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.

Download Word Doc

Download PDF File
Introduction

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.

This was honestly one of the busiest days of the last several months for me as a teacher, starting with my impromptu, albeit productive, Google Wave session with @ShellTerrelland @MrR0g3rsat 5:30 in the morning and ending with my Twizza in-service. If you are just reading for the first time, you’re probably thinking something like: “Twizza? That sounds kind of like Twitter.” You’re on the right track. Twizza is an idea I blatantly stole from @lasic(with his blessing) whereby I introduced teachers to Twitter in an informal setting and gave them free pizza. I would like to thank my principal for buying the pizza and @WadleyMoosefor baking a nice pineapple upside cake.
Before I can really explain how Twizza went, I need to give you brief outline of the many obstacles we had to overcome to even have this meeting. First, 3 weeks ago, the director of technology agreed to review Twitter. I gave him some literature about how it could be used for professional development and for educational purposes. I plead my case in every way I know how. He came back with a decision that the school district is not ready to unblock Twitter. I am not here to speak poorly of my administration. I disagree with him, but I respect his decision. I invited him to my Twitter in-service nonetheless; he declined to come and told me to follow the proper channels. I did. My principal supported us and my assistant principal in charge of professional development registered the session with the appropriate people over a week ago so that teachers could get in-service credit and the site could be unblocked for a few hours. Having gone through such channels, we were fairly confident. Around noon, I received an email that said we could not meet as an in-service because Twitter is not considered as useful for professional development at this time. Twitter will remain blocked completely.
Of course, I already have people coming in from 4 different schools. There are Twitter apps that are unblocked that work, but they don’t work without an account. No matter what I tried, I could not figure out a way for teachers to make an account. It was too late to change venue. Plus, we just got back from a 5 day weekend because of snow days, so everyone forgot (including me until @WadleyMoosebrought in a cake at 6 am). Because of the snow days, I didn’t ask everyone to make an account at home.
So, we went on without accounts. Everyone had a good time. There was a lot of good discussion about the power and potential of Twitter. Almost everyone seems excited to try it and has agreed to give it a shot and send me their usernames, which I will add to the #cmcss directory. We went over how it works, how to use it in school, why to use it, how to find followers, and I even gave them a TweepML list to get the started following some helpful people. We also looked at last night’s #edchat, the quality of which impressed many. All in all, it was a success. We only have about 10 people show up, but if most of them start to use it well and spread the word, then I consider it a success. Even if they don’t, a good time and a good discussion took place, which is an accomplishment.
There was only one person who seemed to be less than excited. She was interested, but not being able to sign up for an account was a great hindrance and it kept her from being able to really participate well. She kept an open mind and agreed to seek help from @hankbat her school, so there is hope. Unfortunately, some people will not be able to fully utilize the power of social networking while most social networks are blocked, which is the real shame.

This morning, I started thinking of possibly writing a book. I’ve started novels in the past, but they always withered around the 100 page mark. I’ve realized that my skill with writing does not primarily lie with fiction; while this is initially disappointing as a librarian, I feel that I am really beginning to find my niche as an educational writer. This blog and Twitter are good preparation for writing something on a bigger scale. I’m considering writing a book on how to effectively integrate technology across content areas and grade levels. It will be directed towards those that are not yet completely comfortable with using technology in the classroom. I will provide fully developed lesson plans for several different grade levels and content areas to show how tools presented can be utilized. I will also post each chapter as it is written with supplementary content here, for free. Let me repeat, while I will try to get the book published, anything I write to help teachers will always be posted online for free. As an open-source advocate, I know no other way.

Here is my preliminary list of chapter ideas.

What would you add or take away? How would you approach writing to those who are not comfortable with technology? I would really appreciate it if you could leave a comment and/or fill out the Google Form below. I always depend on my PLN for help. I hope to give back in any way that I can, but if the PLN does not find this to be a worthy project, then I may wait for more inspiration.

