quicksilver

Thoughts on TED talks –Larry Lessing            April 14, 2009

It is interesting that his final point is that our children live their lives against the law…this is of course true to many extents.  Most notable downloading music , which virtually all teens do, is an infringement on the rights of the artists—this music is being stolen from them—used by the listener who did not pay for it.  The same is true with downloaded DVD movies in most cases.  It is a problem for artists, but it does seem like they are gradually coming around to some sort of compromise in this area.

Of course this is not the only area of living against the law—we all do it—how many of us obey the speed limit exactly?  Most of us try to keep our speed to a reasonable amount over the posted limit in order to avoid a ticket.  But we are still speeding.  Likewise, drinking and driving has become such a huge problem, but so many people still do it—and the consequences are dire.  In so many areas of life, though, we bend the rules, tell a little white lie, or interpret the law to our own situation.

The videos he showed were wonderful examples of the creativity that can be embraced if we are allowed to bend the rules just a bit.

We are in  a transition phase, and teachers need to be informed of the changes so that they can be effective.

Good point—how much of this is important creativity—how do we use it in the content areas to actually teach content?

How to properly cite sources?  We should not have to follow the old MLA format anymore.

Creative commons licenses seem like a perfect way to allow information to be shared in a variety of situations.  It allows an artist to make his or her own decisions about how your material can be used. this can be used by teachers too, who publish their work on the web.

Who is in my personal learning network?  How has it changed?  Why?

My personal learning network consists first of colleagues in my own work environment.  I am able to strengthen teaching relationships on a daily basis as I interact with my fellow teachers, administrators, and support staff in my school.  This of course, has always been my PLN, or at least a significant part of it. In our small and closely knit school, teachers have  an opportunity to interact on a regular basis and there is a spirit of collegiality among the staff.  I have been fortunate to be able to take a leadership role in the professional development planning and implementation in our school.  Several of us work closely to plan and implement most of the professional development days.

My PLN has changed during the course of this semester and during the past year, largely due to the utilization of internet resources such as Delicious, Twitter, and blogging.  I have had a delcicous account for about a year now and enjoy being able to network with other educators and like-minded people by following their delicious bookmarks.  It has become a useful search tool as well, since some of the best web sites have been previewed and tagged for me.  Twitter is new to me, but I am starting to find it more and more useful as part of my PLN.  I follow a number of media sites on Twitter as well as some educators like Steve Hagadorn and Daniel Warlick.  I also follow Discovery Education, The Teacher Page, and Teachers 2.0. Frequently these groups will tweet with an interesting url that has useful information for teachers.  Using Twitter has expanded my learning network.

I am also finding that the class blogs provide useful insight for me.  It is interesting to get the perspective of some young, fresh minds; those who are in the process of developing a teaching philosophy and who are native technology users.  I still find that using technology requires extra effort for me in some ways.  I am happy though, that my skills continue to improve, and more importantly, that I am gaining more confidence in this area.

There are times when all of this technology information seems like too much.  I tend to agree with the post “degree of difficulty” by David Jakes on the Tech and Learning blogsite ( I am not sure how to link to that for you!)   that was a recommended read for this class.  There are some fundamental skills that a good teacher has, and in general I abide by the mantra, ” they don’t care how much you know, they want to know how much you care!”   A good teacher will first and foremost have passion for the subject, the students and the job.  There are many many tools that can be used to enhance the learning experience, and technology is just one of them.  Granted, technology tools allow us greater access to information, to break down walls, and to allow the learner to learn anytime, anywhere, and increase the chances that student will take responsibility for their own learning.  Technology enhances the learning experience, but it is only a tool, and sometimes we have to take it one step at t time.  The important thing for me is to take that first step, and then the next and the next….

