ISTE's Top 10 Nooks and Crannies

We all know that it is the nooks and crannies that make an English muffin special…you know those little areas where the butter can pool?  The same can be said for the nooks and crannies at ISTE, there are some great little sideshows where people can pool to replace :) with real smiles!   The point of ISTE is, after all, to network,  share, experience and learn face to face. 

Most conference goers are quite familiar with concurrent sessions – workshops, research paper sessions, panels, etc.  There are LOTS of them at ISTE – take advantage, but leave some time to explore some of these other nooks and crannies:

1.       PosterSessions- In these action packed hallways, educators focus on the implementation of a lesson, curriculum, technology, model or project displaying student work.  Most will give you links and handouts to resources.  Like speed dating only you don’t have to invest a whole hour (that’s about how long my dates lasted).

2.       Studentshowcases- who in education can resist these kids grades K-12 as they explain their projects?  Hear success stories from the horses’ mouths.

3.       Globalcollaboration projects- These focus on curriculum projects that involve collaborations between or among learners in different countries.  Again, resources to get in on the action are provided.

4.       ISTEIgnite sessions:  Check out this fast paced event in which these illustrious (Will Richardson, Adam Bellow, etc.) presenters have 5 minutes and 20 slides to demonstrate their passions and ignite yours. Monday, 6/25/2012, 8:30am–9:30am, SDCC 6F Tuesday 6/26/2012 3:45-4:45

5.       Birds of a Feather Sessions:  These are informal one-and- a-half hour sessions that allow like-minded Informal to get together and network.  These groups are listed under concurrent sessions in the program.

6.       Special Interest Groups events:   Get with your peeps and explore common ground.  Check out the open house to see what these groups have to offer.  Sunday 3-5 Lobby DE

7.       Tweet up meet up:  Meet your @friends #face to face  Sunday 3-5 Lobby DE

8.       Young educators network :  Goes without saying that I will not be welcome there!

9.       Affiliate Receptions:  Find your local or regional technology educators group and share some food and drink!

10.   Playgrounds:  Come and play at ISTE’s Special Focus Playgrounds.  Explore games, tools and resources.

11.   Lounges:  (okay there are really 11 – but 10 sounds so much cooler!) Network in a comfortable lounge with edubloggers, give a presentation at ISTE Unplugged, join leaders, advocates or make global connections in one of the ISTELounges in the Sails Pavilion.  Great place to sit down and rest your weary feet! 

Look for me at:

Poster Session:  Magnetic Space:  NASA and ISTE Cyber Café’s Educational Tools  Halls DE Lobby Table 24. 

ISTE Shred session- that’s right folks in just two minutes I will give you all I’ve got to convince you to attend my workshop that afternoon.  Fun, upbeat and competitive…what more could you want at 7am?  SDCC 33C

Volunteer Traffic Jedi – Yep, I will be holding up the big question mark on Tuesday…hope they let me take it home.  Volunteering is a great way to meet people and give back (and get a t-shirt)

Model Classroom – come see, hear, and experience what it would be like to be in my middle school classroom as I combine social studies, language arts and technology to teach kids how to think, not what to think!  (With Jennifer Miller)  3:45-4:45 SDCC 2

Of course, if you are not there, you can follow us at #iste2012 or participate remotely.  Perhaps next year, I’ll wear a head cam!

Suddenly, I'm all a twitter!

I was talking to a class of 7th graders about sharing information in our world.  We are working on the NASA MMS challenge to determine why the mission is relevant to them and find a way to spread the word.  They had some great ideas about writing articles, editorials, youtube, facebook, blogs, etc.  But no one mentioned twitter.


Twitter for the Not So Famous
It turns out that most of these students thought that it was only for famous people.  They were shocked to hear that even people like me had followers (I am a little shocked myself sometimes).  The truth is that I’m a little slow to the bandwagon, some tools have come and gone before I even get to use them.    I have been a registered user for some time, but not an active one.  I too, did not immediately see how it could be useful. 


