Blogging 4th Graders

Ben blogging

Originally uploaded by TonyBaldasaro

Today I was invited by Steve Gagnon and Ashley Page to come teach blogging to fourth graders at Stratham Memorial School. Both Steve and Ashley are part of the Tristate PLP cohort, are strong supporters of connectivism and have been leaders in our school district in the use of technology as a tool in the classroom. Their students have been blogging using Moodle -the Acceptable Use Policy of the district does not allow it otherwise- and they asked me to come share my personal blogging experience with their students and parents.

I have to start with perhaps the most telling moment of my time there. When I asked if anyone in the room blogged, each student raised his or her hand. When I asked the same of the parents, no hands went up.  After a quick chuckle that came with the realization that today’s students are writing and participating in their learning in a much different way than their parents, the moment provided me with the opportunity to show the students that they were the family experts on blogging and had the responsibility to share their expertise with their parents.

What was surprising to me was how hard it was to explain to 9 and 10 year old students how powerful a learning experience my blogging has been for me. How do I explain to a fourth grader the transformation I have undergone since I started this journey in July? How do I explain to a ten year old why it is a good thing when people who I don’t even know question my writing, my thinking, and my dogmas? How do I explain to a 9 year old boy that his thoughts can change the world, much like the thoughts of this young girl and this young man did? How can I explain to parents that being a participant on the web is necessary to develop 21st century skills and understandings when all they hear about on Dateline and 20/20 is how predatory the web is?

I struggled in not only trying to answer these questions prior to my talk, but in also trying to communicate how important the process of finding out the answers to those questions is. But, here’s the good news. I get to do it again. Another teacher, this time a 5th grade teacher, wants me to come talk to her class about blogging.  So, I get the opportunity to refine my talk and do it better.

So, I humbly ask for help from my elementary experts:  for those of you who have taught blogging to 4th graders, help me.  Help me answer the questions above.  Help me teach 4th graders how to connect and make a difference.  And help me show parents that it is okay to be a participant and that children can do it safely and with meaning.

Finally, before I finish this, I’ll share one more cool thing about today. I subscribe to all the kids blogs in Moodle, which means that when they submit an entry, I get an email. When I have my email open and I get a new email, it “pings”. I say that because, when I got home today and opened my email, I already had nearly 20 emails signifying 20 different blog entries from the kids, and in the time that I have been writing this entry, I have been pinged nearly a dozen more times.

Keep writing kids!

From Educon to Data – My Reflections

For those that listen to me, I often say that my trip to Philadelphia last summer for PLP Bootcamp was the transformative experience of my professional career.  It was after that experience that I began to write this blog,  became a much more prolific contributor to twitter, and began to build my personal learning network and fully leverage its power.  My experience at Educon this past weekend, coupled with my return to work just in time to analyze state assessment data (sigh) only solidified PLP as the professional life-changing event that it was and my continued journey as a learning leader (including the need to keep learning!)

First Educon

So many have written about their experience at Educon that I am not quite sure I offer a truly unique perspective of the event, but I can say that it is like no other “conference”.  The conversations that didn’t stop until the wee hours of the morning at Con Murphy’s coupled with the flutter of preweekend tweets attest to the palpable buzz that defined this gathering.  What made this conference so different than others, other than the fact that SLA students ran it, was the access that all participants had to conversations that were taking place.  This wasn’t the “sage on the stage” approach to workshops.  Sure there were “big names” there, but when Will Richardson, Dean Shareski, Gary Stager, Chris Lehmann, Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, and David Warlick (to name a few) weren’t talking, they were listening.  And, when the Tony Baldasaro’s of the world weren’t listening, they were talking.  It was a three-day conversation between and among 500 people passionate about teaching and learning.

Here’s the other thing… It wasn’t about technology.  Sure, technology was everywhere and the work of the SLA technology team and students (who ran the help desk and ran live streaming) needs to be commended, but this conference wasn’t about technology, in part because it was assumed that technology was part of learning, it was embedded not an add on.  There were laptops, netbooks, iPhones, iPods, Droids, etc. but it was so ubiquitous that no one noticed.  I couldn’t help but wonder what our schools would look like if classrooms “looked” the same.

