teachwatts

Creating an ePortfolio with Word Press

2011-12-23T11:31:00.000+05:30

Building a Culture to Develop a Voice That Matters

2011-11-11T05:29:00.001+05:30

This post began as a comment. After reading Jabiz Raisdana's recent post titled "Building a Culture," I felt I had to say something. It turns out what I had to say was more than a comment. . .

I too have recently found the same reservations among teachers. In the past, have we taught teachers/individuals that their voice doesn't matter? In teaching the COETAIL courses for Buffalo State, I have heard the same questions regarding sharing; yet as educators, what we do each and every day is share although it is rarely for an audience larger than our classroom walls. Have we created a society in which we feel we don't matter? Angela Maiers addresses this in her TED Talk titled "You Matter." We matter. Not just because we are teachers. Not just because we are human beings. We matter because everyone has a voice. The power that one voice can have is incredible.

Yet, building a culture within our schools where educators and students feel like they matter will not happen overnight.

When teachers come to me with concerns about contributing to the noise, I tell them my motto is that I try to write/share/blog when I know that I have something that may save another human being time. As a past English teacher, I posted many of my lessons online. I didn't do this because I believed I was better than other English teachers. I did this to give others the gift of time. If I can save another teacher time and provide them with a lesson that allows them to spend more time with their family or explore a new passion, my act of sharing was well worth my time.

A huge part of our job as educators is to help our students find their voice. It starts off rocky, as do most things when we learn a new skill. But the more comfortable students and teachers become sharing their voices online, the clearer their voice will become. I want my students and teachers blogging, and I know that some of it will just add to the "noise", but through the noise, they will develop a sense that they matter and their voice matters.

Although at the end of the day, I often find myself far too busy to write and reflect on what I am doing as an educator. I know where and how to express my voice; yet, time continually plays a factor. As a tech integrator, we have truly amazing things we are working on and accomplishing at my school. Yet I haven't found the time to write about them because I am too busy implementing these changes and building this culture at our school. I feel a huge obligation to empower my teachers with the tools and skills that I have learned over the past few years. I want teachers to know that they matter and what they are doing in their classroom matters. Not just to me, not just to the students in that room, but to the students who are not fortunate enough to be in that room. That is why we must share.

So now comes the difficult task of practicing what we preach. Building a culture takes understanding, time and a willingness to share. What can you share today?

More Ideas for ePortfolios & WordPress

2011-10-12T18:55:00.000+05:30

I am constantly looking for new ways to have students embrace and take ownership for their learning through their use of ePortfolios. Call it a fetish, or a passion, but I can't stop thinking about it. So over the past few weeks, I have attempted to created the following things that may make the integration of ePortfolios a little more seamless in our school environment at AES.

Here are two examples of how it could look:

a two column version in WordPress theme Twenty Eleven
a three column version in the WordPress theme Raindrops

These are some of the goals I have in mind . . .

Goal #1: I would like for my students to begin to maintain their blog from grades 5-12. In order to do this, they will need space and organization for each year they are in school. They can create this by creating a parent page for each year they are in school: Year 6, Year 7 and so on and so forth. In addition, it is vital for students to begin to distinguish the difference between their online social presence (ie. Facebook) and their online academic presence (ie. ePortfolio). Students can create subpages for each subject area during their academic year. These subpages can be used as places of reflection where students can reflect on their learning each quarter or semester of an academic year.

Goal #2: The ePortfolio becomes the student's portal for everything school related. I am working on having our MS students create links from their blogs back to the main inks at the school such as the school home page, our email server, the library, our online grading portal, and other relevant sites related to the given curriculum. In addition, students can create generic links to the main subject areas they study each year (ie. math, science, Spanish, etc) and create a direct link to their teacher's blogs each year. In turn, their blog/ePortfolio becomes their main portal to the school. One stop shopping works for everyone. The school can then direct parents directly to their student's blog as their portal to things happening at school. This also allows parents to see what their child is presenting of themselves to the outside world. An extra set of eyes on a student's online presence is always welcome.

Goal #3: Students can begin to link their Google Calendars and the Google Calendars of their teachers to their blog/ePortfolio to serve as their online agenda.

Goal #4: Students can begin to link to something like Shelfari or GoodReads to showcase their independent reading outside of class. Again, this provides students an additional opportunity to begin to showcase their academic profile instead of their social profile online.

How are you using blogs/ePortfolios to enhance student learning at your school? I am all ears and somehow, I constantly find the time to learn as much as I can about this passion.

iPads and Family Math Night

2011-10-05T05:49:00.001+05:30

At AES I am constantly amazed at the creativity and quality of our Math department in the Middle School. A few weeks ago, the Middle School hosted a Family Math Night. Students arrived with their parents and explored the world of math in our Hall of Peace. The evening began with a group math lesson for all family members to participate in; the room was complete with math activities, Bamboo tablets, and interactive games for the whole family. Oh yeah, and then there were the iPads.

This year we are piloting a small iPad pilot in the Middle School. When I first heard the idea that we were going to do this, I was ready to run the other way. We already have an Assigned Laptop Program (a 1:1 at school) going which only began a few weeks ago. I wasn't ready for iPads on top of everything else. And do you know what? The Math department has pushed me ever so gently to roll those iPads out and they are working so well. This year the iPad use in the Math department has been extraordinary. So where else should we showcase the iPads than Family Math night? As a parent of a middle school student, I know that I occasionally need refreshers on some of my rusty math skills. Our goal was to put the iPads in the hands of parents and give them the opportunity to see that they were not toys, but devices that can help make learning fun.

It worked. The night hadn't even started yet when every iPad was in the hands of a family. They were gone before I had a chance to introduce myself and mention that the iPads needed to be kept at the table. The iPads literally ran away with the spoon. After a minor panic attack, I realized that the parents weren't going to run away with my precious new iPads, . . .they wanted to learn. The iPads were just a small piece of that wonderful evening. It was amazing to see so many parents and students learning together. It was standing room only, with families curled up in corners out in the hall learning together. It was a success. It had nothing to do with the iPads, and everything to do with the hard work of our Math department, but the iPads were definitely well received. Here are a few math apps if you are looking for ways to get started:

Bullying Never Ages

2011-09-29T06:21:00.001+05:30

I am full of rage and tired of hearing the same story time and time again. This morning I woke up to read about the bullying of Jamey Rodmeyer in my hometown of Williamsville, NY. I went on to read Liza's account of bullying while at Transit Middle on her blog post titled Williamsville, You aren't Better than Anywhere Else, and I am frustrated. After all of these years, nothing has changed.

The same thing happened to me many years ago while at Casey Middle School in the early 80's. I was bullied every day at school. It started with one person and grew from there. I admit I was painfully shy and easy to pick on. I was called "Dino the Dog" and barked at in the hallways when I walked from one room to another. I was given a dog collar for my birthday. The bullying ended only when I had the courage to fight back. I fought with my fists and whether that was right or wrong, it was the only thing that worked. My parents went to the school and spoke to the parents of the kids that bullied me, but nothing happened. I was alone and afraid. I don't know what made me survive. I can't tell you the amount of times I thought about committing suicide or hurting the ones that made me cry. I made it through, just like so many young teens continue to make it through bullying every day. I had a great experience in high school, but what happens to kids when the bullying doesn't end? Why do we, as a society, continue to let this happen? Is there nothing we can do? I know I was geeky and weird and strange during Middle School, who isn't? Did I deserve to be tormented more than the kids sitting next to me? No one deserves this kind of treatment, no matter what the cause, yet we continue to allow it to happen every day in our schools.

How do we change this constant battle in our schools? I am an educator in a Middle School and I still don't have all the answers. But this hurting has to stop. I am currently working with the guidance counselors in my school to help inform our parents about digital citizenship and cyberbullying. I am working with the head of our Humanities department to look at ways we can incorporate some of these same ideals into our social studies curriculum. But at the end of the day, the bullying will continue. It happens everywhere Williamsville. You are not alone, but that doesn't make it alright.

But the key is, bullying is NEVER OK.
The reason doesn't make it OK.
The place doesn't make it OK.
The circumstance doesn't make it OK.
. . . Parents make it OK.

Parents are the number one resource for stopping this behavior. If you see it in your home, CHANGE it. I have three children and they are far from perfect. But this is an issue that we talk about constantly. Not because I was bullied. Because it is my job as a parent is to constantly remind my kids the difference between right and wrong. Why do parents always need to be reminded of this fact? When I was growing up, my parents constantly reminded me of our family values. I continue to do the same to my children. Where are the parents of these kids that were chanting at the Homecoming game? Have they seen the same videos I have that are all over the news? Are they having these conversations with their children? The blame does not only lie in the shadows of the school, but a light needs to be shed on the lack of values we are instilling in our children.

I want my children to see that being different is OK and that the people who are different change the world. They are the people you want to surround yourself with and reach out to. The people who are different help you learn, inspire you to grow, and open up a world of possibilities you never knew existed. Why do we continue to live in a world where we are so afraid of people who are not like us? I am saddened that nothing has changed since 1981. I watched the superintendent talk on WGRZ news about Jamey's death. I know he has to say what the lawyers have told him to say to protect the district, but where is the outrage? Where is the saddness? I don't have any answers, just the same frustrations that I felt over 30 years ago - hopelessness. What will it take for this endless cycle of hurt to stop? My heart is with Tracy and Tim Rodemeyer. They are right. The issue of bullying is not getting any better.

How to Create a 1:1 Laptop Program without Spending a Dime

2011-09-12T04:32:00.000+05:30

flickr: pixelmama

Last year a 1:1 laptop program seemed like a distant dream at AES. This year it is almost a reality. It was just a few months ago at a technology meeting that the idea began to flourish that we had the chance to go 1:1 in our Middle School. It was a big replacement year for laptops and we had 140 new computers set to come in at the start of the school year. The difference is we didn't get rid of the old laptops, we kept them. Our older Dells have been bumped up with an extended battery to allow us the chance to see how a laptop program could work at AES without costing the school or parents additional funds. In addition, by keeping the older Dells, we have not compromised the amount of laptops already in circulation in the Middle School. We have called our pilot the Assigned Laptop Program for grade Six (ALPS). Here's a little summary of what we did and what we plan on doing.

Here's what we've done so far:

We're in the unique position of having our grade 6 Humanities department new to our school this year. The MS Technology facilitator (me) arrived at school the same week as the new hires to begin to train them on our plans and ideas for the roll-out.
Each 6th grade student was assigned an individual laptop to use for the academic school year. The computers are temporarily stored at the mini-labs at the end of the school hallways to charge until they are able to go home with them on a daily basis.
The Math department graciously allowed the technology department to come in and train the students on email (FirstClass), Skyward grade postings, Middle School share drives, saving work, and password confidentiality.
We worked extensively through the grade 6 Humanities Department through the lens of UBD to integrate the roll-out that was in-line with the Essential Questions and Standards and Benchmarks of the already existing unit within the curriculum.
So far students have begun to create a Digital Dossier, set up a WordPress blog, discussed the importance of their on-line digital footprint, and reviewed correct commenting procedures in an academic environment. The game Jeopardy helped play a role with a few aspects of this.
We have begun weekly help sessions for faculty on various methods of tools.
The grade 6 Science students have been trained in Presentation Zen techniques.

Here's what we hope to accomplish:

Create a culture of respect for the tools that are readily available to students today. We made the analogy that the computers were their children and that the care and upkeep of each computer was in the hands of the assigned student.
We hope to cut down on the amount of broken keys cracked screens and so forth that come with a laptop cart program.
By the end of the semester develop a sense of responsibility with our students that the laptops are in good hands to go back and forth between school and home.

cmw3_bumblebee1.jpg

But honestly, none of this matters unless the tools begin to influence and enhance the learning. To help this process along, my colleague, Stacy Stephens, and I are working together to integrate the technology into the existing curriculum and update existing methods of assessment. We just returned from Learning 2.011 conference in Shanghai where we shared a presentation on Technology and Curriculum: Working Together to Move Forward with other educators. School districts can pour fancy tech tools into schools, but until they are truly integrated into the curriculum to deepen meaning and learning for students, we are throwing money down the drain. Technology and Curriculum go hand and hand, just like pollen and a bee. The goal of the ALPS Program may look like we want to go 1:1 (which would be amazing); but at the end of the day, we want to affect the way students are learning and processing information to enable them to create and contribute something new to our world.

Right now, the biggest delta of the ALPS program is that students want to take the laptops home with them. To me, that is a good problem. Our goal is to make the desire of a laptop program grow organically within the community and give the voice of the program to the students not the technology department. But we also realize that one size does not always fit all. We are also piloting a small iPad pilot in the MS with 20 iPads. Our hope is to look at all the possibilities and present the school with a multitude of options before we ask our students, parents and teachers to commit to a more thorough program.

Which device will win? It is way too early to tell. Will our Assigned Laptop Program be successful? I certainly hope so. We are in the early stages, but so far, the students are completely blowing us away and the teachers are embracing the possibilities this program may bring to our school. By working together for one common goal, we can really get a lot done in a short period of time. . . it is only the 5th week of school.

Learner or Leader?

