The Digital Native Teacher: 2011

The Internet: Simplified

If there is one ting that I am good at it is teaching. I have been told that I have a way of making complex topics easy to understand. I've decided to take that quality and use it here. I hope to write a series of posts that help to explain how the common computer works. As the title implies I hope to make this as simple as possible. You won't be able to get a certification from reading these posts but they may inspire you to learn a little further.

I thought I would start with something that every one uses and it seems that nobody really understands;

The Internet

opte.org

The internet is a complicated animal. Most people get what the internet is in the most basic sense, a collection of computers that share information with one another. What people don't understand is how. Think about it; how does a computer in Philadelphia retrieve information from a computer in California?

Webpages:
When you visit a website you are requesting information. The information being requested is spread all around the world. Everything on the internet is stored somewhere in some internet code (HTML, CSS, Ajax, Javascript, etc) that the browser must translate. This storage place is known as servers. Web hosting companies sell server space to people to store their web pages on their servers. When you type in a web address you are requesting that page of code, your browser then translates that code into something you can read and understand.

The Browser:
Everyone has their preferred browser. Whether it be Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Chrome, or some other browser they all are doing the same general thing when you visit a website. They translate the code that the computer understands into text, images and videos that you can read and view. You can check out the code your browser is translating by doing the following: If you are in Firefox or Chrome press CTRL+U, if in IE go to Page>View Source. Early web-pages were composed entirely of this code. Your browser is able to read this code and create the pages you view.

The Web Address:
When you type in a web address such as http://www.digitalnativeteacher.blogspot.com you are contacting the DNS (Domain Name System). This is a collection of names that hosts like GoDaddy, Network Solutions and NameCheap sell to users. These names link to an IP address, which is the actual location of content you are trying to access. The simplest way to explain why DNS is used is to think about your own name. Imagine if instead of being able to remember all of your friend's names you had to identify them by their phone numbers alone. You can see how that would be confusing. An IP address is a set of numbers that acts not unlike your phone number. It tells the browser where it is sending the information request to, and if the connection is successful it sends the requested information back. Try typing 74.125.43.147 into your browser and seeing what happens. Even without the actual domain name you still arrive at the destination. The DNS just makes it easier to remember.

This is just a basic overview of how the internet works. If you are interested check out the links below for a more in depth look at how the internet works.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-infrastructure.htm
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/internet-works-infographic/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_LPdttKXPc

A Google a Day

Have you ever wanted to test your search skills? How about find out useless trivia that you will never be required to recall again? Well have I got the tool for you!

A Google a Day is a new Google play-thing that gives you a question and provides you with a 1-day old search box (to avoid any spoilers via increased searching for that topic) to answer the question. It could be a useful warm-up for students while they get settled in class as well as a way for them to practice their searching skills (it has a timer).

Have Fun!

Have Your Students Build Multi-touch Tablets for Under $15

...and learn about optical multi-touch techniques in the process

I found the above video on StumbleUpon a couple of months ago. That video led me to this link about building a cheap and easy multi-touch display called the MTmini. Apparently I was to busy to think but I had the good sense to at least bookmark the link in Diigo. While looking ahead in my curriculum I realized that next quarter we start talking about computer peripherals and in that is a section about multi-touch displays.

I remembered the link and started looking online for where I could find the necessary parts and how much they would cost. I decided to stash the links I find here so that others can use them (and so I can find them later).

What You'll Need

Here is the list of the required items with links and costs. I will update the list if I notice a price change or if the item no longer available at the link:

Cardboard/Plastic Box- Depending on the amount of displays you plan on making you can either find an appropriate sized box around the house or buy packs of 25 at Staples. Tip: ship to a local store to avoid shipping costs.

Cost: approx. $1.50/box ($36 for a pack of 25)

Clear Acrylic/Glass- Check your local hardware stores or sign shops for deals on clear acrylic (glass may be to fragile). 1/8" thickness should be enough for a small display. You can order pre-cut sheets here cut to the specific size for the box you bought. Tip: order the sheet 1/16"-1/8" oversize to ensure a secure fit.

Cost: $3.75 per 12"x12" sheet (15% discount on 10 or more)

Paper- You will need on standard size sheet of printer paper per tablet. You most likely have access to enough sheets of standard paper around your school or home. If not you can grab a ream at Staples when you pick up your boxes.

