Providing sustained professional learning opportunities to teachers can be difficult. Fortunately, Read/Write Web technologies make it a lot easier. PBS TeacherLine appears to be moving in this direction. I wrote about my PBS TeacherLine facilitator experience some time back and some of my criticisms, but...for folks new to eLearning, it's great to have the structured environment supported by a large organization. It's not the ONLY way to get the job done, but it sure makes it easier to say, "Our district is partnered with PBS Teacherline of Texas," rather than with a loose confederation of global educators.

This past month, Bruce Ellis (Dallas ISD) and I were interviewed by Chris Lucas (PBS TeacherLine of Texas). It was a lot of fun being interviewed and then having them do all the editing. Last year when my team and I were looking for solutions for sustained professional learning for our teachers, one of my team suggested PBS TeacherLine as one of the possible options. Other options included Walden University Master's Program and Intel Teach to the Future.

After some reflection, we decided to go with the PBS TeacherLine - Capstone courses. So, we incorporated the PBS TeacherLine Capstone courses into our Technology Integration Lead Teacher (TILT) initiative. Here's a little from the memo that went out:

The initiative builds on the concept of establishing technology integration lead teachers at every campus over the next few years. Since technology integration is the expectation for all K-12 teachers, the TILT initiative is initially restricting its scope to classroom, core-content teachers in fourth through tenth grades. Teachers selected to participate—and who enjoy campus administrator support—will provide ongoing professional learning opportunities at the campus level. They will also be expected to model technology use aligned to the State Technology Applications:TEKS curriculum, and the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) National Education Technology Standards (NETS).

Teachers interested in participating will need to carefully review the expectations for the project, sign a letter of commitment, successfully complete online courses, as well as other specific objectives. The program will be rigorous and involve after-hours training commitments. In return, participants will receive a laptop computer, a wireless digital projector, paid professional development at a summer academy, and workshop project stipends for campus level training. Also, participating teachers will receive ISTE NETS Certification.

The budget is posted online for the first 3 cohorts, in case you're curious as to what this is costing. You can also watch a video featuring Adah Stock regarding her participation in the TILT Cohort 1.

A second initiative that we're collaborating with PBS on is taking one of their existing online courses and converting it to SCORM-compliant format for delivering via our learning management system, and embedding it in

In the meantime, may I encourage you to check out the video and leave a comment (please be nice)?

 View Video

Relevant Links:

• PBS TeacherLine
• PBS TeacherLine of Texas
• San Antonio ISD's Instructional Technology Services' Technology Integration Lead Teacher (TILT) Program
• Dallas ISD's Instructional Technology Department

The school district spends about $70 per computer for MS Office. It can spend about $3 or more per email account for licensing, servers to support this, calendaring features, etc. But, how much money could the District save it implemented Google's Gmail and Apps (word processing, presentation, spreadsheet)? It's an interesting idea that Lucie deLaBruere writes about in this blog post. Consider the following:

Capuchino High School has adopted Google Apps for your Domain as one of several tools used to implement a Global Communications program The program uses tools that expand the circle of influence these students have outside of their local community by helping them connect and collaborate. Google Apps for you Domain provides the school with several powerful Google tools, while allowing them to keep their own school domain name: http://www.capuchinohighschool.org/ and allowing them to keep control of the student accounts using a web based control panel.

“The kids have access to the Gmail function, with chat turned off, docs and spreadsheets and their own homepage (iGoogle) that they can customize. We also allow them to use the calendar function. The students also use this e-mail account to create their 'blogger' accounts. Every kid in the Global Communications classes has their own blog. The next step in the process for some of them is to start to use reader to subscribe to feeds. “

In another district in Vermont, substantial savings have been achieved.

The Google Apps for Your Domain free education access resulted in a substantial savings per yea. “Having a web based solution has offered our staff more flexibility than our previous client based solution. Docs and spreadsheets is widely used as are email and calendaring. All in all we have found Google apps to be user friendly and easily scalable to our needs."

“Google for Domains makes a wild amout of sense. Have a company offer a school free email, a management console, collaboration tools, integrated web 2.0 services and spam filtering...for free ? Using your own domain name ? This program saves schools money and also all configuration and maintenance time. Reclaiming that money and personnel time alone... Good problems to have in my book. Most schools are barely scratching the surface educating kids for the present day. Embracing opportunities and technologies like this in secondary education, discussing and modeling these technologies instead of limiting their experiences will bring us closer to educating students for the future - where they'll be working. “

As Texas school districts--like San Antonio ISD--feel the budget crunch, imagine saving $70 at minimum per new computer purchased. With 21,000 computers in the District, that would have yielded a savings of $1.4 million dollars. Wow...that's the same amount as our State Technology Allotment. If you keep existing licenses and multiply $70 by the annual 3-4K machines, the savings are still substantial ($210K). If you switch email services, what might the savings be?

