It Is Time to Stop Looking at My Classroom and Start Looking at the School Community

I am very fortunate to have some of my work included in William' Kist's book, The Socially Networked Classroom. I have just started reading it and am enjoying it very much. Thinking about what I have read has made me start to think about my school.

I have spent a lot of time and effort on my classroom. I have invested countless hours in working through the how and why for many different technology tools. I have posted over 500 blog entries and commented hundreds of times on other blogs. I have learned and shared a vast amount of new information that has truly helped me look at education in a new way. I have transformed my classroom in the last five years.

As I walk down the halls I see the difference in the amount of technology the teachers and students have access to now. There are projectors in all classrooms and IWB's in almost all of them. Most teachers have laptops now and we have an open wireless network. Anyone can get online at anytime in our school. Teachers have access to digital cameras and webcams. The one minor problem we have right now is some cranky server software and not enough broadband access to the internet.

As I look back over the past five years I wonder where we will be in another five. Will students be carrying laptops and netbooks? Will we finally allow them to use smart phones in class? Will our textbooks be digital instead of paper? All of these questions will of course be answered in time.

The one question that is most important has nothing to do with hardware or software. It is the one thing I can control: How will my school change for the better because I am here?

I can no longer hide in my classroom and work between the encompassing four walls. I now have more responsibility to both the teachers and students in my building. I need to seriously consider what I need to emphasize. My view has to broaden and encompass a much larger mission.

This is a new focus for me. In the past I succeed or fail on my own merits. The impact is much smaller because of the fewer number of students I had access to. Now my decisions impact ten times that number.

I don't know what direction I am heading. I have already encouraged the increased use of class blogs with other teachers. I know we are progressing as a school, but the rate of speed with a large group is so much slower than with an individual. I really need to make sure that anything I bring to the school as a whole is very important for our school community. I don't have the luxury of experimenting with a small group anymore.

Scary Statistics

I have had a lot of conversations, recently, about the merits of single sex education in a co-ed setting. As the teacher of a year 5/6 boys class, I am completely sold on the idea and have seen a lot of evidence to support single sex education for boys. While undertaking some professional reading recently, I came across some statistics that stunned me from a report compiled by the Pell Institute. These really outline why it's important that we look at all options to make school a more successful place for boys.

• For every 100 girls suspended from public elementary and secondary schools, 250 boys are suspended. For every 100 girls expelled, 335 boys are expelled.
• For every 100 girls diagnosed with a learning disability, 276 boys are so diagnosed.
• For every 100 girls diagnosed with emotional disturbance, 324 boys are so diagnosed.
• For every 100 girls aged 15-19 who commit suicide, 549 boys in the same range kill themselves.
• For every 100 women aged 20-24 who commit suicide, 624 men of the same age kill themselves.
• For every 100 girls aged 15-17 in correctional facilities, there are 837 boys behind bars.
• For every 100 women aged 18-21 in correctional facilities, there are 1,430 men behind bars.
• For every 100 women enrolled in college, there are 77 men enrolled.
• For every 100 women who earn a bachelors degree there are 67 men who earn that same degree.
• For every 100 women who earn a masters degree, there are 62 men who earn that same degree.

These statistics are confronting. What can we do better to help our boys succeed?

Jarrod Lamshed

The Fundred Project is a art project that focuses on bringing awareness to lead-contaminated soil in major U.S. cities and contributes. How you may ask? By creating fake one hundred dollar bills (Fundreds). Students are given one hundred dollar templates and asked to design these Fundreds in any way they see fit.

These valuable drawings will be picked up by a special armored truck and presented to the U.S. Congress with a request for an even exchange of the creative capital–your Fundreds–for real funding to make safe lead-polluted soils in New Orleans.

Students from around the country will be designing Fundred dollar bills in an effort to raise awareness. On Friday, my students will be participating in this activity on Friday. I can't wait to introduce this topic to my students and see the creative designs they come up with.

Fundreds
If you are interested in this project with you students, all you have to do is two easy steps. Number one, visit the Fundred site to get your own money templates. Number two, show the powerpoint above to your students and turn them draw. This is a wonderful activity for a good cause and I would like to encourage everyone to participate in this lesson. We will have our Fundred designs posted in the coming days.

