Springboards is coming up on Monday and LEARN-CEFRIO is well-represented.

Mary Ellen will be giving a session on Media Literacy: Making Classroom Blogs. She shared her session with several of us in Live Classroom. If you were not able to attend, take some time to visit the wiki she created for the session: http://maryellenlynch.wikispaces.com/ You can learn about how she proceded and discover some of the tools she has found helpful.

Two of our other members, Karen Rye and Véronique Lemay are giving a session on Writing: Cross-Cycle Buddies. While this is not part of their work for our project, it is a good example of collabortion.

I will be taking part in a panel discussion on 21st century literacy. This will be a challenge as I will be 5th to speak. I’ll be relying on much of what I have learned with you.

Take some time to explore the blogs and wikis that are linked at the side. This group has grown so much as learners, collaborators and sharers.

Looking forward to our next LC session.

Susan

Christiane and I had a wonderful meeting on Live Classroom with several of our LEARN-CEFRIO participants. It was exciting to hear the stories of how people’s projects are developing. The interest in learning new skills was evident. Even the most hesitant was willing to try new things in order to get her students’ voices heard in her community.

Each year there is hype about making resolutions, but we all know that most of those are easily broken because we don’t really buy into them. However I have found that it is easy to keep the ones about learning new things because of the pleasure it brings.

For years I have said that I should write more often – “this is the year I will write a journal” “This is the year I will blog every week” and then found that it never happened. This year I have embarked on a new adventure – 365 stories in 2009. There is a group of educators who have started a Flickr photo pool: 2009/365. The only requirement is that you post a photograph each day, taken that day. I seem, finally to have found the hook that makes me want to write. I have often talked about digital storytelling and about how the picture tells part of the story, while the text adds a different layer. I am using my participation in this adventure to explore this kind of writing and have started another blog to post my photographs and write about them. And I am really enjoying it! Writing is not a chore. This reminds me how, as teachers, we have to find the right hook for each student, to draw them into discovering the joy of learning. Once the excitement is there you don’t need to make resolutions, because the pleasure derived motivates you to do more.

I see for some of the teachers involved in our initiative – that hook is your students. While some of you may have been hesitant about learning about technology, once you see the possibilities for your students, learning new ways of communicating becomes a pleasure.

So for 2009, I wish you each to find the path that leads you on pleasurable learning adventures and that you help spark that sense of adventure in each of your students.

Susan

Some of you may know that I am a webcaster on EdTechTalk. I met my two co-hosts when we were in Webcast Academy, an online, informal course which introduced us to the possibilities of webcasting. The three of us, one from Michigan, another from Long Island, NY and I,  have a monthly show where we interview educators from around the world. Recent guests have included David Warlick, Ben Papell and Steve Muth (the founders of VoiceThread), and Wesley Fryer, an educator who is very involved in the K12 Online Conference as well as a new project, StoryChasers.

You can find out more by visiting our blog: http://teachersaretalking.blogspot.com/

Upcoming guests include: Kristen Hokansen (who specializes in copyright issues in the US as a librarian) on December 18 and Helen Barrett (portfolios) on January 15 – both at 7:30 pm

How do you listen to a webcast from EdTechTalk? During shows, listeners can use any common media player (i.e. Windows Media Player, Real Player, or iTunes) to listen to the discussion and use the chat room to make comments and ask questions. The show is located at: http://edtechtalk.com/ Just click on Participate Live, chose the icon for the player you want to use to listen and the audio should start streaming. You can Login to the chat to add your comments.

If you want to listen to past shows, go to http://edtechtalk.com/ On the left is a list of shows. Click on Teachers Are Talking and you will be able to download the shows. Or – go our blog for links to specific episodes.

Why do I webcast? It gives me the opportunity to meet, “virtually”,  people I wouldn’t otherwise have access to. I have a monthly opportunity to learn, discuss and share with fellow educators. It has put me in touch with a virtual learning network of educators who keep me informed, share ideas, discoveries as well as personal stories. It makes me risk (though in a supportive community), something I keep telling teachers they need to learn to do. It makes me try on a role I don’t usually take. Hope to see you in the chatroom at one of our webcasts.