With 41% of SAISD machines obsolete, and no increases in the state technology allotment or the Title II, Part D of No Child Left Behind funding for the District, isn't it time we reconsidered heavy duty investment in expensive software? It's a question many districts are asking.

References
The Infinite Thinking Machine

The November Campus Technology Representatives' (CTR) Meeting took place online. The Office of Instructional Technology Services used Moodle and DimDim to facilitate an online meeting, allowing IT staff to narrowcast video feed, share a powerpoint presentation over the SAISD network!

Miguel Guhlin (Director) gave a short introduction, then Sylvia Martinez jumped in to share critical information with campus tech reps regarding the electronic gradebook and attendance tracking system, as well as the School Technology and Readiness (STaR) Chart collection process.

All information shared in the CTR meeting is available online and an update sent to principals and CTRs who were unable to attend the meeting.

Above: Tony Stead (Email: tonystead@bigpond.com).

Tony Stead is an Australian educator who has taught in elementary schools and lectured at the University of Melbourne. He is the past president of the Melbourne Chapter of the Australian Reading Association and the author of many publications. His latest include Is That a Fact?: Teaching Nonfiction Writing and the video series Time For Nonfiction. which highlights his recent work with several teachers at the Manhattan New School.

What a fantastic opportunity! I'm now sitting here with a copy of both of Tony's books, and I'll be reading one of them this weekend.

The book you are about to read [Is That a Fact?] is destined to be the first, middle, and maybe even the last word on nonfiction writing for young, young children. It is certainly a text that you will return to over and over again as you do with a beloved cookbook.
Source: Tomie dePaola, Foreword of Is That a Fact? by Tony Stead

Over eighty- five percent of the reading and writing we do as adults is nonfiction, yet most of the reading and writing in K–3 classrooms is fiction or personal narrative. In Is That a Fact? Teaching Nonfiction Writing K-3, Tony Stead shows you how to open the door to the rich world of nonfiction writing that goes beyond "what I did" narratives and animal reports. And he convincingly demonstrates the importance of introducing nonfiction writing in the primary grades.

This morning--thanks to Jeanne Cantu (SAISD's Senior Coordinator for Reading/ELA) invitation for my team and I to come listen--I had the chance to listen to Australian Tony Stead share his thoughts about Teaching Non-Fiction. I also had the opportunity to chat with Roger Rosen, President of the Rosen Publishing Group. I took notes on everything they had to say. Rather than quote them here, I'm just going to share some of the high points. You can read the transcript of my notes online via the Share More! Wiki.

There are several options for listening, but you can get the full length podcast or listen to 2 separate parts.

Interview with Roger Rosen (6 megs)

Listen to Tony Stead's Presentation (22.6 megs)

Both Roger and Tony with a short intro from Miguel (24 megs)

Key Take-Aways:

1. We need to thrill our learners to be readers and writers.
2. To be successful in life, what kind of writing will help children in their life? If you're like me, you're writing persuasive writing.
3. In K-2 classrooms, 95% of writing experiences were with personal narrative and story
4. By 6th grade, children will have spent 84% of writer's workshop composing personal narratives, stories, and writing from prompts.
5. Kids wrote a brochure and dedicated it to everyone who is scared of bats. For the us, the use of technology to get online and find out about stuff. With every book, there's a web site. Kids went to batconservation.com. Bats Conservation said, "If you send us the information and produce it and send it to all 1000 of our members." Those kids were screaming with absolute joy. All day, all they want to do is write persuasive brochures. Our kids sit in those classrooms and do what they're told. They write and read without every understanding why.
6. How did you overcome barriers? Principals want people to teach to the test. How do you get them to take a leap of faith? Response: It was just one school to start with. Let's see what happens and then finding out you won't fail. Pilot the program. That's how the leap of faith happened. Denton ISD tracked the State test. We started with the interested group.
7. 73% of students read nonfiction at least 3 Reading Recovery levels below that of their fiction.
8. 15% of students read nonfiction 3 grade levels below their fiction.
9. By third grade, only 7% of students struggled with decoding nonfiction at their grade level. We teach decoding, how to get through text, but we spend little time helping them understand what the text is actually saying. ESL children can easily learn to decode but because it's a 2nd language, they don't have understanding of which words to use for concept. They can read at 28 level of Reading Recovery, but comprehension level of 4.
10. Students who were competent readers of nonfiction were also competent in reading fiction, but not vice versa.
11. Boys slow their reading down because they want to make meaning of non-fiction. They do what every child should do--they fight to read.
12. Children can read 3-4 levels above what they're benchmarked on topics they're interested in.
13. The way the TEKS are written, they are a big turn-off. They're not written in story format. Response: Tony qualified it by saying, "It's non-fiction that's not written in an non-engaging manner. If we go back to the old non-fiction--librarians hate me because I want to weed out from the 1950s to 1960s from science and social studies because it's out of date, non-engaging; need new fresh resources in there.
14. 96% of all read-alouds were with shared fiction. Kids aren't even hearing the language of non-fiction content until third grade.
15. This is about rethinking a strategy that teachers in the U.S. have been using for the last 10 year. This strategy is KWL. KWL Problem - I believe it's only effective for kids who already bring good background knowledge to the table. When you ask them what they know, that's all dependent on content understandings.
16. RAN Strategy...It's ok to approximate content knowledge. You don't have to be true.
17. A university lecturer came to visit me and I've been using the RAN at the university level. "This is the fabric for how we all think. Day 1, I asked my students...write an essay about how they think children learn to read. Over 6 weeks, they had to--in yellow--confirm what they knew, highlight in blue any misconceptions, write down any wonderings and at the end of the semester, they had to write down a new essay and share their wonderings and misconceptions and new facts.
18. When you ask about misconceptions in Science...I can live with a misconception about Pluto. But in Social Studies, biases and prejudices come up and I can't live with that.
19. We have to help kids take risks.

