NECC - Prevent PowerPoint Poisoning with Engaging Project Starters and Sidekicks
by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson

http://eduscapes.com/
http://eduscapes.com/activate
http://eduscapes.com//lamb

http://eduscapes.com/sessions/sidekicks/

Can use any of their materials from the website.

Don’t just assign ‘do a powerpoint’ - must be more specific - such as compare and contrast - ie higer level thinking skills -

Danger Signs - laminated lesson plans - business thinking - google, copy, paste

Powerpoint - 2 spaces - 1 space - learning space - the layout, design, speaker notes space.

Example: give an old picture - in the speaker notes write the instructions for the assignment - have them make up a story about the characters in the picture, then add speech bubbles and some audio to go with the story they have created, place background information in speakers notes.

More ideas - using speech bubbles - create a dialogue between historical figures - react to peer pressure - compare science image to a student project - solve an architect’s geometry dilemma - brainstorm characters, plot, setting

Give them starter photos then if they have time allow them to find more pictures - prevents them from wasting so much time.

Create some simple templates so it is very clear what they are supposed to do and where, esp for the primary grades.

Image starters vs. textual starters - wikimedia commons - select, delete organize - categorize, compare, sequence

Other image resources:
http://pics4learning.com/
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/index.html
http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/static/cs/uk/11/clipart/home.html
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/

Make sure you re-look at this page - ‘Explore Sidekicks Across the Curriculum’ - http://eduscapes.com/sessions/sidekicks/poison.htm - many examples of using PowerPoint across the curriculum

Main point - you will often want to create a starting place in PowerPoint - many students are intimidated by the blank page - many waste time on non-essential activities like searching for pics or changing the font - both problems can be avoided by having some beginning place - this does not restrict more advanced students, they can still go beyond what has been provided in the starter.

Use guidebooks - try http://enature.com/home/ allows you to search for info about animals in your zip code.

NECC - Powerful Learning Practice: Creating Online Communities for Professional Development
by Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Challenging time to figure out the best ways to do things for ourselves and for our students. - What does it mean to be a networked learner.

twentyfivedays.wordpress.com When she needed to decide how to distribute the things that she collected she asked her readers.

New technologies are being driven by our kids -they are pushing them to the limit. Analogy - bus careening widely down the road - kids in front driving - adults in the back of the bus - how do we get from the back of the bus to at least sitting next to the kids driving so we can at least give advice etc.

Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky

Schools should have as a goal that students will be able to (SWBAT) learn personal learning networks. Easy to create and use the tools. What is hard is understanding what happens after you create the blog/wiki/podcast.

The power of these tools is not in learning to use the tools - but support a longer term immersion in the tools.

What is community - any group working toward a common goal - safe, learning, neighbors, interaction - mutual accountability - common interests, impact may be positive or negative. wikipedia

Much of the learning on the internet is self-motivated - so how do we encourage teachers to be motivated, to have the courage to reach out.

Emergent Design Model (need to get a copy of this)

Trying to get away from the models of teachers being behind 4 walls in isolation

Characteristics of a healthy community (need to get a copy of this)

Pilot in Alabama - 20 schools - teams of 5 - could meet f2f, synchronously and asynchronously - designed to draw in lurkers.

abpc.wikispaces.com - in business week - dept of education became involved.

What is the scaling framework that allows you to take a small initiative and transfer it - scale it.

Components:
Begin w/ 2 f2f workshops
Webinars - might use Elluminate
Virtual learning community
Local, job embedded groups
End w/ f2f meeting to celebrate and announce success.

Seek schools willing to invest time in exploring the challenge of 21st century learning
Include some experts - fellows
Each school should identify small team to participate.
Goal of scaling-up in each school.

At the beginning of the project have teachers identify where they are on the developmental continuum from ‘Know Nothing’ to ‘Know Everything’

100 - 120 people ideal to make a real difference.

What about the parents - must get buy-in - can create a ‘lite’ version that is for the parents.

handouts will be on NECC site

NECC - Seeing Is Learning: Integrate Digital Pictures and Sound into Lessons
by Cheryl McInnis and Kent McInnis

Materials will be on NECC website later today.

