Nearly Two Hours I'll Never Regret

As a teacher of American History, I am also, and always will be, a student of the same. I never tire of acquiring a greater understanding of our collective history. Whether it is reading an historical non-fiction text or articles from journals and periodicals such as Smithsonian, I am at leisure when expanding my conception of various topics in American History. 

Over the past twelve months I have been working with a group of other teachers as benefactors of a Teaching American History grant through the Battle Creek Public Schools Consortium. We have been studying Emancipation as a turning point and the Civil War as the vehicle of emancipation and have become "plugged-in" to various readings and resources, both online and offline, to help develop a greater and deeper comprehension of the period. 

Once such resource led me to the Teaching American History Podcast. Rather than a podcast in the traditional (is it too early to use that term?) sense, it is more a series of lectures by some of the great minds in historical research. The lectures range in lengths and topics, all intended to strengthen teacher understanding and therefore better history education.

The lecture/podcast that serves as the subject of this post is titled, "The Causes of the Civil War" and is given by James McPherson of Princeton University. He is the author of Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era, a pulitzer-prize winning recollection of that crisis. The title of the lecture seems to be rather aggressive considering the scope of what caused the Civil War. 

At well over 1.5 hours, this lecture clearly reinforced content I had previously known, but still was able to lift subtle nuances of my understanding working behind the scenes to generate new comprehension of the turmoil in Antebellum America. From the role of women, to the Constitutional argument of secession, McPherson paints a nearly perfect portrait allowing the listener to relate a greater understanding to his or her students.

This lecture, as mentioned above, is part of a series of podcasted lectures available on the Teaching American History website or through iTunes. Students and teachers alike will find anything they need for some summer refreshers in their content area.

Posted via email from Mr. Bruce's Musings...

What's Holding You Back

A few weeks ago, while my students were working on a large-scale, collaborative project that involved publishing content to our class wiki. After some time into the project, I noticed that my students productivity tailing off regarding the content that was posted to the wiki pages for their chosen topic (see class wiki for more). I clicked through the their pages on the classroom computer (using a big screen TV as monitor) at the beginning of each class period and asked them, "What is holding you back?"

Although that is a specific story from a closed situation with limited global significance, I recalled that event after reading David Warlick's recent blog post, "The Containerless Learning Environment." I know his piece was about the traditional mindset that learning should take place in a classroom and how current social norms and technology are butting up against that paradigm. However, as I read, I was thinking about constraints somewhat differently.

When I asked my students what was keeping them from achieving at a level which they were capable, we were discussing our collaborative, cooperative environment -- "who is doing what?" and "I don't want to do more than anyone else." However, the question, "What is holding you back? and "What constraints are there that keep you from achieving more?" 

There are always constraints present in education and teachers are constantly fighting to keep learning at the forefront. However, are we really doing all that we can? Take some time and look at your instruction reflectively and ask, "What is holding me back?"

I teach in an amazing building, within a great district. As a small school, we have been able to acquire the best technology and provide great opportunities for learning to take place anywhere our students are. One year after implementing a 7-12 one-to-one laptop program, I feel like our teachers have embraced the new technology remarkably well and have adapted to a culture unique to the learning environment that a one-to-one classroom creates. 

This is not to say we can't expect more. The question "What's holding you back?" is one that I plan to use often as we move to year 2. It doesn't have to offensive, rude, or discourteous. It simply suggests that there is more that can be done in any classroom - with rookie teachers and seasoned vets. Most importantly, it suggests that we need to do this together. 

Almost all educators will recognize and acknowledge that teaching is learning. Ironically, teachers too often opt not to engage in learning to employ and integrate new technologies that have the potential of making instruction easier or more enduring for students. Why this occurs is a varied phenomenon. Some fear lesson failure; some aren't sold on the benefits; others don't take the time to learn; still others don't like stepping out of a comfort zone. 

For a long time school teachers, leaders and administrators all used those to justify their instruction. At what point do these turn from valid reasons to excuses? What was once an acceptable way to ignore the increasing ubiquity of 21st Century technology, is now becoming a negligent disservice to the students around which we are centered. Technology has become the 800-pound gorilla in everyone's classroom. 

As this school year comes to a close and we look toward the next, start asking colleagues that question, and make sure to respond with, "How can I help you with that?"

Posted via email from Mr. Bruce's Musings...

New Things

Whoa... I just realized that it has been almost a half-year since I last put something here. It's not like the time crept up on me and I realized that I forgot, or something. I have been kinda thinking about it recently and I wondered if I should even continue with it.

Now, I know I have no readers (yet), but I suppose one of the ways to gain readers is to post something valuable and useful. Lately I have been spending more time exploring Web 2.0 tools that have potential to be valuable to education. I haven't really done this much since finishing up my Master's coursework, and it is a bit more work now since there is no one (instructors, classmates, etc.) sharing their explorative finds. 

