The second exciting thing I want to talk about is the opportunity I had to attend the Saskatchewan IT Conference in Saskatoon this week.  I consider myself very lucky to get to attend and I came home with that familiar feeling of passion and excitement.  As I listened to Michael Wesch speak of opening up worlds to our students, posing questions, allowing and challenging them to be creative and do something about the things that are going on in the world, I couldn’t help but reflect back on my school year.  Have I really allowed my students to be in control of their own learning?  Have I challenged them with questions that take them beyond Google?  Have I opened my staff up to new thinking and supported them in ways that would allow them to change their traditional ideas about education?

I am not sure where this year has gone, but as it draws to a close, I hope I can feel confident that I have accomplished at least some of what I wanted to this year and look forward to handing more over to my students and my staff next year and taking my spot behind the stage and not on it.

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I don’t  know how many times I have posted my frustrations this year about my inability to motivate and encourage my staff to try to integrate more technology into the classrooms in this school.  I have tried a few things, but it took a presentation at a staff meeting that ended with feelings of frustration and anger to make me realize I had to change my techniques.  One of the things I have learned this year as a new administrator, and trust me there have been many, is that my passions are not necessarily other people’s passions. I needed to back up the bulldozer and realize that everyone is not in the same place and I need to respect that.

On the other hand I have had monumental success in the area lately! I decided to apply for a school division technology grant (TIP) this year and sent out an e-mail to see if anyone would be interested in joining me.  What was in it for them was a new Flip Video camera and digital still camera for each of their classrooms, the possibility of learning some new things about assessment in math, and some release time to do it.  I had 4 teachers jump on board and we had a great time.

http://www.edupics.com/en-

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Our questions were:

1.  Could we improve student engagement in math by using the cameras?

2.  Could we increase opportunities for teacher assessment through using the cameras?

3.  Could we increase opportunities for student assessment through using the cameras?

The answer was yes, yes and yes!

We had a lot of fun doing the project and we learned a lot.  It had the exact effect on everyone that I wanted and had a few extra effects that I  was hoping would happen and some that I did not anticipate…

• Other staff in the school were  wishing they would have jumped on board when they saw what we were doing
• We had the opportunity to share our learning with division staff
• Another teacher in the school wants to add some more technology into her teaching and has met with me and spent a half a day with the technology consultant discussing possible ways to do that
• One of the teachers that participated in the action research wants to present our learning at convention in the fall and has taken responsibility for that
• Three other teachers have agreed to jump on board with another action research grant project I have successfully applied to do in the fall

Wow! What else can I say!  Look what happened when I stopped talking and started walking!

How do I make sure I am confident enough to know how to help when students need guidance and suggestions on their journey to answer questions?  How do I make sure that I am pushing my thinking beyond the obvious so that I can help them stretch their thinking as well?

As I am looking at various inquiry based learning projects and resource guides for my ECI 834 course, I am still wondering if I am able to support my students quests even with the guides in front of me.

The process of inquiry seems simple enough:

• Ask questions
• Investigate solutions
• Create new knowledge as we investigate
• Discuss our discoveries
• Reflecting on new-found knowledge

The questions for me seems to be how to put theory into practice at this point.  I think inquiry is the way to prepare our students for today’s fast paced and fast changing world.  I also feel that they are so lucky to have so much information available to them instantaneously.  It is our job to guide them in using that information.  Inquiry based learning is not a passing phase and the reason I feel that way is because it  makes sense that students taking charge  of their learning and going beyond basic information gathering requires higher level thinking and who can argue with that.  This process is illustrated in the following short and simple video on inquiry based learning.

We spend a lot of time considering and wondering why many of us in education are having difficulty moving from our tried and true methods of teaching  to inquiry, student-based methods of learning.  Let’s face it though, we are not the only ones that struggle with the transition.  We have created learners that are used to being fed and some of them expect to get answers with very little work on their own.  It seems to me that to move toward inquiry learning will take a great deal of effort on the part of both teachers and students.

I don’t think anyone can argue the benefits of this style of learning for our students.  Research and our practical knowledge of learning tells us this would be the better way.  I see every day students sitting in classrooms not really engaged in some of the things they are doing because they are so far away from their personal experience and interests.   I have successfully applied for a Stirling McDowell grant for the next school year so that we can do a project on using web 2.0 tools in middle years social studies to try to improve student engagement.  We are very excited about this, but of course we know that the tools are only part of what we need to do.  We also need to move to the inquiry method of learning so that our students will be engaged in what they are doing and use the web 2.0 tools to help them investigate, create, discuss and reflect on new learning.

