T+L Conference 2009

Day 1 Notes CHANGE teaching…work with people (Sharon, Neil, Amy, Tom)to gain understanding and resources to help incorporate more technology …use what we have (iPods, clickers, laptops) in an effort to gain more exposure Breakfast session: Curriki Bobbi Kurshan

Site that offers lessons, projects, videos, ect. to use in classrooms.

Teachers across the nation have collaborated and added their created information to use through this site.

You can become a member and add or edit someone’s information

curriki.org

Keynote: Frans Johanssen

INNOVATION!!!!!!!

CHANGE HOW INFORMATION IS PRESENTED TO STUDENTS, be creative and exciting, not boring

Two ideas come together to make a new idea…these are real (bikini + berka = berkini water bottle cap + lightbulb = light fixture)

DIVERSITY DRIVES INNOVATION!

diverse teams create far more ideas!!!!!! Use tables and have kids switch who they work with every week (?) – it gives kids deadlines to get projects done Innovation rules: 1. find inspiration from fields or other cultures other than your own – dare to explore the connections 2. innovation doesn’t mean that you need to be #1 or the fastest, smartest, only one person can be the best 3. passion drives ideas 4. try again when an idea fails

How can we foster education and creativity in our schools?

allow kids to explore ideas of their own and implement them as they choose…this is what employers will ask of

T+L Conference 2009

Cont.

Frans Johanssen

future employees

encourage students to make mistakes…when they fail over and over again they learn from it so much more quickly than when they don’t fail

How can I help a child from falling behind? (from a race pit-crew standpoint)

more than 1 person tackles the problem…child, peers and other professionals from the building work together

use the best tools, high tech tools, INNVATIVE tools

prepare for the worst

work fast, don’t lag around, get to the point, when the problem is fixed, move on

fix the problem before it is broken

Fun Ideas: put words and pictures on board and have kids yell out

words that come to mind when they see them…fun transition

another fun idea is to play good music in the background while people are chatting and discussing (exciting, creative music)…Shikira, Bells (from X-files), techno music, you tube interest music kids like, or have created on their own!

NOT TAKING A RISK IS WORSE THAN DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN!

YOU CANNOT EXPECT TO DO THE SAME THING

AND GET DIFFERENT RESULTS.

Brainpop utilize the educator site

play the closed captioning when showing videos!!

there are activities and things to print off for students to work with

take a quiz before hand to see what students know, and then after to see what they learned

T+L Conference 2009

Sharing Stories: S.T.E.M. Projects (Math and Science) Norma Thornburg

inquiry-driven project-based learning When giving projects, keep these things in mind:

provide clear goals, include experts, give enough time, focus on real projects

do not step in…allow failure, but be prepared to help guide when mistakes happen…what could be changed to make this better? Provide support, and have kids solve the problem that didn’t work

focus on skills and knowledge, not just content

brainstorm what materials could be used to create their projects

allow creativity; kits aren’t always the best because they limit ideas

look for teachable moments allow children to come up with the concept…be quiet!

If you let kids figure it out they will remember it more

“Thornburg Center” has resources for teachers to use

there are 4 S.T.E.M. subjects Project Ideas for my class:

create a model of the crust (think of the land/water tables)…what do kids think they could use for materials to represent the crust?

GPS in the Classroom Michal Austin & Barb Anderson

bring materials for class to prep with: clipboards, rubber bands (wind), something to sit on if it is wet, bug spray, flashlights, granola, whistle

book “Educaching” has good resources to help integrate with curriculum and “Google Earth & GPS”

See the handout book that they handed out with lots of great ideas…email on back to share or ask questions

Creativity, Technology,

Wiki with handout: http://21ctlearning.cmconsulting.net/

T+L Conference 2009

and Critical Thinking: Essential Strategies for Today’s World

What do we need in the classroom to accomplish 21 century learning?

Do a wordle as a class when brainstorming what it means to think.

