Tech Salad

I don’t think your mom is too batty with her suggestion. She likely doesn’t realize these folks will be meeting in a so-called “Bloggers Cafe” in an open location at the convention hall, with the blessing of the organization sponsoring the event.

If my daughter told me she was going to meet some progressive bloggers, I might picture her in a hot and stinky alleyway, meeting leather-clad, cigarette-smoking deadbeats. “Gee, where are the bloggers? They said they’d be here at 8 PM…”

I always had the impression a “writer” was a certain type of person, some convoluted stereotype in my head. But now I consider myself one, with all the blogging I do, and you might just call me a “blogger.” It’s not a pretty word. But it is a new image for us when we stop to think what one looks like.

The question is… does your mom read your blog?

John,

I don’t think it is the word “blogger” that worried my mom. It was the idea of a face-to-face meeting with a large group of people I’ve only known online. There are so many reports of kids getting in trouble in such a way. I’m sure my mom has now been reassured that all these edubloggers are not a bunch of hooligans bent on kidnapping me.

What I think is challenging is the conditioning of children who are living in very “multitasking” oriented lives. They are used to the multiple inputs, however shallow those experiences are. And when they come into a classroom, the absence of those extra inputs can cause real problems.

Jukes, with what research he’s looked at, is convinced students can multitask. With some of the research cited in this article which I’ve read before, I am not sure I really agree. So here’s the conundrum:

- Do allow students opportunities to multitask, perhaps taking a hit on learning?
- Do we concentrate and suffer the behavioral issues?
- Is there some medium?

I think the medium might just be focused activities in small groups. Yet, the American educational system would deem this solution too expensive. Any thoughts on reconciling the conundrum?

If Jukes is right and kids CAN learn effectively, then even in the current environment, it would help if teachers focused on project-based learning (teamwork, independent or interdependent groups, self-paced). However, as long as benchmarking is done according to the score on a multiple-choice test, we’ll have a hard time getting teachers to change. Either way, we have no proof and the current generation will either turn out great, or not. Then again, this could be another case of looking back at the good old times that weren’t.

For adults, however, and more specifically for me, I wonder if I should cut out some of what I currently do. For example, the latest fashion is to create a personal learning network. I read dozens of blogs and follow another few on Twitter. Am I learning or just giving the appearance of learning? As the article mentions, there is productivity, and then there is the appearance of productivity. I’ll have to keep track of myself over the next few weeks to make that decision.

Don’t forget what’s important to teachers. How does the advocacy of technology in education benefit them? Is there an immediate benefit? A prolonged one? Does it work with individuals, or does it need to be the whole?

I hope you picked up some strategies in the session you attended today; I am sure at least some of what you learned can be put to use in GLND if not VSTE.

My first target is Goochland, of course. If the community (parents and school board members alike) see the benefits of well-integrated technology, they may be more likely to support GCPS and allow us to provide new tools and in-depth training for teachers. More doesn’t always mean more toys. More professional wouldn’t hurt. Support from the community and county leadership may lead to more participation from teachers.

Thanks for the plug for G21! For those interested, more information can be found here, explaining all about our program for encouraging 21st century skills.

[...] Tonight I read Bea’s post on her reaction to NECC, the conference we both attended with Mr. DeWeerd this past week. We got to see/meet/hear a lot of folks who have been on our “radar” for a year or more. [...]

If you use Google so much today, I think you’re likely to use it even more in the future… and that may be the plan… to make “The Google” so important to your daily productivity that you cannot give it up. And dependence upon one source is dangerous. Not for evil effects, but for survival.

It’s just too bad Google does so many things so well. It’s difficult to ween yourself off best-in-class services.

I often joke that I hope Google doesn’t turn out to be the anti-Christ since I have indeed sold my soul to them. From Google docs to gmail, I find they make it so easy to live online! I worry a bit about the tracking, but at least they are up front about it, and I’ve gotten a good laugh now and then at the ads that appear in response to some of my emails. Would I find these services so attractive if I had to pay for them? And then there was the day I discovered that I couldn’t retrieve my password because I had all my emails forwarded to gmail! As John said, one source can be dangerous.