Data

I have been the data “guru” in our district for about a half dozen years now and I am really beginning to question my role in propagating its importance.  Data is very important in our district (as I am sure many others) but I fear that it is used as a weapon to attack rather than a prescription to heal and unfortunately, since I have been called upon to testify so often about its meaning, I feel as though I have legitimized its ability to cause damage.

In part due to my experience at Educon and in part due to my continued struggle with the meaning of assessment data and our use of it, I wonder what our recent round of test scores really mean.  I say that as an Assistant Superintendent of a school district that did very well on the state tests – 93% of our 8th grade students scored proficient or better on the state reading assessment with 1 out of every 2 8th graders scoring in the highest category.  But, in light of my experience with PLP and Educon, I have to say that I don’t know what that “success” truly means.  Does it mean that 93% of our kids have truly learned and if so, learned what?  How does their performance on the state test relate in any way to the act of learning?  I am not naive enough to think that accountability in the age of NCLB will disappear, but I want a model that can somehow account for learning, learning like what I experienced at Educon this past weekend.  But, as hard as I try, I can’t adequately “quantify” my learning at Educon, most likely because it wasn’t linear.  Yet my time there was too valuable to pretend that it didn’t impact me as a learning leader.

This all leads me to the following question:

If accountability is here to stay (for the short term anyway),
and If accountability drives our schools as we know that it all does,
and If we accept the fact that traditional pedagogy doesn’t meet the needs of a 21st century classroom,

how do we account for the learning that I experienced at Educon in a way to satisfy accountability standards in an effort to make learning in school more like that of Educon?

Educon 2.2 – End of Day 2

I’m sitting in the back of @bhsprincipal’s car, driving north on I95 thinking about the last 24 hours at Educon.  Like yesterday’s post, what follows are some basic take-aways from that time.

• I am still struck by Chris Lehmann’s talk yesterday and his emphasis on developing “Communities of Care”.
• I am more convinced than ever that my decision to bring Powerful Learning Practices to my home district was the single best decision I have made as an administrator.
• I need to read more about various national movements relative to education.  I sat in a discussion with Chris Lehmann, David Levin and Michael Horn about federal policy, and as interesting as it was, I needed to be better informed to fully participate.
• Michael Horn is a tremendously genuine person who cares deeply about moving education forward.
• I need to read more from Gary Stager, not only because he is very smart, but I think he will challenge the way I think and that is a good thing.
• We, as a community, are struggling with defining what it means to be learned.
• I’m tiring of the conversation about technology-reform.  We need to talk about reforming pedagogy in a way that enables technology to be ubiquitous and used appropriately.

Educon Day 1

It is a privilege to be an attendant at Educon 2.2 at the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia this weekend.  I am half way through day 2 and I feel the need to stop and gently reflect.  So, in no particular order and without deep reflection of the holistic meaning of this thing, I offer the following observations and “take aways” from my time here so far:

• I’m not sure that I have an better understanding of what “smart” means, but…
• Influential teachers make their kids smarter.
• On a panel full of PhD’s and decorated scholars, Loren Britcher – CEO of atebits Software and developer of Tweetie Twitter software – and a former student of Chris Lehmann’s made the connection between smart and passion.  I think there is something to that.
• We need more “renegade” teachers – teachers who are willing to take chances, not be afraid to fail and have courage to challenge traditions, because…
• compliance doesn’t make you smart.
• I need to learn how to use Prezi.
• Schools need to embrace an “open source” culture.
• Dean Shareski is more insightful in person then virtually and he is incredibly genuine.
• Eric Conti asks pragmatic questions that challenge my idealism and that is a good thing.
• There are “rock stars” here, but everyone is part of the conversation.
• It can be awkward trying to figure out of the person next to you is a connection of yours on Twitter.
• SLA students make wearing lab coats cool.
• If I were looking to teach again, I would apply to SLA – but would they hire me?
• Via Scott Schwister:  “Emerging theme, teacher as sherpa.”

Do We Prepare Students for a Competitive or a Collaborative World?