2011-09-10T07:15:00.000+05:30

Today was a day of conflicts. Who am I? As Isit here at the Learning 2.011 conference, who am I? Do I want to learn all that I can and soak in everymorsel? Or do I want to impartwhat I have learned to help those who are looking for ideas and searching for answers?

I don’t know the answer to this question. I struggled with it throughout the conference. At one point today there was a conflictof interest that I didn’t know what to do which spun me into a total conundrum. There were two workshops happening atthe same time: one on WordPress/ePortfolios and the second on GoogleApps. On one hand, I could haveeasily taken the easy road and showcased what I have learned using WordPress tocreate ePortfolios at two separate international schools. Or on the other hand, I could havechosen to learn more about Google Apps and share that with my teachers since weare in the process of implementing this program at AES. I chose the best way to help myteachers, even though I am passionate about ePortfolios. Sometimes you have to be the grown up in the sandbox. In that case I was.

Yet this afternoon, there was an unconference on COETAIL (which I start teaching at AES this Wednesday) and a workshop on apps for the iPad simutaneously running. The second time I chose the role of leader instead of learner. The choice really came down to what could have the largest impact on others. I chose to learn more about GoogleApps because I can show this to every teacher and student in my school. I then chose COETAIL because no other educational development has changed what I teach, how I teach and who I want to be when I grow up more than these 5 courses. This program changes not only the way teachers teach, but also how they learn. It will directly impact more students than anything else I know.

I find it hard to believe I am the only one who fluxuates between the role oflearner and leader at conference. Am I here to share or to learn? I am still working on that one, but I am enjoying every minute of it. Let me know if you have any solutions.

Taking Time for My Kids

2011-08-25T07:17:00.001+05:30

I haven't written in awhile. That is about to change, . . . quite a bit in fact. We have so much going on at AES (a 1:1 program, iPad pilot, and COETAIL just to name a few), and I need to write about it when I get a chance! But I didn't write all summer, at least not on my blog. I played. I played long and hard. And the best part is that is was with my kids. During the school year, I work long days and many, many nights. I find myself constantly pulled in many directions. But each summer, my kids help remind me what is important in life. They bring me back to reality and to the person I most want to be: a really good mom. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my career and the I am very happy with the choices I have made in my life. But in the summertime, I feel so fortunate to be able to donate every moment to my kids. As international teachers, we are so fortunate to have our summers to re-connect with our family and loved ones back home in the states. I spent my summer swimming, boating, kayaking, canoeing, eating crabs and reconnecting. I didn't write. I didn't work. I went on moonlight walks looking for fireflies, and sat around many a campfire with friends. After a summer full of sparklers and marshmallows, I am readyntent-Length: 33ges and new frontiers I plan to explore literally and figuratively. But for now, I just want to thank my kids for one of the best summers of my life. Thank you.

Trying to Write Again

2011-08-22T22:15:00.000+05:30

I haven’t written in awhile. How do you follow a post about a friend dying when it didn't turn out the way you had hoped? I have beentroubled on what to say next. There is a huge loss in my life but more importantly, there is a farmore profound absence in the lives of so many students at my old school. I have felt paralyzed to write.

Being among my fellow teachers has made me want to writeagain. I am not making any promises. Just please, don’t give up on me. I miss Karen more than you will everknow. She was a rock star when it came to teachers. If your child ever had her, you would know what I amsaying. Goodbye my friend, I waslucky to have you in my life. Youinspired me, and the world wasn’t ready to let you go.

To Anyone Who Hates Facebook

2011-05-08T09:25:00.002+05:30

I can't tell you the amount of countless conversations I have heard about the uselessness of Facebook. As someone who has a passion for technology and social media, it is hard to hear these conversations take place and not chime in. Today I am. Facebook brings people together and helps keep people together. As an educator living overseas and the wife of someone in the foreign service, we move a lot. In general, we move every 3 years to a new country. We start back at square one with friends, colleagues, and a new home. What we don't start new with is our network of friends. I now have friends in countries I honestly couldn't have found on a map only a few years ago.

This week, I have seen that network come together in a way that makes me cry every time I think about it. A good friend of mine has cancer. She is young. She is vivacious. She has a spirit that fills a room and makes you happy to be alive. She lives every moment to its fullest and she makes us all smile. Her love for life is simply amazing. She continues to inspire me. When her condition worsened this week, her friends from all different corners of the earth began writing to her on Facebook. Her friends have posted pictures and videos to inspire her. And her amazing husband has read every single one of our thoughts and prayers to her. We are all coming together to help her fight her battle with cancer. Years ago (before Facebook), I would have never known she had cancer. I may have received an email from a mutual friend. I may have received an occasional update. We easily could have lost touch. Facebook has changed that. My network of friends have banded together to constantly update one another and share our stories, pictures and moments with this wonderful woman and right now, it is working. I just received word that she is being moved out the the ICU unit. I don't know what the future holds for my dear friend, but I know she is in every one of our thoughts and prayers.

Thank you Facebook. Thank you for bringing us together and helping my friend. I believe in miracles. You are helping this one come true and it is simply the best Mother's Day present I could ever hope for. Thank you. And to all those naysayers out there, sorry, but there is nothing useless about this network. This is not a waste of my time. As we move further and further into this digital age, nothing matters more than the relationships we have with others. Facebook is far from useless in my life. It is helping to change peoples' lives. Facebook rocks!

Team Geek: AKA Computer Honor Society

2011-04-27T14:18:00.000+05:30

I am in the process of creating a club after school, Team Geek, for my technology gifted students, or anyone who would like to become technology gifted. The students will earn a silicone bracelet and a certificate after completing the club. I want to empower students to have the skills to solve simple tech problems that get in the way of learning in the classroom. "Team Geek to the rescue" is the motto and culture I hope to create next year in our Middle School as we slowly transition to a 1:1 school.

Below you can see some of the skills we hope to give the students. If there are more you can think of, please let me know!

Team Geek Skills (AKA: Computer Honor Society):

□   Basic operations on a SmartBoard
□   How to set-up a Document Camera
□   Connecting sound and speakers to a laptop
□   How to fix a frozen laptop
□   Basics of Microsoft Word
□   Log-on/Log-Off procedures
□   How to zoom onto a screen
□   How to download a YouTube video
□   How to download a song from iTunes onto a CD or flash drive
□   What to do when a disk won’t work
□   How to transfer files into a zipped folder
□   What to do when a SmartBoard is not active
□   What to do when the Network not responding
□   How to Connect to a wireless projector

□ Printers not working

□ Connecting to wireless

□ Maneuvering iTunes

□ Playing video files

□ Downloading video files

□ Various file conversions, what do they mean?

□ Sound problem (from laptop or from the speakers)

□ Projector issues

□   videos don't play
□   VHS tape or DVD does not work
□   Docking station issues
□   Software installation
□   DVD burning
□   converting video files into mp3

iPad Resources Up the Wazoo

2011-04-21T03:26:00.001+05:30

Next year at the American Embassy School, in New Delhi we are running an iPad pilot in the Elementary School, Middle School and High School. Each school will receive 20 iPads to use with our students. Will we get more in the future? That remains to be seen, but the more we share our resources and pool together what we know works for kids, the better off we'll be.

Below you will find a list of articles, blogs and wikis I have been reading and bookmarking on iPads that I think might be helpful for my fellow colleagues as we venture down this path:

A wiki that breaks down appropriate apps per grade level

Everything you could ever want to know about an iPad

A list of apps and resources for administrators

A list of the top 200 Education apps

Apps for writing

iPad apps to love

iPad apps specifically for MS

Web 2.0's list of amazing resources

Great resource for iPad ideas in the classroom

Another amazing list of resources

Great resource for iPads-the Victorian Government iPads for Learning portal

The hottest apps according to ADE (Apple Distinguished Educators)

Apps listed by age group

If you know of some more great resources, please feel free to list them here. After all, if we can't help one another, why are we in education to begin with?

A Future Letter Teachers Would Like Receive

2011-04-17T11:09:00.000+05:30

April 17, 2025

Dear teacher,

Here is a little note of thanks for being my teacher. Yes, you taught me about English. Yes I learned about writing a thesis statement, the elements of a short story, the structure of a play. But at the end of the day you taught me about life. You taught me I could make a difference. You showed me you cared. You taught me to believe in myself and forget about the voices of doubt that surrounded me. Because of you, I made choices that may not have been easy, but they challenged me and allowed me to grow and learn. You taught me to never stop learning and to be the best version of myself that I could be.

Thank you for believing in me.

Your student

Essential Skills for Today's 21st Century Learner?!?

2011-04-16T21:38:00.000+05:30

Today I began the 2nd last class of my 2nd master's degree. There has to be a better way to say it, although I haven't figure it out yet. Is it a second Master's, or a post graduate degree? Does anyone care, not really, except maybe me. My grandfather once told me that girls couldn't be doctors. I am still out to prove him wrong. We'll see if I ever make it.

So our first question posed today was to compare the classroom when I first began to teach to my classroom now. What has changed, and what has stayed the same? You tell me, but here it is what my group came up with:

When I first started teaching (1994)	Teaching today (2011)
3 ring binder	USB
Chalkboard	Whiteboard
Card catalogue	Online database
Parent/teacher conference	Student led conference
Notebook paper	Paperless classrooms
Cassette tapes	DVDs
Overhead projectors	IWBs and Document cameras
desktop	laptop
portfolios	eportfolios
syllabus	class website
Row seating	Group seating
Standardized testing	MAP testing: question led
Classroom set of books	ebooks
Rote memory	Creative and critical analysis
Teacher edition	Online fact checkers
Little parent involvement	Constant contact
memos	email
Rigid teaching plans	Open ended learning plans

Then we were asked what we thought 21^st Century Learners should become. I did what I always do and went to my gurus for guidance, my old school - ISB, Bloom's and ISTE. Here's what I found:

Effective Learners
Students use appropriate tools to efficiently gather, critically evaluate, and effectively use information to make informed decisions when solving problems.

Effective Communicators

Students use appropriate media to effectively communicate ideas, knowledge, and understanding to audiences ranging from local to global.

Effective Creators

Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using appropriate technology.

Effective Collaborators
Students connect with peers and recognized experts to collaborate, develop their own understanding, contribute to the learning of others, and contribute to the global society using a variety of media and online communities.

Ethical Citizens
Students practice legal and ethical behavior with an understanding of cultural and societal issues related to technology and information.

Bloom's New Revised Taxonomy for Learning:

And these are the ISTE NETs Standards:

1. Creativity and Innovation

2. Communication and Collaboration

3. Research and Information Fluency

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making

5. Digital Citizenship

6. Technology Operations and Concepts

And here is what we came up with as a group:

What is the necessary knowledge and skills needed for a successful global economy?

• Students who read, write, and compute proficiently find and use resources, frame and solve problems with other people, continually learn new technologies and occupations, reach levels of skill and competence, and support just and civil society that helps maintain our democratic life.

After a great discussion, we listed the following essential 21 Century Knowledge and Skills as a class, and were asked which ones we consciously planned for and taught last week?

Adaptability/flexibility

Digital literacy

Innovative thinking

Initiative

Effective communication

Reasoning & decision making

Personal well being skills

Collaboration

Cross cultural

Balancing emotional/physical/social

Curiosity/creativity

Empathy

Life/career skills

Global awareness

Interpersonal skills

Personal/social responsibility

Problem solving

Productivity

Accountability

Financial literacy

Environmental responsibility

Discerning skills

Humility

Humanities 8	Academic Support/Study Skills
Innovative thinking	Effective communication
Discerning skills	Adaptability/flexibility
Collaboration	Personal well being skills
Cross cultural	Initiative
Curiosity/creativity	Balancing emotional/physical/social
Global awareness	Life/career skills
Accountability	Interpersonal skills
Environmental responsibility	Personal/social responsibility
	Problem solving
	Productivity
	Accountability
	Humility
	Reasoning & decision making

But are any of these really new?

I normally consider my Humanities 8 class quite tech heavy; yet, this week as we study Dystopian literature and terrorism around the world, I feel as if the less tech-heavy subjects of Academic Support and Study Skills focused on 21st Century skills far more than what I had expected. I was surprised at this revelation. That's where I think we might be going at all of this the wrong way. When you hear the terms "21st Century Skills" you think technology, but at the end of the day, what we are really striving for is better, ethical citizens that will help to make the world a better place. Sure we can use technology to make those things happen, and teach those lessons, but this week truly focused on being a good human being. If that isn't a 21st Century Skill, I'm not sure I want to see the what might come next. The dystopian literature must be rubbing off on me.

The Drama of Girls

2011-04-16T07:00:00.000+05:30

No matter how hard I try to teach young girls to be confident, healthy people, I am constantly amazed how things never change. This week at school, I watched two lovely girls get pulled into a drama that was completely manipulated by outside forces. Why do mean girls exist? How do they constantly seem to have power in every school, every country I have taught in? Why do we, as a society, let them rise to power? I don't see the same issues with men. Maybe that explains the inner tomboy within myself, but seriously, boys don't gossip. They don't whisper. They say what they think to your face and move on. The drama of women has always bothered me. I know I will receive some backlash for that one. . . , but I hate conflict and the older I get, the more I try to avoid it. Does this avoidance come from inner peace and confidence within ourselves? Why can't I figure out how to teach this to young women? I try every day, believe me I try, but I can't seem to figure it out.

