• Check it out with my kindle library
• Add the kindle extension to my chrome extensions

August 11, 2011:  Day 72

Ten Skills Every Student Should Learn

What I Learned:

• Read
• Type
• Write
• Communicate effectively, and with respect
• Question
• Be resourceful
• Be accountable
• Know and learn
• Think critically
• Be happy

• I am currently participating in Sheryl’s PLP Leading Edge Boot Camp and found this video while browsing her youtube videos

• Make a purposeful effort to “bloom” each child
• Be specific in feedback I give
• Check out Sheryl’s other online courses

August 13, 2011:  Day 74

Pinterest

What I Learned:

• Pinterest is an online curation “bulletin board”
• Many people have boards based on cool things they find on the Internet, or even use it to plan their weddings
• You can comment on pins, or repin them to your own boards
• I began curating a list of “books to teach memoir with”
• After I curated that list…it dawned on me…isn’t this an excellent way to curate lists for my students?  Instead of posting a list of suggested books, I could use a board to create an interactive and appealing suggested reading list.
• I curated “8th grade virtual suggested readings” and embedded it in my class website
• I tagged each pin with the themes we would be touching upon during the year under our larger theme:  Identity ~ Who am I?  Those tags are #forgiveness #justice #memoir #immigration #formingidentity #makingadifference #global #searchforself
• I also added the class novels and plays we would be using this year to show the broad spectrum of literature they would be exposed to
• Instead of looking at a list of books, my students now have a visual that they are used to seeing…they can “shop” for books within the themes we’ll be exploring this year

August 14, 2011:  Day 75

Newseum

Above are my students touching a piece of the Berlin Wall last fall.

Not only is the newseum site great for current events, it is a fantastic place to take a field trip.

What I Learned:

• The Newseum is a living news museum
• I saw debris and painted doors from Hurricane Katrina, the twisted metal from an antenna on the Twin Towers, and touched a part of the Berlin Wall
• They have a historical timeline of newspapers of major events from the earliest of papers to today
• Outside the Newseum are the daily front pages from around the world
• You can explore the front pages on their site here

• Richard Byrne posted “5 ways students can visually explore the news” and the newseum was one of them
• I had taken my 8th graders to the Newseum on a field trip last year

August 15, 2011

Conceptua Math

• I first learned about it at the Singapore Math Conference I attended in Las Vegas
• Today I won an Edutopia math giveaway and got a free 1 year subscription to Conceptua!

• As soon as I get my hands on a login, I’ll be able to play with it to see the implications for use at my school
• Find out if other teachers are using this at their schools

August 16, 2011:  Day 77

21:21

What I Learned:

• Patrick Newell created a documentary following schools around the world to look at aligning student learning to 21st Century skills
• Schools included come from:  Japan, Brazil, Cambodia, Egypt, Iceland, India, Malaysia, Portugal, Tanzania and the USA
• The themes are learning how to learn, the use of technology, and how guided inquiry prepares students for constant change
• “If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.”  ~John Dewey
• We must change our education systems to make sure that the next generation have the necessary 21st century skills to thrive in a future they’re going to invent and create.
• Core initiatives:

1. raise global awareness of the urgent need for change
2. become the global online resource for 21st century online learning
3. develop a 21st century integrated learning model
4. properly resource schools in underdeveloped communities

My Learning Path:

• I came across this in my Google Reader through the 21st Century Fluency Project

Further Learning:

• I’ve applied to host a screening of the documentary

August 17, 2011:  Day 78

Idea Paint

What I Learned:

• I had seen Idea Paint before, but twitter posts today reminded me about it
• I want to paint my harkness table in idea paint
• Giving students permission to write on walls and furniture is liberating
• Idea Paint promotes collaboration and community building

My Learning Path:

• Sheryl Nussbaum Beach tweeted a link to this blog post by Ryan Bretag

Further Learning:

• Ask if I can paint the table…if not, I’ll try for my office walls!

August 18, 2011:  Day 79

History Education in a World of Surplus Information

Take a minute to read this post by Mike Gwaltney.

What I Learned:

• History could be taught backwards starting at current events
• It is impossible to cover the history of man during the time a student is in high school
• With technology, students have easier access to the past
• Students don’t need to come to school to find out historical information
• Teachers should create powerful essential questions that require students to master information literacy skills they’ll need in a digital age, and to master historical inquiry
• In a world of information surplus, we must recognize that good history education must transform students into power information critics, able to evaluate claims and build their own truths from myriad facts.

My Learning Path:

• I came across this tweet this afternoon

Further Learning:

• Follow Mike on twitter
• Subscribe to Mike’s blog
• Consider what he is saying when thinking about history curriculum…share this post at the next humanities meeting

August 19, 2011:  Day 80

Learn

LEARN from Rick Mereki on Vimeo.

