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Good perspective from Ryan Bretag
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The Future of Learning – YouTube
I think you’d really like this video if you haven’t seen it–relates to your OER discussions. @patrickmlarkin https://t.co/EFhQMCJfaZ
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Why Cory Doctorow refuses to predict the future (like, seriously) | Opensource.com
.@EFF special advisor Cory @Doctorow on influencing the future instead of predicting it: https://t.co/9AcBuVVY3m https://t.co/txvlxGjmhU
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Response to Intervention: Safe Spaces for Math and Literacy
Good Overview of a school using RTI from Edutopia
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LOVE this article and what a great PD conversation
https://t.co/fuq6eKuh0o @jlscheffer @rtw4 @42ThinkDeep @rachelwzg @patrickmlarkin LOVE this article and what a great PD conversation.
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@patrickmlarkin @NoteToSelf 5 Ways 2 Raise Digitally Balanced #JOMO Kids in a #FOMO World @manoushz #digcit #CI5307 https://t.co/J1MNhkSZKR
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Innovative Principal Blogs from 2010 https://t.co/QpIUKiWpZK by @InnovativeEdu | @E_Sheninger @gcouros @patrickmlarkin et al
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Free online resources increasingly popular as classroom supplements
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Great post. Thanks. RT Don’t Underestimate The Po
@patrickmlarkin Great post. Thanks. RT @cgreen Don’t Underestimate The Power of #OER @creativecommons https://t.co/VCQTv9JeNR
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New ELL History “What If?” Projects
Good project idea from Larry Ferlazzo
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Teaching Math with Google Drawings
Doc full of ideas from Ohio math teacher, Eric Curts.
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Save YouTube Videos to iPad Camera Roll for Green Screen Compositing
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A blog for all eLearners; be they students, teachers or administrators – maintained by Ken Halla
Month: January 2016
Don’t Underestimate the Power of OER
This post originally appeared on my Edweek Blog
In my previous post, I discussed the importance of schools looking closely at Open Educational Resources (OER). Recently, I have been reading with great interest some posts by Ryan Merkley, the CEO of Creative Commons, which further highlight the significance of schools looking at OER. Merkley’s thoughts on the importance of the community collaborating to build something that can benefit all of us has important connections to the development of OER. There is a clear opportunity before us to work together for equity and access to high quality resources for all of our schools. In addition, Merkley’s words echo some of the key expectations that we should have for students.
“Collaboration, sharing, and co-operation are in our nature — building community, co-operating towards common goods, and creating shared benefits are at the heart of who we are.”
The major stumbling block that I see for schools in achieving this has nothing to do with the technology that we will need to support educators who will choose to do this work. Instead, the major impediment is an outdated notion of what we as educators should be focusing on. In a system where standardized testing is king, educators and their students are left as consumers of standards and resources to support these standards which have been overly influenced by companies whose main focus is the mighty dollar and not building a shared community that puts learning and learners first.
The OER movement provides an opportunity to change this and put the power back in the hands of teachers and students. We need schools who support staff members in becoming creators who not only collaborate with colleagues across classrooms but also across local, state, and national boundaries. By undertaking this work, we will also be supporting our students in modeling the skills and behaviors that they are going to need to be successful in “real life.”
As I read Merkley’s vision for Creative Commons below, I think it would be applied just as well as a focal point for what we would like to see in our schools.
“The Internet is real life. It’s where we go to work. It’s how we connect to the people we love. It’s where we tell our stories. This is the society we’re building together. If it is going to be fair, equal, diverse, vibrant, serendipitous, and safe for everyone, it will only be because we choose to make it that way. If it is going to be accessible, equitable, and full of innovation and opportunity, it will require our leadership to build the foundations that support these ideals.”
I think the adoption of OER in our schools can be a big step on the way to help us achieve this important challenge.
A Visit To A Francis Wyman Co-Taught Classroom
Recently, I received an invitation to visit a first grade class at Francis Wyman which was co-taught by first grade teacher Ms. Sosnowski and ELL teacher Ms. Lamprey. It was very impressive to see the students in the class taking part in academic conversations and collaborating to discuss and share their thoughts in fiction and nonfiction texts. In addition, I was happy to see so many students step up in front of their classmates to help their teachers with the lesson.
Towards the end of the class, Jai’s mom read us The Elephant Dance and then we were all treated to a live performance of The Elephant Dance by Jai. It was so much fun seeing these students work so well together and then seeing Jai share his dancing talents with his teachers and classmates! Make sure you check out Jai’s dance below and pictures from the lesson.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (January 24, 2016)
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Latest post: OER Needs To Be On Your Radar https://t.co/TnomjOEwzx #Learnlaunch2016
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One of the keys to helping us make the move to OER is ensuring that our teachers have an understanding of this.