Cost: Free-$6.00

Webcam- The instructions say any generic webcam will do but recommends a Sony Eye-Toy. You can find both on Amazon for about the same price

Cost: approx $5+shipping

Computer- This is only item that I am not going to include on the list. You will need a computer for each MTmini you are going to build

Cost: Already Owned

Software- All required downloads are listed on the website.

Cost: Free

Total Cost per Student= $10-$15

This project is an excellent way to teach students about optical multi-touch techniques as well as how to install and troubleshoot drivers and software. The website this is derived from has project guidelines that allow students to start with the above project and gradually build up to making a full size multi-touch surface like the one in the video below. I am planning on doing this with my students around the beginning of December, I will update with tips and tricks to pulling this off as soon as I can.

Teachers Are Like Silicon Valley CEOs...

Read Write Web is one of the best sites available for interesting articles that may or may not apply to education but are interesting none the less. This was what attracted me to this article titled, "The Pay-It-Forward Culture: Silicon Valley's Practical Generosity". Written by Steve Blank the article describes the culture present in Silicon Valley from the 1960's through today which helps entrepreneurs and start-ups by providing information and lessons that can only be learned through years of experience. This immediately reminded me of the current culture among teachers.

Just like the CEOs described in the article, teaching is becoming a pay-it-forward culture. However we are actually taking the idea to another level. While the Silicon Valley culture is mostly limited to Silicon Valley, teachers have leveraged social media in order to more easily share the things that help one another succeed. Those that participate are able to leverage the collective intelligence of thousands of other educators. Reaching out to other educators who collectively have seen much more within the world of education than your local network could ever hope to experience.

We as educators should take it as a point of pride that we have been able to so easily migrate from our own local PLN's to the global teacher network that has become quite powerful on social networking sites sch as Twitter. In the past 30 days "Education" peaked at .11% of Twitter traffic (for comparison the term "Emmys" peaked at 2.29% this year).

While that doesn't seem like alot it must be understood that Twitter recently announced 100 million "active users" (users that post at least once a month). That means nearly 110,000 Twitter users were posting something relating to the topic of education.

Even assuming 25% of those posts were actually irrelevant to educators that leaves 80,000+ posts relevant to education. That means that if an educator were to log onto Twitter on a given day they could potentially have access to thousands of educators actively sharing their thoughts and ideas, most of which can be highly relevant to that person. Scott McLeod had a great post on 20 great things an educator would have found if they were on Twitter the day before.

As educators we must be on top of the latest trends and changes within our society. As cliche as it may sounds we are literally teaching the future. We must know what is coming to the best of our ability, and be willing to share that information as openly as possible. Silicon Valley CEOs may be creating the future, but we are creating the Silicon Valley CEOs. So get out there and network, and remember to pay-it-forward.

Irresistable

This comic is based on an experience my wife had on her first day back to school.

I'm always looking for stories to illustrate. Got a great one? Let me know!

3 Wishes...

You took this photo

You are spending your last days off for summer on a beautiful beach in Hawaii (I can dream can't I?). You decide to take a stroll along the coast in order to take in the scenery. You are enjoying the walk, digging your toes into the wet sand as the tide kicks up to your bare ankles. Suddenly you wince in pain as your toe stubs an object buried in the sand. You reach down and uncover a lamp. It looks old, but through the aged dirt and grime there seems to be some writing etched into the side. You attempt to clear the dirt away with your hand when suddenly the lamp begins to shake and a large burst of smoke envelopes you. A genie has flown out of the lamp and proceeds to offer you three wishes, however there is a catch. The genie explains that he is a former educator, and explains that while you have three wishes you must use those wishes to improve your classroom. You can't wish for smarter students or a new room (not the most talented genie) but you can wish for new items to be put in your room. What do you wish for? Here is what I would ask for:

#1 IdeaPaint

I fell in love with this stuff from the moment I heard of it. IdeaPaint is a paintable whiteboard. After having read several reviews on the product I have a high confidence that it work exactly as advertised. Imagine having a white board the size of the wall, letting students create giant graphic organizers and illustrate ideas on a canvas as big as their imagination. Or how about painting desks or tables in your room. Allowing students to collaborate by spilling their mind directly onto the table. Check out the video below to see IdeaPaint in action.

Students draw on their desk because they simply can't keep the ideas in their own head. Let them free their mind and decorate their own space without the fear of having to clean it all up. Plus it can be really enjoyable to just let loose over once in a while.

Coloring! This kid loves it!

