Category Archives: Education

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Mcrel Training

I’m writing this from 30,000 feet over the snow-dusted white peaks and red-brown valleys of the Great Basin Desert of Nevada on my way to Phoenix and then to Houston for the Promethean ActivBoard Conference there Tuesday and Wednesday.

I’ve blogged recently about how I am optimistic that attitudes are changing positively about how “school” is done and the role of technology and problem-based learning in education. Friday my school was visited by Elizabeth Hubbell from Mcrel, in-the-flesh, as opposed to online via Marratech and a web cam. Elizabeth presented to our “Focus Group” of 12 teachers that have ActivBoards installed in their classrooms, for a morning session, and then our entire staff for the afternoon. Her focus was on sharing how Marzano’s research supports using technology in schools and some resources to support doing that.

I’ve mentioned in the past how most teachers at my school (and district) have been lukewarm at best about technology. Most struggle with basic email skills such as attachments or downloading a digital camera. When they have been in-serviced about using tech it has often been done by me or the one other teacher on our staff that is skilled at integrating technology – so after awhile the message becomes too “inbred” and loses its punch. So having an “outsider” here with a new story to tell supported by Marzano’s research was a breath of fresh air.

One of the breakthroughs for many was that we could put a wireless laptop into their hands so that as Elizabeth shared sites and activities, teachers experienced them and discussed them immediately. Knowing who the “reluctant adopters” were in the audience gave me further optimism as I observed them make connections with what Elizabeth was showing them and their own perspectives on how this might impact their classrooms and the realization that we have two sets now of wireless laptops that can move around the school – RIGHT NOW – so they could actually do these things with their students next week.

We’ll see how it goes.

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Students Today …

Do these sound like excuses you’ve heard the last few years?

Thanks to Sheldon Brown and Judy Brown for these:

UPDATE 1-2-06: Via Karl Fisch – These quotes are from David Thornburg’s book Edutrends 2010: Restructuring, Technology and the Future of Education (1992). I don’t have the book handy, but I believe he got them from a professor somewhere that had done the research. If you’re interested, I used them in this presentation, adding some of my own more recent experiences.

Students today can’t prepare bark to calculate their problems. They depend on their slates which are more expensive. What will they do when their slate is dropped and it breaks? They will be unable to write!”
Teachers Conference, 1703

Students today depend upon paper too much. They don’t know how to write on slate without chalk dust all over themselves. They can’t clean a slate properly. What will they do when they run out of paper?”
Principal’s Association, 1815

Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.”
National Association of Teachers, 1907

Students today depend upon store-bought ink. They don’t know how to make their own. When they run out of ink they will be unable to write words of ciphers until their next trip to the settlement. This is a sad commentary on modern education.”
The Rural American Teacher, 1929

Students today depend upon these expensive fountain pens. They can no longer write with a straight pen and nib (not to mention sharpening their own quills). We parents must not allow them to wallow in such luxury to the detriment of learning how to cope in the real business world, which is not so extravagant.”
PTA Gazette, 1941

Ball point pens will be the ruin of education in our country. Students use these devices and then throw them away. The American virtues of thrift and frugality are being discarded. Business and banks will never allow such expensive luxuries.”
Federal Teacher, 1950

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A New Horizon?

Dave and Will and others have recently posted about sensing a new attitude towards education. They experience that change while mainly talking to large groups attending conferences – conferences that are going to draw folks that probably already share their outlook. I’m seeing that resurgence too, but from a different population. I mentioned my feelings about that just last night.

What is important here is that I am experiencing that change at the local and even building level. Teachers in my school – the ones least likely to embrace new ways of thinking about learning are the ones giving me the most encouragement. Admittedly, some, if not a lot of that change has come about because we have acquired digital whiteboards, laptops, cameras and more just this school year. And some of these reluctant integrators have had a new digital whiteboard screwed into the wall literally covering-up their old whiteboard forcing them to at least try using technology. Our principal also built into our budget about $175 per teacher for field trips this year – it helped pay for our fourth grade trip up the mountain at Squaw Valley this fall.

So, yes, an influx of actual tech at your site can help – although we’ve had 30 wireless laptops available here for 7 years – and cameras and scanners and more, and they have rarely been used – most have never used them even though we have had trainings and encouragement from administration that it was OK to use it even when the heat from NCLB was the hottest.

