1 of the things that I have learned in my years of teaching (all 3 of them) is that students do better work when they enjoy what they are doing. Students, like all people, enjoy working on those things that interest them. For example, I love programming. I will be perfectly happy and work hard in a discussion, watching a video, writing a collaborative program, etc… I have no interest whatsoever in knitting. It doesn’t really matter how amazing a teacher’s lesson is; if it is just on knitting, I am most likely going to be daydreaming (There is nothing inherently wrong with knitting. It is just not a personal interest.).
Students are people, just like teachers, and are susceptible to the same whims. Unfortunately, we do not always have a say in what we can teach. In the last week, I have co-taught lessons in physics (work and power, acceleration), biology (kingdoms), the Cuban Revolution, Realist poets, and totalitarian leaders in World War II. No matter how wonderful the student, I highly doubt that many students will be intrinsically motivated to learn about all of these disparate subjects even though there were a handful of students who came in the library for science, history, and English in the span of a week.
Part of our duty as educators is to find a way to make the material we have to teach interesting to students so that they want to learn about it. There are many methods and no one method will work in every situation with every student. However, I discovered a lesson by Angela Cunningham (@kyteacher) that I thought would work well in many subjects. The idea is historical Facebook pages. Her original idea can be found here.
Facebook is blocked here, as it is in many schools. However, close to 90% of students at my school have either a Facebook or a MySpace page; many have both. The hope is that by tying biographical research to something that they like to do, they will get more invested in the assignment than they would if it was a simple biography research paper.
I modified Angela’s lesson some. She used Google Sites; my teachers are familiar with Microsoft Publisher, so I designed my template there. It is actually fairly simple to do. I just took screenshots of Facebook at home, added them to Publisher, and added spaces for students to add information and pictures. Here is a picture of what my template looks like: http://jasontbedell.com/Facebook.pdf.
There are some basic requirements that we tailor to each specific class.
A profile picture
You need status updates that reflect what was going on in [place] during [time period]
At least 6 people the historical figure would be friends with in the “Friends Online” section
Basic biographical info in the “Information” section
At least 3 Facebook-style groups that your figure would belong to.
Suggestions of 3 people in that your figure might have something in common with in “Suggestions.” (For example, an English teacher asked people who wrote in a similar style and a history teacher asked for people with similar political views.)
At least 2 advertisements of products from the time period in the “Sponsored” sections.
At least 1 important event going on at the time in the “Events” section.
Language can also be modified. The English teacher required period appropriate language and the Spanish teacher is considering having her Spanish 4 class do it in Spanish.
In the last week, I have done this project with a Spanish teacher, a world history teacher, and an English teacher. The history teacher focused on totalitarian leaders during World War II – see details here. The English teacher focused on Realist authors – see details here. The Spanish teacher focused on Cuban revolutionary figures – see details here. Next week, an English teacher wants to do it with English Romantic poets and a US history teacher wants to do it with important figures from the 1960s.
In all 3 classes that have done a variant of the project, the students were interested, engaged, and produced good work. One of the teachers actually made a point to stop by to tell me that she heard the kids saying “This is cool” and enthusiastically showing the students who had been absent how to work on the project. The teachers were all enthusiastic and that carried over to the students. The students were interested and enthusiastic; the students’ hard work and interest then refreshed the teachers and classroom morale went up, at least for a little while. I only have access to 2 examples (They were turned into their classroom teachers, not to me.) at the moment. Here is one on Emily Dickinson and one on Fidel Castro.
There are several aspects of this lesson that I think are worth noting. Obviously, it is important that students like it, at least so far. However, there are also some important educational points. Compared to a normal report, this type of assignment is almost impossible to plagiarize. It forces students to try to understand what would have been important enough to the person that they are studying to write about. They need to make important connections between their historical figure and larger world during that time period. If anything, research may be more intensive than during a normal report. They have to have an understanding of not only the person that they are studying, but the time period, the culture, the place, the language, and other important figures from the time period.
