Chasing Sunsets: Reflections on a summer of travel

The summer of 2010 has been far from a relaxing summer by the pool and recharging myself for the upcoming school year. I have covered much of the country learning new technologies, meeting new teachers and doing professional development training. So, as I sit down here in the Denver airport on a delayed layover trying to get home to California I thought this would be the perfect place to start reflecting on this summer.

First off, where have I been? Well, I’ve been to Brownsville, Atlanta, Denver, Tulsa, Memphis and then back one more time to Atlanta. Most of these have been with what I call my “summer job” of being a presenter/trainer for Teacher Created Materials. My Denver trip was the ISTE conference in which you can read some of reflections in previous posts.

The TCM presentations have covered social studies strategies such as Using Primary Sources and Differentiation but I have tried to share my passion for ed tech with every group I met. To those of you who attended one of these trainings I want to thank you for stopping in and reading here.

Now although I spent much of the summer training others, I was inspired by the TCM Georgia sales rep and friend of mine, Petra who asked me on the way out of my last workshop “So, what kind of Ah Ha moments did you have?” Well, it got me thinking about the entire summer and what I will walk away from this which will make me a better educator and trainer.

Well, the first would be the comparisons that I have found between my district in Rocklin that I teach, and that of all these other districts. Ironically, the comparison strategy is one that I used in most of trainings, so looking for the similarities and differences has been a focus of mine. The most obvious difference is size. Rocklin has just two high schools and when compared to some of these giant districts like Atlanta Public Schools, it’s amazing to see how these institutions have so many resources at their disposal. Such as having a social studies director who manages just that curriculum, or having so many teachers participating in their PLCs. I found myself envious at times of opportunities that many of these teachers had being of able to participate and collaborate together. In many of these circumstances though I found a status quo mentality where teachers were teaching in the ‘same ole’ model. So many of them were inspired by the possibilities that many of these new technologies can make possible but I continued to hear the same comments… “I don’t know where to start” “I don’t have the technology” “My students don’t have internet access at home”. My response to all of them was virtually the same though… “Just get started, and DON'T be afraid of opening your classroom to the world, always think about what is best for our kids”. I also found myself very appreciative of Rocklin Unified which is truly a great district to teach in. We have great teachers and kids and our size allows someone like me who is just a classroom teacher to help be part of the process implementing technologies like Google Apps for Education for the entire district.

Other differences were apparent as well: student achievement, socio-economic factors, and the amount of technology in classrooms. But although each district has issues to deal with (but oh, does California’s budget crisis seem to dwarf all their financial problems!) I found so much passion in teachers who are excited about wanting to try new things. I gave virtually every group a introduction to the world of Web 2.0 tools along with a bit of a pep talk to get them excited about trying out these new technologies.

Along the way I was able to get caught up with my “followings” on Google Reader and Twitter. David Warklick and Will Richardson both continue to inspire me. (Side note… best part of the summer was destroying my old phone in a kayaking ‘incident’ which allowed my wife and I to get ourselves each a Droid phone. Wow was this ever useful on all these trips!) I ate some great food (Billy Simms BBQ in Tulsa, best pulled pork sandwich ever!) and some not so great morning hotel buffets. I had some crazy travel moments, like flying out to Tulsa with only 1 hour notice and taking three flights overnight and one 30 minute cab ride to get there.

So what was my Ah Ha moment Petra? Well, it is a motivation for me to want to reach more teachers, motivate more teachers and want to help in redefining the 21st century classroom.

I titled this post as Chasing Sunsets. I have loved being in so many places, but I do long to be with my wife and girls at home. So as I had back to the west, I often stare out at the window on the plane and feel like I am just chasing that sunset on my way back home.
Thanks for following!

ISTE - Hall Davidson

Deep, Deep Dive into Digital: Much More than PDFs!
(Description) Making classroom practice digital supports differentiation, extended learning, and remediation. Beyond text-bound PDFs, digital curriculum dynamically links media, mobile, data-gathering, and Web tools. Education does change!

Hall Davidson is one of the best presenters I have ever seen. He works Discovery United Streaming and shows how to use their services but also covers much more. He is an advocate for change in education and this presentation was all about change in regards to the

Hall showed how we are "entering a epic time:

• Bad economy
• Effective technology
• Engagement for 21st Century learners

 and discussed how in history war is often a spur towards new innovations, well this economy can do the same in regards to innovations in 21st Century Learning. Just in my district I am seeing this as well. Here in RUSD, we are taking steps towards implementing the Google Apps for Education and one of the biggest motivating factors for this is cost. If we switch over to Google we can save money!

