always learning

2007 - Present

As the 21st Century Literacy Specialist at the International School Bangkok, I work with core classroom teachers to successfully embed 21st century literacy skills into the classroom:

Grade 5:

Xtreme Learning: Social Networking via Ning: Highly able students in all grade 5 classes connect about reading using Ning as part of our current organizational goal to improve student reading. Similarly abled readers in grade 4 and grade 6 will be added as the year progresses. 8 other international and local schools are participating in our discussions on reading and literature.

Life ‘Round Here: Digital Video for Assessment: A digital storytelling project initiated by Chris Craft. 11 schools around the world are participating, all focusing on the concept of adaption and culture. This project is a perfect link to our first grade 5 unit of adaptation and will be completed by 31 October 2007. Our essential questions are:

• What is life like here in Thailand?
• How have we adapted to life in Thailand?
• How have Thai people adapted to the influence of Western culture?

Personal Learning Blogs in Ms. R, Ms. T and Ms. H’s classes: Over the course of the school year, students will focus on reflection, metacognition, and understanding through personal learning journals (blogs). The first step to being able to write well, is reading therefore blogging improves both the ability to read and write. We will collaborate with other classes throughout the world to gain a deeper understanding of our own learning, our community, and global connectedness. Read more about this project here and about how we’re staying safe online here.

Native American Online Village: Collaborative Wikis in Ms. A and Ms. K’s classes: As students learn about Native Americans they will participate in an collaborative class wiki to research and share their learning with the rest of the grade 5 classes. Students will use this collaborative space to delve deeper into their learning and to contribute to the wealth of knowledge available online. This project will be completed by mid-October.

Grade 4:

1001 Flat World Tales: Collaborative writing using wikis: Students will collaborate with other children in 12 classrooms around the world to produce exciting and unique persuasive writing enhanced with multimedia.

The Connected Classroom: Social Networking via Ning: 8 international and local grade 4 classrooms are connecting on one Ning to teach and learn from each other. Students will share screencasts of classroom learning, digital stories, more book reviews, student-led forum discussions, and whatever else comes up. The goal is to connect students on a personal level, in a private and safe space, to begin learning from each other, teaching each other and collaborating on projects together. This is a year-long, always-on, global classroom.

Books Go Global! Developing a love of reading via VoiceThread and wikis: Eight fourth grade classes around the world use to VoiceThread to get them excited about their next big project. They are going to be creating book reviews on VoiceThread (inspired by Wes Fryer’s son, Alexander) and then sharing them with partner schools around the world so that their single book review can become a dynamic conversation around books.

Grade 2:

World Village: Two grade two classrooms are connecting on Ning to explore intercultural understanding and learn about the different cultures we have represented in our classes. The goal is to merge our two classrooms into one global village by conducting joint activities or projects once a month. We are going to focus on intercultural understanding and making connections between or different lifestyles.

Grade 1:

Small Moments: ESL Students Present via VoiceThread: Students write and illustrate a “small moment” for later narrating and posting on a VoiceThread. Hopefully, we can get a collaboration going with some other grade 1 ESL students so that we can share our stories and comment on each other’s work.

Kindergarten:

Kindergarten Connections: Connecting Students via VoiceThread: Two kindergarten classes connect for learning using VoiceThread, blogs, wikis, and digital imagery to share and discuss topics from the curriculum.

Pre-Kindergarten:

The Meaning of Friendship: Students as Authors via SmartBoards: Pre-Kindergarten students collaborate to write their own interactive book about the meaning of friendship in their class.

Projects for Communication with Teachers, Students and Parents

Connect 2.0 Blog: Community blog documenting important activities, events and successful 21st century literacy projects. All ISB teacher and student blogs are linked.

Connect 2.0 Wiki: Community wiki to share important information about the Learning Hub.

2005 - 2007

As the Middle School Technology Facilitator at Mont’Kiara International School I worked with the core subject teachers to integrate technology into the classroom:

Grade 6:

Social Studies Meets IT: Blogging in Social Studies: We started out the year using blogs to learn about current events. Since then, these student blogs have expanded into a one-stop-shop for all social studies work, as well as a place to post other core subject material.

Code Blue!: Wikis in Science: In order to develop an authentic assessment for a project about the human body systems, we decided to have the students create an online medical clinic in the form of a wiki. This was an exciting project because students were able to collaborate across class sections (even though they never actually sat in the same classroom at the same time, they were able to work on the same wikispace).

Are You Ready?: Wikis in Study Skills: As students learned about different study skills to make the transition from elementary to middle school easier, they collaborated on a wiki to help other sixth grade students at school and around the world.

Where in the World?: Google Earth in Social Studies: Students began their geography unit by researching different countries and marking them on Google Earth (still looking for a way to post this online).

Sixth Grade IT: Wikis in IT: Students as authors of the sixth grade IT curriculum. All students contribute to this space in order to record, describe and analyze everything they’ve learned in this 9-week exploratory course.

Grade 7:

Seventh Grade IT: Wikis in IT: Students as authors of the seventh grade IT curriculum. All students contribute to this space in order to record, describe and analyze everything they’ve learned in this 9-week exploratory course.

Current Events (Ms. N and Ms. S): Blogging in Social Studies: As students begin to explore current events around the world, they will share what they have learned with their peers through daily presentations and blog posting.

1001 Flat World Tales: Wikis in English: Students will collaborate with other children around the world to produce exciting and unique myths and legends about Malaysia as part of the 1001 Flat World Tales project.

Grade 8:

English Eight: Blogging in English: Students are ready to communicate with a wider audience by posting their writing online and commenting.

Eighth Grade IT: Wikis in IT: Students as authors of the eighth grade IT curriculum. All students contribute to this space in order to record, describe and analyze everything they’ve learned in this 9-week exploratory course.

International Teen Life Project: Blogging, wikis, and multimedia in English: In collaboration with 4 other schools around the world, our students will produce poetic documentaries about issues that directly affect their lives.

Cross Grade Level:

Strings Online: Wikis in Orchestra: A unique way to present personal projects on musicians. Students research their choice of artists and then post individual project pages online. The discussion tool is used to create an online version of classroom discussion.

Middle School IT: Wikis in IT: The course curriculum for each 9-week exploratory is posted here along with resource links and all assignments. Links to each student produced wiki on each grade level page.

Dragon Art: Wikis in Art: As students research, design and create their own personal dragon, they will document their creative process, along with their research on dragons, using this class wikispace.

Projects for Communication with Students and Parents

I would like to more effectively share what is happening in our IT classroom with a wider school community:

Middle School IT Blog: Blogs in IT: A place to communicate easily with students and parents about our classroom activities (a work in progress).

Projects for Teachers

I am working encouraging and motivating teachers to incorporate technology into their core subject courses:

Tech in the Middle Wiki: Collaborative Wiki for Technology Integration: A place for all middle school teachers to share resources related to the integration of technology.

Tech in the Middle Blog: Collaborative Blog for Technology Integration: A place for middle school technology teachers to share experiences and resources related to the integration of technology (a work in progress).