Free, Reliable Resources:
EBSCO and SIRS Discoverer
Library of Congress

Picassa
PhotoStory
Flip video - has an hour of recording time - USB port flips out - software included on the device
HD TV stick from pinnacle- can be plugged into an antennae or cable - can use computer as a TV - can record

Useful websites
http://musopen.com/ - free music
http://www.fixmymovie.com - help in fixing home video quality
http://komando.com/ - weekly tech news
http://zamzar.com/ - file conversion

Power Point Slides can be saved as JPG files - then can import these into PhotoStory or Movie Maker.

NECC - What Effective Computer-Using Teachers Know about Teaching: An International Perspective
by Geoff Powell, Peter Skillen and Gary Stager

GS - idea of being able to use computers to do know and learn things that we could not do know and learn before.

GS - Some teachers are simply not effective teachers.

More info at www.stager.org/necc

GP - Good teachers scare kids sometimes - ie - not afraid to do things - not just technology - media making the culture of fear more pervasive

examples of good work - web.mac.com/art.sthildas

PS - YMCA started HS - Authenticity - Students and teachers as co-investigators - modeling - zone pf proximal development - socio-constructivist - google Earth project - Peace on Earth Project - zoom to a place, for instance Bejing - Artwork, music, video and commentary inserted into placemark related to art from China - another example - Italy - info about baroque music as related to performing inner peace. - This was very authentic for this group, YMCA focuses on peace.

GS - teachers should be qualified to work in summer camp - these folks know how to be w/ children - value what it is that children are about.

GP - Power of location - we will pay obscene amounts of money to be in a certain locations - relation to classrooms - rows - laptops and wireless networks expand the location options - when you do wireless don’t forget outside - if students are in an odd spot they will email him to let him know where they are located - While we are debating how much access our kids have to technology many places do not even have enough books - OLPC!!! - no matter where you are you do the best you can, don’t get depressed or distracted by what you do not have.

PS - challenge to get kids to do better research - challenge kids to come up with a driving question that is ‘fat’ rather than ’skinny’ - had kids make a blog around a driving question - took several iterations to develop good driving question

GS - Good at craft and theory / art and science - most educational problems have been around for a long time and have been solved already

GP - Great teachers love kids - moderate your behavior according to cultural norms

PS - Harm Reduction - take kids who have issues, diction issues, tardiness issues etc. - take these kids into a counseling situation until they slowly begin to change - non-judgmental, not threatening

GS - expertise made transparent to the students - thinking out loud

NECC - Creating Live TV for the Classroom for Global Audiences
by Will Richardson

UStream is one option
Poll/CoHost/Twitter tabs
Vids can be saved and posted to YouTube etc. accessed from UStream
Channels can be password protected.

Mogulus.com
Somewhat more advanced interface - handles multiple channels well
Can create a storyboard libraries
Has PRO version that is even more advanced.
Vids can be saved and posted to YouTube etc. accessed from UStream

David Jakes - How some schools are using these products

1. How does the technology extend the learning experience.
2. MST portal Wendy Smith - class investigating stream ecology - presenting findings on UStream
3. Class presenting science projects (9th grade?)
4. Interview of kids and how they are using technology - chat room - took questions from ‘audience’
5. Digital Citizenship talk for students - multi-state
6. Professional Development
7. Interaction between teachers and parents
8. students writing a play and then perform and broadcast

Ewan McIntosh - why streaming instead of record and upload

1. asynchronous - lots of control - can take time to care about what final product looks like
2. But takes lots of time
3. Can have unscripted discussions with people
4. Can build sense of ‘other-ness’ - Change balance of what news is viewed and consumed - for selves and students
5. Can get people talking about issues that matter

Steve Dembo- what is the state of the technology - brand new - mobile live streaming from cell phones

1. Some websites let you do the same kinds of things via mobile
2. cometnow.com - PC only - can be kind of clunky
3. qik.com - also allows you to save and embed - sends out an automatic tweet - can send to mogulus - a little choppier and delayed than cometnow

Can project certain parts of the screen on the channel - CamTwist and Split Cam

NECC - Digital Storytelling with Minimal Clicks: Improving Reading and Writing Skills
by Wesley Fryer, Vicki Allen and Karen Montgomery

(my comments in parenthesis)

People have been telling stories since the caves - when we link storytelling with pictures and songs it increases memory.

