Social Media in schools

Do you believe that social media is here to stay? I do. I see many applications in business as a way for businesses to connect with customers. In business, it may even evolve into an essential community building tool. But I am not so sure that social media will play as an essential role in community building in education for day to day teaching.

Social media is the technology that makes online community building possible, not the community itself. It allows for the creation of and service to, online communities, where dialogue and interaction among community founders and members are possible. Some examples include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Wikipedia, Picasa and MySpace.

It is true that electronic communication and social media create new options for extending and enhancing education. However, in surveying my students, they unanimously said that they would prefer going to a class to interact socially and academically with other students. Also, they said that they would want to have content explained to them thoroughly and receive immediate feedback to their work to ensure they are on the right path.


There is no question that a website may be a very important part of your online presence, but it is not a very effective community-building tool. However, a website can become a platform from which you launch and serve your student communities. Think of your website as your classroom where you teach students using social media as the place you guide and push the thinking of students.

There is one critically important thing for a teacher to understand about both of the online student community types: The teacher cannot entirely control community behavior. Members – students and prospects – control the conversation in the community. The teacher can only create and influence the community by establishing and demonstrating school community values.

As an addendum, professional bodies such as the Ontario College of Teachers recently posted a Professional Advisory: Use of Electronic Communication and Social Media. The advisory offers advice to teachers on how best to use electronic communication and social media with students.

Where do you stand? What’s your story?

image via My Crowd

Social Media Accessing the Knowledge About Teaching

How do teachers, collectively, improve the common standard of teaching? How do they build the professional knowledge base for teaching?

Currently and traditionally results of research are first validated, then communicated in research journals to educators who in turn have to figure out how to apply the research themselves in a classroom situation. The model below shows the cycle produced by research.




Lesson Study

The key to lesson study is accumulated in a different way. Lesson study is carried out in a classroom; therefore the problem of applying findings to teaching is eliminated. First teachers describe the lesson to be shared with sufficient detail to other teachers so that they can actually use the lessons. We avoid the barrier of having to communicate in journals or try to apply what we have read. Instead this sharing of lesson can be replicated at different levels and promote discussion at staff meetings to see how students are faring.


The use of technology can greatly enhance knowledge about teaching in that the most useful information that can be shared can include examples of classroom lessons linked to theoretical understanding of teaching. We already have the tools to link together video, audio, images of student work, and commentary by researchers and others into a single integrated database.

Social Media Database:



With the above database:
* Curriculum developers could establish large archives of lessons that are organized around the specific structures of the curricula.
* Teacher groups could work on perfecting lessons, then post results of their study, including a complete video record.
* Other teacher groups could access these archives to inform their practice.

The idea is not new, but it needs to be streamlined more. The use of twitter , facebook and other social media might be the grass roots movement to these larger databases. It might even begin in your own school. If it is I would love to hear about it.

What's your story?

Infographic - Are we Digital Dummies?

Life isn't a production line

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you'll never come up with anything at all."
Sir Ken Robinson, PhD is an internationally recognized leader in the development of education, creativity and innovation. He is also one of the world’s leading speakers with a profound impact on audiences everywhere. The videos of his famous 2006 and 2010 talks to the prestigious TED Conference have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in over 150 countries.

Understanding Creative Commons - Case Study

Learning to teach online PDF
Copyright and creative commons is particularly important in the educational context where content is often copied, shared, reused and remixed by both teachers and students in the learning and teaching process. This episode explains the basics of creative commons. We examine some of the different license terms and combinations, and offer some insights into which might be better suited for educational purposes. We also discuss how to generate your own creative commons license and what to do when your work is not attributed by others.

Reference: Australian Learning and Teaching Council

Open 6 doors: one lesson at a time

If we are serious about improving teaching, then we need to begin to open the doors to one another’s classes. This article is not suggesting that the system is broken, but rather it is about giving suggestions on how we might begin to see improvement in the school one lesson at a time.