This signal for change is now. Hall showed quotes and stats like the one below which are affirming the idea that the time for change is now.

Now the change he focused on in this presentation was the textbook. No longer is this the gatekeeper of information. He showed the how the Indiana State board saw textbooks as:
“…taken as a group textbooks do not provide content that is interesting, engaging, and supportive of effective and interested student learning.”
and that
“…internet resources, interactive, magnetic and other media and other ‘systematically organized material."

February 6, 2009

And this can save money...

On average the cost per student is

Digital Resources vs Print Resources

         $19            vs          $79

But what does this look like?
First off. It is simply NOT just getting a PDF of the book and printing it yourself or having the kids print it out.

It is creating "Effective Technologies" which allow us to assess our students better, track their progress better and even differentiate lessons.

lastly, he gave us a http://www.polleverywhere.com/ poll and asked what we thought  is the biggest obstacle to becoming fully 21st Century classrooms?
The choices were staff – time  – money – fear – equity – or lack of shared vision
And overwhelmingly this (and other surveys taken as well) show that the
Lack of a Shared Vision is the biggest hold up.

So my hope is that here in my district in Rocklin CA, we can come up with a shared vision and begin this move away from a textbook driven curriculum

Hall has his entire PPT presentation available online if you go to this page and click on "The PowerPoint"
http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/istedeepdive

ISTE - SMART Boarding in the Classroom: Document, Develop, Deliver!

(Description) So you know the SMARTboard, but you're looking for the next level? Come see advanced concepts, tips/tricks, & how to create content using SMART Notebook! Working SMARTer not Harder!

This past spring I had a Smartboard set up in my classroom by a local company called Saxton Bradley. This was on loan so that I could practice with the device in hopes that my district move towards purchasing some of these. With the end of the year rush and my push towards prepping my students for their AP test I wasn't able to test out the board and Notebook software too much. So, I was hoping to find some useful tips on using Smartboards in the classroom while at ISTE. The first one I attended was on "Games and the Smartboard" was right up my alley, but it was a complete waste of time - too much of a intro level presentation. But then, the final session of the conference was with Bret Gensburg, University of Akron and this guys really knows Smartboards.  He is a Smartboard guru and really motivated me to want to try and re-design my lessons.

I have listed below the notes I took for myself, some may be a bit vague, but the overall message was that the content should drive the lesson, not technology and that we should use tech as a tool. So, like any tool we must become comfortable with it. Technology is often viewed by some as gadgets that wow our audience. Others often find technology too difficult of tool to master and want to keep with the status quo. I think we must use technology not as simply toys, but we must become skilled with it so as to best reach the end goal. This comes with training and continued support from your fellow teachers to find ways on how to reach our students. And boy, was this guy comfortable with the technology. So much that the more skilled you are the less you notice the gadget but focus on the problem or task at hand.



NOTES:

1. He showed how by using the CLONE TOOL and asking (at what cost) you can quickly clone pages to show order of progression.
      a) . Clone is COPY and PASTE at the same time

2. He believes in the power of the wireless keyboard and mouse to facilitate this

3. He loves SMART but emphasizes the fact that the teacher needs to get “off the stage”

4. Also discussed the power of the undo and redo button. This can get around the problem of using the Save As feature.

5. CTRL + 1 is a tool for grabbing objects

6. Never use the Creative Pen to deliver the content. Kids like the looks of it but it is too distracting

7. If while using the same colored pen you may want each thing written to be its own object. If you put your hand in the tray and then out will automatically make each thing written a new object. Also, if you use the Pen Up and Pen Down tool when drawing objects will switch to the mouse instead of Object tool

8. Use the Order tool and a rectangle to then during a multiple choice type of question to have only the correct answer to be on top of the colored rectangle when dragged on top

9. He have a "made up statistic"… '98% of the time ANIMATE is the wrong choice!' Because the Content is ALWAYS more important than the technology.

10. A neutral impact (like sound effect) does NOTHING to the learning. So don’t waste our time and their time in creating these.

