Critical Thinker

Thinkfinity: Do you know of some Thinkfinity Resources for Mythology

2011-08-09T22:19:00.000-04:00

I posted this inquiry on Thinkfinity and received a fantastic response:

Thinkfinity: Do you know of some Thinkfinity...

Another Cool Tool

2011-08-05T10:56:00.000-04:00

WebDocs: http://www.webdoc.com/documents/C4E00402-4630-0001-D6ED-2A40E46BC4F0. I created one in a few minutes. It is similar to Glogster, but I think it is easier to use.

New Tool for Students: Storybird

2011-08-05T10:28:00.002-04:00

I just found a new tool for students--Storybird. Students create narrative short stories based on a visual and collaborate on the story with friends. I have not yet begun to use the tool, but you should check out the cool stories posted by students. I think the key here is "students" are the creators. I have not had time to explore, but it appears to cater to K-8.

A new literacy tool for a new generation

"Storybirds are short, art-inspired stories that are curiously fun to make, share, and read. Teachers love them because they inspire their most reluctant writers and readers and reward their most adventurous. Kids adore them because they feel empowered by the tools and supported by the social feedback."

Reflections on the International Summit on the Teaching Profession | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

2011-08-03T23:24:00.000-04:00

The key themes that emerged from the March 2011 international summitt on the teaching profession:

Reflections on the International Summit on the Teaching Profession | LFA: Join The Conversation - Public School Insights

In countries with high performing students as measured by the PISA tests, the teaching profession is held in high esteem and attracts the strongest students to its preparation programs.
Conversely, those same countries support a highly selective process for identifying potential teachers and accepting them into teacher preparation programs.
Once on the job, teachers in high performing countries are given an average of 15 hours/week to confer with colleagues, observe others’ classrooms, and participate in professional learning activities.
In countries where students score well on international tests, teachers’ salaries are on par with engineers, doctors, and other professionals.
In all the countries that participated in the summit, teachers are unionized.

mobile-learning | MindShift

2011-08-03T21:31:00.001-04:00

mobile-learning | MindShift

New Teachers Seek Support Online | MindShift

2011-08-03T21:31:00.000-04:00

New Teachers Seek Support Online | MindShift

Harvard Education Letter

2011-08-03T20:42:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share this article that addresses blended learning as the newest trend. Students need interaction with other humans, which can be provided by mentors, coaches, other students, or parents. According to the article, only about 10% of learners benefit from virtual classrooms.

Harvard Education Letter

: PBS LearningMedia

2011-07-30T12:32:00.000-04:00

This video clip is from 2001, but the message is clear. Technology can never replace a teacher, who has powerful influence over a student.

: PBS LearningMedia

Thank A Teacher--Motivation to start the 2011-2012 Year!

2011-07-26T19:26:00.000-04:00

This speaks for itself.

Social Media Revolution 2011

2011-07-23T14:03:00.001-04:00

How Finland became an education leader

2011-07-22T12:03:00.005-04:00

How Finland became an education leader

The final point of the article really hit home:
"How did Finland manage to elevate the role of teacher in the eyes of the population to something that is not just an honorable profession, but a revered profession, whereas in the United States, teachers are so regularly denigrated?"

"They really think about teachers as scientists and the classrooms are their laboratories. So, as I mentioned -- every teacher has to have a masters degree, and it's a content degree where they're not just taking silly courses on education theory and history. They're taking content courses that enable them to bring a higher level of intellectual preparation into the classroom. That's the first point.

The second point is that they've defined professionalism as working more collaboratively. They give their teachers time in the school day and in the school week to work with each other, to continuously improve their curriculum and their lessons. We have a 19th century level of professionalism here, or worse, it's medieval. A teacher works alone all day, everyday, and isolation is the enemy of improvement and innovation, which is something the Finns figured out a long time ago. Get the teachers out of their isolated circumstances and give them time to work together."

Web 2.0 and Blooms

2011-07-21T17:56:00.000-04:00

This Bloom's triangle says it all. Click on any of the links.

A Changing Culture of Technology

2011-07-19T09:46:00.000-04:00

Isaac Asimov on Computers and Education (1988)

2011-07-17T20:20:00.001-04:00

View part 2 of a three part Bill Moyers interview of Isaac Asimov in 1988. A summary of Asimov's thoughts follow. Through computers, each child can have an individualized education that was in the past was only accessible to the wealthy. If all children have access to computers, the creative minds of children will not be stifled by our current system of education. Students will be guided by teachers on how to access common knowledge, and to interact with others students. All students can enjoy personal learning, and people of all ages can become learners. Most people seek good sense, clarity, and truth (Saul Bellows in Herzog). Things are changing so fast, that we must embrace change.

