Dear Teacher...

I saw this note to Nazhir, and though I don't know him, I couldn't help but pen a response on his behalf.


Dear Teacher:

I know that you like to share your wisdom by speaking;
but do you realize that I like to talk too.

I know that you like it when we write neatly in our notebooks;
but can you tell that I don't like scraping a pencil on paper to make words?

I know that you have many answers;
but when will we have time to pursue some of my questions?

I know that rows of desks and chairs can be orderly;
but do you really think you could handle sitting for one full day in my chair?

I know that you care about how I do in school;
but do you care enough about me to know what I most like to do?

I know that you found school interesting enough to start a career here;
but do you love it enough to keep on learning?

I know that you are giving us skills to help us be successful in school;
but can you also give us the keys to being successful at life?

I know that you're working in a system that is less than perfect;
but what are you going to do today, to help me realize you care?


Dear Reader:

I know you read blogs, at least on occasion;
but do you have any ideas to add in using the pattern: "I know... but..."?

I know that you know that Twitter exists;
but did you know you can tweet with the tag: #dearteacher

Image credits: subewl, Nationaal Archief

Ontario Edu-Bloggers are Quote Worthy

As lifelong learners, educators are often quick to quote published authors, and keynote speakers, even though there are other, more local voices, worthy of attention and recognition. Take a moment to consider adding an Ontario educator to the mix of your daily reading, and I think you'll find many of my edu-blogging peers to be just as quote-worthy!

* These edu-bloggers produce content on their own time. Although I've referenced their home school boards, the work of these authors may not necessarily reflect the ideas or opinions of their employers.


Consultants & Special Assignment Teachers

Barbara McLaughlin Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Reflective Leadings community - connecting - curriculum
@barbaram

Susan Lister (on International Contracts)
Technology Enhanced Learning technology - enhanced - learning
@slister

Shelley Pike Greater Essex Catholic DSB
Math Coaching math - sharing - support
@shelpike

Kent Manning Hastings and Prince Edward DSB
Motivating Boy Writers boys - writing - motivating
The View From Here my - personal - blog
Manning's Message creating - media - texts
Screencast.ca screencasts - teachers - students
@kentmanning

Colin Jagoe Kawartha Pine Ridge DSB
Jagoe.ca education - science - technology
@colinjagoe

Ben Hazzard Lambton-Kent DSB
Learning , Together education - archive - digitalfootprint
@benhazzard

Jaclyn Calder Simcoe County DSB
Ramblings change - learning - community
@jaccalder

Zoe Branigan-Pipe Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Pipe Dreams education - leadership - reform
@zbpipe

Aaron Puley Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Blogg'u'ca'tion 2 education - technology - innovation
@misterpuley


K-12 Teachers

Aviva Dunsinger Hamilton-Wentworth DSB
A Primary Blog For The 21st Century technology - primary - education
@grade1

Melanie McBride Toronto DSB
Melanie McBride researcher - critical - pedagogy
@melaniemcbride

Heather Durnin Avon Maitland DSB
Mrs. D.'s Flight Plan collaboration - technology - middle school
@hdurnin

Andrew Forgrave Hastings and Prince Edward DSB
edVisioned.ca learning - change - technology
@aforgrave

Danika Barker Thames Valley DSB
The Barker Blog literacy - technology - reflection
@danikabarker

Dave Lanovaz Huron-Perth Catholic DSB
Sine of the Times math - math - math
@DaveLanovaz

Steve McCallum Near North DSB
Prosperos Desk community pd - reading - technology
@ProsperosDesk

Jean-Louis Bontront Greater Essex Catholic DSB
What's in my head, and sometimes bounces out collaboration - jokes - chemistry
@jeanbont

Peter McAsh Avon Maitland DSB
Mr. McAsh's Blog web2.o - computers - innovation
@pmcash

Nathan Toft and Jane Smith Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Portable PD podcasting - conversation - PD
@ntoft

Rodd Lucier London District Catholic SB
The Clever Sheep collaboration - creative commons - design
@thecleversheep


Principals, Vice-Principals and Administrators

Shannon Smith Ottawa-Carleton DSB
Shannon in Ottawa lead - learn - reflect
@shannoninottawa

Lisa Neale Hamilton Wentworth DSB
Lisa Learning learning - leadership - technology
@lisaneale

Mark Carbone Waterloo Region DSB
Mark's Musings ICT - learning - personal
@markcarbone

Rob De Lorenzo Toronto Catholic DSB
The Mobile Learner mobile - devices - classroom
@rdelorenzo


Trustees, Parents & Retired Educators

Robert Hunking Avon Maitland DSB
My Path of Learning community - trustee - learning
@yesknowno

Doug Peterson Sessional Professor, University of Windsor
Off the Record personal - digital - footprint
@dougpete


When time allows, it would be great if you could support these reflective learners by leaving a comment on post that informs you; inspires you; or challenges you. If you know of other Ontario Edu-bloggers who should be included on this list, take the time to share details, and I'll do my best to update this post.