Perhaps the best way, as it is in most cases, is to just quit talking about it and jump in and do it!

“It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers.”
James Thurber

I have had a Kia Sedona van for a few years now.  I won’t even go into this weird trade in thing my father in law does in our family.  We rarely pick out our own vehicle.  He picks out a new one for himself and sells the old one to one of his children.  I know weird, but true!  Really that has nothing to do with why I hate it so much.

I did not start my relationship with hate…as a matter a fact I quite liked it when I got it.  This past winter, however, I thought the brakes felt a bit weird when I was coming home one night after picking my son up from hockey practice.  I went in the house and told my husband he would have to drive me to work the next morning, so that I could get the brakes looked at.  The next morning, my husband hopped in the van and went to back it over the our shop to pick up something and the wheel totally fell off the van!  Yes, you heard me correctly it fell right off and was laying on the ground.  Now even the old clunker I used to drive in university didn’t do that.

Now I could mention that I transported many children in the van only 2 days before.  I was bringing my own 11-year-old son home in the van, only one night before.  Not to mention the times I was coming and going on my own at 110 km.

Kia Canada felt that this was totally normal and since we did not purchase our tires from them, there was nothing that they would do.  That was helpful.

The story does not end there of course, because every time I feel a little shimmy or hear a little noise I am nervous about being near death.

Last Sunday I could all of a sudden feel the van bouncing up and down.  Every little bump on the road sent it into waves of motion, and trust me there are a lot of bumps on the road in Estevan, but that is a topic for another post.  As it turns out my shocks have gone as well as a front ball joint.

I have never driven a vehicle that had so many problems!  My last vehicle was a Toyota Avalon that I drove until it had over 250 000 km and  I never did anything but routine maintenance.  Well, I guess I know that means for me…Toyota here I come!  I only hope I can keep my wheels on until I get there.

Research tells us about differentiated instruction, multiple intelligences, student-centered and inquiry based learning.  We are all familiar with them in the context of our classrooms, but when you stop and think about it…how often do we use these techniques in teacher development in our schools or school divisions?   I spend a lot of time thinking about integration of technology and using web 2.0 tools with the students in our school.  I am not saying that I never think about how they can be used with teachers, because I do.  Most often I am trying to help teachers learn technology so that they can use it with their students, not really so they can use it for their own professional benefit.

I recently did a presentation of developing adults for one of my courses.  I tried to tie in some web 2.0 use for teacher development, but it was difficult to find research that had been done in this area.  In the May edition of Educational Leadership there is an article entitled, “Professional Learning 2.0″, that discusses the use of web 2.0 tools for teacher learning.  In the article they list 3 false assumptions about professional learning.

1.  Passing information is enough- we see this often when administrators are sent to conferences and then are expected to come back and share information with staffs usually in a condensed time session.  The staff is never given time to discuss or use the information.

2.  Insight must come from the outside- we like to think that we need to leave our buildings to find experts, when really we are often surrounded by them right where we are. Teachers can be empowered by sharing what they do well with others.

3.  Planning means learning- having a great plan does not mean that anything is learned.

The use of web 2.0 tools for collaboration and growth is inexpensive, readily available, probably takes less time and can be individualized for teacher’s needs. It is not the tools that are powerful, it is  the connections and conversations that turn information into usable knowledge. Isn’t that what we want as teachers?  We want to learn from each other and support each other in our quest to do what is best for our students.  One great example of this is classroom 2.0. There is a never ending variety of professional learning groups collaborating together as well as never ending professional development opportunities to choose from.

Web 2.0 is not only for our students to grow in their learning-we can do it too and who knows what we will learn!

Just for fun!

I was relieved to find out that I am an older gen X instead and that profile makes more sense to me.  Generation X is can be described as being  independent (me to a fault), resourceful and self-sufficient.  They can also be optimistic (always!), assertive, positive and friendly.  Take a look at this video featuring Karen McMullough and how she describes me…the generation X.

