My RSS-ed World

This file has been created and published by FireShot

I was lucky enough to be asked by the National Writing Project to write an article on how I use my RSS feeds and blogging to connect with the world and other teachers, and also to move myself forward in thinking about technology and information flow as a teacher and as a blogger. The article was published this week at the NWP’s revamped Resource site. (See the article entitled” “Bringing the World to my Doorstep“)

How do you use RSS?

I would be curious to know if other folks see RSS as a way to control the wave of information. What I am finding is that I need to continually nurture the RSS (I use Google Reader now but I used to be a fan of Bloglines, until it would not play nice with Edublogs one time too many) and weed it like a garden: I add new sites as they pique my interest and remove old ones that just seem to take up space, and worry about the sites that I don’t even yet know exist but would be important to me.

Peace (in connections),
Kevin

More Notes from a Tech Conference

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post about a Technology Across the Curriculum conference that I helped to organize. Yesterday, I did some reflections on how the conference went and today, I wanted to try to bring you a little deeper into the conference work. Much of this has already been posted on our Western Massachusetts Writing Project News Weblog as a way to distill information to our teachers, but I wanted to share it out here, too.

Here is a collage of photos (I used a site called Stained Glass Collage to mix and match up some photos).

Here are some podcasts:
Finally, here are two comics created by participants in the Digital Storytelling workshop (using Make Beliefs Comics):

Reflecting on a Conference

Yesterday, my Technology Team at the Western Massachusetts Writing Project hosted a Technology Across the Curriculum conference and we had about 25 teachers attend, which is pretty decent for a Saturday morning. Most of them were not affiliated with the Writing Project and so, we are hoping that this served as a positive introduction to our ideas of “teachers teaching teachers” and “writing to learn” as the focus of activities.

Our keynote speaker, Mike Flynn (who is the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year and a teacher at my school and a good friend), did a fantastic job of setting the tone of the day. Mike presented on the topic of the value of video in the elementary classroom, focusing in on a television program that he and his second graders produce around curricular themes (weather, salmon, etc). He injected some good humor and, also, laid out the rationale for such ventures (student engagement, knowledge of subject, public speaking, etc). I later joked to him that he may have lost a few folks when he mentioned that sometimes he is up until 3 or 4 a.m., working on editing of the movies at deadline.

We then broke the day into two sections, with three workshops. Everyone went into a session led by Tina on social networking for teachers. We wanted to give everyone a view of the ever-connected world. Tina had everyone visit, and urged them all to register, for Classroom 2.0 and begin connecting with other teachers. At the start of the conference, I noted that more than 20 teachers from my own network had posted greetings for them at our blog site, and they were all duly impressed and encouraged by those words. (another thank you to everyone).

The other two sessions were Audiocasting in the Classroom and Digital Storytelling Across the Curriculum.

The podcasting session was a combination of exploration and then hands-on work, using Audacity, which only one participant knew about. We also recorded a collective Day in a Sentence podcast (to be released later today with the Day in a Sentence post). They loved using Audacity and immediately understood the potential of the use of voice. One of the teachers is at my own school and we began planning how my class of sixth graders might team up with her class of fourth graders for a collaborative project.

The digital storytelling session, led by Mary, had folks working with both Make Beliefs Comics (always a huge hit) and VoiceThread. They loved the potential of VoiceThread. I had set up a master account, and created alternative identities for them to use and experiment with. I could tell that the examples we showed in the areas of math, science and history were hitting some chords with them. Our discussion at the end of the session (which I will podcast later) was also informative.

At the end of the conference, a number of folks asked when we would be doing more of these hands-on technology conferences and that is something our team will have to think about. There clearly was interest and our model of engagement and hands-on work was what these teachers needed. They wanted time to play and we gave that to them. Almost every hand in the room was raised when Mary asked how many of them learned something they could try out in the classroom on Monday.