11. By just clicking from slide to slide means that ANYONE can do my job and I am more than someone who can just move a slideshow along.
      a) Used “teach them to fish” analogy – many teachers use this as a crutch and only look for what is there instead of making their own

12. He thinks that 80% of the gallery objects in SMART is not useful. And if used only as auxiliary to the lesson
     a) Showed a lesson on US States and not just having them identify the state but to go beyond

13. Showed the capture tool – make iamges as big as possible before you capture it to make sure the resolution is as good as possible

14. Shows the Wizard icon
     a) Showed how to make a multiple choice question and then as you clone them it changes the number for each question for each page
     b)  He then copy and pasted the captured image file from a state standard practice test

15. Smart Recorder tool
     a) Add your own audio (i.e. your own words) to your presentation. Then this creates more of a comprehensive “movie” that is available for those who were absent or need to remediation

ISTE - Engage, Enrich, and Enhance Professional Development with Online Learning

(Description) "Learn how Jefferson County School District (Jeffco) has used online professional development to improve student achievement, enhance teacher collaboration, and support a guaranteed and viable curriculum."
http://blackboard.jeffco.k12.co.us/

This session focused on the possibilities that online professional development can provide. The presenters were local from Jefferson County here in Colorado and they shared their journey of moving towards online PD. They saw the potential that using these tools provided in moving towards their PLC model but all the while realizing that there are hangups with this. The following are some of the frustrations with traditional PD models:

• time out of class
• sustained skill development - follow up 
• teachers not wanting to learn 
• budget issues
• workload for teachers

So, they shared their approach of finding a balance with INNOVATIVE MODELS:

• making resources accessible
• have them not time sensitive
• keep it ongoing and sustainable

Teaching can be a "professionally lonely" profession. It often lacks collegial experices besides lunch room talk. So this change to an online model can really facilitate these connections.

In the past, the "Fire Hose"  model of training method was what most used for PD.
A one time shot that hopes to cover everything









So, the solutions is to create PLC's and Dynamic Learning Spaces (circle flow chart)

• Digitally rich
• dynamic
• fluid
• accessible
• sustainable

These PLCS allow

• Communication
• Collaboration
• Meeting extensions
• Book study goroups
• overcoming geographc challenges
• extending our PD

So lets Lead the Horse. This is what they recommend for creating the PD's

• Set up an Academic Portal (they use blackboard)
• Curriculum Resources
• Access to our tools
• collaboration opportunities

I found this session useful for what my school district is trying to do with incorporating the Google Apps for Education. I think we can use the Google tools to really facilitate our PD. I would like to see not the just the tech people, but the administrators to look at new ways to expand the learning of our teachers, provide them with continual and sustainable learning where they can engage in those conversations with their colleagues who are at different school and lastly to give them opportunities to apply the lessons learned and allow for reflection.

In  Jefferson County they charge teachers to take online PD classes $50 for 3 credits and then they partner with a university so as to get grad credit. (still have to pay the college for the credits though). they then pay teachers who want to be the trainers/facilitators.

ISTE - David Warlick: Cracking the Native Information Experience

Cracking the Native Information Experience
(Description) We know our students are natives to this new information landscape. But what is the code of their experience, and how do we hack it?
Handouts available at: http://davidwarlick.com/wordpress/?page_id=325

First off he sees that kids today have "No Ceiling" - that means that kids before today had limits and barriers . Today kids are networked, digital, abundant, and hard to contain so the question presents then is "what is school?" School once was where learning took place. Now though kids are learning everywhere. Kids used to be forced to learn via the textbook and teacher now they learn from each other. So, can we "Crack the Code" that kids put time, effort, learning into video games, and other tech stuff today?

Google has turned us into a Question and Answer culture. Before we never asked as many questions and the ones we did we often could not find those answers easily. Now we have those answers at our fingertips, literally in our mobile devices.

We have wanted to teach students the way we learned, but the landscape is considerably different now.

We need to now look at the opposing view of  teaching to them with how they already learn.

 
 
For example, can learning be fun? Look at a Scantron and ask "is this fun". NO but our kids are learning today because what they learn is fun to them.

 


One idea that he mentioned I called BLOG POPCORN!
It is a blog idea for notes (treat it like popcorn reading) each student is required to take notes for the day and then at the end of the lesson they write a blog post about it on the class site. Then at the bottom of the post they write one students name and that student is then required to do the next post.

Another interesting point he made was about scoring guides and rubrics. Looking at an example scoring guide about the Renaissance a project and creating such detail (i.e. 5 points for this, 10 points for that). What this does is that it eliminates QUESTIONS.