When boys aren't confident, they act goofy. Their adrenaline pours out of them and they become silent or boisterous. When girls aren't confident, we find the weakest link and attack - we move our insecurity onto someone even less confident so we feel better about ourselves. WHY? Where do we learn that if I talk about how fat or skinny someone else is, it will take the focus off of me? I just don't get it. I don't think I ever got it in middle school because I was the lowest man on the totem pole. I didn't get it in high school because they finally stopped talking about me and moved on to someone else. I was so happy to finally have friends, I didn't want to talk about anyone else. All I wanted was to get to know everything about my new friends and share stories from my life with them.

When I am with new friends now, we talk about ideas, places, food, and shared common interests. I love meeting people that can teach me something new. I stay away from the drama queens who stir up trouble. How do I teach girls to do the same? How will I teach my own daughter how to avoid the mean girls? How do I teach young women to help one another rise to greatness without stomping on others? My daughter is only 6 and I already see the toxic girls that feed on that negative energy. I don't have any answers, but I am all ears if anyone has a way we can stop it. We need to celebrate one another and help other women rise, not tear them down. Help me figure out a way to make this happen.

Unplugged in the Ganges Part Two

2011-04-16T06:27:00.002+05:30

http://www.trekearth.com

Small reflections from a week in the Ganges. . . Day Two

The drive along the foothills of the Himalayas was possibly one of the most harrowing drives I have had in my lifetime. Let me remind you that I have lived and driven in Bangkok and New Delhi, and I am married to someone most sane people won't get into a car with. Our 49k drive took us approximately 2 hours from our campsite up to our drop-in point in Devprayag. The drive encompassed twists and turns along the Himalayas on a basic single lane highway on six coach bus filled with teenagers, 120 teenagers to be exact. A bus tire blew (which sounds like a small explosion). Dynamite periodically went off to widen the road. The near misses by cars attempting to pass us were far too many to count. Yet the sites outside the window were breathtaking for all the right reasons.

The drop-in point for rafting in Devprayag is considered a holy place for devout Hindis. The name comes from the word Devaprayaga to describe the merging of two heavenly rivers. When we arrived, I was amazed at the duality of life that surrounded me. Here I was one an adventure of a lifetime with 120 eighth grade students and about 20 chaperones spread out into 3 groups to learn safety on the Ganges. I was supposed to be paying attention how to survive the rapids. I wasn't. Smack in the middle of our three groups was an elderly woman with a spiritual leader filled with henna in his hair. He was performing a ritual for the dead, and I watched as he seemed unaware by the chaos of the students all around him as he placed a small coconut tied with a simple red string in the water. This woman was saying goodbye to someone in her life as we were about to embark on our adventure down the Ganges. It was such an intimate moment, I couldn't understand why didn't they wait 15 minutes until we were all gone.

After we boarded our boats and left the city of Devprayag, I was constantly reminded of that moment. Throughout the day, rapid after rapid I watched that coconut travel down the river. One side of life in contrast to the life and spirit of the students I watched playing and learning on the water. We were on the same journey, the same path, and the coconut served as a constant reminder throughout the day of just how precious life can be.

Today I saw India in ways that I had given up on India. I haven't has an easy time moving to India to be perfectly honest. I miss my old friends and have trouble calling India my home. Today I saw a side to India that was beautiful, peaceful and untouched. On a Week Without Walls trip, educators like to take students out of their comfort zones and stretch them just a little bit. Sometimes it works for the teachers as well. Maybe the Ganges finally allowed me to merge the past with the present and begin to accept my new home.

For more reflections about Week Without Walls:
Unplugged on the Ganges Day One
Week Without Walls Done Right: Service and Safari in South Africa

Photo credit: singhajaykr25 from morguefile.com

Unplugged in the Ganges Part One

2011-04-15T07:00:00.004+05:30

http://www.morguefile.com by mconnors

Hiking through northern India with a group of Grade 8 students may sound daunting to some. If you are an international teacher, it is a perk of the job (at least in my world). It began with a bus ride to the train station, followed by a train ride to Haridwar and additional bus ride along the banks of the Ganges to our tents at Snow Leopard along the roaring river.

I swam in the Ganges. I didn't think I would ever really say that. It was cold, really, really ice cold and I'm used to Lake Erie and Lake Ontario cold, but it was worth it. But here's the thing. . . walking and hiking through the mountains and villages reminded me of why I came overseas in the first place. I hiked to this quaint little village outside our camp and it was clean with smiling children and friendly faces everywhere. These are not sites I see everyday living in Delhi. The buildings looked meticiously cared for with healthy and clean yards. And the gardens were beyond words, carefully sculpted along the mountainside. The colors reflected the sunlight and the shadows of our students danced along the tips of the wheat grass. It reminded me of the glittering sun on the ocean.

Then we hiked down a stream. I took each step carefully. Having an old leg injury makes me extra cautious, but living in India has taught me to be even more careful where I step. As I carefully placed each step, I realized how effortlessly my students walked along the path enjoying the beauty that surrounded them. As we get older, how many moments do we lose because we are protecting ourselves from getting hurt or because we are afraid we will step into something we weren't expecting? With age, do we lose our chance of seeing shadows dance across the wheat grass because we have learned to be afraid?

When we reached the stream, I looked down and saw some of the most colorful river rocks I have ever seen (my screen saver is actually a poor version of what I witnessed). I realized maybe I needed to do a better job balancing the looking down and looking around in my life. The unexpected opens up doors to learning.

I learn so much from these experiences; this is the second school that has awarded me with a week without walls. I have traveled and learned more about my students and myself on each of these occasions. Unplug and see what you might be missing, even if it is just for a day. I know I need to do this more often.

For more reflections about Week Without Walls:

Unplugged on the Ganges Day One

Week Without Walls Done Right: Service and Safari in South Africa

Why Isn't Compassion a Benchmark?

2011-03-13T08:18:00.001+05:30

As I watch the tragic events happening in Japan as we speak, my heart goes out to the families affected by these events. I feel so utterly helpless as I watch, read, and search for the truth online.

As news of the earthquake trickled in Friday afternoon, one of my Japanese students walked by me in the hallway stunned. She looked shell shocked. She was hearing rumors and half truths every step of the way from her locker to my classroom.

I immediately scratched my lesson plan. I gave her my computer and let her sit at my desk. I told her should could go anywhere, ask anything; she had complete freedom to find out what was happening. She went to her email, to Facebook, to news stations broadcasting in Japanese. She called her family. She cried. We watched as one of our friends processed the horrifying events happening in her country. Throughout the class, students sat by her side and held her hand. One of my students made a crass joke about surfing. The students quickly spoke to him about empathy. He quickly learned how out of line his comment was.

Dylan's belts from below

I don't know where these lessons exist when we talk about standards and benchmarks in education. But at the end of the day, understanding that the world is small and we are all in this together is a benchmark that is measured at times like this. If we can't teach compassion, we are doing an injustice to the next generation.

What Tickles Your Mind?

2011-03-02T06:50:00.001+05:30

"His ideas tickled ideas of my own"-David Warlick in reference to Stephen Heppell

I am always amazing when I attend conferences. There are always the naysayers and the optimists. Some folks seem to be bored or under impressed by the musing of others and some become inspired. I think it all boils down to who you were in college. I am not sure that I ever sat in a class where I didn't learn something. On the plane ride home from the 21st Century Learning Conference, I thought about all the ways I could be inspired by the conference and then I started to write. I have pages of notes that I am still going through over a week later. Here's what I now know . . .

Really good bloggers are no different in person than the one they show you online. I met Jabiz, Ann, Neil and David and realized they were just as insightful in real life as they are on my RSS feed.
Old friendships can pick up exactly where they left off with Gary and Rob
My new tech team for next year: David, Gary, Greg, Phil, Ruichira, and Stacy (from curriculum) shares a similar vision and hope for our school; we are going to be able to accomplished some amazing things together
People have a great way of bring others together to make dreams happen, thank you Todd
I met some great people from other schools and countries. I sincerely hope we don't lose touch: Sean and Chet
Some schools are doing some really amazing things such as King George the Fifth (KGV) in Hong Kong. They reintroduced me to the power of Moodle and shared their successes and failures in a 1:1.
I still love Hong Kong. It's beauty even despite the rain will always be so memorable.
It is OK to ask others for help. I am no longer afraid to go up to someone and ask them questions about something I want to learn
I no longer feel like an outsider peeking in at the people I wanted to be, I am becoming one. You can change who you want to be when you grow up, even when you are over 40.
I still have so very much to learn and so many more connections to make, but that the ones I do have are invaluable.
Lastly, I learned that we no longer need to say goodbye. Educators are forming connected learning communities all around the world. We are all connected and it continues to grow.

People don't always have something new to say,
they don't always have an insightful moment,

but let your mind go and see where someone else's thoughts may lead you.

Thank you everyone for another amazing opportunity to learn and grow.

A Little Lesson About the Value of Love

2011-02-13T09:58:00.001+05:30

I am a sucker for holidays. I have been since a child. I think it is because it a chance to do something special, try something new, express yourself in a new way. I don't know, but I love them. So in keeping with my love of holidays, I have just scratched my lesson plans for tomorrow and plan to talk a little about love.

I am currently teaching grade 8 Humanities, and if you know anything about middle school students, they will be all over the change of plans. Romance is on their minds. I begin every class I teach with a poem; it takes less than 5 minutes and always helps set the tone for my classroom. My students have come to really enjoy my "poem of the day" and sometimes I have no idea what I will read to them until moments before class. I chose poems the same way I get dressed in the morning. It depends on what mood I am in, and then I chose my outfit. Same with the poem I read. Sometimes it reflects my mood, a political situation happening in the world, a holiday, or a unit we are about to study. Last week I read a poem by Emily Dickinson, and my students loved it. I then read a few more and promised them a special Dickinson poem for Valentine's Day. I told them the poem helped me tell my husband how I really felt about him when we first started dating. They have asked me about it every day since then.

The poem is "If You Were Coming in the Fall" by Emily Dickinson, and every student I have ever taught knows my story about this poem. I use it to begin every poetry unit I have ever taught. I begin by telling my students that poetry is a way to tell someone how you feel when the words are too difficult to say. I talk about how so many poets were considered radicals during their time, and compare them to the best song writers of today. Then I tell them my little story. My husband was my best friend for over 6 years before I developed any sort of romantic interest in him. Finally one New Year's Eve, we kissed and I knew at that moment I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I flew back to graduate school the next day and didn't know what to say. He was my best friend. I had spent years telling him everything about my life. I was bursting at the seams to say so many things but couldn't tell him. I was afraid of losing the friendship we had built over the years. This was way before the days of text messaging or email, so I sent him the first few lines of the poem on a postcard. I don't think I even signed it. I thought if he was truly interested in what I was thinking, he would try to find the poem, and know it was from me. A little less than a week later, the next stanza of the poem came on a postcard back to me. I sent him the next stanza, and the final stanza was returned to me a few days later. We have been together ever since.

So tomorrow, in lieu of Valentine's Day, I will start my class with a poem and that story. Then I will share a multitude of poems about love. Love for family, love of self, love of life, love of friendship. We will talk about what really matters when it comes to our own hearts, and then I will give them a chance to explore. They will have time to look for a poem that speaks to them. Their homework will be to share one poem with someone special in their lives. And honestly, if that isn't Humanities, I'm not sure what is. When we teach, too often we feel so committed to the content, that we take the heart out of what we teach. I became an English teacher because I love words. Tomorrow, I hope I can share that with my students.

Reverse Instruction of a Thesis Statement

2011-02-10T12:14:00.001+05:30

So here it goes, another year, another discussion about thesis development with my students. I know I am supposed to care about correct thesis development. The thesis statement guides the paper. It is the anchor. Wonk, wonk, wonk. I am tired of hearing myself talk about it. So I'm not going to anymore. I decided to reverse the way I teach how to write thesis statement, and have the students show me how to write it. Yes, I got paid that day, but really, the students did all the work. We began by looking at their main focus question for the major Grade 8 Project they are currently working on. It is titled the Population Project and every grade 8 student at AES partakes in this semester long look at how the rising population of India is affecting the world around us.

I decided to reverse the way I teach how to write thesis statement, and have the students show me how. Yes, I got paid that day, but really, the students did all the work. We began by looking at their main focus question that for the major Grade 8 Project they are currently working on. It is titled the Population Project and every grade 8 student at AES partakes in this semester long look at how the rising population of India is affecting the world around us.

I began my lesson by asking my students the definition of a thesis statement. Empty faces looked at me, although we covered this less than two months ago when we did research about Totalitarian leadership throughout history. Then I gave them a challenge: "Who can find me the best definition of a thesis statement?" Prior to this year, I have spent the majority of my career teaching high school, one thing my middle school students have taught me this year is that they love a challenge. They raced around the internet, yelling out great ways to search for definitions and educational websites to sound more academic. They had about 10 minutes to find the best definition then write it on the white board. Within those 10 minutes, my students read endless definitions of a thesis statement, then cognitively made a decision on which definition made the most sense to them. Once they were all written on the board, we collectively voted on the strongest definitions. The top three definitions were voted upon and the search began again to find the best example of a thesis statement in a research paper they could find. We then preceded to pick apart thesis statements from 20 different research papers and looked at the characteristics of a multitude of statements.

