Category Archives: Technology

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So Much Learning To Do – But So Little Time

Tuesday we embark on our second field trip of the year. As reported in my last post, we will be traveling to Squaw Valley to ride the Cable Car so we can get pictures, video and personal observations of landforms. In addition we are in the early throes of a project that ties science and social studies together quite well.

The fourth graders recently learned our state song, “Home Means Nevada” and sang it at a school musical performance. We noted that it describes our state’s history and geography … so we plan to make a music video of “Home Means Nevada” and possibly even write a new stanza or two that include our learning and impressions of our state. The students will take pictures and video to include in our project as well as solicit them from others around our state that live in places too far for us to go (Nevada is over 300 miles wide and 400 miles long). Then we will edit it all together over a recording of the students singing the song.

We will also be taking observation notes in our field trip journals about what we see, feel, hear and do -  to use in writing other pieces (poetry, informational paragraphs, photo captions, etc.). If all goes well we might even have photos posted to my Flickr account Tuesday afternoon. I wish I could say we were going to blog about it, but that will have to come later when I can get a Blogmeister account going. Right now we are learning to use digital cameras, digital video cameras and laptops, along with learning how to make observations and write about them.

Learning is messy!

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1:1 – A Beginning

Wednesday I passed out a seven year old Key Lime Green Apple iBook computer to each of my 26 fourth graders (27 actually, but more on that at a later time). The new batteries finally came in last Thursday – and Saturday my 2 daughters helped me install them and get the computers plugged-in and placed in the carts to charge. I’m still short 3 power cords – but we think we have found a way to fix some of the old ones, so soon I hope they can all charge at once.

I demo-ed how to unplug them and carry them to their seats and turn them on –
right away 2 computers refused to start-up correctly (I finally got Panther to install on one of them today – the other just refuses to start-up from the install disk). We solved a few minor connection and date/time issues and got on the internet briefly –  and time was up (we are doing parent conferences this week so our days are short). We learned how to put them away, and that was day one.

Today we reviewed yesterday’s lesson and went to Squaw Valley ski area’s web site. We are going there on a field trip in 2 weeks to ride the cable car to the top, and I knew they had live web cams from various venues. We will be studying landforms, so we are taking digital photos and video of mountain peaks, valleys, moraines, etc. for a project we are working on. More later.

Learning is messy!

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“Are We Fixing the Wrong Things?” By Yong Zhao

Will has another post about driving change – so since I’m at it, another blast from the past (May 20, 2006 to be exact):

From “Are We Fixing the Wrong Things?” By Yong Zhao, – University Distinguished Professor of Education and Director of the U.S. – China Center for Research on Educational Excellence, Michigan State University:

“Creativity, and not standardization, may be the driving force behind an effective education system.”

Just 8 years ago 2 school principals and 2 superintendents from Singapore visited my class. They sat in the back while I introduced a math lesson on sorting, data collecting and graphing M&M’s by color (AIMS activity). As the students got to work in groups of four, the visitors in the back came to their feet and started talking and pointing. Next came the video cameras and a few quick clarifying questions. 50 Minutes later the students went home and for the next 90 minutes I was barraged by questions about the observed lesson. Next they wondered how they could get their teachers to teach that way.
I stopped them at one point and told them I was a bit confused by their interest in how things were done at my school. I reminded them that just the week before their country had, for the second year in-a-row, scored the highest in the world on the TIMMS and my school was rated as “Inadequate” per our ITBS scores. Shouldn’t I be asking them questions? They laughed and explained that their students were good at testing but not at being creative. “America invents almost everything,” they explained, all we’re good at is taking those ideas and making them cheaper. We want our students to invent and create like that.”

That’s why this section of Yong’s article smacked me in the face:

“Whereas U.S. schools are now encouraged, even forced, to chase after test scores, China, Singapore, South Korea, and Japan, all named as major competitors, have started education reforms aimed at fostering more creativity and innovative thinking among their citizens. China, for example, has taken drastic measures to reform its curriculum. As the United States raised the status of standardized testing to a record high in 2001 with No Child Left Behind, the Chinese Ministry of Education issued an executive order to significantly minimize the consequences of testing (2002). As the United States pushes for more centralized curriculum standards, China is abandoning its one nation—one syllabus tradition. As the United States moves toward a required program of study for high schools, China is working hard to implement a flexible system with more electives and choices for students. As the United States calls for more homework and more study time, China has launched a battle to reduce such burdens on its students.”

