Nasa Historical Photograph

I have lately been  trying to write shorter blogs on a more frequent basis.  Thanks for the positive comments and emails. Your thoughts and ideas are really an inspiration. I am practicing my tweeting skills by tweeting my blog titles  and links under mjgormans. Go ahead and follow if you wish. It has already given me some great ideas for an up coming tweet blog (Do they go together?). I may have a title! This posting is a follow up of a blog I posted at the start of the 2009 school year. I have recently found some extra information on the posting “Welcome To The Future“.  Please take some time, I know if you spend a few moments with the material it will provide you with a message to share with educators and also students. As always, please visit me at the 21centuryedtech Wiki!  for even more information - Mike

I hope I was able to get you wondering about the connection between all the players in the title and 21st Century Learning.  I believe as you read you will see the connection and understand its importance. This posting has been several months in the making and contains some outstanding material for professional development. Please take a moment to  explore and reflect.

 About  three months ago I posted a country music video by singer song writer Brad Paisley. This song and video reminded me that our dreams as educators must be to protect and nuture the dreams of our students.  If you never read the posting or viewed the video I am speaking of, please take a moment from your internet browsing and enjoy. As you view the video Welcome To The Future  keep in mind the important and neccessary mission of 21st century skills and education. I have had the pleasure of sharing this with teachers and students and have always seen people walk away with excitement and  enthusiasm.

Now, the reason for my follow up. I knew the video was powerful but have since found out it made a bigger impact then what I knew at the time of my original posting. I had often wondered what singer songwriter Brad Paisely had thought as he wrote the song. He answered some of my questions in an interview held at the White House. I have included both the blog  posting and video of this White House interview and performance. It was moving to see see the performance in the formal setting  of the White House as President Obama listened, and the camera panned famous pictures such as George Washington and lyrics resonated famous people including Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks.  This amazing performance was part of the White House Performance Series ,a program developed to promote arts education. As part of this initative, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has been in dialogue with Support Music, an organization dedicated to the promotion of music and fine arts in the nation’s schools. Take a moment to read a recent letter, listen to a conference call (mp3), or read the transcript of Secretary Duncan’s support for the Fine Arts.

This leads me to Daniel Pink , author of A Whole New Mind : Why Right Brainers Will Rule The Future. At a recent keynote, Pink eluded to the idea that STEM education must include the fine arts. Take a look at this amazing video as students use visual Thinking Strategies. These students are part of the program,  Visual Thinking Strategies, a non-profit organization that “uses art to foster kids’ capacities to observe, think, listen and communicate.”  With this in mind, listen to the  TASA 2009 Podcast that includes Pink’s thoughts on teaching to the Right Brain in education. While speaking of adding Arts to STEM, why not call it STEAM ,as proposed by the Ohio Alliance For Arts Education . Enjoy this article  filled with great reflections and resources.

I conclude this posting with one last reflection of another past post. The post referred to another musician, Tom Chapin, with a message that cannot be ignored. Chapin is also a proponent of fine arts education and promotes its neccessary place in today’s schools in order to promote 21 st century learning. I know you will want to share his music video Not on the Test with other educators.

I hope you can see that there really is a connection between the White House, STEM, Secretary Duncan, country music, fine arts, Brad Paisley, Daniel Pink, and steam. It really is a convergent of the right and left brain. It is a partnership that will develop creativity, ingenuity, problem solving, and a new way to look at the world. These are 21st century skills, the very skills our students will need to seek their dreams and continue our dreams. It truely is an amazing “Welcome To The Future”!

I invite you to email, comment, and as always visit the 21centuryedtech Wiki. I also invite you to download  my Welcome_to_the_Future  Document. I put together for teachers who may wish to have their students study the video Welcome To The Future. It contains standards that cover writing, film making, and social studies. I look forward to hearing from you . As always thank you joining me as I reflect  upon and dream about a 21st century educational sysytem that will make a difference for the future of our students!

- Mike (mgorman@sacs.k12.in.us)

Today I attended a Privacy & Information Management session in London which was a good learning experience.

The session began with an opportunity to to view some of the 8 training videos that have been prepared for use in Ontario school Boards. The video series was designed for 3 target audiences: teachers, administrators and IT staff. Key areas of best practice addressed in the videos included:

• physical documents
  • security
  • office practices
  • classroom practices
  • destruction
• digital data
  • server locations
  • implications of outsourcing storage
  • laptop and USB key use
  • destruction of digital data (hardware recycling)
• visual privacy
  • use of cell phones, smart phones, digital cameras and video recorders
  • guidelines for posting content on Board sites as well as uploading to public internet sites

Following the preview of the videos, the balance of the day provided opportunities to review strategies for implementation of Privacy and Information Management strategies and further discussion of the 3 areas identified above.  I found the discussion rich and in depth. My note taking included the following points:

• laptop setup should include a BIOS level password, OS password and an encrypted area to store confidential data
• recycling of hardware must include data destruction on the hard drives
• prevent the use of peer to peer sharing tools such as Kaza and Limewire
• enforce password format and change policies
• key corporate level data stored locally where you can control access (information knows no boundaries)
• store email in a centrally hosted system

Key implementation strategies should:

• create a culture of awareness
• update and/or write policies to reflect needs and goals
• sustain energy and interest in this area (it is not a one time item)
• make best practice strategies relevant to key user groups (teachers, admin, support staff etc.)
• be shared as a team, this is not just one person’s torch to carry.

Drifting off a little as I was sitting in the sessions, my mind was flitting to other connections. After all, creating a culture of P & I Management awareness is connected to Digital Citizenship.  In some ways, there are interconnected tensions between privacy culture, digital citizenship, suitable access to K12 content for curriculum delivery (content filtering/open internet) and copyright. Somewhere in the middle of all of this is a sweet spot – establishing the required culture is the challenge. I am looking forward to my involvement on our team.