Recently, I came across a web application/service called Tikatok while browsing an ed-tech wiki I am a member of, Classroom 2.0. This website fosters the collaborative creation of children's-style books. I thought it was the coolest thing! There's a neat, simple demo video on their homepage that explains the process (which is very intuitive - even for a 2nd-grader). I sent an email link to our elementary teachers and was hoping that they would explore a bit on their own. I haven't received any positive replies yet, but no negative ones, either.

Now, just this evening, I found another simple collaborative tool called Writeboard. And instead of emailing it, I'm blogging it - people can decide for themselves what to view, right? Anyhow...

Sometimes a teacher is suggested to use a wiki when they would like to have a collaborative writing session between 2 or more authors. But wikis require user accounts, membership, and learning a bit about web site design. Wikis are best when collaboration is asynchronous (everyone is working at a different time) because work can be lost in synchronous revision of wikis and it is confusing and cumbersome to see changes and revert if necessary. Sometimes we are constrained by time and want this done quickly and efficiently, and have a product that can be turned in as a Word document or something like that (or perhaps put into a web page of some sort). 

Writeboard fosters that environment very simply. No user accounts, just an email address and an ability for your collaborators to access your url and that's about it. No changes are lost with writeboard so there's no need to worry about two or more people typing at the same time. And when you are finished, you can export it as a .txt (plain text) or .html to be placed on a web hosting server. 

The only downside is the inability to edit rich text. There's no bold/italics/underline, no making font bigger or smaller, no bullets/numbering, etc. Finished work is raw text. And though there are positive sides to that, I feel it to be a drawback. If that is something you are in need of, take a peek at YourDraft. The principle is the same, but it does offer a WYSIWYG editor (in Firefox or Explorer), but no export options. 

Check it out. I can see many possible uses for this in secondary and elementary classrooms. Let me know what you think - drop me a line either via email or comment below.

Big News on Social Networking - Not as bad as we think?

The University of Minnesota released results from a recent study that looked at what students learn from frequent use of social networking platforms. A featured article by 21st Century Connections titled, "What Kids Learn from Social Networking," highlights the study and its findings. Check out the article at their website. I have also embedded the video from the University of Minnesota lead researcher interviewed regarding the results of the study.

A few big points that I found noteworthy, maybe to allow you to avoid reading the entire article, was that the number one item learned that students listed are technology skills, followed by creativity, open-mindedness, and communication skills. So we must ask ourselves, are Facebook and MySpace really harming our students, or are they preparing them for 21 century society in a way that we as educators are not providing (or cannot provide). 

Understanding the restraints and limitations we face when striving to increase amount of technological self-efficacy of the students in our classrooms, we still cannot ignore the benefits that these heathenish web apps offer. The question regarding them may change. Rather than ask "How can we keep our students from accessing MySpace at school?" (because we all know how creative they are at navigating around firewalls and filters), we can now ask, "How do we employ these powerful web tools within the confines of maintaining a safe digital environment?" An analogy was made by the lead researcher, Christine Greenhow, relating educating teens on safe social networking and teaching them to drive. If driving is dangerous, why don't we push to keep kids from getting behind the wheel the same way we try to keep students from engaging in something that is proven to make a difference?

It is a tough question with no concrete answer. However, this research shows that educators must not hastily invalidate progress by ignoring the existence of such remarkable learning tools by only focusing on their negative aspects. Let's collectively resolve to find better solutions than an ultimate block of things that really do teach students good skills.

For more, visit: U of Minn News Service

Intro to Wikis

Many of us you have heard of a wiki - maybe someone you know said they know someone who saw one... The truth is that they are an amazing way to create and publish web pages quickly and easily. Even more amazing is that anyone is capable of creating a wiki space (it's not that difficult). Even more amazing still is that they are 100 percent collaborative!

Wait, what are we talking about? How can I use one? And what do you mean collaborative? Take a look at the video below from CommonCraft, "Wikis in Plain English."

I feel that this video does what it says, it puts it in plain English. I feel that wikis, in a way, are perfectly designed for educational use. Wikis can be used in the classroom as a place teachers can post links, files, pictures, and other elements for students and/or parents to view and access. Teachers can also use wikis to display student work. If you're really clever and tech savvy, try having students create pages as an assignment. Incorporating student-created wiki pages and allowing them to work together hits several of the Michigan Educational Technology Standards (METS). 

If you are a teacher and are interested in learning more about using wikis in the classroom view the following links to guide your research:

• Teacher's First Wiki Guide
• Educational Wikis Home (note the List of Educational Wikis)
• For Teachers New to Wikis

There are four large-scale wiki providers that offer educational solutions for wiki spaces:

1. Wikispaces
2. PBWiki
3. Wetpaint
4. Google Sites (new!)
   

Seek these solutions out and determine which may be best for you. I'll check the comments for questions.