Anticipate improvement to be continual, gradual, and incremental
If we believe that we can wave a magic wand and expect that improvement in our classes overnight, we are living in a dream. Learning takes time. In spite of the new reforms, initiatives or creativities; change may be thrown on us quickly, but it is really a slow and incremental process. Continue to invent small changes in the system and keep track in order that they may be shared.

Focus on student learning
The point of teaching is student learning. If we forget this point, then measuring success of students will be an impossible task. We need to begin asking one another how these changes are improving students learning in order that we might stay on track and not get lost in excitement of change.

Focus on the teaching
Teachers come and go. Teaching on the other hand focuses on the methods and the tools. Collaboration is key to scripting our approach. Our script is looking at what we value, what we want to improve, what tools we are going to use, what benchmarks we are going to use. Once we begin examine our methods and tools, and then improvement will begin to emerge.

Improve with context
Improvements in teaching do not begin at the University, at the Ministry nor at the Board Office. They begin and end in the classrooms where our students learn and our teachers teach. Teachers have known forever what works in one classroom might not work in another. On Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs we see innovation being spread like wild fire. Innovation needs to be tried out over and over again with adjustments as we encounter different classrooms. Traditional methods of weekend workshops and the like do not always allow for improvement to take place in the classroom as they are far too often disconnected to your context in the classroom. Make the innovation real and in context and begin to see improvements emerge continually, gradually, and incrementally.

Take responsibility
Improvement doesn’t happen on its own. It is developed in context and engages the learners though working with other highly qualified professionals to entrust change. If we, as teachers, are the only ones who can entrust change, then we need to seek out the tools, the research, and the best solution to the problem of improving our teaching.

Learn from experience
Each new teacher that enters a classroom starts from scratch. They are capable of solving problems, trying new approaches, and developing their own knowledge base for teaching. But what is missing is their experience. So the team of teachers who have been working together for the long run, incrementally changing and storing professional knowledge might be effective, but that knowledge and experience needs to be shared. New teachers to the profession need to find a mentor, while experienced teachers need to provide a means to share their insights. How else can we get better over time?

Once we begin opening the doors to one another’s classrooms, we might begin to see what we have learned about teaching. The fruits of this learning, might emerge in school improvement over time.

Grading : DR. Douglas Reeves

Which class would you choose?

	Classroom A	Classroom B	Classroom C
Similarities	5o minute class about to begin, students in rows of desks, Students with binders and books, posters in the room, high yield strategies posted, teachers desk, computers, interactive whiteboard, and similar atmosphere, teachers welcome students and say "Let's get started"
9 a.m.	Teacher A checks homework Calls on students for attendance	Teacher B reviews yesterday's lesson Teacher B assigns new twist to the same problem Students present an approach and solution to the new problem	Teacher C asks students short answer review questions in a warm-up style Teacher checks homework and does attendance by calling on students for answers.
9:10	Teacher A presents a problem to students Students answer specific questions related to the problem Teacher B emphasizes specific methods to solving the problem	Teacher B presents the task of the day and monitors progress Students work at on it independently Teacher takes attendance	Teacher C distributes worksheets with similar problems Students work independently Teacher C monitors work Teacher C notices confusions and demonstrates how to problem solve
9:20	Students begin working on a handout. Teacher A asks that they stay on task. Class reviews the work by reading answers aloud from the handout.	Teacher B suggests students continue their work in small groups. Small group leaders share problems with teacher who writes them on the whiteboard Class discussion ensues	Teacher C presents another worksheet with more challenging problems Students work independently
9:40	Teacher assigns homework Students get a head-start on homework	Teacher B highlights a good method to solving the problems No homework assigned	Teacher conducts a quick oral review Teacher assigns homework
9:50	Class dismissed

Call for Action

In my reading of Getting Started the authors ask the the questions: What do we expect our students to learn? How will we know they have learned? How will respond when students don’t learn?

