Big movements start with small steps……………..

A simple conversation with Scott last week started like most conversations at ISB, passing each other in the hall.

“Hey Justin! I’m looking to get a little deeper with peace day this year, got any ideas?”

Scott is always looking for meaningful ways to get his students engaged in the writing process and reflect on a deeper level. He has been using his classroom blog as a tool in process but up until now it did not really have an audience other than parents. It was time to change that. Together we came up with some questions for the post that we felt would stretch students to think about peace and what it means to them. You can see the post here.

Time was a factor here as Peace Day was the next day. As we know the read/write web is a powerful tool that can quickly and easily bring people from all over the world together to share and collaborate. The only barrier is knowing that each other exists. I decided to reach out to all my contacts and get the ball rolling. I put out call to teachers and coordinators to have their students stop by and share their perspective along with the country they came from. I also helped Scott embed a cluster map on his site so we could track where the hits were coming from. If you don’t have one on your site get one today! The goal of this little post was to get a few different perspectives from other students to create and opportunity for further conversation about peace.

The results…………..112 posts!!!!!

Mark Picketts at Carol Morgan School , Dominican Republic answered the call and got several of his teachers to involve their classes

Mark Dilworth at International School Manila, answered the call and also got his teachers involved.

Kim Cofino at International School Bangkok , answered the call and reached out to her global community to bring in some great comments from the U.S

Carolyn Foote - Librarian, Texas , answered the call and wrote a fantastic post about Scott’s experiment and featured some of her favorite student comments!

Maryland answered the call. Thank you!

Philadelphia answered the call. Thank you!

The list goes on…………….

One conversation…….led to one email………….led to 112 posts………..which led to a global audience and a conversation about peace!

That is what these tools are for. That is why they MUST be BLENDED into everything we do. Because the time invested reap rewards that keep on giving.

All it took was a teacher willing to ask “How can I go deeper?”

If you are reading this and interested in involving your class please drop by Scott’s Learning Blog and have your students post. We would love to read their thoughts!

One small step at a time.

Following hot on the heels of the Learning 2.0 conference there is a buzz around ISB. Teachers are asking new questions, taking new risks and experimenting with possibilities. For a technology and learning coordinator this is an important time. A moment to seize. Right now it is important to provide support, celebrate ideas and broadcast the creativity of the staff. It is certainly wonderful to have Kim Cofino around getting hands on with teachers and students in the classroom. It is amazing what she has done in just over a month. If you are looking for a collaborative project to jump on to there is no better place to start than here “20 project ideas inspired Learning 2.0″. If you are interested in working with teacher and students from the International School of Bangkok just post a comment on our CONNECT 2 blog and we will get back to you.

How inspiring would it be if your principal and vice principal were to model 21st century literacy by starting their own blogs? We are fortunate to have just that. Struan and Annelies have done just that. It sets a new standard for leaders to follow.

The Learning 2.0 conference was a reaffirmation that we are on the right track. That our ideas are sound and that this movement is not just a trend but is rooted in best practices, sound pedagogy and inspired people. What became clear over the course of the weekend was that while these tools are fantastic for enhancing teaching, learning and the curriculum, they can be even more powerful in helping solve some of our global problems. By bringing people and their ideas together from all corners of the world we all draw a little closer, see each others perspectives and deepen our patience and tolerance.

Tomorrow, Sept 21st it is PEACE ONE DAY  which provides a fantastic teachable moment to take a few minutes to discuss peace with the class and why it is important. One of our grade four teachers in particular is looking to get some global perspectives on this question and is having his students post to his blog tomorrow as part of the refection process. If you are interested in connecting your classroom and sharing your student perspectives please drop by http://lamontslearningblog.blogspot.com/ and have you students post. Make sure that they leave their country of origin after their first name so the students can see where the comments are coming from.

We hope to hear from you and your students!

Peace

A New Literacy Landscape - Multiple Literacies vs. the Narrow Agenda and Wal-Mart Curriculum

By Jamie Mackenzie

In a decade characterized by narrow definitions of curriculum and literacy, Jamie builds a case for a dozen different literacies, suggesting that the health of a democracy depends upon the development of a citizenry that can do more than read and calculate. He challenges the audience to consider how schools might attend to cultural, social, artistic, natural, visual and ethical literacies

MAIN IDEAS

“Literacy must be re-defined to include all mediums and it is the responsibility of all teaches to teach it”

E-Literacy? - Does it exist ? Should it be given the same importance and put on the same level as “Literacy”

Do we have have a broad definition of literacy or do we give in to marketing pressure and label it “digital”
The Purpose of Schooling ?

Questioning
Understanding
Inventing
Finding meaning

We are creating school cultures where students assemble and collect information but we do not encourage original thought, invention or synthesis.

We can encourage original thought by using juxtaposition and getting students to compare and make judgments for themselves.

“synthesis is critical missing component to elite education”

Media  Literacy - The lines of  truth have been blurred.

Digital natives are “Digital Captives” - They are not aware of the difference between news and entertainment.

 Musical Literacy - How does music change the way we view life?

Cultural Literacy - The differences between people, places and culture

Ethical Literacy -  What should we do? Knowing right from wrong.
Looking and working past bandwagons !

All of this technology  is for naught if we don’t focus on the important skills.

www.fno.org 

Live from Shanghai - Learning 2.o conference

Here are my synthesized notes from the first conference session I attended.
Papert Matters - Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas

By Gary Stager

This session presents just a few of Professor Papert’s most powerful ideas about children, computers and learning through his own words and rarely seen video. The presenter worked closely for Dr. Papert and was the principal investigator on his most recent institutional learning project.

www.stager.org/learn2

MAIN IDEAS

If immerse students in math the same way immerse them in language.