My Reflections

There are many connections between blogging and non-fiction writing. Aside from a publishing perspective, it's clear that students need to be reading current texts. Reading yesterday's information isn't going to cut it. Not only that, they also have to be engaged by visually appealing content. While much of that might very well be a book, it's obvious that mountains of non-fiction writing is already taking place online with blogs. Consider Mark Ahlness--a Seattle, WA teacher whose 3rd grade students are blogging AND using blogs as their source material for Sustained Silent Reading (SSR). Our students CAN produce non-fiction, and hear (via podcasts) and learn the language of non-fiction.

What do you think?

In writing, you are always composing, always working to make it better. Donald Graves writes (as cited in Atwell's In the Middle):

We'll spend a lifetime crafting our teaching in order to allow children to be the authors of their own texts.

This reminds me of Bolman and Deal's quote about the leader's responsibility, as written in Leading with Soul:

Leader's responsibility is to create conditions that promote authorship.

It's also that idea of CONSTANTLY writing, composing, and with the Read/Write web, publishing. These are powerful ideas for me, and the Read/Write Web tools that are available make it possible. When else could I have had access to panoply of resources? If I want to teach blogging, videos abound. If I want to teach podcasting, videos about how to do that and how to prepare educational podcasts by students (Bob Sprankle's Room 208 vodcast is precious) and/or teachers (e.g. Dorothy Burt's enhanced podcast at TeacherTube.com) are available. They are exactly what's needed.

In a world full of non-fiction, it's clear that personal voice adds a sense of depth (Is That a Fact? by Tony Stead) to writing. Tony cites Donald Graves in his book, Is that a fact? as saying:

Unfortunately, little nonfiction, beyond personal narrative, is practiced in classrooms. Children are content to tell their own stories, but the notion that someone can write about an idea and thereby affect the lives and thinking of others is rarely discussed.

For me, blogs provide the avenue to do this. It's such an obvious connection, I want to jump up and down in front of folks and share it with them. Tony offers the concept of baskets, including Title of Basket and Type of Non-Fiction that goes with that. He mentions that most of the non-fiction/fiction books in one classroom library--over 3000--were not appropriate. Here's what he writes:

3,000 books is a lot of material for one classroom. . .Margo [the teacher] told me that when she sorted her books she found that only 20 percent of them were nonfiction, and most of these were descriptive books about animals, only one aspect of nonfiction. What was more surprising was that of the relatively new nonfiction books she had, about 80 percent were at reading levels way above where the majority of her children were reading...Margo needed not only to purchase more nonfiction material but also to ensure that the texts chosen were matched to the needs and abilities of her children.

When I read Tony Stead's writing on types of non-fiction, I'm immediately drawn to the idea that, wouldn't it be great to classify student-generated writing in blogs by non-fiction areas? And, since audio is such a big part of oral comprehension for children reading non-fiction, wouldn't podcasts fit right in?

Eric Langhorst does a neat job of this with his Speaking of History Studycasts...