He uses a Barbed Wire picture as an example. He said to post the image and then say Nothing. - No prompting - kids would then begin to ask questions... what's the name, where is it, what is it used for?  Kids are tough often trained in needing step by step instructions for learning. For example if you ask them to write what they think about something they demand detail i.e. "how many pages should it be... etc"

He then left us with a few questions:

How am I daring my students to make "Mistakes" to feed the learning dialogue

How can I make my students learning ready

And lastly, Ask A Student to "Surprise Me!"

ISTE - Change from the Radical Center of Education

Change from the Radical Center of Education

(Description) This presentation suggests 10 principles to follow from the radical center of education that will result in positive change in education 

Its always easier to steer the camel the direction its headed.

I loved this camel quote since it is how I feel about the direction that technology is going. I see it that we are being guided by forces that are not always in the best interest of education and what best for kids. These forces can be IT departments who have different concerns such as security and stability of a network and product vendors who are interested in the bottom line.


Anyway, here is some of the links from this presenter whom I was pleasantly surprised by.
http://www.doug-johnson.com
http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com
http://dougjohnson.wikispaces.com/Changeradicalcenter


The presenter Doug, labeled himself as a "radical centrist in education, who subscribes to the following principles:"

1. Adopt an "and" not "or" mindset.

2. Look for truth and value in all beliefs and practices.

3. Respect the perspective of the individual.

4. Recognize one size does not fit all (kids or teachers).

5. Attend to attitudes.

6. Understand that the elephant can only be eaten one bite at a time.

7. Make sure everyone is moving forward, not just the early adopters.

8. Don't be afraid to say, "I don't know."

9. Believe measurement is good, but that not everything can be measured.

10. Know and keep your core values.

Here is another quote that he used which really applied to the collaborative steps we need to start taking:
 

"If you want to travel fast...travel alone.

If you want to travel far...travel together."

African Proverb.

Doug also spoke about what gives school value?
1. School climate
2. individual teacher quality
3. libraries and technology
4. elective and extracurricular offerings
5. commitment to staff development

Quote from Kim Confino
I sometimes need to remind myself that the most critical part of my job to inspire change in the real world, not just within our connected group of educators. The reality is that those of us hoping to be voices of change need to make sure that we’re not speeding ahead on our own, but must always work to bring everyone else in our school environment along with us.
This is from Doug's blog (below) and it strikes a cord that as I try to push myself farther and farther it is nothing if I do am not an agent of change to help bring the rest of my district, teachers I meet in my trainings and my Personal Learning Network with me. This truly is what the African proverb above talked about.


http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2007/12/31/rce-7-and-8-moving-with-others-and-admitting-ignorance.html

And lastly, this presenter talked just a bit about how his district has just recently made the switch over to Google Apps. 

I had a conversation with him afterward and we pointed me towards his site and blog which cover their journey. I am excited to read more about this as we at Rocklin Unified continue to move forward with Google Apps.

ISTE - Google Wave

Google Wave for the K–12 Classroom 
(Description) Learn about Google's game-changing communication and collaboration tool, explore setting up and using Wave, and discover practical applications for use in the classroom

This was the first time I have tried out the Google Wave after hearing so much about it. It has often been described as revolutionary in term of re-defining how we will communicate but also as confusing and over complicated. Well after sitting in the session for the hour I am taking the side of the "Complicated" - and more importantly I don't see this as a very practicle piece of software for educators. This in part due to its complexity, but also I see it as almost "too real time", meaning that I like the idea of taking some time to formulate thoughts and ideas instead of the being so on the fly. So, although I am a Google fan boy I am not going to use this at all.

ISTE #1 - Will Richardson

I am here in Denver at ISTE and it is late at night. I took in a full day of presentations. I was hoping to post my thoughts and ideas in between sessions but it was a fast paced day and I found myself with little time. One of the things I need to do tomorrow is give myself more time to process. OK... so here is a recap of my fist session.

