It's been a long time since I blogged... today should make up for that! I am at ISTE10 and will live-blog some of the super thoughts that Will Richardson will share with us.
Here are my notes:
Will is working off an iPad - oh do I want one! Links to preso: http://bit.ly/istegreen
Gulf oil disaster--> it's hard not to look at pictures of it and not ask how can we help? For most of us it's a matter of donating money and good wishes. What can we do? How do we participate? How do we DO SOMETHING????? There are facebook groups that have been put together to share resources and give each other support. These groups are probably blocked at our schools - kids would have to participate on their own. Big on twitter, too. The point is over the last 10 years, these types of social interactions are changing the landscape in a lot of different ways. Must visit ted.com - they are livestreaming from the gulf. There are technologies and ways to come together that just weren't around 10 yrs. ago.
This is a challenging moment no matter how you look at it. Should we go to Deepwater Horizon oil spill page on Wikipedia: yes, it is the most current and unbiased information on the spill. We can learn outside of school, that makes school look less relevant for our kids because we have this ability to connect around our passions. These are important moments --defining moments in history - a defining shift. We have to solve the education problem before we can solve the environmental problem. There are all sorts of resources that we are not modeling for our kids in schools. Doesn't matter what the topic is, if you are not feeling uncomfortable, then you are not paying attention - what is our role as teachers and educators?
Will became a vegetarian because of ecological reasons, not health reasons. His way of trying to pay attention to the environment. Blogging has been transformative in Will's life - he can participate in ways he never had before, a voice to the world. Small attempt to change his world.
Will is showing his clustrmap and what he really wants is his kids to have a clustrmap like that too. This is what kids need - a different classroom then the school classroom. Educators have to help kids understand what these global interactions mean. Teach kids to connect around their passions and then become part of something bigger than themselves.
MacArthur report says teens are using 'friendship-based' tools, but a growing movement towards 'interest-based' around their passions and meeting people they don't know. This is the stumbling block we get to: kids are connecting to adults they don't know - we say 'oh no, that's not a good thing; but what we have to say is "it IS a good thing." Students don't undertstand the skills and literacies that go along with this - not getting it necessarily from teachers and parents. How can we MODEL those interactions (tech/librarians listen up!). Steven Johnson: "There is no doubt that five years from now, when my kids are teenagers, they will be comfortable living in public ways that will astound and alarm thier parents."
4 books that have influenced Will:
1. Blessed Unrest by Paul Hawken
2. Ecological Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
3. Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirkey**
4. Tribes by Seth Godin - we have everything we need to build something bigger than ourselves and this is what we should do.
This is a compelling, different moment in time that we are in right now. Social technology is an opportunity that has not been in our context before; it's speed and creativity; put up a basement video on youtube and it can go viral. "The Most Terrifying Video You'll Ever See" on YouTube has gone viral over 7,5000,000 views - created by a physics teacher, led to him writing a book, "What's the worst that could happen?"
"There have always been networks of powerful people, but until recently it has never been possible for the entire world to be connected-Paul Hawken. "For kids, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades."
How are we as schools to be those problem solvers?? We have to give them opportunities to solve problems in the classroom first. Examples of students taking initiative to solve problems on thier own.
"25 Days to Make A Difference" blog - kid made her efforts to do great things everyday. Has connected all over the world--kept making a difference.
Ryan's Well blog -7 year old who changed the world 7 yrs ago to bring clean water in developing countries.
This is k-12 curricular integration.We need to have literacies around this. BP has bought google ads--it is interesting for a lot of kids who don't know what sponsored links are - are we teaching them about those kinds of literacies? NCTE has created new 21st c literacies. Are we doing this? Very similar to ALA standards.
If we are not there ourselves, how will our kids be???
WE all have to be Walter Cronkite - we have to look at info and make sense of it, participate in it, not just consume it. Daniel Goleman says we need a shared intelligence.
Discussion pages in wikipedia is where people negotiate the truth, critical thinking and analysis. The info comes in through twitter, delicious, we share and we all get smarter potentially.
Goodguide.com - you can scan products with your iphone and will give you info about the health of the product and rated it's effects on environment and society. Info that would help us make the world better. In schools, how do we prepare kids to tap into and make sense of this flow of knowledge? Look at google earth presentation on how climate change will effect California by Jean Ricshard.
How do we prepare students to create, navigate and grow their own plns in safe and ethical ways.. this is where they need us to model how to grow this network in safe ways.
We are being greenwashed - bunch of crap. Everything now is marked as green aWe are being techwashed in education - cause we have to understand which tech is transformative. We have to get serious about where we are going in environmental and educational technology.