To answer these questions, we need to build a collaborative culture in schools and organizing teams to develop mission, vision, values and goals. What is the school we are trying to create? What is our purpose? If we are serious about the implementation of collective commitments to move our schools in the intended direction of technology and creativity we need to continuously promote, protect and defend the vision and values.

Let’s explore this a little further: What are we planning for? What are we modelling as a staff to our students (you can’t give what you don’t got)? What do we monitor? What do we celebrate? What are we willing to confront? How are we prepared to allocate time, energy, money? What other questions are driving our school?
It is not about recreating schools but redefining and prioritizing our focus for our respective districts and schools.

To start you on your journey explore the following link:

32 ways to use Google Apps

What’s your story?

You can't give what you don't got...

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moodle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Teaching SMART is so much fun.

If you are “new” to the world of teaching with technology, remember you can’t give what you don’t got. Keep in mind that every teacher and every team has a hand in the school improvement plan. Generally, all plans are designed to increase student achievement. If you want to add technology into the plan you have to identify and pursue SMART goals. Otherwise technology for the sake of technology is the ideology of the cancer cell.

Key Questions:
1) What knowledge and skills should each student acquire from the use of the technology?
2) How do we know if the student has mastered the intended outcomes?
3) How will we respond when a student has initial difficulty achieving the established standards you set?

An ounce of planning:
Once the above questions are asked and answered, we are able to align our time, money, and energy in a way that would give us the biggest return on investment of our scarce resources. This leads to celebrations. No matter how big or how small, we look for celebrations and the use of technology with our students in their inevitable achievement.

I encourage you to keep tweeting, moodling, googling, blogging – SHARING … with the goal toward student achievement and engagement. I look forward to learning from each other, only then will I be able to give what I got.

What's your story?

photo credit flickr

Technology: Time, Perspective, Priorities

I read a tweet recently that, I must admit, annoyed me a little. It suggested that teachers are the reason that technology is not advancing as quickly as it ought in the public school system. I would like to submit a different point of view.

In a previous article “Gone Fishing”, I spoke of students having greater equality access to knowledge and more opportunities to be challenged to their highest potential with the use of technology [despite the teacher]. Also, in my article “I don’t have the time” I highlighted that everything we do is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, grading periods, semesters, or academic years to name a few. Put the two ideas together and it occurs to me it comes down to time, perspective, and priorities.



Time
Teachers are concerned with “engaged time”; inviting students to participate in learning activities; technological or otherwise. If this is true, then how can a teacher be expected to find the time to finish all the “have to’s” participate in board initiated professional development, take additional qualifications, raise a young family, …

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning without time is just no fun.


Perspective
Perspective is a powerful tool. Perhaps we need to put aside the “have to’s” and change perspective in the way we define our jobs. Consider Dufour’s story about a young woman who observed three tradesmen at work. Each tradesman was doing the same activity. She went to the first tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m just laying brick”. She went to the second tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m building a wall”. She went to the third tradesmen and asked what he was doing; he replied “I’m building a Cathedral”. Each one had the same task to complete, but three very different perspectives on what he was accomplishing.

Instead of “laying a brick” focus on “building a Cathedral”…

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning without perspective is just no fun.



Priorities
Once you have decided to “build a Cathedral” then anything is possible. The Savvy Duck suggests a number of factors when choosing to use hardware or software. Here is his quick list:
• Does it really solve the problem or do I just want to use it?
• How long will it take to integrate and build from?
• Does anyone in the building have any experience using it?
• How much does it cost and are support agreements available?
• What is the licensing scheme?
• How big is the internet community?
• What are the posts like in the support forum (if there is one)?
• How long has it been available?

If you decide in the end that it does meet the criteria to assist your students in their learning, then time no longer becomes an issue. You cannot choose to create more time, but you can choose your focus…

even if …
i pads or i phones or
moogle or google or
blogs or gadgets or bing…
That you use is the very best one,
Learning with priorities is so much fun.

Gone fishing...

