This is the follow up post to the theoretical Wondering About Hyperlinked Writing. The post ended with

Now…on from the wondering, theory and resources…to the practice in the classroom.

I am ready to bring hyperlinked writing (and reading) as an important genre into the classroom!

Can one just start “throwing” hyperlinked writing” at our students (or teaches for that matter) at any time, at any age? Is hyperlinked writing part of a process? A process that starts with reading digitally, reading quality and poor samples of digital writing? Students then progress to writing comments, learning how to comment on the writing of others to learning how to write for an audience on their own blog posts. Hyperlinked writing is that next step up in writing for a an audience.

Hyperlinked writing is more than citing your sources, it is a direct manifestation of writing for an audience.

A quick check-in with my Common Core Guru, Mike Fisher, author of “Cure for the Common Core“, told me that I was on the right track.  He said:

You are actually addressing several capacities in what you’re describing:

•  Capacity 3: Students respond to varying demands of audience, task, purpose, and discipline.

• Capacity 5: They value evidence. (Citations are in this realm, along with curation, and it is highly connected to number 6…)
• Capacity 6: They use technology and digital media strategically and capably.

It shows the intent to guide the reader to:

• where the author has been
• his/her train of thought
• providing a framework and context of the content background.
• choices where to learn more

There are other reasons why we link digital content

• Linking is a form of Content Curation
  We are placing specific resources and citations in the form of a
• Filtering and refining relevant content for our readers (3C’s of Information Commerce by Brian Solis)
• “The purpose of linking is to demonstrate to your audience that you are telling the truth.
  By means of the link, you provide your reader with the means to check up on you, to verify your claims, to follow up on the sources you say buttress your case, to find out if they really do reinforce what you are saying.” (Bloodhound Blog)

In the Quality Blogging Rubric, I developed for the use during our Quad-Blogging Action Research, links are addressed under the category “Community”. Under the “Expert”column it states that the blogger

• has several links that add to the readers understanding
• has  links that are relevant and “flow” within the content.

In retrospect, this description only seems to touch briefly on the importance and quality use of hyperlinks in digital writing.  (Note to self: Need to upgrade the rubric)

I started out with composing a paragraph together with the 4th graders on…. yes… a piece of paper. I wanted them to see the limitations of the traditional canvas of writing. Traditional meaning that the majority of current writing in schools end up on paper (handwritten or typed and then printed out).

• Why do people  link in their online writing?
• How do 9 and 10 year olds understand the use of links when they read online?
• How can we translate this to their digital writing?
• Understanding of linear and non-linear reading and writing

We Surf The Globe

On our blogs, we embedded a Clustr Map. A Clustr Map is a world map on your blog, that show you the location of the visitors of our blog. The map helps us visualize there our readers are from. We have been surfing the virtual globe  to countries all around the world, such as Thailand, Switzerland, and Czech Republic, because we know that they have read our posts.

I asked the students to copy the text we had written on the paper to their blog and to now add related links to the text. We discussed how the links should “flow” within the sentence and not just be “stuck” at the end, like “Click here to go to the ClustrMap”. (Note: Next time type the text quickly and post on my blog, to a shared Google doc or email them to each student. So much time was lost in typing the few sentences, which could have been spent on linking instead!)

I am departing from the assumption that at this point, students knew HOW to create a link on their blogging platform. This usually involves typing text, selecting and highlighting that text, clicking on a visual button (usually indicated with a chain linked together) and then entering the desired URL (Web Address) to underline and make the chosen text clickable once the post is published. Alternatively students might know or learn how to handcode a link in HTML

We watched the following video clip “Ethics of Linking” from Jay Rosen from the New York University. He says very simply:

The link, which is the idea, that you are interested in this, but did you know about THAT? Or HERE is what I’m saying, you should see what THEY are saying. You are here, but there is also this over THERE.

Take a look at Jamie B’s and Yoni H’s blog post and how they accomplished the task. By looking at all of the other student entries, I realized, that hyperlinking is not a one-lesson task, but a skill that students have to continue to practice and develop.

• Some students did not add additional links beyond the one we included on the “practice paper post”.
• Students did not go beyond adding links to other (which was the fault of not having a “better” practice paragraph) Note to self- need to develop a paragraph that includes the possibility to link to a variety of sources for hyperlinks

I did notice though, that these 4th graders were exhibiting a nice range of fluency in the logistical skills of creating links. I define this fluency as the ability to easily use the following skills and be able to adapt and change the order as and if needed.

Logistical Skills
that support fluency in hyperlinked reading & writing

• pre-viewing the URL link BEFORE clicking
• selecting a link in a browser
• copying a link in a browser
• creating a link on your digital page (either with HTML code or WYSIWYG editor)
• pasting the URL into the link code
• opening up a new tab in your browser to switch easily back and forth between digital writing page and pages to be linked.

Here are further thoughts and some activities for the classroom teacher to continue supporting and guiding his/her students in hyperlinked writing.

Yarn Blogging

Another brilliant idea from Bud Hunt has been Yarn Blogging. I recently used this technique with a group of teachers in a blogging workshop in New Zealand. The first step was for teachers to write a “blog post” on large stickie notes, then read these posts and “comment” on them by writing on small colorful stickies. The third step was for teachers to take yarn pieces and connect posts with other posts, posts with comments, comments with comments, etc.

Doing this activity with students might give them a tangible way of grasping  related content and how to connect them via a (yarn) link, not only making a connection between a name or word with a person’s website or a word’s definition.

Visual Mind Mapping

Using a mind mapping tool, such as Inspiration (software), Idea Sketch (iPad app) or Popplet (iPad app) to have students create a visual of linkable words in their text. Those could be organized by connection types. Allow students to see how  a visual mind map could translate into a hyperlinked text.

Non -Linear Writing

Are you familiar with “Choose Your Own Adventure Books“? How great would it be to allow students to map out such a story and link the choices on a mind map showing the links, flow and connections between choices. What if they were to choose to write their own”choice story” with different plots and outcomes according to the links embedded in the text? Students could use mind mapping apps again to design a flowchart of their story.

What to link to?

