“Does the Internet Make you Smarter” is the title of an article by Clay Shirky, published by the Wall Street Journal Online.

I wasn’t that satisfied with the title after I read the article, since I seem to have “gotten out of it” something different. The tagline,

Amid the silly videos and spam are the roots of a new reading and writing culture

seemed to be more fitting as to what what point Clay Shirky was trying to make in the article…but maybe that is only what I read into it…

Shirky’s article spoke to me. While reading it, I seemed reassured that we are on the right path. All new media and all new innovations NEED time to be experimented with, to find their niche, to develop norms and guidelines to “use it for good” and for learning. It is not something that happens naturally or instantly. Shirky gives several examples from history that make the point that with the onset of new media, there will be a tsunami of “mediocre materials” until “higher level projects” emerge.

It is our misfortune, as a historical generation, to live through the largest expansion in expressive capability in human history, a misfortune because abundance breaks more things than scarcity. We are now witnessing the rapid stress of older institutions accompanied by the slow and fitful development of cultural alternatives. Just as required education was a response to print, using the Internet well will require new cultural institutions as well, not just new technologies.

On the different token, I am experimenting with new forms of “learning” from/through different media. I blogged about “Learning from a Book“, as I took Curriculum21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs apart and remixed my understanding as visuals.

With Shirky’s article, I chose to use an app called “Sundry Notes” on my iPad and take notes, quotes, insert clipart, highlight and arrange ideas in sequence that made sense to me. This process of “taking the article apart” and re-arranging/re-mixing it helps me to digest, make sense of and connect concepts.

What if we allowed students to take books, units, articles, or lectures apart and re-mix them with and in media that make sense to them?

Here is what I started out with:

Topic: Addition & subtraction of fractions, mixed numbers, improper fractions.

You have:

• 4th & 5th graders
• A SmartBoard.
• 40 minutes

You need:

• reinforcement
• practice
• check for understanding
• engagement

How can I step away from the front of the room and “present” the topic, then explain step by step, then give them a worksheet to see if they can duplicate the “path” that I have shown them?

I want my students to be “empowered learners” as Alan November points out. I don’t want them to be passive recipient of knowledge that I am trying to fill them up with.

Adapted from Alan November (pp.188-193), Curriculum 21 (ASCD, 2010) by Heidi Hayes Jacobs.

I chose five different smartboard notebook files created  by various contributors from the Smart Exchange.

• Mixed Number: All Mixed up? by Anthony Santoro
• Mixed Numbers by abteach03
• Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions by Smart
• Math Mixed Numbers Addition and Subtraction (Regrouping) by D. Stewart
• Fraction Story Problem Practice by Anthony Santoro

I let the class know that “this lesson” was going to be a little different . They were going to be looking at “lessons” other people had created. They were going to be exploring these lessons and evaluating them as to their effectiveness in regards to their own understanding, ease of use, techniques used, success in helping them learn the concept.

I put students into different groups and asked them to come up separately, as a group, to the SmartBoard to look at one of the notebooks. They were to explore a few slides and narrate their thoughts out loud. They were to explain their steps as they were figuring out what to do. Some of the techniques used in the notebook were more intuitive than others. Some of the slides were a digital version of a paper and pencil method, while others were animated and interactive. What techniques helped their learning style? Which slides were more engaging than others? Was it clear what each slide was expecting the learner to do?

Below are several screenshots of the notebook slides.

Will students know the content (mixed numbers, improper fractions, etc.) better after these 40 minutes? Are they learning to be participants in their own learning? Are they learning about different learning (their own) and teaching styles (tutorial/lesson designers)? Are they hearing explanations from their peers? Are they encouraged to make suggestions to make a lesson better? Are they actively involved? Are they preparing to become their own “tutorial designers” as they are dissecting other examples?

What do you think?

Keep in mind that this was a one time modeling lesson for this group. What would I do different next time? Create an evaluation rubric ahead of time for them? Maybe  even create a Google Form to submit their evaluation directly into a spreadsheet? How can I have their classroom teacher follow up this kind of lesson? How do we embed the new roles to empower learners  suggested by Alan November?

How would you make this a successful lesson to empower learning? Share your ideas how to tweak, expand or change it? What would you come up with? Be creative… Please share!

Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs

You must have noticed that I have been reading and re-reading “Curriculum 21″ by Heidi Hayes Jacobs. I have posted my first impressions and recommendation here and since then have joined and written about the companion Ning to the book here.  I created a Flickr Curriculum 21 group to have a hub for images and videos of Curriculum21 teaching and learning examples.

I was inspired by quotes from the book to write the following blog posts Geography is a Separate Subject. Really? and “It Isn’t the Answer Anymore, It is the Question”.

Curriculum 21 is a book that is just FULL of information, ideas, thoughts, research, recommendations and exactly about the change in education, life, skills, literacies, and global competencies I am contemplating and working for.

Unfortunately, the book is not available as a Kindle Edition, which means, I am relying on sticky notes and highlighters as a way to make the rows and rows of text more appealing to my visual eye as well as a way to find passages and quotes more quickly later on.

Stickies and Highlights

I am conducting an experiment about my own learning style. How can I read this book and best:

• filter out the information that I want to keep?
• make connections to my previous thoughts, ideas and blog posts?
• remember quotes from different chapters?
• make the text content more visual for my brain?

I am eager to find out:

• Will I be able to learn about the content of the book differently/better/easier/?
• Will I be able to “see” connections that with the text alone I did not?
• Will the process of looking for and selecting the right image that will represent the quote make me think “deeper” about what the quote us trying to say?
• Will the sum of the quotes I selected from the book tell a story in itself?

I wonder how my personal experiment will turn out… but in the meantime, please take the time to share:

• How do you learn best from a book?
• Highlighting, taking notes, talking/discussing it with someone ?
• Do my visuals help you visualize what Curriculum21 is about?
• Do the slides do nothing for you?
• Do the visuals give you a different point of view, than when you were reading the text alone?
• Are you interested in reading Curriculum 21 (if you have not done so) because of the visual “Preview”?
• What opportunities do you give your students to learn from a a book?

Through a  Tweet from @HeidiHayesJacob, I found the Ning of the Curriculum 21 book, I recently recommended.

One video uploaded by Heidi of Alan November, a contributor to the book, immediately caught my eye.

He says:

We have to stop spoon feeding kids curriculum tests and homework. They need to be self directed. They need to be life long learners., which means they need to be empowered to manage more and more and more of their own learning.  [...]

It is not about adding technology… because we add a lot of technology that improves teaching, but it does not improve learning.[...]

The biggest barrier is not technology, the tools or money. The biggest barrier is a culture of the shift of control from the teacher managing learning (creating dependent learners by the way) to a culture of students being inter-dependent while they are globally connected and contributing content, tutorials, to the whole classroom.

From reading the  Curriculum21 book , listening  in on streamed conference presentations to video clips like the one from Alan November below, I am witnessing the shift towards  globally connected students at my school right in front of my eyes. IT IS a shift of culture. IT IS a shift of what a “classroom” means. IT IS about empowering students AND teachers by exposing them to all the possibilities that are within reach through available tools.

I especially am in agreement with Alan about the role tutorials can play. Our Middle School students are continuing to work on on their Math Wiki, which is filled with tutorials, 5th graders are about to create SmartBoard Notebook files for first graders with tutorials and practice lessons about contractions (I + am= I’m/ will +not= won’t, etc). I can’t wait to continue observing the shift taking place in our school as a result of it.

Find more videos like this on Curriculum21

I am thrilled to be publishing a guest post by Andrea Hernandez, cross posted from EdTechWorkshop Blog on Langwitches.

http://www.edtechworkshop.blogspot.com/

In the Lifelong Kindergarten group, we’re trying to change that. We believe that it is critically important for all children, from all backgrounds, to grow up knowing how to design, create, and express themselves. We are inspired by the ways children learn in kindergarten: when they create pictures with finger paint, they learn how colors mix together; when they create castles with wooden blocks, they learn about structures and stability. We want to extend this kindergarten style of learning, so that learners of all ages continue to learn through a process of designing, creating, experimenting, and exploring.

As part of their mission to “sow the seeds for a more creative society,” the MIT media lab has developed a free program called Scratch that encourages the kind of open-ended exploration and creative problem solving that is not on the test, but that promotes the trial and error learning that is the heart of math, science and technological innovation. The beauty of Scratch and similar applications is that while the processes they engage are complex, most children are naturally drawn to them and find them fun. Kids ask to “play Scratch.”