And this:

Sim Wong Hoo, founder and CEO of Singapore-based Creative Technology, pointed out this very fact.

“The advantage is we come from a very conscientious culture. You tell our people what to do, they’ll follow the rules, they’ll do it. The downside is they are not as creative. We fixed that by having a U.S.-based R&D team that’s doing more advanced research.” (Levy, 2005)

I mean is this the best example (or worst, depending on how you look at it) of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence? While the decision makers here suffer horrendous test score envy, the countries we are the most envious of are trying their best to be us. Who’s winning? Certainly not our students.

There are several other articles available on Challenging The Status Quo on the ASCD web site.
I guess we were right: Learning should be messy!

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Let’s Re-Visit-“Working, Breathing, Reproducible, Intriguing Models”

I haven’t posted in awhile – been one of those convergences of report cards, parent conferences, inservices, family activities, etc. I have several posts in the works – might even get to one today or tomorrow. In the meantime I feel the urge to bring back one of my most popular posts in reply to Will Richardson’s recent post. Here it is:

Students blogging, creating content, manipulating text, graphics and video, designing and producing projects and all that technology and Web 2.0 has to offer – Wow! It’s so obvious what dynamic, mind stretching and engaging platforms technology, problem-based and project-based learning are!!! Or is it so obvious?

Who gets the most excited and visionary about this stuff? – Probably anyone that might actually be reading this post. I’ll bet few if anyone that isn’t already doing “Messy” learning is checking out this or any other blogs that teach, preach or discuss it. We hear about “The New Story,” or “The Read/Write Web in the Classroom,” but who else but the choir reads, hears or cares about any of it?

The gurus trip around the country and the world physically and virtually to spread the word, but who goes to these conferences or subscribes to these podcasts (or even knows what a podcast is?)? The masses of teachers and administrators looking to be enlightened? No! (well maybe a few, but VERY few) The early adopters that see and saw the implications straightforward are the few and the brave. So the questions have been asked and numerous and various answers have been proposed about how to change how school is done and how using these “New Tools” fit into that scheme and how do we get the message out?

Do the gurus continue to guru? (How do you guru? – don’t ask,  just try to follow along) Yes, that is certainly part of the equation. Do we continue to blog about it? Absolutely! The conversation is the point! What is missing are the models – the working, breathing, reproducible, intriguing models. We need ongoing models of all the power of what this looks like or we get nowhere.

Yeah I know there are examples out there – but my staff and my administrators and my congressman and senator and school board probably aren’t jetting out to Maine to observe Bob Sprankle’s class or any other of the teachers and students doing this kind of school.

YOU IDIOT!!! – You’re thinking or maybe yelling at your monitor – you and your staff can go to Bob Sprankle’s class or any of a list of teachers using blogs and video and web 2.0 applications via the web!!!! Yes, yes I know – cool down – I know that. I can pull up one of Bob’s productions – for example his class made a recent vodcast about how they produce their podcasts – way cool – I GET IT!

BUT – (notice I made it a big but) I GET IT! I could run around my school and district showing teachers and administrators Bob’s kids’ vodcast and I might even get a few people excited – “ but most WON’T GET IT! You can’t just show most people – you have to show them and explain it to them and then answer their questions and then show it to them again and then explain it to them again and then show them how this relates to things they already do – takes the place of this and makes it even better and does this and this and this! I’m telling you they will think the vodcast was kinda cool- would be an interesting thing for their kids to do once if they had the equipment and the time and someone to show them how to do it. But they won’t get it until they experience you doing it and getting them to do it- several times – and talk about it and have them notice their students’ reaction and learning and how they talk about it and how excited their parents get about it. Wes Fryer talks about Face 2 Face – that’s it! that’s what I’m talking about.