Photo Credit: torres21

A Lesson Worthy of an 'A'

Inspirational. Engaging. Passionate.

Maybe other words will come to your mind when you consider the teaching style of Benjamin Zander. See him in action at Pop!Tech, a TED-style conference that brings about 'change' by sharing rich conversations with great thinkers.

There are no slides in this Pop!Cast presentation, but an amazing transformation takes place in both a learner and his audience thanks to the work of a master teacher...

@ Yahoo! Video

Only teachers who truly love teaching and learning, can possibly lead others to consider living life 'in possibility'.

Thanks to Garr Reynolds for reflecting on this one!

What goes well with Salty Chips?

A teacher cannot live on 'salty chips' alone. Once the availability of technological tools can be guaranteed, teachers need to be engaged in ongoing professional development. Such PD needs to be ubiquitous, ongoing, and customized.

I've often wondered how we can succeed in harnessing the latest attendance software; or in implementing new report card software, yet we fail to make meaningful use of most available e-learning tools. There are ways to ensure that professional learning is appetizing.

Entrust teachers to bring forth their own agendas. Teach teachers the skills that they are interested in learning.

Provide training throughout the school day/week/month/year. Waiting for system-wide PD days is not enough.

Ensure common 'planning time' among teaching colleagues. This will allow educators to engage in meaningful, ongoing dialogue about how to engage learners with evolving technologies.

Provide planning time in large blocks rather than in small chunks. We need to get creative with scheduling. Small chunks of time are good for little more than grabbing a snack; making a phone call; checking the news of the day; running a few copies; marking a few papers...

Encourage teachers to mentor one another. There are niche experts everywhere. For example: If one teacher knows how to get digital images from a camera - to a computer - to a student's media project, then there is no reason why that expertise can't be shared.

Recognize teachers for using present day tools. Share 'good news' technology stories in your school or board-wide newsletters.

Make optional training ultra-convenient. Provide sessions close to where the teachers work... in their classrooms; or at the nearest resource centre/computer lab. Offer 'at the elbow' support before school; at noon hour; and after school.

Be open to having students attend. Consider allowing teachers to be accompanied by student-assistants. If a teacher has a classroom ally that can help in setting up or using the tools, they are far more likely to be used.

Offer incentives to participants! Salty chips in the form of classroom technology is highly motivating, but don't underestimate the value of fresh fruit, cold drinks, and cookies in creating a welcome learning environment.


Photo Credit: Michael Young

Are you a Cruise Director?

Recent posts by David Warlick, Andy Gibson, and Ewan McIntosh are all reminding me of a problem I have with the teaching profession: namely, the job title!

Usually, it is the layout and tools of the traditional classroom that reinforces the model of education I've come to resent: 'one where information is transmitted from teacher to student'. But, even the very word 'teacher', implies that one is responsible for the transmission of knowledge to the other. It almost makes me want to jump ship!



Extending the metaphor: If your classroom were a ship, with the students as passengers, what role would you play? The ship's captain? A steward? Chief purser? The navigator? In the best case, educators are co-learners who can model learning on a daily basis, while providing engaging experiences for their clients. With many pre-determined destinations, I suspect that the best teachers will play many roles, not the least of which, would be that of 'cruise director'.

I have an observation experiment for you:
Try a 'ship's captain walkabout'. Tour the decks of a school as an observer, while limiting your attention to the feet of the 'passengers'. Take my word for it... and just try it. I suspect that in a given tour, your observations will tell you much about how engaged (or disengaged) the learners are! If the feet are active, I suspect that there is a good chance you're looking at the classroom of a cruise director and co-learner.


Too Funny! True oral exam stories are shared on tonight's 8 minute episode of the Teacher 2.0 Podcast: "Tale of the Tell-Tale Toes".

Photo Credits: Savannah Grandfather, Billie/PartsnPieces

The Educator's Diet

As an instructor, there is nothing more satisfying than an engaged audience; and nothing so frustrating as an indifferent one. When it comes to professional development in ICT, technology leaders are doomed to 'serving' both audiences.