Web 2.0 Integration Plan

2011-07-17T10:41:00.003-04:00

Integrating Web2.0 tools into both my personal and professional lives requires strategic planning, especially in August when my principal advises his goals for the year, and we take off down the runway, all while teaching our students. I am by nature a hard worker, and fortunately a "short sleeper" with sisu (Finnish word with no exact translation, but here is good one). I also pride myself in finding shortcuts; why do the task the hard way? As an educator, it is also difficult to extract the personal and professional lives, that by nature and by job description are intertwined, especially from mid-August to mid-June. 21st century tools blur the lines even more, while challenging our efforts to obfuscate our private lives (Rupert Murdoch not withstanding).

Personal

Try to not get distracted when I am performing a task. (personal and professional)
Use Web 2.0 tools to connect, organize, and share with friends and family
Find more tools to add music to my daily life

Professional.
Teaching in a public school, we must always align to standards, thus clarifying and guiding my actions. Maryland has Teacher Technology Standards (2002), but I will use the ISTE National Standards for Teachers (2008).

1. Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity through modelling and facilitating digital experiences that connect to real world experiences, and that utilize Web 2.0 collaboration tools. This step is crucial, and if we start with one or two tools, such as wikis and blogs, our digital native students will be ready for the challenge.

2. Design and Develop Digital-Age Learning Experiences and Assessments through use of technological ad digital tools that link students' outside world lives with schoolhouse experiences. Alignment of content standards with technology standards is an essential component of the plan. Students will be instrumental in sharing the tools they use to communicate, and to develop classroom goals that will enable them to be more engaged in and responsible for their learning. If we incorporate one new tool in each unit, the learning experiences will be remarkable.

3. Model Digital-Age Work and Learning, not only to students, but to staff as well. As a teacher leader, it is imperative to communicate and model the digital innovations with staff, administrators, students, parents, and community members if we are to excel in preparing our students for college and career readiness. In addition, we must find ways for students to integrate digital tools in ways that will enhance higher order thinking skills, such as analysis, evaluation, application, synthesis, and creativity, while promoting scholarly research. Many teachers in our building utilize social media to engage students, but we must remember that learning is not about being a "sage on the stage", but "guides on the side".

4. Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility through collaboration with the Library Media Specialist and other staff, in order for our students to understand ethical implications and obligations in a digital world. Engage and collaborate with teachers in other regions of the world to promote global responsibility. [This summer I am a participant in an online professional development experience with educators around the world, through IEARN, where we are building plans for collaboration projects for our students.]

5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership that is meaningful, and ongoing. Too often when teachers are introduced to new ideas, it is done in a "drive-by" or "speed-dating" method. Teachers spend 30 minutes learning one tool, then either go back to the classroom with no follow-up, or try it with no support. If teachers participate in a PLN, and regularly discuss tools, share their knowledge, even invite other teachers to see the technology in action in classrooms, we will all learn and grow, making digital tools second nature to our lesson planning and delivery. We need our administrators to be leaders in this change as well. Too often faculty meetings are sit and take, rather than share and give. Our leaders must include "infusion of technology" in the improvement plans for our school, as well as input from teachers, students, parents, and the community, in the vision for change.

More on Cell Phones in Learning Environments

2011-07-16T23:29:00.000-04:00

Listen to this video. All classrooms should follow model 2 in the CNN Video. I agree "we need to take control" before they take control of us, and if teachers are the leaders, we can take charge of the distraction of cell phones. Notetaking, videos, reinforcing lessons, even tweeting. Think of all the money we will save, NO PAPER. This can lead to a new revolution if we teach the students to experiment and use the mobile devices in an educational manner. Assessments, 140 Word Historical Tweets, Mobile Handheld Apps for Social Studies, and so much more. I truly believe handheld apps and smartphones use in classrooms hold the key to motivating our students. We must join them and find ways to utilize the tools they already use or lose.

Policy makers need to realize teacher work 24/7 to keep up with 21st century changes. Our teaching colleges need to do the same. Our young teachers need to be in the top 10% of their classes, the Finland model. We need to pay our teachers salaries aligned with professionals, then we will begin to see change.

Meanwhile many of us continue to enrich during our free time, often forsaking our own family time for our students. Each year my main goal is to MOTIVATE students. If I wait for district money to alleviate the challenges, I fall behind. Cell phones just might be the key.