[...] iStopMotion into my class after reading this blog post from Goochland County Schools in Virginia.  Look how they used simple claymation technology in their class.  Give me ideas to say the [...]

I did enjoy watching … time saving “tricks” for email in Goochland Schools. The best “trick” I got this Halloween. Boo

[...] some of these movies are created by kids, and I always wondered how, since creating my own tiny stop action claymation took me a couple of [...]

This reminds me of the video I saw last year, or perhaps early this year, that showed how to embed a laser image in people’s photography… it sensed the flash from cameras, and projected laser images onto a surface for a split-second. Look at the picture, see the “message.” Emerging tech will continue to invent new possibilities, new careers.

Your link to the PDF no longer works, but thanks nonetheless for sharing this story. I’m glad to know there was “more” to this beyond the surface.

I linked to Mr. Krebs’s column instead. The PDF is posted there.

Backing up is critical for those of us who work in digital bits and bytes. Hours can be lost in seconds.

I heard the same NPR installment about Museum in the 21st Century series. I was jumping up and down too!!!
I’m off to view Ms. Harden’s Scratch animations. In my Animation/Game Design course we will be using Scratch to create original games. Thank you for sharing.

You did a great job presenting your ideas at EdTech. I’d invite you to offer this talk in a 20-minute version to your colleagues in a faculty meeting!

congratulations Bea! so well deserved….enjoy the beach! caroline

Congratulations! Your post came up on a Google Alert that I have for “Apple Distinguished Educators.” It is an amazing group to belong to and a great honor! You will have a very exciting summer ahead!

Nice collection of iPod Touch tips! I wondered how to do the caps lock one!

I appreciate your “lens” of NCLB (No Child Left Behind). But I also think it shows how critical something like problem-solving is for all students. Answers are only so valuable; solutions is where the “money” is at.

Problem-solving, not multiple choices. I wanted to write that, too, but it seems to me I need be more moderate in my criticism of standardized tests around this time of year.

Amen, Hopefully, this summer I will have plenty of time to step back, rest, and catch up on reading. Already picked up a book on blogging!

[...] go look at my tweets and my follower/followed numbers. I seem to fit the norm. I follow mostly men (not on purpose), I use very short sentences with plenty of gerunds, and I don’t tweet as much as those 10% [...]

That’s why I only choose the most impeccable photos for sharing online. Seriously, though, good listen.

Completely UNFAIR!!! You got to hear Malcolm Gladwell??!! I’ve read all of his books, including Outliers, and you didn’t tell me he was going to be the keynote speaker??? The man is amazing, and had a whole chapter pretty much devoted to education in Outliers. I’m going to check now to see if there is a link to the address, and if not, then you have to find a way for me to see/hear it. Hope the conference is fun and EDUCATIONAL for you, Bea!!!

By the way, it’s 10,000 hours to master something, according to his research.

Still away, but I’ll be back in town in a few days. Have fun.

[...] place with students and teachers both online as participants on the Web. My colleague Bea Cantor led a poster session on H.E.A.T.-rich (hot) lessons this year from our schools. Many involved the creation of things like podcasts or videos. One married student learners from [...]

Bea…

I sure enjoyed your reflections on NECC. I hope in the future there will be more funds so that I can feel comfortable in spending the funds to attend again. I believe in staff development and in the opportunity for professionals to attend workshops and conferences that help them see the the big picture.

Your comment on the Australian educator was enlightening. It is refreshing to see how someone can change their perspective and admit they have “grown” based on such an experience. Keep growing! You are a wonderful educator and I enjoy your blog.

Tom

Fantastic stuff as usual! I’m starting an ipod touch pilot in Fluvanna this coming Fall, so hopefully I will be in touch to share resources, etc.

The ADE experience is amazing. Intimidating as you say but inspiring as well.

I liked the video and some of the examples, but felt his misuse of the musical intellectual property and the two grammar mistakes took away from the message. I think the video, as a piece of media, would have looked even better produced on a Mac. But his point at the end is true: it takes real bravery to enter this new online, connected world. I am so happy to see folks who take the chance and meet success.

