The Empire Strikes Back

Editor's Note: This fictional story is a part of a continuing series that aims to explore various educational issues. This installment is a follow up to "IWB, I Loathe You" and "IWB, I Will Hunt You Down and Destroy You!!"

By Jacob Gutnicki

It is a dark time for the Frederic Burrhus Skinner High School. Michael Lotta has been promoted to Assistant Principal, and is using the custodial troops to rid the school of Clever Boards. He has also begun to confiscate student wireless devices with the help of the newly constructed wifi sniffer.

In order to evade the wifi sniffer, a group of student tweeters have established a secret closed network using the 802.11z protocol on a remote Linux server.

Meanwhile, Assistant Principal Michael Lotta has become obsessed with stamping out the use of wireless technology and has dispatched the use of an enhanced wifi sniffer to put an end to all the tweet heads…

Midnight… 3^rd Floor of Frederic Burrhus Skinner High School…

“Are you sure no one is here.”

“Yes, yes, yes. This is the perfect time to swipe the end of year examinations. Time to pick the lock.”

“This is strange. It seems that the door is open.”

“Stop! It’s a trap.”

“Oh no, too late.”

Michael Lotta, the new Assistant Principal appears from a secret door.

“Good Evening gentlemen. Say cheese to the camera. Perfect… You are now eligible for the Student Relocation Program.”

“The what?”

“I guess you did not read my new memo. Any student caught violating the school discipline code will be deported to our annex in France.”

“You can’t do this. You’ll never get away with this.”

“Oh no my young students. You will find out it is you who are mistaken about a great many things. Guards!!! Take them away!!”

Two weeks later…

Principal- “How goes the Student Relocation Program?”

Michael Lotta- “I have deported 67 students; a prime number.

Principal- “Excellent. This will help our school standing tremendously.”

Michael Lotta- “I hate asking you this, but is this really legal?”

Principal- “Don’t worry about it. I will make it legal.”

Epilogue… In just one month, Michael Lotta has inspired new levels of fear amongst the student body. Students think twice about tweeting. After all, if they are not careful, they could be the next student to join the Student Relocation Program…

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Blogger's Note: Like this story? You can read other parts in the series here.

IWB, I Will Hunt You Down and Destroy You!!

Editor's Note: This fictional story is a part of a continuing series that aims to explore various educational issues. This installment is a follow up to "IWB, I Loathe You" which explores how Mr. Lotta was impacted by a bad professional development experience. The follow up to this installment continues to explore Mr. Lotta's behavior. As the series progresses other elements will be explored as well.

By Jacob Gutnicki.

By design this series attempts not to espouse any particular point of view. In doing this, the reader can walk away with their own personal conclusions. Having said that, I know some people like this and some people find it infuriating. I hope this helps.

By Jacob Gutnicki

It started out like any other day with kids shuffling into the cafeteria to catch a little breakfast. As usual, the regulars are flinging cornflakes at each other, the bullies are tormenting the freshies and the dweebs, and the techies are texting each other all under the watchful eye of the Bill Perkinson; the new Assistant Principal. Except… today a Clever Board fell from its fixed position almost hitting Johnny.

“What to do you think your doing?”

“Oh, I’m sorry it was an accident. So sorry.”

“You bet you are. That’s the last mistake you’ll ever make!”

Suddenly, Johnny pulled a concealed object from his coat pocket. Bill Perkinson hears a commotion and approaches Johnny.

“Get away from me Perkinson or I start shooting!”

“Johnny, take it easy.”

“Who the hell asked you? Get on your knees now. Now! Now!”

“OK Johnny, I am getting on my knees. Now, why don’t you put the weapon down.”

“This ain’t no TV show chump! Start licking the floor! Lick it good!”

Suddenly, Johnny flinched his hand. Needless to say, the students in the cafeteria were frightened. Several of them began to cry and Bill Perkinson fainted. In walks Michael Lotta sipping his coffee. “Johnny, put that Clever Board eraser away or so help me I’m gonna twist you like a pretzel.”

Johnny, puts the Clever Board eraser down and begins weeping. Michael signals the security officer and tells her to immediately remove Johnny. Michael then talks to the students and assures them everything is under control.

Over the next 30 minutes several students tweet the story to their friends. One hour later… A swarm of reporters are trying to enter the building. They want to know if it’s true that the A.P. passed out and how Michael Lotta single-handedly saved the day. Michael Lotta directed the reporters away from the school, as he did not want the students exposed to the pandemonium. However, the reporters would not leave. Michael then suggests that the interviews take place at an off site location. The reporters begrudgingly agree to this request.

Two hours later… the following interview excerpts are released;

Interviewer- How did you know it was an eraser?