Although we would rather spend our time supporting those 'hungriest' to learn; all educators need sustenance.

Consider food as a metaphor to represent engagement in learning about ICT:

1] All teachers need technological nourishment on a regular basis;

2] You can't force-feed learning about technology;

3] A rich menu, will allow educators to choose according to their dietary needs;

4] The hungriest educators, should be invited to return to the buffet;

5] Even if someone says they aren't hungry, they need to choose something to eat;

6] Occasionally a fast food meal is very satisfying, but 'fine dining' in the form of conferences, should be budgeted for on occasion;

7] It is very challenging to dine without the proper utensils;

8] Taking time to talk/network while dining, helps participants to digest the contents of a meal;

9] A balanced diet is important;

10] Dining with the entire family (staff) can be a great community-builder.

Whether or not teachers are interested and motivated, the need to learn about evolving tools will be continuous. Just as the body needs constant replenishment in order to function, so too, an educator needs intellectual nourished in order to adequately meet the needs of his/her students.

Photo Credit: stephendepolo

Expanding Personal Learning Networks

Can you spare 90 seconds to expand your Personal Learning Network? If so, you can also assist other educators in developing new learning networks.


The skinny: I'm making a presenting on the afternoon of May 5th at Leading Learning and a key component of the workshop, is Personal Learning Networks. In order to assist attendees in expanding their own learning networks, I've created a PLN Survey whose results are immediately available to all.

If you can spare 90 seconds, check out the survey. After making a contribution, you can scroll down to see the responses to date.

If you can spare an additional minute or two, you can assist in expanding this project by taking time to tweet, blog, or podcast about this resource so that others can participate.

Thanks!

Photo Credit: Luc Legay

Sticky Wikis & PLCs

When it comes to professional development for teachers, more presentations need to model the value of read/write web technologies including the importance of informal professional learning networks. Even if we don't have time to develop and deliver workshops on how to use blogs, wikis, podcasts, or steaming video, we can raise the profile of these tools by leveraging them in our presentations.

Even if board presenters elect to use traditional 'sage on the stage' models for sharing knowledge in training sessions, school districts can engage teachers in the conversation. Using the read/write tools at our disposal, leaders can provide pre and post-workshop information; can receive feedback from attendees; and can engage educators in ongoing dialogue about the big ideas shared in a given workshop.

My personal view is that every workshop should be supported by the use of a wiki. At the very least, the wiki can provide direct access to hyperlinks, handouts, and presentation materials. At best, the wiki will be open to contributions from visitors. and will include threaded discussions that extend the conversation. I contend that such workshop sites will be sticky, leading to collective sharing and community thinking on a wide range of topics. Informal networks of teachers may well spring from the regular use of wikis, and might further develop into lasting professional learning communities.

The spin-off benefit, beyond the support for current training initiatives, might include teachers who will begin to think about how they can leverage similar tools in their own classrooms. Knowing that it is so easy to contribute to a wiki, a teacher might write her first web page by using a wiki connect with parents, students and fellow teachers. Indeed, when curriculum leaders teach teachers through the use of read/write tools like these, they teach more than they realize!

Unsure about how wikis work? Visit the Teacher 2.0 Sticky Wiki episode , or check out the video below. In the interest of full disclosure: I like WetPaint for my wikis and I think Common Craft does a great job explaining things.

A Tipping Point?

I've been following a conversation that started innocently enough, but that may herald the genesis of a major shift in the way teachers and students learn. Will Richardson in Toronto queried:

"So yesterday here in balmy Toronto, I got asked the question directly: even though we can’t be certain about what the future looks like in terms of preparing our kids for it, what, generally speaking, do we know? What general characteristics can we assume in terms of rethinking our curriculum and our practice?"

The discussion that's been percolating in the edu-blogosphere the past many months is in need of a catalyst to focus the ideas the network. In order to facilitate this group thinking and following on David Warlick's suggestion, I've opened my wiki site "Let's Ban Chalk: We've Got New Tools To Explore", to host new skills pages for teachers and students.

Reference the "What to We Know About Kids Futures?"discussion at Weblogg-ed.com, and then contribute your ideas.

The 'tipping point' that many have been speaking about can only arrive with many people choosing to learn more. To facilitate this, I've also begun a list of Recommended Edu-Blogs. If you add to this list, please provide some suggestion as to the nature of the topics being discussed on each blog.