Yes, I thought the same about the grammar, but didn’t pay much attention to the music. What struck me was the comparison between no-tech and tech: the speed, the access, the connections.

I saw this the other day on someone’s blog. Was it Seth Godin?

By the way, I sent this to my parents. They think I’m good at “fixing” computers, but this is EXACTLY what I do.

The Google is my friend, too. I’m interested in the culture required to make Google everyone’s friend. It takes time and experience.

I have been studying this in school, and I can never get anything accomplished quickly because I am always getting distracted. We try to process to much at once and nothing is ever done fully

GREAT point -

amen!!! great points.

My mother drew a distinction between achievement and success. She said that ‘achievement is the knowledge that you have studied and worked hard and done the best that is in you. Success is being praised by others, and that’s nice, too, but not as important or satisfying. Always aim for achievement and forget about success.’

Hi Bea,

It was so great to see you at NECC and I can’t believe that conference was months ago. Just wanted to say hi and wish you and your family a premature Happy Thanksgiving I am enjoying perusing your blog and it is evident how much you enjoy your job. Also, since I know you are a fan of C-SPAN, we are airing our three original productions over the weekend. If you are near a television, here is the schedule:

All on C-SPAN

THANKSGIVING THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26 – 8PM EST and 12 midnight
“The Supreme Court: Home to America’s Highest Court”

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27 – 8PM EST and 12midnight
“The White House: Inside America’s Most Famous Home”

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 28 – 8PM EST and 12 midnight
“The Capitol”

I hope you have a wonderful holdiay break. Keep up the good work

Take care,
Meredith

I really enjoyed your presentation. It was clear cut and precise. If you have a website that you post to or have newsletter that you create would be very much appreciated.

I really enjoyed your presentation. It was clear cut and precise. If you have a website that you post to or have newsletter that you create would be very much appreciated. I learned a lot today by your simple examples.

Thank you so much for the wonderful presentation and amazing tips I will take back to my teachers! Everything you have shown us, is easy for teachers to use! Thank you!

iTRT
Hampton City Schools

Thanks so much. The tips were super and I liked how you didn’t just show how to use the tools but how to make an effective flipchart. I will share this with other teachers with boards.

Thank you Bea! The session was very informative and easy to understand!

I’ve been playing with this and I think it’s fun.

I’d add that another great pair of tools is Moodle and Turn-it-in.

Mrs. Berry had a vision to begin a course at GHS that focused on 3D modeling. What a great expression of 21st century skills at play here – turning our real community into a virtual one. This is a great way to show off Goochland to the world via Google Earth.

I’ve sadly never played it. It would be fun to play blind against a high school senior. My world geography education came in the 9th grade.

It is great. How soon until we see some Web 2.0 tools from our neck of the woods?

[...] Today I was back in Mrs. Yearout-Patton’s class playing games, and while the kids compared results, I walked to the back of the room to look at a poster. It reminded me of the maps I had showcased on my blog back in December of 2008. You can read all about them on the original post. [...]

The reason for the private option for a blog post is to limit the viewing of the blog post to members of your blog. In the context of our blogs, members are teachers. Teachers would therefore only see the posts, but the public would not.

However, like you suggest, we have other means for sharing information that is “private,” such as our wikis, GoogleApps, etc.

Ms. Cantor,

This tool is just marvelous for many reasons.

As a teacher I find that this tool is beneficial for assessment purposes (formal). This option gives only a certain group access and the appropriate time. This helps to elevate the cheating factor. Also, I can post class videos from the various “skits” students perform but other folks cannot view them. As a parent I find this method very comforting. I know that only students, for educational, purposes, will view the “skits” students compose.

I do wonder about the following:

1. Does password protecting our personal blogs defeat, to some degree, the purpose? If it was that private of a post, could I not just e-mail it to the appropriate person/s?

2. What about feeds to blogs? How does that play into this, especially since feeds are such an excellent aspect of blogging?!

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

I think this is an excellent way to encourage higher-level thinking for almost any type of subject area. We can always know more, and google might help us get there. Then there’s the benefit of making something cool to look at and share when you’re done.