Hashtags meant something totally different in the 70’s
I started noticing hash tags at conferences.  At first, I was a little chagrined that people were “texting” during my presentations, then  I realized they were “tweeting” out some of my nuggets of wisdom and some of their “aha” moments.  What a great way to hear everyone’s nuggets.     Of course I had to first learn to decipher the language and determine what #@ RT’s and mentions were (just ask your kids).  I then began to see a lot of potential for using twitter as professional development tool.   Carrie Jackson summed up the key reasons why it can be a valuable tool for us in her blog “Twitter 101 for School Leaders: Four Reasons to Join the Conversation."


But what about the kids?
It was not until I saw how some students from Dublin ISD in TX were using it, that I saw the value of using twitter in the classroom.     They had used twitter as a research tool, to determine attitudes in their community, to lift school morale and improve school and community communications.    It got me to thinking.

I imagine that the benefits for leaders in education, may be the same benefits that our students can get. Imagine all of the latest science and technology information they can get by following NASA?  How great would it be for each student to post an “aha” moment to your class hash tag after reading an assigned passage?  Why not take it outside the room and share their key understandings and insights with the world?  Imagine being able to post new ideas and get feedback from their peers all over the world.  What a great way to connect kids with experts in the field!

What are the risks?
Of course, anything “out there” has some risks, but there are plenty of tools that can be kept private to teach students proper “netiquette.”  The world of twitter is a world of breaking news, it is Facebook feeds on steroids.  It is chock full of great articles and resources.  Seems like it could be a great way to engage kids in their own learning.


We are connecting our students in Texas and New Jersey, through the MMS Challenge.  Sounds like the perfect opportunity to get this whole twitter thing going with my students.   I am sure there may be some risks and challenges, but I’m diving in and taking the kids with me!  Any nuggets for me?

You can follow me @sanwoz, you can see what the kids are doing at #mmschallenge.

Do You Walk the Walk?

What do you get when you mix ISTE and NASA resources, a select group of educators from across the globe, and a challenge to create educational artifacts for teachers and students to learn about the Magnetospheric MultiScale Mission (MMS)?

You get educators walking the walk- incorporating web 2.0 tools and networking skills to build an international learning community – starting with a base camp at the Iste-Nasa Cyber Café Wiki and branching out to use Edistorm , Skype, google docs, Voice Thread and other tools  just to begin.  What a great learning experience to explore and utilize the capacity of some of these tools.  It increased my skills, exposed me to some great new tools and ways to use some old ones.  It also taught me the power of online collaboration with like and unlike minded educators.

 The results?  A series of showcases waiting to be unveiled on March 27^th at a synchronous celebration. 

Sneak Peak

I can share a little of ours now.  I had the pleasure of working with Jennifer Miller and her students in Dublin Texas and Tom Chambers a teacher of technology applications from Houston, Texas.   We put together the “Take the MMS Challenge” which features student research, application of the scientific method and culminating in students working as engineers, physicists, artists, or journalists to help others understand why the MMS mission is relevant in our everyday lives.

Our project can be found in this livebinder  with teacher guides, student activities, resources, web 2.0 tools and enrichment activities.  Feel free to get in there and “test pilot” the project or individual activities.  We would love your feedback!

Interested in introducing your kids to the mission, the Collaborize Classroom library has custom made questions in their library ready to go with links to some great videos and current events.  Great way to get kids reading informational text and writing for an audience!  Want to go further?  Try out the new SCAN lesson designed to get students to explore the relevance of the mission from different points of view.   “Space Exploration and You: SCAN The NASA MMS Mission” is a new free SCAN scenario designed to get kids thinking from different perspectives about the relevance of the mission. 

Now what?

Needless to say, it was a wonderful experience to walk the walk and integrate all of these tools to successfully make a professional learning community that spanned across the globe.  I am wondering how educators create these wonderful communities of learning for their students but do not create the same for their colleagues? 

Give Me 5 - Critical thinking at its best!

This was their challenge:  Give me 5!

This is what it is all about!  The most impressive workshop I attended at TCEA was presented by students from Dublin ISD, TX.   It was inspiring to see the real tangible benefits of putting technology tools in the hands of students and focusing on 21^st century skills.  It was like watching 21^st century skills in 3D!
The challenge was based on these five skills:  Challenge, Collaborate, Research, Create and Assessment.   The students selected and effectively leveraged simple web tools in unique ways to achieve their goals.  The challenge they chose was to connect the schools and community to increase pride and school spirit.  They focused on the rich history of the town (home of the original Dublin Dr. Pepper) by connecting the schools with local museums.