#2 Surface Table

Let's take the idea of student desk interaction a little further. Several years ago Microsoft introduced their Surface table. A large multi-touch interactive table which allows users to interact with photos, videos and files using natural gestures. This would have an incredible impact in a classroom, allowing multiple students to interact with the lesson simultaneously. Below is a video of a surface table in a classroom

Here is the best part of this whole post, a link from Maximum PC which not only describes the theory behind how a multi-touch surface works (with little illustrations) but also how to construct one yourself for around $500. Considering these tables cost several thousand dollars a piece $500 is nothing. The best part is the build can be accomplished with a few basic tools and some general know-how about electronics. I am currently working on funding to have my senior computer tech class build one of these in order to show off at the yearly "open-house" my school has. This would be a show stopper and I think that my students would be able to handle this build.

#3 Tablets

I am lucky enough to have a forward thinking school with a 1-1 initiative starting this year. I do think however that netbooks are quickly becoming a thing of the past as people notice that tablets fit perfectly in that phone-to-laptop niche.

Now I don't have a definite stance on what tablet would be most useful in a school setting (I'm not exactly an Apple fanboy). For a few months I heard a lot of talk about a company called Kno who was getting into the tablet game with a focus on education however they soon back tracked (the tablets were incredibly expensive and looked rather unwieldy) and said they would focus only on the software.

Turns out that was probably a good idea. Kno recently announced they are up and running and they are not taking the challenge lightly. They offer over 10,000 textbooks on everything from Math to Computer Technology, and these aren't just online versions of old textbooks. There are iPad, online and Facebook flavors, with each getting great new features often. Students can highlight, annotate and mark-up any place in the book and then share those mark-ups with each other via various methods. While the iPad is the only supported tablet right now I predict that we will be seeing great things from Kno, and I believe that they may become a standard in schools in the near future.

What would you wish for in your classroom? Let me know in the comments.

Open Source Professional Development

There has been quite a push recently for open source software. For those of you not familiar open source refers to software where the source code is readily available. This means that anybody can access the code, make changes and release the result themselves. Because the code is freely available there isn't one person who must track and fix bugs and generate updates. This leads to a piece of software which improves at an exponential rate as it becomes more popular and more developers begin adopting it.

Popular open source programs

With the open source initiative consumers are given a choice in the software they use. They are no longer forced to pay hundreds of dollars for software. Why can't the same open source theory apply to professional development? A similar model has already been developed by the creators of EdCamp, an free "unconference" which promotes the sharing of ideas via fellow teachers, not hired guns delivering presentations.

The Open Source initiative follows four "freedoms" set out by Richard Stallman in his Free Software Definition. Those freedoms can be easily adjusted to fit the idea of an open source professional development (italics are modified from original);

The freedom to run the session, for any purpose (freedom 0).

The freedom to study how the session works, and change it so it fits your needs as you wish (freedom 1). Access to the source material is a precondition for this.

The freedom to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor (freedom 2).

The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others (freedom 3). By doing this you can give the whole community a chance to benefit from your changes. Access to the source material is a precondition for this.

In an open source professional development model teachers would develop and lead professional development sessions within their school. Those teachers would then share their presentations/sessions under a creative commons license, making them usable and re-mixable by other teachers.

With an open source PD model it would be much easier to disseminate ideas throughout schools. Teachers passionate about education could help their fellow teachers develop new methods to use within the classroom while saving schools money that could be put toward much better uses.

Do any of your school districts use in-house talent for PD sessions? How does that work out?

Happy B-Day #edchat

#Edchat turns 2!

There is always a reason for Perry Bible Fellowship comics

And this article in USA Today is butter-cream frosting on an already delicious cake!

Mmmmmm... Butter-cream....

We're Pretty Awesome at Teaching

Love XKCD and thought that this comic worked in general.

Is there anything we can't teach a computer to do better than us?

What to Expect as the Local "Tech Guru"

I have lived my life as the local "computer guy". I grew up in a family of computer people, always able to pick up a computer or any other type of technology and be able to use it in a matter of hours. This has usually been a gift I am glad to have, however as with any other gift it comes with it's drawbacks.

There are several great comics out there about being the local tech guru of your workplace. Specifically this flowchart by the genius over at XKCD and this one by the other genius known as The Oatmeal. But it hit me hard the other day that people really don't understand how differentiated the world of computers really is.

Hello? NASA? I have the launch codes.

Most people don't understand that most tech people are not what they are portrayed to be in the media. Movies enforce the stereotype that any lanky guy with a stupid t-shirt and ugly facial hair are able to use your cell phone to contact a government agency and hack into their data base using a voice modulator they made by crossing a yellow and fuchsia wire under the battery terminal.