"One of the most effective uses of podcasts for my students was the creation of StudyCasts," Langhorst told Education World. "I began recording an audio review to help my students prepare for upcoming unit tests. With my portable MP3 player, I record an overview of the important material. I then transfer the audio, which lasts about 20 minutes, to my computer, and then upload the MP3 file to our classroom Web site. Students then are able to listen to the study review at home on their computers or download it to their personal MP3 players; they can review for the test anywhere."
Source: EducationWorld

While this is neat stuff, what about having students write the nonfiction and record their own podcasts for posting? Would that work? I know that book publishers are cringing, but there are so many writing non-fiction out here in the blogosphere, posting podcasts, it seems a "no-brainer" to harness that. But how to do it? Tags for non-fiction help, but we might have to use a standard. Why not use Tony's?

Contact info

• Roger Rosen's Email: rogerrosen@prodigy.net
• Tony Stead's Email: tonystead@bigpond.com

 
Above: Dr. Scott Mcleod and Principal Joanelda

On October, 20, 2007, Dr. Scott McLeod had the opportunity to address about 21 campus leaders--principals, assistant principals, campus technology representatives--in San Antonio, Texas at the iLead 2007. He had a powerful message to share that, while no doubt familiar to many of us in the edublogosphere, generated some concern among the audience. Two of the principals approached me afterwards, wondering at how they could get things going and sharing the frustration of obsolete technology, technology and the learning connections it enables being a low priority.

I invie you to listen to Dr. Scott McLeod (Dangerously Irrelevant).

Listen to Dr. Scott McLeod (11 megs)

Note that a Podomatic version--customized for Around the Corner--will soon be available.

Recently, the District went through a curriculum audit. Audits present us with the opportunity to share the story of where we are at, why we think we arrived here, and what is being done--what could be done--to move forward. I know it offered me the opportunity to take a hard look at the past 5 years that I've been in the District, reflect on the obstacles, and what we've tried in Instructional Technology Services.

While I could focus on those obstacles, I'd like to share the data we have. The data alone paint a fascinating picture of SAISD. I've divided it up into 3 key areas: a) Hardware; b) Level of Technology Implementation; and c) STaR Chart.

HARDWARE
In data gathered based on Fixed Assets data as of August 20, 2007 (October, 2007), 41% of District computers deployed for instructional purposes are obsolete (59% are measured as current, or 2003 or greater). The graph below displays the data for campuses, and the table beneath it provides specific information. The school membership data is true as of October 17, 2007.

(right click to view the image at a larger size)

Student to Computer Ratio

The average student to computer ratio is 1 computer to 5 students.

* At Elementary Schools, the average is 1 computer for 6.45 students.
* At Middle Schools, the average is 1 computer for every 3.8 students.
* At High Schools, the average is 1 computer for every 2.55 students.
* At Academies, the average is 1 computer for every 4.62 students.

(right click to view the image at a larger size)

LEVELS OF TECHNOLOGY IMPLEMENTATION (LOTI)
The District completed the Levels of Technology Implementation (LoTi) assessment in January, 2006. It conducted the LOTI assessment for 3 years in a row. The LoTi, unlike other assessments like the STaR Chart, provides us with an instrument that has been tested for reliability and validity. There is a clear connection between one of the 3 domains the LoTi assesses and student achievement; that domain is Current Instructional Practices. Also important, however, are the other two domains: the level of technology implementation (LoTi) and the personal computer use (PCU) domain. Each provides valuable information about SAISD campus administrators and teachers. More importantly, it provides a clear direction for professional development.

Comparison Results appear below...

STAR CHART DATA

Although you can find a list of campus STaR Charts online here, the overall District measurement is as follows (I rounded up):

• Teaching and Learning - 12 (Developing Tech)
• Educator Preparation - 12 (Developing Tech)
• Leadership - 14 (Developing Tech)
• Infrastructure - 15 (Advanced Tech)

If we compare SAISD to State of Texas expectations (a range of 21-24 in each area as the target technology level desired), then, a graph might look like this:

In this graph, I used 21 as the minimum required to achieve target technology level.

RECOMMENDATIONS
So, based on this data, how do we get ahead? Dr. Chris Moersch--creator of the LOTI--shared the following recommendations:

1. Require professional development—a minimum of 16 hours—for all teachers that addresses 21st Century Skills.

2. Provide monetary incentives for teachers and administrators to develop technology competencies along a learning path (e.g. English/Language Arts, Science, Math).

3. Merge the focus of both departments (C&I and Technology) concentrating on student achievement.

4. Summative evaluations for building principals demonstrating their staff accomplishments at LOTI Level 3.

5. Provide Technology Department access to the CICs.

6. Provide professional development to CICs to become “instructional” mentors of technology.

7. Train principals.

8. Launch a 1 to 1 computer initiative for teachers.

* Bold items in this list are taken from recommendations made and agreed to by Associate Area Superintendents in collaboration with Dr. Chris Moersch, author of the Levels of Technology Implementation (LOTI) framework.