In my STEM classes and, to a lesser extent, my weekly lab classes I attempt to provide students with the time and space to engage in this kind of exploration using freely available resources. In my role as the teacher I model possible approaches, support students in their attempts, validate and encourage them as they proceed, and open the door by introducing them to what’s out there. When appropriate, I push students to go a little deeper. Some students are more inclined than others to enjoy the open-ended, for those who require more structure I can help by defining a problem or assignment for them. I can also help them to reflect on their learning styles so that they grow in an understanding of their own abilities. Some students can’t wait to get to the computer and play, others prefer a tutorial (there are many tutorials online for most applications. It can be great practice and reflection to have students who are more advanced create tutorials for others), some students are more comfortable watching first before trying. Any and all approaches to learning are valid as long as students understand the process and challenge themselves.

In addition to Scratch, here are some other recommended resources for open-ended, creative exploration:

Whizzball -from Discovery Education, whizzball is a puzzle creator. Students can design puzzles, submit their puzzles for others to solve and solve puzzles created by others. I have found this to be challenging and fun for grades 1-5.

Fantastic Contraption- physics challenge. Use the materials provided to create a contraption that solves the challenge of getting something from point A to point B. There are multiple challenges and endless solutions. I am using this with a first grade STEM enrichment class, and they LOVE it. I could see it being popular with older students as well, although I haven’t introduced to other grades yet.

Lego Digital Designer – design tool using virtual legos.

PHUN – 2D physics sandbox. This one is more advanced. I recommend viewing at least one tutorial before jumping in to play. I used this with 5th grade, and it was fun (phun) at first, but many of them became frustrated quickly.

Middle School students are working hard on their Math Wiki. They are using a variety of tools to create tutorials (Garageband, SmartBoard Notebook, PowerPoint, Animoto).

Their latest creation to be embedded into the Wiki were Animoto Music Videos.

They created PowerPoint slides, then exported them as jpg files to be imported into Wiki were Animoto
Students are learning presentation skills and tools as they are designing the slides to create specific tutorials for math definitions and concepts they are learning in class.

“By learning you will teach;by teaching you will understand.”
~ Latin Proverb

To teach is to learn twice.
~Joseph Joubert, Pensées, 1842

Not only are students organizing their own thoughts and teaching each other, but they are also becoming web publishers who are inspiring and teaching math students around the world.

As they were working on the slides, we learned many things about presentation design:

• don’t use too much text on one slide. If you must have more text, duplicate the slide once or twice to be able to give the reader more time.
• use as many relevant visuals as you can.
• use arrows to point to explanations and help the viewer focus in on what you are trying to explain
• make sure you don’t place text/titles too close to the edges of the slides, as they tend to be out of the frame, when Animoto pans across the slide.
• use contrasting colors
• use bigger font sizes
• less on a slide is better

Here are some of their Animoto examples:

Not too long ago, I stumbled across the presentation Learning 2.0 from Mike Lambert on Slideshare. It inspired me to build upon his version and create the following photo slides showing my vision of how learning has changed. I discovered over the last few years, that by creating visuals, I support my own learning and understanding.

• Ideas that I am trying to articulate become clearer in my mind
• I am able to formulate and recall the connections between thoughts better
• The sequence of my train of thought becomes apparent or can be revised better

It is not about Technology...

Learning Spaces

Individual - Collaborative

Drawing and Creativity

Audio Video Learning- iTunes University & Podcasts

Confined- Connected to the World

Newspapers & Magazines - Facebook for News

Passing Notes- Texting

Programming set by someone else-Personalized programming

Performance in a classroom- Recorded Podcast episodes published to a worldwide audience.