Mastery over the machine on many levels - not just for access not just for connection

Information is one SMALL piece of the information puzzle. Largely computers are seen as the gateway to information but we should see them as much more than that.

For the general public, information mean information and so the role of information technology becomes more like, let’s say , listening, hearing the news than making it. It’s more like getting information passively.

Learning happens through experience.

“the best way to ensure that construction of knowledge happens is through active participation that can be shared with others”

Arrived in Shanghai yesterday to attend the Learning 2.0 conference at Concordia International School. The introductory round table was really interesting and the conference is shaping up to be a good one. I will post on each session I attend both here and on http://learning2cn.ning.com/.

Let the learning begin!

This weekend I along with 25 of my colleagues will be travelling north to Shanghai to attend the Learning 2.0 conference. The three day conference represents a progressive step forward in professional development as this conference will focus on the future of learning and what it means for the classrooms and teachers of today. The lineup of speakers is impressive. Check out all the action at http://www.learning2.net.cn/

I will be involved in two presentations over the weekend.

The first………….

Interactive Whiteboards - Reflections on a 5 year study - Justin Medved

Over the past 5 years I have been actively involved in implementing, developing and leading interactive white board programs at several different schools. As a teacher and trainer I have taught with this new tool and have come to develop a set of best practices that have enabled staff and students to deepen the teaching and learning process. This session will be a synthesis of my experiences and hopefully offer some helpful information to teachers and coordinators who are thinking about implementing interactive white boards into their classrooms This session will explore how Intern active whiteboards can enhance: Teaching Student Learning Staff Collaboration Staff Development Instructional Practices Classroom Management
Session 4: Saturday 1:15-2:00pm
Room: C-204

The second presentation is one that I am really excited to do with friend and colleague Dennis Harter. This presentation represents the culmination of a years worth of thinking, talking and reading about how schools should think differently about the information technology strands of their curriculum and offers an alternative to the skills and scope and sequence model that many schools are used to.

Information Technology Curriculum 2.0 - Justin Medved and Dennis Harter

At ISB, we believe that technology is a tool for learning. We believe that technology is used as a tool outside of formal schooling for communication, collaboration, understanding, and accessing knowledge. It is our goal in developing an integrated curriculum to ensure that the way students learn with technology agrees with the way they live with technology. At ISB we believe we must focus on the higher-order skills that are necessary for success in the 21st Century. These skills are not tied to any particular software or technology-type, but rather provide students with the opportunity to succeed no matter what their futures hold. In this session we will share our curriculum model and our implementation plan for the next three years.

Session 8: Sunday 10:15-11:00am
Room: C-228

Are you going ?

If so introduce yourself here and then again in person in Shanghai.

Looking forward to it.

I just updated my blogroll in the first of many steps to overhauling my site. I was going to delete it permanently like David Warlick just did but then thought twice about it. The reason for my hesitation was because without blogrolls I would have never stumbled upon so many of the great writers and thinkers out there. A blogroll says “if you like what you read here, you might like these people too!” and is a nice way of saying thank you to people who you may not have met but certainly have connected with. So tonight I added a few more names to my roll and just wanted to say a little Thank you to all those writers on it. It by no means reflects my entire feed list but…………….if you like what you read here, you might like these people too!
P.S - If you subscribe to 2 Cents Worth but rarely visit the actual site, check out the side bar, it might just point you in some new directions.
and if that does not…………..then this might!

TBC

Came across this interesting picture and accompanying story this week.

“A team of scientists engaged in military research recently came to the conclusion that when it comes to reading web pages,most readers read in “F” shaped pattern taking into consideration the eye movements of 232 readers,it was found that a reader generally reads in a horizontal movement first.This is followed by their eyes moving downwards a bit and then,ensues reading across in a second horizontal movement covering a shorter area than what it was previously.

…………………If a page contains some images or box at the top right,it is noticed that a viewer usually concentrates over there leading to some distortion in the “F” shape .All these movements when tracked through a heat map-with red color defining most of the viewed areas,yellow indicating the lesser and blue”F”. signifying the least viewed area-gave the shape of the letter

……………………The study reiterates the guidelines for web designing and writing web content-since the user does not read the text throughly,the first two paragraphs must contain the most important information comprising subheads,bullet points followed by information in the realms of the text.

The last few lines of this story are probably the most important as they speak to universal elements of good design. This information is nothing new or revolutionary however it still has me thinking and wondering about how many people know about it. We tend not to think about design when we find it easy to read, navigate or follow information across a page or sign. However are keenly very aware of it when we cannot?

I can’t think of a grade, subject area or teacher that does not have their students at some point in time create or display work for others to read, watch or consume. Visual presentations (movies, powerpoints, posters etc.) are often used as summative assessment tools for educators across the world. I do however wonder how often components of visual literacy are woven into the student preparation and planning of the assignments. Even more interesting would be to find out how often they are assessed!

Would an understanding of basic design elements be beneficial to students as they are asked to prepare presentations across different mediums? Should an understanding of visual literacy and how to take advantage of known and basic design techniques not be an important part of all curriculum no matter what the subject area? Should students be accountable for it? It seems to me that in todays info rich world design and ease of information delivery is sometimes just as important as the content itself.

Who’s responsibility is it to teach these skills?

Sound like we are calling for a Curriculum 2.0 !