I had never given much thought to generations in the work place before except to consider the net  or Y generation.  I have to admit that they scare me a little with their can do attitude and self-confidence abounding.  This is the generation that has always, and continues to, grow up using all types of technology and being comfortable with it.  Not so very long ago I read the book, Grown-Up Digital, by Don Tapscott and I came away from the reading with what I thought was a new understanding of the net generation.  I started to realize the impact this generation was having on all aspects of our lives from economy to politics to global perspectives.  I also started to realize that we were boring the “growing up digital” generation in our classrooms, by not changing our pedagogy and “sage on the stage” ideas about teaching.

Those of you who know me, will know that I have taken it upon myself to encourage the staff in my school to integrate technology into their classrooms and teaching wherever it makes sense to do so.  I have met with some resistance from some teachers who feel that technology should only be used after everything else is taught. I can’t really decide if this attitude is generational or not.   I do know these teachers  do not see technology as a vehicle for knowledge, engagement, collaboration, thinking and creating.

I have spent a great deal of time reflecting about my leadership style and skills this year in my quest to improve myself and the way I come across to people.  One of the things that I learned was I can be impatient with people when they do not understand my passions.  I can get very passionate about technology and students!  How can I share this passion with others without coming across like a bulldozer and scaring people away or making them mad?

One of the best things that I did this year was get a few teachers on board with me to try to integrate some simple technology into math for assessment purposes, both teacher and student.  I did the leg work and applied for a grant and away we went.  I tried to keep extra teacher load down to a minimum and allowed everyone freedom, with support.

Wow!  We had such a good time doing the project together and grew closer as a staff team.  One of the best things that came out of it, was exactly what I was hoping for.  The teachers involved had a very positive experience.  I think we all did.  They told other teachers what we were up to and the great things about it.  The news spread and other teachers wished they had agreed to jump on board as well.  This had more effect on the staff then all of the presentations I have made at staff meetings all year.

I am already planning to do another technology project next year, this time focusing on web 2.0 tools in middle years social studies.  I am hoping that it will have the same effect and news will spread again.  Time will tell, but I am counting on it!

What is authentic learning anyway?

Research tells us that children, and adults for that matter, learn better by doing.  I think if we were to ask them, most students would tell us that they would rather learn by doing then just listening to the teacher.

I am always struggling with the idea of student engagement.  How do we get them engaged?  I listen to conversations all the time that involve the same few ideas:

1.  My students do not want to take responsibility for their own learning.

2. My students do not get their homework done, and if they do, it is sloppy and poorly completed.

3.  My students do not put any effort into their work and hand things in half done or completed with very little effort.

What I have to wonder is…

Could these problems all be solved or at least improved drastically if we were able to improve student engagement through authentic learning activities?

I have successfully applied for a grant to start in the fall.  My inquiry question is whether or not we can improve student engagement with middle years social studies by using web 2.0 tools.  I will have to get back to you on how that turns out.

I do know at this point that using the tools won’t be enough.  We will also need to make sure that we are planning  authentic learning activities and setting our students up with some rigorous questions that require more than a Google search to answer.

I am including a list of 10 ideas to consider when planning authentic learning activities in any domain.

1. Real-world relevance: Authentic activities match the real-world tasks of professionals in practice as nearly as possible. Learning rises to the level of authenticity when it asks students to work actively with abstract concepts, facts, and formulae inside a realistic—and highly social—context.
2. Ill-defined problem: Challenges cannot be solved easily by the application of an existing algorithm; instead, authentic activities are relatively undefined and open to multiple interpretations, requiring students to identify for themselves the tasks and subtasks needed to complete the major task.

3. Sustained investigation: Problems cannot be solved in a matter of minutes or even hours. Instead, authentic activities comprise complex tasks to be investigated by students over a sustained period of time, requiring significant investment of time and intellectual resources.
4. Multiple sources and perspectives: Learners are not given a list of resources. Authentic activities provide the opportunity for students to examine the task from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives, using a variety of resources, and requires students to distinguish relevant from irrelevant information in the process.
5. Collaboration: Success is not achievable by an individual learner working alone. Authentic activities make collaboration integral to the task, both within the course and in the real world.

6. Reflection (metacognition): Authentic activities enable learners to make choices and reflect on their learning, both individually and as a team or community.
7. Interdisciplinary perspective: Relevance is not confined to a single domain or subject matter specialization. Instead, authentic activities have consequences that extend beyond a particular discipline, encouraging students to adopt diverse roles and think in interdisciplinary terms.
8. Integrated assessment: Assessment is not merely summative in authentic activities but is woven seamlessly into the major task in a manner that reflects real-world evaluation processes.