For the most part, it was a smooth conference to run, with a great team of folks. We held the event at my school, and so I had time to prepare during the week (putting Audacity and PhotoStory3 on all of the computers). The wireless Internet network was wicked slow, for some reason, and so loading time for some web-based applications took a bit of time. The participants were more patient than I was. I paced the room.
Also, I want to give a shout-out to my school district’s Information Technology leader — Kim F. — who volunteered to come to the Conference, and act as tech support and troubleshooter for the sessions. I often run into teachers who are at odds with their Tech Staff and come into conflict. I know I am lucky to have Kim around and for her to give up a Saturday morning to be with us — as a volunteer — says a lot about her support for teacher inquiry. (And I let her play with my XO Computer, which had her full attention for a time).

I’ll be posting a few podcasts in the coming days and some photos from the conference. All in all: a great success.

Peace (in reflection),
Kevin

I invited You and You came in: Thank you

Yesterday, I posted a request for folks in my “network” to help me welcome participants in a Technology Across the Conference being held tomorrow. I wasn’t sure what I would get, but I should have known so many thoughtful and wonderful voices would come through. My hope is that the participants in the conference (many of whom are new to the Web World and technology) will see the power of connecting with others.

This file has been created and published by FireShot

Here are just a few comments that jumped out at me:

  • Bonnie reminds us that, “You have your passion and your great work to move the group along with you.”
  • Michele provides a crucial axiom that I try to follow: do it yourself first. “These tools are incredibly powerful for learning, but it definitely helps when we start with using them for our own learning first.”
  • Cheryl gives a rich portrait of her work with students in all of its global facets and then encourages folks further. “The Web 2.0 offers so many rich possibilities for learning! Grab ahold and hang on for the ride of your life! Once you are hooked, you are there for life!”
  • Sue reminds us to move slow, but steady, forward. “Don’t stress at not knowing it all — just focus on one step at a time.”
  • Tracy puts great faith in us presenters and also notes an important element: learning can be a good time. “Relax and get ready to have FUN: you’re in excellent hands.”
  • Janelle says she will come back to our conference site and hopefully get our folks to return the favor of discovery. “I think reading your blog will inspire me to be more diligent with my own site! So thank you for that!
  • Bud frames his thoughts with the reason for all of this: our students growing up in a global world of virtual connections. “We’ve a big responsibility to learn how to navigate that and to share our learning and guidance with our students.
  • Somewhat new to the blogging world, Ann gives some of her own advice: “Try to make the time to really learn and use these new ideas and tools. They will take you to places you never imagined possible!
  • Rod draws connections between writing and technology. “We write to process that learning. There is no better way to excel learners into the thinking process than by using web 2.0 tools.
  • Mary also wants our folks to enjoy the creative process. “Like the others have said, ‘Have fun yourselves with the technology.’
  • Claire puts the focus on learning new classroom practice. “When I started blogging I had no idea how powerful it was going to be for my own professional development. I am learning so much from so many talented people.”
  • Christine (who is not all that far away, it turns out) also encourages the sense of exploration. “I hope you discover just how fun learning technology can be.”
  • Peter encourages patience. “I know that you will have a great day learning about the many tools available to you. Don’t worry if you feel overwhelmed–it’s completely normal.
  • Kate knows the adventures that are ahead. “You’ll pretty soon get a feel for the whole Web 2.0 adventure and start thinking about how you can use these great tools to get your students up and running headlong into the digital literacy challenges of the 21st century.
  • Joe moves slowly and carefully into new tools and suggests that all teachers do the same. “Getting started with this can be overwhelming because there are so many choices and so much to learn.

It’s not too late for you to help out, either. You can visit our Tech Conference Blog and leave a comment, too.

Thank you to everyone who has helped. I deeply appreciate it.

Peace (in networks that work and play),
Kevin

Running a Conference on Tech Across the Curriculum

On Saturday, my Western Massachusetts Writing Project is hosting a half-day conference at my school on using technology across the curriculum. Our hope to is have conversations and hands-on activities around the topic of integrating technology and writing into the various content areas (math, science, social studies, etc.) The model for this event was inspired by a similar conference put on by Bonnie and the Hudson Valley Writing Project last year (I had the pleasure of being the keynote — see the article that Bonnie wrote for the National Writing Project).

