always learning

A little over a week ago I was honored to be invited to Qatar Academy, workplace of the amazing Julie Lindsay, as a consultant for a 2 day 21st century literacy training.

While I’m there, not only do I get to spend some quality F2F time with Julie, but hopefully I will also spend some time with my good friends Jabiz and Mairin from my last school!

Here is my proposed outline for the two days of training:

Day 1:

Introductory session: Developing the Global Student: Practical Ways to Infuse 21st Century Literacy into Your Classroom (75 – 90 minutes, full group with Q&A)

Breakout sessions:

2 options (60 – 90 min sessions – conducted in small groups, either grade level teams or subject area groups):

• Globally Collaborative Projects: best practice examples and how to get started.
• Web 2.0 trainings – groups for blogging, wikis, social networking, RSS, etc – curriculum/standards based, practical and hands on in a lab setting

Closing session: The 21st Century Educator: Embracing Web 2.0 in your Professional Practice (75 – 90 minutes, full group, with Q&A)

Day 2:

Introductory session: The 21st Century School: Making the Shift Happen – an overview of what current best practice in international schools looks like, the roles of technology facilitators, curriculum coordinators, classroom teachers, and administrators. Sample facilitation structure shared from ISB, MKIS and MIS.

3 options (60 – 90 min sessions – conducted in small groups, either grade level teams or subject area groups):

• Curriculum planning to authentically embed 21st century literacy – practical questions, successful framework, examining current standards and topics and developing ideas to embed technology (60 – 90 minutes per grade level/subject team).
• Developing a framework for successful technology integration with tech team
• Mobile computing – the changing classroom, facilities management, practical tips

Closing session: ???

I would love to hear your opinion! What do you think I should cover? What’s missing from this list? What would you like to see presented at your school?

Tags: julie lindsay, qatar academy, 21stcentury, consultant, professional development, training

I have been looking forward to this project all year! We just got started on Friday with a wonderful group of fourth graders, and their very flexible classroom teacher, Sonja. I’m so excited to be able to collaborate on this project a second time. I hope I’ve learned from my mistakes the last time around, and have set up this workshop for success.

We’ve been doing a lot of planning at the elementary level in order to avoid some of the confusion and frustration I experienced last year – mostly due to lack of planning. Here are the key structures that we’ve put into place so far:

Grouping & Coordination

At this point we have determined that we will split the 20 elementary classrooms that are participating into a number of smaller sub groups. First we divided by age level, then by writing style or curricular focus to ensure that the peer editors will be knowledgeable enough to offer constructive advice. We also wanted to keep the groups no larger than 3 schools collaborating together so that it is easier for the students to offer thorough peer reviews.

We have created one page where all of the student stories can be linked and easily accessible. Also on this page, we have all student partners clearly laid out in a table, so that students can quickly find the work of their partners. Regardless of whether the individual student pages are part of the same wiki, or actually hosted on another classroom wiki, they are all clearly linked here.

Time Lines & Expectations

We have laid out and agreed upon our expected deadlines for each phase of the project: 1st draft, peer reviews, 2nd draft, final story, and awards. Though the dates vary for each sub group, a great effort has been made to ensure that the smaller groups have identified specific dates that the work will be completed. Hopefully this will allow teachers to better plan their classes and complete the project in a timely manner.

Assessment & Curricular Focus

Given that the various sub-groups are working within the same curricular focus, we have begun to develop common procedures and assessments so that all students are clearly working toward the same goal. In order for the peer editors to be truly helpful, they need to be looking at the stories through the same lens.

Practicalities

Wiki Memberships: All teachers have been made “organizers” of the wiki. This will allow them to add their students as members as they see fit, without having to wait for one organizer on the other side of the world to approve the requests. Teachers are welcome to create their own class wiki and just link their pages here, or they can use this wiki as the actual work in progress. When I add students, I open the Members and Permissions page and have students come up and type their e-mail address into the “Invite New Members” line. Then I show them how to become a member of wikispaces as a class, and they join the wiki. This allows all the students to join the wiki within one class period, but does not send those annoying “request for membership” e-mails to all organizers.

