Digital Eyes

Do you have your students thinking about the challenges that lay ahead for them? Do you have them wondering what kinds of jobs will there be in their future? What tools will they use to do their job? What skills will they need? Here is a blog called http://www.21stcenturyquestions.com/ to get your students thinking about some of these questions and sharing their ideas with others. give it a try!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gillian_m/ / CC BY-SA 2.0 Over at http://www.businessinsider.com/21-things-that-became-obsolete-this-decade-2009-12, you can see a great list of items that became obsolete this decade. It got me thinking about how many of them we are teaching kids about. 1. Maps - When are we going to accept the fact that teaching kids about paper maps is a waste of time. More importantly, NOT teaching them about GPS, online maps, and mapping using phones is a terrible waste! Phone Books, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias - The days of guide words is gone. Let's get our kids using online tools instead of teaching them skills they will never need. Paper - While this might be an exaggeration to say paper is obsolete, it is clearly headed towards being unnecessary in many instances. Let's save some trees and teach kids how to be more efficient with new tools at the same time! What other tools have become or will soon become obsolete? Which will greatly impact what or how we...

It is amazing how once you write about something, it pops up time and time again. It's like when you buy a new car and then all of a sudden you start seeing it everywhere. I have seen so many examples of digital coping skills or lack thereof recently. One example that sticks out is the number of teachers who seem to believe that technology snafus only happen to them or that the snafus are their fault. I think this is a coping skill, recognizing that technology glitches are a part of using technology. This is much like accepting the glitches that come with other technologies. For example, if we run out of gas, we don't suddenly stop driving. If we cut ourselves with a knife in the kitchen, we don't stop cooking. If we get a bad grade on an assignment, we don't stop writing papers. So why do we let technology glitches become barriers to using technology? Another example of digital coping skills occurred the other day when a group of teachers had difficulty logging into a ...

I was having a discussion with a colleague today about digital coping skills. It got me thinking about the difference between analog and digital coping skills, especially as they relate to teaching. In my opinion, teachers are excellent at coping with a lot of issues. Nothing in a classroom ever goes exactly as planned, but you don't see teachers throwing up their hands and saying, "Forget it!" They deal with misbehaving kids, running out of paper, broken pencils, messy chalk, fire drills, spills, interruptions, and much more. These things rarely phase good teachers. They take it all in stride and continue on. In fact, to the casual observer, they might not even notice that anything had happened. Why then, do so many of these same teachers seem to feel that technological mishaps are such huge roadblocks? Why are digital coping skills so different from "analog" coping skills? Is it that they require teachers to do some troubleshooting that they may not feel quali...

The other day, I had the pleasure of observing our high school orchestra. I spoke with the teacher about his use of SmartMusic with students. It was really amazing. I had heard quite a bit about it before, but to see how he used it in class and then seamlessly assigned the music to students so students could practice their part at home with accompaniment and record their practice session, get instant feedback, create a portfolio, and create a circle of communication between student, teacher and parent was unbelievable. I also saw a PE class in which the students used exercise equipment to track their health. They exercised at their target heart rate for a period of time and then recorded their pulse, calories burned, etc... It got me thinking, "How do we do this in other subjects?" Imagine students reading pieces of text into a microphone and getting instant feedback on their fluency and decoding! Then being assigned "just right" books based on the results and email...

why do we care? Thanks to a colleague for passing this along to me. I'm not supporting students having no regard for the rules in school. However, I think we need to ask the question, "If it is so easy to find the information online or through their social network, then what is the value of memorizing it in the first place? If we carry cellphones with us all the time and they are capable of connecting us to the information we need that readily, then maybe schools should be teaching students how to cheat. I know that when I am at work and I'm stumped, I either Google it or Twitter it. In other words, look online or ask my personal learning network. What are we doing to teach students how to effectively search for reliable information? What are we doing to help students develop a personal learning network so they can be learning from people around the world everyday? Cellphone Cheating in Schools This Kappan “Highlighted and Underlined” item quotes a Common Sense Media poll ...

