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Category Archives: NCTE

My New Educational Lens

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, Education, kids, NCTE, Notk12onlineconference, Reflections 3 Comments

I woke up this morning at 3:30 unable to sleep.  Tossing and turning for about 45 minutes, I finally got up to check on my kids which always calms me down.  In my son’s room I began to think about the day we found out we were having twins and how at that moment, everything changed for me.  Suddenly, my wife nor I were the most important people in our lives.  It was a sobering experience.

I had just finished my Master’s degree and was doing corporate training for Executrain of St. Louis.  I enjoyed the job but something didn’t seem right and, after lots of discussion and fretting over what to do, I reentered the educational arena and went back to the high school I had left a few years earlier to teach kids.  This wasn’t an altruistic type of career change and it wasn’t because I thought that I’d enjoy it more.  My return to the classroom was for purely selfish reasons.  I wanted more time with my kids and I wanted make education better for them.  Since then, every move that I make has been dictated by that goal.  My involvement on the NCTE Executive Committee, my work with NotK12Online, my move to my current school district (where my kids will also attend) was all based on my desire for their educational experience to be as rich and productive as possible.

Five years ago that seemed like a great reason, but it was a reason that I couldn’t really see and actually picture.  I can see it now.  This fall my children will be starting Kindergarten.  They will be starting on their edcuational experience.  It makes me wonder whether, in the last year and a half, I’ve made enough of an impact on the teachers in my district.  Will their creativity be stifled by walking in single file lines or will they thrive in an environment in which they have choice and are taught to question?  Unfortunately I can’t say for sure.  But I now have a different lens.  One through which I look at every teacher I work with and ask myself whether I would be satisfied with my kids in their classroom.

My reasons for being in education today are selfish.  I want the best for my kids.  I recognize that and have come to terms with it because if it’s good enough for my kids, then, in my mind, it’s good enough for everyone else’s kids.  Would I have approached the classroom differently if I had had kids when I began my career?  Absolutely.  Now, as I work with teachers, I have a completely different (and I think better) approach than I would have had before my kids were born.  It’s a perspective that keeps me up at night, but one that makes me work harder.  Hopefully, my work is making a difference, not just for my kids, but for all kids.

METC 2009

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, metc09, NCTE, Online Apps, PLN, presentations, Professional Development Leave a comment

Today was the first day of the Midwest Education Technology Conference in St. Louis, MO.  I’m actually on the board for this conference and really enjoy being a part of the planning process.  The day started with Will Richardson’s keynote.  I’ve always enjoyed Will’s writings and presentations.  Imagine my surprise when he referenced NCTE’s Framework for 21st Century Literacies, a document that I helped to author as a part of NCTE’s Executive Board. After the session I went and introduced myself and had a nice chat before another session.  One thing that he said that I really liked was that his kids were his lens to his involvement in education.  Since my kids will be attending the school district in which I work, I have a similar feeling and a vested interest in the district as a whole. I also presented two sessions today.  The first, “Cool Tool Duel,” was a collaborative effort of 6 technology integrators in which we all presented 2 tools to the audience.  Unfortunately, Animoto chose the time I was presenting and showing their site off to do a little server maintenance.  After I logged in, the site actually said, “Went to get a beer, brb.”  This got lots of laughs and completely lightened up the mood.

My second presentation, “Instructional Strategies for a Digital World,” was one that I’ve presented in the past about my time in the classroom and my efforts to create a “paperless classroom.”  I changed the presentation considerably this time because I wanted to tell a story about my experience rather than just explain the concept and how “I” did it.  I wanted my audience to understand “why” I did it that way.  I think it went well and I enjoyed the session. I ended my day in another of Will Richardson’s sessions and then a brief sharing session with Meg Ormiston.  After dinner and drinks with DEN and some new Twitter friends, I finally braved the snowy roads and made my way home.  School is canceled for tomorrow so after dropping off the kids at childcare, it’s back to another day of METC with one final presentation.