If you want to try it out, click here for the Microsoft Publisher temple.
Here is a video on how to use the Publisher template. You may have to turn up the volume.
This is going to be a busy week. Many things are coming to a head all at once. First, I am going to have to go on a marketing blitz for TeachMeet, which really means that I will be calling nearly every school within 3 hours of Nashville. Mostly, I have been calling librarians and asking them to distribute information to their staffs. I have been calling PD coordinators and instructional technology coordinators/coaches as well, but have been getting less enthusiastic responses from them.
Second, I need to finish the video tutorials to accompany Chapter 2, which should not take long. Third, I need to write the 3rd chapter in Techniques for Effective Technology Integration. The chapter focuses on harnessing the power of social networking and will discuss how to best use tools like Ning, Twitter, Edmodo, and Facebook with students.
I would really appreciate some advice and stories of teachers using these tools with students for my From the Teachers section. If you have any experience using social networking with students, I would greatly appreciate it if you left a story in the comments.
I am hoping to release a new chapter by Sunday of every week. Splitting free time between writing the book and working on TeachMeet Nashville planning resulted in almost not getting this week’s chapter finished in time.
This week I am releasing the second chapter. If you have not read the introduction, you may want to start here. If you have not read the first chapter, you may want to start here.
Chapter 2 is an introduction to the what, how, and why of Web 2.0 tools. If I am being honest, I am least satisfied with this chapter compared to the previous two weeks releases. It will probably be the shortest chapter in the book. It attempts to explain what Web 2.0 tools are, why teachers and students could benefit from using them, and provide some examples. I chose Glogster, Wordle, and Wallwisher because of their simplicity and their versatility to be used in many different situations and content areas. If your favorite tool was not presented, it will most likely be presented in a later chapter; feel free to suggest one in the comments, though, in case I have overlooked it or have not discovered it yet.
I think the reason that I am not completely happy with this chapter is because it is the only chapter that does not have a clear vision and focus. The chapter before and the intro have a clearly delineated vision of what needs to be accomplished; the chapters following will all have a specific focus, like tools for collaboration for example.
I am really hoping for some constructive feedback. If you have any ideas please leave them in the comments. I am very transparent about my work and am open to criticism, so don’t worry about hurting my feelings if you find something that needs to be changed. Hopefully, our collaboration will result in a work that will help teachers. Also, if you want to be included in the From the Teachers section of the book, please put a narrative of a time that you used Glogster, Wordle, and/or Wallwisher. See some great examples from Debra Gottseleben and Bryan Jackson in the previous chapter.
Thank you to Aaron Eyler, Scott Synder, Matt Guthrie, Bill Chamberlain, Tom Barrett, Cindy Lane, and Danny Maas, for their contributions and help this week.
Also, the manuscript says that the tutorials are done. I was just writing optimistically and I will make the tutorials on Monday when I am back in my office.
Without further ado, here is the Word document and the pdf file. The chapter is also embedded below with Scribd. Chapter 2
As a teacher, I know how much teachers make and try never to ask people to buy or spend anything. When working with teachers, I try to always suggest free tools. I would like to ask your help with getting TeachMeet going. There are several ways that you can help.
First, you can sign-up to attend, volunteer to help out (We need help setting up, cleaning up, and making sure everything runs smoothly.), sign-up to present, or agree to facilitate a panel discussion, round-table discussion, or a workshop.
Second, you are able to donate if you would like to and are in a position to do so.
Donations of any amount will receive the following:
Be listed as a supporter on the wiki, this blog, and all official literature.
Have a link to your blog or website included in all official literature.
The satisfaction of knowing that you helped a good cause.
An entry in a raffle to win 1 copy of Camtasia Studio, a $200 value.
Donations of $150 of more will receive the following:
All of the previously mentioned items.
The ability to have a table at the conference to present a product.