Mr. McClung
http://jkmcclung.edublogs.org

How to Get (and Keep) More Visitors

I received the above comment from a student in Mr. Miller's class. Mr. Miller told his class they would stop getting homework if they reached 2,500 hits on their class blog. Click here for an update. Make sure you stop by and add another hit to the map!

I left a comment on the blog with the below advice. I have expanded some of it. The original comment is in bold.

1) I have been blogging for three years and the hits add up. I have not changed my blog address in three years so it makes it easier for people to find me after a long period of time.

It is difficult to get attention from the education world for your blog because of the lack of teachers using technology and/or the lack of access to technology in the classrooms. There also seems to be a lot of ed tech "experts" that talk about how important it is for students to use tech tools, but they don't spend much time or attention visiting or promoting students' work.

2) I post regularly so that people have a reason to come back often. This is critical. I want to have a new post up at least every day or two. It seems like many times I will go days without posting and then I have two or three entries. With Blogger I can schedule posts to take place at a later time which I use often to help space out my posts. When I look at the blogs I follow on my site, I am much more likely to visit one that has newish content.

3) The title of my posts have words that people search for using search engines like Google. If your titles are not descriptive enough people won't find them in a search. I know for a fact that most of my hits come from Google. People search for specific things and if your titles are specific you will get more hits. I use Feedjit to see where my visitors come from and how they get there. For example, I have a post on the BBC website Dance Mat Typing. If you Google BBC typing I currently come in fifth on the list.

4) I comment on lots of others blogs. When I comment I make sure it is positive and relevant. Don't write something like, "Nice post", write instead, "I really like the way you used descriptive adjectives in your story." or "That is a great science project! When I teach that subject I will do this activity too. I also do __________ when I teach this." I started the comments4kids meme on twitter to encourage leaving comments on students' blogs, a by product of that is the ability to link back to our own blog. We receive a lot of hits and comments from blogs we leave comments on.

I am sure there are lots of other things that help. If you know of any please post it in a comment below.

Teachers Need to Become Social Networking Experts

I tweeted the below message this morning after having a conversation with my junior high math teacher. She had been sick yesterday and looked pretty pale today. She had planned on students working in the lab today testing, but most had finished the day before. Since she was obviously not feeling good, I volunteered to put something on my blog that the students finished with the testing could do. After asking her what she was covering, probability, I did what any 2.0 teacher would do, I went to Twitter for help.

Within a few minutes I started receiving suggestions from my network.

Obviously, covering for another teacher is not an unusual occurrence, we have all done that. What makes this more unique is that the people that helped the math teacher out did not even know her. Several of the wonderful teachers that responded haven't even had a lengthy conversation with me. They just saw a need and filled it.

This is obviously a positive pln story, but it really is much more. This is really a small hint of what we will soon see in education. Teachers need to evolve to being social networking experts. Students will look to us for our ability to link them to what they want (need) to learn. We will no longer be expected to be experts in content or tools. We will need to be experts in creating paths from learners to knowledge.

I have a new job this year. I have three hours a day to help facilitate technology into our school. While I have been teaching teachers (and students) tools, I find that the best learning experiences come from connecting students and teachers to sources they can learn from.

We have had several experiences this year that have made for some great experiences for my students and for others. Dear Kia: Voicethread and Video helps recount a wonderful teachable moment that started with simple question by a student commenting on a child's blog (something I consider to be incredibly transformative for my students). Mrs. Baker and Mrs. Whittier Skype Meeting recounts two classes sharing culture using Skype. Mrs. Whittier's Spanish class wanted to know what school was like in Mexico and we have students that have attended school in Mexico. In How to Speak Chuukese Part 1 we took a problem, a small population of students that spoke only Chuukese, and decided to create some videos to help others that may have the same problem.

What made these experiences possible was the connections I have made through blogging, commenting on blogs, and Twitter. I created no content but simply connected my students to learning opportunities. You better start making connections too if you want your students to have these opportunities.

It Is Imperative We Help Our Students Create a Positive Digital Portfolio

I was sitting at the Donald W. Reynolds football stadium on the campus of the University of Arkansas Saturday afternoon watching the jumbotron "Pig Screen". When I noticed it showing people in the stands. While this is a normal occurrence at the football games, and I have been to plenty to know, this time I was struck by the students and children that were being shown. I like to watch them show people in the crowd because many (especially students) do some funny and sometimes incredibly stupid things. That made me reflect on something I have been contemplating for a while.