Cell Phones in Learning

2011-07-09T10:31:00.003-04:00

One answer to educating students to become 21st century learners, is finding ways to integrate cell phones in learning. Most students have smart phones, but the question is how can we convince our policy makers that they really can be used as learning tools? Resources ~ From Toy to Tool: Cell Phones in Learning

Even the NASSP has issued a policy notice about mobile and social technologies in schools (May 2011): http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=Using_Mobile_and_Social_Technologies_in_Schools

Using Mobile and Social Technologies in Schools

Purpose
To promote student learning through the use of mobile learning devices and social media in instruction that further prepares students to be active, constructive participants in the highly connected world in which they already live and will soon work.
Issue
The rapid growth in the use of social media and mobile devices has created both a crisis and an opportunity for school leaders. Unfortunately, many principals first became aware of social technologies under unpleasant circumstances, such as conflicts stemming from social media exchanges. And school leaders would often be paralyzed by cyberbullying and sexting incidents for which guidance was often inadequate and contradictory. It's no wonder that school leaders responded by attempting to eliminate the use of mobile and social media in schools.
Yet as mobile and social technologies become ubiquitous, attempts to block them are increasingly ineffective. For example, in schools that prohibit cell phones, 54% of students still report sending texts during the school day (Lenhart, 2010). And it's the rare student who can't do an end run around Internet filters with a simple proxy server. More importantly, as mobile devices become more powerful and more affordable, their potential for enhancing student learning has come into clearer focus. Social networking sites provide platforms for student creativity by enabling them to design projects using words, music, photos, and videos. In recent years, there has been explosive growth in students creating, manipulating, and sharing content online (National School Boards Association, 2007). Recognizing the educational value of encouraging such behaviors, many school leaders have shifted their energies from limiting the use of these technologies to limiting their abuse. As with any other behavior, when schools teach and set expectations for appropriate technology use, students rise to meet the expectations. Such conditions allow educators to focus on, in the words of social technology guru Howard Rheingold (n.d.), educating “children about the necessity for critical thinking and [encouraging] them to exercise their own knowledge of how to make moral choices." One process for creating the necessary conditions is reported in From Fear to Facebook, the first-person account of one California principal who endured a series of false starts to finally arrive at a place where students in his school were maximizing their use of laptops and participatory technologies without the constant distractions of misuse (Levinson, 2010). Other similar processes and programs are emerging, and they all share a common theme: an education that fails to account for the use of social media tools prepares students well for the past, but not for their future.
Nowhere is the vision for the use of mobile and social technologies more clearly articulated than in the National Educational Technology Plan (U.S. Department of Education, 2010). The plan describes new models of teaching and learning in which students and teachers are virtually connected to one another, to colleagues, to fellow students, and to a variety of resources that maximize opportunities for anytime-anywhere learning. With a 2015 deadline for realizing this model, the mandate for school leaders is clear: we must overcome our fears and other obstacles to get students connected in school. Fundamentally, this means ensuring that each student has a connectible device—a tablet, a netbook, a laptop, or a smartphone—and further engaging students in the creation of responsible-use policies so that they can access social technologies without unreasonable obstacles.
NASSP Guiding Principles

Education should prepare students to be active, constructive participants in a global society.
Technology-enhanced instruction has the capacity to engage students deeply in their work, connect them with countless resources, and allow them to collaborate across time and space.
Schools should provide a student-centered, personalized, and customized experience for all students—a fundamental tenet of the Breaking Ranks school improvement framework.
Schools should advocate and model values that are essential in a civil and democratic society.
Learning can take place only when students feel free from violence and harassment.
Schools should offer meaningful roles in decision making to students to promote student learning and an atmosphere of participation, responsibility, and ownership.

Recommendations
School leaders should:

Encourage and model the appropriate and responsible use of mobile and social technologies to maximize students' opportunities to create and share content..
Lead the conversation around connectivity and involve students in the creation of policies.
Incorporate the responsible use of mobile and social technologies into acceptable-use policies.
Promote one-to-one access to connectible devices, including students’ own devices, to allow for anytime-anywhere learning.
Incorporate cyberbullying and sexting prevention guidelines into the student code of conduct.
Participate in and provide teachers professional development on the effective use of mobile devices and networking in schools.

District leaders should:

Articulate clear technology policies that have sufficient latitude for schools to connect electronically without fear of retribution or undue consequences.
Provide technical and financial support to schools that aspire to connect students and adopt one-to-one programs.
Reduce Internet filtering to maximize student access to online learning tools and to provide opportunities to exercise judgment in the selection of those tools.

