The Power of Teachers' Collective Voices

Image by HowardLake

This semester I'm taking a class on advocacy and it is expanding my understanding of what advocacy entails. I am learning that being an advocate has many features to it. An advocate is more than someone who speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. Advocates:

• build relationships with others
• plead the cause on behalf of others and are persuasive
• give information to educators, legislators, elected officials, and decision-makers with the hope of influencing them to join their cause
• identify problems that need to be addressed, contact legislators, and encourage them to guide the bill through the legislative process

How powerful is that! As educators, our collective voice has the power to set change in motion. So many educators have powerful stories that our government officials need to hear. Who is a better expert on student learning than those who facilitate that learning everyday?

I am passionate about student access to technology. Not technology for technology sake but the appropriate and meaningful use of technology to support connected, hands-on, student-centered learning. I am passionate about making the four walls of the classroom invisible and allowing students to teach and learn from students & teachers all over the world. It has nothing to do with competing with children from other countries but equipping ALL students with the necessary tools to do their best work everyday and evolve as learners.

Share the same passion? What are some ways that you can get involved?

1. Find out who your elected officials are. Two resources to help you do that are www.Senate.gov and www.house.gov.
2. Email in support of educational technology at http://www.edtechactionnetwork.org/
3. Join your local ed tech organization to find out what they're doing at the state level
4. Browse ISTE's advocacy resources including their templates and starter kits and share them with your teachers, staff, and administrators

In the comments section, share what you're passionate about and how you plan to advocate for your students in 2013.

Week in Review

News
An article about the need for teachers to have professional training in social media
Facebook's planning to allow children under 13 to use their service
Districts prepare to apply for the new Race to the Top grants
10 ways that teachers can be learners
Connecting to a network
The new conference model: edcamps
Mentoring for new teachers
Misconceptions about technology in education

Tools and Apps
Educational apps for student learning during the summer
Collaborative task management tool Any.DO
Free search tools for teachers
Teachers can find educational videos at YouTube EDU

Technology Integration
Tips for Twitter in the classroom
Teaching Internet safety to younger students
8 resources for iPads in education
The value of digital mind mapping

Professional Development Opportunities
Professional Development and resources for teaching online from Edutopia
Digital storytelling webinar (June 13)
Apply for the next Google Teacher Academy in New York (October 3-4)
Digital Teacher series at The Center for Learning
ISTE Conference in San Diego, CA (June 24-27) or attend remotely
Engaging parents webinar (June 21)

"Why" is More Important Than "What"

Image by o5com

I have had the opportunity to serve on a few committees centered on technology integration in the classroom. Many times, there has been a greater emphasis on tools and services, the "what" of technology, and not as much focus on the reasons behind it, the "why."

The "what" places focus on putting a specific tool in the classroom and making it work while the "why"focuses on the objective and which tools would be best for meeting that objective. "Why" creates a vision and "what" creates a to-do list. It is difficult to get people on board if they do not see a value to what they are being asked to do.

What can help teachers become invested in technology in the classroom? An understanding of why it is important. Teachers, administrators, students, and parents need to be able to see and understand the value of technology in the classroom or else it becomes another fad they have to "get through."The "why" includes why technology can add to their teaching; how it will benefit teachers and students as lifelong learners; why it empowers their students. Focusing on the "what" creates a mindset of always feeling behind because technology can be hard to keep up with. There will always be something newer and shinier and chasing tools can lead to dissatisfaction and missing the bigger picture.

Don't misunderstand me, in discussion of technology integration, there must be discussion about appropriate tools and services because  parents, teachers, students, and administrators need to know what resources are available. But, in my opinion, they need to support a larger vision or it will continue to be an uphill battle.

Author Seth Godin wrote an excellent blog post with excellent starter questions.

ZooBurst - 3D Pop-up Books

ZooBurst is an online tool where students can create their own 3D pop-up books. A user can control the look and feel of their book such as page color and background color. Objects can be moved, re-sized and rotated using a mouse. Sound effects, animation and voice recording can be added to each page of the story. Characters can be made clickable so readers can learn more about them or read their dialogue. Pages of the book turn like pages in a real book. By printing a symbol, the user can view and flip through their book using their webcam. Books can be shared with a link or embedded on a website.


Classroom uses for ZooBurst: Teachers can create books for their class and narrate them or have their students create their own stories based on what they see. Students will love creating their own pop-up books individually or collaboratively. ZooBurst gives students a chance to practice storytelling with digital media and using augmented reality. Students will also be content creators as they can contribute their stories to and share them on the online gallery for online discussion.

Here is a sample book I made:

Starting the Semester with 20%

The official start to my Fall semester began with my ed tech class Digital Media Production and Storytelling. This class is about using digital tools to amplify storytelling. Following Google's example, our class will devote 20% of our time to working on our own educational technology projects. I was excited to hear this; however, some of my classmates did not share my excitement. I can understand why: such a project can be a little scary because you're finding yourself pushed to actually do something with a project or idea that was originally just whirling around in your head. On the other hand, it can cause panic if you can't think of a project to work on straight out of the gate. I wonder if Google employees feel the same way or if they jump at the chance to invest company resources into their own passions. I'm looking forward to working on this side project because it's going to give me a chance to make ideas come to life and isn't that what teachers are supposed to be doing anyway?