Leading By Example - Transforming Education for the 21st Century

I’ve had the great fortune to spend a week at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference in Boston with a group of New York City school administrators who have made significant progress in becoming transformative leaders. I felt it was important during my week with these leaders for us not only to talk the talk, but to walk the walk and (even if things got messy) use a variety of the tools they were beginning to explore so that in addition to learning about theoretical implications of innovative practices, they would have hands on experience in discovering what it was like using these tools. During our time at the conference our group used a variety of technologies to enhance the way we were communicating and collaborating. To set the stage it was important to establish that our work together wasn’t around learning about things like wikis, blogs, twitter, and learning networks (which we did learn about) but rather about working in innovative ways that enhanced the work we were doing.

Sharing Knowledge with Google Docs

Prior to the conference we established a Google doc where we would each capture our Schedules to enable us to share our plans for the conference. This would serve a couple purposes. 1) It allowed us to be aware of the sessions one another was attending as it’s always great to be able to connect with colleagues who experienced the same learning as you, process, and extend the thinking. 2) It enabled us to capture the knowledge each of us set out to gain so we had an instant record of our group’s professional development experience.

Using a Wiki for Collecting, Capturing, and Accessing Important Materials

We also set up a wiki page for our conference experience. This provided a place for us to collect and access all important conference information such as the conference program, our daily reflection. It also provided a place where we could capture notes and materials shared at various presentations.

Tweeting to Follow Conference Activities and Share Reflections and Plans

School leaders set up Twitter accounts which they used to follow the goings on of the conference using the tag “BLC09” for the first two days. By day three most school leaders were also contributing tweets that included instant reflections of what they learned that they planned to bring back to their schools. This is now permanently captured and available for future reflecting and all leaders have access to see what their colleagues are thinking of doing allowing them to connect and collaborate. Here are some examples of their tweets using the tag 21cl.

· I plan to introduce digital writing portfolios through student blogs, expand use of wikis/blogs, expand our newspaper to be multi-media

· I will learn and share Google secrets by going to http://tinyurl.com/nwyeey

· Use twitter and google docs to promote a sense of community that can be extended outside of school

· Have staff tweet to share what is going on in school using a school tag

· Teachers can tweet homework assignments

· Have students create tutorials using Screencasting. (mathtrain.tv)

· As a leader I will model using tech tools in my practice

· Use Google Docs to construct grade level planning conference agendas and collaboratively write lesson plans

Using Google Graphs, Spreadsheets, and Twitter to Poll Participants

Our group was determining what our online brand would be. To do this, all members of our group were asked to contribute by tweeting nominations for the potential group name using the tag 21cl. I collected the nominated names and placed the 25 nominees in a Google Spreadsheet which we planned to use as a free polling tool. Our group members names were placed across the top of the sheet and each school leader used their five votes to nominate their top choices. As they did this we watched the graph rise and fall. The winner was Transforming Leaders for the 21^st Century.

During Conference Reflection Using Google Forms

School leaders completed a Conference Reflection Form a few times during the conference to capture what they learned and planned to bring back to their schools. These were captured as
conference reflections that were published enabling each participant to have the ability to access their own reflection any time as well as those of their colleagues.

Posting Conference Reflections Using a Blog

Each principal is going to write one reflection in response to the question, “What specific thing(s) will I do as a transformative leader in my school?” This will be posted on our newly created blog at http://ted21c.blogspot.com.

Connecting Across Schools and Across the Year with A Free Learning Network

Our group spent a session designing and creating the TED21C Learning Network which will be used across the year for schools to connect, communicate, and collaborate both within their schools and across schools. School leaders created groups and customized their home pages.

Capturing Memories Using Flickr

Photos of our experience were captured at Flickr using a new account we set up at ted21C (friend us). These photos are also posted on our learning network.

I’ve spent a memorable week working with school leaders who are thinking about ways they will bring transformation back to their schools. During that time we were Flickring, Blogging, Google Docing, Polling, Networking, Tweeting, Eating, Speaking and more. I can’t wait to see their plans for taking some of what they learned back to their schools as they continue down the road of transformation.

Kids Teach Kids with Mathcasting

At the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston this week, I had the opportunity to meet an impressive teacher and two of his students who are engaged in exciting work involving kids who are psyched about math because they get to teach other kids how to get smarter. Eric Marcos is a middle school teacher who had created a video using Jing to help a struggling student understand a math concept. A few days later, another student happened to see the video and when he came across a difficult math concept he asked Mr. Marcos if he would make him a video too. Word got around and then something new happened. A student asked if she could make one of these videos about a math concept she was good at. Mr. Marcos said, "sure!." The next thing he knew he had his MATH students asking to stay late to make math videos. It was previously unheard of at this school that students would be staying late to do math.

The kids were excited to make their own math video and the concept took off. Mr. Marcos’s teaching began a transformation as he started using the student videos as a powerful tool in his classrooms for instruction and assessment. Next he had to determine a place to host the videos. He set up a site called http://www.mathtrain.tv. The site has the student video tutorials on various math concepts. They are just fantastic and popular. Soon there were kids around the globe watching these videos asking Mr. Marco’s students how to do math concepts and requesting more videos. Then students began discussing the math concepts they watched in the videos. Of course, not only is this a fantastic and motivational instructional tool, it is also a terrific assessment tool to determine if students have mastered a particular math concept. All videos have popularity rating, quality rating, and comments not only from educators, but also from their peers. BTW...this is all free.

Visit the site at http://www.mathtrain.tv and check out all the great existing content you can share with your students OR your students can create and contribute their own content.

Get Going with Google Apps in Your School

As a Google Certified Educator I am often asked how to get started using Google Apps. As many teachers know, Google Apps Education Edition is a free suite of hosted communication & collaboration applications designed for schools and universities. (See the top 10 reasons to switch your school to Google Apps.)

Though I know Google is a valuable tool, when faced with this question, I first ask, “Why Google Apps?” This is important to consider as the goals and objectives must come before the tool. Here is a recent response I received to that question:

We're looking for a school web site that is enhanced by the tools that Google seems to offer.As a school, we'd like to be able to communicate with students and parents about assignment deadlines and events, on a general school-wide level as well as for individual classes. We'd like email accounts for students and teachers, calendars, class web pages. We are also interested in using Google docs as a means of encouraging collaboration among students during group projects, lab activities, etc. I think there are a lot of applications to our school.