• name –> online hub (website, blog, Twitter, Facebook profile, etc.)
• brand name –> company’s website
• word –> definition
• quote–> original source
• phrase –> content context/background
• phrase–> someone else’s perspective
• conversation –> Twitter Hashtag
• example –>example in action/ demonstration of examples
• theory –> practice
• theme/topic/concept–> previous writing
• collaborative writing pieces –> pieces of another contributor to the topic

Choosing Link Text

Use text for your link:

• one-word keywords as links
  allow readers to skim over your writing to make a decision if they will read further
• text is as descriptive as possible
  Just as the image above says, “Hyperlinked text MUST telegraph the destination”. Let readers know what content to expect when they click on the link
• keep the amount of underlined words to a minimum.
  Don’t create links with link text as long as a sentence or an entire paragraph
• embed the links within the flow of writing avoid adding a “click here”

Please share your ideas of teaching hyperlinked writing in the classroom. How have you approached the genre with your age group of students? What have you learned? What are some of your trial and errors?

ASCD’s conference in Philadelphia on March 24-26, 2012 will also have a virtual participation component.

I am honored to be co-presenting remotely with Heidi Hayes Jacobs, Curriculum21,  and Brandon Wiley from the Asia Society in a Real-Time Global Forum: How to Connect Your Classroom and Schools

The session’s description:

Connect your school with schools around the world in purposeful teaching and learning experiences! Through interactive technology, participants will meet virtually with a global team of teachers and students from places like China, Argentina, India, and the United States to examine a thoughtful and stimulating set of award-winning projects, global learning partnerships, and media presentations. Leave with a wealth of resources to globalize your classroom and school while aligning to common core, provincial, or national standards.

 

Registration Information:

Virtual Conference registration is just $129 for ASCD members and $159 for nonmembers. That’s less than $8 per session!
Register Now

For bulk registrations,please
contact our Service Center at
1-800-933-ASCD(2723)

Interested in attending in person?
More about ASCD’s 2012 Annual Conference

When thinking about “BLOGGING” , the untrained eye (in regards to blogging) of an educator usually will think of “Technology Integration”. When digging a little deeper he/she might recognize that blogging is more about WRITING than technology. But let’s roll blogging back even a little further and we will discover that blogging starts with READING!

Part I- Reading

Becoming an avid blog reader of a variety of blogs is the first step for a teacher contemplating blogging with his/her students. Reading blogs with metacognitive analysis in mind, will help expose teachers to the potential blogging holds in relationship to LEARNING.

Will Richardson in his book “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful We Tools for Classrooms” (Corwin Press 2006) states about blogging:

Connective writing is, for the most part expository writing, but the process starts with reading [...] But more than just reading, bloggers that write in this way learn to read critically because as they read, they look or important ideas to write about. It is an important first step, for as Samuel Johnson said, “I hate to read a writer who has written more than he has read”.

We need to formulate and address intended learning outcomes for our students when blogging. These outcomes need to go BEYOND checking off “technology integration” on our lesson plans.

As teachers read blogs regularly, the better they will become in

• RECOGNIZING learning opportunities via a blogging platform
  
• FORMULATING learning outcome for their own students as they see quality examples of other blogs
• IDENTIFYING curriculum learning outcome and match them to blogging
• UPGRADING and REPLACING blogging can replace traditional assessment
• GAUGING the quality (or lack) of blogs they read, but also the quality of their own students’ blog (relevant to their age group)
• GETTING USED to the new genre of digital reading and writing
• RECOGNIZING that writing is changing (thank you Terry Heick). The writing process used to end with the last period in the last paragraph. Hitting the publish button on a blog, might just be the beginning, not the end of writing.
• UNDERSTANDING the grammar of social/networked writing. How ideas are linked, connected, expanded, influenced, etc. (thank you Alec Couros)
• EXPERIENCING the culture of sharing (Alec Couros)
• BROADENING their horizon by being EXPOSED to an array of content (Alec Couros) and global points of view
• ENGAGING in reflective practice (thank you Mike Gwaltney)
• being AWARE that there is a Global Learning Community out there and available to them anytime/anywhere (thank you Akevy Greenblatt)
• LEARNING and CONNECTING in their own professional journey (thank you Dean Shareski)
• REALIZING that blogs are self-designed, self-directed, and interdependent with all other media forms. (Terry Heick)
• OBSERVING the ability of blogs  (over time) to function as a tool to curate learning (Terry Heick).

Dean Shareski, on his blog post Student and Teacher Blogging that Succeeds, expresses the obvious, but sometimes hidden truth for the novice blogging teacher:

Blogging is about writing, but it begins with reading. [...] Teachers recognize that in order to be a good writer you have to read good writing. Yet when it comes to blogging, most want to write immediately and sit back and wait for the world to pay attention. It won’t happen. Provide as much time for your students to read blogs as write.

I wholeheartedly agree with Dean, but would like to “remix” his statement with the following:

Blogging is about writing, but it begins with reading. Teachers recognize that in order to teach about blogs, they have to read good blogs. Most want to jump immediately in and have their students start blogging, sit back and expect students to write quality blogs. It won’t happen. Teachers need to take time in reading other blogs, before they expect to be able to lead their students in quality blogging.

So let’s take a look at READING blogs. Where does the novice blogging teacher start?

There are literally millions of blogs out there:

• some of very poor quality
• some of topics that holds no interest to you
• written in a voice that offends you
• some expertly written that you can’t believe you get to read them for free
• some that will change the way you view the world forever
• some from which you will learn everytime you just think about them

Start with your PASSION! Passion is what will make you read when you are too tired or have too many other things to do.

Make a commitment to:

• Read at least 4 blogs regularly (Thank you to Chic Foote for suggestion)
• Add them to your RSS Reader (ex. Google Reader) or add them to an iPad app (ex. Flipboard ).
  Make it as easy as possible for yourself to have access to your chosen reading material.
• Set aside a few minutes EVERY day to read them.
  Like every other routine, you have to practice to make it a habit.
• Metacognitive analysis
  ( Merrian Webster’s Online Dictionary defines metacognition as “awareness or analysis of one’s own learning or thinking processes”. )
  Be aware of your own learning as you are reading.
• Take notes (yes, with a notebook and pencil is ok!)
• Read the comment section of the posts as well to get a feel for the conversation style and learn to recognize quality commenting
  Start to practice commenting on your chosen blogs to become part of the conversation

As you are reading, keep the following in mind:

• What do you like about the blog writing? Style, visuals, content, language, author’s voice?
• What don’t you like about the blog writing?
• Do you recognize techniques that extend the traditional forms of writing?
• Be always conscious about your own learning as you are reading.