Bill Gates, the optimist. There were a number of interesting things that Bill Gates commented on, some of which I agree wih, and some of which I do not.  Having great teachers is a very important thing.  Agreed.  Good teachers need and deserve to be rewarded and we need to figure out a way to transfer the skill set that they possess to other teachers who are lacking.  Agreed. Put video cameras in the classrrooms  and watch teachers at work.  Disagree.  Smacks a bit too much of “Big Brother” for my tastes. However, there is indeed a problem with the current system of teacher advancement and pay increases that are based strictly on seniority and college credits.  The current system does encourage teachers to hang on for a few more years  until retirement, even if they have ceased to care or to do a good job. That is problematic, and the system of administrators observing teachers only once a year, with advance notice, is ludicrous indeed.  But how do we or can we determine who and what makes a good teacher?  First of all, there are all kinds of learners, and a good teacher for one is not necessarily  a good teacher for all.  In my own personal experience, I have heard kudos about a teacher from one student, and horror stories about the same teacher from another. Sometimes even good students will have very different opinions about the same teacher’s effectiveness.  The teaching and learning process is very personal, and there are too many variables involved to “standardize” teaching!  Bill Gates seemed to imply that the mark of a good teacher was rising test scores….but I think it is much more esoteric and there are myriad intangibles. It is a very hard thing to measure. I do agree however, that we do need to “get it right”– education is the single most important predictor of a healthy, productive life.

I enjoyed the humor in Sir Ken Robinson’s talk.  He is very funny, with that dry British wit.  I was moved by the story of the girl who couldn’t sit still who grew up to be one of the world’s premiere dancers and choreographers.  What an astute psychologist she had!  Rare indeed.  It would be interesting to see what might happen in our schools if we just got all the students outside to get some exercise every day.  With the epidemic in childhood obesity, it seems to me that physical education ought to be required of every student every school day!  Not that this enhances creativity, per se, but many students would be able to better concentrate if they had a chance to burn off some steam.  For older students, the endorphins generated would stabilize their moods a bit too.

Bill Strickland poses an inspiring and beautiful question–what would happen if we treated everyone with dignity and sent the positive message that everyone is capable of making a positive contribution?  His dream to build a facility to train underprivileged adults has come true and shows that everyone is truly a worthy cog in society’s wheel.  I do believe that most people want to succeed and will rise to a challenge and will not disappoint if given a fair opportunity.  I love ithe idea of beauty in the hallways, in the courtyard, in the classrooms and the dining room.  When you send the message of respect and honor, you get it back in return!

I have described my project in quite a bit of detail in an earlier post entitled “I’m not a Newbie Anymore”, but here you can find a brief screencast that elaborates on some of the details: project-screencast .

I still feel like I need to flesh out some of the details, as my project is not entirely clear to me yet.  I hope to finalize my plans in the next few days so that I can proceed with the work on my project.

Last week, I had the fabulous opportunity to attend the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) conference in Detroit with a dedicated  group of teaching colleagues.  I was fortunate to have attended this conference one year ago as well.  Last year, my head was spinning on the trip home.  My head was filled with new ideas and tools, but I was overwhelmed to say the least.  The conference was stimulating, but I felt like I did not know where to start.   It seemed like there was just SO much to know, and I didn’t understand so much of it, and I was a bit afraid to use it in front of my students. I am not sure that I had bought into the whole concept of technology being an essential tool either.