Related Reading

PIM Taskforce
Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

~ Mark

Via Wesley Fryer

• “Around the World with Skype – Alrededor del Mundo con Skype”
  Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano (presented in both an English and a Spanish version)

• “You Might Be a 21st Century Leader if…”
  David Wells
• “Ways of Working”
  Chris Betcher
• “The Virtual Heroic Journey”
  Kevin Hodgson
• “If You Host It, They Will Come”
  Jen Wagner

Do you really want to bridge the divide?

Enrich and empower everyone with web-enabled mobile learning devices, and embrace web 2.0 tools to create, share, communicate, collaborate, and inspire learning to every corner of the world.

It is seriously that ______!

It’s this coming weekend. Liya and I have not decided what to wear for the fashion show that we are taking part. I have showed her ‘kebaya’ which is one of the traditional costume for Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei and Singapore. We also have to think of the matching accessories.

Ajib is also excited as this will be his first live performance on stage. I didn’t count the gymnastics performed in the preschool’s compound.

Please take a moment to enjoy this thought provoking reflection on the role of technology in education. This article contains my thoughts on the National Middle School Conference 2009 and its potential impact on 21st century learning and technology. It covers some of the featured speakers along with thoughts,  links, and videos to allow you to investigate.  I guarantee you there are priceless links in this posting!

I also want to recognize Mr. Alan Summers and his complete conference team from the NMSA for what will be remembered as an outstanding conference. The Indiana contribution from IMLEA was also evident along with the constant enthusiasm at their welcome area!

I also want to thank all of you for visiting this site and helping it grow. The wiki/blog have attracted close to 6000 unique visitors in about three short months of existence. It has now reached all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and 47 foreign countries. Your thoughts, reflections, emails, and invites to the network are so appreciated. Please visit the companion 21centuryedtech wiki for even more resources - Mike

A conference is always what you make of it. Since I am an avid technology conference attender, I decided to check out the technology message at the NMSA09 Conference in Indianapolis. I did not even have to attend a session to get my first taste. After strolling through the vendor area I found the 21 st Century Classroom filled with modern technology along with real teachers and students conducting lessons. Imagine not just lecturing about educational transformation, but creating the real experience for all to see. It is awesome to see that NMSA  takes the time to model what it also advocates.

The NMSA09 Conference had close to 500 sessions with featured keynote speakers of national prominence accounting for many of these. The featured speakers and keynotes I  attended  included Will Daggett, Daniel Pink, and Alan November. As I listened to the three it was evident that the common theme appeared to be empathy, awareness, and creativity was needed for real transformation to happen.

Will Daggett opened with a reminder fto teachers that they really are part of the best educational system in the world. After all, the United States is one of the few countries that attempts to educate all children.  United States schools are involved in a constant battle between excellence and equity. This is a difficult line to walk, but one the United States must continue to engage in.  His constant theme revolved around the idea “Relevance makes Rigor Possible”, a phrase he coined. Daggett then emphasized that U.S. students need to be made aware of the social/economic change happening in the global community. He stressed this need for awareness as he emphasized that today’s students are in a battle for future jobs, and they do not even know it, because no one is teaching them.  The new technology he demonstrated was awesome including both the siftable chip, a new technology manipulative, and SPOT (Smart Personal Object Technology) which allows for even more computing portability due to a virtual keyboard and a virtual monitor that are both beamed using laser technology. In fact, I did some research and found there is already a portable video projector for the iPhone. Be sure to also check out this virtual laser keyboard!   Daggett then listed five concepts in learning which included: knowledge of one discipline, application of one discipline, application across disciplines, application to real world predictable situations, and  application to real world unpredictable situations. He maintained that schools spend a lot of time on the first and second and very little time on the last three. It was the first time  I realized that the very last step really identifies the difference between project based learning and problem based learning. My mind wandered to this year’s Future City problem. Students are to build short term housing that is sustainable and green for displaced people after an emergency sometime in the extended future. Wow, talk about a problem that is so difficult to answer, nothing is correct, and the possibilities are endless. Parts of the question even contradict each other from an engineering standpoint. Sounds like Daggett’s “applications to real world unpredictable situations” is being practiced in some arenas of education. This leads us perfectly into Daniel Pink’s keynote.

Daniel Pink, the author of  A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future, described the increasing  role of right-brain thinking in the new  economies and describes the skills  individuals and organizations must possess in this outsourced, automated age. Using brain research, Pink advocates that left brain (orderly, logical, and linear) thinking, while still important, is no longer adequate to survive in the 21st Century global economy. He attributes this theory to the role Asia now plays in the global economy with automation being software driven, and abundance of material in the market place. In essence, routine work is disappearing! Pink advocates that educators prepare kids for their future (right brain), not our past (left brain).He suggests including skills in our curriculum that cannot be outsourcedor automated. He includes such abilities as design, story telling, symphony (ability to see big picture), empathy, play, and meaning. One example used was Google’s idea to allow its employees 20% percent job time for self direction. From this effort, such big projects as G-Mail, and Google News have evolved. Finally, Pink suggested some ideas he feels educators should reflect and implement. Number one, explore the new metrics. IQ only accounts for 20% of success. We need to make sure we are measuring the right things. The next concept involves “getting real about STEM. Pink stressed that STEM must include the Arts because students must be taught to see. Engineering firms want people who have passion, are willing to be  life-long learners, are systems thinkers,  have multicultural values, and can understand interdisciplinary context. The third suggestion is to rethink motivation and look at intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation. The fourth idea really caught my attention as Pink suggested moving problem solving out of the terrarium and putting it in the forest. He described the terrarium as an environment  that is much too clean, organized, and not real world. Problems should involve clarification, identification, multi-disciplines, several answers, non-perfection, exploration, challenge, and relevancy. Last, Pink suggests that artistic educational programs must be facilitated, encouraged, and practiced across the curriculum. China has an emphasis that states “Creative Arts are not a frivolous luxury“.  I am anxious to bring the arts concept into my next STEM presentation! Have a little fun fooling your left brain by having your right brain look at this Fedex logo in a different and unique way.