So what has changed? Maybe the few of us pounding away has helped. Certainly more teachers have their own home computers and high-speed access. More teachers at my school have young children now (we’ve experienced a baby-boom of our own the last few years), are they seeing the light based on seeing their own kids’ futures? My principal has been pushing integrating tech (even though she is a novice – she is trying hard to learn) and experiential teaching and making connections hard. Maybe … probably it is all these things.

But I am also seeing it from teachers that have attended classes and workshops I’ve taught recently from other schools – even from schools where they tell me that their day is TOTALLY pre-scheduled by their principal. That when their principal walks through their room if it is not VERY obvious that they are employing one of several “programs of learning” they have in place, they are questioned and even reprimanded. Some of these teachers have started to work tech-as-a-tool for learning into these lessons to avoid suspicion. Others work it into their mandated half hour or 45 minute once a week computer lab time.

I also am hearing from some that they miss the creativeness of planning and implementing lessons totally designed by them. I feel this might actually be one of the biggest motivators for some. Learning and teaching as creative processes (what a concept!).

The point is that I’m seeing a change – and it has infused me with vigor and encouragement. Maybe we are seeing a new horizon – a new visual to pilot towards!

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How To Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century

Time Magazine – How To Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century
by Claudia Wallis and Sonja Steptoe

You’ve probably already read this article (and if you haven’t you should – here’s the link), or have read about this article (like here, here or here), but I like this article enough to comment about it (maybe more than once).

Early on Wallis and Steptoe make the following statement:

“This is a story about the big public conversation the nation is NOT having about education, the one that will ultimately determine not merely whether some fraction of our children get “left behind” but also whether an entire generation of kids will fail to make the grade in the global economy because they can’t think their way through abstract problems, work in teams, distinguish good information from bad or speak a language other than English.”

In our rush to “improve” schools, we have made a common error – one we should know better than to repeat. That error is only focusing on what is perceived as wrong with schools without taking note of what schools have done that has contributed to our economy and our ability to invent and innovate. I’m not sure we really understand what has led us to be a powerhouse in that department – definitely something to do with our freedoms, free markets, our higher education, and lots of conjecture – but do we really know all the parts of the puzzle? What have we cut from our children’s school experience in our race to “improve” that might be an important cog in that wheel? Music? Art? … you know the list. And, what have we failed to include that is new or missing that will keep us competitive?

We have spent an enormous amount of time “implementing” and debating the good and the bad of NCLB, and one of the downsides of that has been little time to even think about having the conversation described in the quote above.

To those of us who are passionate about “Building a student for the 21st century” this quote is old news. But I think because we have the conversation often and are drawn to ANY news about 21st century education we think it is old news when really (and unfortunately) it is not. I’m encouraged that this article at least brings more credence to the debate. Not that I think Time magazine is the last word by any means, but it is not “Edutopia”or “Wired” or someone’s edtech blog or an online edtech magazine. The edtech gurus who travel around too often forget that if someone is attending a conference where they are presenting they are a different audience than a typical classroom teacher or administrator – because believe me, as a classroom teacher and workshop presenter, MOST teachers and administrators don’t even know what the quote is referencing. I’m taking an online class right now with 5 other teachers from my school – one of the requirements of the class is to write and respond on the class blog. None – not one of the other teachers taking the class with me had ever heard of a blog before they took this class.

Having said that however I am seeing a significant awareness in education that the boat is leaving the dock and we don’t have tickets. Even when I compare this school year over last year – I have experienced a longing by educators to embrace new approaches and tools – and I am enthusiastic about the possibilities.

More on this later.

Here’s hoping that learning and thinking about learning gets messy.

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“Six Ed-Tech Trends To Watch In 2007”

eSchool News has a great article called “Six ed-tech trends to watch in 2007” By Gregg W. Downey. A definite “must read.” I listed the six trends below along with a teaser quote from each – but read the entire article. They also have an article – The top 10 ed-tech stories of 2006
if you haven’t seen that yet. Add them to your “Holiday Reading List.”