Build content in a wiki with students. Have their information posted there. Not too challenging!

cool tool: visual ranking strategy: http://educate.intel.com/en/thinkingtools/Visualranking/

Rank importance in 21 century skills (use with teachers)...teacher id: danmorris, team id: tl18 http://educate.intel.com/workspace/student/ListProjects.aspx?LID=en (If you cannot pull this up, use these words: critical thinking, innovation, communication skills, collaboration, global awareness, creativity, self-direction, accountability, adaptability, proficiency in core content) ******rearrange lists into alphabetical order Strategies to foster Critical Thinking: use the list with people and have them think of strategies for their top 3 ranked ideas Create a PLN (Professional Learning Network) for teachers to share their ideas and thoughts

Day 2 Breakfast presentation Educating the Mobile Generation: Go Mobile!

Kids say they need to “power down” when they enter the classroom…this needs to change. *Using cell phones in the classroom: (use phones from Verizon) -use phones to draw and create animation using “sketchy” -kids can share “beam” information by linking devices to each other, a larger computer, or the teacher can link to student computers -use it as a camera -students are the creators

T+L Conference 2009

Go Global! Elliot Soloway & Cathleen Norris

*computers are an “add-on” right now, and they need to

become essential to learning…computers need to be used continuously and seamlessly…the hub of the activity needs to take place inside and outside of the classroom “Mobile Learning Environment”…a place that has educational software that has several (9) assignments, then they can go to a place with tools (word, power point, internet) and create something, then come back to the assignment dashboard and continue IDEA: prepositions…have kids take pictures around the school showing prepositions and how they are used, then come back to the classroom and write their sentences describing what happens in their picture using the preposition

??? What is the benefit from wireless computers vs. phones? What about kindles vs. e-books? E-books – check out “learning2go” Kids honestly achieve more in a variety of surveys when they have technology…they have fun and that leads to success in school Breakfast continued:

-check into pooling devices by using cell phones instead of clickers…this way it can be imbedded

Project Red: Revolutionizing Tomorrow Tom Greaves, Jeanne Hayes, & Leslie Wilson

“…if we teach as we taught yesterday, we rob our children…” ~John Dewey

Teaching in traditional ways with technology doesn’t increase student achievement

The amount of money we spend per year on copies is equal to the amount of money a school district spends on a student in one year…do we want the money we spend toward children be paper?

RED = Reinventing Education

Schools are welcome to take part…surveying or participating?

Having technology rich schools helps reduce drop out rates, reduce school disciplinary actions, increases student achievement in high-stakes test scores, more professional learning (informal/formal)

When kids see teachers working and collaborating

T+L Conference 2009

Cont. Project Red

together, they tend to do the same

Teachers feel more like professionals when they learn in this way, their ideas are appreciated

1 to 1 institute ideas on how/where to start: -starting small has been done for so long…we may need to change our game plan and be more aggressive -how do we see success…have a 3rd party group and look at data and achievement -people that have data to support their 1 to 1 learning receive more support and get more attention -set end goals for 2-3 years and be prepared when you get the materials…be ready before you begin -jump on board with finding resources other than textbooks to use in the classroom…free up more dollars to open up opportunities to succeed more, engage more, and experience more joy with learning! -utilize web 2.0 options to help guide teachers instead of holding a book

21st Century Learning with the 3 V’s: Visual, Virtual, Verbal Aida Awad & Hank Thiele

Visual learning important for so many of our students~ 73% of sensory nerve cells are dedicated to sight

There are 120,000 optical nerve fibers vs. 20,000 auditory nerve cells…see it more than hear it ****The text in which students see material is changing, and we need to make it more engaging

Visualizing Text Strategies:

word clouds are a great visual resource when looking at the text…look at a wordle at word cloud as a pre-read activity to identify character names or ideas (websites to make clouds: tagcrowd.com, wordle.net) … also look at presidential speeches in word clouds to see changes in speeches and WHY that happened

film a speech kids present, have them transpose it into text, then wordle it to see words that they see the most…um, like, uh…good visual to have kids see errors

T+L Conference 2009

Cont. 3 V’s

Resource: www.googlelittrips.org and http://booksearch.blogspot.com/2007/01/books-mapped.html