Take a moment to check out these videos regarding education. You won't regret it.

New technologies are changing how people interact with one another, facilitating speedy communications and collaborations at a distance. Traditional organizations--like K-12 schools--find themselves struggling with how to deal with the influx of personal technologies. These technologies come into our schools with our children, our teachers, community members, administrators, and visitors in the form of mobile phones, PDAs, iPods and more.

The simple answer is to ban them all. In my daughter's school--another large school district in San Antonio--mobile phone bans are in effect. Yet, every child carries one, as do the teachers. We have all watched too much Star Trek; our personal communicators give us an unprecedented freedom. Personal technologies are often perceived as distractions to what happens in the classroom, a way of deviating from the established route, scope and sequence that must be followed. Why? And, how can these technologies be used to enhance classroom activities?

Level 5 of the Levels of Technology Implementation focuses on the following:

Technology access is extended beyond the classroom. Classroom teachers actively elicit technology applications and networking from other schools, business enterprises, governmental agencies (e.g., contacting NASA to establish a link to an orbiting space shuttle via internet), research institutions, and universities to expand student experiences directed at problem-solving, issues resolution, and student activism surrounding a major theme/concept.

The complexity and sophistication of the technology-based tools used in the learning environment are now commensurate with (1) the diversity, inventiveness, and spontaneity of the teacher's experiential-based approach to teaching and learning and
(2) the students' level of complex thinking (e.g., analysis, synthesis, evaluation, creation) and in-depth understanding of the content experienced in the classroom.

In this kind of environment, technology access makes communication and collaboration BEYOND the classroom a reality. The challenge schools face today isn't how to STOP students from bringing personal communication devices to schools, but how to best adapt and absorb these technologies into what they do...those will be the schools that get it done.

Consider this adaptation of a quote from Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat:

The school that most quickly absorbs and adopts the latest technology dominates...[it becomes] a hub of connectivity for the many to work with the many, creating networks of young learners to identify problems, solve them and get behind solutions who are ready to mobilize the other students and the community in the right direction.

This is easily a vision for the future school. It's not dis-similar to community-based schools, except that now, the process is moved online. However, so long as we persist in focusing on achieving current curricular goals in old-fashioned learning that is bound by 4-walls, we prepare children to be dominated...Level 5 technology use that our children need in college--in support of our SAISD mission--isn't drill-n-kill.

Economically disadvantaged students, who often use the computer for remediation and basic skills, learn to do what the computer tells them, while more affluent students, who use it to learn programming and tool applications, learn to tell the computer what to do.

Those who cannot claim computers as their own tool for exploring the world never grasp the power of technology...They are controlled by technology as adults--just as drill-and-practice routines controlled them as students.
Source: Toward Digital Equity: Bridging the Divide in Education

Who can argue that our children need to control the technologies around them, or, be controlled by them? We have to work towards LEVEL 5 Technology Use in our schools.

Source: http://www.jimcollins.com/lab/level5/index.html

"Is there something in the LOTI that's equivalent to Level 5?" asked my superintendent when we first met. I wasn't sure. I had no idea what "Level 5" meant. Now, I know he was referring to Level 5 leadership as discussed in Jim Collins' book, Good to Great. According to the web site cited above, Level 5 leaders...

...channel their ego needs away from themselves and into the larger goal of building a great company. It's not that Level 5 leaders have no ego or self-interest. Indeed, they are incredibly ambitious--but their ambition is first and foremost for the institution, not themselves.

As I review the table on page 2 of Collins' web site, I realize that I fall short as a leader. In particular, this point hits hard...the level 5 leader...

...Looks in the mirror, not out the window, to apportion responsibility for poor results, never blaming other people, external factors, or bad luck.

Looks out the window, not in the mirror, to apportion credit for the success of the company—to other people, external factors, and good luck.

These are powerful ideas or perspectives on leadership. But back to the original question. As I reflected on the Levels of Technology Implementation earlier this month at a presentation to another school district, I realized that the expectations for students and teachers has changed.

The expectation is no longer that we use technology as a tool for identifying and solving real life problems in the classroom. Why? As Dr. Don Knezek shared in his presentation at the ICTT 2007 Conference held September 15 at the UTSA Downtown campus (listen to it here as a podcast), classroom teaching can no longer be limited to classroom activities. Technology and learning that occurs has to EXTEND beyond the classroom. The refreshed ISTE National Education Technology Standards for Students expect students to interact with others and solve problems...at a distance! It's not enough to do a nice project in your classroom, you have to have students working with students from other countries.

As I was reflecting on the power of level 5 leaders, I realized that level 4 of the levels of technology implementation (LOTI 4) isn't good enough anymore.