So where is everyone that does this? Are there whole schools that do this? Districts? Where’s the list? – we should all post it and send it around – where will people see this that is as easy and as accessible as possible? Is there DATA that goes with any of these teachers or schools or districts that do this? (yeah, I don’t need the DATA but some will require the DATA). Maybe there’s downloadable video of some of this – I know where some is – where’s a lot more? Better yet, are their teachers – “Old School” teachers that have come to this that can speak about what their experience has taught them? I think that would be a powerful “New Story.”

We need working, breathing, reproducible, intriguing models available in many places for many to see and experience to leverage the gurus and the online examples. Should we build the clearinghouse – any volunteers?
Learning is messy!

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Tech Integration On The Run

9 Promethean ActivBoards will be installed in classrooms at my school next week. This will bring us up to 11 classrooms that have them installed (out of about 26 classrooms) – the teacher next door, who like me already has one installed, is concerned because in many of these classrooms the installation of the ActivBoard will cover-up the regular whiteboard in the room – this is because there is asbestos in the brick classroom wall – so to install the boards without having to call out a hazmat team they screw it into the existing whiteboard. So why the concern? He is afraid we will be running around doing “just-in-time” training for teachers that are going to be thrust in one day from using markers to using software and hardware with minimal training.

They have had some training – but it was 2 months ago when the boards were originally supposed to be installed. We are having once-a-month training the rest of the year, but that won’t begin for a few weeks – so it should be interesting. Fortunately, the teachers involved are enthusiastic about teaching with the boards and integrating technology into their teaching and 2 of us have been using them since the beginning of school and are comfortable with tech. We have teachers in grades 1 through 6 involved and we are being researched as a focus group by the local university. I have my running shoes ready – I’ll keep you posted.

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Tech Tools At 86

My Dad is 86, has had a heart attack, 2 strokes, 2 bypass surgeries and recently had a pacemaker inserted. Like many his age he has not integrated 21st century technology into his lifestyle … until now. He was recently sent a scale by his healthcare provider that he assembled and plugged into a phone jack. Now twice a day he steps on the scale which asks him several questions and makes comments to him about his weight, then transmits this info to a nurse who then contacts his doctor with an update if necessary. Now of course he’s jazzed about technology again and is very intrigued by “These new web tools.” Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks. (Dad, not that I’m actually comparing you to an old dog – you would be a young vital dog ; ) ).

Learning is messy at any age!

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What’s Happened To Meaningful, Instructive, Constructive, Respectful Discussion?

I have been a contributor to a discussion about the role of teachers, styles of teaching and accountability on another blogger’s blog this past week. It is unfortunate that the discussion became just another example of how discourse has become contentious and too often therefore meaningless and non-productive.

In this case a few that contributed comments late in the discussion misrepresented themselves as just wanting clarification on sentiments that were voiced. These contributors never identified themselves as having an agenda or the fact that they support a specific program for teaching. The comments they posted became condescending and shrill. Eventually the blogger was fed up with their use of his blog to push their agenda and attitudes and he attempted to cut them off. Next they used their blog to name call, bully and smear – and encouraged others to do the same.

This so obviously mirrors what is going on, mainly in politics, but increasingly also into daily discourse on many subjects these days about not having real discussion – but instead a tendency to attack and bully if someone doesn’t agree or shift their opinion to yours. This has dark implications in my opinion for fruitful discussion about important topics – for me as a teacher of course, discussion that could lead to meaningful changes and attitudes about what it means to teach and learn.

This brings me back to Stephen Downes post – Sameness – that I posted about awhile back.

“It seems to me that one thing educational theory has been unable to address is the possibility of multiple theoretical perspectives, the possibility that there is no one taxonomy, set of standards, methodology, etc., that will define The Way to do education.

Certainly, any approach to learning theory that suggests that an experiment can be conducted in (say) a double-blind model in order to test hypotheses in terms of (say) achievement of learning outcomes in my view demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the enquiry.

We need to move beyond consensus, beyond sameness.”

Learning is messy.