Michael Lotta- Two things- As a veteran teacher I am familiar will all the erasers on the market; even the ones carried by the Clever Board company. Additionally, no weapon would have passed through our metal detectors.

Interviewer- Johnny, why did you suddenly drop the charade when Mr. Lotta walked in?

Johnny- Everyone knows, not to mess with Michael Lotta.

Interviewer- Mr. Perkinson, what the hell happened? I mean, why did you faint?

Bill Perkinson- Umm… Well. I suppose it wasn’t my finest moment.

Three hours later… The school board holds an emergency meeting and two resolutions are passed. By unanimous vote the school board decides to fire Bill Perkinson for gross incompetence and promotes Michael Lotta to the position of Assistant Principal of Security and Mathematics.

Two hours later…

Principal- You have done well.

Mr. Lotta- Today is a day that will long be remembered. We have seen the last of Perkinson and we will soon stamp out the use of Clever Boards.

Principal- Everything is proceeding as I have foreseen. Commence with executive order 66. Begin replacing Clever Boards with the far superior Overhead Projector.

Mr. Lotta- It shall be my pleasure madam.

Principal- And how is the wifi detector project coming along?

Mr. Lotta-It is almost ready.

Principal- Excellent!!!

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Blogger's Note: Like this story? You can read other parts in the series here.

Coming Soon… The Empire Strikes Back

Healthy Habits to Grow Your Online Presence and Keep Balance In Your Life from Cool Cat Teacher

I ran across this post on Twitter from the Cool Cat Teacher’s blog and wanted to more widely share her healthy habits to grow your online presence and keep balance in your life.

They are:

1. Share
2. Respond
3. Comment
4. Link Generously
5. Read (or Listen) Prolifically
6. Distribute yourself
7. Beware of Flattery
8. Life Life Online AND Off-line
9. Latch Key Your Legacy
10. Laugh (a lot)
11. Take Every Presentation Seriously
12. Expect Criticism

In her blog, Vicky Davis provides all sorts of delicious morsels explaining how to incorporate or develop each habit. I encourage you to read the whole post here and the comments too!

Hiring the World to Be Your Professional Development Provider (free of charge)

Editor’s Note: I asked the author to write this post after being impressed that a professional development facilitator not only reached out via Twitter for feedback and inspiration for teachers. That is relatively unique, but many of us on Twitter have done this. But rather because they also invited other educators in to provide feedback and suggestions on ideas these teachers were developing for updating instruction via a Google doc which you can view here. Instantly these teachers in this session were having educators from around the Globe provide feedback, thoughts, and suggestions real-time into their work. How cool is that?!? The article below provides the background on the experience. Enjoy the read and please consider sharing some of your insights with the teachers at their collaborative google doc.



Form of an authentic PLN experience! Shape of a PLN mentor!
Cross posted at Flying off the Shelf

Guest post by Heather Hersey

Just as students need authentic experiences, models, and mentors, teachers need the same experiences in order to forge into Personal Learning Networks (PLN). Showing a video about its power or sharing an example of how a PLN worked for you isn’t enough for some teacher-learners.

When I began exploring social media as a way of learning from and sharing with others, I was not alone. English teacher Cathy Stutzman (@stutz01) and I jumped in together, proofreading blog posts and even tweets! We figured out twitter lingo and really coached each other through it. I also relied heavily on my hubby, Brien Gorham (@virgilsdiner), who had already been blogging about pop culture, for advice and proofreading. These two kept me going in addition to other folks I met through Twitter, most notably, Buffy Hamilton (@buffyjhamilton). Even when I have fallen off the digital earth a few times, these folks grabbed my hand and helped me leap back on.

However, it was the experience of others that made me see PLNs as a new language that needs mentoring and immersion as necessary gateways for some teachers. For example, Marci Zane (@marcizane), signed up for Twitter but did not use it. She admitted that she didn’t see it as a value to her at first because I would send her things I found there. It was seeing me use it during the 2009 AASL conference that changed her mind. She explained to me that she saw all of the things she was missing and found herself wanting to be included in the conversation.
Another example is our 1:1 pilot group. [See Cathy Stutzman's guest post on here for more info about this session!] This past Wednesday, Hunterdon Central Regional High School had its 4th 1-1 pilot meeting. This is the 2nd group of teachers, who are now joining us from last year, exploring strategies for making learning more student-centered. One of the ideas we have been focusing on is the building of a PLN. We shared wallwishers, videos, and personal experiences, but it wasn’t until yesterday that I felt like we made a breakthrough.

Will Richardson (@willrich45) visited as folks shared out their lesson plan ideas. A few of us tweeted about the experience using #hctweet and created a google doc to share our ideas and hopefully get some feedback. Finally, folks were able to see the potential of these tools for themselves and their students. Many people joined twitter, those that already had accounts got into the tweeting, and we even had a new blogger emerge (Keith Dennison). Setting up an authentic experience to use twitter and Google docs did far more than our prior attempts. Lessons learned and powers activated!