What digital artifacts are our students creating? I see on television or the internet stories like the riot that took place in Chicago ending with the murder of Derrion Albert, with that being recorded on a cell phone. I see a bus video of a student in an altercation with a bus driver. I see kids video (cell phone again) the assault of a young lady by several other young ladies. These are artifacts that not only make us sick, but also relay a message that young people are violent, aggressive, and dangerous.

Not only are the students in these videos tainted by their actions (with good reason), but all students have to carry some of that burden as well. There are plenty of education sites that show students in a positive light such as At the Fireplace, Beyond the Rainbow, East Dragon Den, Little Voices, Little Scholars, Room 8 Melville, and Saigon South International School Blog. While these and many, many more showcase positive experiences students are having, they really don't help individual students create that digital portfolio that will follow them throught the next few years. My class blog reflects me much more than my students.

Facebook is a perfect example of how the digital trails students create can come back to haunt them. Here is an article about how roomates are perceived by the parents of college students. Here is an article about the perils of adding stupid content to your Facebook page. While I don't believe we can teach the stupid out of some actions our students will do, perhaps a strong digital portfolio will help others see them as more rounded individuals. Who wants the only information about them on line to be about how much they like to party and get drunk?

How can we help our students create personal spaces that can help them record not only their learning, but also pieces of themeselves on line? Obviously, the answer is we must encourage our students to create and save digital content whether it be audio, video, writing, or a mash up of the three at some centralized spot that can be found later by them, future employers, or even by colleges and universities. What are you doing to help your students create their own positivie on line identity?

Getting Over It

If you've read my earlier post Talking the Talk you'll know how I feel about hearing my recorded voice. Yesterday the chance arose to take another step up the ladder and produce a video.

@catspyjamasnz asked for people to contribute to her project What My PLN Means to Me and to add a video to the wiki.

So here's my contribution. Like I've said before, we have to put ourselves out there and get over our dislikes, fears and phobias. How can we expect children to do this if we don't?

How Do I Know I Am Not Just Being Selfish?

Part of my job responsibilities this year is to help incorporate more technology into the classroom teachers' teaching. Already this year I have facilitated a Skype conversation between a class in my building and one in another state. I have helped several teachers begin (and begin to use) their own class blogs. I have created a professional development site that will be used in conjunction with our faculty book study. Things seem to be rolling along.

Why is it I am starting to question my motives for pushing technology into the classroom? Am I simply forcing my own interests onto others? Do I really believe that learning how to blog, create media, and connect with others around the world is more valuable than learning more traditional content using more traditional context?

Why is it I find myself more excited about the prospect of doing collaborative work with other schools than my students? Are they simply more accepting of the changes we are experiencing in the world and therefor not as impressed?

What do you think? Are we pushing too hard a technology agenda, or are we simply trying to catch up with the world outside our walls?

Using Skype to Connect ESOL Students with Foreign Language Students

Last Tuesday I facilitated a Skype conference call between Mrs. Baker's ESOL class and Mrs. Whittier's Spanish class. Unfortunately, I had duty in the morning and had limited time to set up the equipment.

I used a logitech usb webcam for the video feed feed and a Blue Snowball usb microphone for audio. The laptop is a Dell Vostro 1500 with 2 gigabytes of ram. We used the screen on the laptop for the video. We also used the built in speakers on the laptop for sound.We were using our wireless access for the internet. I wanted Mrs. Baker's students to be in their room so Mrs. Whittier's class could see the class environment.

There are several things I plan to change for the next Skype call. The first is making sure I have powered audio. We had a difficult time hearing Mrs. Whittier's students through the excited chatting. The second would be to run the video through a projector. Although the video stream isn't exactly great, it would still make it easier for the students to watch. I would also change from our webcam to my digital camcorder with my macbook. Our video stream would improve greatly that way.

To record the Skype call next time I will use CamStudio (Thanks to the recommendation by Eric Langhorst!). I had planned on using Jing Pro, but realized too late that it would only record 5 minutes of video. Obviously, this meant I did not get any screen capture video of our meeting :<.