There are many advantages and disadvantages to working in a school with an almost universally inexperienced staff. 90 percent of the staff here are in their first or second year teaching. Most of these teachers are overwhelmed because of how difficult and time-intensive teaching can be. They are searching for help. Thankfully, I am in a position to be able to help since my schedule is more flexible than most. I’ve accepted up to 12 classes in the library (6 periods in the day, all double booked) and, rarely, I’ve had a few days during this school year with no classes in. I am able to watch classes, help people plan, and schedule time to work with teachers.

When it comes to research, I am happy that the staff has accepted the help of the library. In almost every class and grade, when a teacher wants to do research, they seek our input on what would be best. Tomorrow, we are starting a research unit with a senior English class. On Monday, we gave the Trails (Tool for Real-Time Assessment of Literacy Skills) preassessment which was developed by Kent State University. The next day, the teacher came down during his planning period. The teacher, my co-librarian, and I sat down for about an hour. We all analyzed how students did on five different research areas (developing a topic, organization, finding sources, evaluating sources, and using information ethically), pulled out students who had already mastered certain skills, matched kids up with specific skills and lessons, and planned out the whole research unit collectively. We had some disagreements, but there was no fighting or bickering. We worked on it until we all came to agreement on what would best help these particular students. We even were able to find enrichment activities for the students exempt from specifics lessons. Now, we are all very confident in the sequence that’s planned and that it will meet the students’ individual needs.

This is not unusual, which is really the point of this whole post. What amazed me upon reflection is that this is so commonplace here. Nearly every time someone comes to the library, whether for a whole unit or just one lesson, we go through this same process to meet the needs of the students. It’s not just the library, either. A lot of teachers are co-planning and collaborating with other teachers in their department (Next step: get teachers collaborating with people outside their department.). This is not a burden for anyone; collaboration has become part of practice and that is a wonderful thing.

Do you want to help advertise TeachMeet Nashville? It’s easy and free, just like TeachMeet. Just pick which widget fits your blog or website, grab the html, and add it to your site. It’s that help. Email TeachMeet tech support if you need help getting it working or if you need another size. Thanks for all your help.

<a href="http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com"><img src="http://www.jasontbedell.com/images/TMad1.jpg" width=200 height=400></a>

<a href="http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com"><img src="http://www.jasontbedell.com/images/TMad2.jpg" width=200 height=171></a>

<a href="http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com"><img src="http://www.jasontbedell.com/images/TMad3.jpg" width=150 height=100></a>

Wow. This has been the most whirlwind week in a while. About 1 week ago, I somewhat spontaneously decided to run a TeachMeet conference with only 2 months to plan, organize, market, and raise funds. I should admit, I have no experience with this at all. The only event that I was involved in that was even close to this scale was my wedding, and my wife and family handled most of that. So, needless to say, I am going at a frenetic pace right now trying to figure this out. I am dedicated to this and will make it happen. If nothing else, this week has helped me to realize how much people can accomplish with the right combination of time, effort, motivation, and support.

I want to report where the conference stands at the moment. First, a venue has been selected. I am in the process of booking the Nashville Public Library for April 1-2, from 9-4. I do not yet have sufficient funds to pay the whole $500 cost, so there is a possibility that someone could reserve the rooms first.

Second, I managed to find the first sponsor and the first partner for the company. ABC-CLIO, an educational database company, is sending $150 in exchange for a booth at the conference. My rule on this is firm: teachers can approach vendor sponsors if they are interested, but sponsors cannot approach teachers. Gordon Food Service has agreed to donate meat for 1 of the 2 days of the conference. In addition, their prices are fantastic compared to everything else I looked at. I can get lunch with dessert for $3 per person,

(may vary depending on the final menu). This is compared to $8-10 without dessert for all the catering places that I looked into in Nashville.