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From Lisa Nielsen – “I recently shared my #EdCampNYC discussion on the “The Anatomy of a Killer Tweet.” We came up with the five elements that make a Tweet killer. At the session, participants were challenged to write their own killer Tweet, but how would they know if they really nailed it? The answer: Twitter analytics. This is a free tool helps anyone who has had an account for at least 14 days receive details on tweets’ engagement, clicks, retweets, favorites, replies, and more. “
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Kindergartners With Traumatic Life Experiences Struggle More in School https://t.co/fxS0uCiDd8 #hs4 #abed #kinderchat
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A Book Sprint is a collaborative process where a book is produced from the ground up in just five days. But even more important, this collaborative process captures the knowledge of a group of subject-matter experts in a manner that would be nearly impossible using traditional methods. The result at the end of the Book Sprint is a high-quality finished book in digital and print-ready formats, ready for distribution.
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a collection of freely available materials that we think are useful for First-Year Composition courses
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As a doctor, couldn’t agree more @patrickmlarkin https://t.co/HQXNujZ47s
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TWO of our most vital industries, health care and education, have become increasingly subjected to metrics and measurements. Of course, we need to hold professionals accountable. But the focus on numbers has gone too far. We’re hitting the targets, but missing the point.
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Instead, I use it to review those basic Algebra 1 skills that many students have either forgotten or did not master during their Algebra 1 year. I give these basic practice sets well in advance of the corresponding Algebra 2 topic that I will be covering in order to get them prepared. I assign one “Problem Set” of about 10 problems a week. I also give a variety of problem types in the problem sets. Students are able to rework each problem until they get it correct, meaning that they are able to receive full credit on their problem set each week with just effort.
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Great perspective from Cathy Davidson
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Must Read – “We put private good before cooperation. We will never know exactly what we’ve lost as a result. It’s impossible to quantify fully the inventions not made, discoveries not revealed, and creativity restrained.”
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From Edutopia – “As we navigate a political landscape that is too often hostile toward immigrants, it’s a good time to remember that the vast majority of us are here as American immigrants.”
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From Tara Parker-Pope in the New YorkTmes – “A strategy called “design thinking” has helped numerous entrepreneurs and engineers develop successful new products and businesses. But can design thinking help you create healthful habits?”
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Said nobody else https://t.co/98ZDkUHspq
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#OER needs to be on your radar! Nice post by @patrickmlarkin https://t.co/MzDKZWY3yk #GoOpen
OER Needs To Be On Your Radar
Is this the year we will start to make some headway in the curation and creation of digital content and start to move away from our reliance on pre-packaged materials (aka textbooks)? While I have a lot more questions than answers when it comes to making this transition, there is one thing that I am sure of here. We will make no progress without a detailed plan with clear benchmarks along the way. So, where do we start?
Here are three key issues we need to tackle in order to gain momentum with the move to Open Educational Resources (OER):
- Agree to a common understanding of OER –
When we talk about OER, I think we need to be clear what are intentions are. Are we looking to pay big dollars to have a third-party tool that helps us curate and create resources? Personally, I like the definition of OER stated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology as part of the #GoOpen Initiative is pretty clear – “Openly licensed educational resources are learning materials that can be used for teaching, learning, and assessment without cost. They can be modified and redistributed without violating copyright laws.”
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Build capacity of educators (and school communities) –
We need to make sure that our teachers (and stakeholders in our communities) understand the purpose and scope of this initiative. Moving away from pre-packaged content is a significant change for many to grapple with. However, when we break down the reasons for this work in regards to relevance of materials, allowing our educators the flexibility to customize resources on a frequent basis, and economic savings our intentions will be clearer.
On another note, with so many schools pushing 1:1 initiatives, we have the tools in place to make this transition to OER a reality. If we really want to stress the importance of our students being creators and not just consumers of content, we need to create communities of educators who are also creators.
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Set clear goals and benchmarks –
Whether it is an entire course, a unit, or a lesson, we need to start this work with the understanding that this is a work in progress. We will not necessarily create perfect products on our first attempt, but the beauty of this process is that we have the ability to revise content in a way that is not currently possible. In a short time we will be in the year 2020. Where would you like to see yourself in 2020? In other words, what is your 2020 Vision? Every district in the country needs to ask themselves this question and work backwards from here.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (January 17, 2016)
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From the Washington Post – “Kathy Liu Sun is an assistant professor of math education at Santa Clara University who was a public high school math teacher for nine years in San Jose, California. She argues in the following post that the Common Core math standards — which have caused great consternation in many places around the country — are being misinterpreted.”
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From Medium – “he current patchwork of copyright exceptions for education at the member state level can lead to absurd situations for teachers that want to utilize creative works.”
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A great lesson from the Anti-Defamation League
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Sharing Twitter chats at #hollistontechpd day tmrw https://t.co/37rfzmZFU8 Tx for the inspiration @burgessdave @smgaillard @patrickmlarkin
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From Getting Smart – “I recently wrote about the steps to transforming a school. I pointed out that by “transformation” I mean an environment where students are achieving academically and taking ownership of their learning: exhibiting agency. I listed four steps to achieving this transformation: Data-informed instruction; Student-centered approaches; Ongoing improvement/innovation processes; Every child known by a caring adult both academically and as a person.”