As a network we can compile lists of e-Learning resources to scaffold the continuing education of teachers. An Electronic Portfolio page is currently under construction; please add a comment to this post if you have ideas for new pages. Your contribution to the existing wiki resource lists can be a model of professional collaboration.

We can harness the power of the Read/Write web in modeling the type of 21st century learning that can engage all types of learners...

Participate in the discussion, won't you?!
A late edit: I've recently posted a related Podcast:
3 Wishes and a Wiki Workshop

The Networking Journey Continues

Will Richardson blogs:

"There is some irony, however, in the fact that teachers are connecting more and more outside their spaces but, it appears at least, not so much inside their own districts and communities. And that may be a misreading on my part; obviously, local connections are less transparent to the outside world. On some level, it’s not surprising; early adopters in their districts most likely have to turn outside to find kindred spirits or collaborators."

This conclusion is very much in line with my thinking....
You may one day come to realize that by leading more and more educators to make connections... even outside of their own districts, you are turning up the volume on voices that would otherwise be silent.  As these voices join the online discussion, more and more local connections are being made.  Kindred spirits are finding one another, and learning that there are many others with similar skills, interests, and passions.

The sad reality for many of these educators, is that those most ready and able to teach local peers about the power of networking, are rarely given the opportunity to address an audience of educators (even more rarely can they address 'titled' board leaders) other than when they do so on their own time (Educon!).   Why is it that innovation is seldom recognized locally?   Is this true everywhere?

Blogged with Flock

The Networked Teacher - Take 2

This video uses pod-friendly music from DJ Delores: 'Oslodum2 2004', and a layered voice overlay to give more dimensional structure to the Networked Teacher graphic I shared a few days ago. Both documents exist under Creative Commons 'share-alike' licenses. For now, viewing requires the Quicktime plugin (the compressed Flash version just didn't make the cut)and runs just under 3 minutes.

The Networked Teacher

One of my e-learning colleagues pointed me to this image that speaks to much of what I've been writing and podcasting about. It was posted quite a while ago, but many teachers would still be unable to relate to many of the terms on this diagram. Certainly such an images speaks to the job requirement "Teacher must be a Lifelong Learner".

As Stephen Downes points out, the document is very similar to Scott Wilson's image post of a Future Personal Learning Environment.

Each of these images (circa 2006) is licensed for sharing and creative remixing by Creative Commons licensing. Does anyone know of any recent adaptations/modifications to these images?

Netpodwikiblogmarking

It's a verb! You won't find the word 'Netpodwikiblogmarking' in any curriculum documents, but Teacher 2.0 will be harnessing a full range of Web 2.0 applications including networking, podcasting, collaborative wiki development, blogging, and social bookmarking. These tools are so very closely connected, that we may one day need such a multipurpose moniker.

Networked learning has never been more simple or more complex. Simple, in that those familiar with the tools, quickly come to realize that they are very user-friendly; Complex, in that there are so many choices to make in how/when/why to use any particular tool. With evolving Web 2.0 tools, educators can only truly understand their power by making productive use of them in their own personal learning.

Realizing that that these tools are tightly interconnected, and that educators have varying levels of expertise, the differentiated guide below invites you to start anyplace you like discovering the world of 'Netpodwikiblogmarking':

Option 1: It's about producing creative products. Try creating lessons in new media, then invite students to do the same. Create a podcast for your class, teaching them something by means of a self-produced audio recording. It doesn't have to be long; it doesn't have to be great. Be ready to accept criticism from your audience and invite your students to demonstrate their learning by producing their own pieces. Then make a bold step and consider posting student work online for a global audience. The same model can work for creating a webpage, a digital poster, a newsletter, an electronic portfolio... Just be sure to do it yourself first, so you can anticipate the challenges that your students will face. A great Blog to follow if you'd like to pursue novel products with e-tools is Wesley Fryer's 'Moving at the Speed of Creativity'.

Option 2: It's about collaboration. If you'd like to make meaningful connections with other teacher-learners, begin learning about tools that allow you to collaborate with others. Post to existing Wikis. (Yes, you can edit Wikipedia if you like!) Edit documents collaboratively with peers via Google Documents. Start your own Wiki page to support your own learning. A voice that seeks to provide avenues for sharing the voices of students and teachers alike is David Warlick's '2 Cents Worth'.

Option 3: It's about learning. Read Blogs. Comment on Blogs. Write Blogs. The topic doesn't matter (except that it has to be something you care about). What matters is that you become engaged in some kind of passionate discourse on the web. This public thinking will lead you to new resources be they people, websites or ideas. Explore your passions in the blogosphere. For a sample voice that challenges as much as it affirms, check out Gary Stager's 'Stager-to-Go'.