Naming Policies: In an effort to more easily find student work (just in case links break, or students forget to create the right links) we have developed a page naming format: SchoolInitials_StudentName. Not only will this place all student pages from one school right next to each other in the List Pages view (which was essential when we had student issues last year), but it will make the linking process easier since there are bound to be multiple students with the same first name in all of these classes. Last year we had students naming pages with file names that had nothing to do with their own name or their school’s name and it made it increasingly frustrating for their partners or the classroom teachers to navigate through their work. The more transparant the file naming system is, the easier it will be for all these 20 different teachers and classes of students to manage.

Communication: Although we have been communicating mostly by e-mail I’m finally now trying to move discussion to the participating schools page discussion tab – this way new teachers can follow along with the conversation as well. It makes so much more sense to have the conversations in a central and open place, plus, with the ability to RSS wiki discussions (and changes), students and teachers can keep close tabs on all updates anytime.

Parental Permission: Despite the fact that absolutely no personal information will be shared during the course of this project, I always like to ensure that parents are not only aware of what is happening in the classroom, but that they formally allow their children to participate. Given the concern about online projects, I would much rather deal with any questions before the project starts than after students have become invested in their work.

Getting Started

Now that we have some of the basics for a successful globally collaborative project lined up, Sonja and I have been planning how we will approach this project with our students. Here is our planned schedule:

Lesson One

Introduce the project. Share the global scope by showing the Participating Schools page and exploring all the different countries involved. Make connections to students prior knowledge by sharing student-friendly pop culture references to Arabian Nights (Disney’s Aladdin comes to mind). Build interest by reading aloud the frame story for the project and discussing ideas for how to persuade the Alien King to let the human race live.

Get all students signed up for the wiki. Split the class into two groups – one that has e-mail accounts already and one that needs help creating an account. Have the classroom teacher read an excerpt from the Arabian Nights frame story (appropriate for elementary, we used the Eyewitness Accounts series) while the other group is dealing with the technical steps to sign up. Once one group is finished, swap.

Lesson Two – Four

Brainstorm ideas. Each student will complete an Inspiration mind map, or other graphic organizer, of their ideas for their story. Ideally we will share these brainstorms with our partners around the world, but if time is short, we can discuss these in class. Students will use their experience with persuasive writing, as well as the rubric and expectations for quality persuasive writing as they brainstorm to ensure that their story will meet the project requirements.

Lesson Five

Online safety. We will watch my two favorite Public Service Announcements (Think Before You Post & The Talent Show) to discuss appropriate and safe behavior online. We will use the Online Safety guidelines as posted on the wiki to ensure that students are prepared to work and learn in this environment.

Lesson Six

Wiki basics. Demo the main features of a wiki and allow students to post an introduction to themselves that uses all of the basic wiki techniques (formatting, inserting images from a website and the desktop, and linking). These pages will be an introduction for their collaborative partner, as well as an authentic way for students to learn how to manipulate wiki pages.

Lesson Seven – Ten

Write. Complete the first draft.

Lesson Eleven – Thirteen

Peer review collaborative partner’s work. Edit and improve their story based on collaborative partner’s feedback. Post second draft

Lesson Fourteen – Fifteen
Peer review collaborative partner’s work. Edit and improve their story based on collaborative partner’s feedback. Post final draft.

Lesson Sixteen

Awards and celebrations.

One thing I would really love to have time for is either narrating the stories by podcast, or adding images to enhance the stories, or creating a never-ending story by linking all the various stories together, or even creating a video of individual stories. At this point I’m waiting to see how the students do with the basic tools needed to collaborate on a wiki. Any students that are interested in taking their ideas farther or brining a multimedia element to their story will be supported either in small groups or individually.

I can’t wait to see what they all come up with! No doubt there will be some very exciting and unique stories appearing on these very pages over the next few weeks!

Tags: elementary, 21stcentury, globalcollaborations, internationalschool, flatclassroom, collaborations, 1001 Tales, wiki, writing, workshop, persuasive,

I am constantly inspired by the supportive and encouraging environment out here in the education blogosphere. After reading Minds on Fire: Open Education, the Long Tail, and Learning 2.0 (so nice I have to mention it twice), I am reminded of the power of the social learning going on in this environment.

Anyone involved in the field of education in general (and technology education in particular) knows that our jobs are changing rapidly. Much too quickly to learn “everything there is to know” before we enter the work force. As Brown and Adler describe,

Mastering a field of knowledge involves not only “learning about” the subject matter but also “learning to be” a full participant in the field. This involves acquiring the practices and the norms of established practitioners in that field or acculturating into a community of practice.

