Even as we are all facing tremendous budget cuts, we still face that dilemma - how do we teach 21st Century Skills and discuss intellectual property rights with students and teachers? Right when we are truly tempted to borrow rather than purchase a few things ourselves.
This is an interesting presentation about this issue. Enjoy - it's great food for thought as we struggle with making good decisions about using dwindling resources.
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Another Lesson on Learning 2
Ha a nice chat with grandson #1 last week. An online chat. He's also a fan of Skype, and he has over 600 contacts - mostly from his 'other world' - that of online gaming. He had to put the 'do not disturb' flag out so they'd let us finish our conversation as he was getting annoyed at the interruptions.
I asked him how he got so many contacts, and he admitted, "I'm kind of like the world's diplomat... 'Tribes' recruit me just for that :)" and "I just have a way with words that make people want to do things for me." I of course responded, "that's called charm..."
Got to thinking about the conversation, though, and I realized that he is a leader, at 15 years old. He really does have the ability to work with groups, collaborate, come to a consensus, and move on. Some of those skills he's learned through school, some though family, some through teaming, some in his online worlds, some from being a student in many different schools as part of a military family. He's a true 21st Century Learner. I wonder if his teachers have noticed.
I asked him how he got so many contacts, and he admitted, "I'm kind of like the world's diplomat... 'Tribes' recruit me just for that :)" and "I just have a way with words that make people want to do things for me." I of course responded, "that's called charm..."
Got to thinking about the conversation, though, and I realized that he is a leader, at 15 years old. He really does have the ability to work with groups, collaborate, come to a consensus, and move on. Some of those skills he's learned through school, some though family, some through teaming, some in his online worlds, some from being a student in many different schools as part of a military family. He's a true 21st Century Learner. I wonder if his teachers have noticed.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Stop the Motion! Fun Videos for Students and Teachers
Last Friday, I spent the day with a group of students and teachers from a local school district. All of the participants, belong to my I-Team at their schools (Instructional Technology Empowered Academic Mentors). Students and teachers in this group dedicate themselves to learning new ways to use technology to improve learning for themselves and their fellow students and teachers.
What a hoot! We had a great time - and we learned a lot about using this "easy-hard" way to create a video.
Here's the sample video I created for the class:
The school teams chose to create their videos over little kids' story books and made videos appropriate to show to the Kindergarten and First Grade students at their schools. When they have completed editing their soundtracks, they will show the videos to their schools, and they will write letters to the authors and publishers of the books, in hopes that they can get permission to display their videos on their web sites and upload them to SchoolTube and TeacherTube.
We'll also be sharing the fun we had creating the videos; we took about four-hundred photos of our teams creating the videos!
What a hoot! We had a great time - and we learned a lot about using this "easy-hard" way to create a video.
Here's the sample video I created for the class:
The school teams chose to create their videos over little kids' story books and made videos appropriate to show to the Kindergarten and First Grade students at their schools. When they have completed editing their soundtracks, they will show the videos to their schools, and they will write letters to the authors and publishers of the books, in hopes that they can get permission to display their videos on their web sites and upload them to SchoolTube and TeacherTube.
We'll also be sharing the fun we had creating the videos; we took about four-hundred photos of our teams creating the videos!
Another Lesson on Learning
Here we are, year 2009. Eight years past 2001, the year made famous by the movie 2001 A Space Odessey.
And here we are, many of us, still educating our children in the same way, with the same content, that we experienced in school. For some of us, that means teaching children in elementary school in the same way we experienced school FIFTY YEARS AGO! What are we thinking?
Last week, I was traveling to a meeting with two younger (OK much younger) male colleagues. They sat in the front, and I freely eavesdropped on their discussions about the TV series Lost. What did I learn?
That their discussion involved plot, theme, characterization, conflict, foreshadowing, setting, point of view, ideas about the writers, speculation about where the plot would go next, problems with the writing from one season to the next, and so on and on… I was pretty fascinated. All of this literary-style criticism, from two young men discussing a television show.
It struck me that if I were to go back into the classroom again, I would do so many things in reverse order from the way I taught before. For instance, if I were teaching a tried and true novel, take The Grapes of Wrath as an example. Instead of starting with the book, Id start with the screenplay. How does a staff of writers take a great novel and turn it into an equally great, compelling movie? What is involved in doing this? We’d watch the movie, then go back and deconstruct the movie. We’d use the Internet to research screenplay writers. We’d answer questions about theme, plot, characters, and lighting, and scenes. We’d talk about the decisions involved in writing a screenplay. Obviously, not every single detail in a great novel can be transferred to a movie. What about characters’ thoughts? Why do they sometimes combine characters? Why do some parts of the novel end up being left out? And so on . . .
After we’d deconstructed that movie, then we’d break out the book. And as we read, we’d compare and contrast that novel and that movie. We’d have created a great entry point into the story, and we’d capitalize on that until every student had a way into the book.
This, to me, would be a great way to help our students link various forms of literacy into their learning. And the LEARNING is what it’s about, isn’t it?
And here we are, many of us, still educating our children in the same way, with the same content, that we experienced in school. For some of us, that means teaching children in elementary school in the same way we experienced school FIFTY YEARS AGO! What are we thinking?
Last week, I was traveling to a meeting with two younger (OK much younger) male colleagues. They sat in the front, and I freely eavesdropped on their discussions about the TV series Lost. What did I learn?
That their discussion involved plot, theme, characterization, conflict, foreshadowing, setting, point of view, ideas about the writers, speculation about where the plot would go next, problems with the writing from one season to the next, and so on and on… I was pretty fascinated. All of this literary-style criticism, from two young men discussing a television show.
It struck me that if I were to go back into the classroom again, I would do so many things in reverse order from the way I taught before. For instance, if I were teaching a tried and true novel, take The Grapes of Wrath as an example. Instead of starting with the book, Id start with the screenplay. How does a staff of writers take a great novel and turn it into an equally great, compelling movie? What is involved in doing this? We’d watch the movie, then go back and deconstruct the movie. We’d use the Internet to research screenplay writers. We’d answer questions about theme, plot, characters, and lighting, and scenes. We’d talk about the decisions involved in writing a screenplay. Obviously, not every single detail in a great novel can be transferred to a movie. What about characters’ thoughts? Why do they sometimes combine characters? Why do some parts of the novel end up being left out? And so on . . .
After we’d deconstructed that movie, then we’d break out the book. And as we read, we’d compare and contrast that novel and that movie. We’d have created a great entry point into the story, and we’d capitalize on that until every student had a way into the book.
This, to me, would be a great way to help our students link various forms of literacy into their learning. And the LEARNING is what it’s about, isn’t it?
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