Sparks
April 17, 2010 at 12:12 pm | Posted in 21st Century, Collaboration, Games-based learning, Links, Planning, Professional Development, Resources, Shift | 1 Comment
It’s been my feeling and thought for a long time that we need to change the way we do schooling. Back in the early 90s while visiting friends in West Hollywood and driving with these friends and my daughter in a convertible through the hills, I was day-dreaming about moving there and establishing my own school for the children of wealthy Hollywood artists (they have money and are progressive thinkers, right?) Regardless, Hollywood is a ripe place for encouraging daydreams. My school would have many elements of a Montessori school and also contain the most current technology, which was relatively limited compared to what I use and imagine these days. Yesterday I was reminded of that daydream after two of the best days in recent years at work. I thought about and discussed with colleagues why the past two days were so inspiring and fulfilling and we concluded that it was because we had time to discuss and imagine how our already good school could grow and improve.
The problem is that it was an isolated event, and not just at this school, but rare in every school I have taught and worked in. It was successful because:
- The “workshops” were led by our consultant from Rubicon Atlas, Stephane Keller. Stephane didn’t run through a planned presentation lock-step. He had a plan but was responsive to going off in directions that the group needed and did it with grace and style. Like a good teacher, he helped us see what we are doing well and where we want to go next, where our challenges are and how begin to meet those challenges.
- The 2 days were set up to allow teams of teachers to come in during regular school days for hour blocks. It would have been better to have more time, but I also think that sometimes those days in school without students present are great for idea generation, but those ideas often stayed locked away in that day. Having these sessions occurring during our school day promoted keeping the students and reality of our school days present in mind.
- The core curriculum team met each morning before the hour sessions began and at the end of the day. Being part of this team allowed me to have discussions with colleagues that I often don’t get time to talk with. It seems we need to plan the time and topics to allow these discussions to begin. As a tech facilitation specialist many people get caught on the word “technology” and can’t see my position as that of a learning specialist who can facilitate use of technology tools for student and professional learning and creativity.
The key to continue generating sparks and get a fire glowing will be preventing the ideas and conversations to stay locked in the past and to continue to facilitate those conversations, keep them alive.
Here are my favorite visions of the direction we need to go to recreate schools from:
Bob Sprankle and his BLC09 Presentation
Kim Cofino and ISB’s 21st Century Learning Wiki
Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis Flat Classroom Conference
Scotland’s exploration of games-based learning and Ollie Bray and Ewan McIntosh
Apple’s Challenge Based Learning
Heidi Hayes Jacob’s Curriculum21
Silvia Tolisano’s blog Langwitches
In conclusion, one key element of my dream school is to build in time and place for the educators in a school to meet and share ideas and, most importantly, develop and realize those ideas.
Apple Talks
April 10, 2010 at 3:18 pm | Posted in Apple, Conference, Games-based learning, Internet Safety, Presentations, Professional Development, Resources | Leave a commentStay in the question(s): Reflections from the Apple Leadership Conference2010 (Part 4/6)
The first half of Saturday consisted of 7 Apple Talks, along the lines of TED Talks. Two of those were from ISPrague staff members and listening to them left me more excited to be joining a school where I would have colleagues of this caliber.
Links and quotes:
- ACOT Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow Today - moving from instruction to construction
- SAMR, Ruben Puentedura, Technology use continuum, Transformation not substitution
- Need to teach collaborative writing to prepare students for working in the future
- Visit the Alamo in Second Life
- Quest to Learn School in NYC – games based learning aligned to standards. Merging traditional and new illiteracies
- Students learning empathy and financial skills through KIVA fundraising accounts management- giving students the opportunity to learn economics as well as experience empathy and make human connections
- Student films- don’t always have to produce skilled filmmaking, but the story needs to be from the heart
- Cyber Security- keep the conversation with students open and on-going, circulate relevant books to staff, parents, students to promote conversation
- Full Sail University Online
First Quest into a Virtual World
October 12, 2009 at 9:50 am | Posted in 21st Century, Collaboration, culture, Games-based learning, Global Collaboration, Literacy, Professional Development, Project-based Learning | Leave a commentTags: Collaboration, games, Global Collaboration, Professional Development, Project-based Learning, QuestAtlantis, Shift, virtualworlds
I’m new to virtual worlds. I’ve been curious about Second Life but never ventured in, even though there are many educator-based groups I could benefit from participating in. I recently listened to a Seedlings podcast featuring Bronwyn Stuckey, the teacher trainer for Quest Atlantis. QA is a virtual world for students where they can collaborate, learn and solve reality-based world problems together. (Thank you again Bob, Cheryl and Alice!) QA also incorporates literacy, mathematics and content area studies. I see it as a possible school of the future. I have just missed the European teacher training, but was accepted to participate in the US/Canada 4 week training- which means middle of the night sessions for 4 weeks.
I’ve completed the first training and have progressed enough on my own to allow my avatar to change from the all-white newbie outfit to my individually chosen clothes and physical characteristics. I know it sounds as if that’s been the highlight for me, but I have actually accomplished much more. For example I have learned to navigate and move my avatar, to understand my pod and how to reenter and continue my current mission. I have yet to engage with another participant socially but I know that will come with continued training sessions.