Third, especially if you are not local and still want to help, you can help spread the word. The Educators Royal Treatment recently ran a guest blog post about TeachMeet to help spread the word. If you have a blog, we would be honored if you would consider doing the same.
Fourth, you can email people you know who might be interested. You can write you own, but if you would like, here is one that I am sending out to many. Feel free to use or modify it.
I would like to let you know about an exciting opportunity and would ask that you share it with your staff. We are planning, organizing, and hosting a TeachMeet Conference at the Nashville Public Library on April 1 and 2. If you’re not familiar with TeachMeet, see http://teachmeet.pbworks.com. It’s a really cool idea where normal teachers host a conference for other teachers. Anyone can attend, anyone can present. It will be completely free of cost. I will be providing free lunch, some breakfast items, and refreshment throughout the day, as well as free ed tech giveaways.
I would like to ask for the participation of teachers, librarians, and technology coaches in the conference. All school districts and libraries within driving distance are being invited with some people coming from as far away as Van Meter, Iowa. If you have time, feel free to take a look at the tentative schedule of events. All conference information is listed on our public wiki, http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com. Anything listed as a full presentation consists of 4 15-minute presentations. Micro-presentations are 7 or 8 7-minute presentations on a given topic in an hour, right after another. There will also be an interactive lesson planning workshop and more spontaneous round table discussions (see the Wallwisher page we just started: http://wallwisher.com/wall/tmnashville), and 4 panel discussions. If you could, please also help spread the word to other people you think might be interested in coming or presenting, even if they can only make 1 day. The event schedule is here: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AhPMGG4VfjIOdFRoWldWel9TMzlha0ZwdmlrUzFLTUE&hl=
The conference is really a good deal. It costs nothing to come (other than asking the principal to take professional leave); educators get a good time, a free lunch, and some great free prizes. We are giving away 3 database subscriptions to Soundzabound royalty free music ($200 each), 5 copies of Camtasia Studio, a Windows/Mac program to make video tutorials ($200 each), and a $900 school wide subscription to Starrmatica, a company that makes interactive content for elementary schools. I believe that we will have the funding to but a netbook or a laptop, and an iPod Touch to giveaway as well. Anyone can win, but you have to come.
I am also in need of presenters on any topic (check the wiki for a list of broad topics), participants and moderators for the panel discussions, facilitators for the round-table discussions and lesson planning workshop, and volunteers to help setup or clean up. You can sign up for anything on the wiki, or by emailing me (jason.bedell@cmcss.net) or calling me (931-320-9582).
Please invite any educators you know anywhere within driving distance. Parents, community stakeholders, and politicians are all welcome. I have some students coming on a field trip to participate as well. I think that if we are going to spend 2 days working on better ways to help students, that we should involve everyone we can.
Lastly, we have a great keynote speaker coming in from Iowa. The Van Meter school district is an amazing distict that is doing great work in using technology to spur change. Recently they have lobbied congress and spoken before a group of 90+ superintendents. They have 1:1 laptops, have social networking integrated throughout their schools, and even use virtual reality to aid teacher. What is amazing, though, is that the whole district seems to be on the same page. The superintendent, high school principal, media specialist, and at least 1 teacher are all coming down to deliver a collaborative keynote.
As always, if you have anyone questions, please contact me. Make sure you sign-up on the wiki to come, or email me. That way, we know how much food to buy. Again, the public wiki with full expectations and a tentative schedule of events is posted at http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com. There is a brochure that you can distribute to teachers you know here: http://drop.io/TeachMeet (just click TeachMeet.pdf). My personal and work phones are below if you would like to contact me. This should be a fun, dynamic, and participatory conference unlike what many of us are used to. Everyone who wants to will be able to share and network. If you’re able, come out and have a good time.
Lastly, I know that there are many people out there much smarter than I am. So, if you have any ideas for things we can do to help spread the word, please let me know in the comments.