I like yours!

Some of us tech people are weird. But we’re a good bunch. And helping artists find a new tool to use is definitely a good thing.

Bea,
I clicked on the box to play the animation, but I wasn’t able to view it. The indicator at the bottom of the screen seemed to show that something was playing, but I couldn’t see a thing.
Tom

Try a different browser. If you are using Firefox, try again in Safari.

Extraordinary account. Thanks for sharing it with us. This is an example I hope our teachers can use this upcoming year.

WOW! That was some story. I have tried to act out every scenario possible to educate my students on copyright. It’s really important that we start teaching them when they’re young so that they really and truly know and understand right from wrong. Thanks for sharing this link.

Bea, this is a fantastic story to show my kids when the need arises. Thanks for the post.

Re: Jean-Francoise Rischard, I believe his name should be Jean-François, not Françoise as Françoise is a female name.

fixed it. Thanks for finding my mistakes.

Check out my interview of Bea here: http://blogs.glnd.k12.va.us/teachers/jhendron/2010/08/13/live-from-mit/

beaaaaaaaa – i am happy to say that I have already done what you envision – check out the batteau challenge every summer leaving from lynchburg to maidens landing. the lady slipper is always looking for female new members. it is a commitment but one of cameraderie and ecological and spiritual adventures. i need to listen to npr more often…..

Yes, Mrs. Long. I know we, as teachers, have already run the course of our high school and college careers. We know how to seek out experiences that enrich our lives. The goal of my post was to encourage teachers to use the free resources offered by NPR to open their students’ eyes to the way other people live in places they might not even be aware of.

I’m already subscribed to tween tribune but am having a hard time accessing it. (I also have not had much time with the begi\nning of the year). Any help you can provide?

This is a wonderful idea. I am an art teacher for a middle school setting in Las Cruces, New Mexico and I would love to have my students share some of their ideas and work with other middle school art students. Is this possible?

I love what you did this summer and am very interested in working with iMovie for emergent readers. I am teaching a 4th grade classroom this year as a Dual Certified teacher. (I’m wearing both the Special and General ed. hat) It would be great to add some “pop” to our curriculum this year. If you have any websites, books or articles to suggest, it would be most appreciated!!!

Thanks for visiting my blog! We have an online tutorial for iMovie you are welcome to use. There are several teachers at the elementary level who will be using iMovie in project-based learning activities this year, and they will be posting to their blogs. So, check back here, since I’ll be linking to their blogs to promote the projects here in our county.

There is also a book that goes along with this video, also entitled 212, the extra degree. Our superintendent showed us the video two years ago at his opening address for the school year. Our entire year was then focused on going that extra degree as a district, teachers, students, paras, custodians, etc. It was quite the motivator.

Hi Mrs.Cantor,

Just wanted to let you know that the day for today (Sep 27) is a day one in case that messes up the rest. Have a great day!

Thanks for letting me know. We have fixed the code and will be pasting it in place later this morning.

Cool! Thanks for the information, Bea. This does sound like an interesting tool to use.

thanks for speaking so highlly of our art students. i will look into this microscopic art concept.

The bee is a nice capture!

Really cool you have that opportunity. I’d love to do something like that with students.

Thanks for the fun workshop. I will be getting my Tech students to work with Alice next semester. Thanks for your help, it was lots of fun
Len

How do we provide more opportunities for Scratchong here in Goochland? We have the passion and the students who can benefit

Lots of things are changing quickly, and it is often tough to make decisions as to what tools are on the way out, and which ones still have life still in them. For sure, we never had to deal with slide rules. And the generation in school today have new tools for computation like Wolfram Alpha. It’s an exciting time.

For text, there is certainly some wiggle room for how its used. I often find my tech-savvy self writing in simpler text editors, because much of what I’ll write will end up being used in a digital medium – a webpage, a blog post, or an e-mail. And new tools are being developed for this (one that comes to mind is WriteRoom by Hogbay Software).