How much prep time did this take me, almost none. What did my kids learn? The students walked away with a stronger sense of ownership of their learning than I could have given them in my lecture of the old days. Reverse instruction: read more about it, try it and give your students a chance to own their learning. Have ideas on how to implement it in your lesson? Please feel free to share it with others. The potential is endless. . .

GoogleDocs, Socratic Seminar, Animal Farm and a Blog

2011-01-17T19:18:00.000+05:30

Today in class my students had a Socratic seminar on Animal Farm in Grade 8 Humanities. I began the class by having students write their questions for the seminar on mini-white boards and then I asked for two volunteers that would rather type than write. I quickly created a GoogleDoc for the two typist to record the conversation. I told them their main objective was to write down the questions and try to summarize the responses. Then for homework, the students were asked to do the following:

Using the notes from our Socratic seminar on Animal Farm, respond to one of the following questions from Animal Farm on your blog.

Why did Orwell set the farm in England (assuming that it wasn’t just because he was British)? What was he trying to say by doing that?
Does Orwell truly believe that all communist revolutions are doomed to the fate of Animal farm or is this a comment only on Soviet Communism?
What responsibility did the non-pig animals bear for the failings of Animal Farm? Were they innocent victims?
What is the value of owning the means of production? Is it only an economic value?
How could education have made a difference to the animals? Who would have benefited from educating the people?
Is Orwell saying that societies always form social classes, or is he just talking about this one situation?
Given that we live in a predominantly capitalist, post industrial revolution society, does this story have any relevance to what we do here and now in America?
If having an aristocracy rule is bad, and having a “dictatorship of the proletariat” is bad, what other ways of organizing a society could we try?

This opportunity allowed my quieter students to participate in the discussion by posing their questions but also recording the conversations they heard around them. By having two students work as the recorders, we received twice as much information from the recorders. This also allowed one of my ESL students a great opportunity to shine. She typed away and wrote far more than the other student that was recording.

In the past, my ESL students have been intimidated when it comes to Socratic seminars. Today, this student had a chance to shine and contribute to the entire class. Tonight the students will review the notes from class and respond on their blogs. I know I will use these strategies with other novels in the future. The possibilities are endless.

When We Learn How to Drive, We Don't Start With a Porche

2010-11-26T19:03:00.000+05:30

Recently I overheard someone say that students don't need laptops at school because the majority of students have access to a computer at home. I wonder what would happen if a corporation told that to their employees, "I'm sorry, you will not be receiving a computer at work because you have must have one at home." At your job, can you imagine life without a computer? In this day and age, why do we ask our students to do it every day at school? I brought this up at a recent technology meeting, and I was told that we are already "technically" almost 1:1. When I asked for specifics, I found out that we currently have 300 computers for the 330 Middle School students in our school.

Seriously? We only need 30 more computers to make this happen?

This sounds like a no-brainer. Why is it that when we look at going 1:1, we are trapped by thinking that we need to go out and purchase all new computers? Tech departments need to move away from the philosophy of control and move toward the philosophy of support and collaboration. Here is my plan for AES to go 1:1 next year:

We currently have 160 laptops that are listed for replacement next year. My vote is that we bring in the new 160 laptops, but hold onto the original 160 laptops and use those as our pilot laptops for Grade 6. If by some chance the laptop gets lost, stolen, or mishandled, we will have a back-up in place and it will be virtually no loss in our budget. Our tech support already has all of the know-how to continue to support the old laptops so no additional training is needed. Instead of using the valuable time of our technicians to roll the laptop carts to the appropriate classroom each period, we can begin to utilize these technicians for real support of our technology. Think about it. When we first learn to drive a car, we don't start with a Porche. If your teenage years were anything like mine, I had a handful of fender-benders in the first year of driving. We learn how to drive in our mom's beat up station wagon, the minivan of the 1980s.

Years later, I can confidently say that I spent the last four years driving in Thailand without hitting a thing (my husband maybe another story). We learn how to drive with something that can handle a few bumps and bruises along the way. Once we master the skill of driving, we save for our first new car and slowly work our way up to our dream car, which chances are, is no longer the Porche (my current favorite is a Mini Cooper). The technology that surrounds our students is changing everyday. As a school, I don't think we need to decide on the perfect computer, because in the next month or two there will be something even better. Let's start with the old station wagon and then decide what we really want and need as consumers.

The way I see it, we have an amazing opportunity starring us in the face. I am not sure if our community is ready for 1:1, but the students are. If you don't believe me, read some of their thoughts here, here, and here. As adults we are scared of what we don't know. Our students are waiting for us to catch up.

Keeping Students in the Center

2010-11-18T14:24:00.000+05:30

I have recently started working on a book that explores my thoughts and views about the value of technology in today's classroom. Well like anything, if you mention to someone that you have started to write a book, the first thing they will ask you is "What is it about?" I didn't know how to answer that question so I turned to Wordle. I know it isn't new, and it has been around for awhile, but before now, I had never used it for my own writing. I am pleasantly surprised with what came back from my search.

Students are at the heart of everything I am writing about in my book. And at the end of the day, shouldn't students be at the heart of everything we are talking about when it comes to education? If it isn't about the students, why are we wasting time on it?

I don't know about you, but as an educator, I have spent countless hours in meetings that have nothing to do with my students. It is time we started to put students back where they belong, everything else should revolve around them. If the school you are teaching for doesn't put the students first, you are probably at the wrong place. A few months ago I had a meeting with my principal at AES. I sat in my classroom and waited, and waited, and started to worry because she was running uncharacteristically late. After about 20 minutes she came to my room and told me she needed tissues, and not just a few. She went on to explain that on her way to my classroom, she ran into a student crying in the hallway. She immediately stopped everything else in her busy day to put the needs of that student first. So my word to the wise for all my friends that are currently recruiting, make sure the schools you are looking at place the students first. Does yours?

When Schools Can't Keep Up

2010-11-16T08:16:00.001+05:30

I am frustrated once again at the lack of our schools being able to keep up with the needs of our students. Last quarter my student created these amazing videos using CyberLink to connect their learning about Industrialization to modern day issues in society. They were amazing. A few of them brought tears to my eyes. Can I show them to you? No, the school won't allow it. By the time they figure out and decide on a platform to showcase student work without using youtube, my students will no longer care what you think about their work. If we want learning to be meaningful and authentic to our students, we need it to be at the moment the student needs it, not when the adults catch up.

Case in point number two: my students have all recently created blogs. In another world, I would help them turn them into ePortfolios in the drop of a hat and take ownership of their learning. A recent homework assignment asked my students to "Pimp"their blogs with widgets and gadgets to personalize their learning. My inbox on FirstClass was cluttered with frustrated students that attempted to add these items to their WordPress blogs, only to be blocked by the structure we have set up at the school. I can send them each individually to the tech department and they will check the code and then upload each individual widget in a few days. I am certain that not one of my students will do this.

The learning has to happen in the moment our students are asking it to happen. What are we so afraid of as a society that we are putting up blocks to their learning? How do we change the culture of schools that are afraid of what the students may discover on their own? I am all ears if you have any suggestions.

One2One Tech: Is It Time?

2010-11-02T15:22:00.001+05:30

I was recently asked to attend an exploratory meeting to look at going one2one at the American Embassy School in New Delhi. I am still flabbergasted that the question is still being bounced around within our school systems today.

When you go home, do you share your computer with your spouse? Do you share your cell phone with your partner? If we expect students to have a laptop when they go off to college, how is high school any different? How many of you are connected right now to more than one device? As institutions of academia, isn't it our responsibility to level the playing field? Our students deserve to have the same opportunities as the student sitting directly next to them whether they are at school or at home in their rooms. When I start a new novel, I make sure every single one of my students has the same edition of say, Jane Eyre. I don't provide them with 10 different copies of Jane Eyre and hope they can find the correct page when we are looking at the text. Yet we do this to students every day in our schools.

Here is an assignment, now go home and use whatever computer system you happen to have at your house and complete your homework. That system may be a Mac or PC; it may be a new computer and someone's parent has it decked out with all the latest bells and whistles, or it may be a computer the student has to share with two younger brothers and sisters. How is this fair? It is our job as educators to level the playing field. We are living in a digital world, the time for one2one is now.

Fun Ways to Have Students Pimp Their Blog

2010-10-22T15:45:00.000+05:30

I am looking for good ideas to get my middle schoolers to feel more ownership of their blogs for school. One good way is to have students personalize their blog with images, sights and sounds that showcase them as individuals. Here is something I am starting to put together for my students next week. Please feel free to add your suggestions to my comments or copy and paste for your students to use!

Fun ways to pimp your blog:

Add a ClustrMap to see the amount of visitors and their location to your blog
Link to other things within your posts (if you are talking about imperialism, why not link it to wikipedia’s info page?)
Create a bucket list of things you hope to accomplish this year in school, or in your life, or while in India, etc.
Create interesting titles for your posts that are catchy
Create must lists and share them with your readers (101 things you must know about high school)
Link to past blogs, wikis, etc. that you have created online
Add/Edit the about page - include your first name (no last name) and a brief bio about you, your passions, hobbies, sports and the point of your blog. You may want to add your email address at school so other students can contact you.
Go to blogthings.com and download the widget for goofing off online quizzes that may create some repeat visitors to your site
Look at cool ideas from widgetbox.com
Add a cool video from youtube
Go to myitunes.com and add the widget to play tunes from your account
Link to a cause you believe in
Include a link to your teacher and your school
Include a link to the netvibes site that houses your classmates’ blogs
Include photos and images with your posts
Go to mixpod.com and download an iPod that will play a selection of tunes on your blog as readers browse your work

Sustaining ePortfolios Through Transition

2010-09-19T19:31:00.001+05:30

The final leg of my research on ePortfolios for my post-graduate degree involves looking at the "Motivating Factors that Lead Toward ePortfolio Sustainability in High School Students During Periods of Transition." My research proposal for my EDF 689 course at Buffalo State has been accepted, and now I begin the final stage of gathering my research. I have created the following survey for my past students at the International School of Bangkok to take regarding their feelings, habits and attitudes toward ePortfolios as they transition into a new school year with new instructors.
If you have a minute, feel free to look it over and give me your suggestions. What would you like to know about Motivating Factors that Lead to Sustaining ePortfolios Through Transition? I really want to know. My survey can be found here:Click here to take the ePortfolio survey

Allowing Time to Find One's Voice

2010-09-10T00:23:00.002+05:30

Photo by Ignas KuKenys

Point blank, I didn't want to leave Thailand. I was the one that lobbied for India when I heard we had to move, but I didn't want to leave Bangkok. You know when you are at that moment when you know you are on the verge of something really good and you feel like you have everything in place to make it happen and all of a sudden the whole plan changes? Well, it did and I wasn't happy about it.

When you move, you don't just get a new house. It entails new jobs, new friends, new places to find groceries, new furniture, new everything. When you are overseas, add in a new country, new culture, new religion, new nuances in gestures, new language, . . . the list is never ending. Let me put it to you this way-I just figured out how to call my own home from work and I have been here for 3 weeks. There is one way to call if I am on my compound, one way to call if I am on my cell phone, and one way to call from an outside line. But of course we all know that, right?

So here I am in a new job, new school, new division, basically teaching a grade that I have never taught before. Yet in the back of my head I keep hearing "Where's your voice?" Yet, how do I find my voice when I am not even sure what I want to say?

I sat through parent teacher night last week and listened to my children's teachers say that my kids are still quiet in class as they acclimate to their new world. How can I blame them? I sit in meetings afraid to speak. What do I know? How do I know what the other people know in this room? What if I step on someone else's toes? Last week, instead of concentrating on the agenda of a meeting, I spent the entire time trying to memorize the names of my fellow colleagues. Who am I to criticize my own children for taking their time before they jump right in? I can't do it myself.

But in every transition, there comes a turning point when you take a deep breath and think, "It's time, jump in." It generally doesn't happen Day One. And I'd venture to say it doesn't happen Week One either. But when it does, it is freeing. When you feel free to say what you think and be who you are, it opens so many doors. And at the end of the day, isn't that our ultimate goal as teachers? We need the freedom to be able to be patient and wait for each student to find that right moment when they finally decide they are ready to knock our socks off. As educators, we need to allow students the room to find their voice and give them the confidence to speak when they are ready, not when a particular standard or benchmark tells us they should be ready.

Maybe being a student is similar to being at a new job. We need to allow students time to watch, time to absorb, time to process, and ultimately time to find their own voice. Someone shared the following saying with me today and gave me the courage to find my voice again.

photo by Dennis Cross

"Sometimes

our light goes out

but it is blown again

into a flame by an encounter

with another human being

Each of us owes our deepest thanks

to those who have rekindled

this inner light."