Last time I wrote up an official update about the status of TeachMeet was January 23, 2010. Luckily, in the last two weeks, things have really started to look up. The main concern in the last update was money. We had only $650 and we needed at least $1000 for the venue alone. Thankfully, Techsmith and Promethean have agreed to donate $1000 each, bringing our total in pledged cash donations to $2950. Our total donation list is as follows:
Techsmith, makers of Jing and Camtasia Studio, have agreed to donate $1000 and 5 copies of Camtasia Studio.
Promethean, makers of interactive whiteboards and other great interactive hardware, has agreed to donate $1000.
ABC-Clio has agreed to donate $150.
Ingram Library Services has agreed to donate $500.
Soundzabound has agreed to donate $150 and several free subscriptions to one of their royalty free music databases.
Camcor has agreed to donate $150.
Gordon Food Service has agreed to donate the meat for 1 day and give us a discount on lunch.
I have tentatively reserved the Nashville Public Library for April 1-2, from 9-4. 9-9:30 is setup, with doors open to participants at 9:30 and events starting at 10 both days. I have also begun discussions with an amazing group to do the keynote. The details are being worked out now and I should have the information /settled Thursday night. About $1000 of our $3000 is going into expenses to bring this group down (travel costs – there is no payment for presenters); I feel they are worth the expense and will make a positive difference at the conference.
The schedule of events is looking like it should be interesting and I think it is getting closer to it final state. Check the wiki at http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com. We are still actively seeking both presenters and sponsors. For sponsors, I have reached out to Glogster, Ning, Edmodo, Voicethread, and Wikispaces this week. Glogster isn’t able to help at the moment. Ning and Edmodo asked for more information and are considering it; Scholastic is still considering helping as well.
The main area of focus has to now shift to marketing. We need to find ways to get teachers involved. I know of several individuals from diverse places coming, but we really need to find ways to heavily encourage teachers in the big local districts (Nashville, Memphis, Clarksville, Chattanooga, etc…) to come. I think that stressing the dynamic nature of the conference combined with the free cost and free lunch is a good way to go. As always, if you have any suggestions or want to help in any way, please leave a comment.
Sunday night has become my time to reflect on my current Big Project (my hope-to-be book, Techniques for Effective Technology Integration). I consider last week’s mission to be a success. I was able to write the whole first chapter (all 38 pages), with help from Debra Gottsleben (@gottsled), Bryan Jackson (@bryanjack), and Bryan’s student Katie. I also finished the video tutorials to help out those readers who like more thorough guidance in the technical details of how to use the tools. The feedback that I got on the first chapter was great. It was mostly positive, with some good guidance from Bernadette Roche (@Oh_the_Places) and Michael Josefowicz (@ToughLoveForX). I will definitely take their feedback to heart when I go back to do the final revision before compiling all the chapters for a full release.
This week, I am shifting the focus of the book from the teacher (Building a Personal Learning Network) to the student. Chapter 2 is an introduction to Web 2.0 tools. I expect this to probably be the shortest chapter in the book. All of the subsequent chapters, in the current state of planning, deal with a specific topic or technique, such as collaboration or digital storytelling, and brings in several tools to help accomplish the related educational objectives.
I plan on introducing the teachers to Glogster, Wordle, and Wallwisher as exemplary examples of Web 2.0 tools. I chose these because of their versatility, ease of use, and possibilities of cross-curricular use. In addition, they do not fit into any of my planned chapters further in the book.
I am planning for my remaining chapters to be about:
Harness the power of social networking (Ning, Twitter, Edmodo, Facebook, etc…)
Tools to increase collaboration (Etherpad, Google Docs, Google Wave)
Tools to increase communication (Google Calendar, Google Forms, Poll Everywhere, etc…)
Digital Storytelling (Voicethread, Animoto, Kerpoof, etc…)
Blogs and Wikis
Podcasting
Use a course management system to extend the classroom
I need help with 2 areas primarily at the moment. First, if there are any tools that you feel should be included in this introductory chapter (that are not included in a later chapter), please leave a comment. Also, I really stories of teachers using Glogster, Wordle, and/or Wallwisher successfully with their classes for my From the Teachers section. If you leave a story, please specify whether it is alright to include it in the book. Full credit will be given. I am also not expecting or trying to make money off the book; it is simply an ambitious endeavor that will hopefully help teachers. Please leave a comment if you can help in any way.