Option 4: It's about sharing the good stuff! You need to get yourself a social bookmarking space and to subscribe to some good 'gatherers' of resource links. The Clever Sheep maintains bookmarks at Del.icio.us. For more details, you can revisit my post about how you can use Social Bookmarking in the Classroom. In no time you'll be exposed to a plethora of rich resources. In differentiating for the advanced tool-user, I recommend you keep ahead on the learning curve by following Robin Good's Latest News.

Option 5: It's about networking. Through the activities above, you're bound to build relationships with others. Take time to follow like-minded folks via Twitter or Facebook and subscribe to a manageable collection of blogs. Take time to participate in the discussion by posting replies to posts that move you. To harness the power of your personal network, you can't do much better than tapping into Will Richardson's 'Weblogg-ed'.

Carve your niche! While I really believe that changing the chalkboard is the quickest way to impact education, there are many voices out there to be read/heard. Don't be shy about joining in the discussion; after all, it's what we ask of our students every day. What are you waiting for?

"Let's get Netpodwikiblokmarking!"

Giants & Groundhogs: Archiving Our Time

The Giants Win! The Groundhog sees his Shadow!

While the headlines of the day may be forgotten in a few weeks, today's stories are destined for a long shelf-life courtesy of the World Wide Web. Although the footage of the first SuperBowl was actually erased, today's sports stories will likely be saved for all time as archive footage and will exist on the Web.

A few of my favourite Archives:

The Internet Archive: Did you know that web pages can be views 'as they existed' in past years? Check out the Wayback Machine

Newseum: Front page stories as they appear in the papers of the world. Check out the way major events have been highlighted by visiting the archives. If you like news archives, check out World-Newspapers.com or Actualidad.com as well.

Virtual Library Museums: Visit museums and art galleries around the world... virtually! Chris Witcombe's Art History Links are also terrific.

My current favourite archive resource has to be the Prelinger Archives:


Check it out by visiting Middleton Family Goes to the New York World's Fair courtesy of the Prelinger Archives, or listen to today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast.

Oh, I almost forgot... Canadians may be interested in seeing the SuperBowl commercials that were hijacked north of the border, these too are archived on MySpace/SuperBowlAds.

You Call 'This' a Normal Day?!

I was just reflecting back on the different applications I've used today... pretty much a normal day, and I'm coming to the realization that there are many tools that are a normal part of my workflow.  Consider the following rough timeline:

Midnight: Access my Del.icio.us bookmarks to find the name of the 'wakeup call' website I'd recently bookmarked.

12:02 a.m.: Set up a 7 a.m. wakeup call at http://www.wakerupper.com/

7:00 a.m.: Awake to the sound of my cell phone ringing... Upon answer, a mechanized voice reads back to me the message I'd posted 7 hours earlier.

7:10 a.m.: Load Camino web browser and with one click, open my 'Daily' bookmarks folder to read the news of the day. 

7:20 a.m.: Quick check on Twitter to see who was up to what last evening...

8:00 a.m.: Early arrival at the workshop site provides me with time to a few recent skating photos from iPhoto to my Keynote presentation

8:10 a.m.: My district e-learning contact is not yet on site, so I decided to select a topic from my Xpad notebook and to record a quick little Podcast using Garageband

8:18 a.m.: Convert podcast to MP3 format in iTunes.

8:20 a.m.: Upload podcast to Libsyn and ping the iTunes server.

9:00 a.m.: Share Keynote presentation with workshop attendees (various 'photos of ice-skating', zamboni, shovel man... as a metaphor for e-learning).

9:15 a.m.: Open multiple tabs in Camino to highlight e-Learning tools in Ontario.  Work with participants on course customization in their browser of choice: MS Explorer (yuck!)

10:30 a.m.: Highlight for participants how Flickr and Audacity can be used to create more memorable communications in the online course environment.

11:00 a.m.: Tweak 'how to' documents in ScreenSteps and send PDF versions to participants via First Class

11:45 a.m.: Check on my work mail for urgent messages via First Class

1:00 p.m.: Assist district ICT consultant in mini-workshop to tame Google Documents, and Wet Paint wikis as places to host online course materials.  My take is that these tools can be leveraged by students for electronic portfolios.