Teaching information in a variety of contexts gives students greater equality in access to knowledge and more opportunities to be challenged to their highest potential. The old adage holds true: “Give a student a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish and he will eat for a lifetime." We already know education gives children the most critical building blocks to adulthood and self-sufficiency. In this scenario the student gets to be in the moment, HEAR the water slap against the boat; SMELL the water and the natural odours of the out-of doors; FEEL the tug of the fish on the line, the splash of the fish in the boat; SEE the size of the fish as it tries to flop back in the water; and finally TASTE the delicious fish as it is cooked over a camp fire.

Lessons incorporating cross-curricular studies , discovery science, role play, games, physical activity, art, music, or drama have the advantage of stimulating the brain (Thesen, Jonas, Calvert, and Ostenbauer 2004). Naturally a teacher is not expected to simulate every sense simultaneously. Rather teachers should engage all learning styles, thus drawing all students into the topic; whatever the subject.

If teaching a student to fish is multisensory, by all accounts would suggest an increased number of synapses and dendrites stimulated during the activity and would support the theory of multisensory input and the effect on the brain. Therefore, if greater brain stimulation promotes the growth of synapses and dendrites, and more areas are stimulated when information is passed through multiple senses, then multisensory presentation of lesson material could stimulate the growth of more brain connections and lead to better information storage.

So what? Since multisensory inputs more than one specific sensory receptor of the brain, then multisensory strategies may increase subsequent access of the cross-referenced memories for use on tests and build future relational memories.

Now if I could just teach the fish to bite…

What’s your story?

photo by spottedsparrow (Julia)

References: Thesen,T, Jonas, V., Calvert, G., & Osterbauer, R. (2004). Neoroimaging of multisensory processing in vision, audition, touch, and olfaction. Cognitive Processing

Always use a green pencil

When a teacher uses a red pencil to comment, she shows greater concern with what’s wrong than with what’s right. At least, this is the perception held by my students.
Which is why our professional objective should be to draw the most out of our students and to build attitudes, behaviours and learning results we want – while remaining credible and objective. To achieve this objective we should correct students whenever and wherever it is need, AND praise students constructively and appropriately as well.

Correction always gets a bad rap when it is void of compassion. Being compassionate should be high on our list. Nevertheless, correction ought to connect current performance to standards and achievement. Therefore, correcting with compassion needs to be regarded as a major instructional tool.

People crave praise. This is important to our effectiveness. With praise comes recognition. If we overuse praise, we can devalue a person and weaken its motivational effect. Praise must be honest. Praise must be deserved. It must always be accompanied by advantages and benefits. It should be regarded as important and meaningful.

If you haven’t praised your students in the last two weeks, there are two possible problems. There is either a performance problem in your classroom – or your too stingy with your praise. Remember, you can always praise to improve performance. An example includes: A) “You’re doing very well with…” B) “Why not try this…” C) “I know you can do it!” – Notice I used the “praise (A)-correction (B)-praise (C)” technique.

In my experience I have never met a student who said “Enough praise already”. Praise is an effective tool. Students feed off of it, they perform for it. It motivates students to do better. It must be deserved. Dish it out at the right time, you will see results; dish it out at the wrong time, you could do more harm than good.

Praising our students meets their needs. That is why praise is a vital tool a teacher must know how to use honestly with each student. That’s why I always use a green pencil when I mark a paper.

What’s your story?

photo credit Susanna Farrar

Not another graphic organizer

Today's students need to be effective thinkers, team players, writers and strategic planners. Graphic organizers like Venn Diagrammes, T-Charts and the like provide a blueprint to encourage and develop these valuable skills in our students.

Graphic organizers assist the student to question any of the following components in reading or multi-media material including central idea, particular statement, example that supports and idea, proof of a fact, definition of a concept.

Engaging students in the critical thinking process means asking students to discover and uncover similarities, differences, causes and effects, examples of ideas, ideas to examples and evaluation. Within these processes students ask questions that use mind actions including: this reminds me of? How is this different from my experience, why did this happen or what caused this, What is the central idea, what evidence do I have to support this, or how do I evaluate this?