9. Polished products: Conclusions are not merely exercises or substeps in preparation for something else. Authentic activities culminate in the creation of a whole product, valuable in its own right.
10. Multiple interpretations and outcomes: Rather than yielding a single correct answer obtained by the application of rules and procedures, authentic activities allow for diverse interpretations and competing solutions.

Authentic Learning for the 21 Century: An Overview, by Marilyn M. Lombardi, http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3009.pdf

As a learning support teacher, I spend time helping students one on one in tutorial type situations.  I find this very rewarding.  I do get frustrated at times when I am helping students complete long assignments without any connections to their worlds.  I am not sure what learning is taking place when they are not making any connection to what they are being asked to do.

At the same time, I feel nothing but hope for the progress we are making.  At times it may seem slow, but most teachers recognize a need for change and are moving toward those changes that are necessary for authentic, student driven learning.

The last few weeks have been insanely busy and I am so glad the long weekend has rolled around so I have time to actually get my feet on the ground and caught up with a few things.  I have been spending some time updating my blog and making some changes so that I can have my link posted for everyone in my new course, ECI 834, to see and read.

I am excited to be taking another on-line course because there is nothing that I would rather talk about than technology integration and authentic learning.

I am also excited to see some familiar faces in my class, as well as some new people for me to get to know.

Have a great long weekend everyone!

What new understanding of the role of educational technology to support learning have you gained, acted on, or perhaps strengthened?

I think before the class started that I was confused about what technology integration really is.  It is difficult to sort out the difference between doing things in the classroom that use technology or having technology available in the classroom and having real authentic learning activities integrating technology that are connected to curricular outcomes.  I think that it is all part of the growth in the pedagogy of teaching that is going on today.  Teachers are realizing that it is no longer good enough to fill our students with as much information as we can and hope that they will be able to spit it back to us  in the form of tests and assignments.  Now we are focusing more on our students and what they can show us. We want them to be responsible for their own learning and thinking and engaged in what they are doing.  Student centered learning, needs to be just that…student centered.

Marnie discussed in the Block 8 posting , the 5 things David Warlick thinks we should look for in  tech infused learning experiences. When reading his blog post, I couldn’t help but realize I now find it difficult to imagine student centered learning that does not involve technology integration.  The two ideas seem interchangeable to me.  Our students can now have such  broad audiences  for their learning and have opportunities to communicate and collaborate with other students around the world.  It is a different world that they live in, with so many more opportunities for growth and communication. I think one of the main steps I made in my thinking was to cross the threshold into how I could  meaningfully integrate technology.

I think taking this course has helped me act upon applying for two technology integration grants.  We are currently involved in school division action research grant, that involves the use of Flip video and digital still cameras and how they can affect student engagement and assessment in math.  I have applied for another research grant for next school year that involves using web 2.0 tools with social studies and how that might affect student engagement.  I would not have seen myself taking a leadership role in this area before the exposure to technology and internet tools that I have had during this course.  I have realized that I do not have to be an expert, and more importantly, I can figure anything out if I try.  I am also not afraid to learn with my students.  Some of the best learning experiences happen when we are busy learning things together.

What has had the most influence on your horizon of understanding?

I think that the collaboration with other people in this course and reading technology blogs has had the most influence on me.  I have enjoyed reading the blogs of other people in this course and it was very interesting to see that we are all dealing with the same types of successes and frustrations.  Sometimes it is easy to think that frustrating things only happen in your own little world.  That is not the case at all.  It was nice to be able to share successes and frustrations and be able to encourage and support each other.

I can’t seem to get enough time to read information being shared on technology blogs.  I have found countless ideas and tools that I have used or bookmarked to use in the future.  It is nice to stay abreast of what is happening in the educational technology world and have the opportunity to learn from others.  I now see the importance of collaborating and feel strongly that it is something that teachers should do more often.

What new question(s) emerged? Where do I go from here?

I think my biggest question is always, how do I encourage and support the teachers in my school to move forward with technology integration and see the connection between technology and student centered learning? It is not a new question for me… but it is a  big, important one.  I have moments when I think we are not making progress, like when I felt anger at a staff meeting after making a presentation about  technology integration. On the other hand,  I have had moments when I think we are making progress in this area.