From: “Six ed-tech trends to watch in 2007”:

Trend No. 1: The leveling power of the World Wide Web

Call it community-generated content, social networking, or–if you’re a young technology company pitching yourself to venture capitalists–Web 2.0. Whatever you call it, it’s the trend toward end-users, consumers, teachers, and students creating content for themselves and their peers. This self-generated content can be delivered in writing, in audio files, or in video clips.
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Trend No. 2: Cloud computing

Google’s current CEO, Eric Schmidt:
“We call it ‘cloud computing,'” he proclaims. “The servers should be in a cloud somewhere. And if you have the right kind of browser or the right kind of access, it doesn’t matter whether you have a PC or a Mac or a mobile telephone or a Blackberry–or new devices still to be developed–you can get access to the cloud.”
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Trend No. 3: Service-oriented architecture

What’s revolutionary about SOA is not the concept itself, which has been around for a while, but the fact that it now can be implemented via the World Wide Web. Just as web pages load on any platform, web services work the same regardless of platform, provided they are built using universal standards.
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Trend No. 4: The gathering SCORM (Sharable Content Object Reference Mode

The SCORM specifications–now in edition three–are becoming increasingly important for ensuring that digital content can be integrated into any learning management system (LMS) software, regardless of its manufacturer. What’s more, SCORM is opening the door for the creation of “digital repositories,” or collections of sharable, reusable online content that educators can search through to find items they can incorporate into their own instruction.
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Trend No. 5: Telepresence and anytime, anywhere education

According to an industry insider, unsuspecting visitors entering a room during a telepresence conference have at first been unaware that all the participants were not physically present:
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Trend No. 6: 21st-century learning

Specifically, according to the Partnership, our students need:
-Information and communication skills;
-Thinking and problem-solving skills;
-Interpersonal and self-direction skills;
-Global awareness;
-Financial, economic, and business skills; and Civic literacy.

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Top 5 of the Year

The top 5 most read posts in my first 10 months blogging at Learning Is Messy: . . .

1) Paper, Pencils and Books May Not Boost Student Achievement 

2) Too Much Time For Change To Happen? 

3) Hoping To Make a “Web 2.0” Difference In A Child’s Life – Part 2 

4) Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models 

5) Society May Be Willing To Invest In Children If They Are Seen As An Immediate Value To Society 

Learing Is Messy

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Online Inclusion Project Update

Originally uploaded by brnzwngs.

Well we got a computer for our “Inclusion Project” – a brand new 17 inch iMac that I picked up Thursday night – but we ran out of time to get it hooked up before break – and we are still waiting for the DSL connection. I have already set up a Skype account on the computer and I have to install a few other pieces of software. I must say that our new Apple Store was very helpful – imagine going into a tech/electronics store and the people there to help actually know something about what they are selling!

On the one hand I am a bit bummed that we are not already up and going, it has been almost 2 months since the inception of this idea, but as I said in an earlier post “beggars can’t be demanders,” and since we are asking for much to be donated …

In the spirit of this time of year, as usual, people come through – and they have truly come through on this project. Now all we have to do is make it work. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!

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5 Things You Wish You Did Or Didn’t Know About Me Meme

Doug at Borderland sucked me into this:

1. I was going to be a professional photographer – I had been accepted to a photography school when I was asked by a friend to shoot publicity photos at the Outdoor Education camp he ran for 6 to 16 year olds. I went planning on staying for 2 days – I stayed for 4 weeks and the next 2 summers – hiking, rock climbing, rope swinging, rope bridge building, survival training, nature interpretation – changed schools – became a teacher.

2. My last name is Crosby and I actually am related to Bing Crosby. Not a very close relation – my Dad’s grandfather and Bing’s grandfather were brothers. My dad and Bing worked at the same logging camps owned by their uncle Lloyd in Washington and Oregon during the depression – Bing didn’t last long, found something else he liked better.

3. I like doing projects around the house – building a deck, landscaping (not necessarily good at it, just like it) – I also like visiting national parks – so last summer when we “inherited” a large number of redwood boards I combined these 2 interests and built a boardwalk around one side of my house like you see in national parks. Have some overdue landscaping projects to do this summer after a trip to the East Coast.