Here are links to sample blogs for different grade levels and subject areas to give teachers a head start in finding quality examples. You want to choose a variety of blogs. A classroom blog, a professional blog, a student blog, etc. Some are part of my own RSS feed (with my own recommendations), in addition to links and recommendations contributed by others in response to a previous blog post.  If you have other QUALITY blogs to share, please add the links and a short recommendation in the comment section.

Elementary School

Linda Yollis’ Classroom Blog

Recommendation:

This blog is a wonderful example of how to showcase authentic learning experiences in the classroom. Linda also engages her students and readers to comment and contribute content throughout the year.

Miriam’s Magical Moments (Student Blog)

Recommendation:

•  Quality student blog (She earned her blog last year as a third grader, she continues to publish as a fourth grader.)
• Variety of subject matter
• Integration of digital images
• Comments back to all visitors/Great blogging etiquette

Librarian/Media Specialist

Jenny Luca’s Intercepting the Web

Recommendation:

Jenny is Head of Information Services at a school in Australia. She blogs regularly on a variety of subjects, among them 21st century learning, libraries, and information literacy. I enjoy Jenny’s blogging style very much, because her thoughts are outlined clearly and supported with quality links (leading to interesting resources or an older, related blog post) or relevant embedded media (images or video).

Castilleja Library Site

Recommendation:

This site has won the 2010 Edublog Awards in the Library Category. The site does a wonderful job in exemplifying the extension of a physical space into a virtual space. Student work, book reports are being showcased, as well as images videos and other “Cool Stuff”. Links to further resources and to online databases are easily accessible. The design of the sites complements the information it shares and is invites visitors to explore more.

 Technology in Education

Rodd Lucier’s The Clever Sheep

Recommendation:

The blog’s title is intriguing enough to start reading Rodd’s blog, but it is the tag line that makes me come back and look forward to his posts: “Leading in a new Direction”. In his own words he is “on the lookout for opportunities to engage in meaningful conversations with others who see themselves as learners.” On his blog you will find ideas and resources to upgrade your traditionally taught lessons to the 21st century. As a teacher and consultant, Rodd shares specific examples, illustrated with images, to broaden his readers’ horizon and to start them THINKING about ” leading in a new direction”.

Maggie Hos-McGrane’s TechTransformation

Recommendation:

Maggie is a fabulous writer. Her voice comes through on every post. I especially like how I can follow her train of thought as she reads books and connects ideas to her own experience and thoughts. Maggie also shares great practical tips as she coaches and supports teachers in technology integration, teaching and learning in general. Her advice is backed up by research and her own extensive experience as an international educator.

Education (Teaching/Learning/Pedagogy)

Bill Ferriter’s Tempered Radical

Recommendation:

Bill writes with a very honest and clear style about topics that will be immediately relevant to any classroom teacher K-12. He uses his blog to reflect on his practice, establishes networks, lesson successes and failures, and anything else related to the practice of teaching. His blog seems to be for him to make sense of his own experience more than any kind of a public soapbox. A blog is simply a means to express. It doesn’t have to be heavily editorialized, chock full of great tools, or connected to every other blog on the planet. If you speak clearly about something you’re interested in, chances are you’ll find an audience. And even if you don’t, a blog is an easy way to document the progression of your own thinking as you develop as a professional.

Andrea Hernandez’ EdtechWorkshop

Recommendation:

Andrea has been blogging for almost 4 years. It is an interesting read to follow her journey from a computer lab teacher to a 21st century learning specialist. No matter where she was/is on her journey her voice as a “I AM A TEACHER FIRST” comes through. Andrea is extremely reflective and does not shy away from asking herself and her readers some tough questions. She does not jump on every bandwagon because it has the word “technology” attached, but continues to probe deeper, if it can/could/will make a difference in the kind of teacher she is/can be and to her students’ learning.I have also enjoyed very much how Andrea has grown in her  strategical use of  visuals in her posts.

Terry Heick’s TeachThough

Recommendation:

TeachThought covers an existing (and perhaps saturated) topic (education) from new and interesting perspectives (culture, media, and technology).

It also has a combination of thorough editorials, easy-to-read digital essays, news, and helpful tools and multimedia for all stakeholders in education. Among other things, blogging is about serving others with through your passion and expertise. It also features guest posts from other related blogs to expand its reach.

Mathematics

Dan Meyer’s dy/dan

Recommendation:

Dan has figured out how to not only write about his own learning journey, but how to share lesson plans, resources and anecdotes from the classroom at the same time His use of videos and images to break up his posts and are enriching by visualizing a concept or lesson.

 Science

David Wetzel’s Teaching Science and Math

Recommendation:

As the tagline of David’s blog states, he shares ” Resources and Strategies for the Science and Math Classroom”, in a very straight forward way. His posts are direct and to the point. The use of sprinkled bullets and sub-titles in the post appeal to my “stepy-by-step” and “list making” brain.

STEM

Max Goldstein’s Dethorning STEM

Recommendation:

Max is a Sophomore at Tufts University, but don’t let that fool you. He has an incredible insight in how the STEM subjects sh(c)ould be taught in schools. He writes about an array of subjects related to STEM and education including his own experiences as a student. The insight of the way he sees the world around him is refreshing. His blog is a true gem, considering that traditionally (as a generalization), not all “logical-mathematical” brains enjoy or can write well at the same time. Max’s enjoyment of writing is evident in reading his blog.

Language Art

Kelly Jordan’s Teaching Literacy in the Early Years

Recommendation:

Kelly Jordan is a Literacy Coordinator at a school in Australia. Kelly’s focus on her blog is LITERACY. She explores different tools and methods as she is implementing these with her students. Her blog is backed up by real experiences from the classroom, which she describes beautifully in text and images. There are many student samples to look at to support her lesson implementation. Every blog post is ended with questions she poses to her readers in order to gain new perspectives, resources and advice.