We are on paid site right now, but I have heard a lot of good things about Google Apps for Education. It seems more user-friendly/intuitive since Google is something the kids (and staff) are used to working with. Not to mention that it's free.

This school seems to have some great reasons for using Google Apps. Now that the stage is set, here is how I recommend getting started.

GET READY

Read the Quick Start Guide
The Education Edition is engineered to help schools organize the wealth of knowledge that lives inside schools. This guide will assist a full-scale deployment of Google Apps.

View Tutorials & Tips
View videos and tutorials on how you can use Google Apps at your school and in the classroom.

Sign Up for Free Email with Message Security in Google Apps Education Edition for K-12s
Keep your students safe with Google Message Security, offered free to current and new K12 Google Apps schools that sign up before July of 2010. Customizable inbound and outbound filtering based on content or senders - you make the rules.

Set Up Sites for Teachers
Check out the new Sites for Teachers page to see how teachers, students and administrators are using Google Sites to create their class sites, organize school trips, and run school projects.

Help Students Search Effectively
Educators often say that they could use some help to teach better web search skills in the classroom and make sure Google is used well and to its full potential. Google Certified Teachers have develop a set of nine modular and practical lessons to help educators do just that.

Review the Tools for your classroom
Become familiar the products that comprise Google tools for educators including staples like Blogger, SketchUp, Docs, Book Search , and iGoogle and their incredible newly featured products like the Custom Search Engine.

Take a look at Classroom Activities and Tips Posters
Be sure to check out some examples of teacher work in the new classroom activities section and check out the handy tips posters, which you can print out and hang in your classrooms, computer labs and libraries.

GET SET
Once you’ve done your homework, it’s time to start connecting with others doing the same work. These will be your best resources to becoming successful using Google Apps for Educators. Here is how you do this.

Get on the map
Find other Google Apps educators & students around the world. When you visit the Map you will find schools, along with their url, that are using Google. Figure out the key people at that school. Connect and visit. Here in New York you will find:

• Andrew Stillman, Columbia Secondary School, www.columbiasecondary.org
• Nancy Wong, The School at Columbia University, www.theschool.columbia.edu
• Jason Levy and Dan Ackerman, CIS 339, http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/09/x339/default.htm
  

Become a Part of the Google Teacher Community
Here you will find the Google for Educators Discussion Group designed to keep you updated on Google's K-12 Education initiatives. The group has become the home of a vibrant community of educators. In this space educators start discussions with fellow teachers; share ideas about innovation in education; ask questions about where to find teaching resources; tell colleagues about curricula you've created that have worked really well and more. You will also find examples of classroom activities using Google products.

GO!
You are now ready to begin using Google Apps at your school. You will want to introduce this to your colleagues through a meeting or email. When doing this be sure to include your school goals and objects around why you are doing this. Have some simple ways they can get started now. Share some ways you plan to measure success.

You may want to set the stage with a video. Here are two I recommend.

Celebrate Your Success and Get on The Map
Once you launch this work in your school, add yourself to the Google Community Map publicly with your colleagues. Share your success by commenting here. Invite others to your school (physically or virtually) to see the great work you are doing. Share and publish your experience like this teacher did Spontaneous Collaboration... How cool is that?

An Innovation Roadmap: Criteria for Innovative Schools in the 21st Century

Today I will be joining a colleague from Teaching Matters at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference to speak with school leaders from around the world. We will be discussing the following questions.

• What is a 21^st Century School?
• Where does my school stand on the continuum of 21^st century success?
• Where do I want to be?
• How might I plan to get there?

At the conference we will be exploring this concept and looking at this question using a newly created tool called the Rubric for School Innovation. The Rubric provides a guide for thinking about different stages in the development of an innovative school. This tool offers a set of guiding questions and indicators of effectiveness and innovation, especially innovation made possible by technology.

You can find out where your school sits right now by visiting What Level is Your School? at The Innovative Principal area of the Teaching Matters website. Leaders can complete this with their staff, discuss the results, discuss where they want to be and then begin building an action plan for innovation to get there.

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Twitters can follow tweets during the conference using the tag 21CL

Suggestions for Administrators Interested in Assessing Innovative Practices at Their Schools

This week I am with leaders of schools in Manhattan at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference. During the conference we are reflecting on the question “What am I going to do to become a transformational leader?” To help frame the question conference organizer Alan November has shared these questions for administrators to keep in mind as they are thinking about their schools and how they are assessing the implementation of innovative practices that will build capacity and enrich teaching and learning at their schools.

As you read the below suggestions, reflect on what you are doing. Leaders what will you self-prescribe to be a transformational leader? Educators, what would you prescribe for leaders in your school? Is anything missing?

• Does technology serve to create new opportunities for teaching and learning that were not available before, or is the computer simply serving as a $1000 pencil merely automating standard assignments?
• Are students thinking critically about the information they access online? Are they gathering their content from multiple resources? Are they cross-referencing information and bringing in content that provide opposing or alternative points of view?
• Are the boundaries of social discourse being expanded? Is collaboration a point of emphasis? For example, are foreign language students being connected with native speakers, or are science classes connecting with the local crime scene investigation team?
• What opportunities are being taken to build school/home/community connections?
• Is content being developed and published to authentic audiences or only consumed?
• Are students being exposed to a broad range of skills and applications or are teachers focusing too much on too few? Are they being taught to create podcasts, engage in digital storytelling activities, utilize social bookmarks, collaborate with others using VOIP tools, etc.?
• Are students providing support to teachers in areas they are familiar with, or is technology use limited only to what the teachers know?
• Are faculty development sessions addressing curriculum with as much intensity as the tools being used, or are the tools the sole purpose? Are faculty development sessions being offered online and in different formats to engage teachers at different levels? Is support available to all staff members in an efficient and productive manner?
• Are students working in teams and individually to meet the goals and expectations set by themselves and the teachers? Are all team members contributing to meet the goals of the group? In group settings, are these groups mixed in ways for everyone to receive equal opportunities?
• Do teachers have the ability to override school filters with a password to utilize appropriate resources that have inadvertently been blocked?
• Does the current allocation of technology within the school meet current needs? Are pioneering teachers being encouraged and rewarded for their work? Are these teachers being utilized as role models for those who are still trying to figure out how to leverage it all?
• Has your school’s Acceptable Use Policy been reviewed recently? Does it address newer technologies, student safety and ethical considerations? Are students acting in a socially responsible manner, and are they demonstrating respect and appreciation of others? Are students aware of protecting their identity and the identity of others?

