shaped by what came before us. We can imagine what will be next, but all of of our imaginings are seen through the lens of our own histories. And each of us brings a different history to our predictions.

In the field of education there is much anxiety about the future. These anxieties are only compounded by the downturn in our economy. Is this because we didn’t prepare our students for what was to come? How can we make sure that our country will be led by a knowledgeable and capable workforce? Is technology the answer?

How do the innovators of today come up with these inventions? Where do they get the ideas that transform our world? Someone invented the iPod, the Kindle, the iPad. Where did they go to school? Who were their teachers? Did they march backward into the future or were they somehow turned around?

New York Times edtech article fails the test!

2011-09-04T18:22:00.000-04:00

The front page of today's New York Times boasted an article about the "failure" of technology in the classroom. Titled, In Classroom of the Future, Stagnant Scores , the article describes a school in Arizona where, despite a huge investment in technology, there hasn't been an increase in test scores.

The article is based on one school in one town in Arizona, hardly a statistically significant sample. Larry Cuban, an outspoken critic of technology in schools since the early 1990s, is quoted multiple times. Not one of the many experts in the field of educational technology, whom we know and love, was interviewed (or at least quoted) in the article. The only reason given for the failure of technology is a lack of increase in test scores in a district that already had high test scores. Finally, there was no test comparing the technology skills of students in this school to any other school in the state.

Clearly, I'm not thrilled with the article.
What did you think?

The Plus One Challenge!

2011-08-28T10:28:00.000-04:00

This summer my entire faculty read the book Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by Chip and Dan Heath. The book lays out some clear ideas for how to make change in an organization. The authors use a metaphor of an elephant, suggesting there are three things you need to do to affect behavior:

Direct the rider: Be very clear about what you want people to do, make it as simple and concrete as possible.
Motivate the elephant: Appeal to the heartstrings and the emotions. Give vivid examples of why people need to change.
Shape the path: Make it as easy as possible for people to complete the challenge. Figure out what is getting in the way and try to remove obstacles.

On Friday I presented the "Plus One Challenge: to my faculty:

Direct the rider: Add one technology project to your repertoire this year. If you do zero right now, do one, if you do two, do three etc. It could be anything. You could do the same thing twice. Just add one.
Motivate the elephant: We need to keep up with our peer schools. We can't be left behind.
Shape the path: I will make this as easy for you as possible. I will meet with every member of the faculty by the end of the first semester to see what you are doing and how I can help.

So there you have it. I'm excited to start a new year and see what happens. I hope it works!

Image Soure: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xverges/5276822875/

Another Education Unconference. Don't miss it!

2011-07-13T11:10:00.000-04:00

On Monday, July 25th Lisa Thumann and I are facilitating our 4th Edubloggercon Unconference. It will be held at the Park Plaza Hotel, thanks to the generosity of Alan November, from 9:00am to 5:00pm. Come all day or just for part of it. (If you want to help organize the day, please come by at 8:00).

If you haven't been to an unconference, you should really check it out. We design our own learning based on our own interests. It is some of the best professional development you can get, and it is completely free!

Our attending list is looking a bit sparse this year. If you know you are coming please add yourself to the list. We know we will have a great day, no matter the size of the group, but it helps to have an idea about who is coming.

Last, but not least, Lisa and I have decided to do 5 minute "ignite" presentations. We are hoping that 3 more people will join us in this endeavor. Ignite presentations are 5 minutes long, using 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. Check out some examples here. If you are interested in trying this out please contact Lisa (lisa dot thumann@gmail dot com) or me (lizbdavis @ gmail dot com) to reserve your spot and find out when your slides are due.

I look forward to seeing you on the 25th!

Edubloggercon East 2010

Teens With Cancer

2011-06-30T16:06:00.000-04:00

A student at my school was diagnosed with cancer last year. He has just started a blog and wrote to me a few weeks ago to ask if I could give him advice on how to get more readers. I suggested that one of the ways would be for me to share a link to his blog with my learning network.
With his permission, I encourage you to check out Jacob's Teens With Cancer blog. Please share the link with others (especially any kids you might know with cancer) and leave him a comment. I know he would appreciate it.

Here is the advice I gave him about publicizing his blog.

1. First, if it is ok with you, I will share your blog on Twitter and on my blog. But please let me know. I want to make sure it is ok with you before I start sharing your blog URL.

2. Take the ads off your blog and don't push too many products. You want to make sure people take you seriously (especially when you are trying to build a following) and if you have too many ads or if you start promoting products people may get suspicious about your motives.

3. Find other bloggers who are writing about cancer, even if they aren't teenagers and start a blogroll on your blog with links back to their blogs. If you link to other bloggers and comment on their blogs or write about their posts that is the best way to get them to reciprocate and start adding you to their blogrolls which is a way to build a following from their readers. Alltop,Google Blog search, and Technorati are all good blog search engines.