Update: OK…maybe powers weren’t completely activated. The meeting above took place on August 4th, and we met again today, one week later. I began what I thought would be a quick 10-15 minute recap of how #hctweet and the Google doc took off, as well as the blog posts and connections that resulted from our work last week. What came next surprised me: we began a full-fledged twitter discussion with people asking how to do things that they weren’t able to do over the week. Folks also asked for clarification and practiced with each other so they could see how Twitter really worked. We have several veteran tweeters in the room so we were able to answer questions, tutor, and mentor folks in growing their PLNs and then used Twitter in our Skype session with Sarah Brown Wessling (@SarahWessling).
This was the third time we worked with Twitter during these sessions, and the experience shows that one-time presentations are not enough nor is a single follow-up. We need to not only create authentic experiences but also allow for continual practice with experienced users as we navigate this new territory as teacher-learners. Alright…powers re-activated…tweet on!

Bravo to The Lady Leaders Who Are Bloggers and Tweeters!

I’m often asked by innovative educators for ideas for getting their school leaders to join the conversation and begin blogging or tweeting. They want their school leaders to join the conversation and to respect and value the thoughts, opinions, and ideas of other educators accessible in new ways as a result of digital media.

I’ve written a few posts recently in response to this.

• Want to help a principal start a blog? These 5 principals can provide inspiration.
• 5 Real Examples of Using Twitter for Education
• Follow the Leader Who’s a Tweeter
• Connected Principals - A Place for Leaders to Connect

If you’ve read these posts you’ll notice that missing among these bloggers and tweeters are the voices of two groups that I am a part of females and those who work in New York City. Fortunately social media enables me to connect with others outside my vicinity of NYC, but I’m disappointed that the voices of these two groups are not more prominent and wonder why there are not more blogging and tweeting female or NYC school leaders. Our voices are important!

As a result, I have reached out to a few NYC principals to encourage them to get on board and join these other educational visionaries who are sharing ideas for leading and learning in the 21st century. I also shared my disappointment with the absence of these groups on Twitter and was thrilled to get this Tweet in response. teachingwthsoul @InnovativeEdu Yes :) Here's 3~>@Edship http://edship.com/ @Averyteach http://bit.ly/bXnHqq @L_Hilt http://principalposts.edublogs.org.
teachingwthsoul @InnovativeEdu Hope the women I sent your way, reach out. As a former Principal, gender equity is important to me. :)

Ah, I love my learning network. So thanks to Lisa Dabbs (aka @teachingwthsoul) a former principal who resides in California, I share with you these female leaders who are also bloggers and tweeters.

Lynn H
Tweets @Edship
Blogs @ http://edship.com
About (per her blog) I am an elementary school principal in a large diverse district. The purpose of this website is to give a glance into the real world of Elementary Education from the eye of an administrator. Many of my experiences were never studied in a text book or given in lecture. No one ever mentioned that when a student threw up in my office I would be sick for a week or that a staff member would give an obscene hand gesture in a staff meeting. Who knew that parents when frightened or did not get their way could become shaming, disrespectful and abusive. No one mentioned that when I anonymously made a difference in a child’s life that my heart would stop and tears would come to my eyes, or that I would witness gifted teaching beyond description or a community of families that worked tirelessly to help their children. It is my hope that this information will support other educational leaders, help teachers, parents and force me to grow as a leader. Ultimately, I hope this website and blog will do what is best for kids and support their journey as scholars.

Lyn Hilt
Tweets @L_Hilt
Blogs @ http://principalposts.edublogs.org
About (from Connected Principals Blog) Lyn Hilt is the principal of Brecknock Elementary School, located in beautiful Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Her school community is comprised of enthusiastic student learners, dedicated staff, and supportive parents. Mrs. Hilt has an affinity for educational technologies and infusing 21st century skills into the curriculum. She enjoys lunches in the cafeteria, spending recess time with students, world travel, and loving her two rescued greyhounds. Before becoming a principal, she taught grades 5 and 6, served as an elementary technology teacher, and coached field hockey. To read more of Mrs. Hilt’s reflections, visit The Principal’s Posts.

Janet Avery
Tweets @Averyteach
Blogs @ http://averyteach.blogspot.com
About (from her blog) I am a mom, a teacher, a wife, and a principal. I am in my third year as principal of a large rural middle school in Idaho. I hope to instill passion for learning in my staff, students, husband, and children. I have entitled my blog spot as The Tiger Principal because that is the mascot of my school. We Tigers have a lot of pride - I couldn't represent my staff and students without including our mascot!
Jeanette Morehouse
Tweets @ThePedAgog
Blogs @ http://pedagogagog.blogspot.com  
About (from her Twitter bio):  Pedagogue, principal, PYP teacher and lover of life, I believe in keeping the 'agog' in pedagogy for the sake of our children and the future!