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License
Courtesy Alan November. Expanding the boundaries of learning novemberlearning.com

Dropbox Offers Dynamic Collaboration (and Storage) for Format Intensive Documents

By Dana Lawit

Whether you're going green or going lean, paperless is the wave of the future. Both teachers and students can benefit from going digital. For learners, digital documents offer a dynamic tool that allows documents to change as rapidly as individuals can collaborate. For this sort of work, I'm a huge fan of GoogleDocs. But if you're finicky about tables, or want greater control over format there are limitations.

Enter Dropbox. Dropbox is an online file hosting service with a couple of neat features:

1. store your documents online
2. download Dropbox software to create a synchronized folder on your local hard drive that will connect to your online storage
3. the first 2gb of storage is free (50gb & 100gb are available for $99 & $199 annually)
   
4. you can share folders, that is invite others to share your virtual folder

I had read about Dropbox several months ago on Steve Hargadon's site, but hadn't gotten around to using it until recently when I was designing student materials that needed specific formatting.

Not sure I'll use this with students, but will definitely save any teacher or team time while supporting collaboration on more formatting intensive documents.

How are you using Dropbox?

Innovation: Policemen & Possibility

Hello Innovative Educators!

I’m Dana Lawit and I wanted to formally introduce myself as a new contributor to The Innovative Educator. I hope you enjoyed my debut post How I Use Social Networking to Keep My Students Engaged All Summer Long. I appreciate all that left comments. The reason I contacted the Innovative Educator and wanted to join the discourse on this aptly named blog, is that I believe that one of the reasons technology engages students so greatly is that it challenges both their and my idea of what schooling is and what it can be as witnessed at The Innovative Educator’s recent visit to The School of One. To me, innovation is the challenging application of technology that pushes what is towards what could be.

This challenge was brought to mind recently when I rewatched one of my favorite TED talks: Lexicographer Erin McKean redefines the dictionary. She explains how she's often frustrated when people ask her if a word is or isn't real because this turns her job into that of a traffic cop, when she's much rather be fishing -- that is casting a net out into a sea of words, looking for new and exciting species. Why does she have to act as a traffic cop? Because dictionaries, at least by tradition, are paper bound anthologies with only so much space in them for print. An artificial construct (the size of a book) determines how many words are real.

Here comes the exciting possibility brought about by technology and specifically the Internet (which Erin describes as nothing more than "words with enthusiasm"): the artificial construct of the size of a book no longer exists, and words can exist and be studied to our hearts' content. Technology pushes through the traditional limitation.

As a teacher, I too often feel like a traffic cop when I'd much rather feel like something else. (My favorite metaphor for teaching comes from Garret Keizer in "Help" -- teacher as midwife, present to help the student labor through learning, though she cannot do the learning for her.) How often do we find ourselves limited by artificial constructs? We call the constructs different names, of course; tradition, 9-month school years, union contracts, facilities limitations, standards, time, the status quo. Technology allows us to break through these constructs, and innovation provides the direction and purposefulness with which we do so.

So my questions are these:

• What are the artificial constructs of schooling to which we subscribe and which are negotiable?
• How do we employ technology to circumvent these constructs and improve the business of schooling?
  

Thank you to the Innovative Educator for the opportunity to connect with others interested in topics such as this. I look forward to the continued questions, answers, and conversations.

5 Innovative Ways to Differentiate Instruction as Witnessed During My Visit to the School of One

Innovative educators often tout the ways they differentiate instruction explaining how technology enables them to address the needs of diverse learners and learning styles, yet, when I visit classrooms, I usually see all students working on the same lessons using the same tools. For example, educators talk about how they use Smartboards to differentiate instruction for Tactile learners, podcasts for auditory learners, digital media for visual learners, etc., but when I visit schools the whole class is using a particular tool. While a teacher may incorporate a number of different technologies, they are not differentiating instruction based on the learner.

I was relieved last year when I began working with Renzulli Learning. After exploring the tool I was convinced I had landed upon a resource that was a true differentiation machine. Renzulli allows teachers to determine student’s learning styles, interests, abilities, and expression styles and then group them based on this information and find activities aligned to their profile. One of the true powers of this tool is its ability to instantly group students and assign lessons to them based on their profile. Sadly when I visited schools using Renzulli I NEVER saw evidence of teachers using the tool to differentiate instruction. Instead, Renzulli was used just as the other tools. All students were assigned a particular project that they searched for by using the tool as a kid-friendly Google and instruction was not differentiated.

So, what is the problem? We know technology can be used to differentiate instruction and hundreds of schools in my city alone had a tool uniquely designed to support this work. I think the problem is at least two-fold.
1) Educators don’t have a proper pedagogical foundation in what it means to differentiate instruction…this needs to be addressed.
2) Educators have few opportunities to see instructional models where differentiated instruction is implemented…until now.

During my recent learning walk at the School of One, I found differentiating instruction is not just a term, it is the way the school does business and there are many lessons that can be learned from visiting the school.

1. Using Renzulli Learning as a Differentiation Machine

At the School of One each child completes a Renzulli Learning profile. The profile is shared with the student’s teacher and family whose input they also elicit. Each student’s unique profile indicates how they like to learn (i.e. games, discussion, independent), their interests (i.e. athletics, technology, performing arts), and their learning styles (artistic, audio visual displays, technology). Students are then tagged by their profile. When providing lessons (known as playlists selections at the school) to their students, they are uniquely matched to the students learning profile. Students are grouped for lessons by profile which means that they may receive individual, small group, peer, or whole group instruction based on matching students with similar learning profiles. The Renzulli System has this functionality built in, and you see it in action at the School of One.

Schools with out the Renzulli Learning System can implement this type of functionality by using a digital survey tool such as SurveyMonkey or Google forms to students to determine students learning profiles and match students to each other and activities that reflect their learning profile.