This year was different. Perhaps the best thing about the conference was that fact that I did not feel like a complete idiot every time I attended a session.  When the presenter asked for a show of hands and asked, ” who is familiar with this technology or that technology,” I found that most of the time I could raise my hand!  I was even able to teach of few of my neighbors in the sessions a thing or two now and then.  I know what Blabberize is and how to use it, I “tweet” many times a day on Twitter http://twitter.com/home,  I blog, I have a Wikispace http://hgross.wikispaces.com, I know how to use Jing http://www.jingproject.com/download/mac/ for a screenshot and a screencast, I use Googledocs, and have used it in my classroom for a student project, I have created a Google Presentation, I download videos from YouTube and TeacherTube, I use Zamzar to convert files, I save favorite websites on delicious and use it to network with other educators.  The list goes on and on. In my classroom, I am comfortable using my overhead LCD projector to show students digital media and to search sites for useful tutorials.  I am working to utiize my Wikispace and to train my students to consult it for the information they need, especially when they have missed a class. This perhaps is my biggest goal– to keep my Wiki up to date so that it really is a useful resource for my students.  Because we still do have some restrictions with access to computers and the speed of the network (slow) inhibits progress at school, I see the availability of the internet for student use at home as a great asset.  About 95% of my students have computers at home with high speed internet, so if I could persuade them to spend some time online with their assignments, the Wikispace would be a great asset. I would also like to start using a blog for my classes.  It would give students a safe way to share thoughts and ideas and questions.

Although this was primarily a technology conference, I came away with another “big idea”– that is to increase the use of Project Based Learning.  (This model is demonstrated in this ED483 class, actually!) I have been active in several community service oriented groups at our school– the National Honor Society, the Z Club, the newly formed Key Club, the Youth Advisory Committee http://NegauneeCommunityfoundation.org, and the Global Awareness Committee http://negauneeminers.wikispaces.com/GLOBAL+AWARENESS I would like to see more cross curricular projects and service learning incorporated into our school.  My goal is to get a grant to start a School Greenhouse and Garden project that would incorporate the Biology and Chemistry Curricula in some way. There are a number of ways that this project could be woven into other curricular areas.  The CAD class could help to design a greenhouse and to survey the land for a garden.  We would also integrate ideas about Nutrition and Economics as well as public speaking into the project. Students could petition the School Board and local agencies to support the project. There is a grassroots movement afoot http://realfoodchallenge.org to increase the amount of fresh, local food that is served in school cafeterias, and I would like to see this integrated as well.  Student groups could help to take responsibility for the greenhouse and garden in the summer months and the community and school could benefit from the fresh produce that is harvested.  If it cannot be utilized successfully at school, the food could be donated to local food pantries and shelters.

It was a great week, filled with new ideas and inspiration!

I have spent way too much time in front of my computer screen during the last two days….we had a snow day and I was cooped up in the house much of the day yesterday.  Today I read my mail, shopped online, and read many many blogs and twitter comments.  I am impressed with the general enthusiasm and depth that I observed in the blogs from this ED 483 class!  Although I am a veteran teacher, most of the ED483 students are preservice teachers, and it is wonderful to read their thoughts, concerns, and dreams.  Most of them have a wonderfully idealistic view of teaching and of teachers, and have a genuine desire to inspire our young people.  It is heartening for me to see that.  They know and understand the dedication that will be expected and indeed required of them as they enter this hallowed profession.

From the blogfeeds, I have enjoyed reading the posts by Will Robinson.  At first I thought he was in our class, and I was thinking to myself, “wow, this kid is good!”  He really has a deep understanding and has clearly spent much time soul searching and has attached real meaning to his education and use of technology.  Then I later realized that he was a “professional”.  Silly me.  Ms. Beauchamp won’t be surprised that I was naively misled–she knows me too well.  I am a “newbie” in technology, and she gets  quite a kick out of my technophobia.  But  I am really working to improve and learn–that is why I am in her class!  I know that I need to stay abreast of the new innovations.  Well, we are all learning that there is just SO much to learn about technology and the innovation and change, that we will never really be able to master it all, but my hope is that I can learn at least a few successful strategies that I can use consistently in my classroom in order to more effectively reach my students.

I listened to a really neat broadcast this morning on NPR–regarding the use of Twitter by journalists and politicians.  Daniel Schorr was a guest commentator with Scott Simon and they shared some of the uses of this piece of technology.  Daniel Schorr is a lifetime journalist, mind you, who began his career with a  phone line.  He worked for many years at CBS Television and radio, and now works for NPR. He is well into his 80’s–probably even 90. (I suppose I could Google him and find out exactly how old he is).  He thought that when he had graduated to television and now digital television that that was it.  Now he finds that he has to use the newest digital technology and “Twitter”!  Hey, if that old dog can learn these new tricks, I can too!