Different and unique  is a great way to describe Alan November. I had the honor to introduce this master of storytelling and thought provoking educational reformer. November emphasized that it is not the technology that will make the change happen, even asking participants to cross it off the program title. He stressed that kids need to be able to learn and use tools at school that are  available in their homes. Education must understand that blocking certain websites is actually contributing to a lack of student awareness of proper and valuable web usage. It is important that the skills we teach today outlast technology change. November emphasized student creativity  as he made the audience aware of Jing and Math Train TV. He also demonstrated a math search engine entitled Wolfram|Alpha. Enter your question or calculation and Wolfram|Alpha uses its built-in algorithms and a growing collection of data to compute the answer. While some schools may want to block this because using it could be considered cheating, November suggests allowing students to use it so they instantly know if they are right or wrong in a computation. He then suggested that students create their own multimedia story to explain the process. He also shared an exciting video about sixth sense work using technology. You maybe interested in exploring information on Web Literacy located at November Learning. Located at this site is a great collection of resources to teach students about using the web to retrieve information. Students have a chance to learn there is really no Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus and that Christopher Columbus was not born in Sydney in  Australia in 1951, even though it says so on the web! November also covered the Way Back Machine, and Easy Who Is, to further validate web resources. All of these resources are explained on November Learning. Alan November is truly one of our time’s great thinkers in education and I recommend attending his BLC10 conference in Boston this summer. I have had  the honor to both present and attend. It is a truly an amazing conference that will give you plenty of opportunity to reflect and acquire resources. Perhaps November’s most intruiging statement was that employers are seeking the skill of empathy as they hire. It would be interesting to see who has that concept in their standards beyond definition and  vocabulary!

I did have a chance to attend some other sessions that were truly outstanding. Jim Wenzlof presented a valuable session entitled Read It, Write It, Say It. He introduced innovative ways to use Diigo,  and Skype for teaching literacy. He suggested techniques to allow students to make movie trailers for books using Audacity, PhotoStory, and iMovie.  He also introduced the websites  Lit2Go, Itunes University, and the Story Starter. My favorite was a collaborative site called EtherPad. If you haven’t seen it give it a look! I also had a chance to see the state of Indiana’s new educational service presented by Gary Bates from the DOE called The Learning Connection. It is a service for Indiana educators interested in designing lessons, assessments aligned to standards, or wishing to collaborate and connect with other educators in the state of Indiana. Indiana educators, take the time to register now at The Learning Connection. I also had opportunity to talk with the people at both ePals and NSDL. These are two great organizations that understand 21st Century learning.  I plan to become  more familiar with both in the near future. I appreciated the time and energy both Dr.  Kimberly Lightle from NSDL and Victoria McEachern from ePals spent with me.

As I close I want to thank all those people who attended my session on 21st Century learning. It was my intention to deliver a dynamic presentation to you. I appreciate how nearly 90 people made room for everyone in a room designed for 50. I also hope that the many who could not get in will at least take advantage of the handout sheet left at the door. As promised, the Power Point will be available on the wiki under Presentations. Thank you for all of the kind comments and I hope all of you keep in touch.

Overall it was a truly amazing conference. I was only able to see it from my limited perspective but I can  tell you that it was one of the best I have ever attended. The goal is always to find at least one new idea and I surpassed that with an improved vision for transforming education in the 21st century. I am excited about NMSA10 in Baltimore as I  hope to learn  and contribute even more! Again, thank you to the great staff at both NMSA and IMLEA along with the countless volunteers and presenters. I feel it was a great “Welcome To The Future!” Please feel free to visit the 21st Century Ed Tech Wiki. Your comments, suggestions, and emails are always welcome! Keep up the great work at using technology to facilitate empathy, awareness, and  creativity! They just may be the most important unwritten standards.

-Mike

Social media tools are having an impact in many ways in all age groups of society from pre-teens to ‘experienced’: retirees — it could be a lifelong activity, literally!   Let’s take a look at some current information.

KIDS/TEENS

In a recent surveys of teens,  38 percent of respondents ages 12 to 14 said they had an online profile of some sort. Sixty-one percent of those in the study, ages 12 (jumping in earlier than the suggested age requirement) to 17, said they use social-networking sites to send messages to friends, and 42 percent said they do so every day. Although social networking sites have a minimum age requirement of 13, there is no easy way to check or enforce this criteria. It really operates on the honour system.

In my mind, this trend raises some important questions in terms of use from the parent point of view:

• Are these sites being used in an appropriate manner?
• Do parents/guardians actively monitor what their children are doing?
• How are the children learning about safe online practices?
• Do the children know to protect their personal information?
• Are there daily time limits placed on usage?

As a parent, what is your level of involvement? See the Social Networks and Kids: How Young is too Young?  article at  CNN.

ADULTS and the WORKPLACE

In October 2009, the USA Today reported that that 54% of companies completely block Facebook, another 35% apply some form of access limits, leaving only 11% that don’t put any limitations on Facebook use in the work force.

Dr. Brent Coker, of the Department of Management and Marketing at The University of Melbourne, reports that  “People who do surf the Internet for fun at work – within a reasonable limit of less than 20% of their total time in the office – are more productive by about 9% than those who don’t.”

Point for consideration: Is surfing the net really any different than daydreaming or chatting at the water cooler? Some employees may benefit from a little surf time. Not everyone has the same needs in terms of being productive – that is for sure. Hmmm, maybe this is true for students in schools too!

View the full ‘Companies Ban Social Media = Bad Idea’ article at Socialnomics.net. Additional information from the  Australian Social Media study can be found at the University of Melbourne website.

What is happening at your organization? Leave a comment or  send a tweet.

SENIORS/Retirees

Facebook statistics show an increasing number of users in the 50+ age group – boomer connecting with high school friends and keeping in touch with their children. There is a major social connection occurring with users in this age group.