2. Using Data to Differentiate Instruction

The School of One compiles the various data sets on each student (i.e. standardized tests, interim, and ongoing assessments) to design instruction directly aligned to the students need based on performance indicators. This data is used to create a unique learning needs assessment profile for each student outlining areas of strength and weakness.

3. Tagging Lessons to Allow for Differentiation

Lessons are compiled that are aligned to each performance indicators and then tagged to various learning profile selections so they can be matched to learners in need and learning profile. In another words lessons are tagged not only by the performance indicator they are aligned to, but also, by learning profile attributes such as expression style, interest, learning style. This is done by placing lessons in a shared space where teachers can access them. Schools can used a shared drive or a wiki to do this, but what would be even better is if organizations (i.e. Curriki) with large lesson banks did this and provided this service free for educators. Renzulli does this in part, but you must pay for the service.

4. Using Space to Support Differentiated Instruction

At the School of One they are thinking differently about the use of space and have converted the school library into a flexible learning center. Teachers can do the same within their classrooms, and by collaborating with other educators in the school. The learning center has areas for students to work independently, with peers, in small groups, and as a whole group. At any given time there are many learning scenarios occurring based on the students unique learning profile and needs. Classrooms can be designed differently to account for such flexible grouping and collaboration with others in the school such as the librarian, art teacher, music teacher, etc. can also be incorporated so that there are individual, peer, and small group areas that teachers could reserve.

I found this great tool courtesy of a Tweet from @altteacher. "Design your classroom using this cool classroom setup tool. Teachers may want to consider bringing students into the conversation and letting teams of them design the classroom for optimum learning. This could be turned into a contest and the team with the winning design gets to setup the class. Teachers might even want to get the community involved.

5. Differentiating Instruction by Connecting with a Variety of Learning Providers

Differentiating instruction means saying goodbye to a one-size-fits (or provides success for) all curriculum. In a differentiated model lessons are aligned specifically to data, standards, performance indicators and student learning profiles. This can take on a variety forms. At the School of One there are opportunities such as educational games, online coursework from providers like Apex and Compass Learning, teacher-created lessons, materials from various textbook providers, individual and peer tutoring from expert high school students and online tutors, and more. An innovative idea would also be to add student-created materials to this list. This can be a terrific way for students to convey mastery…once they learn something they create a game, video, lesson, etc. to teach others.

My learning walk at the School of One provided a refreshing opportunity to see a school put many promising practices in place to result in a uniquely differentiated experience for each child.

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End of the Year Reflection from the School of One Program Director

From: Rose Joel
Sent: Sat 8/8/2009 12:58 AM
Subject: School of One Pilot Update

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

As our School of One summer pilot winds down this week, I’d like to share with you a brief summary of what has been an exciting, challenging, and hugely successful effort.

A few headlines:

1) The program has received some terrific coverage in the media, with articles in the New York TimesForbes. ABC News, NBC News, and PBS all sent producers to take footage for future broadcasts while the local TV and newspapers ran stories. We’ve also seen some insightful blog posts —here, here, here, here, and here – as well as this one that I think best captures the teacher experience. and

2) Over the past month, more than 200 people visited School of One, including Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein (who made several visits throughout the summer). Our visitors included political leaders, state and district administrators, school principals, teachers, academics, business leaders, and philanthropists all committed to educational innovation.

3) We were thrilled by the enthusiastic response from students and their parents. Our average daily student attendance exceeded 90% (a high number for a voluntary summer program) and more than 50% of parents attended our parent event (normally the school has a 10% participation rate).

4) Principal Phyllis Tam and her pioneering team of math teachers, with whom we worked this summer at MS 131, told us they want their school to be part of our school year rollout. .

Of course the most meaningful results relate to student outcomes. In the coming weeks, our team will carefully analyze the huge volume of data produced during the pilot and will work with our independent evaluators to examine how the summer’s outcomes related to our goals and objectives. We will then return to R&D mode where we will prepare to open again this coming January in three NYC schools.

If you didn’t get a chance to visit school of one, please visit our website where you can read a program description, watch a video that describes School of One, and watch a video about our summer pilot. You can also follow us on Facebook by becoming a fan of School of One.

We are grateful to all of our sponsors and partners and look forward to expanding our network of supporters for the next phase of our growth. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have questions about the project and how you can be involved.

Joel

How I Use Social Networking to Keep My Students Engaged All Summer Long

Editor’s Note: This post was written by a candidate who responded to my call for interns. To follow you will have an opportunity to read her account of the innovative practices in which she engages with her students. Dana Lawit is a special education teacher at a new and growing public high school in Brooklyn, New York. She is passionate about finding meaningful ways to integrate technology into teaching and learning.

When I asked my ELA summer school students, "Have any of you ever heard of MySpace?" they couldn't figure out how to react. Was their teacher so out of it that's she's never heard of MySpace, or worse yet, did she think that they've never heard of MySpace. "Are you joking, Miss?," one student asked. I told my students it was a simple question, and they began to nod their heads that they had indeed heard of MySpace...duh. We discussed how MySpace, like Facebook, is an example of a social network. I then asked them how they would feel about using a social network like MySpace or Facebook for learning and they seemed skeptical. Sites like MySpace and Facebook are blocked by our district's proxy's, and our students are well aware of this. How could a social network be used for learning? At their core, social networks are a platform for individuals to form communities of interest. I explained that we would be creating a social network to discuss the book we'd be reading in our summer school class. After the students logged on for the first time, and realized they could create their own username and photo, their interest was piqued.

After researching several options, my co-teacher and I decided to use Ning (http://www.ning.com) as our tool to support student learning and engagement. Ning allows users to create their own networks around a particular topic. (Click here to read about practical uses for innovative educators.) Its even available without ads for education. We created a private Ning site (similar to the more commercial MySpace and Facebook) for our students to discuss the book we were studying, “Island of the Blue Dolphins.” After reading certain chapters students logged onto the site and participated in discussion forums designed to support them in reflecting upon what they read and deepen their understanding of the content.

Soon some exciting things began to happen. First, timestamps indicated that students were accessing the site out of school, and completing assignments. This is an exciting observation for teachers to witness with any student, but seeing these students in particular, who so often seemed disengaged and not invested in school, get excited enough to work from home on an assignment was incredible!

