Category Archives: Education

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Nominate a Teacher for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science

Got the following email from Jo Scott at PAEMST today – I almost didn’t pass on the info since I applied a few years ago and wasn’t selected : )

Brian,

I work for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science
Teaching (PAEMST) and was wondering if you could post some information
regarding nominating teachers for the Presidential Awards.

The Presidential Awards for Mathematics and Science Teaching is trying to
gain a more diverse group of nominees by reaching out through several
different listservs/education blogs/education Web sites. We¹d love to
include our nomination information on your site‹below is the PAEMST
nomination information that we¹re using to influence
teachers/parents/administrators to nominate. If you can use it, great.  If
not, thanks for your time.

Thanks so much,

Jo Scott
PAEMST
Teacher Outreach
703-265-2772 x14

Example of Posting:

Nominate Outstanding Teachers for the 2007 Presidential Awards for
Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching

Show your support for outstanding  mathematics and science teachers in your
community by nominating them for the 2007 Presidential Awards for Excellence
in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Each year, on behalf of The White
House, the National Science Foundation selects highly qualified teachers
based on their deep mathematics or science content knowledge and their
ability to show evidence of student progress in these areas.

The call for nominations for the 2007 awards is open!  The nomination and
application period for the nation¹s highest honor for mathematics and
science teachers will close May 1, 2007. Nominate 7th-12th grade teachers
today by visiting www.paemst.org .

K-6th grade teachers may be nominated in 2008.

As presidential winners, award recipients receive the following:
[Hide Quoted Text]
>
> ·    A citation signed by the President of the United States.
> ·    The opportunity to join a dynamic network of Presidential awardees.
> ·    A paid trip for two to Washington, DC, to attend a weeklong series of
> recognition events and professional development opportunities.
> ·    Gifts from program sponsors from around the country.
> ·    A $10,000 award from the National Science Foundation.
>
>
> Nominate a teacher today!  Eligibility requirements, nomination guidelines,
> and application information are available at http://www.paemst.org.

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So Our Goal Was To Make A Difference With Web 2.0 – Will We Succeed?

As someone who embraced technology as a learning tool early on (my first classroom computer was a 64K Apple ll – not even a lle) I’m right there with many in the edblogosphere that have come to the conclusion that the snails pace of adoption by many in education would be enhanced if we had many examples of it truly making a difference in schools. My class has now successfully included a student that cannot attend school because of her leukemia twice using FREE video Skype software (see here and here). Our plan is to do it as many days as she feels up to it. And beyond the obvious implications of that, what needs to be pointed out is that it was EASY. Beyond getting her a DSL line and computer, which took the better part of 2 months, setting up the Skype connection literally took less than half an hour at her house and our classroom combined. My fourth graders that came into this year having close to zero experience with technology beyond video games and phones, hook up the laptop and web cam we use easily after we did it ONE TIME (we’ve done it twice more since).

Will this make a difference in Celest’s life? The rest of my students’ lives? Others’ lives? Does this project have implications for web 2.0 beyond what we are trying to accomplish here (including someone)? Besides using Skype my students have already used Flickr, blogged, used email, word processed, used digital still and video cameras and planned a video about this experience – and we have only been doing it for 3 days. The exciting thing is we will experience the answers to these questions. More as it unfolds.

Learning is messy!

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Skyping Celest – Day One – The Whole Story

Wednesday

We couldn’t begin first thing in the morning because we had the NAEP test to do – one last obstacle to get over before we could try our grand experiment. The plan was to wait until after lunch and then connect-up (Skype-up?) for the first time. Fortunately, I had Celest ring us up as soon as the class went to lunch – this turned out to be one smart move because when we clicked on our video buttons our image came up right away but the image from her end was black. I tried the few things I could think of, all the time repeating to myself, – but it worked flawlessly twice last night!!!?

I had 25 minutes before eager students would return from lunch, so after checking out with administration I zipped over to her house. The problem? There were at least ten applications open. Windows – their only experience was with Windows – and I hadn’t had a chance to brief them about everything the night before. They closed applications by clicking the windows closed not realizing that that did not close the application on a Mac. I restarted the computer and made the return trip.