Art

Hillary Andrik and Theresa McGee’s The Teaching Palette

Recommendation:

The blog focuses mainly on posts in the following categories: classroom management, music + art integration and teacher-authored product reviews. I like the clean professional look of the blog. No wonder that the visuals/images used on the blog are not generic images or clipart, but specifically taken or created to support the content of the post.  The owners of the blog are doing a terrific job in inviting their audience to contribute content via guest blogs, reviews, recommendations and image submissions.

Music

Gareth Ritter’s Ask a Music Teacher

Recommendation:

Gareth is a music teacher from the UK. He has student video tutorials and audio examples to share, which help make his blog real, not theoretical. As the title of the blog already gives away, Gareth encourages his readers to ask questions, especially in  “around the topic of innovative teaching and the use of technology in the classroom, particularly within music.”

World Languages & ESL

Greta Sandler’s About a Teacher

Recommendation:

Greta is originally from Argentina. She is an English teacher in Buenos Aires and in love of being a teacher. This love shines through in her blog posts. Following her blog, will give you an insight how technology has/is connecting so many global educators who all share the love of teaching.

Lauren Beversdorf’s Be The Change

Recommendation:

Lauren is a K-8 Spanish teacher. On her blog, Be The Change, she not only explores teaching a language to her students, but also how she can make a difference in their lives. As a relatively new blogger, she is embedding media into her writing and her voice shines through.

Lissa Laymann’s Te(a)ch French

Recommendation:

Although a brand new blog, Lissa not only shares examples how she is integrating technology in her world language classroom, but also makes room for reflection (**Notes) throughout the posts. She embeds Google forms as well as video into her posts.

Administration

Connected Principals

Recommendation:

The Connected Principals site is a group blog. Principals from different school communities share openly and transparent their trials and errors, successes and thoughts around education and leadership. You will find different writing styles on many topics of interest to administrators.

Miscellaneous

Maria Popova’s Brain Pickings

Recommendation:

The diversity of content, use of images to fill out content, linking to other blogs (very important part of blogging), and, perhaps most of all, it covers an interesting topic with passion and consistency.

MacKenzie Smith’s Grilled Cheese Social

Recommendation:

While there are a lot of great educational blogs, I think it’s great for teachers and students to look at the breadth of the landscape of informational text that blogs can provide. (This is specifically related to Common Core reading and writing standards as informational text, but also opportunities to fulfill the capacities of the College and Career Ready Student.)  That said, I like this blog as a source of informational text about my favorite food: Grilled Cheese.  I like the way the author gives step by step directions, visuals, and commentary on her artful creations. It would be a great model for someone to emulate as they start their own blog, no matter the topic, and no matter whether they are student or teacher!  Take a look at the comments (but perhaps overlook some of the colorful language…). These are not just touchy-feely remarks…people are articulating WHY the post mattered to them. Metacognition and connections are what we want from these online interactions!

Social networking is changing our lives

You are part of a social network, if you are reading this post on my blog because you subscribe via RSS  or are a regular visitor or someone has forwarded you this post as a “must read”.

I am about to test out, if social networking has changed the way we live, work and “do business” enough to not only change our virtual lives…but also help in our face-to face-world.

My husband and I are working with several recruiting firms (Search Associates, ISS (International Schools Services) and AASSA  (Association of American Schools in South America) in order to find a position at an International School starting the school year 2012/2013. This is the first time for us going through the process of applying to become a candidate at each one of the firms, then applying to attend their individual recruiting fairs hosted between December 2011 and March 2012.

It is quite a process, as we are filling out endless questionnaires and writing our philosophy of education and personal statements. We are requesting our supervisors and administrators to write and submit confidential reference letters. We are uploading our resumes, transcripts and certificates.

Once accepted as a candidate, we gain access to a database listing the international schools who work with the recruiting companies to hire their teachers and administrators. My husband is looking to be hired as a Physical Education teacher/coach, but my position is not as clear cut. My 21st century learning and literacy specialist/coach job title does not fit neatly into a category that is listed in these databases. I am as much of a Curriculum Coordinator, Information & Media Specialist, Technology Integration Facilitator as I am a Literacy Coach, Learning Manager and Professional Development provider for a school.

Finding the right position that will allow me to grow in my work is our top priority as we embark on this recruiting adventure.

That is when the idea of REVERSE RECRUITING came in.

“Recruiting” is defined as:

The process of identifying and hiring the best-qualified candidate for a job vacancy.

So what is “Reverse Recruiting”?

The process of identifying the best job vacancy for a candidate.

I am on the lookout for the right school for me, where I can contribute my expertise and  continue to grow as a professional.

Which school has already a position like mine? Or what school is ready to move into changing the culture of 21st century learning and teaching at their school by hiring someone like me? Which school needs someone to support, observe, mentor, model, co-teach, coach and plan with their faculty as they upgrade their curriculum content to prepare students for the 21st century?

In comes the experiment of social networking in the recruiting process. Is my network diverse and powerful enough to reach the right international school? Are the members of my social network able to disseminate (via blogs, Twitter, Skype, Facebook or e-mail forwarding to personal connections) this quest around the world.  Has my participation over the last 5 years in social networking built a reputation in my area of expertize that creates value for recruiting in the physical (not virtual) world?

Can my social network help me find the right position at an international school?

If you are teaching or are an administrator at an International School, take a look at the online hub my husband and I have established to get to know us a little bit better. Pass the information along to your administrator in charge of hiring or creating new positions at your school . If interested, they can contact us via the website or take a closer look at our profiles at the recruiting firms.

We are very excited to find out how this social networking experiment will turn out. We wonder if the world of international schools is ready for a new recruiting process and the transparency that it brings or if we will need to go via the traditional route of attending recruiting fairs or a combination of both worlds.

Stay tuned… and yes…. please blog, tweet, forward and talk about our quest.

As a teacher, you know when your students are excited about learning. It is what you work for. Is is part of the passion that makes you a true educator.

I had the honor of witnessing such display of excitement and learning a couple of weeks ago, as I spent a day of learning with educators participating in the Edweek2011 in St. Jospeh, Missouri. Not only did I want to talk to teachers and administrators about the opportunities of using Skype in the classroom, I wanted to show them first hand. I wanted them to experience the potential it could bring into their own schools by connecting, communicating and collaborating with others around the world. But the connection could not only be about the connection via Skype itself. How can we make a connection to curriculum content and 21st century skills and literacies? How can we turn an ordinary connection via Skype into a LEARNING CALL?

