OK - I know I've written about So You Think You Can Dance before, but I can't help but share this link to a SYTYCD blog discussion forum about who should be voted off this week. Yes, I know reality television is not exactly high art, but I am struck by the intelligence of this discussion. For the most part each person who has posted has explained thoughtfully why they favor one dancer over another. They bring in examples and respectfully disagree with each other.
I've seen the live tour for this show and, believe me, the average age in the arena is about 17 (with a large number of 9 year olds thrown in for good measure) and yes my husband and I are among the oldest in the crowd. I think this is a great example of young people passionately and thoughtfully writing about something because they care about it, not because someone told them to. And now we have a new word, "meh," love it.
"Well I'm the biggest Mark fan and between the two of them, if we're looking at the quality of performance, Gev should have stayed based on last week. He shouldn't have even been in the bottom 2; Twitch should have been there (again, IMO).
But if I look across the season, I've preferred Mark (and I prefer him to Twitch and even Will, who is amazing but I'm sort of meh about). I think the likelihood of him making it past this week is small, even with a strong performance since it's all fanbase now. But I'm going to vote my heart out for him. I have been dying for him to be paired with Katee."
My brain is buzzing from so much learning. The combination of Edubloggercon East and BLC is almost too much for me to handle. I met amazing people, reconnected with old friends, presented twice with Lisa Thumann (my mom came to watch), attended incredible sessions (Dave Truss was a highlight), added lots of new people to my network, and danced with Joyce Valenza (among MANY others).
I'm only ready to articulate a tidbit of my learning. My thoughts are incubating right now, but as @sandman27 told me this week "You know what happens after incubating? Hatching!" Hopefully it won't be too painful (I've had two children without the help of any drugs so I know what that can be like, but I digress...).
At the end of the conference today Alan November talked about doing a better job of marketing ourselves. He reminded us that what we know as "beef" could also be described as "dead cow." Alan suggested that "Director of Technology" be renamed "Director of Information and Global Communication."
I love this idea! And I think I may be able to convince my new school district (especially if they read my blog :) to change my title. The problem is coming up with a good alternative. I think a lot of these titles sound pretentious. I would like to find one that accurately describes what I do, without causing the faculty to roll their eyes.
Here are some of the ideas that I have. I would love to hear yours - or do you disagree? Is there a better word than "director?" Is there a synonym for "21st Century?" (I'm getting a little tired of that one.)
After virtually attending and reading about Edubloggercon in San Antonio, I have some ideas for our upcoming Edubloggercon East (not just for bloggers) at the Newton Marriott on July 14th (join us if you can - it's free!). So far we have about 20 people coming, so it should be a much more intimate experience than EBC in San Antonio. If you can join us please click on the wiki link and add your name to the list of people attending.
Under-plan, let's arrive with ideas for what we want to do with the day, but let's also let the day shape itself. We have a few "session" suggestions, but I think it is important for us to keep these "sessions" as conversational as possible. Check out Ewan McIntosh's blog post about what an Unconference should be. (He also suggests we serve beer!)
Start with an ice breaker of some kind, something that gets us walking around and meeting each other. Something fun and also physical and interactive. Something that gets us started with a bang - before doing any planning.
Think together about the structure of the day. What are the topics we are most interested in? Do we need facilitators for the discussions? How big or small should our groups be? I think it would be nice to do some things in large groups and some things in smaller groups.
Brainstorm our burning questions and create a wiki that we can fill in with any answers that we come up with over the course of EBC-East and of BLC. This idea comes from David Warlick's blog post on EBC08 in San Antonio.
Make sure we remember at the end of the day to debrief the experience. Let's save at least 45 minutes to reflect together on what worked about the day and what we would change(plus/delta).
What do you all think? What suggestions do you have? Were you at EBC08 in San Antonio? What was the best thing about it? What would you do differently next time? Please share your advice and ideas, whether you can attend or not!
I continue to be amazed by the affect that blogging has on my thinking. Everything I do and see and experience is filed away as a potential blog post. I make meaning of my world in ways I never did before. I am constantly composing posts in my head. It makes for some incredible learning experiences, but can also make it hard to sleep.
I haven't posted in a while. I've been finishing up the school year and just ended 4 days of teaching a professional development class for teachers. There are lots of things bouncing around in my head that I plan to blog about. I thought I would give you just a taste of things to come and, in doing so, force myself to follow up on my ideas.
I have a new job! I just accepted the position of Director of Academic Technology at The Belmont Hill School in Belmont, MA. I am thrilled to be given the opportunity to help define and lead this extraordinary school in a quest to prepare students to succeed and excel in the 21st century. I am honored by the confidence in me that the leadership team of this school has expressed. It is truly an exciting new adventure that I can't wait to start.
Top Down or Bottom Up? Should every teacher in a school have a basic technology proficiency? Is it more important to focus on complex and creative technology projects with a few teachers and let the excitement and rewards spill down through the faculty, or should the focus be on making sure every teacher is at least proficient in using a mouse, a browser and setting up a Web page? I think there is a choice to be made, because I don't think there is enough time to focus on both.