Policymakers should:

Provide a funding stream to ensure broadband infrastructure and mobile learning devices for all students.
Enact reasonable, enforceable policies on cyberbullying, sexting, and other forms of electronic harassment that clarify the legal liability of school officials.
Engage school leaders in the conversations that inform policies that are designed to curtail and punish online harassment.

References
Lenhart, A., Ling, A., Campbell, S., & Purcell, K. (2010). Teens and mobile phones. Retrieved from the Pew Internet and American Life Web site.
Levinson, M. (2010). From fear to Facebook: One school's journey. Washington, DC: International Society for Technology in Education.
National School Boards Association. (2007). Creating and connecting: Research and guidelines on online social—and educational—networking. Retrieved from www.nsba.org.
Rheingold, H. (n.d.). New media literacy—Lesson 1: Vision of the future—Part 1. Retrieved from the MasterNewMedia Web site.
U.S Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. (2010). Transforming American education: Learning powered by technology: National educational technology plan 2010. Retrieved from www.ed.gov.
----------------
Adopted by the NASSP Board of Directors, May 2011

Social Bookmarking

2011-07-08T21:59:00.002-04:00

My Diigo account is ceslobodnik1.

First, I am going to miss our blog conversations. Even though I will try to keep it updated, I know that August and school will interfere. However, I will require that my students contribute to a course blog this year. I am also in a course with Iearn, http://media.iearn.org/projects a global collaborative where we are creating a unit with teachers from around the world.
I have learned so much from this course, and all of the new knowledge is extremely useful and practical.

I also know that we need to advocate for technology for our students. Many of the applications, especially Diigo, promote literacy. If students have access to technology in schools, we will be able to use the Web2.0 tools in the classroom. Many of our students have smartphones, but no computers at home. In order for us to teach students about 21st century literacy, our legislators must support our goals for funding technology.

Social bookmarking has so many possibilities. The collaborative piece is beautiful. I had used Diigo in the past to keep track of my own research, but had never joined a group or shared. My newest group, very interactive, and very informative, is http://groups.diigo.com/group/history-teachers. If you know history teachers who love technology, I recommend it. One of the members introduced me to http://www.animaps.com/#!home, where google maps can come alive. It is in the beta stage, but I surely will require my students to complete an assignment on this site. One can add markers, create videos by adding shapes and lines and images. It is so cool!

Teachers could use Diigo to more readily share and learn professionally. If anyone is in FIRST and needs a PD or Leadership activity, this would be a great idea. There are so many possibilities. Maybe we can start our own PLN as well. I am sure I will see many of you in other technology courses.

Mr. Winkle Wakes--100 Years of Education

2011-07-03T18:42:00.002-04:00

Not much has changed!

RSS Feeds and Time Saved

2011-07-03T18:33:00.001-04:00

First, I love to read. Since the age of three I read anything and everything, especially nonfiction. When I do read fiction, I usually choose one author and read everything written by that person. During summers as a child, I used to walk to the public library; now I use the internet. The problem is that I simply cannot read everything. So, a few years ago I began to use RSS feeds. There are so many new gadgets to make RSS feeds even easier to access. I love my iGoogle page, and especially NPR.org. Sometimes I need real world connections, not just education articles. NPR provides just that.
The next step in the world of blogging about my profession is to improve the RSS news feeds on my blog, which I just did! Blogging requires time and constant change, however, the more I blog, the more I want to required blogging for students.
As an educator, it is difficult to keep up with news and trends, so linking iGoogle and Blogger are good ways to continue to be proactive about literacy, technology, and other trends. Sometimes, however, the personal and professional lives become interconnected to the point it is hard to tune out. Is that possible in the 21st century. As educators, we have to keep up with the way teens live and think. If we don't develop new ways of motivating our youth to read and think, we cannot begin to reform our education system.
The politicians need to find ways to incorporate more money for technology into school budgets, and to be sure there is equity in all of the schools. Teachers and administrators need to use technology, and to keep up with professional development, and to integrate technology into the lessons. There are so many free resources, including district level training. I am amazed that some of the young teachers may have not had access to technology in schools, including universities. If social media can cause political upheaval, THINK what teachers can do.