4. Start a Twitter account and search Twitter for people writing about Cancer. Twitter is probably one of the best blog promotion tools you can use. There are a few ways to find similar people to follow on Twitter. Search Twitter for key words that relate to you and then follow the people that use that keyword. Wefollow and Twellow are two good Twitter search engines. When you create your Twitter account make sure you don't protect your updates and you include information about your cancer in your bio.

5. Set up a Google Analytics or a Statcounter account to see who is reading your blog and who is linking to your blog.

Predicting the Future with Marshall McLuhan

2011-05-22T10:23:00.000-04:00

I just finished reading The Medium is the Massage. An Inventory of Effects by Marshall McLuhan and Quentin Fiore. Published in 1967, it is a prescient work, predicting with amazing accuracy the effects of technology on our lives. Here are a few quotes from the book that particularly struck me:

What does it mean that we have been saying these things for 43 years?

"Our 'Age of Anxiety' is in great part the result of trying to do today's job with yesterday's tools - with yesterday's concepts"

"Character no longer is shaped by only two earnest, fumbling experts. Now all the world's a sage."

"Ours is a brand-new world of allatonceness. 'Time' has ceased, 'space' has vanished. We now live in a global village... a simultaneous happening."

"The circuited city of the future will not be the huge hunk of concentrated real estate created by the railway. It will take on a totally new meaning under conditions of very rapid movement. It will be an information megalopolis."

"In the name of 'progress,' our official culture is striving to force the new media to do the work of the old."

"Education must shift from instruction, from imposing of stencils, to discovery - to probing and exploration and to the recognition of the language of forms."

Results of my BYO Laptop Survey

2011-05-16T09:33:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who participated in my survey. I greatly appreciate your input. Here is a link to the results (I have removed email addresses). You can also see the results embedded below. Scroll to the right and down to see more responses.

Help Please...

2011-05-14T10:24:00.000-04:00

EdCamp Boston Reflections

2011-05-11T20:32:00.000-04:00

It was a great day. Over 100 educators came together to create and consume their own learning. I guess what is most amazing to me is that it wasn't amazing to me. I'm not surprised it was a great day. I wasn't nervous that it wouldn't go well and I had no reason to be. We had an amazing team of organizers, fabulous and generous sponsors and an enthusiastic crowd of participants.

The bottom line is the success of the conference is in the hands of the people that attend. And the people who attended Edcamp Boston did so because they wanted to give up a Saturday to learn. There were no PDPs, no one forced them or made them go. They went because they wanted to. With a crowd like that, it was sure to be a great day.

I attended my first unconference in 2007 at the first Edubloggercon at NECC in Atlanta. I had never experienced a group of educators making their own professional development. It was empowering and engaging. I was so inspired that I brought edubloggercon to Boston thanks to Alan November who hosted our first unconference in 2008. Lisa Thumann and I continue to organize Edubloggercon, but our event is much smaller compared to edcamp.

Edcamp Boston was my first experience organizing a much bigger event. But at it's core it was a great day of learning and that is what is so great about unconferences. There isn't a keynote speaker, no one gets paid to do what they do, we volunteer because we believe in the experience.

I want to thank Dan, Greg, Karen, Larry, Laura, & Steve for all that they did to make this a success. It was wonderful to work with all of you and I look forward to doing this again next year.

If you loved Edcamp Boston or if you missed it, you aren't too late. Check out these upcoming unconferences:

Plus I'm working on organizing an Independent School Unconference following NAIS in Seattle in February. Stay tuned for more information about that and let me know if you would like to be part of that organizing team.

Semantics

2011-05-10T13:10:00.000-04:00

For the month of May I signed up to do 31 classes of yoga in 31 days at a studio very near my house. Thus far I have completed 10 classes in the last 10 days. This may explain all of these yoga related posts.

There is a pose in yoga where you lay on your back and grab on to your feet. Most teachers call this "happy baby." One of my teachers calls it "dead bug." Both can describe what it looks like to be in this pose, however, I would much rather be the former than the latter. Words matter!

by Donovan & Meggin Eastman

I may soon have to change the name of this blog to The Power of Yoga...

Making Progress

2011-05-06T09:38:00.000-04:00

by dreambird

I started doing yoga almost one year ago. This week I've been noticing the little bits of progress I have made in my practice. They are very little bits, but I'm trying to take note of each one and not take them for granted. I can now touch my toes, only with my finger tips, but that is more than I could do before. I still can't do a wheel (back bend) or a headstand. For me, touching my toes with my finger tips is real progress.

Progress is the key to assessment. Where you start is as important as where you finish. Hyperfocus on the end goal misses the distance of the journey in between. As the school year comes to a close, take a moment and look back to see how far you and your students have come.

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali

2011-04-21T10:33:00.000-04:00

I blogged a while back about organizing a faculty poetry festival. Well, it happened in the middle of March and was a lot of fun. I recited the Poem, "What Teachers Make, or Objection Overruled, or If things don't work out, you can always go to law school" By Taylor Mali It was a great choice of poem. You can watch my recitation here:

Dare some mighty things...