At 12:30 video cameras were revved up to catch the event from 2 angles. Students tried hard to settle, but most were on their knees in their chairs hardly able to contain themselves. To begin I projected the image onto our Whiteboard. A ring sounded, I clicked the green phone icon and then the video button and in a matter of seconds Celest, who had shown up on my daily attendance since October, entered our classroom for the first time.

Hellos and waves were exchanged all around – I pivoted the web cam around to each table in the room so all could be introduced. Faces beamed. Now what?

I disconnected the laptop from the Activboard and moved it and the web cam I had taped to the top of a tripod to the front table – the students there gladly made room for their new classmate. I pointed the web cam at the board and had paper distributed all around (including Celest) – Yes I know – why are we using paper when we have laptops and Celest obviously has a computer to work on? Composing on a computer takes some getting used to, we will get there, but we’re not there yet.

I connected my Mac to the ActivBoard and started a pre-write brainstorm about our experience. I adjusted the camera angle once so Celest could see clearly and she followed along with the session easily. After the brainstorm we all wrote a rough draft and then word processed them on our computers. At one point Celest got my attention and wondered if it was OK if she went to the bathroom – how cool is that, she felt like she was at school! I reluctantly allowed her to go (couldn’t she have done that during lunch? : ) Our school counselor, Ann Marlow, who made most of the calls that made this happen – including making the connection that got us the new iMac, walked through and said her hellos and noted the writing everyone was doing – she was both relieved and thrilled this was finally happening.

1st-day

When Celest let me know she was done typing I talked her through spell checking and some other editing pieces, and then led her through emailing her file to me at school. This became her first post on our blog.

About then it was time for us to go to the library, so we said goodbye to Celest since library would take us to the end of the day. And, after many goodbyes of course, our first Video Skype experience was over.

Thursday, Celest attended for a bit more than an hour – she practiced her multiplication facts online with the rest of us and did some reading before she went off for chemo. She paid us a quick visit on her way home just before dismissal – mask on, no wig – she couldn’t make it today – we understand why. Monday will be a fresh day – except that we have ITBS testing all morning – all week, so it will be afternoons only.

We storyboarded our video about our experience today using the Flipchart software in ActivStudio, we will try to finish shooting it and editing it next week with Celest’s help – if so I will post the video for all to see. The students came up with some great ideas.

Learning is messy!

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Inclusion Via Skype – We’re Almost Completely There!!!


Inclusion Via Skype

Originally uploaded by BCrosby.

This post refers to previous postings (here and here) about a fourth grade student in my class – that because of Luekemia and the chemo/radiation treatments she is receiving cannot attend school.

We’re almost there! After more obstacles and issues than you would believe, today I installed a brand new iMac computer, DSL line and Skype connection at Celest’s house. The chemo and radiation have taken their toll on her hair, but she absolutely glowed when Doug Taylor (sixth grade teacher who helped me set things up and then returned to school for the trial run – THANKS DOUG!) answered her Skype call from my classroom (see photo) and we made the connection for the first time. A little later we hung-up, I left and returned to school, and then so she could practice making the connection herself we tried it again. My principal was sitting there when we made the connection again.

We will repeat the process again after lunch tomorrow (we have to take the NAEP test in the morning) and officially make her an attending member of a class she has been enrolled in since October for the first time. Hallelujah!

I will be posting a vidcast when we get it done.

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Paper, Pencils and Books May Not Boost Student Achievement – Reprised

Ron Canuel has a post in “The Pulse” today where he questions the research on using pencils and pens in school. It reminded me of one of my own from April 14th, 2006, so I am reprinting it here:

 

Paper, pencils and books have been used in schools in America for more than a hundred years, probably for more than 200 years, lets just say for a long time. This concerns me because It appears to me that they may not boost student achievement. Sure, some students seem to do well using them, but our testing continues to show that many students continue to struggle and more schools are added to the list of those not meeting adequate yearly progress every year. Some of these schools use paper, pencils and books to the exclusion of almost any other teaching and learning tool.