Yet, I think the days where we shut off the printers isn’t quite yet here. The word processor is in a period of transition, for sure, but the printed page still has some value in our society. I’m reminded of this each time I’m asked to fill out a paper form and fax it somewhere. Until the media is ubiquitous to all, there will always be different strata for communication. Phone vs. e-mail. Tweets vs. real conversations. Texts vs. a hand-written note.

I’m thankful that we have classes in GCPS that touch upon this dichotomy of media… on one hand, we have tools like Google Docs which allow us to compose, edit, collaborate, and share all in the digital domain. This is the future that students should be exposed to. But we also have the demands of society that still honor the printed page. While less important today, students should still experience manipulating the tools to put toner on the page. The more versatile their skills with technology when they leave us, the more prepared they will be for the protean nature of the real world.

Follow up with a read of the 1930s article by Vannevar Bush in The Atlantic. His idea for a device he called the Memex is fascinating.

Ok, it was 1945. Here’s the link:
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1945/07/as-we-may-think/3881/

[...] The Leader in Me focused on school reform through his 7 habits of successful people. My friend Be a didn’t care for the presentation at ISTE and I understand her [...]

This is great for Government class!
Thank you. I just downloaded this app and I am working with it now:)

While I find data like this inspiring to my own creative sensibilities, I worry about also balancing one’s analytical skills. Education really ought to serve us the fundamentals like literacy and computation. It ought to have open ended exploration. Yet, the public education system in the US has focused upon what is easy to measure. At the time, NCLB was spoken in the same sentences as “Back to Basics.” This has proven to weaken our educational system, in my view.

I hope our teachers inspired by stories like this don’t give up… As it is easy to do. Balance is the best we can reasonably do. The basics measured by AYP and SOLs are important. But so is real world experiences and products.

I was surprised today at BES. Two of our custodians were inspired by my talk at GHS at convocation. One told me he was glad I was looking after our kids.

Thanks for sharing this. The story will continue to be told as the year goes on.

Ha!~ Good call! I love this!

Thanks Bea.

I’d like teachers to know that the server space is not for files that shouldn’t be on the web. This isn’t a file backup service or a place to put files you don’t have room for on your laptop. This space is for movies and for zipped files that otherwise won’t go onto the blog server (i.e. Scratch projects).

This was SOOO much fun! Thanks for sharing.

Bea, LOVE this! Hadn’t thought of using PhotoBooth for this function. Quick, simple, and a great way to showcase student work. I need to go play with it! Thanks!

I notice that early writers very often aren’t able to read their own writing from week to week. Using a font like Comic Sans because it looks like kids’ writing does seem to me misguided. It is interesting though to think that the font’s effect of slowing down reading may help to improve retention. Thanks for the interesting post.

Hi, Bea, I attended two of your sessions today and thoroughly enjoyed them. Thank you so much for sharing. I have a question. When you were creating the ebook in Your Flat to Fabulous session, were you using Pages on the Mac? Can the whole process be done on an iPad? Robin

Thanks for reading, Mr. Case! Yes, it is a misguided idea to make documents kid-friendly with Comic Sans. Using the kinds of fonts used in reading primers would make more sense, don’t you think?

Hi Robin! Thank you for coming to my presentations. I hope you can use what you learned.

Yes, I was using Pages on the Mac. For now, you can only export as ePub from Pages on a Mac. I will be adding a section to the ePub I’m sharing showing how students can create sections of a document using iPads, then assembling the completed document on a Mac.

Bea,
I attended this session and loved it. I-tunes has so much to offer, thanks for sharing! I plan to pass it along to my staff when I share out cool things I learned at VSTE! Hope to see you next year!

I am trying to reach you regarding your presentation at VSTE. Our director viewed it and recommended I contact you regarding our deployment. Could you please contact me privately through email? I tried to download your presentation but no luck. Thank you.

WOW! Contig was extremely popular with my classes and it helped us reinforce skills that we would not otherwise have time to address in class. This app and similar apps are tools that I will definitely continue to with students in the future.

Bravo Renae! Well-put, Mrs. Cantor!

Special thanks to all for making today a great learning experience! I was delighted with the questions our students asked.
They embraced “the big picture” and showed a level of global proportions.
I was most pleased by their continued concern for our neighbors in Louisa and Japan.