We have about 25 people signed up (we had set a limit at 30) and we are all feeling a bit antsy, I think, about the event. (The technology better work! he says with anxiety) I was lucky to have my friend, Mike Flynn (the Massachusetts Teacher of the Year) sign on as keynote speaker, and he will be talking about video production in the elementary classroom.

Our other sessions are:

  • Connecting with the World: where we will be exploring the benefits and possibilities of social networking for teachers and students. The hands-on activity will include joining Classroom 2.0 and beginning some interactions with other teachers on the vast and growing network (7000 members!).
  • Audiocasting in the Classroom: where we will be listening at and looking into the use of audio recording and podcasting in the classroom. The hands-on work will be a group Day in a Sentence podcast (be sure to listen for it) and then we are either going to show them Audacity or the online podcasting site called Odeo Studio. Our intention had been to use PodcastPeople, but we just found out you know have to pay for its services (bad bad bad).
  • Digital Storytelling Across the Curriculum: where we will try to show some examples of digital stories and then move into using VoiceThread to post to a thread that I created and then, hopefully, have them create their own threads. I also have PhotoaStory on our laptops, so we can shift to that, too, if necessary.

Our new WMWP Technology Team has been using a Ning site to do some planning for this event and they are a great group of teachers who are interested, but not all quite experienced, in the use of technology in the classroom. I think this will be as much a learning event for us as for our participants. And isn’t that what makes a conference so interesting? (I hope so)

If you want to look at our Technology Across the Conference weblog, where we will launch our workshops, you can do so by going here: http://masswp.org/techconference/ Any feedback or suggestion from you is most welcome.

In fact, it would be very cool if some folks went to our Conference Blog and left a comment for folks coming in on Saturday. Maybe a welcome to the Web 2.0 World or a piece of advice on how you use technology or links to cool sites or just about anything. If you do so, please leave where in the world you are located, so they can see the connections that are possible.

(consider this part of the 31 Day Comment Challenge’s task of turning over a blog to readers through the use of comments — please use my conference blog to do so.)

Thanks!!!

Peace (in connections),
Kevin

Is it summer (planning) already?

We still have snow in our backyard, yet I am thinking of summer. (Spring should happen in there somewhere, too, I hope).

Last year, my wife and I led two four-day summer camps around the idea of Claymation Movie Making, to great success. (See the camp blog here, with the movies). This year, I am leading a one-week Claymation Camp with Tina, who is part of our new Western Massachusetts Writing Project Technology Team and is avidly exploring the blogging world herself in the last month. The camp is a partnership for middle school students between our writing project and the local vocational high school.

Here is our Claymation flier:

Last year, I also worked up an overview of the camp to share out, providing some structure to our work and also links to programs, etc. If you are interested in claymation or stop-motion animation, then perhaps this website might help you.

In my classroom, I am just now introducing the software to my students and we will be tinkering with Legos later this week, I think. In years past, my sixth graders have teamed up with second graders for a movie project, but this year, we may do it on our own, as I want them to create a movie on the theme of Global Warming.

Peace (in sculpted clay figures),
Kevin

Questions of Leadership: Inquiry with NWP

NPW NYC 07 (4)

In New York City for the National Writing Project, I had the pleasure of co-leading a session that centered on encouraging teacher leadership and developing strategies for encouraging teachers to become more active in programs via the NWP and also showing some ways that current leaders can facilitate that growth and development. It’s not easy and we began our session by having folks come up with some inquiry questions — the ideas that brought them to the session in the first place.