1:30 p.m.: Assist district e-learning contact in enrolling students in courses by using an Excel spreadsheet (csv format)

1:45 p.m.: Phone Desire2Learn to investigate internal email issues in the learning management system.

2:00 p.m.: Partner with district ICT consultant to highlight how Google Analytics tracks web traffic (my RPT site has hits from 162 countries to date!)

2:30 p.m.: Review evening ice skating in Komoka movie created in iMovie and uploaded to blip.tv to complete the metaphor: "If you build it, they will come."

2:45 p.m.: Time to drive home... Catching up on my favourite CBC podcasts on the 2 hour drive

7:00 p.m.: Visit the recording of an Adobe Connect e-learning session on 'course customization' that I missed while driving home

7:20 p.m.: Open Flock to check on my 'network' of education bloggers, twitterers,  and social learning networkers

7:40 p.m.: upload new links to my my Del.icio.us bookmarks

7:45 p.m.: type this blog entry in Flock

8:20 p.m.: upload blog entry to Blogger


There is nothing exceptional about this day... in most ways it is a mirror of my 'normal' working day. My exposure to multiple applications the past ten years or so make this seem all so natural and seemless.  I'm sure that this is far from a 'normal' day for a teacher, but with the way my day flows, I rarely reflect on the apps I'm using.  Then again, maybe I'm just a 'geek'?

Does anyone else think about their daily workflow in terms like these?

Blogged with Flock

PowerPoint: More than Electronic Chalk!

When PowerPoint first came on the scene, those who created slideshows for public presentations were seen as 'magicians' in some respects. Since educators first began using this tool, we've followed in the steps of corporate users, and have failed to use it effectively. When used poorly (which is most of the time!) the worst part of PowerPoint presentations is having to sit through them! The problem is that many presenters use the PowerPoint file as 'electronic chalk'. Let's fix that!



DO use high quality graphics... Use carefully chosen photos instead of clipart!

DO use minimal text! No one is reading your many bullet points or 'shiver' paragraphs of text anyways! A presentation is much more memorable if you use only one keyword or one bullet point per slide! This gives you room for a quality image, and allows you to be a part of the presentation by expanding on the visual minimalist slide. Getting past the Mac/PC debate, this comparison this 2005 post on Presentation Zen is still relevant!

DO NOT read your slides to your audience! Just don't!

DO tell stories! Use your slides as introductions to Real stories that demonstrate your point, or stories that can act as apt metaphors will make your presentation more memorable.

DO learn from effective presenters! Merlin Mann is a terrific 'organizational guru', who is clearly comfortable when presenting. When time allows, check out this talk he gave at Google last summer (once the awkward intro is over... you can gain some great tips for managing your email. If you like the style of this presentation, you'll be able to make effective use of Merlin's presentation tips.

DO remember that YOU are the most important part of the presentation! Darren Barefoot is another presenter who has great suggestions on making presentations in this post "Everything I Know about Presentations, I Learned in Theatre School". The presentation should be much more than the electronic chalk notes you provide...

DO engage other tools along with or in place of PowerPoint. The best presenters in using communications technology are very comfortable jumping from application to application, or from site to site within a presentation. If you have live access to the Internet during a presentation, you might want to hyperlink to a wiki, a blog post, or any of a number of relevant websites or online tools.

DO preload content and websites you plan to use in your presentation. Use of a tabbed browsing tool (just about anything but MS Explorer) will allow you to pre-load sites that you'd like to visit.

DO become familiar with the presenter's layout. Both PowerPoint and Keynote allow you to project your presentation while having your notes appear on your local computer/notebook screen. (You might also want to employ a teleprompter.) You'll have to practice this with a data projector as most tools will not make use of this option unless a projector is attached.

DO become very familiar with your slide arrangement. The best presenters can adapt their presentations on the fly depending on audience response and interaction. If you race to show all of your wonderful slides, you may be missing opportunities to make deeper, more meaningful connections with your audience. Being prepared to skip forward/backwards in your presentation.

The slideshow is not the presentation. If it was, you could just hand it out and be done with it. If you are wondering why so many attendees are checking email, or doodling, or talking during your presentations, you'll have to do your part: Engage the audience by making effective use of your favourite presentation tool!

A few weeks later, I've added a few white space exemplars:

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

For an audio version of this content, visit the Teacher 2.0 Podcast.

Let's Ban Chalk!

This weekend, I got to thinking about how history measures time periods. Knowing that the Three-Age System subdivided pre-history based on the material make-up of tools (the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age), I'd like to propose a system of 'ages' as a lens through which we can view classrooms in recent years.