Next students starting going beyond the request of me, their teacher and began contributing to the site independently. Students figured out that the site was similar to other social networks they were already a part of, and something clicked inside - they wanted to contribute. The next thing I knew, my co-teacher and I weren’t the only ones leading the learning. Unprompted, the students eagerly began posting their own questions and reactions. If they had finished a part of the book early, they wanted to know if others had. Students began friending each other, and even the principal.

Perhaps one of the most unexpected benefits of using the Ning was the ability for teachers to give individual feedback to students. The messaging system in Ning allowed my co-teacher and me to send words of encouragement, reminders about assignments, and updates about classwork. There's even a feature that allows users to invite students to events. We invited all of our students to attend a Vocabulary Quiz last week, and they all RSVPed yes!

All in all, our Ning site proved a great way to engage students in work I have found them reluctant to do otherwise.

There were also some challenges to using the site that I would want to address for the next iteration. The quality of blog postings varied greatly. As we added more content to the site, it became increasingly difficult to navigate. In future versions of this project, lessons on quality blog posts would be essential to establish an expectation for student contributions. While students began to comment on each others posts organically, I would allot more class time and instruction on how to provide feedback.

There were also some inappropriate uses of the site. Fortunately these were easy for me to identify since all recent activity appears on the site. As a result, I realized I needed to have a conversation with my students regarding appropriate use. I was thrilled to have such an authentic opportunity to begin engaging students in this conversation. As a result of the conversation students agreed to delete their inappropriate comments. It was at this point that I realized how powerful it was to be able to teach in these environments and help them engage in meaningful conversations about an appropriate online presence.

Creating an online social network meets students half way. Many students are already using the internet and technology to communicate with their peers ,and are consequently quite fluent with the nuances of adding friends, replying to messages, and checking for updates. Educators will love the engagement of students, their independent drive, and the unexpected conversations and reflections that occur even away from school. Educators will also enjoy the different types of data they're able to collect from their students and different avenues with which to provide feedback, either messages to the whole class or just to an individuals. Overall, I have found social networking to be a powerful tool for educators both in terms of the different communication features it offers, and also the level of engagement it provides for students.

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To read how Ning is used in an ELL classroom read: Using Ning in an ELL Classroom

A Truly Differentiated Education at The School of One in Manhattan

Today, principals were invited to join the Manhattan Office of Instructional Technology on a learning walk at the School of One at M.S. 131 in Manhattan. The school is pioneering a new way to learn in school by implementing an approach to truly provide differentiated instruction each day for each students by creating individualized daily plans (Playlists) for each student based on student assessments, individualized learning styles, interests, expressions, abilities, and more. When students enter school their schedule is posted on a digital display (think flight schedule screen at the airport) and this schedule is based on their assessments from the previous day using an assessment algorithm. Every day, students study skills from their personalized Playlist and then take a Playlist Update (assessment) at the end of each of day. The next day they receive a new and different schedule. Student classes take place in the School of One Mission Room that has been created in the school library.

Manhattan principals are fortunate to be invited to visits to innovative schools throughout the year. Our visit was certainly a timely one as the day of our visit, the school was featured in The New York Times Education Article: Laptop? Check. Student Playlist? Check. Classroom of the Future? Check by JENNIFER MEDINA.

To learn more about the School of One, download the School of One Student Handbook.ppt

Enhance Reflective Practice with http://drop.io.

Part of my job involves taking administrators and others on visits to innovative schools to conduct learning walks. During the visits we look at classrooms and have the opportunity to speak with students and staff about the work they are doing. Following the visit we debrief to reflect upon what we saw and discuss what we learned that might be useful in our own environments. Most innovative educators I work with find these to be valuable experiences.

What is usually lacking in these visits is the capturing of reflections of those present. Following the event we may send a survey to participants, but the return rate is often dismal and the capturing of all participants reflections is often not effective since capturing while participating in the conversation can prove difficult. I turned to my Twitter and Facebook network to find a solution to this problem. I wanted to find a way that I could provide participants with an email address that they could instantly send reflections to via their Blackberry or other handheld device. I wanted these reflections to go to one local collection area so that during the debrief we could see all participants reflections which we could discuss, build upon, and share with one another and with the school.

I found a great tool for this called http://drop.io. The way it works is I give everyone my drop i.o email address: SchoolVisits@drop.io. They email their reflections to that email as they have them. Then any of us can simply go to my page which is http://drop.io/SchoolVisits. If you want to try this yourself email me at SchoolVisits@drop.io with a school visit reflection question you like to use, then find your answer at http://drop.io/SchoolVisits.

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Thanks to Shea Smith for the below Tweet in response to my search for a tool that has this function.
sheasmith@InnovativeEdu Would http://drop.io work? It's free & comes with an email address for posts.18 minutes ago from Tweetie in reply to InnovativeEdu.

It’s the Innovative Educator Internship. Come and Get It!

I'm taking an idea (and a post) from the Brazen Careerist and looking to find an intern for my blog.

My motivation is two-fold. Of course, I want to offload stuff I don't like to do or have time for on someone who might like to do it. But also, I want to mentor someone and I want to have conversations with someone either in the classroom or closer to the age of the students innovative educators are trying to reach about the topics I write about and should write about. The internship will be a great learning experience, resume builder, and opportunity to make an impact but it will not be a great financial experience: unpaid.

If you don't know that much about what I do, you can get an idea here. You can also find out why I started a blog and my thoughts about the pros and cons of my blogging.

Here's what you will do:

1. Write posts.

You can guest author posts, with my help, which will give you a byline and exposure to an authentic audience of educators.

2. Build your resume and experience.
You will be able to put my blog on your resume as a site that you were responsible to assist with editing, design, layout, content. Through writing your own posts you will begin to develop your own name and following.

3. Update the design, features, and format

This is work that I like but don’t have time to do and don’t consider myself expert in. Update the look and feel. Determine what should really go in the right-hand side bar that would be relevant to my audience.

4. Research.

Here is the type of stuff I'd like you to help me find:

People who will talk about hunches that I have.
Trends in educational innovation.

People who are writing about topics I write about.

5. Basic editing.
I want you to edit my blog fixing typos, formatting errors, grammar errors, etc.

Getting on board

Who should apply?