In LOTI 4, technology is routinely used as a tool to identify and solve real life problems. But the truth is that it is often used within the 4 walls of a classroom. What's really needed, especially in light of the refreshed ISTE NETS-S, is LOTI 5. This is where technology access is extended BEYOND the classroom.

Now imagine that our district is still chugging along, pushing the same old productivity tools, offering adult learners workshops on how to use productivity tools, and Career and Technology Education (CATE) classes for students that focus on how-to. Are these classes valuable? No doubt. But are they what our teachers and students need for the long-run? No...they are not. Those are the "brutal facts."

So, I need to go back to my Superintendent and give him the news. Level 5 leadership--with its emphasis on superb results, high standards, personal responsibility, public success--fits hand in hand with LOTI 5.

LOTI 5 encompasses the use of Read/Write Web tools especially when they are used to achieve communication and collaboration at a distance. Why didn't I see this before?

Here's what Level 5 Technology Use--where technology extends learning BEYOND the classroom--should look like...

If you want to see the potential of what we can do with this stuff, take a look at what Julie Lindsay and Vicki Davis have created in their Flat Classroom Project. Julie, who is at the International School Dhaka in Bangladesh, and Vicki who is at Westwood High in Georgia, have collaborated on an amazing undertaking that will connect their kids in a study of the 10 Flattners from Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat. In small groups comprised of students from both schools, they’ll be taking the next few weeks to really dig into what’s happening in the two countries from a global perspective and report out in a variety of ways using Read/Write Web tools. In the end, if the grading rubric is any indication, these kids will know a heck of a lot more about their places in the world, the complexities of the age, and the ways in which these tools are changing the way we do business in more than one sense.

Pinch me, but is there all of a sudden a little string of interesting examples of Read/Write Web projects coming together? I know…this example in particular is the result of some amazing and intensive planning. (Did I mention the rubric?) But it makes clear what I think are the two most important aspects of using these tools…first, we have to stop seeing our classrooms as spaces with four walls. Teachers must be willing to be connectors. And second, in the context of those connections, we can give our students real, meaningful, relevant opportunities to teach the rest of us what they know. The fact that the work of these students will be published in its many forms to the world as a whole is just so radically removed from the ways most educators still look at what happens in the classroom. If we are simply content to shuffle paper back and forth only for the sake of slapping an assessment on the work, we are doing our students a grave disservice.

Go and listen to the voices of these kids.
Source: Will Richardson's Web-logged

Are you ready for LEVEL 5 Technology Use? If you are, join us at SAISD Connections or call us at 210-527-1400 for online collaborative learning projects!

THE professional learning event of the year is about to take place in October. It beats out any face to face conference ever organized, or at least, that's MY opinion. <smile>

Here's the official flyer for the K-12 Online Conference, and the official press release is shared below. I especially like the Slideshare presentation, and teasers for this year's sessions! If you missed this before, I encourage you to take advantage of it now!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

Phone: 757-450-3784

Fax: 757-301-7436

E-Mail: snbeach@cox.net

Press Release No. 001

K12 Online 2007 – Playing with Boundaries

Worldwide Online Conference for K-12 Educators

Breaking free of traditional conferences, the upcoming K-12 Online Conference: Playing with Boundaries (October 15-19th & October 22-26th) provides educators with an engaging, ongoing learning experience without time constraints. The K12 Online Conference is a unique professional development opportunity for teachers to engage with ideas and technologies that are having a real impact on 21st century classrooms.

The entire conference will be delivered as downloadable digital media via the Internet with over 40 sessions presented in four strands: Classroom 2.0, New Tools, Professional Learning Networks, and Obstacles to Opportunities. The conference launches with a keynote address on October 8th from respected blogger and author David Warlick and concludes with a global 24 hour live event, As Night Falls.

For more information, please visit http://www.k12onlineconference.org

The K-12 Online Conference kicked off this week and the keynote is online! I'm excited about it because it's going to do the following for me:

1. Allow me to see what classroom teachers are doing with the Read/Write Web

2. Share implementation ideas about using technology with children or adults that I just haven't had time to consider, much less put into practice

3. Stimulate conversation and Generate a dialogue in the edublogosphere that will undoubtedly yield, I hope, as many ideas as are shared.

4. Give me access to presentations I can use again and again when introducing folks to using the Read/Write Web in my school district.