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Effective Utilization of the Activboard “Ruler Tool”

As I prepped my “into” for the “Titanic” story in our reader, I had an idea of how to demonstrate to my fourth graders the properties of icebergs. Specifically that nine-tenths of an iceberg is underwater. I had noted that my students knew very little about measurement – and I was dying to use the cool “ruler tool” on my new Activboard whiteboard.

Monday I handed out a plastic cup of water and an ice cube to each group. Next I had them measure the length and width of their ice cube (per my whiteboard demonstration). Then I had them drop their ice cube in the cup and measure how much of the cube was above water (am I good or what?).

Now, here is where you have to understand my thinking. You see, the ice cubes had only been out of the freezer for about 5 minutes, and they only needed to be in the water for about 30 seconds, and ice cubes in a drink last for minutes … so no problem. I did warn the students that they would have to measure quickly, so I wandered around watching students line their rulers up with the surface of the water – “to get a good accurate measurement.”

Not 20 seconds went by before the first defeatist comment was uttered. “Mr. Crosby, it’s hard to see to measure,” a quitter exclaimed. “I know, I know, but you can do it,” I encouraged (Plus, come on, I demo-ed this with the “ruler tool” on the Activboard – you can’t do better than that! … Can you?)

My first clue that there was a problem was when a student fished out a sliver of ice the size of a fingernail clipping and tried to measure it while he held it between his fingers – and it disappeared! The next clue was the group that exclaimed, “We can’t find our ice anymore!” as they scanned the iceberg free water in their cup. (Did I mention I used the “ruler tool” to demonstrate this?)

At this point I busted up. I busted up laughing because not only did I miscalculate how long the ice would last, but the kids were trying so hard to do a good job, and some seemed afraid they had done something wrong – the forlorn looks on their faces told the story.

Fortunately, I had several extra pieces of ice (Hey, I’m not a total screw up!) and we successfully measured one and used it as “The class measurement.” We did the math and came out with the fraction 2/20 which reduces to 1/10 of the cube that stuck above the surface – which is just what part of an iceberg floats above the surface of the water.

So, when the picture of the iceberg came up during the story, the kids were able to imagine how much was underwater.

Learning is messy!

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Report: Technology in Schools: What the Research Says

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I have used this blog on several occasions, and others in the edblogosphere have used their blogs to ask where the examples and research are that support integrating tech into the school curriculum? I have my own experience to tell me that tech along with project-based, problem-based approaches is valuable. In my opinion especially for “At-Risk” students, a strong field trip program along with the arts and physical education to build the schema so lacking otherwise should also be part of the curriculum. But, where is the support for that approach outside of those of us that have embraced it on our own? There has been for quite awhile research available that supports tech integration, but mainly in writing and a few other areas. Now comes a “study of studies,” that shows promise for tech as a valuable educational tool.

The report – Technology in Schools: What the Research Says
discusses many valuable approaches including: Social networking, Gaming Interactive Whiteboards, PDA’s, and 1:1 learning initiatives. When discussing social networking the report states:

“Educators are finding that reflective dialog augments learning. Social networking accelerates learning and is facilitated by technology. Students are highly motivated to communicate via technology be it text messaging, email, instant messaging, talking, or videoconferencing. Social networking via technology can connect students to a broad range of interactivity that sharpens and extends thinking and piques intellectual curiosity.”

About Gaming:

“The power behind games is in the concentrated attention of the user to an environment that continuously reinforces knowledge, scaffolds learning, provides leveled, appropriate challenges, and provides context to the learning of content.”

This report is not about saying that tech is the magic bullet – it makes the point that:

“Researchers find that extracting the full learning return from a technology investment requires much more than the mere introduction of technology with software and web resources aligned with the curriculum. It requires the triangulation of content, sound principles of learning, and high-quality teaching—all of which must be aligned with assessment and accountability.”

And:

“…it is an enabling force behind globalization, knowledge work, and entrepreneurship, and thus students must understand the role it plays in transforming political, social, cultural, civic, and economic systems around the world.”

Technology in Schools: What the Research Says – is downloadable as an 18 page PDF file including 2 pages of research citations.