Website for session

Many teachers - fear how many clicks it takes to do a project (I have a teacher who always tells me- You know Kim, this is sure a lot of steps…)

Five Visual Images to tell a story…

1. Came from the idea of wanting to do something with Flickr
2. Flickr group “Tell a Story with 5 Photos for Educators”
3. Could be in another service or product

Live in media-centric society

Voice Thread - all stories are private by default. - allows for comment moderation

Need to use these tools in our own lives.

Another good example of storytelling Celebrate Oklahoma - also can help skeptics to appreciate technology use.

Tips & Tricks for PD
How to get colleagues excited/ready to do this
Have a voice thread set up - have a script - ask teachers to come up one at a time to make a comment.
When aksing teachers take pictures to use - as an opening activity ask them to take 1 serious pic and one silly pic - then have them print out and use as name tent. Gets technical problems with the cameras out of the way before the session really starts.
Have them sign up for service before the session.
If you can collaborate with other sites - might engender some competition and will beef up content.

M/B do a private voice thread as a gift for mother, father, grandparents.

(From the description of this session I was expecting more about how to actually use Voice Thread - not so much time spent on creating the argument for why it is important.)

EdubloggerCon Breakout session two - Digital Storytelling as THE Disruptive Change Agent for the 21st Century Learning Revolution

facilitated by Wesley Fryer

Oklahoma Voices has a focus on veterans.

Need to help teachers get practice making digital stories themselves so they can then do digital stories with others.

Could begin with videoing a speaker that is already coming into the school. Ask “Can I non-commercially record and share your story on the internet?”

Must train the students (and teachers) about how to interview - PBS has a learning package about this - DVD - Ken Burns talking about the documentary film making experience. Contact local PBS station to see if we can get more information about this.

Good resource - any book on geneology - lists of good open ended questions - how to elicit the story from the interviewee.

Share with the school board - local rotary club etc.

Seesmic (child of twitter and YouTube)

Use Creative Commons Licensing.

Big power in state-wide initiatives like Oklahoma Voices - provides credibility for project in case of adversity from administration board etc.

Additional resources here

This has been a very busy summer so far. Minor surgery, family vacation, Model Schools Conference and now NECC. Before I get too far away from it and don’t feel like writing it, I want to say something about the Model Schools Conference.

This was my first year to attend and it was very impressive. I was familiar with the Rigor and Relevance framework, but this was an opportunity to really delve into what it might mean in my classroom practice.

If it is possible to distill such a conference into a few thoughts here they are:

1. We have the responsibility to insist on a rigorous curriculum for all of our students.
3. Many of our students have no interest in participating in a more rigorous curriculum.
4. Our students will participate in a more rigorous curriculum if they find it personally relevant.
5. We must develop relationships with our students in order to know what they find personally relevant.
6. We must also help our students to develop aspirations for their futures.
7. Aspirations = having dreams for the future while being inspired in the present to work to achieve those dreams.

Next week I will take some time to really think about what I am going to do differently this year. For now I know that I will be contacting my students this summer to begin establishing the relationships that will allow me to plan for rigor that my students will find relevant.

Facilitated by Kevin Jarrett

Project w/ grade 8 - sludge test - have google apps team edition - really designed for businesses - where individuals already have email accounts. Kevin used his own domain and created dummy emails for his students - students never accessed these emails. Students took to it very well.

Probably better to use Education Edition - allows import of student lists - more administrative control.

Ideas - scripts, student newspapers, any kind of paper - online grading

google teacher academy resources

Resource about setting up educational spaces vs. social spaces - danah boyd (spelling??)
Connie Sitterly - Pencrest - (spelling??) Doing entire district - good example

critically.

I grew up reading anything and everything. When I was about seven I was hospitalized for appendicitis. After spending a few hours reading all of the signs I could get my eyes on, I finally thought to ask for books. Just imagine, sick child, worthy request, my library was stocked for the next several years.

Mostly I read fiction. The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, Jane Eyre. And many many that I will never remember.

The characters in these books were as real to me as any person. I gladly gave up sleep and play to spend time in their company. While current day all night reading sprees are very few and far between, I still love a good story.

But I fear this early and extensive immersion in fiction has left me with an impaired ability to read non-fiction critically. The willing suspension of disbelief that is so necessary to the enjoyment of fiction is a handicap when reading non-fiction. I am working to develop a more robust ability to read critically.

I wonder what this insight should mean for my teaching. For my sixth grade reading students I should probably encourage more non-fiction reading. Does anyone else have this problem, and how do you handle it?