Third, the public wiki is finished. You can view it at http://teachmeetnashville.wikispaces.com. There is a tentative schedule of events planned out. I figured out how the presentations will work; there will be both 15 minute presentations and 7 minute micro-presentations. There will be round-table discussions: you can add ideas for discussion topics on our Wallwisher page. There will be an interactive lesson planning workshop. There will also be four expert panel discussions with an emphasis on audience interaction. Also, there will always be at least 2 choices on what to do while at the conference. Hopefully the choices and fast-paced nature of the conference will keep everyone engaged and interested. You can sign-up for no charge on the wiki as well. Please sign-up early so I can make sure that I buy enough food and so that I can have certificates ready in case your district supports conferences for in-service credit. You can also sign-up to present on the wiki if you are interested. Just leave your name, email, and topic. 2 people are already signed up to present on digital storytelling. A Clarksville teacher will be presenting on Xtranormal and @MrR0g3rs will be giving a live virtual presentation on how his class uses Animoto. @andycinek will also be virtually participating on our social networking panel discussion. The conference still needs a lot more participants to present, facilitate round-table discussions and workshops, and moderate discussions, so please sign-up.

Fourth, I finished the brochure for the conference and my wife finished the logo. I believe that most of our promotional materials are nearing their final stages. Some people on Twitter (@msmithpds, @Oh_the_Places, and @Phillip_Cummings, to say the least) are helping me to get in touch with school districts down here. I would like to get in touch with as many school districts as I can within driving distance of Nashville. I believe this conference can really be a benefit to teachers and I would like reach as many as teachers as possible. I know of a handful of people that are coming, but I need to spread the word better and farther. If you can help at all with this, please contact me.

Fifth, I’ve been in touch with several members of an innovative school district in Van Meter, Iowa including the superintendent @johnccarver, the high school principal @DeronDurflinger, the high school librarian @shannonmmiller, and the high school Spanish teacher @juli0810. These people are great educators and have been tremendously supportive. The Van Meter school district is doing some really outstanding things, particularly in the area of 1:1 laptops, and is a model school district. The principal and the superintendent have both agreed to come and to bring some of the teachers to present. I would love to bring them down, but I need to raise the travel funds to do so. Again, if you are interested in helping with this, please let me know.

Lastly, the biggest obstacle to this or any free conference is money. I am trying to find sponsorships. I went to the Green Hills and Opry Mills malls in Nashville today and met with no success. I am not giving up, but I may need to find another way to approach sponsors. I am going to try to meet with local stores next week, as well as Nashville area colleges, and the Army, which has a base and a thriving JROTC program in my town. I addition, I am going to continue to pursue educational vendors. Also, I am going to contact as many school districts as possible to see if any would be interested in partnering with the conference. Our food cost has been cut in half by Gordon Food Service, but I still need to raise at least $500-700 for food, another $350 for the location, probably $300 for supplies (certificates, promotional materials, table rentals, etc…), and $1000 to bring down the #vanmeter crew for a few days. I am also trying to find stores to help donate items to use as giveaways for the teachers. I would like to, at minimum, give away an iPod Touch and a netbook. Not to sound like a broken record, but if you can be of any help with any of this in any way, please let me know. We have some time, but we only have 2 months and need to pay for the venue sooner. I am optimistic and am sure that the conference will succeed, even if I cannot see all the details yet. Note to any sponsors, to have full transparency so you can be sure your money is spent wisely, I will be providing receipts and posting every purchase and price online on the wiki.

P.S. If I forgot to thank anyone here, please know that you are still appreciated and I could not do all this without you.

As a school librarian, I get to coteach almost every day. I love teaching with a partner and observing all the different styles that teachers have. I truly believe that the “normal” teacher has a lot to offer. I learn from other teachers in my building and in my PLN online everyday. Granted, I follow some of the “big shots” of education, like Will Richardson or Alan November, but most of the time I learn from the teachers who are everyday trying to make a difference with their students. I think TeachMeet could offer a way for teachers within driving to attend a conference, present, share, network, and learn.