Student work receives feedback from teacher- Authentic feedback from worldwide audience

Making sense of facts: Linear - Interactive

Computer Based Software- Webbased & Connected

Separated & Isolated Library- Collaborative & Virtual Library

One Layered Globe- Interactive Multiple Layered Globe

Limited Selection- Unlimited Selection

Making Friends with Children Around the World

Communication

Passive Consumer of Media- Active Producer

Image Credit:

• Learning Space- http://www.flickr.com/photos/superkimbo/2769822397/
• Student with Flip Camera- http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharonpe/3918537331/
• Pen Pal Door- http://www.flickr.com/photos/athole/2294951888/
• iPod Toddler- http://www.flickr.com/photos/frotzed/1700990750/
• Tape Recorder- http://www.flickr.com/photos/christaface/3351797813/
• Study Carrels- by Fred Kuipers
• ALA in Second Life – http://www.flickr.com/photos/alastaff/2847065846/
• PC Desktop by Gözde Otman
• Boys Reciting- http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracylee/540904471/
• Facebook- http://www.flickr.com/photos/fbouly/3568409530/
• Girl doing Homwork by Sam LeVan
• Working Collaboratively- http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhall426/2367776666/

Cross posted on TechLearning Advisor Blog
Podcasting has been around for a while now. It has also made it’s entry into the world of schools. Teachers of younger students are venturing into the world of digital storytelling in the classroom and are recording their students digitally.

The benefits for students to practice skills such as the following are part of a growing list.

• listening
• speaking
• presenting
• comprehension
• storytelling
• performance
• voice acting
• oral fluency
• media
• technology

I believe that there is an added bonus, one that we are just beginning to explore with the younger crowd is the benefit of a having a worldwide audience. The process of creating and recording a podcast is only one part of it. The opportunity to having their work disseminate on a bigger scale is just starting to be possible as teachers are growing and expanding their PLN (Personal Learning Network).  This network can literally span the world through social network sites such as blogs, Nings and twitter.

I am curious to find out if having a global audience makes a difference to six year olds or not?

Does having a Global Audience make a difference?

Once our podcast MP3 file was created, I embedded the file into a blog post on Langwitches and sent an announcement on my Twitter network with the invitation to listen to the audio and leave a comment with their geographic location.

Over the weekend, comments with observations, encouragement, and commendation were pouring in. I tracked the location of the commenters on a Google Map.

The following school day, students were sitting at their desks listening eagerly to me read the comments for them. In addition I showed them the location on the map. I made it a point to remind them that “their” voices were traveling and reaching to far away places.

There were comments from:

• USA
• Argentina
• Scotland
• England
• Spain
• Germany
• Turkey
• China
• India
• Bangladesh
• Thailand
• Australia
• New Zealand

There were a few words that students immediately picked up on and were thrilled to hear over and over again in several comments. They were especially intrigued by the word “professional”. Proud giggles were heard when commenters told them they sounded like 4th or 5th graders and that college professors would let their student teachers listen to their voices as an example. They would be teaching others who were much older than themselves.

Andrea Hernandez from EdtechWorkshop suggested to create a Wordle from all the comments that were left on the blog. As always I am amazed how a word cloud can shed light in an instant on a “bunch of text”.

Wordle created from comments left by listeners of 1st Grade podcast

As we were reading the comments, we also talked about and noted differences among our commenters. Not only where they were coming from, but also if we could figure out, if they were male/female, teachers/parents/grandparents or elementary school level, middle school or at the university level.

During the day, as I met these first graders at different times in the hallway of the school, I was asked as they were passing by, if someone else had listened to”their” voices and where they were from.

At the end of the day, the same first graders were part of a Skype call with another first grade class from  North Carolina. When I asked them, if they had any questions to ask our Skype partners, immediately a hand shot up wanting to know: “if the teacher and the students from North Carolina were “fans” of ours and had listened to our podcast?” Since, the class in North Carolina had not heard it, we immediately sent the blog link to them to check it out.

Here are quotes from journal entries of these podcasting six year olds (Word for word, I only took the liberty and used spell check before posting )

When I heard those compliments, it made me feel happy and very excited. I loved hearing those compliments.

When I heard about the replies, I felt great. Just amazing, so good. They said so much good words. I loved it very much.

I was very happy when I heard them. I liked all the comments about Jack and Annie.

When people texted us, I felt so happy and surprised. I t was fun when I heard one text that they were a big fan.

My class did a very great podcast. People all over earth made us happy. They were nice to us. Yes, they were!

So so so so so so so so soooooooo great! And I liked it so much that I want to explode like a volcano.

When I saw the Wordle, I felt really unbelievable. It was cool!