What I Learned:

• There is something really compelling about this video…this is authentic learning
• Rick Mereki is a filmmaker, illustrator, photographer
• This film was shot in 44 days in 11 countries…imagine what a year of authentic learning would look like

My Learning Path:

• I came across this on one of my favorite sites brainpickings.org

Further Learning:

• Continue to always remember to make learning real and experiential for students

August 20, 2011:  Day 81

5 Things Students Say They Want from Education

What I Learned:

• eSchool News readers were asked: “What’s the one thing you hear most often from students about what they want in school?”
• 5.  Interactive Technology
• 4.  Teacher Mentors
• 3.  Innovation
• 2.  Choice
• 1.  Real world application and relevancy

My Learning Path:

• In my Google Reader from the 21st Century Fluency Project

Further Learning:

• In designing curriculum, try to incorporate these 5 things as much as possible
• Ask my own students what they expect out of school

August 21, 2011:  Day 82

What’s In It For Me?

What I Learned:

• Jamie Baker always has a way of making me really think about topics
• Most people are asking themselves, “What’s in it for me?”
• It’s not about “you”…it’s about what’s best for students and preparation for their futures
• What’s in it for me? is the wrong question
• What can I do?  is the right question
• Ask what you can do to contribute, succeed, and be a part of the solution

My Learning Path:

• Jamie Field Baker is one of my favorite bloggers and thinkers…I read all of her posts faithfully

Further Learning:

• When change becomes difficult, try to change the conversation from What’s in it for me to What can I do?
• Share this post with other educational leaders

August 22, 2011:  Day 83

Inanimate Alice

What I Learned:

• Inanimate Alice  is a digital novel
• It is interactive…the reader drives the story forward
• It uses text, image, music, sound, puzzles, and games
• As Alice’s journey progresses, new storylines appear elsewhere providing more details and insights, enriching the tale through surprising developments
• Students are encouraged to co-create developing episodes of their own, either filling in the gaps or developing new strands

My Learning Path:

• I was cruising nwp’s digital is site and found inanimate alice

Further Learning:

• Check out the teach with alice section on the site
• The curriculum is perfect for middle school…investigate ways to incorporate it

August 23, 2011:  Day 84

How Do We Prepare Our Children for What’s Next?

What I Learned:

• 65% of kids today will be doing work that hasn’t even been invented yet
• It is time to cast away our fears about technology, survey our lives, and figure out what works and what doesn’t work
• Experiment with Scratch
• Embark on a meaningful project
• Learn how to be a responsible digital citizen
• We have a mismatch between the inventive ways kids learn at home online and in their game play and with their friends on social networks and the industrial age structure, division of subject matter, and ways of assessment in school.
• Five practical solutions:

1. End standardized end of grade testing
2. Make all learning real, relevant, tied to communities, with real application in the kids’ lives outside of the classroom.
3. Teach kids to think through, with, about, for–and create–new, interactive digital global communication.
4. Restore arts, music, shop, P.E., dance
5. Eliminate the “college prep” and AP distinctions, and stop making college the implicit standard for all education, back to preschool.

My Learning Path:

• This was in my ASCD newsbrief  …if you don’t receive this daily, make sure you sign up for it

Further Learning:

• Read Cathy Davidson’s book, Now You See It

August 24, 2011:  Day 85

PLP Leading Edge Boot Camp

This 5-week, practical eCourse is for school leaders who want to understand how 21st Century technologies are challenging curriculum and pedagogy and providing economical new ways for learning.

What I Learned:

• To self evaluate
• Leading the Shift– A discussion that sets the stage for what 21st Century leadership looks like in today’s learning landscape. We will take a look at the barriers that leaders face and look at reports, articles, research that are shaping the trends and shifts.
• To collaboratively learn in an elluminate session while listening to a panel
• Panel Discussion with 21st Century Leaders- Join us as we talk with seasoned leaders from around the world who are walking the walk in their schools and districts. They will share tips, tricks and lessons learned as they led their faculties through a 21st Century change process.
• Think about “yeahbuts”
• Distributive Leadership and Action Research – Find out how to leverage the talent in your building to create a learning organization with a shared vision, one that understands how to work together to support student achievement and innovation.
• Create a “mind dump” concept map in mindmeister
• The Network Literate Instructional Leader- This session examines how to promote the building of Personal Learning Networks for sharing, cooperation, and collective action by your staff as a means of supporting shifted curriculum and DIY professional development.
• Create a Mission and a Vision
• Create an action plan
• Schooling for the 21st Century- Technological pedagogy in action. This session takes a closer look at the types of pedagogy needed when using Web-based strategies to support inquiry-driven approaches to learning.
• To think deeply and express those thoughts in a NING forum

My Learning Path:

• My friend Kami sent me the link to the leading edge community as a former PLPeep
• I talked to Sheryl Nussbaum Beach and we decided this community would fit my needs best

Further Learning:

• Continue working on my action plan and share it
• Continue with the 9 month leading edge community
• Encourage other groups to create their own PLP cohorts

August 25, 2011:  Day 86

Story Corps Animated Videos

What I Learned:

• Story Corps animates some of their best loved radio stories
• Story Corps’ mission is to provide Americans of all backgrounds and beliefs with the opportunity to record, share, and preserve the stories of our lives
• Since 2003, StoryCorps has collected and archived more than 35,000 interviews from more than 70,000 participants
• Great questions list
• Great questions generator
• The animated shorts page is an incredible way to show the power of story telling

My Learning Path:

• I came across this on the Free Technology for Teachers site by @rmbyrne

Further Learning:

• Incorporate the story corps stories into teaching memoir
• Consider using the interviewing strategies for the What’s Your Story project in 8th grade

August 26, 2011:  Day 87

Blogging Prompts for Teacher Candidates

This collaborative document was posted by George Couros today on twitter.

What I Learned:

• open sourced collaboration can be powerful tool when thinking about who is teaching in your school
• I think all teachers need to ask themselves these questions…this shouldn’t just be for new teachers
• I’ve loved watching people add to this document throughout the day
• The topics contain the depth and breadth necessary to cover such a large topic

My Learning Path:

• @gcouros tweeted this document out today

Further Learning:

• I plan on sharing this with the administrative team
• I’d like to use many of these as blogging prompts for teachers on our faculty ning

 August 27, 2011:  Day 88

The Classroom is Obsolete:  It’s Time for Something New

 

What I Learned:

• The classroom is a relic, left over from the Industrial Revolution, which required a large workforce with very basic skills.
• This research clearly demonstrates that students and teachers do better when they have variety, flexibility, and comfort in their environment—the very qualities that classrooms lack.
• Tomorrow’s schools are:  (1) personalized; (2) safe and secure; (3) inquiry-based; (4) student-directed; (5) collaborative; (6) interdisciplinary; (7) rigorous and hands-on; (8) embodying a culture of excellence and high expectations; (9) environmentally conscious; (10) offering strong connections to the local community and business; (11) globally networked; and (12) setting the stage for lifelong learning.
• Classrooms can be redesigned and refurbished to operate as “learning studios” or “learning suites”

My Learning Path:

• I came across this on the 21st Century Fluency Blog

Further Learning:

• Read The Third Teacher  (this book keeps popping up in my further learning sections!)
• When creating curriculum, make sure it is learning oriented and not classroom oriented…does it meet the objectives outlined in the school of tomorrow above?

August 28, 2011:  Day 89

Habits of Mind Across the Curriculum

What I Learned:

• Habits are an essential element for helping all students at all grade levels successfully deal with the challenges they face in school and beyond
• “Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day, and at last we cannot break it.”  Horace Mann
• Content = what concepts and principles do we want students to learn?
• Thinking Skills = processes required to activate the mind
• Cognitive Tasks that Demand Skillful Thinking= problem based learning
• Habits of Mind = internalization of learning

1. Persisting – Stick to it.
2. Communicating with clarity and precision – Be clear.
3. Managing impulsivity – Take your time.
4. Gathering data through all senses – Use your natural pathways.
5. Listening with understanding and empathy – Understand others.
6. Creating, imagining, innovating – Try a different way.
7. Thinking flexibly – Look at it another way.
8. Responding with wonderment and awe – have fun figuring it out.
9. Thinking about your thinking (metacognition) – Know your knowing.
10. Taking responsible risks – Venture out.
11. Striving for accuracy and precision – Find the best possible solution.
12. Finding humour – Laugh a little.
13. Questioning and problem posing – How do you know?
14. Thinking interdependently – Learning with others.
15. Applying past knowledge to new situations – Use what you learn.
16. Remaining open to continuous learning – Learning from experiences.

My Learning Path:

• I assigned this book for summer reading to teachers and administrators
• I’m preparing to have the author, Bena Kallick, come in on Wednesday to spend the day doing a workshop with teachers on 21st century skills, units of study, habits of mind, and curriculum mapping
• I worked with Bena when she was a consultant for Lower Merion School District as I was collaboratively writing curriculum and designing an integrated, project based 7th grade classroom called Communique

Further Learning:

• Bena has so much to offer…I consider her to be an “edu-rock star”…continue to read her work
• Work with teachers to incorporate Habits of Mind into the curriculum

August 29, 2011:  Day 90  (I did it!!!!)

The Power of Words

What I Learned:

• words can be powerful
• changing your words can give others a completely different outlook
• sometimes there are videos you just need to share

My Learning Path:

Further Learning:

• Write my 90 days of learning reflection post!!