I am glad that I am committed to being a lifelong learner….

I like the idea that the teacher is the change agent  who empowers students to take control of their own learning.  However, change is slow to happen and I feel that most of our current students are not ready or willing to do that!  The high school students who enter my classroom do not have the skills or the know how to take charge of their own learning.  In a perfect world, where all students really were motivated to learn and learn deeply, it would be wonderful to have an online, more virtual classroom where students have  the  RESPONSIBLITY  and the ablilty to take control of their learning.

But we have a long way to go….  My experience in my Geometry class with the Chicago Series math book has shown that very few students will even take the time to read 2 or 3 pages in their textbook.  This text is designed to have students read and self teach  a bit of the surface material in each section before the teacher guides them through the more difficult material.  They have to read literally only 2 or 3 pages  in order to achieve this, but only  a handful of my 45 students will actually do this.  Few will attempt to glean the important information on their own. Sad, but true.    But  I won’t give up!  I will keep trying to get them to take that little bit of responsiblility .  I won’t spoon feed them!

I my chemistry classroom, I had an interesting experience the other day.  Our school has a set of laptops on a mobile cart for use in individual classroom.  I used them in my chemistry class so that students could research and solve  some problems.  Each stdent was given a different question to research.  They were encouraged to work together and help each other out.  No such thing as cheating.  They had to write a short piece and submit it to me electronically.  In this piece, they had to explain the decison making process that they used to solve the problem.  Each problem involved some real life facts and these facts were then combined into a chemistry problem.  For those of you who know about chemistry, these problems all dealt with the concept of the mole.  Some questions were, ” If you had a mole of jelly beans, how many times could you fill up the Empire State Building?  Or ” If you laid a mole of dollar bills end to end, how many times could you circle the sun?”  So students had to make some decisions–what type of jelly bean, how to approximate the volume of the Empire State building, etc.  I wanted them to  use some research skills and then show the actual problem solving strategy.  I was shocked to see how some students approached their problem.  Some actually googled the exact question!  They did not look up jelly beans, or the Empire State building or the distance around the sun.  They just googled the question!!  Now these are bright students, in the top third of their class.    This taught me a lot.  I know now that students need more guidance about how to do the research for all problems, not just these simple ones.  I can’t imagine how they approach the idea of a research paprer!  What a nightmare!

Teaching though, is a dynamic process, and I am grateful for the variety and constant challenge of that.  I am glad that I am attempting to use technology as a tool to reach students and I am eager to learn new strategies for effectively integrating it into a 21st century classroom!

As a veteran educator, I always try to be open to new ideas and strategies.  Sure, there are some lesson plans that get reused, but never without modification and improvement.  I am delving into the world of technology as best I can, trying to overcome obstacles, and always striving to find new ways to reach my students.

There were some interesting readings this week for the ED483 class.    I agree with the writer of the Using Web 2.0 article when she says that posting online involves a lot of TRUST. There is a certain risk to posting personal and student work on the web.  So many veteran teachers are used to autonomy and to privacy in their classroom teaching.  The old adage of ” close the door and do what you want” comes to mind.  With the Web, we are opening the door to virtually everyone, virtually!  Somewhat Scary!

The Web expoloration “10 best sites for student involvement” sucked me in.  I couldn’t resist taking the IQ test.  Afterwards, while wading through page after page of special offers, I felt like I knew my IQ:  STUPID!  That part of the site was very irritating.  It could still be fun for students though, as long as they are forewarned to avoid all the offers and read the instructions carefully!  It would be easy to get sucked into providing the info that would sign you up for all sorts of special offers.  I was happy to see that the top 2 tools were blogs and Wikis– seems like ED483 is right on track!