I’ve been doing some of my own research in my own classroom and my findings seem to bear this out. This year I was determined to use paper, pencils and books as much as possible hoping that they would make a greater impact on my students’ learning. I have them use paper and pencils to copy things from the internet, I integrate books into PE by using them as bases during kickball, I’ve even integrated them into lunch by using them as trays in the cafeteria. We use paper and pencils to word process, participate in our drawing program and sometimes we trace pictures from books.

I use the “extra” problems in the back of the math book for lots and lots of math drill and practice, and starting in our primary grades we use books to teach reading and math and some of our students still aren’t performing well, in fact the longer students use paper, pencils and books the lower some score on standardized tests. I have a file cabinet full of reading worksheets that stress comprehension and vocabulary so this year I’ve used those with my students a lot. They seem to help a few kids, and they were excited about them at first but now some of them groan when I pass them out. I just don’t get why the kids aren’t doing better. I’m using paper and pencils and books constantly. I’ve even started having kids write over and over, “I will write and spell better,” but that hasn’t seemed to help either.

My school district spent literally millions of dollars on a new reading series this year and on math a few years ago. Frankly it seems like money down a rat hole to continue to invest precious tax dollars into tools that have hundreds of years of trial and seem to not boost student achievement.

Is anyone doing research on the use of these tools to see if they should continue to be used?

What? Maybe I haven’t been using paper, pencils and books correctly to support student learning? Maybe I’m using them to meet the needs of the industrial age when we aren’t in the industrial age any more? Maybe I need training in their effective use and my learning curve might take more than 2 or 3 years? Isn’t that kind of like the study that just came out about computers may not boost student achievement?

Oh! never mind.

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GRRRRRRRR! #%#**#@#!!!!– But Its OK … We Will Still Make It Happen! Online Inclusion Update 3

This is an update of some earlier posts.

I got back from my trip to Houston this morning and immediately touched base to see if phone line installation, DSL hook-up and modem delivery had happened. It was confirmed – everything was finally in place – all I had to do was go and do the installation of modem, computer and train my student how to make things work. I even dragged Doug Taylor, a sixth grade teacher, along who knows more about IT than I ever will in case what should be a no-brainer install ran into problems. Plus, once we had things running Doug was going to drive back to school and test the Skype connection from the school end so we could be sure things would work.

Well, we ran into problems … but nothing Doug could help with. NO MODEM had been delivered after all. After a few quick calls we determined it just wasn’t going to happen today UUUUUURRRRRRRRGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!! So we packed up everything and left.

The upside is that I did finally meet my student in the flesh for the first time. She showed me some of her Christmas presents and I tried not to breathe my germs anywhere near her. Her wig (because of the chemo and radiation) looked good and she is really looking forward to getting this going. We will try again tomorrow if the modem is located – but she will only be around for a few days next week because of another procedure she has to have done. All the more reason we need to make this happen ASAP!

Learning is messy!!!!

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Promethean ActivEducator 2007 Conference

Promethean ActivBoard – ActivEducators Users Group – Houston, Texas

Saint John’s School January 16th-17th

Keynote Tony Cann, – Vice Chairman Promethean – January 16, 2007

My Notes from Tony Cann’s Keynote:

Taking a risk today – will new tech he is demo-ing work today?

Had us use Activotes to tell whether we were from Texas or somewhere else. Years taught, age, grade level.

“Only a small part of learning is in the Classroom”

Part that parents used to teach kids while eating meals, hiking, etc. not happening for most students anymore – This makes the job of teachers more complex and wider because of lack of parental teaching. Spotlight is on teachers. Constant upgrade of skills.

Another suggested read – Preparing Teachers for a Changing World by Hammond – Bransford

Asks what will raise student achievement – answers 40% Teacher Development 25% Something Else – no one voted for Tech out of 300 – Tony agrees.

If there was more money where would you spend it – 60% voted for Elementary education – Tony agrees that it needs to be spent in elementary first.

3 Points About Tech – 1) Isn’t a magic wand, needs people to use it 2) Results driven by what happens in classroom – not administration based – but at teacher pupil level., we need to give tools they need. – 3) Use tech in ways that stop putting more burden on teachers.