-Albert Schweitzer

As the new school year begins, let's become the flame that rekindles that light in a child.

New Beginnings in Delhi

2010-08-29T12:36:00.001+05:30

I have just left Thailand and my amazing job at International School of Bangkok to move to Delhi to another incredible job at the American Embassy School. I am filled with more questions than answers.

How do I transfer what I was doing with my students in Bangkok to my new students in Delhi? It was relatively easy to help high school students see value in an eportfolio when they already have college applications on the brain. But now I am teaching middle school. These students aren't thinking about the future yet. They are in the middle of that dreaded time in our lives when we try to fit in and figure out who we are as our bodies and hormones change by the minute. How do I convince them that their online presence should focus on academics instead of their social life? I certainly didn't care when I was their age. I spent most of my time trying not to be noticed and hiding behind a book.

Where do I begin in a school that I have only just begun to know? Whenever you begin something new, it helps to have a network of colleagues that have a similar vision. How do I know who these people are? Will I step on someone's toes? Make enemies? Come across as a know-it-all when I really feel like I still have so much to learn? Will my interests in technology change now that I am teaching a different age of students? Will my passion slowly die as I spend all my time learning a new curriculum and grade level?

So there goes my rambling of way too many questions, but didn't Socrates say "The unexamined life isn't worth living?" I have never been one to stay in one place for very long because with each new adventure comes new challenges and new opportunities to learn. I am just uncertain of where my new path will lead me, but I am excited to find out.

The Voice They Would Rather Hear: ePortfolio Profiles and Advice From the Mouths of my Students

2010-06-08T06:56:00.003+05:30

Below you will find the ePortfolio Profile questionnaire my grade 9 and 10 students recently filled out on one another. They looked at 2-4 ePortfolios by other students in our class. Below (in red) you will find a random listing of of their responses. Try it with your students and see what they say:

1. Name of ePortfolio author:
2. What is the first thing you notice when you pull up their ePortfolio?
3. List one word you would use to describe this student:
4. Does this student seem to be interested in learning?
5. Based on the ePortfolio, if you were to guess, what grades do you think this student earns in school?
6. Does this student have any outside activities that they are involved with? What? List them.
7. Name two things you enjoyed about this ePortfolio:
8. Name one thing you would like to see more of on this ePortfolio:
9. Does this student give too much information about themselves?

Cool design
Huge Shelfari Library
you have HTML codes in your post
need more widgets
you have only included what was suggested in class, show me something unique about yourself
check your grammar
calming and professional
interesting current events
you have no activities but love to read
big picture in header-I love it
you are obviously interested in current events all over the world
since you are ESL, post work from other subjects to showcase your strengths
have you seriously only read one book?
who are you outside of school?
your blog is very bland, you are not, fix it now
love the twitter headliner
you seem very opinionated
your blog is dark, you are not
it was nice to read a different point of view toward America
You make me want to know more
you gave me ideas on things to include on my own ePortfolio
I can tell you are passionate about music
you seem intriguing
you may want to include pictures and illustrations to break up all of your text
you seem so serious, are you having any fun at school?
I love your tag line "my views, my world" I need a better one now
you misspelled your title
your blog looks like you
you misspelled learning, hello!
you don't seem centered, your blog lacks direction
time was obviously spent on the aesthetics behind your blog
I had no idea you were so creative
you have posted too many essays, show that you have a life
add more categories-you are only showing schoolwork, what about all of your community service?
get rid of some of your games, you appear childish
you seem like your theme-blank and boring
your bookshelf is irritating and destroys the mood of your blog, fix it
if you use a dark color as a background, make sure we can see your font
you tell me nothing about yourself
great creative writing
you like badminton, who knew?
I love your fan counter
I can tell you really like school
you are like a jewelry box, I keep finding new treasures
you may want to update your blog
even your titles are creative
I am surprised we picked the same layout, maybe we are more alike than I thought

As a parent and a teacher, I know that these comments meant a lot more to my students when they knew they were from their peers instead of coming from me. Try it with your students and see how they can help one another create a stronger presence on the web. Show them how their digital footprint can make a difference.

Sustaining ePortfolios Through Transition

2010-05-10T14:59:00.002+05:30

I have been quiet lately, yet my silence has been for a reason. I always tell my students that sometimes what you don't say is just as important as what you do say. I have spent the last two months listening, reading and thinking. I have listened to my students and their needs from their ePortfolios, I have read pages upon pages of research about ePortfolios, and I have thought. I am in the unique position of finally feeling as if I am in a good place with all of my students and their ePortfolios. I feel as if I have everything in place to make them shine and now it is all coming to an end.

I have been teaching at the International School of Bangkok and I have less than 4 weeks left. I am finishing a second Master's Degree and all of my research revolves around ePortfolios. How was I going to do a research paper on something I no longer had any control over? My husband's job is transferring us to New Delhi, India. In two months I will be at a new school, with new colleagues, new classes, and new infrastructures in place. It was less than 36 hours before my proposal was due and as I continued to read, the questions came to me:

Would my students continue with their ePortfolios after all the time and effort we had given them when I was no longer there?

What motivating factors contribute to ownership of an ePortfolio where it no longer matters if a teacher is or isn't a proponent of ePortfolios?

The answers were right before my eyes. I would watch my students and track their process on their ePortfolios as they transition from one class, grade, school, teacher to another. Since life is taking me out of the equation, I will watch and see what happens from afar. Isn't that essentially what we are all striving for when we look at the effect of ePortfolios? How do we get students to buy-in to the process so that ePortfolios are not another thing teachers have to manage, but a part of what they do on their own? We'll see what happens over the next few months from afar. . .

Educational Research I Want to Read

2010-03-26T10:32:00.001+05:30

I am currently sitting in a graduate course titled: EDF 689 Methods and Teaching of Educational Research offered by SUNY College at Buffalo in Bangkok, Thailand. I am one course away from a second Master's degree which I am fairly excited about. That being said, I personally hate doing research. But I feel pretty passionate about ePortfolios and I am attempting to practice what I preach to my students everyday:

Always find a way to make your learning personal.

So since I already know what I plan to do, here are my ideas for everyone else thinking about doing research:

Look at the attitudes of parents to technology in the classroom-what role does technology play in their lives (i.e. Do they blog, Facebook, Twitter?) What are they really so afraid of?
What technology tools are teachers finding the most useful/least useful in their classrooms?
What is the correlation of GPA scores for college freshman compared to students that were full IB diploma candidates?
What are the real attitudes and perceptions of parents, teachers and students about homework? Look at HS, MS and ES.
Do teachers that give more homework more or less effective teachers?
How does class size relate to learning?
How does the educational background of the teacher correlate to student achievement?
Are international schools more technologically advanced than stateside schools?
How can technology or curriculum coaches be better utilized during the school day?
What independent reading programs are working at different grade levels?

What are you passionate about? Is there any research to back up your beliefs? Become the research educators rely on to prove we know what we are talking about when it comes to educating the future.

Looking an Your ePortfolio Profile

2010-03-26T04:10:00.001+05:30

The next step to transferring your blog into an ePortfolio is looking at other ePortfolios and seeing how others view your online presence. Go to netvibes.com and click on your class section (i.e. 10/6=ENG 10, period 6). Read a minimum of 5 ePortfolios from our class and complete at least 2 questionnaires below for your fellow classmates.

ePortfolio Profile

1. Name of ePortfolio author:

2. What is the first thing you notice when you pull up their ePortfolio:

3. List one word you would use to describe this student:

4. Does the student seem to be interested in learning? YES / NO

5. Based on the ePortfolio, if you were to guess, what grades do you think this student earns in school?

A+ / A / A- / B+ / B / B- / C+ / C / C- / D+ / D / D- / F

6. Does this student have any outside activities that they are involved with? What? List them?

7. Name two things you enjoyed about this ePortfolio:

       1.

       2.

8. Name one thing you would like to see more of on this ePortfolio:

9. Does this student give too much information about themselves: (i.e. phone number, address, hangouts, etc.)?         YES / NO

Next Steps to Creating Your ePortfolio

2010-03-25T08:34:00.003+05:30

After my high school students created tags and categories for their ePortfolios, their next steps were to:

Add one Widget that represents something about their personal interests
Update Shelfari with the latest novels they have read and are currently reading (each student had previously created a Shelfari widget for their ePortfolio)
Add a minimum of two links (maybe one to your Week Without Walls blog) that represents some of their interests
Add an “About me” page that showcases something about who they are as a student and member of society. They were told not include their complete name, address, phone number, or picture.

Once each student goes through this process, we will begin to look at one another's ePortfolio profile to analyze and access how each student is perceived digitally by their peers (my next post).

Students begin to feel empowered as digital citizens when they control their personalized learning environment. So far, only about 60% of my grade 10 students understand the possibilities available to them by using an ePortfolio to showcase their learning. They are far more concerned with their status update on Facebook. This is my attempt to change how they view the web and how they are seen by the outside world. We'll see what happens next . . .

Creating an ePortfolio out of a Blog: Directions for Students

2010-03-22T04:30:00.001+05:30

First Steps to Create an Eportfolio from Your Blog

Step One:

Log in to your blog and go to your dashboard
Post any recent papers /update your blog with your newest learning (for example: the Literary Analysis Essay and the Research Paper from MWH and English 10)

Step Two:

Go to the Edit page on your dashboard
Go through your entries and label your posts correctly with Tags and Categories

What is a Tag?

Known names
One, two or at the most three words
Tags can be categories
Tags help search engines find you
Posts = as many tags as you want
Tags help visitors once they get to your site
Work like interactive yellow pages for the web

What is a Category?

Unique names
Long wordy names
Categories can not be tags
Categories do not help search engines find info
Posts=1-4 categories
Categories help visitors find you on the web
Reflect the Nature of Your Site

Now go to your dashboard and begin to add new Categories. Your categories should might include School Subjects and After School Activities that you are currently involved in such as:

English
Modern World History
Modern Languages
Art
Music (formal and informal)
Math
Science
Drama
Photography
Community Service
Sports
Interests
Travel/Week Without Walls
Think about how you spend your free time

And then your next step: add a Category widget to your sidebar and possibly label it: Subjects/Areas of Study/etc.

Stay tuned for what to do next . . .

Turning WordPress into an ePortfolio

2010-03-20T19:37:00.001+05:30

A portfolio is not built in a day. It is a collaboration of a body of work over a period of time. An ePortfolio works the same way.  As a teacher, we can't say, "Today class, we are creating portfolios." The students will all look at you as if you have three heads.

An ePortfolio has to be built up over time.  With students in the driver's seat of their presence on the web, we allow students to control their digital footprint, and utilize the power of web 2.0 to showcase their strengths to a specific audience: the world. This year, my HS English students have begun their first steps (and mine) at using ePortfolios to represent their online profile as lifelong learners by using WordPress as their storage. Although I have looked at a multitude of different options to house their portfolios, such as Google sites and Moodle tools, I am still a firm believer in starting with a blog for a number of reasons.

One: a blog is transportable. I teach at an International School where my students are transient. I have 9 new students sitting in my class that were not there in December. I need to provide my students with a tool that they can take with them to not just other schools, but other countries and region of the world. If their ePortfolio is housed in Moodle on our school server, it will stay there.   With WordPress, students can take their blog with them, not just when they move but when they begin university and life in the real world as well.

Two: a blog allows students to edit. You know what I am talking about. How many times have you posted something and then realized you made a mistake. Maybe it was a colossal mistake (accidentally writing something that is taken the wrong way by a reader) or a minor one (a spelling error), but we have all made them in our lives. A blog allows the writer the freedom to go back and edit at any stage in the game. Not only that, it allows writers to control when an item was published. (This is my little trick that I may have used in the past when I was taking a few graduate courses and didn't want it to look as if I had completed 3 blog posts in one day.) In GoogleSites, anytime you edit a document, the document is "posted" as your most recent item. If a tenth grade student decides they would like to go back and edit something from 7th grade, do they really want their 7th grade Humanities report on Geography listed as their most recent learning? WordPress allows them control.

Three: WordPress makes sense. It is easy to navigate. It allows a multitude of Widgets, control of your header, lots of freedom with the HTML code, and comment moderation.   And it is compatible with a multitude of other web 2.0 services on the web like YouTube and Flickr.

So this brings me to this week in my classroom. My students have been using WordPress this year to host their blogs. Now, 6 months later, we are ready to begin transferring their blogs into ePortfolios. I now have my students posting work from a multitude of classes across the curriculum. They are comfortable with using WordPress. Now the real work begins. Over the next few weeks, I will take them through a variety of steps to transform their blogs into an ePortfolio. Stay tuned for what will come next . . .

The Holden Caulfield in Each of Us

2010-03-12T19:17:00.001+05:30

A few weeks ago, I was in the midst of teaching my favorite novel as a teacher, and J.D. Salinger passed away. If I could start off every year with a novel, Catcher in the Rye would be the one novel I would begin every school year with. When I teach Catcher, it allows my students to see that I was once a teenager, I was once conflicted, I was once lost and I have made it through. Holden Caulfield embodies the voice I wish I had been strong enough to stand behind in high school. The world is full of phonies, and it is hard to not get caught up in other people's ideas of what is right and wrong in society. Holden is put to the test again and again and again, yet each time he is on the brink of making a questionable choice, he stands by his beliefs.