First, I owe a big thank you to everyone who helped out with this. There are at least 10 people who I have added to the special thanks list to be included at the beginning of the book when it is published. In particular, though, @lasichelped me retool the introduction and gave me some really good advice. @gottsledand @bryanjack(with his student Katie) helped me greatly by providing 1st hand stories from when they used some of the tools mentioned in the chapter.
Second, this is the first full chapter. The introduction, if you want to read it, is still available here. It is rather long (38 pages in Word), but I also think it is foundational to succeeding through the rest of the book. If you are reading this, you can probably testify to the power of having a good PLN.
Third, I am always looking for honest feedback. What do I need to do to improve this chapter? In particular, is there anything you think I should remove to make it easier to read? Would you change or add anything (I was going to cover the Educator’s PLN along with Google Reader, but I was concerned over space)? Is there anything about the chapter that you particularly don’t like?
Lastly, the referenced video tutorials are not done yet. We have our second day off in a row today and my microphone is in my office at school. The tutorials will be done by the weekend.
Without further preamble, here are the download links and the Scribd document:
Back in December, I read on the Lifehacker blog that one of the best ways to keep a resolution is to make it as public as possible. I have been and will continue to recruit many people in my PLN into this book project because I believe that, if it’s done right, it can really help teachers, especially if it’s distributed freely. I also believe that the final product will be greatly improved through collaboration. Here is the list of people that have helped me so far, either directly through answering questions, reviewing drafts, commenting, or providing stories, or indirectly through inspiration.
Steven W Anderson – @web20classroom
Ben Archer – @BArcher001
Bess Bedell – @MumtoEve
Malcolm Bellamy – @malcolmbellamy
Deven Black – @spedteacher
Jerry Blumengarten – @cybraryman1
Howard Chan – @socratech
Scott Cochran – @scottac87
Mary Cooch – @moodlefairy
Olaf Elch – @olafelch
Hadley Ferguson – @hadleyjf
Larry Ferlazzo – @LarryFerlazzo
Chris Gibson – @infodivabronx
Debra Gottsleben - @gottsled
Doug Holton – @doug_holton
Robyn Jackson – @robynjackson92
Dottie Jainslie – @djainslie
Derek Keenan – @MrKeenan
Tomaz Lasic – @lasic
Wayne Liew – @WayneLiew
Yoo Sim Lim – @DoremiGirl
Dallas McPheeters – @dallasm12
Greg McVerry – @jgmac1106
Darren Mead – @DKMead
Laura Rieben – @ljrieben
Mike Ritzius – @mritzius
Bernadette Roche – @Oh_the_Places
Jeff Romonko – @fejoknam
Russ Sauntry – @Eduvulture
Topher Simpson – @TopherSimpson
Shelly Terrell – @ShellTerrell
Joseph Thibault – @josephthibault
Silvia Tolisano – @langwitches
Glen WestBroek – @gardenglen
Tom Whitby – @tomwhitby
Joan Young – @flourishingkids
My goal is to write at least 1 chapter each week. I hope to finish the first chapter by Sunday, Valentine’s Day. I would like to include my PLN again. I am writing the first major chapter about social networking. I will be focusing on the 3 stages: social bookmarking (most likely Diigo as that is the consensus favorite on Twitter), social networking (focusing on Twitter), and deep interaction (focusing on blogging, commenting, and the Educator’s PLN).
I need at least one commentary from educators about how they have successfully used social bookmarking, social networking, and/or deep interaction to become a better teacher. There is a very good chance that your narrative will be in the final book, with credit.