If you are planning on doing a conference call, here are some things to think about. Make sure you have an alternate (non internet) means of contacting the people you are skyping. I would suggest a phone number. See this post for how I learned that lesson. Also, do a practice call so the bugs can be worked out. I was having problems with my Snowball microphone on our practice call and had time to find a solution before the actual call.

Here is the view the students had of the call.

Here you can see Mrs. Whittier on the screen.

Notice how the students were focused on the other class.Here is a screen capture of Mrs. Whittier's class waving goodbye at the end of the call. You can see our video feed in the bottom right corner.

Here is some video. Plese forgive the poor quality.

I was very pleased with content of the meeting. Mrs. Whittier's class wanted to learn about schools in Mexico. We have several students that have attended schools in Mexico so they were very valuable resources. Mrs. Whittier also wanted her students to have authentic experiences with the Spanish language. They had the opportunity through the call to talk to native Spanish speakers.

In return, Mrs. Baker's students had the opportunity to learn about school in Virginia. The school Mrs. Whittier teaches at the Fredericksburg Academy is a private school that is very different from our school. Our students learned about some of those differences, but also learned that both groups of students had many similarities.

Overall, I thought the meeting went extremely well and we plan to continue the conversation later in the year. If you would like your class to skype with one of our 3-8 classes, feel free to contact me and we will set it up!

Using Technology for Effective Communication

Recently there has been a lot of discussion around the need for teachers to continue their learning. This means being aware of current practices and participating in appropriate in-service (or other) training. It also means staying informed about new technologies that can be used as learning tools. I don’t think there are many teachers who would disagree (??). This week we’ve made some changes to our class website, and the way we communicate with families, that also make use of new technologies.

As a teacher, I find communicating effectively with parents to be one of the most difficult parts of the job. In many families, both parents work full time and are not home during school hours. Families live busy lives and finding time to have the conversations that are needed can be difficult. Throughout the year, I’ve battled through leaving messages on answering machines and sending notes home for parents to call me at school. I know this is the way it’s always been done... but it doesn’t work. I’ve tried using email where it’s available, but the reality is that most of my parents don’t check their email often enough for this to be effective. It’s for these reasons that I have decided to trial these changes:

Twitter Feed:
Twitter is a great tool for quick communication, but it’s not something that enough parents access to make it a worthwhile tool on it’s own. For this reason, I have decided to try using Twitter in conjunction with our class blog. I’ve added a Twitter Feed to the sidebar on our class blog. This gives me an ‘easy update’ option that I can use from my mobile phone, and that all parents can access. The problem here, is that parents don’t access the website regularly enough to get all updates in time. I hope, that in time, this will become something that parents check more often.



Mobile Phone:
Recently, we have had a lot of class commitments that have happened after normal school hours. The only way to manage this in a safe way, has been to make my mobile phone number available to parents. This has made life so much easier for me (and families) as far as communication goes. I have had some phone calls that were not related to the after hours events, but to me, this is a good thing. I’d rather get a phone call to clear up any confusion than have students worrying until the next school day. Other teachers have expressed concern that I won’t be able to ‘switch off’ from the job or that I may be opening myself up to abusive calls. I refuse to get worried about things that ‘might’ (or might not) happen, and as far as ‘switching off’.. I’m more than capable of NOT answering a call that comes in.





Facebook:
This is the one that has people flustered, and I find this a little strange. Speaking with my students, I have found out that 24 our of my 29 families have a parent that uses facebook. 20 of these check their facebook at least once a day. I decided that I would use this make communication more effective. I’ve created a facebook account that is purely for communicating with parents. It is not accessed by students, it is not used to play facebook games, or to join ‘mob wars’ or for ANYTHING except for communication. It really is the modern day version of an email account. The bonus over email, is that it is accessed MUCH more regularly. This has already proven very successful.



In a conversation the other day, I heard an idea shot down because it was said “we’ve never done that here”, and how many times have we all heard “we’ve ALWAYS done it like this” ? These are dangerous words. If we followed these rules, where would we be?

Robert Burns Haunts Me

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men Gang aft agley...
from Robert Burn's To a Mouse

Today was supposed to be a big day. The true beginning of my part time technology facilitation job. Today I was supposed to have a class from another state skype in to learn from students in our ESOL program. Mrs. Baker, the ESOL teacher, and I were really excited and ready for the experience. Her students had practiced speaking in front of an audience to prepare. Everything was ready to go, and then......