I have never understood why so many people are afraid of this novel. Isn't Holden the person we all want our children to become? No, I don't want any of my children to spiral emotionally into a black hole, but yes, I do want my children to stand up for what is right in this world, even if they may get hurt in the process. It was with great sorrow that it was time to put Catcher back on the shelf again this week. Thank you J.D. Salinger for providing so many with the voice they wish they had courage to speak.

Use, Abuse or Lose

2010-03-02T21:26:00.005+05:30

Last week I was fortunate enough to meet with a group of innovative HS English teachers during a job-a-like session at ASB Un-Plugged 2010. We spent one hour discussing the ways we integrate technology and web 2.0 tools in our classrooms. I titled this post "Use, Abuse, or Lose" because that is my mantra at ISB when I share and collaborate with my peers. I honestly could care less if my colleagues use, abuse or lose the stuff I send them. But if somehow by sharing, I can save them 1-2 hours of work so that they can read to their own children, share a romantic dinner with their spouse, or give them 30 minutes to do whatever they please, then my job is done. So here is a list of things I have used, abused and a few I have lost in my experience as a high school English teacher. Take a minute and see if anything can inspire or relieve you of our never ending duty of creating meaningful teaching moments in our classrooms.

I house all my ePortfolios on www.netvibes.com/teachwatts. Everything is streamed into one account and I manage/read all of my students' work on one site. Check it out if you have a minute. I love it. Their work comes to me and my life can now manage approximately 100 student blogs without falling too far behind with my grading.

I use Word Press for my students' ePortfolios. Although they are still a work in progress, it allows my students a lot of freedom and ownership of their work. Since I teach at an International School, I see their ePortfolio as a transportable gift. As third culture kids, sometimes my students are given less than a week to relocate to a new country or school. Word Press allows them the freedom to bring their ePortfolio with them without it being housed by our Moodle site.

Voice Thread: I have posted different passages from "The Odyssey" on VoiceThread and allowed my students to comment/write what they have found in each passage. Worked amazingly well for my ESL students and the ones that need more time to process their thoughts before making them public. This would work really well with a unit on poetry as well.

Digital Storytelling: I LOVE http://www.xtranormal.com/. So easy, if my 8 year old son can do it, so can my 10th graders.

Independent Reading: I use shelfari and have each of my students update what they are reading, friend me, and place the shelfari widget on their eporfolio. An easy way to make suggestions on novels. I used to use a Ning but found that after my students had completed my class, their conversations stopped. Shelfari keeps them going and there is an easy widget to add onto their ePortfolios/blogs to showcase what they are reading.

Oral Commentaries for IB: Take a look at audacity.

FanFiction: OK, this site rocks. Students can add their own twists and turns to any story (popular, classics, plays, short stories, etc) and read what others are writing as well.

Turnitin.com: This site checks for plagiarism and now you attach a rubric and post comments and grades on the site. All of my students use turnitin.com to submit their work.

Twitter: OK, I admit it took me awhile to "get" Twitter and there are times when I can't stay up with everything that is going on, but the number one device that made me love twitter- my TweetDeck. If you download TweetDeck onto your browser, you can plug in hash tags for all of the conversations that are happening on twitter that you care about (some hash tags I follow: #eportfolios, #edtech, #asbup2010, @safety, #edchat). My professional development comes to me. Another way to use it is to watch a popular subject as it unfolds in the news. For instance I typed in #salinger on the day Salinger passed away. My Grade 10 English students could see the profound effect this author had on the lives of people all around the world by the minute. We were only half way through the book and my students couldn't wait to finish the novel to see if Salinger would have as profound of an effect on them as he did for all of his fans around the world. It helped me prove my case that Holden is just as relevant today as he was almost 60 years ago.

That's what I can think of for now. As I think of more things I have used, abused, or lost, I will send them your way. I promise. Please feel free to comment on what works for you!

Week Without Walls Done Right

2010-02-22T14:07:00.003+05:30

Last week I was fortunate enough to participate in possibly the most meaningful week of my life. Chris Tananone, and I boarded a plane to South Africa with 20 students from the International School Bangkok for a Week Without Walls. For those who are not familiar with the term, Week Without Walls is one week each year that is designated for students to learn outside the confines of the traditional classroom. Each year in the high school, ISB closes its figurative doors and creates opportunities for learning throughout the world. This year trips varied from Italy, Prague, Egypt, Laos, Habitat for Humanity, Reefs to Rainforests, Painters with a Conscience, local medical internships, teacher apprenticeships. . . you name it, the option was there. I helped organize the WWW trip to South Africa: Service and Safari. We stayed approximately 5 hours north of Johannesburg, in the town of Mpumalanga (approximately 25 miles from Nelspruit) outside Kruger National Park at the Likweti Lodge.

The lodge and accommodations were set-up like Girl Scout Camps I had been to many times before back in the states. There are dorm rooms with bunks for males and females, and a dinning lodge stacked with picnic tables and a camp fire waiting for stories to be told each evening. The setting could not have been more perfect. When you are in charge of 20 students in a country you have never visited, it is nice to know that if they decide to break curfew, they could be trampled by a Buffalo. I had no worries or concerns about the students getting into mischief after hours.

You would think that the safari part of our trip would be the highlight, and so would have I . . . two weeks ago. The safari was no doubt amazing, but nothing close to the incredible people we were able to work with in the community. The service part of our trip led us to work with an organization called Trading World International which I highly recommend. Peter Evans and Steve Bullock put us in touch with a local orphanage that needed some help. Our initial plan was to work at the orphanage in the mornings and safari in the evenings. After day one, I could sense this plan could change. Although we were still able to safari each evening and it was amazing, the focus of our trip immediately turned toward the orphanage. The Siyakhula orphanage is run by an amazing woman, Elizabeth Mariya (read her words here). She currently cares for 18 orphans that live on the premises full time whose parents have died from HIV and up to 225 local orphans that she works with on a weekly basis and 95 HIV patients. The orphanage sits on a piece of property that used to house the community center in the heart of the village. When Peter and Steve initially started working with Elizabeth, the children hadn't eaten in over a week. They are in better shape now, but orphanage was badly in need of repair and some TLC. We began by painting the exterior and interior of almost every room. From there we planted banana trees for shade, dug up a rotten tree stump to create a play area, cleaned and re-created an ampitheater that hadn't been used in years and was covered in debrie, and then began to put the place back together again. This involved fixing old broken furniture, repairing and building shelves and hours worth of sorting through old papers and files. In addition, the Grade 2 students from our school in Bangkok had organized a fund drive for the local school. We brought suitcases full of donations for the local students. Within these donations were loads of new school supplies. Since the orphanage sits almost directly across from the local school, we helped stock a small store on the premises of the orphanage, to enable the orphanage to slowly become self-sufficent. They now have pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, rulers, crayons, notebooks and a multitude of supplies to sell to help them feed the children. On the last day we went to the local grocery store and bought supplies to keep them well fed for quite some time.

One week later, my hands are still filled with blisters. I hope they never go away. I don't want to forget about what we were able to accomplish there. More importantly, I don't ever want to forget how little it took for me to make a difference in the lives of so many. I awoke every day with a sense of purpose. Can we only hold onto that feeling for a moment? How do we achieve that feeling everyday of our lives and still survive, and make enough money to feed our children and provide them with a home? I want to feel that way again. Teaching definitely provides me with that feeling at times, but not in the same degree. I came back a changed person. I learned that all my degrees and experience mean crap unless I use them to help those less fortunate. I am far from new to community service. I volunteer my time in a multitude of ways in my community. Nothing I have ever done compares to how I feel about this trip (see more images on my flickr account). The students mirror my emotions and feelings on our WWW blog and especially on Marisa's blog. I was fortunate enough to be able to help provide this learning experience for students. What they learned far outweighs anything I have ever gotten from a traditional textbook.

One week of my life. . . , now I need to figure out how to give a lot more.

To find out more about running a similar trip for your school or company, contact Peter Evans from Trading World International.

TechTrain 2010

2010-01-26T21:30:00.003+05:30

So one of my goals for this school year was to finally have the courage to speak at a conference. Although I have attended quite a few technology conferences lately, I have lurked in the back row quietly as I have attempted to soak in all the knowledge around me. I decided it might finally be time to try my hand at the EARCOS conference or a much smaller conference somewhere and start to get my feet wet.

Yeah, well that was a good idea, . . . now talk to me in about a week. I am about to help host an EARCOS Conference workshop titled TechTrain 2010 at ISB this weekend. I will not be doing a nice one to two hour presentation, but running workshops all weekend long on RSS feeds, blogs, Google Docs, wikis, and Twitter. Nothing like starting small. I am a nervous wreck. It is going to be amazing, because I won't sleep until I feel it is amazing (I have been up since 2 am and it is currently going on 11 pm). It will be amazing because I am lucky enough to be working with some of the finest colleagues in the field of education: Tara Ethridge, Dennis Harter, Kim Cofino and Chrissy Hellyer. Our goal is to introduce teachers to a selection of educationally and developmentally appropriate technology tools that will enhance learning in the classroom and beyond. Basically, it is a technology conference for beginners, and I can't wait to get started. It was just a few years ago that I walked into a workshop at an EARCOS conference and was inspired by some guy named Jeff Utecht. Little did I know what that spark would ignite in me; hopefully, I can continue to pass on that torch.

Dancing in the Pool of Technology

2009-12-16T11:31:00.006+05:30

Each year at this time, there are a ritual of things I enjoy doing to get me in the Christmas spirit. One of my favorites is watching "It's a Wonderful Life" by Frank Capra. One of my favorite scenes (although there are honestly too many to count) is the famous Bedford Falls HS Charleston dance scene where Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed dance as the floor of the gymnasium begins to open.

As educators, aren't we in the middle of this same dance? We are going about our business in our classrooms as the floor of technology is opening. When we fall into the pool, will we adapt the Charleston to our new environment or complain about getting wet? As a past HS varsity swimmer, I know how to swim and I have never worried about drowning in a pool of water. But I know I still have a lot to learn if I plan to dance in a pool. We are all falling in whether we like it or not-

Will you dance or drown as you fall into the pool of technology?

. . . this is the question we must ask ourselves as we enter 2010.

In the words of George Bailey (AKA: Jimmy Stewart),
"I'm shakin' the dust of this crummy little town off my feet and I'm gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Coliseum. Then, I'm comin' back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I'm gonna build things. I'm gonna build airfields, I'm gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I'm gonna build bridges a mile long . . ."

Image can be found at: http://www.constellationcenter.org/images1/intro/wonderful_life_dance.jpg

Reflecting Through Digital Short Stories

2009-12-11T13:10:00.005+05:30

Isaac Newton once said: "If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on the shoulders of giants." My grade 10 students have just completed a unit on Short Stories. This year the English 10 team incorporated digital storytelling as the final assessment of our Short Story unit. With the amazing help of my colleagues: Brad, Ronna, Casey and Karen, we created a really fun unit to teach and watch unfold before our very eyes. We began by reading a multitude of short stories including:

"Two Kinds" by Amy Tan
"A Family Supper" by Kazuo Ishiguro
"A Man With No Eyes" by MacKinlay Kantor
"The Ninny" by Anton Chekhov
"Two Words" by Isabella Allende
"The Stolen Party" by Liliana Heker
"Lather and Nothing Else" by Hernando Tellez
"A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

We then examined the authoritative intent and theme for each story and viewed different adaptations of these stories over time. From there, students were given the assignment, shown a Power Point and given the rubric. The results were fantastic and one of the students from a different class had immediate validation from teachers at SAS. They posted comments on the digital short story and plan on using the students' digital story in their class to help teach the short story "The Bet". Talk about authentic assessment!

Dear Mike and Carl, I am an English teacher at the Singapore American school and we are currently studying short stories, one of the short stories is "The Bet" by A. Chekhov, I truly believe that this movie clearly shows the short story and I will definitely show my class this video, Thanks a lot and great job on the movie and the sound it really matches with the story.

As with everything I teach, there are many changes and lessons to learn from this unit. First and foremost, I would be clearer on the creativity I would like to see from the students. Too many of the students recreate the story verbatim and after awhile they were a little redundant to watch. I would also give them the assignment at the start of the unit. The students had one week to create their stories, with much of the work done at home. I would also continue to tweak the rubric. We had students look at the rubric and revise it, but it still needs some work.

If you'd like to see some of their digital short stories, they can be found on their ePortfolios on my netvibes account. They are under the Grade 10 tags, but all of them are not uploaded yet. In the future, I will post some of them here for viewing and continue to upload them to my teachwatts youtube account, but for now the following take on "Two Words" by Sarah is one of my favorites:

Sharing Technology Peripherals

2009-12-11T02:31:00.001+05:30

In this digital age, we are surrounded by new toys under the Christmas tree. What should we play with first? Come Christmas morning, we run downstairs and are amazed at all the glossy paper and bows under the tree. And as each child has a preference for a certain toy, teachers have preferences for certain peripherals in their classrooms. As I read the multitude of blogs about this subject, I continue to learn about my colleagues favorite toys.