In order to dispel this rumor I have set to task explaining some common misconceptions about those people that happily call themselves nerds and geeks.

I Can't Hack Things.

I know you've seen movies where I people are able to sit down at a computer and within 30 seconds have access to a government satellite, the CIA and FBI databases and your personal bank account.

Now you have hacking skillz equal only to my own.

The shame of it is it never quite works out that way. Just because I know how to use your cell phone before you do doesn't mean I can steal the identity of the guy that cut you off on your way to work this morning.

I Can't Make the Internet Faster.

Just a word of advice; if you notice the internet is slow chances are I have already noticed the problem, began the process of troubleshooting the problem, and have probably narrowed it down to several possibilities. But unless I happen to also be the IT guy at your office, I have no power over the internet. I may be able to tell you what is going on but I can't really make it go any faster. Unless of course it's simply because you have 32 tabs open to varying YouTube clips of cats getting stuck in boxes, in which case I'll be glad to make you feel stupid.

I Don't Know Anything about that Website You Saw Last Week.

Chances are that if you are the Local Tech Guru at your school or office you spend a decent portion of you time surfing the net finding fun and interesting websites to share. This is a great thing to do, however those of you who do this realize that there is also a downside to all this sharing. People around my school ask me daily what that site was that they found that does such and such. Everytime they ask I am forced to tell them that I am not sure of what they are talking about.

You know... That one

The Internet is MASSIVE. There are an estimated 255 Million Websites on the Internet. Google has indexed less than 1% of the estimated 5 Million TB of information available out there. Send me the link. I will most likely be surprised.

I Don't Know What Computer You Should Buy.

One of the questions I get asked more than any other is some variation of the following, "My son/daughter needs a new computer/laptop for school. Which one should I get?" Here's the problem with that statement, there are several very viable brands with many different computer versions with hundreds of variations on each version.
There are several different ways this answer could play out; if you are family I will offer to take a trip out to the store with you and help you choose the right system, if you are a casual acquaintance (or if I am just trying to be nice) I will ask a few questions and might even print out a few options for you to choose from. If I don't know you / don't like you however I will tell you that there is not way for me to choose out of the hundreds of available options. In fact Let me Google that for you!

Get this one!

As the local tech guru you can expect alot of questions and requests from those around you, these are just a few of the questions that I get asked on a consistent basis. Let me know in the comments if there are any questions you think I forgot.

#teachtips

I want you to think back to your first day as a teacher (some of you may have to think harder than others). Think about the uncertainty, the questions, the fear; now think about where you turned for help in you times of need.

I've had a passion for Education Technology & Reform for nearly 3 years now. When my wife became a teacher I started finding tools for her to use in her classroom. That soon developed into a desire to teach and 6 months ago I started a new job as a new teacher. However when I started teaching I noticed something alarming; there wasn't much out there for new teachers to easily use for their own personal growth. Now don't get me wrong, PLC's (Personal Learning Communities) are great, but the differences between a community and a network are huge. A network allows for someone to go outside of their comfort zone, get outside of their school walls and connect with people from all over the globe with something enlightening to say. I am lucky enough to be fairly tech savvy and very curious (a potent mix) and have been able to pull teaching tips from out of the rubble that is the internet.

But what about those new teachers that aren't tech savvy enough to dredge through all the crap that is out there? What about those that don't have veteran teachers around them that promote and help build a PLN? What about those that don't know who or where they can turn to in a time of need?

This is the void I hope for #teachtips to fill.

I want one place for teachers who care about making a difference in education to point those new and lost souls to find resources, links, thoughts, ideas, lesson-plans, research and anything else that could be of great use. I want to turn #teachtips into not only a Twitter tag but a tag on Diigo, Delicious, Flickr and anything else that the Twittersphere sees fit.

You can't move forward with
this thing attached to you

So lets make these new teachers' jobs a little easier. Let's make it easier for us to get these new teachers (the future of education mind you) into the discussion of education reform and technology in the classroom. If we hope to make a change to the way classrooms are run, we need to get these teachers that are fresh in the field, before they have a chance to burn out a become another potential anchor holding back progress.

Your "Teaching in the Cloud" Welcome Package

Welcome to the Online!