Visualizing Number Strategjes:

there is a site similar to wordle, but it represents numbers, find it by googling “many eyes” (use in science when showing high impacting diseases)

another site that shows data: search “gapmier” or you can use gampier on google docs

look at New York Times website and see how movie/book profits are organized…it is a cool wave

daily phone and data traffic in the UK…look at you tube for an interesting video

Visualizing Math Strategjes:

gigapan.org is a tool to use when taking a series of pictures and linking them together…you can look up existing pics and save them, there is a picture on gigapan called “backyard” and students can look for geometrical images…kids can also search for other images and find geometrical figures in those other pics

geospatial (when you combine a map and data), promote new literacies that encourage problem based learning, critical thinking, and engagement

use GPS devices

GIS (Geographical Information Systems): myworld

Google Earth Tour: create a folder and name it, add locations by putting place marks (choose a pushpin…change look of place mark if you’d like), you can add comments for your place marks

Put material students are studying into google Earth so kids can see the area more clearly

Tools to use to visualize: http://tinyurl.com/w2xzw

Plate Tectonics

AWESOME LAPTOPS that are like netbooks, “intel-powered classmate PC”…$400, rugged, touch screen,

T+L Conference 2009

Cont. Plate Tectonics with Denis Knight

webcam, tablet, called “royaltek” or classmate PC, website: www.classmatepc.com

Send kids information that you have on your Smartboard screen by ising “Smart Sinc” go to smarttech.com

Check out eMINTS program! It seems like a great resource that gears a science classroom, more middle school focused though, uses critical thinking skills

Can pull files into google earth…search for them online and save to google earth (called TLC’s?)

Use an egg to demonstrate the plates and Earth’s cores…better than apple in way that the egg moves inside like Earth…can hard boil egg and break shell to show plates, cut inside to show Earth’s layers

Show earthquake stats and come up with critical thinking conclusions (Is there a correlation between amount of damage and earthquake magnitude?...time of year and magnitude…magnitude and property damage/deaths?)

Have kids make a photo story demonstrating earthquake/volcano

Write a letter as a culminating activity to an earthquake agency predicting when the next big earthquake will be…apply this to other areas

Use Denis Knight’s website (see handouts for address)

“If you don’t do it, it’s not going to happen.” ~Paul Kelley

Day 3 School 2.0, www.Classroom20.com (32,000 members)

A social networking site for teachers that helps you to

T+L Conference 2009

My Web 2.0, Open Source, and Other Content that Matter so Much Steve Hargadon

collaborate ---email Steve for his slide show to share with teachers

Web 2.0 is going to hit like a tidal wave coming from the bottom up…kids bring it to us and force us to adjust

Web 1.0 = Read, received, researched

Web 2.0 = Contributing, collaborating, creating MAKE THE SWITCH TO 2.0!! Make it necessary to have technology, not use it just as an add on!

It might feel overloading, but for today’s learners, the web is a conversation.

TREND 1: PUBLISHING REVOLUTION

Kids today are writing way more than we did when we were younger. It may look different, but it is more effective and meaningful. They are connecting more, thinking more, sharing more.

TREND 2: OPENNESS

We are in a culture of openness. There are so many resources for people to learn from. You need to be more of a filter, but you can also contribute. You are no longer just a listener to what editors think is important, but you can add your own thoughts and conversations, making it more meaningful.

Apache…look at it. It is like Wikipedia and is on a lot of machines.

CC..Creative Copyright…share but give credit to the source.

Open textbooks: flexbook. Use this site to open your class material to the web.

TREND 3: PARTICIPATION

Flickr, facebook, my space, you tube

This culture of participation changes and blurs how we do things. Even though you take pictures of important things, are you a professional photographer? If you say that troops are moving in, are you a reporter?

Johnson & Johnson opens up to consumers to give

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Cont. School 2.0

them ideas that they would like to see created. (Tide pen)

Anyone can create a site and open it to the world. Blogs to share experiences, ect…

TREND 4: ORGANIZING WITHOUT ORGANIZATION

Failure is free…you can create networks without cost and if it doesn’t work…so what! You’ve lost nothing, but tried something.

Try it, if it doesn’t work, no loss

TREND 6: SIZEMIC ECONOMIC SHIFTS

Moving from factory model to mass production material: ie, ordering a laptop to your specific needs

Parents are expecting this for their children, we cater to their needs with IEP’s and accommodations.

We are leading to an entrepreneurial renaissance!

TREND 7: INFORMATION EVERYWHERE!!