NCTE Articles

Posted on by Posted in 21st Century Education, Education, English, NCTE, Technology Leave a comment

Earlier this year I was contacted by an NCTE staff member asking for my help to frame a story about 21st Century Literacies for the Council Chronicle.  I gave some suggested contacts and kind of forgot about it until I was asked to be interviewed as well.  The following two articles are the result.

The “C’s of Change” – Students and Teachers Learn 21st Century Skills  by Lorna Collier

More thoughts on 21st Century Literacies

NCTE 21st Century Literacies Framework

Posted on by Posted in Education, English, NCTE 1 Comment

On February 15, 2008, the National Council of Teachers of English Executive Committee adopted document entitled NCTE Definition of 21st Century Literacies. The purpose of this document was to create a working definition that educators could use as they struggle with what it means to teach in the changing landscape of education. With so many new technologies available to students in their educational settings, altering teaching practices is an important part of helping learners find success.

On Wednesday November 19, 2008 NCTE’s Executive Committee adopted another document entitled NCTE Framework for 21st Century Curriculum and Assessment. I had the privilege to work on this document and wanted to bring it to the attention of educators. The purpose behind this framework is to expand the definition and make it a usable tool for teachers while at the same time, not introducing another set of standards or a checklist. It was designed with teachers in mind to help them think about their practice and how it relates to 21st century learning.

The document itself is organized into three basic parts: Context, Framework Elements and Implications for Assessment. In the context section, there is a brief statement about the purpose of the document itself as well as a reference to the actual definition.

As a part of the Framework Elements, each point that is part of the definition is expanded upon and explained more fully. Following the explanations are a set of questions that are designed to help teachers think about what this might look like in their classrooms. Each question is phrased as a yes/no question to help in the reflection of lesson plans and curriculum planning. While not every lesson will have all of these aspects and not all questions will be applicable, these explanations and examples are meant to help interpret and further define each point providing teachers with a better idea of activities that would engage students using inquiry-based, collaborative and ethical practices.

The final piece of the framework has to do with the changing assessments. The framework recognizes the validity of traditional assessments while also giving credence to some new assessment strategies that should be considered as practice changes.

The framework document in no way is the final authority on 21st century skills, but is meant to be a tool that can be used by teachers as they plan lessons and coordinators as they design their content’s curricula. It is not a checklist, but a guideline. Not a set of standards but a model. Finally, it is not about technology but about teaching students in the 21st century.

NCTE Presentation 2008

Posted on by Posted in Education, English, NCTE, Technology 1 Comment

I’ve just posted the presentation that Melissa Pomerantz, Deb Baker and I did on Saturday afternoon. You can see the entire presentation at http://sites.google.com/site/extendingtheclassroom.  My part was on using RSS in the classroom.  I’ve tried to help a number of teachers use RSS in their classrooms but this is the first time I’ve presented on it in this way.

Here is the Google Presentation that I did for my part of it.

Convention Reflection

Posted on by Posted in Education, English, NCTE, Technology 5 Comments

Just before Thanksgiving I attended the NCTE Annual Convention in New York City and enjoyed myself thoroughly. I was able to spend time with my friends Greg, Michael and Louann and met many other amazing people. I saw Angie and JoAnne, colleagues from my previous district and sat down for a drink with my new colleague Melissa and my new friend Carol, I mean Deb. I also got to see a little more about the inner workings of the NCTE board. Overall it was a great trip.

A few days ago Greg VanNest posted his quarterly blog entry in which he outlined some goals for himself for the upcoming year. He did the same thing last year and, I believe, completed each of his goals. After reading his blog entry, I began to think back over my time at the convention prompting this post.

One of the most interesting things about the convention was the fact that I was looking at it and experiencing it through a different lens. The biggest difference is that, technically, I’m not an English teacher. Sure, I’ll always be an English teacher, but my focus has moved to professional development and helping teachers use technology in the classroom. I’m not saying that I didn’t take away some ideas or that I didn’t enjoy being immersed in the English teacher culture again, but it was definitely a different experience.