Did you know that SAISD teachers, if they participate, can earn CPE hours? Find out more at http://k12onlinecredit.wikispaces.com/

More about the keynote:

For decades, education has been an easy institution to define. It consisted of a set of accepted literacy skills, a definable body of knowledge, and the pedagogies for teaching those skills to willing students who were arranged in straight rows. Today, for the first time in decades (in generations of teachers), we are facing the challenge of changing our notions about teaching and learning to adapt to a rapidly changing world. We are struggling to rethink what it is to be educated, to reinvent the classroom, and redefine what it is to be a teacher and a student. There is much that has changed, and for much of it, we have responded to by attempting to ignore, filter, or to block it out. This presentation, by 30+ year educator, author, and technologist, David Warlick, will explore some of these changes and challenges and arrange them as a set of converging conditions that might just help us to redefine and retool the 21st century classroom.

Presentation

Video
http://k12online.wm.edu/davidw.mp4

Audio
http://k12online.wm.edu/davidw.mp3

Supporting Links

2¢ Worth Blog Post: ‚ÄúExtending K12 Online Conference‚Äù

http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/2007/10/06/extending-k12-online-conference/

Are you an educator? If so, then you can register for a free VoiceThread Pro account. Most people--if they're not educators--have to pay for a VoiceThread account. But you can get one at NO COST! BTW, they've prepared a special printable guide for educators.

Get your free account online at http://voicethread.com/

Even if you're running on a Windows 98 computer--no longer supported by the District--if you have a browser that can handle Flash, you can create a digital story with photos or exported Powerpoint slides, then upload your audio recording. You can create the audio recording in Audacity with a $10 microphone, or record it using a $64 Olympus WS-100 digital audio recorder, or any of the other "inexpensive" audio recorders out there.

If your students create a VoiceThread, you are hitting quite a few Technology Applications:TEKS, such as the following FOUNDATIONS level expectations:

At Grade 2 students are expected to...

• have a solid understanding of use and function of input devices. Imagine students using a digital camera to take photos, move those photos from the camera to the computer, then upload those to the VoiceThread site.
• ...publish and communicate ideas. They could certainly prepare a slideshow of information, and share that with a worldwide audience. Research shows that students writing and publishing for a real, authentic audience are more engaged in their work, and revise more frequently.
• ...use technology collect and distribute information. In the case of VoiceThread.com, students are able to collect comments from their audience members. This goes beyond publishing information to an audience that cannot respond, and allow the audience to leave audio/text comments.

At Grade 5, students are expected to...

• Use productivity tools to support personal productivity and facilitate learning within the curriculum. VoiceThread can certainly be used to facilitate learning, from students creating their own learning materials and producing them--following a production process from creation to analysis and review and publication--and then publishing on the web to receive feedback, either from peers or visitors.
• Have the ability to access information remotely and communicate with others to support independent learning.
• Have the ability to access a variety of media types to be used as resources to facilitate individualized learning.

At Grade 8, students are expected to...

• Have the ability to work in cooperative groups to complete projects utilizing technology and media resources to enhance the learning experience
• Design, develop, publish and present producs using technology resources that demonstrate and communicate curriculum concepts
• Research and evaluate the accuracy, relevance, appropriateness, comprehensiveness and bias of electronic information sources.

VoiceThread is a simple, free, online tool you can use whether you're on a Macintosh or Windows computer. I encourage you to explore it and get your own Pro account--at no cost.

The new version of eNews is about to be released! You can find the September, 2007 issue here, and the October 2007 issue is full of great ideas!

Technology Applications:TEKS (TA:TEKS) teachers attending The Power of Comprehension workshop were some of the first teachers to see VoiceThreads, an exciting digital storytelling tool. The power of VoiceThread is that it can be used regardless of what type of computer you have since it is web-based. VoiceThread describes itself in this way:

A VoiceThread allows every child in a class to record audio commentary about the ideas and experiences that are important to them. Whether an event, a project, or a milestone, children can tell their story in their own voice, and then share it with the world.

For teachers, VoiceThreads offer a single vessel to capture and then share all the diverse personalities of an entire class. You will hear the pride and excitement in their voices as the students "publish" their work.A VoiceThread can be managed with little effort, creating an heirloom that can be shared by students, parents, and educators alike.
Read More

In addition to using VoiceThread for digital storytelling, you are able to use it for a variety of purposes. Some of those include (note the links to examples):

• Poem book: In this activity, participants share their favorite poems to create an audio poem book.
• Great Book Stories: According to Wes Fryer (SpeedofCreativity.org), The idea is basic: Narrate five pictures to share why you love a specific book, and why other people should read it. If you‚Äôre interested in contributing, please check out the site and the guidelines. The password to edit the wiki is ‚Äúshare‚Äù without quotation marks.
• Online Literature Circles: Wouldn't this be a neat way of having literature circles online? Still looking for examples.
• Social Studies/Geography Applications
• Using Moodle in Technology Applications Classrooms: This was created by TA:TEKS teachers as a way to explore VoiceThread while at the same time share ideas about using Moodle, an online discussion forum and teaching tool in their classroom. Note that someone Allanah King, a New Zealand teacher was able to leave an audio comment on one of the "slides."
• Teaching Chemistry Lecture
• A Book Review by the GED Book Club
• A student presentation regarding The Invisible Children