So I tweeted the following about a week ago:

“I’m tired of hearing we need to prepare students for a competitive workforce, we need to prepare them for a collaborative one.”

Jon Becker immediately replied:

Which I thought was brillant, but then I was challenged with the following from Daylynn (Read from bottom tweet up).

First, I truly value the pushback because she is making me think hard about what I wrote.  Frankly, however, I’m still quite torn about all of this.  It bothers me to think that we are in the business of preparing students to compete against the Chinese.

Competition in education can be fun, motivating and invoke passion on a small scale, but I can’t help but wonder whether it is good on the large scale. Let’ look at two other sports as examples. Major League Baseball (MLB) does not have revenue sharing (other than a luxury tax) so each team is responsible for generating its own revenue. This leaves teams in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, and Toronto at a considerable disadvantage to the New Yorks, Bostons and Philadelphias of the world. We know today, that New York, Boston and Philly will be competitive and yes, we may have a Tampa Bay-like team make a run with a bunch of young, inexpensive players, but they can’t sustain ability to stay competitive for a long time. The National Football League (NFL) has full revenue sharing however, which, along with a bottom and top salary cap, has created a much more sustainable, competitive model. This was based on a decision Wellington Mara, long time owner of the NY Giants made to share revenue with all teams in the league. This allows teams from Indianapolis, Minneapolis, and New Orleans to compete with the New York, Boston and Chicago teams. Because the NFL established a structure in which all teams benefit from the success of one, they league is much healthier. In MLB, however, the success of Boston or New York has no impact on the Minnesota Twins.

Yet, the one thing they have in common is that both are structured around competition, the games that their teams play. Yet, the competition is healthier and the teams are financially healthier in the NFL because of their willingness to collaborate with all other teams.

If it wasn’t for the collaborative umbrella under which the competitions take place, the Green Bay Packers would not be owned by the citizens of Green Bay. (How does the L.A. Packers sound?)

So, I’m wondering… if our schools created a culture of collaboration with small scale competitions still taking place (within classrooms for example), would more students benefit, much like all the teams in the NFL do? There would be no place in this culture for class rank, leveling, or tracking. Instead I envision teamwork, mentors, and communities of practice forming to help raise the level of all students.  I could even see “special education” being nothing other than a recognition that all students are “atypical” learners and that their academic well-being is the responsibility of the entire school community.

While I’m still developing my thoughts here, I can say that they are coming from a real visceral place deep within me, one that sees no place for cultures of competition in our schools.

Catching up with Old Friends for the First Time

Educon 2.2 is next weekend and I can’t wait.  Not only will I have the opportunity to hear Chris Lehmann, Dean Shareski, Will Richardson, and Michael Horn speak about current, progressive issues in education, but I am going to get the chance to meet face to face with some of the most valuable people in my life these days, my PLN.

Since July of 2009, when I started writing this blog and being more of a participant in the global conversation, I have begun to develop very meaningful, albeit virtual, relationships with learning leaders across the United States and the world.  These are people who I have come to count on to push me, provide me with support and resources, and challenge the way I look at teaching and learning.  These are folks who I began “chatting” with over Twitter, my blog, or Ning and have developed a real fondness for, and relationship with, over time.

But, what you need to know about me is that I am not a gregarious person by nature.  I’m something of an introvert and can be quite insecure about my thoughts and insights.  Put me in a room with 150 strangers and at the end of 4 hours I’ll walk out with 150 strangers.  In my virtual room, however, that introverted, often times insecure person is pushed aside by the person inside of me that is interested in developing a voice in the global conversation.  During the past six months since I started this blog and began growing my PLN, I’ve noticed that I am more confident in my ability to interact with others online than I am in person.  I am simply more comfortable communicating and conversing virtually than personally.

This shift has really been meaningful for me because it has allowed me to unlearn old beliefs and practices while I try transform into a 21st century learning leader.  Next week, I’ll have the opportunity to meet my peers that are helping me find this voice and undergo this transformation face to face for the first time, only I won’t be in a room with strangers and I won’t be awkward or hesitant, because I will simply be catching up with old friends…for the first time.