Related Reading:

Ivy Bean: Tweeting at the ripe old age of 104

Social Isolation and New Technology

SCHOOLS

Teachers and administrators are learning more about social networking tools – the good and bad. The bad is usually connected to student bullying issues. Staff at Boards of education are thoughtfully working through some of the key issues:

• safe, ethical and responsible online activities
• Digital Citizenship and Character Development programs
• incorporating social media tools into curriculum delivery in meaningful ways
• thinking about content filtering in an appropriate K-12 context

The agenda is definitely moving ahead – that is a good thing.  Teachers are developing online Personal Learning Networks (PLNs) through social media tools such as Twitter, Ning groups and blog reading/blogging. Many are really engaged in learning something new every day.  Certainly, this is an exciting time to be in education.

It will be interesting to see how this all unfolds. In the meantime, one can keep learning and participating! See you online

~ Mark

I have filled this posting with some great information, including a new site from the people at the census, a contest in the fine arts, and a free online curriculum about the wise use of money. This is the first of a two part blog as I network and learn at the national Middle School Conference in Indianapolis. The content I provide will cover all levels, so read on! – Mike

I have been trying to determine a way to include the National Middle School Conference - Making A World Of Difference  in this week’s 21stcenturyedtech Blog. I have the honor of presenting at this conference and  I am already  contemplating speaking at a conference that is not totally dedicated to educational technology. I know I should feel comfortable because I have had a long lasting relationship with the middle. I am well into my own middle age, I was born in the middle class, as a middle child. I have taught middle grades for over thirty years in Fort Wayne, Indiana which can be considered middle America. I will travel one hundred miles south to Indianapolis, which is in the middle of the state, and join nearly seven thousand other middle level educators as we approach the middle of another school year.

I know the experience will be far from middle. Still, I have many questions as I prepare to network with others in the middle. Will I find out that they don’t tweet? That’s really alright because I have been slow on the twitter. Will I be NINGless? I don’t think so because I have already found a great NMSA Conference Connection Page. I know both sides of my brain will be challenged as I listen to Daniel Pink discuss the half of the brain that will conquer the world. As I dig deeper into the program I discover that Alan November will be part of a spotlight session that highlights the NMSA Technology Day!  In fact, Will Dagget will bring great comfort as he discusses rigour, relevancy, and relationships. Hold on,  Rick Wormeli will be speaking about a journey into the non-linear fourth dimension. Wow, I am really starting to feel comfortable! As I look through the concurrent sessions I am seeing terms such as UDL, differentiation, 21st century skills, and multiple references to the word technology.  A glance at the main conference web page reveals an awesome reference to the National Middle School 21st Century Classroom!  I even noticed my session  entiltled  21st Century Project Based Learning – No Cost and Low Cost Investments with Rich Results for Students. I am really starting to feel comfortable since I note my wife Jane will co-present with me.  But wait,  it is not on Tech Saturday, instead it is on Friday! Presenting on a different day than Tech Day  really is alright with me since it is, after all, on the middle day of the conference. If you happen to be at the conference please stop by Friday at 2:00 PM and meet me in the middle! I am sure that this will be a conference that puts students in the middle of their learning with the facilitation of technology way above the middle.

I will be publishing my next Blog from  the NMSA09 Conference in Indianapolis. It is my intention to share best educational practices highlighted at this year’s conference. I thought I would give a quick preview by sharing some awesome information found on the National Middle School Asociation Main Home  Page. This is information that can be used at any level. To start off, take a look at the new Census In Schools Page. You will find a population counter with links for teachers, elementary kids, and teens! On the teacher page you will find a wealth of activities and lesson plans! I was amazed at the sixty second radio shows highlighting each day of the year! How about a set of 22 maps  highlighting the geographical distributional changes in the US from 1790 until 2000. Perhaps you will enjoy the lessons provided for grades k-12. For elementary kids there is a great Flash Web Site filled with fun activities. The teen site has great state facts, engaging activities, and statistics that relate educational attaintment and income. There is also material for schools and the facts for feature area provides a wealth of data for those wanting to create relevant graphing and charting opportunities.

Do you have any students interested in  the Arts? The National Middle School Association is  calling for the submission of original student artwork in the online publication Expressions from the Middle and on a poster that will be sent to more than 25,000 people worldwide. Students choose their favorite type of media to work with including oils, watercolors, charcoal, colored pencils, sculpture, computer generated graphics, or multimedia. View past years winning entries of this highly engaging contest. You will note as you look through the different years that there is not just art work, but also Podcasts; cool!

Looking for a multi-curricular unit on finances, money, and economical survival with great resources and activities? Talk about timeliness and relevance! Then check out Saving Our Futures: A Financial Responsibility Program for Young People It is an exciting online curriculum teaching young people in middle and high school  financial responsibility. It also advocates for smarter money management in the home, communitiy and government. It was developed by the Academy for Educational Development for the America’s Promise Alliance. This specific curriculum was written to be integrated with the documentary film I.O.U.S.A. Best of all it is free! What I have included is just a small sample of what can be found on the main homepage of the National Middle School Association.

Please join me for my next posting from NMSA09 in Indianapolis. If you happen to be at the conference feel free to attend my session on Friday at 2:00 PM entitled  21st Century Project Based Learning – No Cost and Low Cost Investments with Rich Results for Students. If you can’t make it to Indianapolis please join me at the 21centuryedtech Wiki filled with even more information regarding 21st Century Learning!

-Mike

Asalaam ‘Alaikum:

What can I say, I love writing – it is a passion of mine (reading is up there too).  I have been trying to help my girls in their writing.  It can be difficult some times.  Often they feel they don’t have anything important to say.  I’m trying to show them all the possibilities.  I haven’t been just focusing on creative writing – although I definitely agree that it has an important place in our lessons.  I am also trying to help them write better in their school work and in their notes.  Sounds boring, no – actually my girls are starting to finally enjoy this part of school – but it took us a while to get there because I wasn’t being creative enough.