Last week, I had a few minutes to walk about and see what was going on in   classrooms… I was pleasantly surprised. In one classroom the students were actively involved in a world water simulation activity.  The students were in groups representing different countries learning what it is like to have to ration water.  In the next classroom I stepped into,  the students were working on photo stories showing what they had learned about skip counting and multiplication  and in the next classroom, the students were all in groups on the floor, very actively involved in an input and output math game.

I know that these activities did not all involved technology integration, but for me that is what it is all about.  We integrate technology where it makes sense to do so.  What was exciting for me, was these students were all actively engaged in what they were doing and they were all learning.

Where do I go from here?

• I guess that I keep doing what I am doing.

• I need to take a step back sometimes and allow people to move at a different pace than me.

• I need to support teachers where they are in the LoTi framework and help them move forward from there.

• I think that it is important that I keep presenting ideas and opportunities that fit with curricular outcomes and that I keep offering whatever level of support is needed for each individual  to move forward.

Thank you to everyone who helped me on my journey this semester.  I appreciate all of your comments, support and feedback.  Good luck to everyone!

Children with asperger syndrome often have difficulty with reading social cues such as facial expressions, voice tone, sarcasm, etc.  They often do not deal well with changes in routine and have difficulty making and keeping friends.  They can also have difficulty planning for new situations such as moving from middle years to high school or thinking about what they would like to do in the future.

Learning support teachers, such as myself, are often struggling to find  the best way to  teach social skills.  The most common way is presented through social stories, but they can appear babyish and middle years students will often brush them off saying  they don’t need help, even if it is something they really struggle with.  I wondered if I could get them engaged with a blog site and use video and projects involving various tech tools to help them with social skills?

The other part of my idea was to try to involve my educational assistants with the blog.  I need them to be available to the students, but I like to promote as much independence as I can in my students, so I thought I could build in a professional development component to the blog site to keep them busy with something important and useful,  while the students were working.  They could be available, but not have to hover.

I didn’t really have long enough to fully try out my idea, but I really feel there is potential to it with a bit more development.  One of the things I was hoping to do was to get the boys doing more collaborating.  Not necessarily with each other, but with people of like interests.  For example, I have one student who is very artistic and who wants to pursue a career in that area.  I wanted to get him connected to other artists and have him collaborate with people who might not only share common interests, but might be able to provide him with some encouragement as well.  That will have to be part of phase 2 of the project.

I have just started the boys working on some individual projects using some tech tools.  Once those are finished and published, I hope the finished products will open up some opportunity for discussion.

Jeff Greenslade was my critical friend.  He did an awesome job of reviewing my site and gave me some excellent suggestions.  Jeff is a high school chemistry teacher and I am a k-8 learning support teacher, but it was a great opportunity to take a look a critical look at someone else’s world.  One of the suggestions Jeff gave, was to give the students an opportunity to take more ownership of the site.  Let them develop their own bios, add pictures etc.  This is also something I would really like to incorporate into phase 2.

The blog site seems to work well for educational assistant professional development.  I was able to find some videos for them to watch, but I would like to add to this portion of the site as well, and give them opportunity to collaborate with each other on the topics they are learning about.  Our educational assistants get very little professional development and I hope to be able to continue to tailor it to suit each individuals specific learning needs related to their assignments.

The blog site was never meant to be evaluated for student assessment, because it has been set up with individual programming goals in mind and not curricular outcomes.

I took the opportunity to ask my principal to look at my project and critically evaluate it from the eyes of another learning support teacher.  We work together with most of the learning support students that are using the site.  She really liked the idea and felt it might be an opportunity for some of these students to connect to social skills in a different manner.  She agreed that it can be difficult to get these students to engage in social skills training.  She also felt that the collaboration portion was lacking and would be an excellent thing to add to the project.  She liked to professional development portion and wanted me to encourage the educational assistants to access the site at other times in their schedules when they may have spare time for various reasons.

All in all I am very pleased with how my project turned out and I am glad that I spent the time organizing it and getting everyone started.  It was interesting to focus in my own area and find a way to incorporate my students rather than thinking that I could not do anything like this when I did not have a classroom. I want to thank everyone who helped me with this idea.  I can see many opportunities to expand my project and can’t wait to take it into phase 2.