My first presentation that I attended was a tough one to choose. Three of the ones that were the most enticing were from three men that have been influential to me in Ed Tech journey. First was Ian Jukes who I first saw back in 1998 when I was teaching in Nevada. Back then it was my first conference and he came in wowed me with the possibilites of where education is going. He is presenting and blogging and can be found here at the Committed Sardine (http://www.committedsardine.com). I didn't see Ian (a big reason for this was that his session was full!) and my second choice was Hall Davidson (http://www.halldavidson.net) who I saw at the CTAP conference two years ago. He was the one how taught and inspired me to begin with podcasting my lectures with a green screen. I saw that Hall was presenting later so I skipped his first and went to see the third of these presenters - the guru of blogs, wikis and podcasts, Will Richardson.

Session: Changing the Climate: How Teaching Social Networks Might Save the World
I have read Will's book, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms and been a follower of his blog (http://weblogg-ed.com)for about a year now. Here are some of the points that I wanted to share:

• His final point "BEGIN TO PARTICIPATE". In short, a call to arms that we as educators must act and act now. That we as teachers need to look at these social networks and realize that students are already creating their own Personal Learning Networks and we must do so as well. Plus we should be guiding our students in the PLNs so that the can participate in safe, effective and ethical ways.
• Shared a passage from Daniel Goleman "Know your impacts, Favor improvements, Share What You Learn"
• A lesson to focus on... How do we teach kids to make sense of all the content out there. We should not just trust all that we read but also must not think it is all suspect. Users should learn how to try and make sense. He used the BP Oil Spill and how the Google sponsored links are paid by BP. 
• We all get smarter when we work in the community and share - collaboration is king. I need to spend more time thinking about Will and others' idea of PLN's and also how we at my district are trying to move toward a PLC model. PLN's and PLC's... are they one in the same?
• He used a great example of how the world of technology is re-defining reading and writing. Showed
• There is a polarization out there between those who push for change and those who have not shifted their paradigm that the education is now becoming a different place. 
• Lastly, the walls of the classrooms are coming down. Learning takes place outside those walls but one of the consequences is that teachers are going to need to be more transparent. They need to allow others to see in. This would hold teachers more accoutable and make them WANT to get better.
• And one more time.... "BEGIN TO PARTICIPATE". Teachers it is time to open ourselves up to change and this participation will help us all. 

The network is the most powerful piece of learning

Welcome

Hello there world!

My name is Ryan O'Donnell and I am a teacher at Rocklin High School in California. I wanted to start writing a blog to serve as a place for me to voice my thoughts and ideas. I am a social studies teacher and web design teacher and I am passionate about how technology is changing the face of education.

As a teacher for Rocklin Unified School District, I have been given the opportunity to attend the ISTE conference next week in Denver. I have been to some local tech conferences in California and Nevada but this upcoming one truly is going to be the "show". I wanted to get this blog up and going before I left so that I could have a place to talk about all that I will experience. So, if you are here checking out my first blog, I hope you come back to read some more about my view on some of the exciting new educational technologies, ways in which to utilize them in the classroom, and other musings about how we can adapt the antiquated classroom to the 21st century.

My district is currently going through the process of trying to integrate Google Apps for Education. I was lucky enough to be able to go to the Google campus in the Spring and see how the products from Google can be integrated into the classroom and along with that, get a tour of the famed "Googleplex", which was a pretty incredible place. I am helping to try and test out how we can best set up and implement these tools with our teachers and students.

Along with teaching, I also do some work for the publishing company Teacher Created Materials. This work entails doing some writing for publication, but what I really enjoy is doing trainings to teachers throughout the country. Over the past three years, TCM has sent me throughout the country to work with teachers and train them on various social studies products. These experiences and journeys have taken me many places and allowed me to meet many fascinating teachers. At each of the presentations, I like to show how to infuse technology into anyone's curriculum. From websites, blogs, podcasts, wikis, video tips and PowerPoint tricks I find it exciting to see teachers enthusiastic about using new technologies and finding new ways to connect with kids.

So, what you can expect here in the blog is simply the musings and thoughts of my journey through the world technology in education. I will share my own classroom experiences and ideas I've picked up through meeting different teachers throughout the country.  Along with this blog, this site called Creative Ed Tech is going to be the home of a video podcast that myself and my friend and fellow teacher, Ryan Spears will put on where we will go over real tips and tricks that teachers can use. These will feature resources such PowerPoint tips, free Web 2.0 resources, Smartboard tips, and iPhone and Droid apps.

If you like what you see please pass the blog and podcast on to fellow teachers and also feel free to leave a comment on any of my posts or send me an email at ryanodonnell.edtech@gmail.com .

Next stop... Denver Colorado!