Whenever you make a big transition in your life it seems customary for people to give you some kind of welcome package; new house = bottles of wine & ugly plates, new baby = bottles, diapers and some stupid outfit they will grow out of in a week. Moving to a mostly cloud based teaching method is just as big a deal right? Therefore I present to you... fanfare please... Your Teaching in the Cloud Welcome Package!

Google Docs

If you don't have a Google account yet it's time to get out of the 1990's and leave your Yahoo! account (do they still use the "!"?) back there with your Chumbawumba CD (don't lie, you know every word, there's less than 15 in the whole song). Google Docs is an free real-time collaboration tool that makes your classroom work smoother than you could ever dream possible.
The best way to learn Google Docs is to simply try it. Even better, try it with a friend. The best thing about Google Docs is the ability for 2+ people to collaborate in real-time on several common document types.

From a standard text document to an Excel style spreadsheet to a PowerPoint-like presentation, all are available from any web browser or even your phone. If you don't try any other item on this list, make it Google Docs.

Here is a great video from Common Craft that gives a simple and elegant explanation of Google Docs:

Dropbox

This is one of those services that I didn't realize I needed until I found it. Imagine the scenario: There you are, at your computer ready for your big presentation (to your class of students or peers or whatever) when suddenly you realize you left your USB storage device at home. Don't lie, it's happened to you. Any time we are secured to physical device that we must remember we as humans are destined to forget it whenever we need it most. This is where Dropbox comes in.

Dropbox is cloud-based storage service that is accessible from both the online service at www.dropbox.com or through a small program installed on your machine that simulates a standard folder on your operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux or your cell phone). It is simple to use and extremely useful, with helpful uses for both beginners and advanced users. With 2Gbs of storage costing $0 and plans for more storage costing as little as $10 a month, this service is too good to pass up.

Once again I bow to the guys at Common Craft for creating an incredible video describing the Dropbox service.

Edmodo

Should you as a Teacher have contact with your students on Facebook? Yes, No, Maybe? Edmodo is a service that attempts to create a service with the benefits of Facebook while overcoming the privacy concerns that come with a company created by a drunk college student.

This goof created the most notorious
time-suck currently in existence

Most students seem to be able to use Facebook instinctively as if it's their left arm, and while Edmodo has a slight learning curve, they should be able to pick it up with ease. Edmodo is your go-to service to keep in contact with your class and if you can get them involved, the rest of your faculty. The Edmodo in my school is used for assigning homework, taking class polls, scheduling net book carts, sharing links, file-sharing and more. The best part however is that there is a large user base, which means excellent ideas on uses such as these and these.

Edmodo is an easy and comprehensive way to show reluctant teachers a great use for technology, and with their excellent privacy features you can easily bring some over from the "dark side" of the educational "force".

Twitter

This is what most people think of when they think of Twitter. Possibly NSFC (not safe for class):

Twitter has come a long way since it's beginning. It took awhile for people to find a use for it that didn't involve what they had for breakfast or their gastrointestinal movements.

With the use of "hashtags" Twitter has found it's niche as a way to quickly share ideas and thoughts about any number of subjects. As a teacher, Twitter should be a essential resource in your PLN (Personal Learning Network). I won't get into the details of how to use Twitter as an educator, but I will recommend 2 important things: Use a Twitter client (Hootsuite and Tweetdeck are great) and use hashtags (#edchat, #edtech and #edreform should get you started).

Conclusion

These are only 4 of many resources you can use to make your life easier. However the cloud is not going away, and these resources should be enough to get you started.

Got any resources you think everyone must use in their classroom? Let me know in the comments.

The Broken Classroom Theory

Theres still one left!! Let's smash it!!

A recent Huffington Post article does an excellent job explaining all the reasons that zero tolerance policies tend to fail. As I was reading it I started thinking about about a chapter I read in a book called Freakonomics.

Freaknomics was one of the most influencial books I've ever read in terms of changing the way I look at the world but the chapter that really stuck with me discussed the concept of the Broken Window Theory. The theory also gets a interesting treatment in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell.

The Broken Window Theory goes like this:

You are walking by a old abandoned building. The building is obviously deserted and decrepit, the sidewalks are cracked, the walls are stained with graffiti and nearly half of the windows are completely shattered. You notice a chuck of concrete sitting next to your foot. You take a glance around and realize that if you were to throw that rock into one of the still intact windows, nobody would ever know. How likely would you be to smash a window, or at least throw the rock?