In considering the 'tools' that have been mainstays in classrooms from the time when learning moved indoors in North America, we can frame education into three eras:

The Slate & Chalk Age (mid 1800's - present)
Characteristics: records are temporary; memory is necessary

The Paper & Pen Era (1900's to present)
Characteristics: records are semi-permanent; memory for homework is possible

The Web & Keyboard Period (2000's to present) Characteristics: records are of multimedia and may be historic; searchability makes memory less critical;

In looking for links to support these time periods, I stumbled across a wonderfully concise explanation courtesy of PBS.

In identifying the Web & Keyboard Period, I'm naming the period after the tools used to write, but the implication is that we have to consider this to be a period where students produce content in as many varied mediums as they experience. The true tools would include microphones, cameras, and other evolving input devices, well beyond the keyboard and mouse. Remember, in 2006, YOU were being named TIME's Person of the Year, not for your reading and writing, but as part of "a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before."

But many educators are still tied to both chalk/chalkboards; and paper/pen remain the preeminent classroom tool. In order to hasten the arrival of School 2.0, a time when the norm for classrooms is for the world wide web to be ever-present as the 'chalkboard', "I propose we Ban Chalk!"

While initially tongue in cheek, this proposal is one that would demand teachers change their practice. We may eventually want ban or put strict limits on paper, but I believe that the fist step is to change the blackboard. The physical space that makes up today's classroom, is reflective of rooms over 100 years ago. Changing the blackboard to a projection screen or SmartBoard, makes a dramatic statement to students and educators that the game has changed.

The day when it is 'normal' for classrooms to harness the power of global networking by using the read/write web along with a range of multimedia tools can only become a reality when the environment is reflective of the learning that takes place within the space.

The Stone age didn't end when we ran out of stone, it ended when people abandoned stone tools in favour of a better product. If teachers can teach this historic concept, surely we can live it!

"It's time to step away from the chalkboard and to step into the present!"

My "Down with Chalk!" mini-rant began on the Teacher 2.0 Podcast.

RSS: Get inside the wrapper!

If RSS is 'Really Simple Syndication" why do so few people really understand it?

If you are reading this blog because you have subscribed to an appropriate feed, then you likely won't get anything out of this post. If, on the other hand, you came across this post randomly, then you might consider taking advantage of RSS to provide yourself with 'one-stop' reading.

The best analogy that I can come up with for Really Simple Syndication, is the chocolate bar. You might be attracted to the wonderful packaging, but really, what you want, is the candy that exists inside the wrapper!

Really Simple Syndication ensures that the CONTENT can be subscribed to, while the FORM is inconsequential. In the 'old days' of 5 or 10 or more years ago, web authors used to spend lots of time customizing the form of their content. Fonts, sizes, colours, and other attributes that adapted and augmented the content ('the wrappings') if you like, are becoming secondary to the content. RSS, allows the reader to focus solely on the content. You might want to view "RSS in Plain English".

A quick and entertaining explanation of RSS is included within The Machine is Us/ing Us:



In order to access the content, you need to select and get comfortable with a 'feed-reader'. These 'aggregators' are free and widely available. I prefer Google Reader because it has the same look and feel as my G-mail account, but there are many options available.

Once you have a feed-reader, you can subscribe to all kinds of syndicated content. Just look for the orange RSS symbol in any URL, and you can copy the entire URL from your address bar, to add a subscription to your feed-reader:



Now you can subscribe to all types of content, including:

Your friends Flickr images
A colleagues bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep
Your favourite newspapers: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Any of a number of Blogs... like this one: http://feeds.feedburner.com/thecleversheep
or Podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/ E-learningDaily

I didn't mention this in today's Teacher 2.0 Podcast, but this is just the beginning of huge changes in the way we access information! As coders are coming to realize, you can also draw RSS information into other sites and programs, resulting in a wave of new 'mash-ups' that are turning the world wide web on its ear. What are you waiting for? After all, it is "REALLY SIMPLE SYNDICATION"!

So, You Want to be a Teacher?

One of greatest things keeping education in a relative holding pattern for the past 100+ years, is the fact that those who become teachers, are by and large those who enjoyed school, and found it easy to be successful in 'school 1.0'. An individual may have a unique ability to connect with young people and may be intent on utilizing an array of engaging learning strategies, but if he/she lacks the 'excel-in-language-and-math-gene', local avenues into the teaching profession will be unavailable.