(Note: TC = teacher consultants = teachers in the writing project)

Here is that list:

  • How can I motivate/inspire overworked teachers to jump at the chance to be writers?
  • How do we draw too-busy TCs into leadership?
  • Are there “good reasons” to attract “teachers” – not just leaders – and if so, what are those reasons?
  • What are different ways leadership can “look”?
  • How do we keep others wanting to lead?
  • How can TC leaders help us build participation in initiatives they lead?
  • How do we open closed ears?
  • What strategies can address burnout?
  • What timeline should we pursue?
  • How can we encourage those who won’t take risks?
  • As the site grows, and the responsibilities of various positions grow, how do you figure out what positions to pay and how much is reasonable?
  • What are the issues of teacher leadership from the perspective of school districts?
  • How does a relatively new or developing site develop leadership capacity without “burning out” existing leadership?
  • What are some incentives to encouraging TCs to take on leadership roles.
  • How do we give up responsibilities that we do because no one else can do them?
  • Why are people so afraid to step up to the plate?
  • How can I keep the work I want to do and share the work others want to/should do?
  • How do we groom leaders – allowing for “messy maturation” process and respecting the growth – without micromanaging or having crash and burns?
  • Finding venues for TCs to grow?
  • How do you get people to follow through on promises made?
  • How can we sustain our current leadership – keep them from taking on too much responsibility or burning out?
  • What resources are necessary for growing teacher leaders?
  • What are the qualities of a good leader in the Writing Project? A good potential leader?
  • How can we turn “leadership” into an opportunity instead of a burden?
  • What carrots do you give? Long term and short term. What mentoring do you provide?
  • How can we move from beyond sustaining our site and create systems for growth?
  • Are there approaches that you have used at your site that have increased involvement of TCs after they have participated in the Summer Institute. (Our TCs are willing but time is such an issue)
  • How do you find your voice among a strong leadership team that has defined its own?
  • How can we empower TCs and share leadership and ownership?

[slideshare id=177099&doc=t-cs-leadership-and-sustainability-1195830581422589-5&w=425]

Peace (in inquiry),
Kevin

WMWP Best Practices: Beyond the Basics

The Western Massachusetts Writing Project is hosting its annual Best Practices this coming weekend, which not only allows our folks from the Summer Institute to shine as workshop presenters but also showcases much of the work that the organization is doing.

I am giving a workshop presentation on podcasting and my hope is to post some of the audio we record at this blog and at our WMWP Newsletter blog. We also have a great local writer — Leslea Newman, author of many books for kids and adults — who will be leading a writing event for all of the day’s participants.

Here are a few of the other workshops on tap for that day:

  • Why Write in Math? Communicating the Metacognitive Process of Problem Solving.
  • Thinking and Rethinking Strategies for Working with English Language Learners.
  • Thoughts in the Looking Glass: Reflective Writing in the Classroom.
  • Writing Portfolios: Helping Students to See Themselves as Writers
  • Assessment in Backwards Design
  • Walking Tall: Autobiographical Writing

Looks pretty interesting, doesn’t it?

Peace (in the gathering),
Kevin

Professional Writing Retreat, part two

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post. Using some pics, I created a little slideshow movie for folks who attended the Professional Writing Institute this past weekend. I also used my SuperDuperMusicLooper program to make some music for the movie, as I continue to check out the possibilities and limitations of that program.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-596529446926397614" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

Peace (on the Long Island Sound),
Kevin

Writing by the Oceanside

I got back yesterday, late afternoon, after three days by the Connecticut oceanside as part of a Professional Writing Retreat and it was just a fantastic experience. The house that the dozen or so of us stayed in was right on the water and the view across Long Island Sound was splendid (if a bit hot).


The retreat provided me with valuable to time to work on the first draft of my chapter for a book about technology and writing. I am focusing on a digital science book project, and although there were struggles along the way (aren’t there always?), I feel as if I made real and substantial progress. I know I need to add some more about assessment and standards, and go through a do quite a bit of trimming to what I wrote (11 pages), but I feel as if it is on the right path.

See — I really was working hard!

As part of my role as co-editor of our WMWP Online Newsletter, I also interviewed other retreat participants about what they were writing about and how the writing process was working for them, and then created a podcast of the interviews.

The topics under development for articles ranged from examining personal beliefs about teaching, ways for administrators and teachers to share leadership opportunities, the development of an after-school writing program in an urban city where kids are starved for creative writing, the ecology of a classroom and the impact on student motivation, and the use of technology to inform student writing skills.

Listen to the podcast

Peace (by the ocean),
Kevin