Now imagine the same building, still deserted, but now the building has been kept clean looking. The windows are all intact, and graffiti that has been painted on it has been removed and there have been attempts to fix any cracks in the sidewalk that may have formed. You have the same chunk of concrete in your hand and are still the only person around. Now how likely are you to throw the rock at the building?

According to the theory, people constantly monitor their surroundings to determine the social norms of that place. In a surrounding that people feel is already negative, they are more likely to act negatively. In a positive and protective surrounding they are more likely to protect the things and people around them.

Think about how a riot breaks out, all it takes is one person to begin tipping over trashcans, and as people see that act going unpunished the violence can spread very quickly.

New York City famously employed this theory in order to turn around the rise in crime in the 1980's. By increasing enforcement of small crime (like turnstile jumping) they were able to show that no small crime would go unpunished and therefore would deter more people from committing that same crime. By whitewashing graffiti immediately after it was finished, they took away the incentive of those that would tag those areas.

Zero Tolerance policies seem to be based around a similar method, however they have perverted the very aspect that makes it work. The theory does not call for every small crime to be punished the same as every large crime, simply that it be punished. The turnstile jumpers were not treated to the same punishment as someone who robbed the local convenience store, but instead was attempting to show that even a small crime cannot be overlooked.

I feel schools should take on this same mentality. Instead of treating a child who brought a LEGO toy holding a gun to school like a columbine shooter they should punish him in a manner that is more fitting to the crime. Students are not criminals. They are not in jail and should not be treated as such. We expect them to enjoy going to school and then arrest them for doodling on a desk.

As we continue our forward thinking about the method in methods used to educate our students, we need to address other reason they don't want to come to school, including some of the more inane discipline policies.

This post expresses the thoughts of the author alone and is not indicative of the thoughts of the authors employers or any school district or school.

PBL, the Missing Piece of the Puzzle

I was referred to this site during EduCon, and this video was one that really caught my attention...

I am trying to implement a more project based approach at my own school, and this video has great examples of what a PBL environment can really be.

While there was lots of thinking happening while I watched the video, the most profound moment was when I realized that PBL just felt... Right.

With all this talk about students owning their own education and doing things that relate to the real world and how it works, PBL is like that elusive puzzle piece. The one you need to write the company for because it contains the head of Jimi Hendrix from your vintage Woodstock collectors edition puzzle. Until that piece is in place the whole thing was just a waste of time.

Have successfully initiated Project Based Education in your own classrooms? Any tips on how to make it happen easier?

Knowing You Have Created a Community of Learners

My professor made an interesting comment recently. As a principal for over 9 years he realized that the best way to discover if a teacher has created a "community of learners" is to look at how the classroom acts when the teacher is not there. Does learning continue? Are the students able to continue doing what they are asked to do without the regular teacher in place?

This struck me as a very interesting idea. As a teacher, how will my students react when I am not around? Do they continue to work regularly? Do they act out and attempt to do their own thing instead of staying on task? This is a very interesting measure of the effectiveness of your community. How does yours measure up?

EdReform Divide?

Like many of you out there I spent this past weekend at EduCon in Philadelphia. I have learned so much and took away many positive ideas about the future of education.

One thought kept eating at me though.

Although EduCon is not a technology conference, it is obvious that most of us that attend are at least above average in our use of technology. As I heard many people discuss and share ideas, much of what they spoke about included an assumption that technology was necessary in the schools. I agree with this, but are we creating a divide between those of us who understand things like Twitter, Diigo, Blogging, etc and those who don't?

Later that night those thoughts literally hit home. As I was talking to my wife (also a teacher) about all the things that were racing through my head about education reform and everything that needs to change she looked me square in the eyes and said "right now, I just want to not be a teacher." As weird as that was for me to hear (I live and breathe #edreform and #edtech). It showed me that while the things happening are powerful to us, it is nothing compared to what is being thrown about by the people actually in charge of most schools.

This type of change is what the term "grass roots" was made for. We have an obligation to those around us (teacher, parent, student, administrator) to prove that the things we are discussing are real and entirely possible. But we need to be willing to change the way we communicate those ideas to those around us (David Timony made a great Encienda presentation about this at EduCon).

Maybe we need to change the language, or the way we disseminate the ideas. But I think the most important thing we must realize is that some people are not buying what we are selling. I can't claim to know how to do it, but I know that we can figure it out.

3 Little Things That Bug Me

Hopefully you have seen the "Scrollwheel" video based on this Reddit comic. If not view it now (it's short)...