Susan

Crossposted to Reflexions

I’ve taken some time to get back to reading blogs and was really struck by Kathy Cassidy’s blog. She really shares important aspects of blogging with young children. In this entry she talks about how she dealt with the first inappropriate comment received by one of her students (she was able to moderate it before the student saw it). And here she shares the list created by another blogger just starting out. The new blogger, Sheryl Forsman, created a list of why and in what ways she wanted to use her class blog.

Whether you have been blogging for a while or just thinking about it, these posts are worth reading.

I’ll share more gems as I find them.

Susan

This is the third year that the K12 Online Conference has taken place. These are a series of presentations (video and/or audio) that are posted in a two week period. I have only had a chance to watch a few but have been inspired. As part of the conference there is a 24 hour Elluminate session (like Live Classroom) where people can drop in for conversation about the conference. Each hour has a moderator so there is little blank time. For me, this was a wonderful opportunity to learn from others and to expand my own personal learning network.

What is a personal learning network? It’s the people and places you go to, to expand your knowledge and understanding. For me it starts with my colleagues. There is nothing like face to face. However, when you are in a small school, or the only art teacher, cycle one teacher or whatever, you can not always get your questions answered or bounce ideas off your colleagues. Where do you go next?

I have developed my virtual Personal Learning Network. There are places I go online where I can get answers to my questions about technology, pedagogy and more. I get ideas for projects and develop relationships with my online friends. I also share my expertise with others. You can do this with the people in this group.

Forum

As part of this blog there is a forum. This is a place you can go to share ideas, ask questions and learn from each other. Just click on Forum at the top of the blog. You can respond to a topic by just clicking on the topic name or add a new topic by clicking on New. Expand your Personal Learning Network – share with your colleagues from afar.

As for the K12 Online Conference….

Here are a couple of sessions you may want to share and discuss as a staff Never Too Young for those of you teaching Kindergarten or Cycle 1. We Like our Blogging Buddies by Kathy Cassidy, a grade 1 teacher. Her ideas are great for any age class. Another is Videoconferencing: It’s Easy, Free and Powerful by Brian Crosby. I’ll be recommending others as I watch them. I would love to hear your reactions. Is this a topic we should be adding to the forum?

Susan

September is such a hectic time in schools and we so appreciate your taking time to come to a workshop. This project is about connections and collaboration. We each come with different experience both in and out of the classroom, with much to share and to learn from each other. I encourage you to make connections both for yourself and your students. Those who were here before know that I have my online network. They are a source of information and questions which lead me to learn and understand in new ways. I also have met two people through my online community with whom I do a monthly webcast. These online relationships have greatly enriched my learning.

Both Christiane and I are hoping you will experience the richness of opening your class up to the world, to give your students opportunities for communicating in purposeful ways with a broader audience and to collaborate with students on projects. We hope, too, that you will share and learn from your fellow teachers, both in your school and in this community. Some of our returning teachers have discovered online communities and are now participating in communicating on a more global scale.

We hope you will share your reflections so that we all can learn from the experiences of others. We would be glad to open up this space to other writers. You can already contribute by adding a comment.

A comment can be a reflection on what you have read here, a question about how to proceed, a request for more information, a question for us all to ponder….. Let’s make this space a learning space for us all.

Susan

No one ever said that change is easy. But it can be exciting. After Mary Ellen had participated in a ready-made project (Alphabet Adventure Gallery) in which she learned elements of technology, dealt with technology management in her classroom, and built her confidence, she was ready to strike out on a project of her own. Mary Ellen started with tentative steps when she needed to share her students’ work with the parents via the Internet. She chose to create a blog to do this. This led her to read blogs by other teachers. Soon she found herself learning from the work of others and she joined a social network – Classroom 2.0 where she came across a teacher from Oregon who was studying butterflies, as was her class. They arranged a Skype videoconference between the two classes. Through small steps throughout the year, the dynamic in Mary Ellen’s class has changed. The students are collaborating more within and outside the class and their voices are being heard. Whether she knows it or not, she is now a force for change in her school. Other teachers are seeing what she has done with her students and are interested in learning more. You can learn more about the process Mary Ellen went through by watching a video interview with her and with her Vice Principal. This interview took place just after the students’ Skype videoconference.