Groups of kids are on phones, texting, on the web when they are at social events. Don’t worry about it, our world has wished for this for YEARS: Dick Tracy’s watch

TREND 8: DESKTOP VIDEO CONFERENCING AND REAL-WORLD APPICATIONS

Skyping across the world

Introducing students to other cultures, know their norms and what makes them uncomfortable.

This opens the door for experts to come into your room

TREND 9: AN EXPLOSION OF COLLABORATION

Innovation comes from networked collaboration.

The wisdom of the group will increasingly replace that of the expert.

TREND 10: THE RISE OF SOCIAL NETWOKING

First came blogs, then wikis, and then social networking

About 120,000 new blogs are started every day, 375,000 new MySpace members every day

T+L Conference 2009

Cont. School 2.0

250,000,000 facebook members…if it were a country, it would be the 4th largest!!!!!

HERE ARE OUR CHALLENGES FROM THESE TRENDS:

Integrate these new realities effectively or else education will become irrelevant. We block access

Teachers need lots of preparation and PD that we are not likely to get.

Continued financial difficulties will add to personal stress.

Much of innovation will come from outside of the traditional systems.

Change is messy and not always rewarded.

There isn’t an easy path to transition our teaching methods.

Educational role is changing…what is education?

We don’t have a good model for seemless computing.

We are afraid to open our world to our students and our students to the world.

ANSWERS TO OUR CHALLENGES:

We must use Linux to provide seemless computing.

We must start teaching collaborative tools, including open source software. (Apache, PHP, Cyclone)

We must start providing real-world and authentic audience environments for students.

www.K12OpenSource.com Use this to help implement open source www.learncentral.org

Keynote: Don’t just

Teach more music with fractions/math …see Alison or Ceasar…skype with someone who is musical…high school students…friends (Rocky?)

Use a keyboard ($35 garage band keyboard) stay on the

T+L Conference 2009

teach it…Inspire with it! Marco Antonio Torres

black keys… MAYBE USE AUDACITY FOR THIS???

Have a steady beat…have group of kids clap at whole notes, group at half notes, group with fourth notes, group with eighth notes…noise but it is easier to “feel” concept

Frequencies of black keys are multiples of each other

Talk about X Y values

Teach with music in background, ie: Great Wall of China with basic Chinese tempo in background; apply it to your curriculum…think of it as your teaching soundtrack

Have students role change from recipients to creators

Kids don’t achieve success by just coming to school, doing as told, and that’s it…they need to DO more, be more active in their education

We, all of us, need to LOVE teaching and learning…get the joy!

10,000 hours in learning means you should love it…why else would we do it…DO KIDS LOVE LEARNING? DO THEY WANT TO SPEND HOURS DOING IT? WOULD THEY RATHER DO SOMETHING ELSE?

WHY IS IT LIKE THIS???? Have kids be the experts, they are the creative ones who

can tweak it for fun better than I can!

We, teachers, use our friends to help us/vent with/think with…that is a network! Kids have a strong network…use it! We don’t feel alone in our classrooms because of our network, and I want a bigger network to be a better teacher.

You can’t do it alone…utilize people to make it more interesting, easier, and FUN!

Teachers…google, blog, twitter to find answers (think about Matrix lady calling her center to find out how to fly a plane)

Learning is more important than knowing!

Learning is ideal in the middle of these: studio, stage, community

T+L Conference 2009

Cont. Marco’s Inspiring Ideas:

Kids’ learning stage isn’t mainly in the classroom, but at home in their bedroom where they do their passion…make the classroom where their passion is

Kids seek out answers to things: you tube and

try to mimic it from their peers…they do

this on their own…they want to learn and be passionate!

Kids naturally don’t want things to be easier, they seek the challenge to make it harder for them to learn

There are talents all over the world that are hiding in their bedrooms without a stage.

Go to this website to hear Marco’s song and share it with Alison to get ideas…google it

Have kids create a song about what they’ve learned OR

how to teach a concept by using a song

Have kids “Pimp my lessons” (Pimp my ride)

Have kids create a video about their life, showing what is special about them by making a story, what are they passionate about? What can’t they live without?…Use something as simple as photo story …Have a film festival to share these films and create their stage