Innovative educators and innovative students.

How much time would this involve?

I'd like you to work about 10 - 20 hours a month. You can work whatever hours you want, from wherever you live.
How can you apply?

If you're interested, please email me (found in my profile on the right hand side bar). In the email sell yourself. Indicate your interest and motivation for doing this and some ideas you have for posts, updating, and anything else.

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Writing credit and inspiration for this post from the Brazen Careerist.

What Might a 21st Century School Look Like

Editor’s Note: This post was written in response to a job interview question and is the topic of a brainstorming session I am partaking in today. I thought it was a relevant, thought-provoking question and a great interview exercise. This is some of my thinking on the topic.

As innovative educator Peggy Sheehy’s students recently explained in their video, No Future Left Behind, “Education really needs an upgrade!” A 21st Century school, unlike other schools wouldn’t be a place Rip Van Winkle would recognize after his 100 year slumber. Sheehy’s students complain, “I can't create my future with the tools of your past.” “The future is trying to get in, but you’ve blocked it.” “Let the future in. We want to talk to the world.” Marc Prensky of “Engage Me or Enrage Me! ” fame would applaud these students for so articulately sharing the concerns of others around the world. An evangelist of student-centered instruction and decision making Prensky advises, that we should accept “the students, not the teachers, should be leading the charge with using technology.” As I think about the advice of my personal learning network, what I take from this is that we are moving toward a time when the teacher’s role will become more of a personal learning facilitator who’s role is to help students exist in what Sir Ken Robinson refers to as their “Element,” a place where natural talent meets personal passion.

So, how does this take place? In Disrupting Class, the authors share that 50% of all high school classes will be delivered online by the year 2019. The expansion of this type of alternative delivery of instruction provides unique opportunities not previously available to students. For instance online delivery of instruction could enable students to access less popular or more advanced areas of study then would be possible at a single school campus. It provides opportunities for students who may not be able to participate in school due to illness, familial obligations or pregnancy. It allows students to connect with others in a niche area of study.

Teachers at a 21st Century school would all have laptops, projectors, and video recorders and would engage in innovative practices like Richard Buckland who teachers a regular class to students, but also tapes all of his classes and allows students who are not physically present to receive credit upon watching the video and completing assignments. His students have the added bonus of being able to rate and comment on his lectures giving their teacher and each other feedback that is currently not existent in most classrooms. They can also watch segments of the class over if there is something they missed or skip past information they already know. This addresses an area Sir Kenneth Robinson recently spoke about when he asked, “If everyone agrees we learn at different paces, why in school are we expected to teach everyone at the same pace?” He adds, “Why is the date of manufacture the single most important thing educators think kids have in common?” Digital learning opportunities could allow students who are having difficulty in a subject to spend more time in areas of need, and those who are advanced to continue on. The students mentioned above in Richard Buckland’s college class by the way are high school students hungry for more challenging coursework not available to them at their school site. That said, it should be a given that students attending a 21st Century school would have the basic technology necessary to succeed in the social or professional connected world in which they live which includes having a reliable internet connection, a keyboard enabled device in which to access it, and an onsite student support team to ensure it’s effective and efficient use.

Peggy Sheehy’s students also hit upon another important ingredient lacking in many schools when they complained, “You don’t know me. You don’t trust me. You don’t believe in me.” The 21st Century school would be created as an environment for personal success. Every student in a 21st Century school would have a personal learning profile and plan for student success using tools like the Renzulli Learning System and Personal Success Plan. At many schools teachers don’t really know the whole child, so it is difficult to teach the whole child and nearly impossible to group students for instruction or provide truly customized, personalized instruction. If all students are profiled, they become more than just a name but rather teachers can instantly find out information like the following and align the work they do to their unique interests, learning styles, abilities, and expression styles.

Here is an excerpt from my learning profile:

Lisa has specific preferred instructional styles. Learning or instructional styles are the ways students like to learn and the strategies parents and teachers use to help them learn. Lisa has very clearly defined learning preferences. Her preferred instructional style is through technology. Her second choice of learning style is discussions that happen when two or more students talk with their teacher or in small groups about issues and topics by discussing facts and opinions and discussing them. Lisa also enjoys learning games that enable her to learn content by playing games or participating in activities with cards, board games, or even electronic games.

If only my teachers had let me learn based on this information, education would have been a much more valuable experience for me. However, it is not only important to be in touch with students interests while they are students in the 21st Century school. As Geoffrey Canada founder of the renowned Harlem Children’s Zone recently shared, “I refuse to let kids disappear into the abyss after they leave me.” This would not be a possibility for 21st Century school students who would be involved not only in the school’s instructional online network, but would also have the opportunity to stay in touch with their 21st Century school teachers and classmates through the Facebook accounts and groups they safely, appropriately, and responsibly participated in with their teachers. It is through these types of connected learning environments that educators and classmates would continue to support and share successes with one another.

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To join the Classroom 2.0 conversation click here.

Read student's Vision of What School Should Look Like from Chris Lehmann's Modern Theory of Education at the Science Leadership Academy's class.

An Opportunity to Support Leaders Interested in Realizing the Promise of the 21st Century School

Innovative educators will often share that one of the best ways to discover and implement innovative practices is by learning from others who are doing this work. Hearing about and seeing promising practices from those who are engaged in them is powerful. I encourage school leaders interested in hearing from others who are on the path to Realizing the Promise of the 21st Century School to attend Teaching Matters annual school leader forum: A Roadmap for Innovation which takes place Wednesday, July 15, 2009 from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm at 475 Riverside Drive.

At the forum they’ll be asking, What is a 21st century school? For the most part technology is radically changing every sector of our society, yet schools remain largely unchanged. However, there are schools that are breaking the mold and engaging in innovative practices to engage learners and prepare them for the world in which they live. The forum will provide participants with the opportunity to hear from a panel of innovative NYC school leaders on the vanguard of rethinking urban education. They will speak about their experiences regarding what is important, the challenges and what's possible! Featured guests include:
• Alisa Berger: Principal, NYC iSchool
• Sarah Scrogin: Principal, East Bronx Academy for the Future
• Gregg Korrol: Principal, PS 101
• Julian Cohen: Director, New School Development

Teaching Matters will also provide a new and simple assessment tool for gauging where your school lies on a continuum of the 21st century school outcomes. It will help you evaluate your school's readiness and offer a roadmap of ideas for innovation in those areas you deem most critical.