Resiliency: The ability to recover quickly from illness, change, or misfortune; buoyancy. (from http://www.thefreedictionary.com) More and more, I see resiliency as a key skill for teachers. As change comes at us more and more quickly, we must recover from change. By recover of course I mean adapt to it, integrate it, prepare for the next upcoming change. There is no question that every new initiative, tool, standard, idea, philosophy, or concept brings about a series of important steps to handle this change. 1. Unlearning: A key part of resiliency is the ability to unlearn what you have previously thought of as an absolute truth. Many longstanding truths are being called into question due to rapid changes in our profession. For example, skills like cursive writing, alphabetical order, or interpreting paper maps have been staples in teaching for years. Today, however, they have become significantly less important. Tomorrow, they may go away altogether. We must be ready to question the ...

We know that kids are wired for technology. We use terms like Digital Native and Net Generation to describe that technology is natural to them. You won't get any argument from me on this. But my question is, " Are we using technology to engage students for the right reasons?" I have been a big proponent of SmartBoards in our district as well as student response systems. Their potential for engaging, interactive learning is powerful. But at the end of the day, we need to ask ourselves, for what purpose are we using these tools? If these tools simply become another way to fill students up with knowledge that they spit back out, we are not changing anything. On the other hand, if we use them to engage students in learning that gets them thinking creatively, inventively, flexibly, collaborartively, then they are powerful tools. All this technology is about much more than engaging our students. It is about what we do with them once they are engaged. I have observed the excitem...

If you haven't seen any of the videos at Frontline: Digital Nation, I highly recommend that you check them out. The clips are generally short and to the point, but they address everything from Korean preschoolers learning netiquette to Arne Duncan's view of the Class of the Future to how video games are changing education. Check it out! http://ow.ly/lzQJ

Some unknown person (thanks unknown person!!) left an article for me in my mailbox entitled "Enemies of Learning". In the paper, the author, Charles Feltman, states that there are certain behaviors that "dull or kill our ability to learn." They include the following: Our inability to admit that we don't know. The desire for clarity all of the time. Inability to unlearn. Confusing learning with acquiring information. Not giving permission to others to teach us. Lack of trust. There are others as well, but I found these to be really profound. I can't say I was surprised that these are on the list, but I was surprised to have them under the heading: Enemies of Learning. In other words, these things attack our ability to continuously learn. I have to admit to being guilty of some of these things. I am known to ask a lot of clarifying questions. Not that this is bad, but sometimes, we need to start even when we don't have all the answers. Some answers need to...

There is some really interesting information from the Pew Research Center on Teens and Internet Use. There is no surprise that the newest generation of teens has even more access to technology. It continues to make me wonder: Who is teaching them how to use these tools responsibly and effectively... and productively! Here is the link to the presentation: http://www.pewinternet.org/Presentations/2009/Teens-and-the-internet.aspx

A very good place to start! As we begin a new school year, we are always filled with excitement and anxiety. A new year brings new students, new ideas, new curriculum, new district initiatives, and ... new technologies. It is an overwhelming time of year. With so many new things to think about, we are often left wondering where to begin. Everyone might answer this differently depending on their perspective, but I would say we begin with our students. After all, they are the reason we are here. What are they looking for? How are they feeling at the start of the year? What makes them excited or anxious? As I think about the answers to these questions, I often feel like a few simple changes to how we incorporate technology can make the classroom feel that much more exciting for our students. OK, so maybe they don't feel like simple changes, but think about the following questions: Could I use the Internet more regularly to connect my students to the world outside the classroom? Could ...

Check out some of the new features in the Lesson Activity Toolkit 2.0. http://trailsoptional.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/smart-notebook-flash-activities-in-the-lesson-activity-toolkit-2-0/

In the third interview in the series, I interviewed Danielle Miller, third grade teacher at Birchview. Danielle used podcasting as a way to publish her students' research on animals. Danielle talked with me about how podcasting was a great tool for motivating her students. Sharing their work with a global audience helped them become more careful about their writing and their reading! To listen to the podcasts, click here: http://digitaleyesblog.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/test2.pdfmiller/journey-north-podcasts/ If you have something to share that you are doing in your classroom, please contact me!