1.Know your impacts.--what is impact of standardized testing
2.Favor improvements--we should always be looking to make things better, never be satisfied with status quo - we need to advocate and push for better tech and resources.
3. Share what you learn --take the best things you are doing and be transparent, share with the world
We need to teach environmental education, integrated
Ourmedia.org - post stuff for advocating environmental causes. Wiserearth.org; takingitglobal participate in great projects. Sprout ecourse for social innovators and environmental entrepreneurs who want to grown their project ideas.
Video from Michael Wesch-PdF2009 - The Machine is (Changing) Us
Seth Godin: "Leadership is a choice. It's the choice to not do nothing."
We need to think deeply about the choices we make for ourselves and for our kids.
Showing posts with label Will Richardson. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Will Richardson. Show all posts
Monday, June 28, 2010
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Keeping Up With PLNs - The Digest Version?
Here is some data:
So, I have to rely on the digest version...it needs to be in 140 characters or less, because that is how fast the information is exploding around me, it is dizzying, like being on a roller coaster - exciting, fast, breathless. Now, I'm not saying that I am overwhelmed, because honestly, I don't feel that way. It's more like I am grabbing tidbits of info that capture my interest and those tidbits have to be quick and to the point, like a tiny url, simply because there is so much of it!
Which leads me to the idea of information fluency, that is, how do I teach my students to be information fluent, when there is SO much information bombarding them (albeit, they don't feel bombarded, this is just the way it is to them)? How do I teach them to skim, sort, sift, evaluate, process, contribute? As an elementary teacher-librarian, I recognize that these 21st C skills are now the core of what I teach. Once a classroom teacher said to me, "Just read to them, dear." Can you feel me cringing? Anyway, what should their ILN (Information Learning Network - just coined that) be? How do I facilitate that for them? Besides the books and the electronic databases? Some projects that I have done with my 4th/5th graders have incorporated wikis where they could start networking their information. That's a start. Some of the classes are blogging. Next year, hopefully, we are going Google, and that will help them to share information in a collaborative format. I just feel that I really need to rethink what I teach them; learning about tables of content and indexes just isn't enough; learning Internet safety and netiquette and the Big6 isn't enough, even at this young age. I feel like I have to take an entirely new approach next year, not throwing out the bath with the bath water, but I feel like I have to start from a different place.
After NECC and after finishing teaching a grad school class in July, I need some time to sort, sift, evaluate, process and create.
- I have over 1,000 items sitting in my Google Reader account that I haven't had time to read.
- I belong to 6 educational/technology/library nings that all have messages I need to catch up on.
- I am following 193 people on Twitter.
- I have 60 friends on Facebook
- I belong to the Google Certified Teachers Group
- I belong to 5 Diigo groups
- I subscribe to 5 professional library journals
- I subscribe to about a dozen other educational or tech ed magazines
- I belong to or own 60 wikis
- I have 4 different email accounts
- I am a member of Shelfari, LibraryThing, and GoodReads
- I am a member of Edutopia
- There's probably more groups, I just can't remember now...
- Then there is instant messaging, gmail chat, text messages on my cell, skype conferences...
So, I have to rely on the digest version...it needs to be in 140 characters or less, because that is how fast the information is exploding around me, it is dizzying, like being on a roller coaster - exciting, fast, breathless. Now, I'm not saying that I am overwhelmed, because honestly, I don't feel that way. It's more like I am grabbing tidbits of info that capture my interest and those tidbits have to be quick and to the point, like a tiny url, simply because there is so much of it!
Which leads me to the idea of information fluency, that is, how do I teach my students to be information fluent, when there is SO much information bombarding them (albeit, they don't feel bombarded, this is just the way it is to them)? How do I teach them to skim, sort, sift, evaluate, process, contribute? As an elementary teacher-librarian, I recognize that these 21st C skills are now the core of what I teach. Once a classroom teacher said to me, "Just read to them, dear." Can you feel me cringing? Anyway, what should their ILN (Information Learning Network - just coined that) be? How do I facilitate that for them? Besides the books and the electronic databases? Some projects that I have done with my 4th/5th graders have incorporated wikis where they could start networking their information. That's a start. Some of the classes are blogging. Next year, hopefully, we are going Google, and that will help them to share information in a collaborative format. I just feel that I really need to rethink what I teach them; learning about tables of content and indexes just isn't enough; learning Internet safety and netiquette and the Big6 isn't enough, even at this young age. I feel like I have to take an entirely new approach next year, not throwing out the bath with the bath water, but I feel like I have to start from a different place.