2011-04-13T08:41:00.019-04:00

Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat. - Theodore Roosevelt

I downloaded a motivational quote app on my iPhone. It might be silly, but things like this do keep me going. It has been a rough winter and a slow wet spring. I'll take my motivation anywhere I can find it.

I have written about failure before. I do really believe that we have to get over our fears of failing. These fears stop us from asking questions, from trying things out, from testing new waters and ultimately from reaching success.

As I get back into my rowing and coaching I tread constantly on the verge of failure. My stroke is far from perfect and the boat I am driving and coaching sometimes heads precariously too close to shore.

In my professional life, I feel I have been sitting in the gray twilight of safety. As the sun shines (hopefully it will soon) I am planning to push myself a little closer to the edge, to dare some mighty things this spring. I don't yet know what they will be, but just writing this down will hopefully help me to try something new. I hope you will too.

by aresauburn

(I used http://imagecodr.org/ to cite this image)

Who are you? Who are you really?

2011-04-11T11:30:00.001-04:00

Every year, twice a year, our students participate in a speech contest. Six boys are chosen to read an original 5 minute speech to the entire school. This morning one of the boys spoke about an interview at a local grocery store where the first question the manager asked him was "Who are you? Who are you really?" Zach was taken aback by the question and struggled at first to answer it. He eventually came up with a response worthy of being hired, but the question has been nagging at him ever since.

Who am I? Who am I really? How often do we ask ourselves these question? How often do we ask our student's this question? Should we have a ready answer? Should they?

I am an educator, a technology user, a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a mentor, a coach, an athlete, a dancer, a reader, a writer, a searcher, a thinker, a film maker, a leader, a sharer, an advocate, a talker, a listener and so much more.

In the end, Zach felt that who we are changes so constantly, that a better question is "Who do you want to be?"

Who are you? Who are you really? Who do you want to be?

Starting the week on a philosophical note...

P.S. You can see the conclusion of Zach's speech here.

Taking off the kid gloves... What do you think?

2011-04-02T13:40:00.000-04:00

I am about to finish my third year at Belmont Hill School. It has been a great and productive three years. I do see that the glass is more than half full, but right now I'm also looking at the part that is empty. Belmont Hill is an amazing place with a motivated and talented faculty. I've spent the last three years getting to know everyone and building trust. I've worked with the most technology enthusiastic and even had success with some of my more resistant colleagues. But there is still so much to do.

The thing is, I've done three years in one place before. I've come in and shaken things up. I've won over the naysayers. But I've never stayed for the fourth year. The next steps are new to me. Today I've been thinking that this is the time for the kid gloves have to come off. I have to start pushing us just that much harder to the bigger changes, the places where we have to give some things up to move ahead.

At the end of the year I always give a presentation to the faculty. In the past my presentations have been in praise of all that we have done over the last year. I'm starting to think that this year I might do this differently. We have accomplished a lot this year, but I might need to throw down a challenge and force people to face up to where we need to go.

What do you all think? Is this too harsh? Should I save this for the fall? Or would it be better to get people thinking as they start their summer? I would love some advice on this one. Let me know what you think.

Thanks in advance!

Stop Beating up on Teachers!

2011-03-29T19:38:00.000-04:00

It doesn't help our children!

I'm so tired of being kicked around in the media, by politicians and just by random people who think they know something about education. Everyone thinks because they went to school, they know something about teaching. If you go to a concert, does that mean you know how to play an instrument? If you go to a play, does that mean you know how to act? As a teacher, I also try to be a learner, but it isn't quite as easy to go the other way. A lot goes on behind the scenes.

I started my education career in 1993 as a sixth grade teacher in a suburban public school. I did that for 7 years. Since then I have worked with inner city girls for a non profit educational research center, traveled the country doing technology professional development for an educational software company, written and edited for a textbook developer, went back into public schools (K-12) as a technology integration specialist, and for the last three years I have worked in a private school as the Director of Academic Technology. I've learned a lot about education.

Here are a few things I know about teachers.

1. We don't do it for the money - After almost 20 years in the field, with an Ivy league undergraduate degree, a Master's degree plus 60 additional graduate credits, I still make less money than a first year associate at a major law firm (in Boston).

2. We work really hard all year long - We stand on our feet for most of the day, get limited bathroom breaks, have rare access to a computer or phone, are exposed to a lot of daily noise and energy, have to be "on" for many hours in a row and take a lot of work home with us every night. Yes we get a lot of vacation time, but we need it desperately!

3. We work best when we collaborate - We need to give incentives to the great teachers to share their knowledge and expertise, so that all students benefit. Merit pay makes no sense if it pits teachers against each other. New teachers learn from experienced teachers. If we make teachers competitive, children suffer.

4. Unions aren't the problem - It's the evaluation and professional development systems that matter. Administrations and parental involvement make a huge difference. There are plenty of districts without unions that suffer from low achievement and plenty of districts with strong unions that turn out fabulously educated kis.

5. Teachers need your respect - If you keep bashing teachers, no one is going to want to become one! Why should our students respect us, if no one else does?

I've been so frustrated lately. I just had to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening!

What do you know about teachers?