Most impressive is the QA framework and how easy the training is for someone on her first trek into a virtual world. We began with the basics where I had to travel from place to place to learn the back story of QA and also meet some of the main characters. I submitted my first Quest- choosing a writing task over science or mathematics tasks. It was the first poem I’ve written in many years and very poor I’m sure! I then learned the 7 Social Commitments that are the foundation of QA and am currently learning how to review a quest. Reviewing student quests is based on a balance of feedback in 4 areas: content focus + narrative quality + supportive comments + informative comments. Today when I logon I will complete my first quest review.
Quest Atlantis has all the qualities that relevant, engaging learning requires: an engaging, challenging and supportive environment, quality assessment and feedback, plus integrated content and life-skills at the core of all learning opportunities. One of my colleagues is willing to learn QA and we plan to implement it with her 5th grade students. Our after-school activities have started this semester, but I plan to hold a QA group for the second semester. I know I have just stepped onto the tip of the QA iceberg and am excited to continue and discover what I’ll learn as a teacher and an individual.
After-School Scratch
March 24, 2009 at 6:00 am | Posted in Animation, games, Games-based learning, Programming, Scratch | Leave a commentTags: after-school, Animation, elementary, Games-based learning, Programming, Scratch
I am using Scratch for my second semester elementary After-School Activity. Scratch is a free, simple programming software that allows children and other programming beginners to easily create original digital animations and games. My group consists of 13 boys and girls, ages 7-10 and we meet twice a week for an hour. The “motto” for Scratch is: Imagine, Program, Share. Now in our 7th week, I am taking time to reflect on how the group and individual student skills and creativity have grown to move the group forward a bit and to plan for a celebration of the upcoming Scratch Day on May 16th.
Beginning in early Feb, I introduced Scratch with the videos and sample animations and games on the site and modeled the absolute basics as well as provided the Scratch cards. Folders were set up on the school server where students can save projects to individual folders in a group folder. Then I stepped back. At first, the students who wanted guidance would ask me for help and I would ask guiding questions to help him/her explore and discover how to accomplish what they wanted. We also used the cards for guidance and would put out a question to the group, although when asking the group would preface the question with, “if you’re not in the middle of something, can you show us how to…?” It wasn’t long before they discovered individual’s strengths and knowledge and who to ask for help.
Individuals now fall into one of three groups that have evolved: the game creators, the animation creators, the game players. The game designers are the most in-depth users and have the longest attention span and take pride in what they do. These students are the most willing to share and are frequently asked for help by others. The animators generally create an environment where a series of simple actions take place and they create one or two per after-school session. The game players want to search the online gallery and play the games and animations- they are less interested in creating their own and dabble in creating game actions.
To move all of us forward, I am currently reading in the Scratch Educators site and CR2.0′s Scratch pages for inspiration. The game designers don’t need my help, they challenge themselves and work on their creations at home as well. To move the animators ahead, they might create a story or environment that would provide a foundation and focus. For the game players, opening up their individual folders to view game segments may help them find a single game from the various actions. Working with a partner may help this type of programmer move towards completion of a game as well.
Scratch Day provides us with a purpose to reflect and work on a showcase project. These projects will also be presented at our school ASA assembly at the end of May. Imagine, Program, Share.
Who inspires you?
March 22, 2009 at 10:29 pm | Posted in Blogging, Conference, games, Games-based learning, Links, Podcasts, Presentations, Professional Development, Resources, Web2.0 | 4 CommentsTags: Bit by Bit, blogs, Chris Chater, Ewan McIntosh, games, Guitar Hero, inspiration, Julie Lindsay, Kim Cofino, London ECIS IT conf09, Myst, Nintendogs, Podcasts, Seedlings, Silvia Tolisano
After Ewan McIntosh‘s keynote at the London ECIS IT conference I attended recently, I decided to attend all his workshops. His views on the use of technology make so much sense to me- we have these technological advancements in our world and why not harness their power to create better schools and communities? In my notes from one of his workshops I wrote a quote, “It’s not about technology, it’s about changing someone’s life a bit.” That really summed it up for me. It’s all about joining the conversation, contributing, engaging our students in meaningful learning experiences.
Here are a few inspiring examples from Ewan:
- Tim Ryland teaches writing through use of PC game, Myst
- GuitarHero across the curriculum and throughout the school
- Nintendogs project- collaboration, cross-curricular activities
- Punctuation Pyramid, Wordle and Visuwords
Most of what I’ve learned and applied regarding tech use in education are from these sources of inspiration:
Bit by Bit and Seedlings blog and podcasts:
After my first taste of digital audio recording and editing for publication, I found Bob Sprankle’s class blog and podcasts. I’ve been following Bob, Alice and Cheryl ever since.
Chris Chater- Elementary music teacher extraordinaire and very nice guy. We connected years ago and collaborate and have become friends over the years.
Kim Cofino, Siliva Tolisano and Julie Lindsay- Tech Educators who inspire me. I think they are super-human as they seem to have more hours in the day than the rest of us based on their capacity to share and organize collaborations.
Who inspires you?
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