Using the concept of  “The Digital Learning Farm: Students as Authentic Contributors”by Alan November, I had arranged a Skype call with Mrs. Yollis and her third grade students. Neither party knew the geographic location of each other. It was each groups’ goal to find their respective location by asking closed questions that could be answered with a “Yes” or a “No”. Mrs. Yollis had prepared her 3rd graders by distributing specific job responsibilities during a Skype call  in order to work together to figure out the location of their connection partner.

I hope you will be able to see, hear and feel the excitement of learning these students displayed by watching the edited video recording (for time purposes) of the call.

Make no mistake, simply by assigning these job responsibilities to (groups of or individual) students will not automatically create a learning call, nor will it welcome such an open display of learning excitement into your classroom. The credit goes to Mrs. Yollis for having prepared here students with her own enthusiasm and thirst for learning the entire school year up until this point.

The learning call was well framed by preparing students ahead of time. All of Mrs. Yollis’ students had had previous experiences with authentic contributions to their classroom learning community. Just take a closer look at Mrs. Yollis’ fabulous classroom blog documenting and describing their shared learning.

During the Skype call, Mrs Yollis continued to guide and focus students on the task at hand. It was obvious to us “on the other side of the screen”, that students knew their job responsibilities and worked well together.

Once the call was over, the learning continued by reflecting on the experience on their classroom blog. Mrs. Yollis posted  questions for her students to comment on. The class also received comments from teachers who had participated from Missouri as well as blog readers as far away as Australia.

image licensed under Creative Commons by Sean Nash

Image licensed under Creative Commons by Sean Nash

The Mystery Skype Call from langwitches on Vimeo.

Read more about Mystery Skype calls:

• Mystery call with Langwitches (by Mrs. Yollis)
• Mystery call with Mr. Avery (by Mrs. Yollis)
• Mystery call with Mrs. Yollis (by Mr. Avery)
• Mystery Skype call with Michigan (by langwitches)

As we are asking ourselves: “How do we upgrade a traditionally taught curriculum unit and bring it into the 21st century?”

… We need to test, probe and continuously experiment what works? How does it work? Is the upgrade transformative? Does it increase student motivation? Engagement? Learning?

Automating...

I observe carefully if an upgrade, with the use of technology, is just automating the way we have always taught or is it informating and transformative? Alan November explains what he means by automating and informating in an article titled Creating a New Culture of Teaching:

I have learned about two ways to think about technology: one is called automating, the other is called informating. One will give you incremental improvement; the other will give you big improvement. Unfortunately schools and technology planning tend to focus on automating. This means that you bolt technology on top of what you’re already doing. Most of the investment in education is automating. We have kids write a five-paragraph essay with a $2,000 pencil in a word processing lab. The best improvement you can hope for if you automate is incremental. For example, if we automate report cards, the result is we have prettier report cards, but we don’t improve learning.

You get very different results when you informate. The real revolution is information and communication, not technology. Let go of the word technology. If you focus on it, then you’ll just do what you’re already doing. The trick in planning as we move forward is to think about information systems, whole systems of the flow of information and communication.

As our fifth grade class at the Martin J Gottlieb Day School prepared to study the American Revolution, I am conscientious of the upgrades we are planning and implementing for the unit. Take a look at my previous post titled: The Official Scribe: It’s All About Learning Styles & Collaboration, where I share the transformative use of collaborative note taking (some with..some without technology involved) to address different learning styles.

Collaborative 5th Grade Bulletin Board

Another upgrade we are monitoring for results is bringing in “experts” into the classroom via Skype. I consider someone an”experts” who has a passion for a subject or topic, personal experience or can bring in another perspective.

As I started to mention on Twitter our planning to upgrade the American Revolution unit, Travis Bowman picked up on it. He is

a 6th generation descendant of Peter Francisco and has written an historical novel about Peter’s life entitled Hercules of the Revolution.

Travis agreed to skype into our 5th grade classroom to talk about his ancestor’s story and life. Students were able to ask questions, make connections to what they already had studied in the classroom and digg really deeper into their understanding and visualization of “what life was like” for a soldier during the American Revolutionary war. Take a look at a shorten summary of our Skype call. I hope you can get a feel of our students’ engagement of the topic as well as the quality and critical thinking skills that went into their questions. Ask yourself if questions like these would have been encouraged with the use of a textbook alone? As Travis was speaking with the students, their teacher was circulating her iPad among them to pull up images or other info Travis was mentioning.

A second opportunity presented itself, when Richard Byrne, a History teacher from Main, and famous author of the FreeTechnology4Teachers site, accepted our Skype invitation to the classroom in Florida. Mrs. Z., the 5th grade classroom teacher, asked Richard to talk to her students about the battles of the American Revolution. Richard, instantly, was able to create a connection to our students through the screen. Students (ten & eleven year olds) who usually would be fidgeting when asked to sit and listen for 45 minutes to a lecture where engaged and interested. They were absorbing, questioning…making connections…

I also want to point you to a guest post from Heather Durnin, she wrote about HER students experience during a Holocaust unit, when I had been asked to skype in as “the expert” and share my family’s history.

Is technology being used to transform teaching and learning by bringing in experts? Are students experiencing that learning and information does not only come from the pages of a textbook or a teacher lecturing in front of the class? Are students starting to make connections about the value of a network and being able to contact people from all around the world to learn from them? What are your experiences from bringing in experts into the classroom? Is technology, like video conferencing, truly transformative? Can examples, as the ones described above, help other teachers get tools, like Skype, unblocked in their schools and districts for the sake of new forms of teaching and learning? Are we on the right track?

Alan November’s article Students as Contributors: The Digital Learning Farm has inspired me in my professional life beyond words and guided many of my research and actions in the classroom and professional development since then.

We have come full circle as globalization quickly becomes the norm, and it may now be essential for our students to compete with peers from around the world. Today, we can restore the dignity and integrity of the child as a contributor. Across the country, pioneering teachers are providing students with new roles that have students making contributions to their learning communities. We have powerful, easy-to-use tools such as screencasting and podcasting that give students opportunities to contribute content to the class. At the same time we can also provide them with rigorous and more motivating assignments and better prepare them to become more productive in our new global economy.