Here's what I'd like to see implemented at more schools: show and tell. My daughter does it every Monday in her Kindergarten class. After each Monday, she spends the next week looking for the next perfect thing to share with her classmates. How amazing would it be if you had one professional development day or even five minutes of your next department meeting to share your favorite toy under the Christmas tree this year?

Imagine a room full of educators sharing their favorite ways of incorporating technology and ways they connect the technology to learning in their classroom. Recently I attended a fantastic student leadership conference run by the JUMP Foundation! Among the many things I learned that weekend from Justin Bedard and Josh Morris, one saying keeps running through my mind: "All the experts are in the room". So here's my professional Christmas wish: I would love to see administrators give teachers more time to connect and share. Let's look at the tools we have, and visualize best practice for these tools before we acquire anything new. All the experts are in the room, now let's have some time for some good old fashioned show and tell.

The above image can be found at: http://ippaonline.com/ippa/?m=20060

"Good Educators" and the Relevance of NETS Standards

2009-12-07T10:29:00.002+05:30

Are we fostering the creative spirit in today's classroom? The NETS standards for students, teachers and administrators carefully define five to six standards to make this happen. The more I read, I find my interest continuously drawn toward the very first standards of each of these documents. The first standard listed for these are:

Creativity and Innovation (Standard for Students): where students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology.
Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity (Standard for Teachers): where teachers use their knowledge of subject matter, teaching and learning, and technology to facilitate experiences that advance student learning, creativity, and innovation in both face-to-face and virtual environments.
Visionary Leadership (Standard for Administrators): where Educational Administrators inspire and lead development and implementation of a shared vision for comprehensive integration of technology to promote excellence and support transformation throughout the organization.

These three standards are intrinsically interrelated to developing students into life-long learners that can achieve their fullest potential. As educators we can do this in the following ways:

Creativity and Innovation for Students: Recently someone told me that it is not important for the students to know how something works, just that it exists for them to use when needed. If we continue to follow that wave in education, we will produce a society full of consumers instead of a society full of creators. There needs to be a balance between product and creation to allow students to be truly innovative in multiple field of study.
Facilitate and Inspire Student Learning and Creativity: if an assessment is truly authentic, the learning becomes more meaningful to the student. The key here is to allow students a chance to fail. History proves that creativity and innovation go hand in hand with failure. We need to build more opportunities into our curriculum to provide students the opportunity to take a chance on something and learn from their mistakes. Our society has become so grade conscious, that we are subtly teaching our students that grades are more important than learning. This must structure be revised in our assessments for learning to truly happen.
Visionary Leadership: administrators need to advocate for policies that allows students and teachers the opportunity and ability to reach their potential in these environments where success does not always perfection.

At the end of the day, the student learning is what matters. When you think back on your own life, when did you learn the most? When you succeeded or failed? It is what we do when we come face-to-face with that failure that true learning happens and as educators, we need to provide more opportunities for this to happen.

The Three R's of Education?

2009-12-04T12:09:00.001+05:30

Remember the days when we studied the three R's in school: Reading, (W)riting and (A)rithmetic? Although I know I am dating myself, I have fond memories of the Dick and Jane books of yesteryear. How has curriculum evolved over the past 20 years? Are we learning essentially the same information today as we did yesterday? Do we continuously reinvent a wheel that already exists?  Are we teaching the same thing in new ways?

Up until the past few years, I would have said yes to all of the above questions. But there is a new "R" of education that needs to addressed and fostered within our school communities.

Teaching at an International School provides a constant influx of new students at the start of each academic year. As this semester draws to a close, I know I will lose a few students and gain a few more in January. So this begs the question: "How do we ensure that students are learning what they need when it comes to Technology and Information Literacy?" The background of what our students know when they enter our classroom has never been so varied. Student A may come from a local Thai school, Student B may come from a public school in the US, and Student C may come from an international school in Delhi with a one-to-one program. These three scenarios are the norm when teaching overseas.

Most schools have programs set up for Intensive Studies (IS) and English as a Second Language (ESL); whereas, Information Technology (IT) and the use of web 2.0 tools exist in every grade but we have nothing in place to aid our new students a smooth integration into a curriculum which expects a certain level of literacy.  At ISB, our Grade 5 students are blogging.  By Grade 7, students are connecting to students all over the world by looking at global issues. By Grade 9, students are creating ePortfolios to showcase their learning to future colleges and employers.  Do we need to have an entry level test to access students' needs when they enter our school? Is there a need for a skills course to pass during the first year?

Or will students pick up these skills on their own? If you give a child the latest version of the iPhone, I guarantee they will know all the ins and outs of their phone before you have time to read the manual. There are two essential elements at play here: TIME and TRIAL AND ERROR. As adults, we are multitasking not just at work but in life in general. We are walking the dog, feeding the kids breakfast and writing Christmas cards all before 8 am in the morning. Not only is our time busy with the minutia of life but if we mess one of these items up, there will be consequences to pay.  Additionally as children, we were taught that to learn something, you read the rules/manual. I still do this every time I receive a new device of some sort. Yet as children, we are less afraid to make mistakes and learn through trial and error.   It is the computer game mentality; if they get knocked off on the screen, they will try again. I don't know if the new "R" of education should have its own class, but time will tell if students will be able to keep up with a field that is moving faster than adults have time to invest in. I foresee the students winning this round hands down. What are you doing to ensure your students are learning what they need when it comes to Technology and Information Literacy at your school?

Learning from Your Colleagues

2009-12-02T08:49:00.002+05:30

One of the greatest benefits of my job is the ability to work with professionals that constantly challenge and expand the way you look at the world around you. Kim Cofino's presentation for the K12 Online Conference"Going Global: Culture Shock, Convergence and the Future of Education" does exactly that. Take a minute and watch and see.

Managing Distractions over Turkey

2009-11-30T03:00:00.001+05:30

I embrace 21 century learning. I embrace all the comforts technology has brought to my life. I embrace my Blackberry and web 2.0. But honestly, things are getting out of hand. Being overseas is amazing for more reasons than I care to list or you care to read, but the holidays are tough. When I first came to Thailand 3 1/2 years ago, a neighbor told me Christmas in Thailand was beautiful and would top any other Christmas I could imagine. The first year overseas I cried literary every day from Thanksgiving until Christmas. Not sobbing uncontrollably or anything (I'm not quite that crazy), but tears would well up in my eyes as I would grocery shop at Villa and hear "Home" by Michael Buble. My search for the perfect Christmas tree lead me to Carrefour where Dr. Seuss may have personally come and thrown up on Christmas. The artificial trees come in a variety of colors such as hot pink, yellow, blue and day glow green. The color evergreen was hard to find to say the least (in case you are wondering, it has since become more widely available). Being away from family, friends, aromas and sounds may be the hardest part about being overseas during the holidays; therefore, holidays have become that much more important to me.

Thanksgiving is full of wonderful memories, great conversations, and a true feeling of togetherness . . .then came this year. My husband made a lovely meal with all the trimmings you can imagine. The stage was set for a fabulous evening, except for one tiny detail that continues to really eat at me. A guest at my house spent the better half of the evening texting underneath the table. Honestly, I was so appalled that I did nothing except stew about it for the last three days. When did this become acceptable in our society? I don't think it is. If the person at the other end of the text is more important and interesting than the people present at the table, then have dinner with them not me.

I am constantly amazed at the audacity of people when it comes to technology. Just because the world became smaller does not entitle the rest of the us to have to endure random cell phone ringing at a movie or play, obnoxious ring tones at inappropriate times, texting while talking to someone else, or emailing/twittering/facebooking during meetings at work. Etiquette seems to be out the window. If we can't teach adults proper etiquette, how can we teach our students? Is there a best practice when technology gets in the way of human relationships? I am still searching for better ways to manage the influx of outside tools in my classroom. Now when I hand back an essay in class, my students jump on their cell phones to check their averages on PowerSchool. When we are working on creative writing, my students are encouraged to listen to their iPods. But texting at the Thanksgiving dinner table, I'm not ready for that world yet. Are you?

Jargon Overload?

2009-11-27T01:44:00.001+05:30

When I look over the National Education Technology Standards from ISTE and AASL I see some redundancy to what educators strive for on a fairly regular basis. If you look at the language used in Bloom's Taxonomy of Learning -knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation or better yet, Bloom's Digital Taxonomy of Learning - creating, evaluating, analyzing, applying, understanding, and remembering, the language basically covers what we are already doing when it comes to student learning. Is it a new job for anyone to teach these standards, if we have been doing this all along?

As an educator, I get worried when we try to justify our jobs by creating new ways to talk about what we do and why we do it. I am a teacher and 100% proud of that title. Lately I have felt swamped by more jargon in education than ever. In a recent discussion with a colleague of mine, he advised me that when I am discussing education on a professional level, I should refer to the learning, not the teaching. I understand the switch in terminology but does that make someone that uses the key phrases every other minute a better teacher than me? I know so many people that can talk the talk but they can't walk the walk. Can you make your subject leap off the page and become a passion within your students? That is the question that needs to be asked in an interview. And that should be followed by how. The rest mostly seems to be a reinvention of a wheel that already exists.

That being said, I will continue to talk the talk because it allows me walk in a place that I love . . . education.

ePortfolios in the High School

2009-11-01T19:51:00.002+05:30

My colleague, Jim Fitzgerald, and I have decided to embark on something a little more than we may have originally intended. We are both committed to using ePortfolios in our classrooms, and attempting to implement them school-wide at some point in the near future. Although this is something I have spent the last few months pursuing, I have yet to be able to complete the entire process. But essentially, isn't that what an ePortfolio really is all about. It is a constant process of growth and every time you learn something new, you realize how much more there is to learn. Here's where I am currently in the process:

I began by using Word Press as the basis of their ePortfolios. At first, it was a little cumbersome to get off the ground. Each student was assigned a student blog through http://blogs.isb.ac.th/. For some of the students the process was like second nature. For others, I still feel as if I am speaking a second language to them. Hopefully tomorrow's use of flextime after school should clear up the last of the glitches. This past week I posted an ePortfolio grade in PowerSchool to put a little fire under their belts. Then we looked at numerous examples of ePortfolios on the SmartBoard from various students, educators, and celebrities to illustrate how students can begin to showcase their best selves to the world.

When their interest was peaked, we looked at statistics and a few blog posts from admission directors at prominent universities to see how they screen their applicants. One that really made them start to think about their online presence was Shaun McElroy's blog entry: Guess Who's Looking at Your Facebook. After that, I had each student Google their name. This seemed to be enough of a motivator for many of my students to begin uploading their school work to showcase their academic lives. In addition, we just completed the poetry unit in Grade 10, and many of my students chose to include a few of their autobiographical poems on their ePortfolios. From there I suggested a few ways they could continue to take ownership of their ePortfolio.

Ten new things to do on your ePortfolio:

Create a cool name for your portfolio
Use a theme layout that makes sense to you
Create a header for your portfolio that represents you as an individual
Delete the "Hello World" post
Post one or all of your poetry
Create some categories: English, Social Studies, Art, Math, Science, Creative Writing, Community Service, Athletics, Travel – whatever works for you
Add these widgets: tag cloud, categories, links, clustr maps (you can add more if you like, this is just a start).
Link to "D Watts" (inside.isb.ac.th/dwatts10)
Replace "Another ISB weblog” with your own words.
Add/Edit the about page - include your first name (no last name) and a bit about you and point of your blog site.

From here I created a NetVibes page which took far more time than I originally planned. I currently have almost 100 students. For each student I had to enter their address into the "add content" section of NetVibes. Although my students had their blogs already set-up for them from the Ed Tech Department at my school, many of their blog addresses do not match their names exactly due to the length of their name. For example my student Yonathan Tadesse: the address for his blog is http://blogs.isb.ac.th/yonathat; only the first seven letters of his name are used and the last letter is missing from his blog address due to the length of his name. In the end, the trials and errors of finding all of my students was well worth it. Now I have one page to enable me to read each of their ePortfolios and see any recent contributions. It makes grading a snap.

Now the hard part begins, or so I think. Jim and I have create a GoogleDoc of all of the items we wish to accomplish over the next few months. I have started to create a rubric for ePortfolios to enable students to see how they are being graded. I have joined various organizations that are exploring all the facets of ePortfolios in the classroom, and attended the ISTE conference in DC this summer to expand my knowledge base and contacts worldwide in the field of ePortfolios. But as I stated earlier, the more I learn, the more I know I need to know.

Once we gather everything we need, we intend to create an iMovie that illustrates all the benefits of using ePortfolios in the classroom. We hope that our presentation will enable students and teachers alike to embrace the concept of ePortfolios so they become a school-wide initiative, not just an English Department requirement. We aren't there yet, but keep watching. It will be here when all the chips are ready. Stay tuned for more. . .