This event is free to school leaders who can attend by rsvping to lmorris@teachingmatters.org or calling 2128703505. Wine and cheese will be served and all principals who attend will be eligible to enter a raffle to jump-start a 21st century classroom with: 15 FREE Flip Video Cameras or 5 FREE Netbooks.

To get an idea of what happens at these 21st century schools, check out the students at PS 5 in the Port Morris section of the Bronx and their amazing documentary about the history and impact of Nicholas Negroponte’s ground breaking XO pilot project in their school.


XO Project Documentary - Class 501 - Port Morris School
by jelbin

You can read about some innovative schools I’ve had the pleasure of visiting below.
X's & O's for the OLPC XO - A View from the Classroom
Immunization for an Uninteresting Curriculum Found at the iSchool
The Power of 21st Century Teaching and Learning Brought to Life at Bronx Middle School CIS 339’s Open House
You Can Get a Dalton Education at a NYC Public School
Bridging The Digital Divide in NYC, Science Leadership Academy – Lessons Learned

Ideas for Brushing Up On Your Tech Skills This Summer

I am often asked what I recommend for educators who want to learn the basics of using technology. You know, how to get started with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, etc. Of course, one of the best ways to learn to use an application is just using it in an environment with other experienced users that you can ask questions as you need them. Having students around to assist is a terrific option.

There are also many great resources to get going solo. One of my favorites for those interested in getting started is MicroSoft Office Training where you will find FREE self-paced training courses for Office programs. The classes are quite good. Here is a sampling of applications: Access; Excel ; Outlook; PowerPoint; Project ; Publisher; Word. The tutorials provide audio, text, and animations, and are rated by those who have taken the class. This is a terrific and free resource for those interested in learning to use Microsoft applications.

For educators who want the personal touch there are training centers like New Horizons. NYC DOE educators can contact their New York City office by emailing d_ludwig@NHNY.com for special rates as low as $100 per class for educators.

For teachers who are using applications with their students, a terrific resource is Atomic Learning. The resource is created to appeal to students at their interest and ability level and enables them to become self-directed, independent learners who can engage in their work on-demand. This resource frees the teacher from feeling like s/he must be an expert in every application.

Another option for schools is to have a staff member designated to provide professional development and support to his/her colleagues. They can use MicroSoft Office Training, Atomic Learning resources, or use these professional development resources created specifically for educators, or create their own training.

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Here's Marc Prensky's advice from my Facebook page.

Marc Prensky

Here's how I answer that question: Educators going off on their own to learn technology is time that could be far better be spent partnering with students with even better results. If an educator who wants to learn finds the smartest kid he or she knows and works with them, they all will be much better off, because learning to work with students around technology is far more important for educators than learning any skills by themselves!

ISTE Classroom Observation Tool

Editors Note: As you may have noticed, I list blogs I follow on the bottom right side of The Innovative Educator. From time to time I like to feature posts from these bloggers that I encourage my audience to read as well. Here is one such post.

In his blog, the Techominivore recently wrote a post on the new ISTE Classroom Observation Tool. He shares, "ISTE has developed a wonderful tool to help schools assess their technology integration efforts. The Classroom Observation Tool provides a checklist to guide you in observing how education technology is affecting classroom instruction. The tool is built on top of Adobe Air and allows you to work offline and then upload your results so you can access them from anywhere and share them with your instructional teams."

To find out how to download the tool and learn more visit his blog at http://techomnivore.com/2009/06/11/iste-classroom-observation-tool/.

8 Ways To Use A School Wiki to Increase Communication, Collaboration, and Enrich Instruction

Wikis are a great tool to help a school enrich instruction, and increase communication and collaboration among staff. They are also free (for educators using wikispaces) and provide unlimited storage for digital materials including video, screencasts, presentations, pdfs, etc.

When I explain these benefits to educators and their administrators they often nod in agreement, but still want to know the nuts and bolts of what this looks like in practice. The best way to explain this is to use examples of actual school wikis in use here in New York City. I've selected examples of how schools are using wikis in the following ways:

1. Decrease Disruption of Instructional Time with Digital Daily Announcements
2. More Efficient and Effective Team Meetings and Planning
3. Collaborate On Important Documents Like School Comprehensive Education Plans
4. Enhance School Professional Development Using a Wiki
5. Share and Collaborate On Curriculum Maps
6. Save Trees /Save Time and Unclutterize Your Room or Office by Posting School Resources
7. Know Where Everyone Is When Schedules/Programs Are Posted
8. A Portal for All Your Lessons
   Information on How to Get Started

Decrease Disruption of Instructional Time with Digital Daily Announcements
Each day daily notes are posted on the school wiki. Gone are the days when instructional time is stolen from students with announcements that often don’t apply to them. Instead, each day staff knows where they need to look to find out the important information. The template Jason Levy, Principal of CIS 339 uses for his daily notes includes:
-Announcements and Reminders by Department
-Staff Attendance
-Out at PD / Visitors
-Staff Recognizing Staff
-Celebrating RED (Rigor. Engagement. Differentiation) in Practice
-Other Stuff:
Notes also may contain surveys and/or forms for teachers to complete, readings, or other important news and notes of the day. Many of these items (i.e. recognizing staff, celebrating RED) are dynamically populated using Google docs. This provides an ongoing reinforcement of staff priorities and vision.

After the staff member has read the daily notes they digitally sign a Google document with their initials indicating they have read the daily notes and they can also indicate if there are any questions, issues, feedback or concerns. You can see what this looks like here and here.

More Efficient and Effective Team Meetings and Planning
All team meetings and planning can be coordinated right on your wiki. This gives staff and administration a one stop shopping spot to see exactly what is happening and how work is progressing at various team meetings.

At CIS 339 the team meeting pages include team norms and activities in which teams should be engaged followed by a listing of each team and a link to all their meeting notes, agendas, documents, and materials. Each team meeting page also has a discussion board where conversations can continue. You can see an example of what this page looks like here.

