LEADERSHIP--Scott McCleod facilitating
SLA Chris Lehmann: managing up...we don't teach them how we want to be managed
At his school, they spend lots of time telling leaders what they want...which leads to student success
From a ms/hs principal:
kids multitask and we turn around and departmentalize them and we wonder why they are disengaged.
We need leaders who see themselves as learners...how can we help them accomplish this..to be learners
Also have to deal with risk-taking and all that is involved for the takers and the administration that supports it...or doesn't!
One of the speakers talked about a conference called Leadership 3.0 - administrators in small conference where they got this info. how to integrate technology. [could not find info about this--was hoping could find a laundry list of what was presented]
What does education look like in 21st century? David Warlick asked how many administrators get asked this question...are they ever faced with deciding what this looks like. Could they give a decent answer, a correct answer..at least correct as we see it!
Why are leaders, leaders if they don't get it! Lots of noise around that comment.
As a result, it lead to this statement: leaders and administrators are really two types of people
The principal is often caught in the middle...teachers asking on one end, higher ups demanding on the other. Another chimed in...everyone is caught in the middle!
Scott McLeod: we get caught up in the minutia [my term] of school life and loose sight of what is important.
Everyone in the room agrees that "everyone wants kids to succeed"---HOW to achieve the success or even what success looks like is the problem that causes the conversation going on right now
How do we show administrators the right tools that will help with minutia and still allow other things to happen that need to happen?
Need leaders who say "I don't know what the value of the laptop in classroom is, but I trust that you do so go with it!"
If you are asking your kids to use the smartboard to give the answers to the question your read on pages 1-20, that is fiscal irresponsibility...we need transforming tools...not fancy old tools that perpetuate the old ways. I am reminded of the comments heard around my home circle about activeboards that were holders for butcher paper and markers because a few teachers had not bought into it as it should be used!
David Warlick: Showcase what the kids are doing 2.0 away from school to principals...even things like World of Warcraft [blocked in district]...which he said was even a bit of a stretch for him! I had an opportunity to see it up close and personal a while back and I know exactly what he meant!
Principals are no longer instructional leaders, they are managers putting out lots of little fires so far removed from what is going on in the classroom. I remember when they were specifically id'ed as THE instructional leaders on campus, but that designation hasn't been heard in a long time!
Scott McLeod--pointed out that he and another are only two of a few leadership trainers who get technology into their university preparatory programs...and there are over 500 programs across the country. The other college person said he is expected to attend only academic conferences and had to search for the $ to be here because his administration doesn't understand it either!
A Scottish speaker: American educators tend not to have empowerment..that is what he has noticed...there were several "amens" from Americans in the audience. [yes, it sounded beautiful with his accent...even another speaker said he hated to follow him!]
American educators who do empower are often seen as mavericks, scorned sometimes.
When the leaders are forced to live and die by tests..then we have to show them how this 2.0 world will help.
A long-time principal said he had to give up the idea that he needed to know everything.
but he also recognized that he also must model.
And then there was the "why should I change anything if all is ok"...i.e. my kids are scoring the top off the tests so why would I think I need to change anything. Sound familiar?
One of my favorite terms of the day: trojan horse learning...do it for one reason and sneak in some more
Get the leadership to look beyond the neighborhood...not just measure against the district next door. Must go world-wide.
Sometimes you have to jump to another level of administration and get the support there until the administration comes on board. Often there is risk in doing that!
To get teachers to buy-in make it a buffet of possibilities...choice for teachers as well as kids! I think the 23 Things accomplishes that to an extent.
One got up to say he disagrees with idea that leaders don't need to know the technology...would we accept leaders who only know assessment half way?
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Side note:
Cathy Nelson, a blogger from SC and I finally met...power [strip] brought us together! Great conversation. Felt like I was talking to an old friend!
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SMACKDOWN facilitated by vicki Davis (CoolCat)
[ok, this session is on battery so if it ends..you will know why! battery held up...my fingers, ears and brain did not. I will include sources for the complete list]
Objective: in 3 minutes or less, present a tool. If you go past your time, you will get smacked down...only speaker to do was Vicki!