I have experienced this feeling many times before, the following 3 things are comments I have been known to yell at people (I know it's rude but they really bug me). Follow these pointers and I can promise you that I will be polite as you use the scroll bar to move down the page.

"Don't Click The Arrows in PowerPoint!"

There are enough technical mistakes a person can make before they even step up to make their presentation. I can take a poorly designed PowerPoint (not all of us can be presentation Gods), I can take a person stumbling through their presentation because they are ill prepared, but what I can't stand is when somebody changes to the next slide by walking over, grabbing the mouse, looking to the screen, scrolling over and clicking the "next" arrow. There are so many quicker ways to advance slide it is literally not funny. Here is a list of ways to advance to the next slide (available by pressing F1 in the slide show):

1) Click the mouse: Click it anywhere, it will advance
2) Use the Arrow Keys: Up/Down or Left/Right will advance the slide or take a step back to the previous.
3) Pg UP/Pg Down: This will also advance forward or backward.
4) Space Bar: Also advances forward
5) "N"/"P": Advances forward or backward
6) Press Enter: Advances forward
7) Slam Your Hand on the Keyboard: I actually tried this. When in doubt aim for the lower half of the keyboard.
8) Get a Presentation Remote: I recommend this. It's under $10 with shipping.

"TAB to Advance!"

Few things are more gut wrenchingly boring than watching someone else fill out an online form. Please know the following; If you are filling out a form in any browser, you can press TAB to advance to the next fillable area in the form. Trust me, it makes things much faster.

"F11 For Full-Screen Browsing!"

When I use "the internetz" as my students call it to present a new article or application to my class the first thing I do after getting to the page is press "F11". This button will rid your window of all the superfluous items your browser application uses (and in the case of Internet Explorer those dreaded toolbars).

I have witnessed this atrocity in person

Not only does this make whatever you are presenting look better, it also keeps people from discovering any other tabs you might have open. Try it now to experience the difference. You can easily press "F11" or "ESC" to quickly return back to standard browsing.

There are many more tech things that bug but I think that is enough for now. Let me know in the comments about things that bug you.

Get Em' Talking!

image courtesy of zinjixmaggir

I am always looking for ways to get my least active students to participate in class discussions. Many time the student that talks the least will have the most relevant question or comment relating to the topic at hand, however due to fear of being wrong or asking a stupid question they refuse to communicate it out loud. Below are 2 tools that I have had lots of success with in getting those non-communicative students talking and discussing in class.

TodaysMeet.com

TodaysMeet.com (thats with 2 e's, won't make that mistake twice) is a site that facilitates what is known as a "back-channel" chat. The students participate in a closed chat room with a 140 character limit to each message. TodaysMeet could not be easier to set-up and use. Simply navigate to the site, choose your room name, how long it's available for and (optionally) a Twitter Hashtag; hit "Create Room" and your ready to roll. Now you only need to send that link to your class and they can begin commenting. If you have a projector in the front of your room there is a "projector mode" which will display the chat full screen in order to better fit on the projector in the front of the room.
I love this site for quick introductions to topics. I ask a question or for a definition of a term and let the students use any resources they can find to create a concise (remember 140 characters) answer that requires them to synthesize the information they gather into a short but sweet answer.
A warning when using this site: The students are able to create their own user name each time they sign-in. I have each student post their real name next to their user name so that we all know who everyone is. The smart ones will navigate away from the page and return to create a new name but proper moderation will keep this to a minimum.

Google Moderator

Google Moderator is similar to TodaysMeet but with an interesting twist. The students are able to not only able to ask questions and make comments, they can respond to other comments and vote on the questions they want to see answered. This may seem familiar to those of you that have heard of Purdue University's collaborative micro-discussion application HotSeat. Google Moderator brings that incredible power to your classroom (or speaking engagement). While it's mobile functionality seems limited to Android devices if you have an audience that has netbooks or access to a computer lab this can be very useful.
I have used it in several instances for class reviews. Students are able to post any questions they have about our current unit and they then vote on the questions they want answered. We then go from the most popular to the least popular questions and discuss each one.
While setup is not quite as simple as TodaysMeet it is still a very useful and viable way to facilitate class discussion. A word of warning: This application requires a Google account to use. My school uses Google for their email system however we did have some trouble getting some students signed in (luckily Google accounts are free and you can use an existing email address to sign-up).

Both of these sites are very powerful and extremely helpful in facilitating class discussions. I like to use TodaysMeet for the introductions to topics, and Moderator to conclude them. Try them out and see for yourself which you prefer.