As always, I appreciate all help. I hope to have the first chapter available for you to read by Sunday.
My peers both here and on Twitter were very helpful and encouraging in getting me to write the book that I am working on. Below, I have put download links in both .doc and .pdf form, as well as embedded the introduction via Scribd. This is very much in the first draft stage and I am seeking constructive feedback. Regarding the voice, would it sound condescending or overbearing to a teacher? Regarding the content, is it too redundant or slow? What should I add or remove? Any thoughts in general would be appreciated.
Unless otherwise stated, everything I write is released under a Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike License, so you can reuse or improve on it if you need to, if it will help other teachers.
Recently, I asked you, the readers of this site, and my colleagues and friends on Twitter to give me some feedback on an idea I have for a book. You can read about it and participate here if you missed it. The feedback was both encouraging, enlightening, helpful, and warning about certain issues, such as the rate of change in technology. Now, since I would like the book (if it actually comes to fruition) to make a positive impact, it has to be accessible to teachers who are not comfortable using technology in the classroom. Talking only to those who are comfortable would be to miss the point; they might learn about a technique or a tool, but it would not really help them to improve their teaching in a fundamental way.
One person who filled out the Google Form mentioned including anecdotes. I really like this idea as I do not want to make the mistake of separating theory from practice. However, I believe that both we and others can learn from our failure. Over the last several years, I have learned that is it good to appear human in front of your students and peers. It makes them feel more comfortable with you and to learn to trust you. I would like to ask help of you one more time. Can you recount in the comments a time when technology did not work properly for you, how you recovered or wish you had recovered, and what you took from that lesson. Please specify whether or not you would mind if I included it in the book. It can either be done anonymously or with full attribution to you (Book will be released for free, so I am not promising any financial compensation.).
To start, I have always been competent with technology. I rarely encounter a problem that I cannot solve. Unfortunately, I have not always been competent as a teacher. My first year teaching, I planned a fun poetry wiki project. This required the Internet because the students would create their own pages on the wiki and post their own original works.
Unfortunately, the ethernet port that you plug the computers into to get to the Internet broke off inside the wall. After spending 10 minutes handing out laptops and another 5 giving instructions, I realized the students could not get online. The students chatted pleasantly while I tried to figure out the issue. After I realized the problem, I thought I could solve it. I spent at least 20 minutes trying to fish the port out of the wall with paper clips and scotch tape. I tried to use my screwdriver to break the cover off, but a student thankfully informed that it wouldn’t be a very good idea. As this was going on, the students chatter grew louder and less pleasant. At this point, at least 40 minutes had gone by. Defeated and frustrated, I had the students put the laptops away and the next 10 minutes was a wasted teaching opportunity.
I was too inexperienced to understand how to react properly. In this instance, I did not teach my students to adapt. I wish that I once I had realized it was not an easily fixable problem, that I had the students come up with ideas for their poems, start writing drafts, and depending on how far they got, collaborate and peer edit. The technology made sharing easier, but in this instance, the lesson could still have worked well without it. If I really thought the wiki was essential, I could have just pushed it back a day or two until after the students were done writing. This was a simple mistake, but it had a lasting impression on me as it taught me to always have a plan b. Now, no matter what, I always have at least an idea, if not a full plan, of what to do it the technology does not work. Technology can greatly benefit teaching, but teaching can still happen without it. That was an important moment in my first year.
Now, if you don’t think that I am a terrible teacher (and if you’re still reading, hopefully you don’t), please share a story of your own. It doesn’t have to be included in the book if you do not want it to, but I feel that it can make teachers feel more comfortable using technology and more comfortable with the fact that they won’t always succeed if they see that the pioneers and models (Hint: if you are reading a teaching and technology blog, you are probably a pioneer and leader in your school, even if you don’t realize it.) have been in the same place that they may feel they are.