After NECC and after finishing teaching a grad school class in July, I need some time to sort, sift, evaluate, process and create.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Will Richardson @Herricks School District
Blogging live from our professional development day, so pardon the typos. Will Richardson is keynoting here. for our Superintendent's Conference Day. We are embarking on a year of technology in our district. Christine Southard is showing me Coveritlive, so, hopefully you will see that at the bottom of this post.
Will says that our classrooms look very different from what our world looks like right now. Kids and technology -- pointing to 25 Days to Make a Difference - a young girl who is using a blog, working her community. Laura, the 11-year-old, writes what her readers want to know about. So what is Laura learning? That she can engage with the world -- irony is, her blog is blocked at her school.
Students are hyper-connected. Their network is in the palm of their hand - text messaging. Our kids are starting to explore these networking technologies in interesting ways. They are taking advantage of this shift that is occurring on the web - 200,000 YouTube videos are uploaded everyday. 1.8 million blogposts, over 1 million flickr photos uploaded everyday.
He is referring to a 'tectonic shift' - one of those moments in history that we will look back at and say, "oh, my goodness, look at what happened"...like the invention of the printing press. The ramifications are tremendous, see Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. Schools are preparing students for a concrete world, rather than the world that will be. We don't even know what the top ten jobs will be in the coming years.
The easy ability to form groups is one of the main advantages of the technology we have. People who are passionate about something can easily get together. We can form groups around the things we believe in. This is a different model of politics, business and needs to be for education. Media is shifting - citizen journalists - CNN will buy your media. Online versions of news media is encourages you to interact.
New toy: Kindle- Amazon's wireless reading device. By the way, I believe that is on Oprah's Favorite Things list. Businesses are not about products any longer, they are about the conversations about their products. This is a huge shift. So, news, government, business is changing, reacting to these shifts. But EDUCATION is not shifting. We have to speed up. Upward to 80% of students have a Facebook or MySpace site. Gives an example of a student who died, and over 400 comments about grieving were posted on Facebook immediately. We block these things. We need to know about these things, but we filter and block these things because we are fearful. Most students know how to get around these things and can hack into them, anyway. We can't filter out the world to our kids; it is a very challenging moment in education. What do we spend our technology money on? What's here today is obselete tomorrow.
Will doesn't believe in the digital native/immigrant theory. The natives still need our help in using technology well. Learning is changing - with online environments and on the web. Will's blog only addresses how the technologies are changing teaching and learning. The comments to his blog posts reveal and teach a lot. Every person that comes to his blog is potentially a teacher. So different than students who have to come to your classroom. People come to his blog because they WANT to be there. This is about networks, that we can create networks around ideas and connections. Kids have already figured this out. FanFiction - just illustrates what kids are able to do if they are passionate about it. Reality is, administrators and principals will google prospective teachers.
Kids are learning Myspace and Facebook from each other. We need to be the ones to prepare them for their future- a more transparent world, expectation that when they get googled, good stuff will come up. We can't pretend this doesn't exist. We need to teach this in age-appropriate ways. This is the way the world operates now; it has to be taught even at the earliest ages. (OK, this made me feel good, because I am teaching information literacy, web evaluation, and media literacy to my elementary students.)
Students, through blogging, can learn they have a global voice while being guided by a teacher who is teaching them information literacy. Why aren't we teaching kids how to use iPhone in schools to access information? What is the potential for this device? Content is no longer scarce, we teach state capitols for the test - the way it was done years ago when access to information was limited. In a world where content is everywhere, we need to teach kids to find, vet and edit content; form groups with others who are passionate; and learn on their own. Content is not static any longer. Wikipedia is the most important site on the web right now...represents the collaborative construction of truth; negotiate and collaborate around the creation of content. Sarah Palin entry in Wikipedia was most updated entry. If we are not teaching Wikipedia, we are not teaching editable media. We can't teach reading and writing in the same context as we used to. We need to connect our students to the smartest people in the world - to larger, richer experiences -- and we now have the capabilities to do this. Our kids can do real work for a real audience, even in first grade - look at Radio Willoweb.
Challenge: Teachers have to realize that this is about us...getting our brains around the idea that the world is changing. The tools may change, but what won't go away is our ability to connect with others around the world any time we want to, about the things we are passionate about.
Will says that our classrooms look very different from what our world looks like right now. Kids and technology -- pointing to 25 Days to Make a Difference - a young girl who is using a blog, working her community. Laura, the 11-year-old, writes what her readers want to know about. So what is Laura learning? That she can engage with the world -- irony is, her blog is blocked at her school.
Students are hyper-connected. Their network is in the palm of their hand - text messaging. Our kids are starting to explore these networking technologies in interesting ways. They are taking advantage of this shift that is occurring on the web - 200,000 YouTube videos are uploaded everyday. 1.8 million blogposts, over 1 million flickr photos uploaded everyday.