The electricity flickers once, twice, and then goes down for the eight count. Not a problem, there was still 50 minutes until the appointed time. I was sure it would be fixed pretty quickly. It is unusual for our power outages to be more than 5 or 10 minutes.

After 20 I start to think, "Mrs. Whittier doesn't know we have no electricity and I can't tweet or skype....." I try to call my wife but get the voicemail. Irritated I hang up and immediately get a message that that I have a voice message. Yup, I had called my own phone.... I called home again and found out electricity was out there too. No help there.

I go to my office to think. Walking in the dooor I have another idea, a friend and former colleague is now principal at another school in the district. I can have him log into my skype account and send a message. I quickly find the school's number and call but he is not in the office and they can't contact him.

Suddenly I realized I had the solution in my pocket....I can send a direct message from my cell phone using texting!

But Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain:

Robert Burn's To a Mouse

I immediately text D: @capohanka my schoolhas no electricity can't do skype today dm me back if u get this please

I follow that with D: @vwhittier we have no electricity at school and won't be able to skype in please dm me if u get this i will get it on my cell

Success!

I received these messages back on my phone. Thank goodness I have my dm's set to text me!

I was feeling pretty good about myself, I had solved the problem and could finally quit worrying about letting Mrs. Whittier know we wouldn't be able to skype in. Then I get this:

The purpose of my story is to point out that thinks don't always work out as we plan them. Had I not realized I could contact Mrs. Whittier she would have had her class ready to go and would not be able to explain why the call wasn't happening. I know that she would have been put in an awkward position through no fault of her own. In the future, I will make sure to get a phone number that I can call in case something comes up unexpectedly so that I won't leave anyone in that position.

By the way, our electricity came back up about 7 minutes before the call was scheduled. This might have been enough time to actually get things set up and make the call, but when we started up the server it wouldn't load properly due to an IP problem, but that is another story....

Pencils and Crayons to be Banned in Schools

A new law coming into force later this month will require students to check in their pencils and crayons at the office and collect them after school. Any children caught with pencils or crayons in their possession will have then confiscated and parents will be informed.

"We've had enough," said one teacher, "kids are writing notes to each other in class. It's distracting for us all. Besides that, they spend too much time sharpening them when they could be working."

There have been many reports of children using their pencils to "poke" each other and there have even been arguments about who owns which pencil.

"They'll have someone's eye out one day. It's only a matter of time before something serious happens," commented a parent who favours the all out ban. "Better to ban them all rather than risk an accident - they can be really sharp."

In some cases pencils have been used by pupils to record their ideas and learning, but they've also created problems with their inappropriate use in class. The introduction of new "coloured" pencils means that children are being tempted to create ever more creative work and the notes passed around now include garish illustrations.

One parent explained his opinion. "Chalk and slate was good enough for us, black and white and easy to read, not a confusing multicoloured mess. You couldn't pass notes around without the teacher noticing and the chalk couldn't be sharpened into a dangerous point. The greatest danger was that you'd drop it on your foot. I'd like chalk to remain the teachers' main tool (along with talk). Let's keep it at the centre of learning."

A few teachers are not convinced that the ban is the best policy. They worry about the effect it might have on student engagement and motivation.

"As soon as they get out of school kids are writing, drawing and passing notes around. I think by banning the pencil and crayon we risk alienating students and making their time at school seem irrelevant to their lives."

"Used in the correct way they are powerful learning tools, students (and teachers) need to be trained in their proper classroom use."

"It seems ridiculous to exclude something that is so readily available outside school and widely integrated into all aspects of our modern society. They are exposed to these modern implements from an early age and most children use them on a daily basis. To take them away is erasing educational opportunities."

No one can argue with the fact that a sharpened pencil can cause injury and that something must be done. It's too soon to determine the outcome of the ban. We'll just have to wait and see.

P.S. There is a rumour that something called a "ballpoint pen" is beginning to gain popularity among teens. How will schools cope with this new permanent menace? At least pencils can be erased with the right equipment.



image by orangeacid at Flickr

originally posted at What Now? What Next? So What?