Wondering In Mrs. Fitzpatrick Class At Pine Glen
During a visit to Pine Glen Elementary this week, Mrs. Fitpatrick shared with me some of the work her students are doing on their “I’m Wondering” projects. All of the students have an opportunity to research and write about anything that they would like to learn more about during intervention/extension time. On the wall of the classroom there are pictures of the students with what they are working on during their “I’m Wondering” time.
In addition, some of the students have posted QR codes on the wall which link to publications that they have created to document what they have learned. Check out a couple examples below from Cooper and Emma.
My Weekly Diigo Bookmarks (January 10, 2016)
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Great list of characteristics for leaders to reflect upon from George Couros. What are our strengths and where do we need some work?
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A great series from Cult of Pedagogy to help discuss the issue of balance and priorities for new teachers.
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Loved seeing this article frm @patrickmlarkin shared from my supt today. Social media shldn’t b scary for leaders!!! https://t.co/IjWTFYzYvk
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From TED-Ed – Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice — and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding. As you watch Tweet summaries and key phrases of her talk: @ChimamandaSays
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Great list of Google video tutorials via Richard Byrne
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From Christine Weiser of Tech and Learning
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Good model from Edutopia – This year, Meyer’s technology instructor teaches tech through various content areas, presenting technology use as something purposeful, connected to their learning, and relevant to real-world situations.
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Great thoughts on how people should be marketing themselves and building a modern resume.
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From Tom VanderArk – “With more than a computer for every two students, the country is beyond the halfway point in the #ShiftToDigital, a historic transition in how people learn. The problems I spotted are different than those faced five years ago reflecting a good deal of progress and some lessons learned.”
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A great example of how to present data in a meaningful way.
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Google Classroom allows you to create your own classes. This means you can create one for clubs, teacher collaboration, differentiated groups, etc… Creating a new class is easy, simply click on “Create class” from the class tiles page.
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“I want to propose a test: How would we react to the worrisome, antisocial behaviors Hall notes in her essay if we simply replaced the ipads in her descriptions with books?”
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Thinking about this in the context of education…I feel like it could be a huge asset for moving us forward in the context of locating and using digital resources well.
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From Shell Terrell – my top 2015 posts on integrating technology to help you better guide your learners.
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From Lisa Nielsen – “Find out who the influencers are in your community. Look at your student body. Look at parents. Look at bloggers. Invite them on a tour. Create an experience. Encourage them to share what they find using the designated hashtag. Ask them to write a post for their site, or yours, giving a customer perspective.”
Social Media Shouldn’t Be an Impediment for Superintendents
A blog post on Edweek’s District Dossier Blog cited the fact that a recent survey by the American Association of School Administrators (The Superintendent’s Association) found that the majority of superintendents surveyed feel that social media is an impediment to their job. As I thought about these results, I couldn’t help but wonder why so many school district leaders felt this way. I came up with two possible conclusions for this result:
District leaders have failed to embrace social media as a useful tool
Most superintendents out there are still not utilizing social media tools for communication in their school communities, never mind for their own professional learning. A district Facebook page is a perfect way to get news out to the parents in your community and brag about the latest awards and accomplishments by staff and students. Of course, a Facebook page is also a space to post pictures and videos from happenings around the school district.
A district Twitter account is another great way to share a steady flow of information from the district office. Beyond basic communication, a district with a Twitter account can create a district hashtag to share news, have discussions with stakeholders, and get a handle on any issues that may be developing in their school community. The days are well past from where we can wait for the local newspaper to tell us what the news is in our schools. Social media allows us to get the news out in real time, and it’s a two-way street. We do not have to be passive recipients of the news. We can also make our own news by sharing a steady flow of the great things that are happening in our districts.
We have the ability to control the narrative by using social media tools to our advantage. If we sit back and avoid social media then the narrative will be controlled by others. In many cases, those telling the story of our schools will be critics with a different agenda.
District leaders are concerned about inappropriate social media use
I know that there are frequent news stories about school communities dealing with headaches caused by the misuse of social media by students (or sometimes teachers). There’s no foolproof way to solve this problem, but embracing the power of social media is more likely to mitigate problems than avoiding and/or prohibiting the use of social media. School district leaders modeling the power of social media from the top, and leading discussions surrounding digital citizenship, are less likely to find themselves dealing with fallout from misuse of these resources. On the odd chance that these school leaders do find themselves dealing with negative uses of social media within their schools districts, they should have plenty of positive examples to fall back on which will ensure that the negative example is not all that their school community has to talk about.
Happy New Year! Help your students with some resolutions – Burlington Blog Update (Volume 5)
Welcome back and Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a restful vacation and is feeling recharged and optimistic for what is ahead in 2016. On that note, I wanted to share a great blog post from Jennifer Gonzalez on her Cult of Pedagogy site which contains a lesson to support students in setting some resolutions/goals for themselves.
Anyway, here are the latest posts from the Burlington Blog:
Only 105 posts to go…
My Un-Learning Journey 