Sharing best practices involving technology

As educators, we all struggle with ways to avoid reinventing the wheel.  The Internet has certainly helped in this regard - it is the 'go to' place for so many ideas, that - when a new idea hits me, my first step is to search the web and see if and how others have approached it.  But what about great ideas and best practices within my own district and building?  Ironically, the ideas put into practice three doors down the hall often seem more remote than than the ones posted to some blog from across the country.

Why is that?  Teachers tend to be islands - we get mired down in the day-to-day, and our 'free time' - prep periods and meeting block times - are far from free - we're grading, designing materials, contacting parents, updating homework sites, meeting with administration, giving extra help... and, at least in my district, budget constraints have eaten into this time even more - we've lost PD time, so meeting slots that might have been spent collaboratively become times for dealing with administrative issues. 

So, how can we address this, and find time to use the resources closest to us - our colleagues in the building?

In my school system, we've created a stipend-based position, the TTL - Teacher Technology Leader.  The idea is that, in each building,  there are a few educators who try to keep their fingers on the technological pulse, as it were, and help their peers gain experience and comfort regarding integrating the new tools into their traditional toolbox.  

Last year was our first go at this - it was a growing process, and the parameters of the role were ambiguous at best.  Most teachers weren't really aware of our role in the buildings, and - with the TTLs themselves in a bit of a gray area - our skills were under utilized.  So, how do we better use this position to help all teachers work more collaboratively, and stay informed regarding ideas and tools that others have found successful, within the time and budgetary constraints of a system?

Here are some ideas I have...

*I learned that, at the elementary schools in my district,  they have a ‘coaching substitute” - a floating sub who can cover classes in order for a teacher to go observe / get PD.  This is a great idea (why didn't my school know about this?) - this gives educators a chance to step out of their room and into that classroom down the hall, to observe that new tool / idea in use...
 
*... which brings up the next question - how can we help teachers know what great ideas are available in the building, so they can make an informed decision about who and what to observe?  I think the TTLs should work as a hub for disseminating good models of technology use in the building – basically, we can reach out to staff, with emails, brief reminders at meetings etc., encouraging teachers to share what they are doing with us.  We can then set up a time to observe it ourselves, and report back to department heads to then encourage use and discussion amid the department staff.  We could set up a spreadsheet on which people can sign up to observe a class - using Google Calendar's new appointment feature, potentially, and help streamline the process.
 
*The key is that we need to firm up a structure / framework from top down, and encourage greater effective use of technology, along with collaboration.  What has tended to happen is we’ve had good ideas floating around the building but, as with most great ideas, actually sharing and implementing them beyond the individual rooms can be difficult... Using the TTLs as a conduit seems to make some sense in this regard.
 
*Beyond this, we can also firm up a schedule / opportunities for TTLs to coach our peers – set periods where we can go in and help other teachers (1 or 2 of our meeting periods per week) plus other times where we can get a dept chair to help cover a class while we go set something up / guide someone in tech use or run a mini pd for a period, perhaps in conjunction with a teacher who has successfully implemented a lesson.

*As part of this, we will probably start with a weekly email to staff, highlighting one idea or one tool that teachers may want to put to use, and directing staff to this blog or another site for more information.  The key is to keep that email brief, so it will actually be read, and not become another piece of spam fodder...

It seems to me that the key is to have a good, clearly defined set of descriptors for the TTLs - a clear process and structure that is consistently applied.

How has your system addressed these needs?  What other ideas are floating around??

An Interesting way to organize online resources

While link hopping the other day, I stumbled across this little Web tool - with some interesting potential for the classroom.



Basically, it allows you to create tabbed pages that resemble a standard accordion binder in the visual layout:

In each tab, you can upload or link to content that is thematically related to your binder's topic - up to a total of 100MB per account (this is the free version - it's still in Beta, and they will eventually have a pay version with more bells and whistles).

Once you register, you can start creating binders, which you store on your "shelves"  What is a shelf, you ask? A shelf is where you can save any binders you find interesting - whether created by you or others - making it easy to access the content that most interests you.You can then embed either binders or entire shelves into your webpage.

 Creating a binder is easy, using their fairly intuitive interface (the first item on your shelf when you register is a how-to manual that walks you through the process).  You can quickly embed webpages, images, videos, sound files, text documents... of course, with the 100 MB limit, you'll want to use more links than actual uploaded files - put the videos on YouTube and the docs / presentations on Google Docs and you'll save yourself a ton of space...



So, how is this different from just creating a regular webpage or blog, and why should you use it in your classroom?  At first, I wasn't sure I'd want to incorporate this - after all, there are always new things bubbling up, and many of them really don't add a whole lot to the table.  However, as I played around with the site and searched through the content, I found that it has some potential:

• Within a tab, you can embed a live webpage, with text next to or beneath it - this allows you to guide students to the facets of the webpage which you deem important, or to post questions for them to answer as they explore the page. 
• The format is more visually appealing than a standard page of links - with a caveat: I saw a number of binders where the author was a bit excessive in the use of sub-tabs - so, underneath the main tab, I'd find three lines of sub-page titles - visually confusing and entirely overwhelming.  SO, when used judiciously, it can be a nice way to draw students in.
• Looking through the binders created by others, I've found they cover a wide range of topics - with some careful searching, you can find some very good resource binders for your students or yourself. 
• By embedding a binder into your webpage, you can create handout or research collections that are well organized and easily accessible, without cluttering your main page with links.

Overall, I think this tool can have a place in classrooms - when used well.  As with any online content, a binder only as good as its author - so make sure to really cull through a binder before you decide to add it to your page or shelf and, when you create one, make sure to keep up with the content!

Web tools to give history context

Free Technology for Teachers has turned me on to a couple sites that, together, can be very powerful ways for students to contextualize time and place.