You can read the following posts on this blog where I shared thoughts and examples of students as contributors:

• Tutorial Designers- Empowered Learners- Contributors
• Unpack, Upgrade and Bring your Lesson into the 21st Century
• Students as Meaningful Contributors

I wanted to share yet another example of The Digital Learning Farm in action with you.

Mystery Call

Fourth graders had a blast with a “Mystery Skype”. Two classes connected without knowing WHERE each one was geographically located. The idea was, by asking targeted questions, to find out the city we each lived in.

This mystery-type-call was a lot of fun and reinforced critical thinking skills as well as collaboration, communication and geography skills!

We stated the rules at the beginning of the call:

1. One class starts asking a question to determine the geographic location of the other class.
2. Questions can only be answered with “Yes” or “No”.
3. If the class who asked receives a “Yes” answer, they continue to ask another question until they receive a “No”. It will be the other class’s turn then to ask a question.

On our end, we gave students different jobs to help figure the location out.

Questions & Answers

• Q & A: students were in the “hot seat” asking and answering questions in front of the webcam

Scribe

• Scribe: Student who wrote the clues we received on the board to keep track of positive and negative responses

Researchers

Researchers

Researchers

• Researchers: Students were ready and waiting with Google Maps open on their computer or with an atlas to take the clues received and narrow the search down and to feed information to the Q&A speakers.

We had a blast trying to figure each other’s location out and learned that we need to learn to ask good questions that will narrow possible answers down. We also learned that we all need to work together (Q&A, researchers and scribe) and communicate in order to solve the mystery of our Skype connection’s location. Here are some of the clues we figured out: Our skype mystery connection lives:

• in the USA
• where it is cold right now
• in the North of the USA
• does not live in North Dakota
• in Michigan
• about an hour from Detroit
• close to a lake
• in a small town

We needed some help to continue finding their exact location: We received the following clues:

• they are close to the border with Ohio
• the first part of their city’s name is a “baby sheep”

Our mystery class was from Lambertville, Michigan!

Heather Durning who blogs on Mrs. D’s Flight Plan has graciously allowed me to cross post her latest post here on Langwitches.

I believe her blog post is invaluable as it fulfills the need to document, summarize and assess learning outcomes when leading your students with new forms of teaching and learning. The blog post titled “Holocaust Education via @Langwitches and Group Skype” is such a post. We need to start sharing new forms of schools, classrooms, teaching and learning.

As Kevin Jarett tweeted:

If you dig further in Heather’s blog, which carries the tagline: “Teaching with technology in a Gr. 7/8 classroom means sometimes you fly by the seat of your pants“, you can read more about the collaboration between her class in Ontario and Clarence Fisher’s class in Manitoba, Canada.  I was honored when she contacted me to be part of that collaboration. During the Skype call I realized that I was part of a NEW FORM of teaching and really a new form a school and learning. I got goose bumps reading the students’ comments Heather shared with me after their reflection of the Skype experience. I can start seeing that new form of what learning can be/is crystallize itself in the fog ahead.

Read Heather’s description and her students’ comments below, then head over to her blog to follow along her journey of creating new forms of learning and teaching opportunities.

Skype Call Perspective from my End

Holocaust Education via @langwitches and Group Skype

This week, the Idea Hive experienced a significant “first”:  a shared read aloud of The Book Thief using Skype, backchannel chat, and Linoit, a virtual bulletin board.   In previous posts, Clarence shared the beauty of this story, and the pre-reading activities leading up to the book, designed to develop students’ knowledge of Germany in WW II.  In the Hive Thinking classroom, students collaborated to produce research summaries of various topics including Hitler Youth, Jesse Owens, Hitler, Kristallnacht, and the Holocaust.

Following this step, students viewed a video created by Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano, Kristallnacht- Night of the Broken Glass.  While viewing images, including many of her Jewish grandparents in Germany, Silvia narrates her family’s story surrounding that horrific night on November 9, 1938, when Hitler showed the world his plans for the Jewish community. Please take the 9 min. needed to view her story.  I assure you it will be worth it.

The next day, the Idea Hive students met via Skype to share questions they planned to ask Silvia in a follow-up group video call, a new Skype feature.  During that group video call, it was incredible to watch students in Ontario and Manitoba listen and interact with Silvia as she spoke to us all from Florida.  This call allowed our students to experience together, the emotions shared by Silvia, as she answered their questions.  Silvia helped students learn how similar behaviours are mirrored today in social media sites such as Facebook.  Students connected, as they learned together in an authentic environment.  One of my student’s parents shared the impact this experience had on her daughter.  “When she came home, she talked and talked about the Holocaust.  She cried.”

After the call, I asked my students to share their thoughts on how Skype affects their learning.

When we Skyped with Silvia, what happens years ago, makes more sense. She told us way more than I’d read in a textbook. She made me put myself in Germany during the night of broken glass.

When you’re talking to someone on a Skype call, with people around the world telling their story, you realize how really brave they are, like Silvia. They inspire us to share more of our experiences.  Brad P.

Skyping helps us learn. When our class Skyped with Silvia Rosenthal, she told us more information about the holocaust and WWII than a textbook would have told us. This makes it exciting for us because we can see her expressions and it makes it more real.  We can feel her emotion.

In order for this to work, there must be preparation involved so you have a reason to Skype. Preparing for a Skype call is just as important as studying for a test or practicing a speech for your History project. We prepare because it helps us present the information the way we want it to sound. We also prepare so there is a serious conversation, and so we don’t stumble over words as we are speaking to our audience. Ethan J.

During the Skype call, the students are very quiet and involved.  We are very interested with the call because we are not just reading a boring old textbook.  We are hearing somebody’s story. When we had a Skype call with Silvia on Monday, we got into it, asking questions that we’d previously planned.  And we all know you cannot ask a textbook questions!  If you have access to this technology, why not use it?!  Alyssa H.

The group Skype feature enables our students to share powerful, emotional learning experiences together.  It’s another step in our year-long goal of creating a community of learners in the Idea Hive.

I have been dying to share this project with all of you, but I have been holding off until we have completed the unit (well almost…). There seem to be more and more opportunities popping up for our 5th grader to continue learning and connecting their knowledge about Christopher Columbus…

Take a listen to the students’ “CC Newscast” video and then read on about the “upgrade” process from textbook to globally connected learning!