As a teacher, I have always looked forward to summer for so many reasons. Of course, I always loved the relaxation of summer, sleeping in, traveling, going to the beach with the kids. I truly believe it is this relaxing time that helps us get ready for the upcoming year. Our new students deserve our best, and our best requires that we have time away to rejuvenate and come back relaxed and reenergized. I also look forward to summer as a time to reflect on my past year. What worked? What didn't? What did I hope to try but never got around to? What do I hope to do next year? I hope that in the relaxation and reflection of the summer, you all join me in reflecting on how education is changing and how we can move forward this fall in addressing the new needs of our students. To that end, there are many opportunities this summer to learn and explore this. There is the Summer Tech Institute in August and the Assessment Summit in June. There are many great book study groups that center aro...

This is the second in a series of podcasts about ways in which teachers are using technology in their classroom. Hopefully these podcasts spark ideas for you as well. In this podcast, I am interviewing Alex Papp, 3rd grade teacher at Plymouth Creek. He is using Voicethread as a tool for students to review books and share them with classmates. They are also having ongoing discussions about the books using Voicethread. Have a listen! If you are interested in sharing what you are doing in your classroom, contact me to set up a time! Alex was also nice enough to record a short video demonstrating how his students are using Voicethread. alexinterview

I have recently come across the website www.awesomestories.com. This is a great site that links you and your students to primary sources related to a wide variety of topics. An author writes a summary story about an event which gives your students more information about the event. But within the story links are embedded to primary sources. It is a great way to help your students access primary source information. It includes text, images, videos, sound clips, slideshows, and even lesson plans. Check it out at: http://www.awesomestories.com

Once the "what" is decided, the "how" always follows. We must not make the "how" an excuse for not facing and accepting the "what." Quote by Pearl Buck I recently came across this quote. It struck a chord with me. How often do we give up on a great idea, because we disagree on the "how."?

This is hopefully the start of a series of interviews with some of the amazing teachers I work with. I hope that hearing how others are using technology in their classroom will spark some ideas for you as well. If you interested in being interviewed, please contact me to set up a time. In the first interview, I spoke with Carrie Ehrlich, a 3rd grade teacher at Oakwood Elementary School. She wrote a grant last year for two iPod Touches and has been using them with her students in a variety of ways. Click here to listen:  carrieinterview2 Image from: http://files.lesterchan.net/images/apple/ipod_touch.jpg

Thanks to Carol Soma for her presentation at the Library Technology Conference yesterday. Carol spoke about how the brains of our younger generations are developing differently, in large part due to the amount of multimedia they are exposed to. Some interesting factoids that came out of her presentation: The visual cortex in brains today are 20% than they were 20 years ago Kids today are attracted to certain bright colors while ignoring black and white A study of young kids watching Sesame Street found that those who played while watching retained as much information as those who only watched Studies show that people master skills that they spend 10,000 hours practicing. Kids spend 10,000 hours playing video games, using cellphones, watching tv Less than 5,000 hours reading These are fascinating facts. What do they mean for education? We can discuss the implications of our changing brains. There is no question that there are benefits as well as detriments to these adaptati...

There has been a really interesting debate raging about 21st Century Skills and content in education. It seems that many in education think 21st Century Skills is counter to learning content. You can read about their views here: http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2009/03/what_about_21st_century_skills.html http://www.britannica.com/blogs/2009/03/flawed-assumptions-undergird-the-partnership-for-21st-century-skills-movement-in-education/ http://www.coreknowledge.org/blog/2009/02/25/21st-century-skills-fadbusters/ It is an interesting debate. Both sides make good points, but I find myself stuck in the middle. Why is teaching content counter to the goals of teaching 21st century skills? I for one can not question the need to learn deeply about a topic in order to have relevant arguments. I believe one must understand their topic in order to speak, write, or present on it. But where I believe 21st Century Skills is more than just a fad is in the way in which it shifts our u...