Here is a link to get you started.... GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
To suggest that one graphic organizer over another is better, is a statement that does not look at the student but rather the tool. Nevertheless, a discovery with a graphic organizer is said to be an accident meeting a prepared mind.

What's your story?

Photo credit Learningfocused

Homework: Complain, complain, complain...

If we give out homework, we hear complaints. If we never give out homework, we still hear complaints. Famous phrases we hear are – it’s too long, it’s too difficult, I don’t understand it, it’s too easy, it’s too short, I feel like I’m wasting my time.

There has been much debate about homework. Some Boards and schools have homework policies in relation to learning and achievement. This then raises more questions about homework practices and implementation.



So what is homework? According to Google dictionary:
home•work noun /ˈhōmˌwərk/ 
1. Schoolwork that a student is required to do at home

2. Work or study done in preparation for a certain event or situation
he had evidently done his homework and read his predecessor's reports

3. Paid work carried out in one's own home, esp. low-paid piecework

Let me add that homework is practice, reinforcement or application of new skills and knowledge, and to learn new skills of independent study (NREL). Let’s explore the purpose of homework…

Homework
1. Provide students with additional practice of newly taught skills and
knowledge. Beware that if students learn new skills or knowledge
independently and inaccurately, unlearning new information can be difficult.
2. Increase the amount of time students are actively engaged in learning.
Homework can help students increase their skills and acquire deeper
knowledge.
3. Helps teachers monitor student progress and diagnose learning problems. It
may give you valuable information that you need to have to make appropriate
adjustments to nurture student learning.
4. Allows students to move through the curriculum more rapidly. Without
homework, students may lose interest.
5. Increases communication between the parents and the school. Without
homework, parents may not have any idea what their child is learning in
school.
6. Increases student responsibility and individual accountability for their
own work. Our task is to help students acquire the habits that will
facilitate their success the rest of their lives.

If handled appropriately, homework can have a positive impact on achievement. To do so we must assign the right amount for the grade level, be clear and have a purpose, and never be “busy work” or a “punishment”. Finally, not all our students have the same resources at home including involved parents, computer, routines and so forth. Ideally homework should be substantial and positive toward student achievement. Maybe then the complaints will begin to dwindle.

What’s your story?

photo istock

My way or the highway

With the students that I have worked with over my career, I have come across students who misbehave. In my experience, misbehaviour comes from a student’s feelings of inadequacies. Feeling inadequate can lead to anger which can lead to bullying, and feelings of arrogance can lead to attention seeking behaviour.

Where we often find an impasse and escalate a situation is when we take a stand as teachers and say “it’s my way or the highway”. Listening and open communication are the best policies, as they allow us to identify feelings to begin to help students. Blocking the two-way street of communication and paving a highway your way leads to devastation.

Simply respond to students as good citizens and know that they are usually harder on themselves then we could ever be. Let’s begin to look at the rules in our classrooms as structure that gives safety and freedom to every student, including you!

What's your story?

I don't have the time !

In presentations that I have done across Canada, I have always sent out an evaluation sheet that measures my “effectiveness”. One comment that always comes to the forefront is – Great ideas Stephan, inspiring, motivating … BUT I DON’T HAVE THE TIME!

I would be hard pressed to find someone who has all the time in the world. Everything we do is measured in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, grading periods, semesters, or academic years to name a few. As the Clever Sheep asks, how do we tip the iceberg?

With the current focus on student achievement, time is the tip of that iceberg. As an educator, you can appreciate the notion of “allocated school time” where students are required to be in school. What does that mean? I would suggest it includes time when instruction is not taking place, such as school assemblies, lunch, recess and so forth.

“Engaged time” invites students to participate in learning activities. I would suggest when students are invited to participate in learning activities do not point to student learning. If I push this concept a little further, just because students are engaged in learning activities does not necessarily mean they are learning. Perhaps students are reviewing material or receiving material they are not prepared to learn.