Professional Development that works. I just finished teaching a 4 days professional development course titled Using 21st Century Technology Tools to Improve and Inspire Student Writing. I co-taught this course with an English teacher with whom I have worked a lot this year. I think our model overall really worked. We focused first on the learning goals and then on how different technology tools could help teachers achieve these goals and objectives. It was wonderful to have a teacher working with me who could really speak to the realities of using these tools in the classroom.
Professional Development Meme. I haven't forgotten that I was tagged for this meme a while back. I have a lot of things on my list - one of them being working on this blog. I do plan to dedicate an entire post to laying out my professional goals for the summer.
Trying out a new tool. In just the last two days I have been playing with a new Twitter like tool called Plurk. I'm not sure yet what I think of the tool, but I have been loving learning to use it. For me it has been a true constructivist experience. Together with my network, we've been working out how things work. Plurk may or may not be the hot new tool, but just learning to use it has been a great experience for me.
Here is a screencast of what I have learned so far.
So stay tuned for more on at least a few of these topics (let me know if you have a preference for where you would like me to start).
OK - now I just have to figure out when I'm going to take a vacation...
I have been working at a grassroots level to help teachers find ways to incorporate 21st century tools into their curriculum. I've made great progress with many teachers and they are spreading the word to their colleagues. The movement is growing and at the level of teacher and student we are making a difference. That is where it matters and slowly change is happening.
I think it is now time for administrators to come on board. To truly make a difference, superintendents, principals, and department heads need to start blogging, podcasting, and participating in social networks like Twitter and Ning. We need to gear some of our technology professional development to the needs of administrators. Andrew Torres wrote a great post about Why School Leaders Should Blog. He articulates well the benefits that blogging brings to the entire school community. Dennis Richards is an excellent example of a school superintendent who is leading the way for his district.
How do we get school leaders to see these benefits? Are your district leaders using these tools? Do you have ideas about ways to make this happen? Please share them here.
As some of you may already know, So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) is one of my favorite TV shows. It is basically American Idol for dancers. This show features talented people who excel in a variety of dance genres including hip-hop, lyrical, jazz, and ballroom. And no, I am not a fan of Dancing with the Stars. As Andrew Wallenstein puts it in his NPR piece, Why 'Dance' is Hotter than Idol, "watching Dancing with the Stars is like watching a Ferrari pulling around a golf cart".
SYTYCD features strong dancers in their own area of expertise and pushes them to step out of their comfort zones into different genres of dance. Some of these dancers have been trained by dance teachers and others have never taken a dance class. We watch these people struggle as they go from being an expert to being a novice. The ones who succeed are learners at heart and truly love dance. They push themselves and don't give up. And, if they don't make it to the top 20 this year, many go home and get more training and come back again and again. They attribute their "failure" to their strategy and not to their ability. This is a message that I have blogged about in the past, so I'm sorry if y'all are tired of it. But I believe so strongly in a growth mindset that I just have to keep coming back to it.
We as educators can learn so much from watching these dancers grow and push themselves and work hard to overcome their weaknesses. As experienced teachers we are used to being good at what we do. When we come to a challenge, like using new technologies in the classroom, it can feel very uncomfortable. We don't like to look "dumb" in front of our students. Stepping out of your comfort zone while others are watching makes it that much harder to do. These dancers inspire me to keep working, not give up and continue to try different strategies when things don't go the way I had hoped.
I often talk about this as a goal. Lately, I've been trying to articulate what this really means. It is easy to say, but what does a school look like that is actually preparing students for the 21st Century?
Preparing students to interact in a global economy. In order to prepare students to work with an international community of colleagues we need to provide them with opportunities to interact with people from around the world. Teachers also need experiences collaborating globally. Online social networks, such as Ning, Twitter, and even Facebook, provide teachers with a way to meet colleagues from around the world and around the country. These Online relationships provide opportunities for classrooms to connect.
Preparing students to navigate and sift through an excess of information. In order to prepare students to search for and evaluate information, we need to provide them with opportunities to do just that. We need to ask students to find answers to questions and then have them not only share their answers, but also describe their search processes and defend their sources.
Preparing students to contribute to and consume in a media rich market. In order to prepare students to consume and create multi-media messages, student should be both evaluating and creating Online video, podcasts and blogs. Students need to learn to be both educated consumers and producers of these messages.
Preparing students to tackle new innovations. In order to prepare students to face and conquer new technology tools, we need to provide them with opportunities to solve their own problems. We can't provide them with step by step directions, but instead encourage them to seek out new tools, figure them out and communicate their learning with classmates.
Preparing students to think creatively, take risks and come up with new ideas. In order to encourage students to discover new ideas, we need to create learning environments that encourage and support failure. Students must be provided with challenging questions to tackle that don't have obvious answers.
Preparing students for digital citizenship. In order to teach students how to interact Online, we must openly discuss issues of privacy, copyright, and Online behavior. Students need to understand the difference between private and public spaces and how to behave in each place. They also need to learn how to interact Online in responsible and ethical ways. Students need to be given opportunities to share information with a larger audience. They need to be given opportunities to interact Online with classmates in a public space where their behavior and contributions to the community are an important part of how they are assessed.
What else? What does it look like in your school? What are students and teachers doing to prepare for success in the 21st century? What have I missed? I welcome your ideas and suggestions.