In my home province of Ontario, here in Canada, it is only by demonstrating academic excellence that one able to consider a career in teaching. In fact, if you are not an A student in university, one is unlikely to find a place in a faculty of education within the province.

While I'm not going to argue that we need more teachers with lower grades, I do think that we need more teachers who understand what it means to struggle with learning! As I see it, there is a real need for universities to consider a broad spectrum of characteristics and qualifications in potential teachers... far more than simply identifying the applicants with the highest grades.

So what characteristics must a teacher have, and how can these possibly be considered by faculties responsible for preparing the teachers of tomorrow? These are big questions... ones that would require careful planning; but just in case faculties out there might be open to a more time-consuming application process, here are two big ideas that would let universities know how committed their applicants were to joining the profession:

1] Include a face to face interview! Allow candidates equal footing in preparing by providing sample questions. This way potential teachers can demonstrate their ability to prepare a messages on specific topics for a specific audience. Jeff Utech's recent post on Interview Questions for International Job Fairs has a number of questions that once adapted, would ensure candidates were aware of expectations for future teachers to engage a range of technology tools.

2] Invite applicants to submit a learning portfolio that highlights their own learning styles and demonstrates a commitment to continued learning. Dr. Helen Barrett's Electronic Portfolio Resources provide a range of possibilities for experienced educators, but could reasonably be adapted for teacher candidates.

Now there may well be universities using similar strategies to ensure the acceptance of the most appropriate teacher candidates, but until more faculties of education open themselves to a more diverse population of students, our schools are destined to get what they've always got: Teachers who were good at school and liked it fine just the way it was!

Social Bookmarking in the Classroom

"So, What is this 'social bookmarking' thing all about anyways?"

This quote is attributed to my youngest brother: a worldly-wize techno-whiz who has published in many formats, but who has yet to understand the power of bookmarking when paired with RSS subscriptions. If I can teach him about social bookmarking, then it stands to reason that there are many, many people (including the majority of educators?!) who have yet to discover the value of sites such as http://del.icio.us/

I sense a lesson coming on (with thanks to Common Craft)...



Social bookmarking is a practical educational tool that can be leveraged in a number of ways. So let me give you just a few reasons why you should be tagging sites:

1] Putting all of your bookmarks online and tagging them with keywords makes your favourites searchable.

2] You can access your bookmarks from any computer, using any browser... not just the one you have your 'favourites' on.

3] You can assess the popularity of any link you've bookmarked by taking note of the number of times a site has been saved by other del.icio.us users.

4] Your bookmarks are shareable by one simple URL. Friends, colleagues and students can visit your bookmarks by following a simple link. For example, my bookmarks are all online at http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep

5] Friends can choose to access only bookmarks tagged with specific keywords either by searching them, or by visiting sites by taglist like 'Web2.0' or 'photos'. Now that I think about it, that would be a good way to gather links for tagging on your own account.
http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/web2.0
http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/photos

6] People can 'subscribe' to your bookmarks. By copying the RSS feed for a particular page within any users delicious bookmarks, you will be notified directly, any time a suitably tagged bookmark is added by that person. For example, if you want to be notified anytime Rodd Lucier finds a terrific video resource, you can copy the url: http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/video into your RSS reader (Google Reader or Bloglines or Technorati...).

7] Teachers can invent unique tags for each of their classes using the subject or course code as a tag. Students could then access any site deemed worthy... anyplace, anytime! Tags for a grade 11 science course might be found in a place like this: http://del.icio.us/mrteacher/sci3u. Better yet, if a teacher shares a really unique tagging code like 'luciersci3u' then students could add bookmarks to their own del.icio.us accounts, and since you can search bookmarks by any and all users at once in the root of del.icio.us, students would be able to conveniently access the bookmarks made by any and all members of the class.

8] If some of these strategies are taught to students, either by example or by formally leading students to tag their own favourite websites, it won't take long for students to realize the potential of link-sharing. I can see students inventing tags like 'ancientegypt'or 'electionproject' in order to leverage the power of del.icio.us along with their peers.

Do you know of other practical applications? If so, feel free to add a comment. Maybe someone will bookmark this post on del.icio.us and we'll all be able to search this list of bookmark ideas amongst other 'cleversheep' tags! For more on this topic, check out the Podcast feed: "Teacher 2.0".

Alternatives to http://del.icio.us/:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/
http://reddit.com/
http://blogmarks.net/
http://simpy.com/
http://digg.com/

Then again, you could always check http://del.icio.us/thecleversheep/social