There are many more VoiceThreads available online, spanning a variety of media genres including poems, self-portraits, lectures, book reviews, multimedia presentations, and digital stories. Why not add your students

Want to use VoiceThread in your own classroom? Consider these resources to get you started:

• VoiceThread.com web site
• Printable guide for teachers
• The Connected Classroom Digital Storytelling with VoiceThread

The SAISD Office of Instructional Technology Services is happy to work with you and your students. Please feel free to contact Miguel Guhlin at mguhlin@saisd.net or by phone at 210-527-1400.

During the first week of schools, some campuses encountered problems with accessing the electronic gradebook and attendance tracking system. 13 Campuses were affected, including:

1. Bonham- 9 teachers

2. Ball - 1 teacher

3. Brewer - 1 teacher

4. Fenwick - 1 teacher

5. Franklin - 13 teachers

6. Green - 1 teacher

7. Highland Park - 1 teacher

8. Irving - 5 teachers

9. Lamar - 1 teacher

10. Margil - 2 teachers

11. Riverside Park - 11 teachers

12. Rogers - 1 teacher

13. Storm - 1 teacher

WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM?

There were several problems actually. Apparently, obsolete Macintosh computers running OS 9 or OS X.2 not using the latest version of Internet Explorer were unable to access GATS properly. Another problem was that the recent update to the SAISD web site. The new web site requires Flash, a feature not available in the obsolete versions of Internet Explorer. I encountered both of these when I visited Bonham Academy on Monday.

RESOLVING THE INABILITY TO ACCESS GATS FROM OLD COMPUTERS

Becoming aware of the problem, the Instructional Technology Services team began working on the resolving the problem. My team immediately visited campuses to discover what the issues were. Other actions taken included the following:

* Notifying CampusWare--makers of Gradespeed--of the problem

* Creating a link on the front page of the SAISD site to temporarily allow campuses using older browsers to more easily connect to GradeSpeed

* Visiting campuses that were experiencing the problem and investigating the causes of the problem and how these might be ameliorated.

The computers in use in some classrooms are eMacs, most, if not all, are running an older version of the Macintosh Operating System (OS 9). This is the same as using Windows 95 operating system on PCs and expecting everything to work properly. Fortunately, the problem could be resolved by getting and installing a newer version of the Internet Explorer browser.

Aside from updating the Internet Explorer browser on these older Macs, Campusware--the makers of GradeSpeed--had to make adjustments to the electronic gradebook and attendance. Additionally, since response to a HelpDesk work order might be delayed due to the beginning of the year, IT staff made campus visits to resolve the problem themselves.

RESOLVING THE WEB SITE ISSUE

The main obstacle for old computers to access the revised SAISD web page is lack of Flash support in the Macintosh version of Internet Explorer, whether OS 9 or OS X.2. To resolve this, campuses are being advised on teacher machines--not in computer labs--to switch from OS 9 to OS X.2, run the Mac software update, and use the Safari Internet browser that comes standard with OS X.

Yesterday, Sylvia Martinez, Sue Harris, and I had the chance to present to teachers from around the region. I was the primary speaker, but I decided to invite Sylvia and Sue to share their specific experiences from a San Antonio ISD perspective. After I spoke, what a delight for the audience to hear the specific ideas expressed by Sylvia and Sue. Sue shared her experiences with the Under the Sea Digital Storytelling Camp held simultaneously at 3 campuses in San Antonio ISD. Syvlia shared how digital storytelling technologies are applicable to a wide range of content areas and simple enough for grade 2 and up students to use.

Of course, the focus was on sharing on digital storytelling in general and what SAISD teachers and students are doing in particular.

You can see the presentation below...I customized a presentation I normally use to introduce folks to digital storytelling. You can download all the materials (handouts) from both of these sites:

• MGuhlin's Digital Storytelling wiki (off-site link)
• Instructional Technology's Digital Storytelling

Are you interested in the teaching of writing? You're invited to the San Antonio Writing Project's Visitors Day taking place on Friday, July 6 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM in the Main Building (MB) 0.208 at the UTSA (1604 location). According to the flyer:

Come and visit with our new San Antonio area Teacher Consultants, as teacher demonstrations and pieces of writing are shared! Visitor parking will be available on the top floor of the Parking Garage located on the 1604 side of campus...view the flyer and map.

Some of the images in the presentation below didn't come across. Let me know if you'd like a copy of the PPT.