Collaborate On Important Documents Like School Comprehensive Education Plans
CIS 339 uses their school wiki to collaborate on the creation, revising, and updating of their school’s comprehensive education plan. The wiki is organized with general planning and process documents, then each department has a section for their piece. This enables everyone to see where anyone is at any time and the discussion tab allows for ongoing conversation while the documents are being created. You can see an example of what this page looks like here.

Enhance School Professional Development Using a Wiki
Anytime your school is having professional development all the materials can be loaded to the wiki. No more copies to run off, folders to buy, teachers sharing if there aren’t enough copies, or worrying about writing on your only copy. Additionally, a discussion forum is associated with each wiki page. This is a great way to elicit feedback during professional development and to keep the conversation going afterwards.

Share and Collaboratee On Curriculum Maps
Wikis are a great tool for schools involved in curriculum mapping. Washington Irving High School (click thumbnail on right) posts their English department curriculum maps on their wiki. At the Marta Valle Secondary School, curriculum maps for each content area are posted on their school wiki. Departments begin with the curriculum mapping template that teams can collaborate on to complete. Department members can easily put links to all materials and important documents required for each piece of the map. This also allows for planning across grades and department since all information is transparently posted. The discussion tab provides a powerful communication mechanism for those implementing the curriculum to collaborate. You can see a sample of what that looks like here.

Save Trees /Save Time and Unclutterize Your Room or Office by Posting School Resources
Wikis are a clutter terminator. If you're like most educators, your classroom or office desk or bookshelves are filled with documents, memos, guides, etc. that while important, rarely need to be accessed. You know, the school handbook, conference handouts, flyers, guides, articles, etc. etc. All those documents, boxes and boxes worth, can be posted in an easily accessible format, right on the wiki. In addition to saving space, schools will save time by not having to place all these documents in everyone’s mailbox every day.

At MVSS you’ll find documents such as the opening day packet, school handbook, school safety plan, principal’s letters and presentations, frequently used forms, instructional resources, discipline code, quality review documents, the vision statement, the mission statement, school brochure and more. You can see an example of what this page looks like here. At CIS 339 you’ll find many of these documents as well as a compilation of relevant articles and links which you can see here.

Know Where Everyone Is When Schedules/Programs Are Posted
All teacher schedules, bell schedules, meetings, etc. can be posted right on the wiki so any staff member can locate their colleagues at anytime. This combined with the posting of staff absences and class coverages in the daily notes ensures that staff will always know where and when their colleagues can be found.

A Portal for All Your Lessons
At many schools there may be more than one teacher teaching the same subject/unit of study. However, there never seems to be enough time to collaborate. A wiki solves that issue. All lessons can be posted right on the wiki and using the discussion tab, teachers can connect and collaborate. I used a wiki to do this for teachers across New York City who were running iSquad 21st Century Student Support teams. The faculty advisors and I brainstormed lesson ideas and posted all the lesson topics on the wiki, then faculty advisors signed up for the lesson they were writing by placing their name next to it and posting their lesson. Each advisor wrote one or two lessons and we instantly had a bank of lessons accessible to all. You can see what that looks like here. I also coordinated curriculum integration teams responsible for creating technology-infused lessons in literacy, science, social studies, math, and fitness. Teams met in person from time to time, but most of their work was done remotely where they collaborated to write a bank of lessons that can be used and accessed by teachers anywhere which you can see here.

How to Get Started
You can have your own free school wiki in 30 seconds or less by visiting http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers. Once there you select your wikis name and click create, then Voilà, you have a wiki. If you want to know more about using wikis in education, TeachersFirst has created a handy Wiki Walk-Through which steps you through using wikis in education in a clear and easy to follow way. You can also, take a look at the Educational Wikis space. It has examples, a guide, and links to other resources.

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This post was picked up in the August 2009 edition of Tech and Learning Magazine .

Joel Klein's Mayoral Control of Schools Update

Educators in New York City and beyond have been following the news around what is taking place in Albany as the gridlocked Senate failed to take up a bill to reauthorize mayoral control of the public school system. Today School Chancellor Joel Klein spoke to his staff and shared this email about where the NYC DOE currently stands.

Dear Colleagues,

I am sure you have been following the events in Albany and have many questions about the future of our school system. While we obviously have many questions, we cannot put the education of New York City’s students at risk because of Albany’s inaction on mayoral control of the public schools. In this e-mail, I will outline what we know and what we don’t know.

• Community Education Councils: The 2002 law that put the New York City mayor in charge of the City’s public schools expired yesterday. This same law also created the Community Education Councils and the Citywide Council on Special Education. Since the law has expired, these education councils no longer formally exist. However, I am urging the Community Education Councils and the Citywide Council on Special Education, as well as the Citywide Council on High Schools, to continue meeting, at least until September when we hope to have more clarity. During this time, we will continue to support their administrative assistants. If the Councils decide not to continue their work, we’ve asked them to notify us immediately.
• Panel for Educational Policy: The Panel for Educational Policy also ceases to exist today. The borough presidents and the Mayor have reconstituted the Board of Education to replace the Panel for Educational Policy.
• Board of Education: The newly reconstituted Board of Education met at Tweed Courthouse this afternoon. It approved two resolutions:
  -First, the Board appointed me to continue serving as chancellor and delegated to me all of the powers that can be delegated under the law. This allows us to maintain continuity in our school system.
  -Second, noting that the State Assembly had adopted Assembly Bill no. 8903-a, which would extend Mayoral Control until 2015, while the State Senate had failed to act on an identical bill, Senate Bill no. S5887, the Board urged the State Senate to take immediate action to enact S5887.
• Summer School: Summer school started today, as planned. School staff is expected to report to work as usual and serve our schoolchildren.
• Support: Our central and field operations also remain in place and continue to support schools. This means School Support Organizations, Integrated Service Centers, and central staff are continuing to fulfill their responsibilities. We have instructed principals to call their SSOs and ISCs with any questions about the current situation or any regular issue related to school operations.
  

We have made great strides over the past seven years, and, together, we have implemented significant reforms that have improved the City’s public schools and our students’ academic results. I know we are working in an environment of uncertainty and that we all have many questions. I will work to keep you updated as we move through this period. I thank you all for your continued efforts to serve the students of New York City to the best of your ability, even during these uncertain times.

Sincerely,

Joel I. Klein