If you are new to TeachMeet, I recommend that you check out their wiki: http://teachmeet.pbworks.com. TeachMeet is like a conference, although the community calls is the unconference because of the important ways that it differs. TeachMeet conferences are setup by teachers for teachers (and librarians, admins, and tech integrators, etc…). They are always free to attend. This is vital. So many teachers never get to attend a conference because of the high cost involved. Hopefully, this will attract many to be a part of the community and, possibly, to give back to the community by sharing. Anyone can present at the conferences. Presentations would be 15 minutes (full), 7 minutes (micro), or 2 minutes (nano) long and teachers attending would be able to have a say in what is discussed. These unconferences are paid for by sponsors (Hint: if you want to be a sponsor, please contact me.)

Here are the rules for the conference – I paraphrase them from

http://teachmeet.pbworks.com/Rules

• Presentations
  • Full presentations are a max of 15 minutes
  • Micro-presentations are a max of 7 minutes
  • Nano-presentations are a max of 2 minutes
• No Powerpoints unless you can talk about each slide in less than 20 seconds
• Only talk about things you have actually used in your classroom.
• No selling/sales pitches during presentations (Vendor sponsors can have booths where teachers can approach them, not the other way around).

I also had some ideas of things that we could do

• Have teachers sign up to present or request presentation topics on a wiki page.
• Use Twitter for a projected backchannel with a dedicated hashtag, like #TMN10 (TeachMeet Nashville 2010).
• Project a WallWisher page in the refreshment room where teachers put their favorite idea.
• Have several sessions running concurrently.
• Have a varied selection of choices so that the teachers attending can all learn about something related to their interest level.

I have never undertaken conference planning the past. It both frightens and exhilarates me. I just spoke with the Nashville Public Library and I should be able to book their conference room and auditorium (together can handle close to 400 people) for April 1 and 2. Between that and refreshments, I believe that I am looking at a bill of clse to $1000, so I will definitely need sponsors. If you have any ideas or can be of any help at all (organizing, planning, presenting, and web design are even more important than sponsorships for me), please contact me or leave a comment.

Those of you who have known me or been following this blog for any length of time will not be surprised to hear that I believe Moodle is one of single best tools available that can improve teaching. Moodle is not a panacea for education, but it does increase collaboration, communication, productivity, and accountability when it is used well. I have written several times about Moodle on this site and http://moodle.org can also provide more information.
For the last several years, I have desperately wanted to go to a Moodle Moot. You may understandably be wondering what on Earth a Moodle Moot is. If you have read Lord of the Rings, you probably already realize that it is a gathering of Moodlers, the same way that an Ent Moot was a gathering of Ents (tall, living tree-like creatures) in the books. Unfortunately, the Moodle Moots have mostly been held in cool, exotic (to me) locales that I can not afford to travel to, such as New Zealand, Australia, Europe, and California, USA. This year, however, there is a Mid-West Moodle Moot in Goshen, Inadiana in July, which is a doable drive from TN.
There are going to be some great workshops there. You can read more about the itinerary and workshops on http://www.goshen.edu/moodle/index.html. The workshops are geared towards everyone: teachers new to Moodle, system administrators, school administrators… Regardless of expertise with Moodle, I feel like anyone who attends would walk away enriched.
I actually offered to lead a workshop on effective online professional development with Moodle and corresponded with the coordinator. The final decision on which workshops will be chosen is not going to be made until the end of March, but I am still excited. It is not that I believe myself to be more qualified than others. I have some experience in this area and hope that I would be able to help more students by helping others to train their teachers. Here is the abstract:

Session summary: This hands-on workshop will help participants to understand, based on both research and experience, what works for effective online professional development and how it differs from face-to-pace professional. Numerous examples and best practices will be shown and an emphasis will be placed on the social nature of effective professional development and how that works with the social constructivist pedagogy of Moodle. After working through some examples of actual online professional development, discussion will revolve around what works, what does not, and what teachers actually want. Finally, participants will walk away having created at least the shell of an online professional development course that can be used with their faculty. Courses created will be both hosted and shared at the discretion of the participants.

As a bonus to all Moodlers, Martin Dougiamas, the founder and lead developer of Moodle, will be attending the Moodle Moot. I encourage everyone who can to attend the conference. I don’t think anyone will be leaving disappointed. If you have any suggestions on what to add to improve the (hopeful) workshop, please leave them in the comments.