Columbus Creates 21st Century Explorers from langwitches on Vimeo.

Christopher Columbus Creates 21st Century Explorers

It all started out with a planning meeting with the 5th grade teacher. We used iThoughtsHD on the iPad to brainstorm and sketch out some of our ideas for the unit. The visual helped us see the big picture and made it easy to add components in areas that we felt needed upgrades in terms of 21st century skills and literacy. We wanted to give students research opportunities that went beyond their textbook and library. We wanted them to be exposed to multiple perspectives and come up with their own conclusion about the historical figure “celebrated” here in the USA on October 12th of every year.

Christopher Columbus Unit Plan

We had a meeting with students to talk about the Christopher Columbus unit. Collaboratively we created a KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned) chart on the iPad and got them thinking about THEIR contribution to the research about the historic figure. We decided that the culminating project and assessment would be a class movie. Each student would contribute a segment with their research findings. The segment could be a presentation, dance, song, etc. Mrs. Z, their teacher created a Google Doc, which she shared with all her students. After thinking and negotiating project partners, they added their contribution ideas to the document. Some students needed more help than others form their teacher. Using Google Docs as a class community greatly contributed to the collaborative nature of the learning taking place.

Jilliyn-  Skype with people Mrs. Tolisano has made contact with in other countries.

Shira-”Skype Team”-when we interview students from other countries about what they learn about Columbus.  You must research first about the other country and then formulate your questions for the interview.

Josh-research statistics about Columbus’s voyages-how many sailors were on board, etc. and formulate questions to ask when we interview people about Columbus and interview Ms.Stein.

Edyn-perform a play about Columbus.  Either write your own play based on research you do on Columbus or check with Mrs. Tolisano -she has a play you can use.

I think it would be good if you had commentators to speak after you do your play.  They would decide whether your performance was mostly fact or fiction based on research yes

Hannah-Dance-BUT-you must also create a song about Columbus based on research about his life. Interview Mrs. Tolisano.

Ryan-research and see if any movies and/or video games have been made about Columbus–Maybe check educational channels too such as Discovery and PBS and try to view the programs (with your parents or  my approval first)

Allie- I will interview Mrs. Rogo. about Christopher Columbus, be in a play and make a Power Point about important dates in Christopher Columbus’ life.

Sabrina- Find books about Christopher C. and see how the authors portray him and interview Mrs. Rogo–must submit interview questions to me for approval first and you will need someone to film the interview with the flip camera. Also-did you want to perform in the play?

Max-videographer…commentator/fact checker

Daniel-I know you are interested in dates…so you will research and make a timeline of Columbus’s life. Include at least ten important dates.

Rachel-Why did Christopher Columbus take his journey? What happened to the prisoners after the journey? How hard did he work during his journey?  You must research several sources to find you answers and TELL me what sources you used.

Montgomery-research why Columbus decided it would be a good idea to sail West and not East.

Lance-I would like for you to interview Mrs. Reppert and ask her questions about Columbus.  You will need to do some research so you will know what you want to ask before your interview.  I will need to approve your questions first. You will also need someone to film with the flip camera.

Samuel-I would like for you to meet with Mrs. Leonard and email the contact she found.  (I will give you her name)  I want you to tell her what our class is doing (our Christopher Columbus project) and ask her at least five questions.  You will discuss this on the video.  Sam and Josh z will do special effects on video.

Claire–skype interviewer and help Rachel

Shelby-see Edyn’s name

Reesa- I will make a song and dance with hannah

Josh-you will do research about Columbus’ s voyages. You will tell us where he went on each of his four voyages.

Class Meeting

KWL Chart created with and by the students. Again, using iThoughts we passed the iPad around the table and asked students to add a bubble to the chart. We will later re-visited the chart to add WHAT they have learned about Christopher Columbus.

KWL- Student Chart

I blogged and tweeted a call for “experts” who would be willing to be contacted by our students and interviewed about their knowledge and perspectives of Christopher Columbus.

Our school’s librarian was also able to pass on an e-mail contact of a Native American from her network.

Call for "Experts" willing to share knowledge and perspective

Greta Sandler from Argentina and Melissa Techman from Virginia responded via Twitter, Maryna Tsehelska from the Ukraine and Steve Wilmarth from China answered our calls through the Around the World with 80 Schools site.

In an effort to support our students as collaboration and communication coordinators, we passed the task to e-mail and communicate with the “Experts” on to them. I met with the students to create a draft for their initial contact e-mail. They took it from there to coordinate Skype calls.

Student e-mail to Skype Contact

Skype with Argentina

Mrs. Techman read a book via Skype to the class

Skype Call with the Ukraine

Other students eagerly got started in preparing their contribution to our collaborative project.

Enthusiastic E-mail from Students

Then came the moment when the class formulated questions to be used in a survey asking others to share their thoughts, ideas and knowledge about Christopher Columbus. The survey was then embedded on the classroom blog. I tweeted and blogged about their survey and asked my network to please take the time to answer their questions.

These were the questions:

• Where do you live?
• How old are you?
• Do you think Christopher Columbus was a Hero, Victim or Villain?
• Explain your answer
• Do you think Christopher Columbus discovered America?

Survey embedded on Classroom Blog

The survey generated just short of 400 entries from over 12 countries! Students were enthralled when we projected the survey spreadsheet and the entries were “falling” in as they were watching! We shared the Google Document with all the students, so they would have access to it anytime.

How exciting as the survey responses were being updated live on the spreadsheet

As a class we analyzed the responses of the survey in the spreadsheet, although I received nightly updates via email from excited students as the numbers of participants climbed steadily.

Analyzing the Survey

The following Wordles were created with the answers for some of the questions.

Location of Survey Contributors

Survey: Do you believe Columbus discovered America?

Survey: Do you believe Columbus was a Hero, Villain or a Victim?

You can download the survey entries as a pdf file here.

Once students completed their research, we started working on the Newscast video, which would be the collaborative product of our learning.

Newscast Brainstorming Session

How will each section be recorded?

As students were watching the final version of the CC Newscast, I sent my iPad with the original KWL chart around. Each student added a “bubble” about what they had learned:

that C.C did not discover America

That CC took prisoners as his sailors.

that c.c. was not such a nice person.