In a traditional Cartesian educational system, students may spend years learning about a subject; only after amassing sufficient (explicit) knowledge are they expected to start acquiring the (tacit) knowledge or practice of how to be an active practitioner/professional in a field. But viewing learning as the process of joining a community of practice reverses this pattern and allows new students to engage in “learning to be” even as they are mastering the content of a field. This encourages the practice of what John Dewey called “productive inquiry”—that is, the process of seeking the knowledge when it is needed in order to carry out a particular situated task.

I am learning constantly, and my job changes just as quickly. Being involved in this social learning environment is allowing me to learn consistently and steadily along with the changes as they come. It is this powerful learning environment that has helped me shape my views on 21st century literacy, keep me up-to-date on the most powerful methods of connecting learners, and push my thinking towards the future.

It is this personal experience of “learning to be” in this environment that makes me realize just how powerful this will be for our students. I am amazed and inspired by the power of this network to stretch my thinking and to broaden my horizons. It is clear to me that this experience of social learning will only become more and more essential to education as the tools become easier and easier to use.

One of the most important aspects of this experience, for me, has been the willingness of others to share their learning, and the encouragement and support that is received when I share my own thoughts and ideas. Seeing as I’m the first-born in my immediate family (and thus, somewhat spoiled) I have never been the best at sharing. But this open network of learning, thinking and discussion has always felt like such a natural place to share.

It continues to amaze me that others find my thinking helpful and that every day I have a new follower on Twitter or a comment from a new reader. I am amazed and empowered at the ability to be both a learner and a leader in this environment.

Two weeks ago I (who, me?!) was a guest on the fabulous Women of Web 2.0 podcast! Jennifer Wagner, Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters and Cheryl Oakes interviewed me? What could I possibly have to tell these superstars of education who I have been following and learning from for years? Just the possibility that this could happen not only makes learning, thinking, and sharing more exciting, but also so much more personal. Being part of a network that grows and shifts and changes as rapidly as the learning occurs means that there is room for everyone – such a different feeling from the traditional classroom.

The week before my WOW2 appearance, Chris Betcher invited me and Susan Sedro on his fantastic The Virtual Staffroom podcast to talk about technology integration. Two people who I constantly look to for advice, who I think of as my mentors, who inspire me to do new things in new ways. And they wanted to hear what I thought!

Around that same time Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach invited me to be an “Expert Voice” on Social Networking for the next month for the Powerful Learning Practice professional development Ning that she is working on with Will Richardson. Just to be involved in something with Sheryl and Will is exciting enough – let alone being called “expert” on something, anything!

Finally, just last week Julie Lindsay invited me to travel to Qatar Academy as a consultant for 2 full days of 21st century literacy training. Not only am I so honored to be thought of as an expert in this field, but to be given the privilege of working with an entire primary school full of teachers for two full days as a consultant – I can not think of anything more exciting!

Looking at the new 2008 Horizon Report, this type of social learning is only the beginning:

The next generation of social networking systems—social operating systems—will change the way we search for, work with, and understand information by placing people at the center of the network….The real value of the network lies in the way it helps us create, identify, and sustain relationships….

Placing people and relationships at the center of informational space will have a profound influence at all levels of academia. It will change the way we relate to knowledge and information; the way we do research and evaluate credibility; the way educators and students interact with each other; and the way students learn to be professionals in their chosen disciplines…

Imagine the impact of tools that place those people and relationships at the center of any research inquiry: concepts clearly linked to people; connections between those people and others clearly indicated; a much more complete picture of the topic would emerge, more quickly than is possible with current tools.

These are the kinds of experiences I want to ensure that my students have. I want them to experience the fun and excitement and empowerment of learning and mastering a skill. I want them to feel like they are connected to learners just like them, and that their network can grow and change as their needs shift. I want to bring this kind of connected learning to each and every classroom so that all students can enjoy learning the way I do. This is what makes my job so fun and interesting – isn’t that what we want our schools to be?

Tags: chris betcher, susan sedro, julie lindsay, jennifer wagner, vicki davis, cheryl oakes, sharon peters, wow2, women of web 2.0, qatar academy, plp, powerful learning practice, will richardson, social networking, educase, minds on fire, social, learning, 21stcentury, horizon report, future, hz08, flnw08