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?

The Craziness of Steve Jobs

In the wake of Steve Jobs resigning Apple's CEO, his quotes have been widely spread from social media sites to news channels. I have read plenty of these the last few days but none have touched me as much as this one:


"Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square hole. The ones who see things differently. They're not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can't do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do."


Go on and dream; be a little crazy; color outside the lines. You never know the impact it could have. 

A Week of Google Goodness

Last week I had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant for a week long Google workshop for a small group of educators. The workshop was an excellent chance to share Google tools while learning about tools that I hadn't used myself. The biggest thing I took away from this week is that as an educator, you don't have to have all the answers. Discussions and sharing resources led to the teachers learning new and innovative ways to implement Google tools in their classroom. My hope is that as all of these teachers prepare for the upcoming school year that they implement these tools, tricks and tips to increase student engagement and love of learning.

Here are the two presentations I did on Google+ and Google Mobile:

Scoop.it - A Great Tool for Curating

After attending an amazing presentation at ISTE, I have been really fascinated by digital curation. What is digital curation? According to Wikipedia, it is "the process of establishing and developing long term repositories of digital assets for current and future reference by researchers, scientists, historians, and scholars." Of all the tools I learned about for curating, my favorite is scoop.it. 


What is it? Scoop.it is a platform that allows users to collect media centered around a specific topic. Once a topic is created Scoop.it searches for and suggests content that matches that topic. This content can also be shared on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. My favorite feature of scoop.it is the "scoop it" button that can be added to your web browser allowing you to quickly add the websites you're viewing to your page. Students can even create their own pages and begin building their own curation skills.


Scoop.it in the Classroom: Scoop.it is a great way for teachers to accumulate resources on a particular topic. First, they create the topic.  Then, they search scoop.it's suggested content, the Internet or their social bookmarking site to find all the websites that pertain to that topic and add it to their collection. Now, they have one place for all of their resources that students can go to. Teachers can even follow other topics and find content to add to their own page.


Here is a sample of one I've built on the future of storytelling:

Apples in the Desert: The ADE Summer Institute

Image by Chris Penny

This week was the summer institute for the new class of Apple Distinguished Educators in Phoeniz, AZ. I followed along on Twitter and it seemed as though just as many powerful things were happening with a small group of 200 educators as the 18,000 people that attended the annual ISTE conference.


What impresses me so much about this group? These educators don't just sit around and talk; they plan, they promote, they collaborate. I have seen the fruit of their work and, one by one, they are changing the landscape of education in their classes, in their schools and in their communities. Their goal? Improving learning by learning themselves. Their learning didn't stay inside a conference room all week but spread throughout learning communities inspiring educators who weren't able to be there. 


Here are some powerful things that came out of this week:
We need to allow students to use the digital tools they use outside of the classroom. Presenter Kevin Honeycutt captured it best when he said "If we amputate students' digital limbs when they walk in the door, how can we expect them to learn?"


Tips for Storytelling:
    -Be unique
    -Know your audience
    -Engage
    -Be concise
    -Start strong. End strong.
    -Think about perspective
    -Show. Don't tell


"It's not about teaching. It's about facilitating learning." - Chris Tully

"Not sure what kids are doing on their computers in the classroom? GET UP! If you love your chair so much, retire." -Kevin Honeycutt

"Technology is nothing without a real relationship with our students." -Kevin Honeycutt


"Passion knows no hours." -Bill Frakes


Thanks to all of the ADEs for tweeting what they were learning throughout the week so I could learn along with you :-)

Thoughts from An Idealist

When I was at ISTE two weeks ago, I was able to attend tons of sessions and I noticed a startling pattern: At just about every session when a new idea or strategy was suggested, someone would raise their hand and talk about all the reasons why something wouldn't work or their limitations. After a few days of this, I began to feel really discouraged. 


I would love to see more teachers be unbelievably creative and bold. I would love to hear how more educators are remixing ideas to fit their classrooms. I believe that our students need to see us try, fail and try again because that's the only way they will feel comfortable doing the same. The job market as we previously knew it is rapidly changing. Fortune is on the side of those that are capable of creating opportunity where it didn't previously exist; our students will need to be creative, flexible and innovative. We cannot ask students to use their imaginations and tap into their creativity when we will not do the same. I know that budget cuts, layoffs and internet filters are a realty but shouldn't we try first? 


Do these thoughts make me an idealist? Maybe so and I'm okay with it :-)

Trial and Error and Lots O' Fun

As ISTE 2011 comes to a close, I learned a lot about being at a conference like this for the first time. Here's what I've learned:

1. Follow advice that you're given. My previous post mentioned all the great advice that I had given to prepare. Some I followed and some I didn't... and there were consequences. One blogger suggested getting plenty of rest and staying hydrated. I was running all over the place and found myself feeling dizzy halfway through the conference. I was also told to leave any session that wasn't serving me and I didn't and that session quickly became wasted time. Bad idea. Someone suggested wearing a backpack. I thought "That's not very stylish" so I brought a laptop bag. Now I'll probably be at the chiropractor for the rest of the summer from carrying around my 10,000 pound laptop. These suggestions are given for a reason so follow them!
2. Meet people. I had the chance to meet and chat with the new ISTE president Holly Jobe and she told me one of the great things about ISTE is that there are so many people to meet and she was right. Chatting with people in hallways and other random places, I met people from all over the world with some fascinating stories. I even met another preservice teacher, which hardly ever happens. It's the amazing the kind of relationships that can begin with saying "Hi."
3. Have fun! At the Newbie Lounge, someone asked me if I was feeling overwhelmed and I said I wasn't because I was having so much fun! I had my palm read, played phone games, watched dancing robots, learned words in new languages and laughed until my stomach hurt. How can you feel overwhelmed when you're having so much fun?

More thoughts and reflections from ISTE are coming but hopefully my trials and errors will serve others.