Rethinking “Educated”

As usual, Will Richardson has me thinkly deeply.  This time about education and what it means to be educated.  In a recent post, Will wrote, “I think the big question for the next decade is this: In 2020, will schools be seen as just one of many important ways that our kids can become educated? And as a follow up, will there be other ways of “credentialing” what it means to be “educated”?” I can’t stop thinking about this idea of credentialing as it relates to education, because it seems to me that the reason most people “get” an education is to become credentialed.  Credentialing, of course, comes  in many forms:  diplomas, degrees, licensure, certification, and job training to name a few.  Very few people become educated, just for the sake of being educated.  And while I am still trying to decide of that is okay or not – I may have to read Daniel Pink’s new book to explore that more – I know that as a learning leader, I want no longer want to learn solely for credentialing sake.

With this in mind, I withdrew from the Masters in Educational Technology program that I began last fall.  The program, full of assignments asking me to create PowerPoint presentation, download tools, write static papers, seemed more about late 20th century tools than 21st century practice.  The courses did use Blackboard as an online content manager and did employ a discussion board, but when one of my professors told us that he waited to the end of week to print our our discussions and read them, I realized it was used for nothing more than an online word processor whose potential as a connective technology was lost amongst the need to “have assignments” .  The final straw came when my last professor, who happens to work within the same SAU that I do, asked why I hadn’t begun any of me prereading accompanying assignments for the upcoming class, and before I could muster a response, he answered for me: “You’re just in it for the paper at the end anyway.”  (sigh) He was right.  I kept telling myself that this Masters work wasn’t heavy lifting and to just do it because it would formalize all of the work I was doing informally, when in reality it was adding little to my growth as a learning leader and only serving to validate how important my “informal” learning is to me.  The simple fact of the matter is that I gain more from the connections I have with my personal learning network than I did with my formal coursework.

As I continue to grow as a learning leader, I realize how important the word “value” is me.  I am constantly looking for people, blogs, programs, resources and connections that not only provide value to me as a learning leader, but also allow me to reciprocate that value as well.  In doing so, I have felt a great empowerment to “unfriend”, stop following, dismiss and even drop out of those things in which don’t live up to that value standard. All of this leaves me wondering:  Am I fool hearty?  Idealistic?  or, Is the value of informal learning growing such that more may make choices similar to the one I have made?

What I Was Doing When My Job Was Cut.

Something very interesting happened to me at our last School Board meeting and I’ve been contemplating how I was going to share this and with whom. Then I thought, why not find the learning opportunity in this event and share it with those in whom I have been learning the most in hopes that I could continue to learn.

First, by way of background it is important for readers to know that I work as both the Assistant Superintendent of Schools for SAU 16 in Exeter, NH (3+ days per week) and as an administrator at the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School (2 days per week). At December’s Board meeting, my Asst. Superintendent’s position was officially reduced to part-time for 2010-2011 school year, meaning that there is no “full-time” position for me at the SAU next year. All of this was not unexpected and I am not sharing this story to stir debate about the merit of the full-time Asst. Superintendent position. More interesting to me is my role in that meeting (or lack there of) and an asynchronous conversation I had while attending the meeting.

Like most Board meetings, I was simply a bystander. As an Assistant Superintendent, I only speak when called upon at these meetings and, predictably I wasn’t called upon while the fate of my position was being discussed. Earlier in the meeting, however, while other business was being discussed, I read this post by David Warlick about backchannelling and wrote a comment about my experiences learning in the backchannel. The following day I received an email from “David” asking if he could use my comments in an upcoming book of his.

So, here’s the irony… As I sat in the same physical room with those discussing the future of my position without the option to comment, I participated in an asynchronous discussion with a leading thinker and driver of conversations in which he valued my comments so much that he is asking me for my permission to use them in his book. This was something that I wouldn’t have felt comfortable doing a year ago, after all, why would David Warlick be interesting in what I have to say? The idea of putting myself “out there” was so foreign for fear of being vulnerable to scrutiny and/or ridicule.