So when does learning occur? Learning occurs in the precise period when an instructional activity is aligned with a student’s readiness to learn. Research suggests clearly, the quality of our teaching is the key to making time matter. Specifically, wasting five minutes each hour can add up to two hours lost each week in the school year.

Authors like Harry Wong or Fred Jones suggest that improving our classroom management procedures and techniques can decrease the amount of time lost to such factors as student misunderstandings, classroom routines, and breaks between learning activities. Additionally, Wong and Jones suggest that it can also decrease the amount of time spent distributing materials or handling student misbehaviour.

I think we would all agree that when students are highly interested in the activity they are more apt to learn. Here are some time saving techniques: small group instruction, skill-based grouping, and assigning seating strategically. Included are writing out and thoroughly explaining assignments, having materials students need readily available, providing quick feedback, on student work, and planning each day’s lesson to ensure time for closure.

More time savers include engaging “early finishers” in interesting and meaningful activities, and allowing large blocks of time for closure. Why not use notes, letters or e-mail to communicate with families to assist their children to use planners to manage their own time.

If we want students to look forward to returning to our classes each day we have to plan to build on what they have learned… planning takes time but it allows students to be absorbed in their learning and experience success.

Sadly I have run out of time on this. What is your story?

clocks, a photo by Leo Reynolds on Flickr.

Kick start motivation

I often speak about motivating students. But, teachers are the greatest “givers” of time, knowledge, and experience. But you can’t give what you don’s got. Foremost, to motivate students we must be motivated to improving ourselves. Without this desire, it is like the Toronto Maple Leafs wanting to win the Stanley Cup at the beginning of the season; then can’t find the will, the time, or the energy to work at that goal. The bottom line: we must push ourselves to get better. No one else can work at our motivation.

So how do I feed this desire? What if I don’t have the inclination? I would argue that you have to put yourself in situations to view excellence greater than your own. There is nothing like watching the Wayne Gretzky’s of the world to instil in you the desire to be a better hockey player. The same is true for teaching. Look down in the classrooms of your school, read or view articles from some of the well-known authors like Sir Ken Robinson, Michael Fullan, Robert Marzano, Richard Dufour or Damian Cooper to name a few.

Second, find an area that you want focus on what you want to explore and bring into focus. Blog, journal, pen and reflect your accomplishments in the classroom. This includes the highs and the lows. The feelings that you attach to your own experiences represent new learning and the fuel to kick start your motivation.
Take a closer look at what your skilled colleagues are doing. What makes your colleagues so successful? What are her techniques? What are her skills? Invite a trusted colleague to visit your classroom and give you feedback. With permission, videotape your “performance” in front of a class. This allows us to see very clearly our behaviours, our procedures, and our strategies close up and personal. Review your evaluation reports. Seek out one or two concrete suggestions for improvement.

Third prioritize your areas of improvement and measure your progress. Brainstorm your top 10 areas of improvement. Establish a timeline and measure your success. For example, you might want to explore strategies to increase student engagement. Research it, read about it, talk about it, watch it and finally set a deadline for incorporating these strategies.

Most importantly celebrate your success. I believe we often overlook the opportunity to celebrate our growth and achievement. Savouring that success fuels us to keep motivated. Focus on progressing steadily rather than leaping to the next goal. Maintain a belief that nothing in education is beyond your reach!

What is your story?

The Business of Education

For a student, it could be a key to the future.

Key Role of Education-Business Partnerships by Kyra Kester
Role of Business in Education by Alan Baas

Below Apple and the classroom:

Today and tomorrow....

Information technology allows us to generate and manipulate knowledge, and to communicate ideas and values quickly, irrespective of geographical distance with the use of tools of the Internet like blogs, groups, readers... . Are we giving our students the ability to define information needs, locate, analyze, organize and present for real audiences?