There will be a list of all this on the edubloggerCon wiki site. They are using all kinds of tools to get the info there. Vicki Davis is facilitating and she went so fast all I heard was Twitter....
Polleverywhere.com...cheap alternative to the vote clickers! it was fast and he also told people to use their cell phone. classroom sizes up to 30 for free
chacha.com Cell phone users fact checking, research...1-800 - chacha # to call. she spoke into phone the question and the answer will be texted back. uses it a lot on field trips.
Similar to google 411
Animoto--an old friend. only about 15 people held up their hands that had used it.. I was surprised! For anyone interested, here is our list of examples...a list added to whenever someone lets me!
PicLens --bulletin board of pictures. One comment...satisfies i-phone envy! looks pretty coll. may have to investigate...not sure when!
freemosquitotones.com -- not sure the value of except to let adults know because kids use it!
Summize -- this one was mentioned several times all day as a way to get info, capture info? goes along with Twitter, compliments Twitter...hence me not understanding because I have not "learned" Twitter yet [scares me a little--not sure I will get it when I try to]
Cover it Live -- they talked about going to the back channel of this. very short demo of what it looks like. several people covered it live earlier today...live blog this way... [mine is really not really live blogging!] back channel is a chat behind the scenes of something. Connected Classroom has several examples of what it looks like to the reader. Cool Cat also
[these tools make my pitiful attempt to blog "live" look......pitiful! o well]
handipoints.com -- keep points for doing things. demonstrator uses it with her two kids for chores. turns it into a talking session with her kids, a good end of day conversation starter. special needs kids --good for them in certain circumstances, especially with parent support. there are activities on the site that can be used outside the point system I believe.
diggo -- use tags to create auto posts.
Peggy Shehan, Second Life -- new project on Second life...multimedia , foreign language and ? islands.
Key ring of staff development --the least techie thing of the day...and one of the coolest...a way to help teachers get it! picture forthcoming!
Makebeliefscomix.com cartoon creator site...doesn't require an email address. 3 panel was demonstrated.
Doodle -- no login or profile required. way to find time to do something, schedule a meeting with a group of people. Note: not .com...you won't end up in right place!
Timebridge is similar..can sync with google calendar, works with outlook
tag galaxy.de -- mines pictures from flickr based on tags
webkins in the classroom -- kinder teacher uses especially for teaching being digital citizens ...uses the website to accomplish this.
back channels -- chats for quieter students who won't speak up . chatter us is an example.
plurk -- similar to twitter..real conversations available
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Another Afternoon session...
facilitated by Steve Hargondon who put the day together (with lots of help, I'm sure)
I stayed in a room that had power...saw it was going to be a small group and decided I would just sit and reflect and not really participate. Wrong...I got involved simply because it was a small group...a bunch of friends just sitting around talking about "life" in the education world.
There are no ceilings for the kids today--David Warlick
[he sat right in front of me--he is much younger than his pictures portray...he's no kid, and still is sage age....and has very nice skin and blue eyes...i told you, he was sitting right there....I couldn't help noticing.]
Long history of non-respect of learners...we don't honor the children as learners. Think how we treat adults who are "nerdy"--life-long learners.
A first-year teacher said she had to teach this way because it is what she knows..she has had the internet since 5th grade. she is using a lot that she learned outside of school as her teacher program did not promote her learning 2.0.
A facilitator of learning is very different from the traditional teacher model. Is perfectly ok for a teacher to say I don't know...how will we go about to find out the answer.
Interesting point...haven't we been fighting this issue for a long time...the changing position of the teacher...even before 2.0
Democratic classroom...allowing the children to choose their learning..they have had choice on the internet..participatory ..they get to choose there too.
The kids are very good at play; we have to show them how to be very good at work--david Warlick
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WOW! what a day...and all for free!
1 comment:
WOW what a GREAT summary of the day...especially the smackdown (as I was having TERRIBLE internet problems trying to get coveritlive to work :(
Since you do live blog this is a GREAT tool, just be forewarned make sure you either tag really clearly or have some other text in the body of your post that will help you to know what is in the coveritlive iframe so that you can search your blog to go back and find information since it is all self contained in that box. I usually live blog then go back and revise my post with these key terms. It gives me a chance to review the notes and think again about the information
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