But, the real irony here is that in a face to face conversation, where I had no say and no vote, I learned little. In a virtual conversation, where I had all the say that I wanted, where there was no hierarchical structure to limit my voice or maintain order, where I had no “face” or personal connection with others participating, I learned more about the power of connective technologies and my voice in them. It only helped solidify in my mind the power of these technologies to reach beyond my physical limitations and be part of a much larger, and frankly more important conversation.

I’m wondering what experiences others have had in realizing the global connectivity of their PLN’s. Have others had a similar experience as I had, ones in which being a participant and being transparent has allowed you to grow beyond the fear of showing your vulnerabilities?  Please share.

Will Richardson – Presentation to PLPTristate Cohort

Will Richardson presented to the Exeter Cohort of the Tristate PLP today.  Here are my notes of his presentation.

In education today, if you aren’t uncomfortable you are not paying attention.
“Napsterizing” school
Trying to emulate the types of connections that possible today
In the eyes of many, the system is broken
The time is here to look at “new” models – Transform not reform
We need to move away from tinkering

We literally live in a world in which we can learn with/from anybody and that more and more is different than what schools look like.  Are kids learning about entrapeneurship, innovation and adaptability?

TwentyFiveDays.com

11 year old blogger celebrating her grandfather’s life
Makes a difference in the live’s of others

Ryan’s Well

Changing the world because of his passions.

The greatest generator of networkers
Kids need people in their lives to teach them how to do this well and how to do as a learning model.  Do we teach our kids to be socially responsible

Finland has made broadband access a legal right.  Where’s our national agenda for getting kids connected?

This is a new literacy - #iranelections is still very active.  It is a way for people to connect half way around the world

Living Stories – at Google
constantly updates stories online

Twitter Times- you can have your own Twitter newspaper based on what you tweet about.  Relevant stories are brought to you.

Will Ustreamed a short video with his iphone.

Iphone type phone is a game changer
100,000 aps

2010 Horizon Report
Mobile computing
Within one year of being fully mainstream

Abilene Christian University has given away more than 1000 iPhone and iTouches to their freshman students and it is changing education.  the “TIVO-ing” of education.
schools are beginning to create their own aps to tap into the power of iPhones

“PhoneBook” video
iphone slips into book and become interactive
As more kids have iphones, are we still going to be in the computer provider and/or network provider in the business.

You need to be active outside of your place and space and connect.

If we were to assess using NCTE standards- we would teach and learn much differently.

The Definition of 21st Century Literacies
Does our curricula address Literacy in this way?  By and large, Will thinks not.

Flatworld.com – Online textbooks

Sports Illustrated video – future of the magazine in digital form
There is a whole new literacy with online learning – reading and writing in hypertext!
We know that the reading and writing that kids will be doing is different that what we are teaching (hypertext and linking).

“What Matters Know”  Free book by Seth Godin.

Twistory – student tweeting about historical events in first person as if they were there..

How do we “unlearn” how to teach -
Teaching today is a mixture of both- traditional teaching to meet the demands of the computer and learn a new mode of teaching and learning that is required but not assessed.

Learning is much more individualized and interactive, yet we need to by more social in our learning (Howard Gardner).W

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach – PLPTristate Presentation on Communities of Practice

Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach presented to the Exeter, NH Cohort of the PLPTristate group today.  Here are my notes from her presentation.

The Human Network (video)

people subscribe to people
this is not about tools
all of us is better than one of us

Putting yourself “out there” is risky

The community of practice helps build thoughts and collective wisdom
Within a community there is a sense of ownership – “collective ownership”

Building a community of practice is important because each member brings their own perspective

Each member brings their own schema to a network – if they do that privately then the community won’t grow

Community – process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject and collaborate over an extended period of time. There is a commitment to grow over time, find solutions, and build innovations.

Network – Individuals reach out to others that share passions and interests.  Very “I” driven.

We live in a participatory culture.  Students produce and consume information.

Redefines “literacy”.  Are we still literate?
What skills do we need to be literate today?

The problem with education is “one size fits all”.  Little personalization for both students and teachers.  Our curriculum is not shifting quick enough to meet the changing needs in education.  What it means to educate today is different than what it meant years ago.

Professional Learning Communities
The driving engine of the collaborative culture of a PLC is the team.  PLC’s are our best hope for reculturing schools.