By the way – as a side note – I have had days when my kids just had a hard time getting some idea – they just couldn’t grasp it.  However, I have finally come to an important realization.  If your child fails to understand a concept – it is the fault of the teacher (in this case me) and not the child.  You just haven’t found a way to make it understandable for your child. I have seen this on so many occasions since homeschooling my kids.  At first I really struggled with this issue and couldn’t understand why they just didn’t “get it” the first time.  However, when I started trying to find more creative ways to reach them – we had some real successes.  So, if you ever are stuck in a moment where you child just doesn’t understand – try your best to find a way to reach them.  Try to find a creative way to teach them what they need to know.  Your child will feel successful from the experience – and I might add, so will you.

That being said, we will return to writing.  The other day I was working with my daughter on her writing lessons.  In the past we have already used the four-square method for writing and I really like it.  Strangely enough – being an older person now (ha ha) I don’t often remember how I was taught things, but things just come naturally for me (especially in those things I do well with like writing, alhumdulilah).  Anyway, I love this method simply because it allows you to organize your thoughts before wasting your time writing and finding that you have gone off the beaten track (perhaps I should use this method when I blog – then I wouldn’t ramble on – oh well, we can’t always be perfect!).

At some point or another I found a book (probably at a resale shop or the library book sale about 4-square writing.  The book is entitled “Four Square Writing Method for Grades 1-3” by the Teaching & Learning Co.  It is an excellent (at least in my opinion) book for introducing writing skills for your child.  There may be other wonderful writing books out there – or perhaps other great writing methods – but I found this book and I’m glad I did, Alhumdulilah.  Essentially, you start your writing by dividing a piece of paper into fourths and then writing your important points (1 for each square).  You build from there – adding more information under each section.  From there, you can write your paper based on your four square.  I definitely like this method and I wondered why in the world our homeschool program wasn’t using something more like this.

I was equally amazed when we had our last writing assignment – and truly saw the benefits of doing it our way instead of their way.  My daughter was supposed to write about any topic – through each lesson they guided her through choosing a topic, pre-writing, and amazingly enough – only after the child already writes do they finally decide it is time for making sure (1) that your paper doesn’t have any information not related to your topic and (2) to organize your thoughts.  Hello?!?  Am I missing something here?  This was lesson # 3!  I told my daughter not to worry about it because we thought out our writing before we had actually written anything – which is an important lesson.

While our curriculum (yes, we use K12) is heavy on the writing – it doesn’t necessarily teach good writing from the outset (at least, not yet).  I guess we are all supposed to either be born good writers or we just have to struggle in writing.  I remember our lessons in our first years for History (for example) when you were supposed to read the lesson and then draw one picture about the lesson or write what you had learned from the lesson – hopefully writing at least half of the time.  Well, you definitely learn and grow – since this is our third year with the program – I am finding better ways to work with the curriculum.  We are very happy for this change as it makes our lessons more interesting.

For each lesson we now take notes (the curriculum is still asking to write down the important parts of the lesson at the end of the lesson – but our method is working wonders for my girls’ understanding of the topics (not to mention their enjoyment).  We now use this system with History and Science lessons. Instead of writing word after word – just regurgitating what we have read in the lessons, we are finding more interesting ways of remembering what we have learned.  For example, today we are learning about Ecosystems in Science (in particular, Tundra).  Instead of writing word for word definitions of everything – we are making our notes easily readable and in my daughter’s definition: “cool”.

For example, there are no trees in the tundra.  In my daughter’s notes we drew a tree and put an X through it (near it we wrote simply “no trees”).  It is cold and windy there – so, we drew the artistic lines we learned about in Art class to represent wind and wrote beside it simply “cold + windy.”  Then we learned where on the map the Tundra is located – we printed off a small version of the map and cut it out and pasted it in her notebook and wrote beside the map “Where is Tundra?”  These are just a few examples from our Science lessons.

If you’ve ever done any lap booking – this is pretty much the same, in notebook style.  It’s not as fancy or time consuming as lap booking can be – but it is just an easier and more enjoyable way to write down and later recall what you have learned.

This has also been helpful with History lessons.  We started drawing pictures instead of text to represent important ideas or events.  We even draw our own time lines in the notebook.    I am also teaching the girls to use different fancy writing to let important ideas for the lesson stand out.  For example, we were learning recently about Venice during the Renaissance.  Venice was known as the Queen of the Adriatic Sea.  They had ships and it was an empire.  So, my daughter drew several ships in a row in her notebook and wrote above it “Queen of the Adriatic” to remember how Venice earned this title.  She also drew in large letters in her notebook the word “Empire” (all caps) to emphasize this point.  She also drew a picture of a canal and a gondola in order to remember the Grand Canal and how people moved form place to place there.  She said the lesson was fun (not something you hear every day).  Now, whenever we look over the notebook we can quickly get the main ideas from each lesson.

Anyway, all through school I was never really given the tools to take good notes.  I learned things here and there and only in College did we have a course for taking good notes – study skills and the like.  I guess I learned something from them – but even then they mostly taught us to regurgitate the information and just write a bunch of text to summarize what we had learned (which still was a lot of writing).  I am finding – since kids love to draw anyway – that teaching them to take notes that are more interesting to write and to read is helping their recall greatly.  Too bad we don’t learn important lessons like this in school.  You’re told to take notes, but not told how to.  Strange isn’t it?