Collaborate, Connect and Research
 How wonderful to see the students select and use the tools to do the job rather than have the 2.0 tools retrofitted to the project.  They started the challenge by brainstorming solutions to problems in both their school and local community.  Inspired by Steve Jobs, they sought to think globally and act locally.
They began their collaboration using TodaysMeet , a simple online meeting room to brainstorm solutions to community challenges from their school community to their local community.  This allowed them to post ideas, comment on posts and contribute 24-7 to the conversation.  They also used project share  as their workspace to “virtually” meet and share ideas, resources, etc.
Understanding the power of social media in their world, they chose to use Twitter (developing hashtags) and  Facebook to get the word out and increase school spirit, connect to local museums and increase community pride.  They also used Twitterfall  to research attitudes towards the Dublin Dr. Pepper plant shutting down production of the original Dublin Dr. Pepper recipe.  They continue to use these communication tools to improve school spirit and student participation by announcing school events, news, etc.

Create
One of their solutions was to strengthen the connection between local museums and the schools.  Working closely with local museums, they created content, and contributed to off-site curriculum centers.  They made QR codes to link artifacts and information using Beetagg and Kaywa.    The created videos and posted them on schooltube to promote school spirit.

Assessment
Are they making a difference?  In order to find this out, they used polleverywhere, a place to get responses to questions via text messages, to gather data about the success of their campaigns.  I have no doubt that this project will go further.
Bottom line, under the guidance of Jennifer Miller, these students were given the opportunity to problem solve, choosing tools to create an impact beyond their classroom doors.  This teacher has provided a true training ground for the 21^st century.  No doubt, these kids will go far!

Online Discussions: Trick or Treat?

I love Halloween!  There is something about wearing a costume that is fun and liberating!  Who does not love to pretend to be someone or something else for a night?  I guess that is the appeal for many when they choose to represent themselves as someone else online. 

We often hear of the negative aspects of children using online discussion formats.  Hiding behind screen names is often the impetus behind cyber-bullying, etc.  However, using screen names and avatars in online discussions may also be the impetus for our students to get engaged in class discussions.  Guiding conversations, monitoring input and documenting transcripts of discussions can provide the supervision you need to eliminate the risks of using this format with your students.

Classroom discussions are usually dominated by a few “alpha” students who are eager to participate.  We can all envision those students, hands stretched high, waving fingers, literally or figuratively saying “ooo, ooo, pick me, pick me.”  How do you get that student who is desperately trying to NOT make eye contact with you or anyone else in the classroom involved in the conversation?  Social media may be the answer. 

I have seen web 2.0 tools such as collaborizeclassroom.com, wallwisher.com and the SCAN tool at TregoED  transform students from reluctant participants to vigorous commentators.  Online tools offer students a platform that they are familiar and comfortable with and give students a voice that is heard with equal merit to the rest.

Properly supervised, social media can help us get all kids in on the conversation and allow them to practice the skills they need to carry over to those times when their conversations are not monitored.  My experience has been that the benefits of online classroom discussion outweigh the risks.  What has your experience been?

Why can't we be friends?

There has been a lot of discussion in the wake of the new law in Missouri which bans teachers from "exclusive” interaction between teachers and students on Facebook both positive and negative.   (Click here for video.) Some praise the law as making the internet a safer place for our children, while others criticize that it brands all teachers as sexual predators.  I know there are lots of teachers doing great things and making great connections with students using social networking and also understand that there is a line.  I can very clearly remember my first principal (in 1977 before social networks) telling us that we should not be “friends” with our students-they have plenty.  I also am aware that there are plenty of things that go on in our students’ lives that we are unaware of and we might better be able to make connections with them by understanding the whole child.   With that, as a long time union president, I have seen that mixing your social life with your professional life can be risky.  Teachers’ behaviors are held to a very high standard, most students are shocked to even see us at the grocery store.  Does Google+ make it easier for us to keep our social lives separate from our professional lives by allowing us to create circles?  Are laws such as this really necessary?  How will these laws be enforced, will all teachers’ online social accounts be scrutinized?  I would like to get my students to do some critical thinking about these issues.  I am interested in gathering all stakeholders' perspectives – students, parents, teachers and concerned citizens to help them create some viable solutions.