There were different perspectives in Argentina about CC.

I learned that Columbus almost gave up when he was trying to go to America and that the sailors almost had a mutiny.

I learned that Christopher Columbus was not always a hero.

I learned that Christopher Columbus was not nice to the Indians.

Columbus was born in Valladolid Spain

The Tainos killed some of Columbus’s men when Columbus went back to Spain to get a new ship.

People have a lot of different opinions about Christopher Columbus.

Columbus didn’t go were he planed to go. ””

Columbus wanted to rule the land he discovered. Also Columbus died in 1506

C.C. Had a dark side to him.

In 1504 he returned to Spain.

He sailed lots of ships not just 3

There was so many things about Christopher Columbus.

We were also contacted by Steve Wilmarth, who is currently teaching in Wuhan, China at a Middle School Attached to HuaZhong Normal University.
He writes:

I would love to have my students in China join in the discussion about Christopher Columbus.  They would like to share with your students the story of the great Chinese admiral, Zheng He (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zheng_He), and his exploration of the world 50 years before Columbus set sail.

My students are studying US history this semester, and we are exploring the topic of the “Columbian exchange;” how the the early explorations brought plants, animals, and diseases around the world for the first time.

What an incredible opportunity to connect with these Chinese High School students with our 5th graders. Learn about the exploration in Asia. Although Christopher Columbus day as come and gone and the 5th graders unit on the historical figure has (officially) ended, we will continue to make connections to expand our horizons and learn from different perspectives.

Learning can be sooo exciting!!! What kind of tried and tested project, unit or lesson plan have you upgraded recently? Please share your documentation or reflection of the upgrade to help build examples from the classroom HOW teaching and learning are taking on new forms.

I must say that I enjoy reading other bloggers’ “favorite iPad apps lists”. I usually check some of their apps out and end up with some gems, I would have otherwise not found.

Below you will find a screenshot of one of my screens which houses the icons/apps/links that I most frequently use.

GoDocs

GoDocs syncs with ALL my different Google Accounts, when connected to wifi. It allows me to view my docs also offline. Unfortunately still not able to edit the docs. I am hoping that will come in a future update. The interface is great. Nice view of Google Presentations and Spreadsheets. Very convenient for me as I am walking around school and need to reference and share with teachers or students from my Google Docs.

Google Calendars Client

I really had issues viewing my various Google Calendars via Safari on the iPad, until I found this app. I can add my various Google Accounts and calendars that are shared by others with me. I can toggle them off and on, just like on a computer and add, drag and drop them on- and offline. This app has been VERY handy as I am walking the halls at school and get stopped by teachers or administration in order to make or change a meeting time.

Delicious

This is a simple shortcut bookmark icon to my Delicious account, so I have faster access to my bookmarks

Delicious Save

Since I have not found a specific Delicious App, I bookmarked the “Add a Link” page on my Delicious account, so, when I want to add a link, I can simply copy and paste.

Langwitches Blog

Simply a bookmarked icon to get me fast to the Langwitches Blog.

Around The World With 80 Schools

Simply a bookmarked icon to get me fast to Around The World with 80 Schools site

Curriculum21 Ning

Simply a bookmarked icon to get me fast to the Curriculum21 Ning.

Shelfari

Simply a bookmarked icon to get me fast to my Shelfari account.

Twitter Times Langwitches

Simply a bookmarked icon to get me fast to the TwitterTimes Langwitches page.

Flickr

Simply a bookmarked icon to my Flickr PhotoStream

iBooks

My e-reader for book purchases through iBooks

Kindle

My e-reader for books purchased via Amazon.

Social (Facebook)

After having looked at my Facebook page for months with the small iPhone app that was only available, I am happy with this newer app to view and interact on Facebook.

Twitter

I have two Twitter apps (Twitter and Twittelator) on my iPad, since I have not decided which one I like best. This app seems to pull more than the 20 latest tweets at a time. Not sure yet,  if I like the sliding parts when you click on links or profiles within a Tweet.

WordPress

I use this app frequently to delete Spam comments that have made their way past my Spam protection plugins. I have not used it much to actually write posts. I don’t like that when I start drafts, they do not synch with my drafts folder when I get back to my laptop….or maybe I just have not figured out how to do that.

InstaPaper

This app collects website links to be able to read later on-or offline. Very helpful, since it is integarted with the Reeder App, I use to sync my Google Reader RSS

List n’ Do

Great app to create To Do lists with  due dates. I like that it has subtasks and plenty of space to type in notes for each task.

iThoughtsHD

iThoughtsHD is actually the most favorite app on this list for me. I have started using it to

• take notes and meetings
• notes as I am reading through books
• outline for blog posts
• outline for conference presentations and workshops

NoteTaker HD

I found this app to work well for me, if I want to take quick handwritten notes. I have gotten used to using my Stylus pen. This app allows me to jot down notes, organize them and email them if I wish too. I have also used this app to take notes at meetings and really enjoy not having to lug around my laptop to be able to have digital notes.

GoodReader

Finally, I have one place to store, manage and access all my pdf files. This app makes it a pleasure to work and view pdf files. I am able to download web based pdf files, by simply paste URLs of them into the app, then file them away into folders. The app makes viewing pdf files very attractive and  as easy as looking through a book. Very nice. I have added all my How-To-Guides and Teaching Units that I have created for Langwitches. I am able to access them in one convenient place as reference when I am talking to teachers in my building or at workshops and conferences.

Twitterlator

This is my second Twitter Client. I really like the interface of  Twitterlator. One of the downsides is that it downloads the last 20 Tweets and it is not easy to get to older tweets in my timeline. I used this app, when I was tweeting from a conference and really liked to how easy it was to insert the conference hashtag. It made “fast and furious” tweeting easy

Reeder

Absolutely love this app to sync my Google Reader subscriptions. Since I started using the app, I can actually can stay on top of my subscriptions. It allows me easily to skim over new items, star interesting ones and the most useful part of this app for me is, that I can

• copy the link location
• directly save to my Delicious account
• save to my Instapaper account
• send the link to Twitter
• e-mail the post or link

All without having to leave the app. This integration allows me to organize, save and disseminate resources to my network.

What are some of your favorite/must have apps on you iPad? Please share.