I have greatly enjoyed reading a few different methods to teach creative writing.  One of my favorite books is 6+1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades by Ruth Culham.  She has this book plus another similar book for the upper grades.  I really love the ideas behind this methodology but haven’t had the time yet to implement it (my next pet project, perhaps?).    She has several books about writing and so far I have enjoyed them.  Another that I like is Using Picture Books To Teach Writing With The Traits by Ruth Culham.  I really think – if I had the time – we could really benefit from this.  The problem is that I haven’t been able to buy the books yet (yes – on a budget!).  Instead I have to borrow them from the library and before we get a chance to delve deep into things the books are on hold for someone else.  What makes it worse is that these books are not available at our own library – I can only get them through library loan which doesn’t allow you to renew them.  Insha’Allah I will be able to get them soon and start benefiting from them.  My daughters are eager to get into writing (I think they see Momma really enjoy her self and want to get in on the fun.)

Anyway, there is one last book I really enjoyed – and strangely enough, it was about Nonfiction books.  Now – one thing I need to get out there is that my oldest has definitely been a learning experience for me.  Just when I think things are going great she will throw me for a loop and I have to relearn all that I have learned.  I have benefitted so much by teaching her, masha’Allah.  She has hated reading from the start.  That was a shocker – especially when I love books and try to make sure we are always surround by good reading materials)!  To start, she hated phonics and she always said that reading gave her a headache.  No, her eyes are in great condition – in case you were wondering.  I took her to the library each week – taking so many books out from the library that I thought any kid her age would greatly enjoy (I finally found out recently that I am not weird – because my middle one loves the books that I thought were great – it’s all about difference in taste!)

We finally got books from the library that were mysteries.  She read a few and started to think that things weren’t too bad with reading.  Then, she decided she didn’t like them anymore – who knows?!?  Then, one day to practice reading I printed off a few magazine articles from kids science magazines.  She read it with zeal!  I was shocked.  I told her if she liked those kinds of stories we could get more from the library.  She was excited – and I have yet to pick my jaw up from the ground.  She said she loved to learn new things from books and didn’t like the fiction ones we have found.  Now she regularly gets non-fiction books from the library and we also enjoy books in a few different ways.

There were some books that I thought she would enjoy but she just wouldn’t give them the time of day.  One book in particular was actually one in a series.  So, I found the audio for a few of the books. After listing to the story, she was hooked.   Now, whenever we go to the library she quickly checks to see if these books are on the shelf.  See what I mean?!?  You have to be creative in your thinking sometimes.  Subhan’Allah!   I have also found that some books she just loves hearing – but not reading.  So, we usually grab some audio books and non-fiction books that she likes and any fiction stories that catch her eye.  Alhumdulilah, now she loves reading but is still particular in her tastes for books.

Well, where was I?  Oh yes, I was talking about non-fiction before I starting rambling on.  Yes, this is one of those moments when I should be using a four-square (in fact, my life should probably be put into a four square but that would take all the fun out of confusing everyone (including myself!)  Anyway, I found a book at the library that discussed teaching through non-fiction literature.  I loved it!  Again, we had to return the book to the library and haven’t had a chance to get it back – insha’Allah another “pet project”.  Anyway, I couldn’t help mentioning the book though because I thought it was great.  Here’s the title:

Content filtering is always an interesting topic for discussion because it is so multifaceted. In my earlier post I listed the points below as part of the discussion arena. In my context, the framework is K-12 education.

• filter or not?
• if you do, how much?
• if you do, is it done centrally or at the school level?
• how do you align content filtering with educational resource selection processes for print, video etc.?
• block or allow social networking?
• keep students safe
• sufficient band width
• how do you define ‘educational content’ in a way that makes sense in a K-12 context?
• should content filtering be more age or grade appropriate?

There are no easy answers. It is easy to find valid reasons to sit on either side of the fence for each point. More importantly, there is a growing need to keep learning about what is right, what is doable and keeping the agenda moving forward in an appropriate fashion for K-12 education. Further reflection on this post has two aspects of content filtering churning around in my mind.

1. Copyright: Content filtering must respect copyright and your country/jurisdictions laws and regulations. This whole aspect of internet use is blurry in the global community. At face value, what you see in your browser is relatively consistent from your vantage point on the globe. The internet seems like ‘one place’. The reality is the servers, and therefore content are in different countries. What you are able to do with content (copy, download , redistribute, use in a school classroom setting etc.) will likely vary, depending on your regulations and these need to be respected.

2. Equitable access: A couple of weeks ago, I was having a meeting with @socmediatrust (Twitter) discussing Digital Citizenship and his work at schools presenting Internet safety sessions to students and parent groups. At some point in the conversation, we landed on content filtering. As mentioned above, there are many approaches to dealing with this. The focus of our discussion was bullet #3 – centralized or distributed to the school level systems. This led to an interesting talk framed around consistency and equity of access.

Providing content filtering from a centrally run system provides equitable access to resources deemed suitable for use by all students/staff/sites within a system. To me, this makes the most sense. Deem the content that is acceptable for use in a particular system through a fair mechanism to select and align content with educational needs. Then you can work away at fine tuning needs in a strategic way.  I can see value in having a ’sliding scale’ effect for content filtering so it is adjusted for age levels – maybe something along the lines of  tightly controlled (young students), medium access (maybe grades six to eight) and more open for high school. Validate readiness for each level with a strong Digital Citizenship program to teach ethical, responsible, safe use and digital literacies.

Now, imagine a system where access is controlled at the school level. This could potentially be a dogs breakfast so to speak. Two (or more) schools serving the same age group of students may be serving up completely different content and access to web tools. This leads me to many questions about equity of access, lack of consistent approach within a large system, lack of consistent expectations and use by staff and students and awkward to dialog with parents when the rules (access) varies from site to site. As curriculum leaders, do school administrators bring their own ‘rules of access’ with them as they move site to site over their careers?  Hmmm.

My View: It seems to me, at least at this point in my thinking, the distributed model leaves more questions than answers. I would cast my vote for a centrally run system that allows for the ’sliding scale’ fine tuning approach that is well aligned with curriculum needs and resource selection processes.