Using Voice Thread and Google Docs to Make Stronger Writers

2009-10-29T15:42:00.005+05:30

To get my Grade 9 HS English students ready for their common assessment this week on The Odyssey, my students began by annotating passages from the text on Voice Thread (see past blog post for more information). From there I created the following step-by-step directions for writing a mini commentary. On Monday my students will use a GoogleDoc to create a sample mini commentary (Thank you Keith Miller for the great idea). By the end of class, my students will have written five solid mini commentaries on The Odyssey and we can review them together as a class, make corrections on Google docs, and then share all five as exemplars to the entire class. And, here comes the best part, instead of grading 20 mini commentaries, I will only have five essays to grade. This is how technology can make our lives as teachers a little less stressful.

But it isn't always easy. Integrating web 2.0 tools into my classroom reminds me of being a first year teacher all over again. I have all these new resources available to me, but eventually they will become easier to use and over time I will have a tool box of resources to utilize when needed. The above projects honestly took me hours to learn, put together and then explain to my students. But in the end, I will be able to use all of these skills as an educator to teach this lesson again and my students will be able to collaboratively learn from one another. We'll see how it goes, but as always, I never find it wasn't worth it in the end.

Web 2.0 tools and High School English

2009-10-27T14:28:00.001+05:30

Last week my colleague, Jim Fitzgerald, and I, spent the day looking at different version of screencasts and how they can be implemented in the High School English Department at ISB. Some of the tools we explored are: iMovie, Photostory, VoiceThread, Audacity, PowerPoint, and Smart Notebook. Each tool had specific tasks we thought could be useful in specific areas of our English department.

For example:

iMovie is perfect for creating tutorials for ePortfolios and for introducing students to PantherNET.
PhotoStory can be used to record narration for pictures with background music for Creative Writing during the Short Story Unit.
VoiceThread can be used to have students annotate a given passage from a play or a poem. As each student annotates the piece, students are given opportunities to see how their fellow students are reading and seeing a passage to enable them to draw connections they may not have been able to see before (see my example here)
Audacity can be used during formal oral commentaries for IB students.
Power Point is self explainable, but thanks to lessons and readings from Presentation Zen, by Garr Reynolds, our Power Point presentations at Open House this year were a million times better than previous years.
Smart Notebook allows educators to take our annotations from class and paste them on PantherNET to allow students to listen to the discussion in class and have the annotations available at home.

Obviously this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ways to use technology when teaching HS English, but you can find a summary of our work here: http://www.coetail.asia/page/Dana+%26+Jim+Tool+Matrix along with video tutorials for each tool.

The End of the Snow Day as We Know It

2009-10-19T22:30:00.002+05:30

Remember the good old days when you would wake up in the morning and sit by your radio as the list of school closings would be rattled off in the wee hours of the morning? Growing up in Buffalo, NY definitely gave me many of these experiences. I would wait day after day to hear my school listed among the many, only to be disappointed again and again because my school happened to have a reputation as a school that never closed. But on the rare occasion that it did close, it was amazing. We would have an entire day where we could play in the snow, drink hot chocolate, cuddle up by the fireplace and watch movies. They were simply magical.

I am afraid that those days are becoming less and less in our lives. At the International School Bangkok, we are working very hard to make sure those days won't happen again in the future. Now I am well aware that we don't have a lot of snow to worry about in Bangkok, but we do have the threat of H1N1 at our door. International schools are closing to the right and left of us. To combat the loss of potential school days, we are encouraged to utilize a moodle tool that we call PantherNET. Our courses are slowly becoming online courses to enable us to teach if unseen foreclosure should happen.

Although I agree with the purpose, and it is great to have everything online, why do we constantly insist that we take our work home with us? As a teacher living abroad, I am never away from my students. I cannot walk out my door without passing the home of one of my students. They email me, leave comments on the class blog, see me after school and at weekend soccer games. Most of the time I embrace every minute of it, but there are times I do not.

Are we, as a society, pushing it too far when we require people to always be accountable 24/7? Why do I have to answer every phone call? Sometimes, I love not being accessible to everyone. I will be on a trip in Laos over the next few days, and I am so happy to step away from my computer. I need to and my children need me to do so as well. It is the October break for our school, and I have already put in over 11 hours of grading, and 5 hours of planning. Let me mention that it is only Monday. Some days I still wish for a snow day and not one where I am required to teach and be accountable to everyone. We need to remember that education equals more than the content, it blossoms with the proper delivery. The explosion of web 2.0 has changed the teaching and learning landscape, but is it always for the betterment of society as a whole?

The Snowy day image can be found at Ezra Jack Keats Homepage

Using Voice Thread to Prepare for "The Odyssey" Common Assessment

2009-10-15T21:42:00.002+05:30

My last post was a little harsh on the tech side of things, so now I'll try to make up for it. My grade 9 students are preparing for a common assessment on The Odyssey where they are required to annotate an unseen passage from The Odyssey and write a mini commentary on the given passage.

The directions for the assessment are as follows:

Read and annotate the passage below. Next, you will turn your annotations into 3-paragraph response. Remember the basic structure required:

Paragraph 1: State author, name of text, where it comes from. Brief setting up of context. A clear THESIS statement that addresses the 1-2 dominant literary devices you will be commenting on, and how they link to/develop a THEME or MOTIF of mythology.

Paragraph 2: Noting the literary devices and their EFFECT (the “So What?” factor)

Paragraph 3: Tell why this passage is significant (important) to the overall text.

To better prepare my students for the assessment, I have created a VoiceThread for them to practice with in class early next week. It is attached here: http://voicethread.com/share/676684/. Feel free to give me some pointers on how to make this better or attempt to annotate the passages yourself. It will be great for my students to see the insight of others outside their classroom.

A Case for Reading-Aloud in the High School

2009-10-10T19:41:00.001+05:30

Web 2.0 seems to be everywhere, yet I am still searching for the best tools to enable me to make literature come alive in a high school English classroom. There is a multitude available, yet sometimes it is important to go back to how we were taught and use the tried and true methods of the past. Here is one case in point:

Recently while reading The Odyssey with my grade 9 students, I went back to the antiquated way of teaching literature. I read Book 5 aloud from start to finish. Although it is not particularly long, it took a little more than one 90 minute class period to get through less than 20 pages of text. At each reference to the Trojan War, we stopped, discussed the references and history being discussed, annotated the text and went on. Afterwards we searched for things such as the hero's journey, fate vs. destiny, respect for the gods, examples of hubris, and Homeric similes. And we dug and we dug and we questioned and searched for meaning. With pen in hand, I modeled how to annotate the text to enable them to take ownership of their learning. Not one piece of technology was used in my class for those two days. There were no bells and whistles. But at the end of the day, I believe my students know how to edit a passage really well and they can now transfer this skill to any novel they read for school when needed.

Since then I have used my SmartBoard to annotate a passage in front of my class, we have listened to passages on CDs and viewed scenes of various DVDs. But sometimes it is just as important to remember the old way of doing things, as much as the new. I am reminded of a fabulous book I read in undergraduate school by Jim Trelease titled The Read-Aloud Handbook. The power of the spoken word will never be outdated. And honestly, reading aloud, no matter what the age of the intended audience, will never be replaced by a computer.

Filtering, one step away from Censorship?

2009-09-26T14:16:00.001+05:30

Here's something that has been bothering me and I am interested in hearing if anyone else sees this connection. At the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong last weekend, one of the forums was about blocking internet sites and AUP policies at different schools. Each panel member discussed the different filters their schools were currently using. From there the discussion moved on to how, as adults, we need to be careful what we are exposing children to on the internet. As I sat and listened to others engage in this conversation, something did not sit right for me.

How is filtering any different from censorship?

Who gets to decide what should or should not be filtered? Why does anyone think they have the right to decide what is right or wrong for my child? Why does anyone think they have the right to decide that? The discussion sounds so much like a discussion I have had many times as an English teacher. How is the issue of blocking certain websites any different than a special interest group telling me that I should or should not teach a certain piece of literature that they have decided is inappropriate for their child?

And perhaps my real question is this: When is education going to stand up and tell parents that it is their job to teach their values and beliefs at home, and if they do not agree with the way a school is teaching their children, they can chose to attend a different school?

Because let's be completely honest about the situation, as soon as we tell children that they are not allowed to do something, they want to do it. Students of today can break any firewall we put up. The second I tell my students that a book we are about to read has previously been banned somewhere in the world, they want to read it. The issue is not about taking things away; it is about teaching right and wrong. These discussion belong at home, not in my classroom, because each of us have our own ideals and values. What is the sense of creating a perfect AUP, if there is a solid code of conduct to which we expect students to uphold?

The internet and web 2.0 need to be seen as a tools for education. As a parent of 3 children, it is my job to educate my children about responsible global citizenship. I am well aware that my children may come across content that may be inappropriate. But honestly, that can happen anywhere. It is my responsibility to teach them what is and is not appropriate. How else will they know what to do when they come across something that is inappropriate? I can not shelter them forever. But my children need to learn the skills of online safety at home according to our family's set of values. As parents, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves about the policies, procedures and curriculum of a school and see if the institution is the right fit for our children. Schools should not be expected to cater to my individual needs and values.

Why are we losing site of this in the area of technology?

Haiku Flickr

2009-09-25T06:22:00.005+05:30

This week for our COETAIL course at ISB, we were asked to use an image from Creative Commons to illustrate how visual imagery can support curricular content.

In my high school English 10 class, we are studying poetry. My students were asked to create a minimum of three haiku poems that represented one small moment in nature. After they wrote their poems, students had to find an image to accompany each poem on Flickr using Creative Commons. The results were fantastic and it helped spark a great conversation about cite sources and using the correct image to illustrate their ideas.

Finding a Voice Through a Blog

2009-09-21T10:19:00.007+05:30

At the end of the day I am shy. To meet me, you would probably not necessarily catch on to that one, but the more I watch myself in certain situations, I realize it is more true than I care to admit. This weekend I attended the 21st Century Learning Conference in Hong Kong. Each time I attend one of these conferences, I listen to the experts and surround myself with some of the top educators from all around the world and yet I still clam up. I am still learning and each time I am too afraid to raise my hand and become involved in the discussions that are happening all around me.

The people around me are connecting F2F, and I feel safer connecting behind the safety of my blog. My ideas may be out in the public, but I can read them, edit them, and refine them until I feel confident about what I have to say. This is the main reason why blogging can be such an amazing tool for students in your classroom. In my classes, sometimes students do not have the confidence to raise their hand in a class discussion. Behind the safety of a blog, students can have control of how they are being perceived by the class. I find this to be especially true for my ESL students. Their writing and their thoughts on a discussion in class can find a voice in the safety of a blog. they have had time to process what has happened, comprehend the aspects they were unsure of, and ask questions of trusted students, before they contribute.

So maybe I am the ESL student I have always taught, except for me, the language I am trying to learn is technology.

When does one learn to come from their version of safety and protection and begin to trust their own voice? I decided that if I couldn't do it, how can I expect my students to find the courage to do it? So, at the conference I decided to finally speak up and contribute to the conversations that were happening all around me. Instead of listening and perhaps not always agreeing or seeing the meaning in a particular discussion, I made myself contribute.

All of a sudden the conference became more meaningful to me. I was able to have the conversations I have searched for and although I fully admit that I am a non-native speaker when it comes to technology and web 2.0, no one seemed to mind. I was able to engage in some of the most meaningful conversations about the future of education I have had in years, especially with some fabulous teachers from Saigon South International School (Robert Appino, Gary Bertoia, Angela Cleeton and Chris).

Now my job as a teacher is to somehow translate my awakening to my ESL student. Hopefully their class blogs will continue to help them find the confidence to trust their own voice. I plan to continue to find the courage to use mine.

Transferring Technology from the Middle School to the High School

2009-09-18T09:40:00.000+05:30

For my current Certificate of Educational Technology and Informational Literacy (COETAIL) course, I was asked to reflect on how the previous courses have affected how I will teach this year. Last year I was teaching MS Humanities in grade 7. Technology was integrated in almost every aspect of my classes. My students using blogs, Google docs, nings, wiki spaces, you name it, I tried it. Anything and everything I learned about, I was able to immediately utilize in my class.

The bigger question is not HOW I am using it this year, but what am I NOT using this year.

Although I am a huge proponent of ePortfolios for HS students, I find I am using very little of my new knowledge in my every day lesson plans. So far I am not using anything else. I might use my class ning, Reading4Life, for independent writing, but the in-class discussions of literature this semester have been rich and full of discussions that have lead to fantastic discoveries about other novels.

In all fairness, I am currently overwhelmed by content. There is so much to teach and so many amazing resources already shared by my colleagues on the various literature units we are covering, I am struggling to keep up. There is so much to teach, so many ways to look at literature, see it, touch it. How can technology help me? In some ways, I know it can. This week we are looking at the poetry of Maya Angelou and nothing I can do will compare to hearing Angelou read her poem aloud on youtube. I get that.

But a wiki? Google docs? I am still unclear how to translate my newly acquired knowledge to the high school. This seems to be the digital divide in technology that educators seem to want to avoid. In the ES and MS, technology and all of the bells and whistles are amazing and I can see multitudes of ways they can enhance learning. But now, how do I integrate the knowledge and skills of web 2.0 into a high school classroom? I am still looking for answers.