Blended Learning--Credit Recovery and Adolescent Learners

2011-07-01T16:31:00.000-04:00

As our district begins a pilot summer credit recovery program, a blend of online and f2f learning, I wondered about the types of learners who would enroll in the class. I know from teaching struggling readers in an AP class in a f2f full year class, adolescents with low literacy do not thrive with online text. In fact I believe they struggle more. I also know that teaching the strategies of skimming, scanning, and predicting does not work with students whose Lexile scores are often two to three levels below grade level, especially when they encounter dense text. When we teach them to skim or scan, they simply omit huge portions of text.
While the online hybrid course, created for the district by a national vendor, has multiple types of media, there are few literacy practices built into the course. I also noticed that many of our students are considered at-risk: ELL, students with disabilities, students with low concentration levels, etc. I began to wonder about the strategies we will use in both the f2f and online environments. According to INACOL research, the students need to be able to move at their own pace after taking a diagnostic, need checklists, need parental coaching, motivational coaching, and constant feedback. Due to pacing and time restrictions the diagnostic tests were removed from the course. The students also need socialization during the course through chat, interactive discussion, etc. The course has no such element. Teaching the students will be challenging, and the success of the students is definitely incumbent on the teachers.

E-Tools for Teacher

2011-07-01T12:34:00.000-04:00

When I first began this assignment, I kept getting sidetracked, linking to other sites from the assigned sites. A few days ago, I finally forced myself to concentrate and complete the assignment without more searching--much less fun, but utilitarian.
So, the first site I played with in more depth was TimeToast. As a history teacher it love assigning timelines for homework. Before web2.0, I ask the students to make collages, layers, etc on a typical poster. This year I tried using Glogster--great for posters, but not for timelines. Then I found Dipity, a very interactive timeline, with the ability to add videos, music, blogs, photos, and many other features to a timeline. Students can share, and allow others to edit, which makes it a great group project assignment. Students can also find existing timelines, but need to check the accuracy. Timetoast is very similar, and appears simpler, however, it has fewer features. When tried to set up an account with Timetoast, I waited over 30 minutes and no email was sent to allow me to interact. Will try again.

The second site I where I searched for a great while was Ideas Wisconsin Teachers. The site beats our Maryland site, Thinkfinity, hands down. It is much more user friendly, the resources are easier to categorize by age, grade, and subject. The lessons are mostly links with review by educators. I was looking for lessons about foreign policy and found a whole repository of primary sources at Mt. Holyoke College. I think this site caters to actual teachers, with input from teachers more than other state websites I have visited. It allows suggestions and dialog, which are very important to teachers in the 21st century. Although Maryland standards are not the same, the Standards tool, which organizes lessons, if far superior to the current MSDE site.

I highly recommend both sites for secondary teachers!

Using Technology in Larger Classrooms

2011-06-22T21:45:00.005-04:00

If only we had more computers, updated equipment, and equity at schools, we might be able to teach in a blended classroom! I think it is one solution! Read the NPR story about blended learning. I am excited to particpate in a blended classroom this summer in our district. If it works well, we might be able to teach a blended style in regular classrooms. I have tried this in adult Reading classes, and was surprised at the number of teachers who resist. I think self-paced learning combined with direct instruction creates more opportunities for differentiated instruction.

More Tools--Google Docs vs. Wikis

2011-06-19T18:14:00.001-04:00

Here is a great video about Google vs. Wiki

Google vs. Wikis

2011-06-12T11:17:00.002-04:00

Google is probably the reason I was hesitant to use wikis. Google is very user friendly, and through our district Google mail, sites, documents, and calendars we can have more privacy, which is often important when collaborating with students. During the summer of 2008 when our district began Google mail, I began to "play" with Google using my personal gmail account. When school opened I was ready with websites and documents. It is now 2011 and I am still trying to have staff (administrators and teachers) buy into using Google anything; most are still stuck on Google mail, and even that is used ineffectively.

The biggest drawback for Google is using the discussion tool on Google sites, which is not user friendly. So, when Google groups was set up for our district in the summer of 2010 I was excited and established a few groups. Now we have to ask permission, and from my experience it takes too long. When all else fails, use the regular gmail, where there are no restrictions.

Collaboration via Google docs appears to be a great tool. I have attempted to use the tool with several groups, with little success. I think people are afraid, perhaps of losing information? I upload everything to do with my professional obligations to Google. I ask students, both adult and adolescent learners to use Google, but many resist. One problem I have encountered using Google within the district is that when I invite non district persons to collaborate, even with permission, it never seems to work. This is where wikis or personal Google would work better.

If I were to pick the winner for collaboration tools, I have a difficult choice. Google is simple and I have used it so frequently it is second nature. However, wikis are easier to access when outside the network, and the collaboration and discussion tools appear to be more utilitarian.