We are all different kinds of learners, as are our students. Our journeys may take different paths, but we are all on a learning journey. Where has your journey taken you this year?

My monthly webcast, Teachers are Talking, took place last night We had a guest panel discussing students and networks. In a discussion with our guests after the show, someone spoke about teachers and technology. He said, “Using technology is a mind set not a skill set.” In our project with you I have seen this exemplified in many ways. People who were not heavy technology users opened their minds to the possibilities and saw how it could make a difference to their students. Instead of seeing technology as a barrier, you have taken steps to integrate it in ways that have enriched your classrooms.

The mind set of being lifelong learners is part of what is needed. And so is letting go and letting our students teach us. My webcast partner, Lisa, keeps talking about telling her students, “Let’s learn this together.”

Working with web 2.0 technology lets us empower our students to share their voices with the world and it is up to us to teach them how to do it in safe and constructive ways. One of our teachers has done just that with her cycle one students. Please visit the blog she set up to keep her parents informed. http://teacher102.edublogs.org/ She has set herself challenges to learn to use some new tools because she saw the value of using them with her students and the school community. It has changed the way she does some things in her class.

Have a look at the delightful animal VoiceThreads. Take a moment to comment on her students’ work. It is a powerful way of telling students that their work is valued and important. I know that technology was not a big part of Mary Ellen’s teaching, but she has embraced the possibilities, not because she wanted to learn the skills, but because she has seen the excitement and commitment on the part of her students when they are involved in projects that go beyond the classroom walls. Bravo!

Susan

I’m going to be travelling soon to countries I have never been to before. I’m going to try to keep a blog, even if no one reads it. Why? It makes me commit to writing. It is an authentic “assignment” – there is an audience out there who may be interested in what I have to say. I’m not much of a risk taker and both the travel and writing for other people is a risk I feel I have to take to make my life fuller. So on two levels, I am embarking on personal and professional development.

Too often we ask students to write, yet we do not write ourselves. We ask students to read and so many teachers don’t read. I feel it is essential to model to our students what we expect from them. So this is my personal writing assignment.

This week’s Live Classroom event is about blogs and simple ways to use them. I hope we will get a good turnout. Each of us is on a voyage as lifelong learners. Even if you don’t put the learning into place immediately, this may be a ticket for future travels.

At the beginning of the year we showed you a video of Kathy Cassidy and her grade one class. You can see it on the wiki – Telling the New Story She has also embarked on a journey. She started with a blog for her class and is now writing a reflective blog. You can find it here. It’s a great place to start reading blogs and reading inspires thinking which may inspire writing which may lead to you starting your own blog. No hurry – Kathy took a few years before she felt comfortable enough to do it. If you visit her blog, write a comment here and share what you discovered.

I’ll let you know where to follow my travels. It’s scary – but I’d love to share the trip. Your comments here and on my travel blog will help to make this a more meaningful experience for us all.

Susan

I had the privilege of interviewing Karen about the process she and her colleagues went through as part of their Playgrounds project. There are a number of things that struck me. 

•  the project they chose was embedded in something they were already doing in the school
• the project evolved as the students and teachers saw needs to evolve
• technology solutions were added on a need-to-know basis
• students took ownership of the project as they saw the possibilities
• the teachers were given the opportunity to meet together and started to work more collaboratively face-to-face
• there has been an increase in interaction between students in the school
• students see the powerful possibilities of collaborating beyond their school
• a student found a personal use for the tools she learned in the classroom and now has a powerful way of family communication

There were so many other powerful ideas that Karen shared. What things struck you? I hope some of you will join St. Johns and collaborate with the students there. Podcast with Karen