Participation by teachers is important – but more important is participation by learners. Learners are our most underused resource.

Teacher demand has driven UK schools – 50% use whiteboards but usage was poor – now it is getting better.

When Activotes were first introduced – a teacher asked him “Why would we want that?”

Collaborative classroom allows teacher to listen and respond.

Videos on how Promethean improves participation – 2 students writing on board at the same time and using different colors. Next video shows software that allows student to write a word that character in video acts out. Next takes a picture and splits it into sections and separates it.

Tony announces that new software allows 2 to write on ActivBoard at once. Applause.

The next vote Tony has us participate in shows that audience feels that most found school not engaging when thinking about HOW OTHERS see their school experience – Then vote was taken about what we thought about our own schooling the results were slightly more positive.

NOTE TONY is running ActivStudio software on screen but not using an Activboard.

The experience of school affects your life.

Promethean is about inclusion

Question – What percent of human capacity is from genetics? Most vote 50% or less – Tony agrees.

Inspiration or perspiration??? – He feels that Inspiration is more important and will change the world.

The Nature-Nurture Debate – Book by Ceci and Williams – Feels this is important read.

Raise the level of everyone. How you feel about what you are teaching can’t be hidden from your class.

We can take average people and make them giants. We have to raise the standards of the middle.

An ignorant manager is one that doesn’t listen – we must listen.

In Viet Nam they spend more than 2 X Gross domestic product on education.

What is stopping schools from adopting tech? Most attendees pick money over 50%. Tony says it isn’t the money that is stopping tech integration it is vision. “It absolutely isn’t the money.” He gave some examples and stats that I couldn’t type fast enough.

Happiness is a by-product of activity, doing things.

Teachers help learners do things well.

Only the educated are free.

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Online Inclusion Update 2

NOTE: This is the latest update about a post from December 7th: Hoping To Make a “Web 2.0” Difference In A Child’s Life and: Hoping To Make a “Web 2.0” Difference In A Child’s Life – Part 2 – about including a student assigned to my class that cannot attend school because of her depleted immune system that we are trying to “Skype” into our classroom.

“Hurry up and wait,” seems to be the theme here. I got a message from AT&T last Monday that the phone line and DSL service they are installing would be in her apartment by this past Thursday, so Friday I would be able to install everything finally. Unfortunately, Friday I was busy until 10:00pm and I left Saturday Morning on a trip, so now we have to wait until at least Thursday this week before I can install and train my student to use the internet, Skype and email etc., so I’m REALLY HOPING that this Friday we will give things a try.

My students in class have written some new blog posts about Inclusion that I need to get posted and we plan on making a vidcast about getting things set-up and our first attempts at including our off campus classmate – so watch for that.

Learning and inclusion are messy!

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Digital Video Class Just Adds To My Recent Optimism

30 minutes after Elizabeth’s presentation ended at 3:30 I was co-hosting a 4 hour class on digital video that will meet a total of 4 times. One area my school district has consistently tried to put tech into teachers’ and students’ hands has been digital video and photography. 7 years ago I took a digital video class that included a camera for everyone attending, and I have been hooked ever since. It is really what drove my principal to originally help write the grant that got us 30 firewire iBooks when they first hit the market. They are the ones that my fourth graders are using right now in our 1:1 laptop program.

On a side note, I felt my students were comfortable enough with basic use of their laptops that I have them using them with a substitute teacher in the room for 3 days – I know yesterday went well because I was actually onsite during our training so I touched base with both teacher and students and things went smoothly :  ).

I’ve taught this digital video class 4 times before, and one of my misgivings has always been that after the class ends, how much have the teachers used the camera in their classroom with their students?  Unfortunately, I’m afraid, not much. Only a very few teachers that I know that have gotten cameras that I have spoken to afterwards has ever told me about something they have done with students. But again, this group seems different. My cohort picked up on this too. This group was excited, asking questions, commenting on example videos we showed, and when we did a simple activity that involved them using their cameras for the first time they couldn’t get enough. They left class jazzed about showing up next week with some video shot that we can teach them how to edit. Several stayed behind to shake our hands and repeat how thrilled they are that they were given this opportunity!

Pinch me!