I felt very happy when I heard they thought we did great. I did not feel sad, I felt excited.

It was fun making a podcast. When we made a podcast, it was good. When they sent us stuff, it was fun.

I felt proud of myself because we got so many comments. I liked them all, because they make me happy because they are very kind and nice.

So, what do you think? Does it matter to a six year old to have a worldwide audience? Does an audience beyond his/her teacher and parents influence student’s motivation and excitement for learning reading, writing, speaking and listening skills?

I am happy to announce

The 2nd annual Jacksonville, Florida
K12Online Conference LAN Party.

LAN stands for Local Area Network.

Download the flyer as a pdf to forward to colleagues and/or  print out to hang in your teacher lounge.

Last year I organized with my colleague Paige McGee two session that you can read about here and here.

This year, Andrea Hernandez, will join me to organize a very unique get together of local educators. We are inviting seasoned teacher veterans as well as pre-service teachers and administrators to watch some of the amazing presentations available through K12Online Conference 2009.

We will have some munchies and drinks available as we network, share and learn with and from each other. We will also connect with educators around the world live via Skype to bring in new perspectives and make global connections.

If you are an educator (or future educator) in the  Jacksonville Area, please plan to join us for this (free) exciting event. Please  RSVP by filling in the form below.

When:
January 7th, 2010

Time:
7:00-9:00 pm

Where:
Martin J. Gottlieb Day School
3662 Crown Point Rd
Jacksonville, FL 32257

CSI- Crime Scene Investigation at school!

Third graders find unidentified skeleton on school campus.

Unidentified skeleton found on school campus

What is one to do, when you find such a specimen on school grounds? Students across grade levels took a mini fieldtrip to the pond on campus to examine the skeleton. The BIG question for everyone, including teachers was: WHAT kind of animal was it? What an opportunity and teachable moment for students and teachers to collaborate in the investigation process and find out.

We had different approaches to the investigation:

Approach A:

• took photos of skeleton and xeroxed copies for students to take home and do research involving parents
• researched online for different images from animal skeletons to compare
• using parent veterinarian as resource
• got in touch with school librarian

Approach B:

• took photos of skeleton and e-mailed them to local Museum of Science and History, local zoo and Florida Fish & Wildlife Service
• e-mailed photos to local veterinarian.
• posted request for identification and research help on School Librarians listserve
• blogged about it on The Barefoot Librarian – Can you identify this Aninmal Skeleton?
• took the opportunity for lesson with 2nd & 3rd graders to talk about and demonstrate inquiry and research process
  • first stop library for reference interview
  • use books and online resources to narrow search
  • contact local experts
  • evaluate your sources. What makes an expert? (Animal lover versus Florida Fish & Wildlife Service Employee)

Approach C:

• took images of skeleton with iPhone
• uploaded to Twitpic, which sent  automatic tweet to  Twitter network

First set of images sent to Twitpic

Second set of images sent to Twitpic

Over the next three hours the “shout out” for help in identifying the skeleton received over 50 Twitter responses with

• links to resources to further investigate
• guesses on what it could be
• help to get experts involved
• questions to help further narrow the answers down
• advice where else to publish questions and take advantage of the power of social networking

Following the tweet

I uploaded the image to the ID-Please group on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/idplease/

After a few hours, comments were left by other Flickr users

Note being left directly on image, identifying the three teeth being typical of a raccoon.

Another tip came and suggested to upload the image to a site called “idthis.org”

http://idthis.org/

The Twitter network also jumped in and retweeted (RT) the request for help onward to their network

Guesses and further questions what animal it could be flooded in

Suggestion of getting in touch with experts who could help our investigation along or expert’s guesses:

Links to more Resources:

I am amazed, again, at the power of the network. As the investigation spread across our school campus, so it did across the network. Having a support team, a flood of resources and experts at your fingertips (literally), it is truly an example how learning, research, has changed through the collaboration, connecting and communication tools of the social network era.

I am happy to report, that all three approaches of research came to the same conclusion.

Our skeleton seems to be a raccoon skeleton.

Our librarian has collected the specimen and is shipping it, as we speak, to the Florida Fish & Wildlife Services, who have offered to clean it up, give us a positive identification and ship it back to us.