I’d love to add to the list. If you are (or know) a female leader who is a blogger and tweeter, please comment here and I’ll keep the list growing.

The Innovative Educator’s Learning Network (Alternatives to Ning) Top Picks

As with most who ran learning networks in the edusphere prior to April of this year, I hosted mine on Ning. While there were some who understood (or forgave) Ning when they announced the bait and switch to start charging education sites, I was not one. I do believe in “free for education” and had Ning up there with other online spaces such as Google Apps for Ed and Wikispaces who value their company’s contribution to education and think of supporting education as their way to give back. At the very least I was hoping those of us with thriving and active sites would have been grandfathered in to the agreement we thought we signed up for. While Ning did make a deal with Pearson for free education networks, this appears to be a marketing ploy to promote Pearson. Any of us with networks in excess of 150 or who use groups could not make use of this outreach. It saves folks a mere $20 a year for the type of network that would be useful to few with thriving networks and for that Pearson gets to become a member of your network and brand it.

So, on went the quest for Ning alternatives. There are MANY. So many it will make your head spin. You can check out this list of a couple dozen social network platforms created by Janettee McCrary or you might be interested in a detailed analysis of several of the platforms which you can check out the 23 page (and growing) collaborative “Alternatives to Ning” Google doc that Alec Couros created here. You can also see the survey asking people where they were migrating to here. To make it easy as pie, I’m going to summarize the four sites that seem most popular and then let you know which I recommend and why.

My picks

• Grou.ps - I like Grou.ps because after all the dust has settled, this seems to be where most have gravitated including many educators who I deeply respect and admire such as Lucy Gray and Jen Wagner. It has a similar look and feel as Ning and the site has a Ning migration tool. I also like how involved the company is in social media. They have their finger on the beat of the customer. When I tweeted about an alternative to Ning, Grou.ps “Chief Grou.pie” (their title, not mine) responded with his (admittedly biased) post about alternatives. For an example of an educator using Grou.ps check out http://grou.ps/projectsbyjen.
• Grouply - I like Grouply for a few reasons. First, it looks a lot like Ning on the front end and they also welcome Ning users and provide migration. Additionally more than 250 Ning Networks have already made the switch to Grouply. These are big draws, but perhaps what I like most is the special Grouply for Education package of premium services offered to education groups such as schools, classrooms, and parent teacher associations (PTAs). Qualifying groups get an ad-free site plus a host of additional premium features at no charge. I give huge kudos to sites that recognize educators! Grouply was also sited by Website Magazine as the site that “appears to be the winner” among the free alternatives to Ning.

Other Popular options that don’t work for me

• Spruz - Spruz looked like the front runner early on and was one of the first sites to specifically reach out to Ning users. However, as time has passed the site seems to be losing favor. The big reason why I lost interest is that now they have decided that only 100 members are allowed in the free package. This would not work for someone like me who has networks that currently hold or will eventually contain many more members. Additionally, I don’t see that they’re doing anything special for education and I haven’t heard of any educators moving to this site. Here is one example of a Spruz-powered site.
• Other popular sites similar to Spruz but that don’t seem to be popular among educators in my PLN are: WackWall, Webs, Big Tent, SocialGo, Mixxt
• BuddyPress - WordPress fans will love BuddyPress which is from the same parent company. My guess is most of my super tech-savvy friends and colleagues (Jim McDermott, Steve Kinney) would recommend this option hands down. It is a popular, open-source platforms are known for being powerful, flexible, simple and having a sizable group of plugins and customization options. My problem with this option is that it really is best for gurus like Jim and Steve who have a beautiful sense of design and programming skills. This is a do it yourself solution that requires you to take care of your own download, installation and hosting. They even have help for those interested in migrating from Ning to Buddypress. While I think this is an attractive option it requires someone more tech savvy than I. For an example of a site running on BuddyPress visit http://commons.gc.cuny.edu or http://sociallylearning.com (which I also recommend joining!)
• Other options for the tech savvy network creator: Elgg, Drupal, Moodle, Joomla, LovdByLess, Pligg
  

There are dozens more options out there. This post is an attempt to simplify the decision focusing on the four networks that seemed to pop up most often among my personal learning network. If you’d like to investigate further you can check out this list, the “Free Alternatives to Ning” document, or do a Google search for “Ning Alternatives.” If you’re a reader who is currently using a learning network alternative to Ning (not a learning network vendor), I’d love to read your insights here.