The first tool is Historypin - the video below highlights the new features, as of their July upgrade:

You can access Historypin via the internet or through an Android app.  Online, there's an interactive map, where students can zoom in to a region and, as seen in the video, look at historic pictures and videos overlaid on a modern shot of the same location.

This is the sort of thing I could toy with for hours - to see what was, juxtaposed onto what is, is fascinating.  They also have audio clips, collections of photos based on various themes, tours of a region based on an historic theme...

And if you install the Android app, you can use your phone to view historic photos of the location where you are standing -- provided they have those pics on file, or you can upload your own to create a tour of your town, or a field trip location...

How would I use this in the classroom?  I can think of a number of applications:

• In a history classroom, this could be incredibly powerful - especially when studying traumatic events like WW II - students can really grasp the level of devastation when viewing modern scenes, overlaid with pictures of, say Dresden after the bombing.
• Create a local history tour, for kids to grasp how their community has changed over time: visit your local library and get permission to scan / access historic photos, upload them to the site and link them to a current map.  This could then be the basis for reflective writing, research...
• Classic photos are a great writing prompt tool - getting students to step into the minds and shoes of someone from another era, reflecting on the world through their eyes.

And this brings me to the second tool:

This project has received a lot of buzz, as well it should.  On 10-10-10, people across the globe were asked to film their lives, and upload the footage.  Together, these clips are being produced into one video that gives a snapshot of human life, on one day, on every continent.  This video reminds me of another one - Babies - designed, similarly, to show our common humanity among our differences.  Here are the trailers for both movies:

Often, we humans have a tendency to classify those who are different as 'the other' - losing touch with some of our common humanity.  These videos bring us back in touch with one another, allowing us to see some of our commonality amid our differences.

How would I use these in the classroom?  As I've mentioned, my students read a book based in Afghanistan - giving them some videos of daily life from that part of the earth, videos of normalcy beyond the ravages of war, would help them connect to the characters.  This could apply to any cultural study...

So, there you have it.  A couple great web tools for bringing our students closer to the times and places they study - and, more importantly, to the people who inhabit these locations.

KWL for the New Literacies Era

One of the basics in the teacher toolbox is the old KWL chart - you know the one, where you introduce a new topic by having kids brainstorm what they Know and what they Want to know, and then revisit the chart at the end to document what they have Learned.  That's all well and good, but - by hopping from the intro to the conclusion, it misses the whole process.

Thanks to Langwitches, and the Curriculum Mapping Institute, we have a couple new takes on this old tool.
Here's the first:

One little letter can change anything:  the H is for "How will we find out" - looking ahead to the process of discovery - and can also be post-reflection: "How did we learn it?"  This is critical for the critical skills we're teaching our kids - they are immersed in sources of information and knowledge, and tracking this process - making them active participants in the discovery of information - livens the old KWL and focuses their efforts on the research itself.  

How to implement this?  One problem I've had with traditional KWL charts is the chart paper part - I'd fill one out, and forget about it... or lose it in some stack on top of a cabinet, where all old posters go to die... (yes, I know, I should leave it on the easel of chartpaper, and flip back to it, but I never keep that big easel kicking around, either...)  Why not create a digital, web-based chart that students can update throughout a unit, perhaps requiring posts at key points throughout?  This can be done on a blog, or on a Web 2.0 app like Wallwisher:

Here, I created four columns - one for each stage - and the nice thing with Wallwisher is students can embed links to whatever resources they discover during the process.  Anyone can add to the poster, and it is viewable at any time.

For those who really enjoy acronyms, the chart has also been expanded to this:

This format takes the KWL to another level, and is particularly good for action projects - where students are expected to take what they've learned and apply it to real-life problems and situations, to make change.  Within this, we add on two new phases to the process:

A is for "What ACTIONS will we take?"

Q is for "What QUESTIONS do we now have?"

The Q really anchors the entire thing into a constant process - a growth model that emphasizes learning as continuous, as new knowledge and action leads to further questions worth exploring.

A way to help those procrastinators

Having just read Richard Byrne's post on task management tools for students, I am struck by the potential of one of the tools he describes.

All you do is fill in this simple form, and toggle from the list of due date options (the ELA teacher in me does grate a bit at the grammar of "This needs done," but I'll get over it).  You can choose a time frame - today, 2 days from now, in a week, two weeks, etc.

Once you hit send, the recipient will get reminders until they respond that the task is completed.

While I wouldn't use this with all students - it would be tedious at best, and annoying and enabling at its worst - it could be quite useful for a few chronic procrastinators, or for the occasional parent who really needs to keep on top of what the child is doing towards a particular task.

Fakebook - a nice way to do character analysis

On my team last year, the social studies teacher had students creating imaginary Facebook pages to demonstrate their understanding of historic figures.  The students planned them out on a template, then created paper versions of the imagined online profiles.  The results were good, but the irony of creating a paper simulacrum of a digital identity really stood out.  I imagined using a similar tool in my class, wherein students would track a character's development through a profile page - for A Midsummer Night's Dream, I could imagine Oberon's profile:  for relationship status, he's put "it's complicated;"  his current status could easily be "is invisible and watching two humans argue."  He would friend almost any female that crossed his path, be alternately attached to and then unfriended by Titania, etc.

What held me back was the paper aspect.

Along comes Fakebook - a very easy to use mock up of a Facebook profile page.  Students click on fields and fill in the details - creating a product with no concerns about formatting, layout, design - it's all there.  Students can save their work, print it, or even embed them into a class page or blog, should they choose and - with some planning - a teacher can quickly review them online or collect paper copies for assessment purposes.

This sort of tool is a great one for teachers just getting their feet wet with online assignments - and it's just one of the many tools available from Classtools.net - I urge everyone to give it a look!