Teacher Tenure?

Let me start this by saying that at the time of this writing I am a first year teacher. I currently teach in a private school where tenure doesn't really exist. So the comments I make here are simply me thinking (and typing) out loud. In no way should my musings be mistaken for professional political discourse. Thank You.

Not to long ago I got into a pretty heated debate with my then fiancée (now wife) about tenured teachers. My wife was a teacher at the time of this debate and she stood on the pro tenure side. I myself represented tenure reform side of the debate. We eventually had to stop the discussion because our food arrived and the subject mostly slipped from my mind, until I came across this article. NJ Governor Chris Christie is calling for an end to teacher tenure. Suddenly the memory of that argument came rushing back.

Before I was a teacher I worked in small design shop. I knew that if I did not do my job than I would face being fired. This was known and understood by everyone in my place of employment and nobody really thought anything of it. We did our job, got our paycheck and went home. At that time I thought that the school system should work the same way. Successful Teacher = Learned Student; if that simple equation was not fulfilled than the teacher was not doing their job and should risk being fired. As I began studying to be a teacher however I realized that the equation may be much more complicated than that. I'm no math professor but I think it could look a little more like this: where t=teacher, s=student, p=parent, m=available materials, x=student performance, e=environment; (t+(s*p^2))/-m = x/e. Correct me if I'm wrong but that is to many variables to put on the shoulders of a teacher alone. I do however still believe that the tenure process is too protective in many ways. Check out this chart below to see what a worst case scenario looks like for a tenured teacher who is not doing their job (click image for a larger version);

This is a problem

A teacher that is blatantly not doing their job does not deserve 2-5 years to continue not doing that job. Very few (if any) jobs offer that kind of protection.

One of my professors related a story to me from when he was a principal. He had a tenured teacher who would literally clip his nails during class while the students copied from the text book. My professor (we will call him Mr. A) attempted to start the process of getting this teacher fired. He was unable to get sufficient evidence that he was not doing his job and therefore was unable to proceed. Eventually Mr. A witnessed this teacher push a student into the lockers and Mr. A was finally able to move forward with the process of firing the teacher. Because the accusation involved physical student contact the teacher was suspended with pay while the process began. It took 2 years for the evidence to be gathered, and all the paper to be signed and verified. After all of this, the day before the hearing the teacher's lawyer called the school district and said the teacher would be willing to tender his resignation if the school would simply pay one more year of salary. The school was forced to accept the offer seeing as if the trial went to court the teacher could have appealed and cost the school much more than that one year of salary.

The above story is a worst case scenario, however the opposite can be true as well. Teachers must be protected from arbitrary action against them. One of my excellent friends is a very capable teacher in the public school system and facing the possibility of being fired by the new principal of her school. The principal does not get along with my friend and because she is not tenured she has little protection from an arbitrary dismissal. Without tenure our students face a possible problem with schools attempting to slash budgets and do so by releasing their highest paid (and commonly most effective) teachers.

As I said above I am a first year teacher in a school that does not have to worry about tenure. I am unsure of where I stand on the line. I find myself however balanced very precariously. If someone was able to present a viable option of tenure that did not protect the teachers that were simply incompetent I would probably fall on the side of tenure reform.

Where do you fall on this issue? Do you think that teachers should be protected just as they are? Do you think that there should be a little wiggle room for principals to purge teachers that are under-performing or even prove to be making the school worse?

Collaborators or Cheaters?

Image by humanityhealing

As I was watching my students work collaboratively on a review packet I couldn't help but feel as if they might be cheating. I suddenly realized that I had never really though about the difference between collaborating and cheating. Sir Ken Robinson briefly mentions (10m:05s) collaborating vs. cheating in his RSA talk but while I knew there was a difference I hadn't yet decided what the line was. Can they copy answers from one another? Can they split the work in sections and then group the work together? They have done all of this in my classroom but I've never really considered it cheating.

Before being a teacher I worked for a private business and in that business we constantly collaborated. We know that each person understood a specific set of information and that we could rely on that person to understand their aspect of the project. This can be seen as similar to students in the classroom. When given a group project or told they can work in groups I notice that some students split the work into sections and then once each section is finished they combine the work together. Is there anything wrong with this? I am really not sure. I want the students to learn collaborative skills but I also want them to be able to do well on the tests they need to pass. What bothers me is that I understand that humans naturally collaborate (we evolved to do so), but when all parties involved must learn all of the same facts, is collaboration really beneficial?

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