~ Mark

Education

CANADA

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON EDUCATION

CALL FOR PAPERS

Canada International Conference on Education (CICE-2010), April 26-28, 2010, Toronto, Canada: http://www.ciceeducation.org 

The CICE is an international refereed conference dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practices in education. The CICE promotes collaborative excellence between academicians and professionals from Education.

The aim of CICE is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various educational fields with
cross-disciplinary interests to bridge the knowledge gap, promote research esteem and the evolution of pedagogy. The CICE 2010 invites research papers that encompass conceptual analysis, design implementation and performance evaluation. All the accepted papers will appear in the proceedings and modified version of selected papers will be published in special issues peer reviewed journals.

The topics in CICE-2009 include but are not confined to the following areas:
*Academic Advising and Counselling
*Art Education
*Adult Education
*APD/Listening and Acoustics in Education Environment
*Business Education
*Counsellor Education
*Curriculum, Research and Development
*Competitive Skills
*Continuing Education
*Distance Education
*Early Childhood Education
*Educational Administration
*Educational Foundations
*Educational Psychology
*Educational Technology
*Education Policy and Leadership
*Elementary Education
*E-Learning
*E-Manufacturing
*ESL/TESL
*E-Society
*Geographical Education
*Geographic information systems
*Health Education
*Higher Education
*History
*Home Education
*Human Computer Interaction
*Human Resource Development
*Indigenous Education
*ICT Education
*Internet technologies
*Imaginative Education
*Kinesiology & Leisure Science
*K12
*Language Education
*Mathematics Education
*Mobile Applications
*Multi-Virtual Environment
*Music Education
*Pedagogy
*Physical Education (PE)
*Reading Education
*Writing Education
*Religion and Education Studies
*Research Assessment Exercise (RAE)
*Rural Education
*Science Education
*Secondary Education
*Second life Educators
*Social Studies Education
*Special Education
*Student Affairs
*Teacher Education
*Cross-disciplinary areas of Education
*Ubiquitous Computing
*Virtual Reality
*Wireless applications
*Other Areas of Education

Immportant Date:
Research Paper, Case Study, Work in Progress and Report Submission Date: December 15, 2009 
Notification of Paper, Case Study, Work in Progress and Report Submission Date: December 28, 2009
Author(s) and Participant(s) Registration: January 15, 2010 
Early Bird Attendee registration: January 15, 2010 
Late Bird Attendee registration: Febuary 15, 2010
Conference Dates: April 26-28, 2010 

For further information please visit CICE-2010 at: http://www.ciceeducation.org

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

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MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending the first Central Ontario Computer Association (COCA) for the 2009/2010 school year. COCA provides a forum for ICT educators representing approximately 25 school boards to dialogue and collaborate face to face 5 times each school year. I always look forward to these meetings as I know the dialogue will be rich and engaging – a tribute to the forward thinking, action oriented people in these roles. Hats off to you for making a difference!

The agenda for this particular session was organized to provide an opportunity to discuss current educational issues and topics including:

• Report: Ministry of Education licensed software for Ontario school Boards (OSAPAC committee)
• Brainstorming: What would a Ministry of Education integrated ICT document look like?
• Presentation: ICT Ethical Use
• Presentation: iPods in the classroom project with a research component
• Discussion: Twitter in the Classroom
• Discussion: Round Table

I will be interested to follow Mike Redfern’s work on his Ethical Use of ICT project which will provide an in depth look at technology and social networking issues in the K-12 educational setting.  I will provide some information about our (WRDSB) iPod projects and research initiative in a future post.

As I anticipated, I found the round table discussion particularly interesting. Many points were raised, but the one that really stuck with me was content filtering. Content filtering is always an interesting topic for discussion because it is so multifaceted.

• filter or not?
• if you do, how much?
• if you do, is it done centrally or at the school level?
• how do you align content filtering with educational resource selection processes for print, video etc.?
• block or allow social networking?
• keep students safe
• sufficient band width
• how do you define ‘educational content’ in a way that makes sense in a K-12 context?
• should content filtering be more age or grade appropriate?

There are no easy answers. It is easy to find valid reasons to sit on either side of the fence for each point. Oh yes, how do you apply content filtering to keep everyone (students, teachers, school administrators, technicians, parents, school board officials) happy?  That is a $64000 question!

Now, throw another huge component into the discussion: copyright, digital rights, document ownership. Yikes. A few people commented that their Board had recently opened up YouTube as part of the progressive move toward more openness in the content filtering in an effort to teach online safety and digital citizenship.

BUT – What about the YouTube end user Terms of Use policy? Section 5 (see below), in the terms of use policy contains some very specific language. I have emphasized some of the areas that I feel need careful consideration from school Boards when making a determination to allow or deny access to this site.

5. Your Use of Content on the Site

In addition to the general restrictions above, the following restrictions and conditions apply specifically to your use of content on the YouTube Website.

A. The content on the YouTube Website, except all User Submissions (as defined below), including without limitation, the text, software, scripts, graphics, photos, sounds, music, videos, interactive features and the like (“Content”) and the trademarks, service marks and logos contained therein (“Marks”), are owned by or licensed to YouTube, subject to copyright and other intellectual property rights under the law. Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only and may not be downloaded, copied, modified, produced, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, translated, published, performed or otherwise exploited for any other purposes whatsoever without the prior written consent of the respective owners. YouTube reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the Website and the Content.

B. You may access User Submissions solely:

• for your information and personal use;
• as intended through the normal functionality of the YouTube Service; and
• for Streaming.

“Streaming” means a contemporaneous digital transmission of an audiovisual work via the Internet from the YouTube Service to a user’s device in such a manner that the data is intended for real-time viewing and not intended to be copied, stored, permanently downloaded, or redistributed by the user. Accessing User Videos for any purpose or in any manner other than Streaming is expressly prohibited. User Videos are made available “as is.”