4. I have taught now for 26 years, starting in Oregon, then California and now Nevada. I’ve taught in private religious schools and public schools – both in very high socio-economic schools and very low socio-economic schools. I use technology a lot with my students, but if I had to make a choice I’d rather have the money for a bus and take field trips about once a week to places like a grocery store and a farm and a large office building and the house around the corner where someone has a vegetable garden they are proud enough of to talk to the kids about, and on a boat in the middle of Lake Tahoe and to the top of a mountain peak and to a big city, and a sandy-hot desert and a redwood forest when it is dripping wet from a heavy fog (and lick banana slugs) and a ball game and more. But then I’d want the technology for the photos and video and journals and audio recordings and a way to share them and my students’ learning.

5. I have always dreamed of visiting Antarctica – fell in love with it when I saw a TV special about the race to the South Pole when I was about 10 years old. I even applied to go there through the “Teachers Experiencing Antarctica“ program the last year they had the program – I still haven’t been : ( – but I have walked on glaciers in Alaska, Montana, California and Canada.

But, enough about me … tell us about you.

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We’ve Finally Joined The School Blogosphere!!!

I got a Blogmeister account set up and had my students upload their first posts today (Thanks again Dave!). We have several finished pieces already, so hopefully by the end of the week we will have several posts going. I’m hoping to get them to finish writing posts about our “cutting edge” project to include a student that is assigned to our class, but has leukemia and can’t come to school, via a Skype audio and video feed. They are SO excited about being part of this and making a difference in someone’s life.

I had hoped we would have that up and going by now but we are still waiting for our donor to deliver a computer (and beggars can’t be “demanders”), so that won’t happen until after Christmas. That will give me time to load Skype and other software and maybe install the DSL in her apartment and teach her how to use it so when we return from the Holidays we are up and running.

So three-and-a-half weeks into our 1:1 laptop project we have learned how to log-on, open Appleworks, save, log-onto Flickr, add a photo to our written document, print, log-onto our blog, paste our writing into a blog document and post to our blog. We’ve also used several interactive web sites to practice math, learn about analogies and practice making them and do a bit of research about our state. And that’s just what we have done using tech!.

Learning is messy!

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Hoping To Make a “Web 2.0” Difference In A Child’s Life – Part 2

Note: this is a continuation of an earlier post about using SKYPE to include a student that has been assigned to my class that has leukemia and can’t attend school because of the effects of her chemotherapy. The plan is to have a computer/web cam at her house so she can see and hear us and we can see and hear her using SKYPE which is free web based voice and video over internet.

BREAKING THE NEWS

Thursday I finally felt we were far enough along with getting the “infrastructure” lined up that I could inform the class of what we were hoping to do. I didn’t actually tell them anything, I just did an activity to get them ready to hear about it the next day. I had them write about the following:

Imagine something has happened to you, and you can’t be around other people at all. You can’t leave your house or have friends over, and you even have to be careful about being around members of your own family. You can talk on the phone or watch TV – if you have TV – but most of your family is gone during the day so you are by yourself – and you don’t feel real well sometimes and you can’t eat many of your favorite foods. How would you feel? What would you miss the most? What would be the hardest parts of not being around others? How could others make you feel better if they can’t play with you or even be with you?

The last question was what I really wanted a thoughtful response to – it would be the last thing we would discuss Friday before I told them the whole story. NOTE: I am planning on posting the 4th graders’ responses on their blog once I get it up and going (I know, I know … well MAYBE this weekend).

The ideas students came up with to answer that last question on Friday were truly inspired. “People could write me cards.” “They could send me emails” (one of my 4 students with internet at home). “They could stand outside my window and we could talk that way.” “They could have a MyFace (sic) page and we could write on that and put pictures.” (When I asked later she said she meant FaceBook actually).

Then I broke the news. I explained to the class that unbeknownst to them we had a new student in our class that had been in our class for about six weeks. “So who is it?” I asked. They all looked around the room with puzzled looks. Then I told them her name and about how she had cancer (I’ve found some web pages I’ll share with them next week specifically about leukemia). I explained about their journal entries and discussion we’d just had and made the connection for them.

I reminded them how a few times in the last weeks when they had entered the room I had Skype going and they could see themselves. I told them we had a computer donated along with an internet connection and web cam and that we would use that technology to include her in the class.

Needless to say they were pumped. They are really looking forward to making this work. So am I. Now I am just waiting for a call to come pick up the computer – then I’ll have to make arrangements to install the DSL line, computer and teach her how to use them.

Learning is messy!