Check out Share a Story - Shape a Future ! It's a week long blog tour about issues connected to literacy. Each day centers around a theme. The themes include: Raising Readers Selecting Reading Material Reading Aloud Visiting the Library Technology and Reading What a great idea! Each day a group of bloggers will talk about one of these themes. You can easily link to all the blogs from this one blog: http://shareastory-shapeafuture.blogspot.com/2009/02/share-story-shape-future-blog-tour-for.html Enjoy!

You are more likely to behave yourself into new ways of thinking than thinking yourself into new ways of behaving.   -Michael Fullan Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down.  -Kobi Yamada Thanks to my Personal Learning Network for sharing these quotes with me. I always learn so much from the people I work with. As I read these quotes and discussed them with colleagues, I began thinking about how quickly things are changing around us. Our model of careful and thoughtful deliberation before making decisions is not practical anymore. We need to change first and consider the implications as we go. Consider the first quote. We spend so much time TALKING about what technology means for education, but little time DOING the things that create actual change. Maybe it is time for us to start doing and see what happens. If we start using the technology, our thinking will follow. We will find the connections to curriculum and education. This is scary, but it...

I recently read "Writing in the 21st Century: A report from the National Council of Teachers of English" by NCTE Past President, Kathleen Blake Yancey. In it Yancey does a great job of looking at writing historically and framing how new forms of writing like email, text, Twitter, blogging, etc... have a place in education. She calls for educators to do three things: Developing new models of writing Designing a new curriculum supporting those models Creating models for teaching that curriculum This is a great challenge for us as educators. If we view writing as a powerful form of communication, we must begin to accept powerful tools as viable ways to write. Blogs, wikis, Twitter, and others allow our students to reach greater audiences, work collaboratively, and utilize multimedia effectively as part of written communication. We must explore these opportunities to maximize the potential of our students as writers. We must be open to changing formats of writing as well. The mes...

I have been having a lot of conversations recently about the power of social networking. Tools like delicious, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others are everywhere we look. Radio hosts invite people to Twitter about their shows. Everyone advertises by saying, "Check us out on Facebook!" What does it all mean? Many people I have spoken to are concerned that social networking is just online meaningless blabbering. I disagree. Think about how you converse. When you are talking to one or two people, everyone focuses on the same conversation. That is how email works as well. But what happens when 20 people are in a conference room? Multiple conversations start to take place. You, sitting in the middle, have to decide which conversation to participate in. Maybe halfway through, you decide to switch to another conversation. Such is the way social networking works. You don't pay attention to all of it, but choose what elements are relevant to you and ignore the rest. So why bot...

With my apologies to President John F. Kennedy, I think this is a question we all need to ask ourselves seriously. In my conversations with people, it often comes up, "What will technology do for us?" In other words, how will it make our test scores improve, how will it make my life easier, how will it make me a better teacher? The answer is simple. IT won't. However, if we ask the right question, technology can be a powerful tool to help us improve our students education, make our lives easier, and make us a better teacher. The question we need to ask is, "What are we going to do with technology?" If we use the technology to communicate with our colleagues, it will improve our lives. If we use the technology to access information, we will become better teachers. If we use the technology to creatively solve problems and communicate our ideas visually and in an engaging way, it will improve our students. If we use technology to connect our students to people arou...