C. User Comments are made available to you for your information and personal use solely as intended through the normal functionality of the YouTube Service. User Comments are made available “as is”, and may not be used, copied, modified, produced, reproduced, distributed, transmitted, broadcast, displayed, sold, licensed, downloaded, translated, published, performed or otherwise exploited in any manner not intended by the normal functionality of the YouTube Service or otherwise as prohibited under this Agreement.

D. You may access YouTube Content, User Submissions and other content only as permitted under this Agreement. YouTube reserves all rights not expressly granted in and to the YouTube Content and the YouTube Service.

E. You agree to not engage in the use, copying, or distribution of any of the Content other than expressly permitted herein, including any use, copying, or distribution of User Submissions of third parties obtained through the Website for any commercial purposes.

F. You agree not to circumvent, disable or otherwise interfere with security-related features of the YouTube Website or features that prevent or restrict use or copying of any Content or enforce limitations on use of the YouTube Website or the Content therein.

G. You understand that when using the YouTube Website, you will be exposed to User Submissions from a variety of sources, and that YouTube is not responsible for the accuracy, usefulness, safety, or intellectual property rights of or relating to such User Submissions. You further understand and acknowledge that you may be exposed to User Submissions that are inaccurate, offensive, indecent, or objectionable, and you agree to waive, and hereby do waive, any legal or equitable rights or remedies you have or may have against YouTube with respect thereto, and agree to indemnify and hold YouTube, its Owners/Operators, affiliates, and/or licensors, harmless to the fullest extent allowed by law regarding all matters related to your use of the site.

Independent of the nature of the content posted on YouTube, and whether or not there is a clean adherence to copyright and digital rights management, the terms of use document specifies that the site is for personal use. In Canada, classrooms are defined as public, not private.  As I understand this, personal use sites such as YouTube, do not have a legal place in Canadian classrooms much in the same way there are restrictions on the use of music and video. There is definitely more studying and thinking ahead in the complex arena. For now, I think we are positioned well with our current approach.

Related Reading

View the full YouTube end user Terms of Use

~ Mark

The right answer is yes, no and maybe. It all depends on your point of view.

End User: If you need a nice small travel laptop for work or learning that runs mainly web based applications, your answer might be a resounding YES! Many of the netbooks available today have plenty of ‘horse power’ to run a few key applications and perform well when running web 2.0 applications. I have been ‘road testing’ one of the Lenovo IdeaPads. I loaded it up with a few apps including open office, skype, the first class client, MSN, iTunes, Adobe Reader and Smart Ideas, a graphic organizer. Other than these apps, everything else is web based. Other than the quirkiness of the keyboard <SHIFT> key and <ENTER> layout (or my slow adaptability to a new layout) and the screen being a little small as far as real estate goes for some applications, the IdeaPad performed well and behaved in a stable manner.

Point to ponder: Would you give up your desktop or full sized laptop for a netbook?  Personally, I would not be ready to make this type of a switch at this point in time. At least for the type of work I do, there are too many times where have a full screen to facilitate multi window operation of some sort, more serious document editing or something more intensive such as audio and/or video editing. I would find the small screen and extending timeframes working with tight key arrangement on the keyboard less than idea. Perfect for travel, but I am keeping another computer or full size laptop.

Enterprise needs: I am changing hats now. Let’s look at this from the IT Management viewpoint. In the setting of our school board, interest in netbooks (or the promise of the Mac tablet) is on the rise. From a planning point of view, the price point is certainly positioned to allow you the opportunity to buy more equipment for the same level of funding. On the assumption you could match the application suite and access to the equipment to maximize the use, netbooks look pretty attractive. But, before you rush away to buy a large number of netbooks, there is another side to consider.

Many current netbooks ship with Windows XP Home with no supported upgrade or conversion path to Windows XP Pro. The XP Home version limits you to local machine and workgroup access.  Using the netbook in a network domain environment with group policies and defined security permissions is not an option. In addition, many enterprise level tools for imaging, patching, software updating and application package distribution rely on a domain based structure to properly manage the computers.  This is where I think we are stuck yet. If you can manage the netbooks, at least easily, then this is a double edged sword. The price point and web usage is there, but you are limited in maintaining and supporting the machines. You can’t say you don’t need to support the machines – just wait until you have a few messed up and now some class in not functioning properly. They staff and students will want support to fix the computers or restore them to a usable state.

Things look more promising with Windows 7 on the horizon. Then again, how many large organizations are ready to roll with a Windows 7 deployment backed up with an organization wide support model?

My View: At least at this point in time, I stand by my yes, no and maybe answer. I do believe netbooks are here to stay, and will be valuable learning tools. It is just a little to early in the game. I will be interested to see how things unfold over the next few months because I think we are close.

Related Reading:

Test Freaks:  Netbook reviews and ratings

PC World:  Road Warriors Guide to Netbooks

Sync Blog:  Should your child have a netbook?

~ Mark

The article below highlights some of the changes happening at the secondary (high school) level with regards to the growth in online learning. I suspect that as high schools improve the quality and level of student preparedness for online courses, we will see that translate into students better prepared for college level online learning. Of course, this preparedness should start well before high school…

September 27, 2009

The Next Admissions Challenge: Evaluating Online Education

By Eric Hoover

Baltimore

Colleges pay admissions officials to predict the future, and that future is likely to include a revolution in the way many high-school students learn. As attendees of the National Association for College Admission Counseling heard here last week, online education is spreading rapidly among secondary schools, a trend that raises many questions for admissions officials.

On Friday, Brian Lekander, program manager for Star Schools, a distance-education initiative in the U.S. Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement, described the rise of virtual learning in elementary and secondary schools. Thirty-two states have virtual-school programs, and 70 percent of all school districts offer online and distance-learning programs, according to the Education Department. In 2008, two million secondary students were enrolled in online-learning programs or in “blended” programs, which include face-to-face and online instruction. In 2000, that enrollment was only 50,000 students.

Full article is available at http://chronicle.com/article/The-Next-Admissions-Challenge-/48625/

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Nazi advancement through Europe, WWII