The MEA Voice magazine arrived this week and the cover story was about teaching the Digital Learner! The message I received from that article was to keep an open mind to the potential of new technology to teach students to think in more realistic ways about the plethora of problems that face society today. Technology is a tool to allow us to teach better–the key is still the teacher, though. Students today are very tech-savvy, but they don’t necessarily know how to use the internet to learn or to do good solid research.  Our job as teachers is to facilitate that learning.  Check out more at www.mea.org.

In my own classroom, I am about to try something very new– I have reserved the portable laptop lab to use with my students on Thursday.  They will be researching individual problems that involve questions about the mole–chemistry stuff–not about rodents! (see http://www.chemistry.co.nz/mole.htm).  It should be fun– they will have to investigate questions like ” If you had a mole of human beings and laid them end to end, how many times could they reach to the moon and back?”  ( by the way, a mole of humans would be 6.02 x 10 to the 23rd power.)  Students will have to show how they came up with their answer and calculations and also write a short piece that describes the decisions they made, since there are multiple approaches to the problem and answer.  Questions like:  Which humans?  Me?  My classmates?  The Average American?  How far is it to the moon?  From what point on earth do we measure?  Are we using the distance to the moon today at this hour or the average distance?  etc. etc.

It should be a fun assignment, and it is individualized, so each student is forced to work independently, but they can collaborate on ideas. It will stretch their research skills, but also force them to use their chemistry skills too! (I HOPE!) My students know about the importance of the mole, but this assignment is partly designed to show them just how big a mole really is!

One of my students’ favorite chemical holidays is “MOLE DAY”. We celebrate with breakfast starting at 6:02 am on  October 23rd ( 6:02 on 10/23).  We elect a mole day king and queen and the physics class always tries to sabotage our fun.  Usually they kidnap Avogadro, my little furry mole mascot and hold him for ransom. See http://www.moleday.org/ for more on National Mole Day!

Make your own mole mask:

I came into teaching by default…although I was always a good student and a lover of all things school.  My favorite playtime “game”  as a child was to “play school” with my younger sister.  I was always the teacher, she the student. Even in Middle School, my most frequent leisure time activity was to go to a neighboring friend’s house and do homework and study.  We’d make practice test for each other to prepare for upcoming tests, especially social studies and history tests. (What a geek I was!)  I considered becoming a teacher during high school in the late 1970’s.  But all the advice was– “DON’T DO IT!” The market was flooded with teachers after the 1960’s shortage and then glut.  ” You’re too smart to be a teacher,” etc. etc .  So since I love Math and Science, and would actually begin salivating when I dug into a difficult Math problem and felt elated when I solved it, I chose to go to engineering school….

Becoming a chemical engineer at the University of Michigan was a daunting challenge.  I enjoyed most of my studies, and my time in Ann Arbor was time well spent.  I have never worked harder nor experienced such intense academic competition.  However, after earning my degree, I married and returned to the Upper Peninsula.  Like today, in 1983, the economy was in recession and engineering jobs were few and far between in the UP.  Indeed Nationwide, we were entering a recession and many of my colleagues at U of M were electing to remain in school and obtain their Master’s Degrees to buy time until the job market improved.

Before getting married, I did realize that I might have to entertain thoughts of a different career path.  So I did some investigating at NMU.  I found that it would be relatively easy for me to obtain a teachig certificate: 2 semesters of coursework and 1 of student teaching.  There was a significant demand for Math and Science teachers, so NMU was eager to have me as a student and I was well on my way to a Master’s Degree in Education by the time I had my certificate, since I was able to take all of my Education courses at the Graduate Level.

As a teacher, I know that I have a passion for teaching, a belief that education is the single most important stepping stone to ” success, ” and  I have a fondness for working with young  people.  I believe that what we do as teachers makes a difference.  I look forward to each day at work. Loving what you do and knowing that it matters, that is what makes for happiness and success.  I believe that I have that in this career of ours!