Now for a little rant… I’ve been attending this conference for the last 4 years and I’ve seen, essentially, the same presentations for the last 4 years. I have been leaning towards the technology sessions and trying to see what others are doing with their classes, but so many are just teachers doing a web 2.0 101 presentation in which they explain what blogs, wikis and podcasts are. I know that this has a place in conferences and that there are still a lot of people that don’t know where to find these technologies. I also understand that many teachers haven’t been exposed to this yet, but I’d like to see a little more than, “This is a blog. This is a wiki.” How about some relevance as to how it works in a classroom and how someone might use a blog or wiki in their class? I think it’s time for us to move beyond the basic “click here” training and create relevance. I don’t think that it’s enough to show what you’ve done in your classroom. Why was that technology the best tool for a particular project? What kinds of objectives does this meet?

Maybe I’m just being cranky, but I see that same problem with a lot of the professional development that goes on in k-12 schools. In my position I do a lot of “click here” training to show people how to use a program. However, I’m a little dismayed that there isn’t more reasoning behind the instruction. I try to add that in, but I also have a curriculum to follow so that all who take that class have a common experience. Therein lies my struggle, yes I want to help teachers explore the technology and I want to teach them how to use it. However, there are all kinds of online tutorials that will show them where to click. Obviously there is something about face to face instruction that appeals to many. I’d just like to see those of us who facilitate development activities (whether at a conference or in a “training” session) to give participants something more than they would get from an online, how-to video. I may be over generalizing, but I think that it’s a question that needs to be asked.

NCTE Executive Board

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This last week has been an exciting one for me. For the next year I have been given the opportunity to serve as the Secondary Representative At Large for the National Council of Teachers of English Executive Board. This is a wonderful opportunity and I can’t wait to get involved. I wasn’t planning on going to the NCTE Annual Convention this year, but with this appointment, I have the opportunity to attend once again and see some friends that I would definitely have missed had I not been able to attend. Luckily I’ll be able to attend the meetings and participate in the conversations that will take place amongst the other board members.

Google Earth in the classroom

Posted on by Posted in Education, English, Google Earth, METC07, NCTE, Technology 2 Comments

Google Earth

Last spring at the Midwest Educational Technology Conference, I attended a session in which Hall Davidson, of Discovery Educators Network, spoke about using Google Earth in the classroom. At that time I was unable to use this tool because my former district blocked Google Earth in the district. (I guess they weren’t really interested in engaging students with technology.) Because I was unable to use it, I kind of filed it away in the depths of my brain. Last week this memory was brought back to the forefront by a podcast entitled The Savvy Technologist. I don’t remember what the context was, but I seem to remember something about how the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum had created a layers file for Google Earth entitled “The Crisis in Darfur.” In one of my schools there was a student movement to assist the people in Darfur and raise awareness to the community and student population.

I remembered Hall Davidson’s session and approached one of the social studies teachers to see about an application of this kind for his class. Long story short-er, we’re going to create a layers file that he will use with his students as they study the Spanish-American War. This is new ground for me being a former English teacher, but I look forward to the challenges that present themselves as we work through the creation of this file.

In a related incident…

As I was exploring the Google Earth possibilities for Social Studies, I ran across Google Lit Trips. There are a collection of Google Earth layers files on this site that can be used as supplementary materials for English classes. Part of the English curriculum in my new district is the book Night by Elie Wiesel and on this site there just happened to be a file that traces his route as described in the book from deportation to liberation. It was a fascinating journey that was particularly meaningful to me after hearing Wiesel speak at the National Council of Teachers of English annual conference last year. After showing a few of the English teachers, Google Earth has been “discovered” by the school and is being considered for a variety of different applications. Teachers are excited about the possibilities that this program offers. I just wish I could have used it when I was in the classroom.