Timetoast is a great website that allows you to create online timelines. You can add dates, type notes, and even add images for each event. Then just mouse over a marker on the timeline and view the notes and image for that event. You can share the link or embed the timeline into your webpage. Timelining is a great tool not only for history, but also for sequencing events in a book, or planning to write a narrative story. Check out these examples below. http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/4879 http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/3918 http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/2581 *pic from http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/7572

I enjoyed a session today on Video Games in Education. On the panel were the following four people: Jim Bower-Whyville John Rice -IT director in Iola ISD blog-http://edugamesblog.wordpress.com/ Donna McKethan-Director of Career Tech Ed at Waco ISD Lee Wilson- Principal Consultant for Headway Strategies The discussion was fascinating. It centered around how important it is to engage the students of today. Lee made a great point about how gaming has been a learning strategy throughout history. Kids have always learned through games. What has changed though is that technology has made the environment richer. One example of this is that gaming now includes a social element, which is extremely engaging for kids. Jim made the point that it is precisely the social element that is so important. He said that for the first time, video games and technology allow people to learn the way they naturally learn. I agree. Learning has always been deeper and more powerful when it is social and interacti...

I attended a session at TCEA today on Google Earth. I have used Google Earth quite a bit. I used it with grades 3-5 to students to study map skills and landforms. I learned a lot about new ways to use it. The presenters, Susan Anderson and Jim Holland, did a great job of tying the tools directly to curriculum and learning. Here are a few ideas: Search for landmarks or landforms around the world so students can see what they look like. Click on the icons to link to images, videos, wikipedia articles, and much more to get information about the location you are visiting. Have students create placemarks on places they visit and add information about that location. For example, if you are studying volcanoes, have students place placemarks on specific volcanoes and then add facts they have learned about its height, history, or geography. Use the placemarks to create a scavenger hunt for students to find locations or figure out their significance. Use the measuring tool to measure the distan...

Daniel Pink speaks about the fact that we need to prepare kids for their future, not our past. That got me thinking. What skills or ideas do we teach that fall under the category of preparing kids for our past? Here are a few. What do you think? What would you add? 1. Cursive Writing 2. Learning map skills with paper maps!! 3. Learning historical names and dates that can be found online in seconds 4. Dictionary skills with a traditional dictionary

I was at TIES today listening to 3 great presenters on video games in education. Colin Maxwell , Roxana Hadad , and Seann Dikkers spoke about teaching video game design as well as what video games teach kids. Seann Dikkers did a great job of sharing his research at UW-Madison on gaming. He talked about how video gaming deals with losing. Old games like PacMan had music at the end to make you feel defeated, but gaming designers have designed today's games to encourage kids to retry things multiple times until they figure it out. He used the terms little l and Big L losing. In other words, kids are willing to go through a series of small losses if they know they will figure it out in the end. He talked about high stakes testing and traditional education models as Big L losing. We don't give kids the opportunity to learn from their mistakes. We don't allow time for the "messiness" of learning. I couldn't agree more. Imagine a classroom where students are encoura...

Thanks to John Moravec at Education Futures for sharing this article about how teaching facts is becoming irrelevant. The article quotes Don Tapscott, the author of Wikinomics and Growing Up Digital , who states that "memorizing facts in the age of Google and Wikipedia is a waste of time." I especially like John's statement that: "...education should concentrate on “upload” pedagogies, based on knowledge production by students and collaborating faculty, together with augmentations provided by a new category of community-based volunteers. Using the most advanced forms of information search engines, networks, early artificial intelligence, and the aforementioned volunteers, there is an opportunity to leapfrog education beyond any of the competition. This will require fundamental changes in the mission, structure, and curricula of education at all levels." I couldn't agree more. We are teaching "downloading" skills. We are teaching our students to...

I recently came across this quote by Ellen Goodman: We spend January 1 walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives . . ., not looking for flaws, but for potential." I think this quote has so many applications to education. Do we look at our students' potential rather than focusing on their flaws? Do we look at our own potential as educators? I think it is especially relevant to technology integration. I believe that many teachers walk around focusing on their flaws. By this, I mean they are so concerned about what they don't know that they often miss out on opportunities to learn new ideas. Teachers often say to me that there is too much to learn or that things change too quickly to keep up. This is true, but we CAN choose to focus on what we CAN accomplish and worry less about what we do not get to. I hope this year, we can all foc...