He is referring to a 'tectonic shift' - one of those moments in history that we will look back at and say, "oh, my goodness, look at what happened"...like the invention of the printing press. The ramifications are tremendous, see Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky. Schools are preparing students for a concrete world, rather than the world that will be. We don't even know what the top ten jobs will be in the coming years.
The easy ability to form groups is one of the main advantages of the technology we have. People who are passionate about something can easily get together. We can form groups around the things we believe in. This is a different model of politics, business and needs to be for education. Media is shifting - citizen journalists - CNN will buy your media. Online versions of news media is encourages you to interact.
New toy: Kindle- Amazon's wireless reading device. By the way, I believe that is on Oprah's Favorite Things list. Businesses are not about products any longer, they are about the conversations about their products. This is a huge shift. So, news, government, business is changing, reacting to these shifts. But EDUCATION is not shifting. We have to speed up. Upward to 80% of students have a Facebook or MySpace site. Gives an example of a student who died, and over 400 comments about grieving were posted on Facebook immediately. We block these things. We need to know about these things, but we filter and block these things because we are fearful. Most students know how to get around these things and can hack into them, anyway. We can't filter out the world to our kids; it is a very challenging moment in education. What do we spend our technology money on? What's here today is obselete tomorrow.
Will doesn't believe in the digital native/immigrant theory. The natives still need our help in using technology well. Learning is changing - with online environments and on the web. Will's blog only addresses how the technologies are changing teaching and learning. The comments to his blog posts reveal and teach a lot. Every person that comes to his blog is potentially a teacher. So different than students who have to come to your classroom. People come to his blog because they WANT to be there. This is about networks, that we can create networks around ideas and connections. Kids have already figured this out. FanFiction - just illustrates what kids are able to do if they are passionate about it. Reality is, administrators and principals will google prospective teachers.
Kids are learning Myspace and Facebook from each other. We need to be the ones to prepare them for their future- a more transparent world, expectation that when they get googled, good stuff will come up. We can't pretend this doesn't exist. We need to teach this in age-appropriate ways. This is the way the world operates now; it has to be taught even at the earliest ages. (OK, this made me feel good, because I am teaching information literacy, web evaluation, and media literacy to my elementary students.)
Students, through blogging, can learn they have a global voice while being guided by a teacher who is teaching them information literacy. Why aren't we teaching kids how to use iPhone in schools to access information? What is the potential for this device? Content is no longer scarce, we teach state capitols for the test - the way it was done years ago when access to information was limited. In a world where content is everywhere, we need to teach kids to find, vet and edit content; form groups with others who are passionate; and learn on their own. Content is not static any longer. Wikipedia is the most important site on the web right now...represents the collaborative construction of truth; negotiate and collaborate around the creation of content. Sarah Palin entry in Wikipedia was most updated entry. If we are not teaching Wikipedia, we are not teaching editable media. We can't teach reading and writing in the same context as we used to. We need to connect our students to the smartest people in the world - to larger, richer experiences -- and we now have the capabilities to do this. Our kids can do real work for a real audience, even in first grade - look at Radio Willoweb.
Challenge: Teachers have to realize that this is about us...getting our brains around the idea that the world is changing. The tools may change, but what won't go away is our ability to connect with others around the world any time we want to, about the things we are passionate about.
Monday, March 17, 2008
ASSET 2008: Keynote - Rushton Hurley
Blogging live from ASSET 2008 in Huntington, NY. Rushton Hurley is the director of Next Vista For Learning. Having fun with clickers - getting audience statistics. Haha funny - 54 teachers clicked in that they've been teaching since the dawn of time. The fun of teaching: 11 people - no place in learning for fun! Themes -fun, technology, and testing. Where is the common ground?
If what we do is teach really well in front of class and they're not getting it, it may be more about reception, not broadcast.
Later: My session, Web 2.0: Beyond Razzle Dazzle, went very well. Audience very appreciative. I made many references to David Warlick and Will Richardson - thank goodness for these two!
If what we do is teach really well in front of class and they're not getting it, it may be more about reception, not broadcast.
- Sketchup - from Google - build a house - there are tutorials on how to do this. Can use with science -can put shadows on the house by time of year! Ask students, "why is this happening?"
- Google Earth - historical, geographical tie-ins that you can see visually.
- Video - incredibly powerful tool. Getting kids interested in doing a job just right.
- PicLens - make a photowall - can use it for a wordwall.
Later: My session, Web 2.0: Beyond Razzle Dazzle, went very well. Audience very appreciative. I made many references to David Warlick and Will Richardson - thank goodness for these two!
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