NMSA09: Rick Wormeli Keynote

THE CONFERENCE HAS BEEN FANTASTIC SO FAR!!  THE FOCUS OF RICK’S KEYNOTE WILL BE ON TEACHING IN 4-D…I’M READY TO FLOOD THIS POST WITH TONS OF INFORMATION…HOPE YOU ALL CAN FOLLOW IT…APOLOGIES IF IT DOESN’T COME THROUGH AS SUCCESSFULLY AS I’D LIKE!

Here we go…

We’re caught up in a swirl of great ideas…we’ll rededicate ourselves, look beyond education vistas, we will trun profoundly to each other and change teaching…but very soon reality will return

Our realities inspire our best efforts…never enough time, effort, or resources…but we do it anyway!

Looking at things 2 or 3 dimensionally mires us in mediocrity!

We should propose candid questions about what we do…1 note on a guitar doesn’t motivate, but multiple notes together can inspire.

Expertise

• Showing before and after pictures of his son across 15 months…
• How much of “This We Believe” runs through every decision we make?
• Some meat of what we know must be in every lesson
• Cognitive science…nothing goes into long-term memory until it is attached to something important
• Teach in ways students best learn, not the ways we best learn
• We must be experts in subjects we teach…so we can unpack our standards
• We have our own secret code middle school kids can’t figure out to combat text messaging: cursive
• 80% is abstract while 80% of middle school kids are concrete
• Middle school kids are into their bodies…use it for good, not evil…using hand gestures for showing learning,
• Kid says “I don’t know?” you say “What would you say if you DID know?”
• Outdoor education is vital to their success

Creativity

• Aristotle – ethos, logos, pathos…students show each by juggling a single ball…then begin juggling with each other to show that they can’t be separated from each other
• He was worried he might get toothpick and gumdrop triangles…what if he had limited them to his imagination?
• What if our students could only learn what we know?
• Margaret Wheatley…are you willing to be confused?
• Major inventions usually come form someone who’s just a little out on the edge…we want creativity
• Do our kids know how to ask good questions? If not this, will take us down the wrong path..
• Whoever asks the questions, does the learning…teachers tend to ask about 80 questions for every 2 from the children…

Failure

• Get over the idea of looking silly in front of others
• David Warlick – Interaction WITH the technology is how tech actually helps out YES YES YES YES YES…THANK YOU RICK!! GREAT TO HEAR SOMEONE OUTSIDE OF EDTECHWORLD SHARING THIS!
• If we’re teaching a product, it’s difficult to differentiate…If we’re teaching Persuasive Essay then that’s the only product…if we’re teaching Persuasion, then we can do Essays, Scripts, Dioramas, etc…
• Expert in any field is the one who made the most mistakes…The person who makes no mistakes is the one who takes orders from the one who does.
• Don’t stand on the edge of the pit your kids have dug and wag your finger…jump in and help them out
• Young adolescents are undergoing the second fastest growth and development period after ages 0-2…we don’t label 9 months old who don’t walk and say they’ll never amount to much…
• LSAT, MCAT, Praxis, any test that we use to “determine what someone’s life will be” can be taken multiple times…why can’t an 8th grade math test?
• For a teacher to change a behavior…he/she must first admit what they are doing is wrong, or there is a better way

Collaboration

• There’s a huge amount of information out there…do we teach kids how to critique Wikipedia
• Are lectures launching points or just a way to fill kids heads?
• I Don’t have to know it all!!! YES YES YES!!!
• TALKING ABOUT SHARING LESSONS, COLLABORATING, LEARNING FROM OTHER TEACHERS
• IF WE LIMIT KIDS ACCESS THEY”LL NEVER LEARN HOW TO CRITIQUE SITES THEMSELVES!!! (Rick said this…just can’t say it in small letters it’s so important)
• YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!
• MiddleTalk: one of the greatest professional development experiences that exists
• Plugging Listservs…talking about building a PLN…MIGHT NOT BE THE BEST FORMAT, THOUGH I LOVE MIDDLETALK (YES SHAWN I’M REALLY TYPING THIS) BUT MAN IS IT GOOD TO HEAR SOMEONE OUTSIDE OF EDTECH COMMUNITY SAYING THIS
• Write down all you’ve learned at this conference and ask someone to mail it to you in 6 months
• We must break out of the echo chamber
• Doubt gives richness to faith

Get out there and ask questions and inspire the next generation.

Sound of Music video about Differentiation

THANKS RICK! GREAT AS ALWAYS…VERY NICE TO HEAR OTHERS SPEAKING ABOUT THE POWER OF BUILDING A LEARNING NETWORK…DESPITE THE TOOL, TWITTER, LISTSERV, OR OTHERWISE, WE NEED MORE PEOPLE TO RECOGNIZE WE DON’T HAVE TO KNOW IT ALL. NO NEED TO REINVENT THE WHEEL EACH TIME…LOOK FORWARD TO USING WHAT I’VE LEARNED THIS WEEK AND SEEING MANY FOLKS AGAIN NEXT YEAR IN BALTIMORE!!!

Web 2.0 in Your Middle School Classroom

Presenter: Erica Roberts

Session Description: Are you ready for a breath of new technology in your classroom? Web 2.0, also known as the “Read/Write Web,” provides online collaboration tools like wikis and podcasts to engage students and transform classrooms. How can you use these new technologies to enhance and support student learning? This session will focus on specific, middle school curriculum-connected sample projects as well as a resource list you can use to get started with Web 2.0 on Monday morning!

MY THOUGHTS IN ALL CAPS

ERICA AND I HAVE HAD SOME PHENOMENAL CONVERSATIONS ALREADY SO FAR DURING THE CONFERENCE SO I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO GREAT THINGS IN THIS SESSION.  NICE GROUP IN THE ROOM FOR THIS TO BE THE LAST SESSION BEFORE THE KEYNOTE…ABOUT 40 PEOPLE IN HERE RIGHT NOW.

Erica is a computer apps teacher in Woodridge, IL.  Came into teaching from the computer software/consulting world. “Business has no soul” so she came into teaching.

Lots of presentations on tools: this session will focus on how teachers are USING them.  THIS IS GOLDEN…THAT’S WHAT I HOPE TO DO WITH MY SESSIONS, PROVIDING USES ALONG WITH TOOLS.

http://www.go2web20.net

http://iteachyoucomputers.wikispaces.com

Discussing differences in Web now instaed of then. Showing The Machine is Us/ing Us

Good teachers overplan…the video stopped midstream…Erica’s ready to roll with other stuff.

Content Creation not consumption gives students more buy-in.

Social Networking

“Social Networking makes my brain bigger” – crowdsourcing allows you get more information than you can know on your own.  Plugging Twitter, “some of the smartest educators I’ve ever met, are folks I met on Twitter.”

Look at who “smart people” are following, then follow them yourself

Plurk – Like Twitter…but where Twitter goes vertically, Plurk goes horizontally…smaller network, less public network…THIS DEPENDS ON HOW YOU SET UP YOUR NETWORK AND ERICA ACKNOWLEDGED THAT FACT.

Showing Edmodo talking about how this is a private network for students to practice the use of social networking.

• Conversations
• Online Grading
• Asynchronous – don’t have to be online for it to work, can come back in and check later and info is still there
• Discussing setting up classes/groups
• File Storage…replaces flash drives that could break or be lost

Blogging

• Class Blogmeister – set up by David Warlick…get the kids blogging, give them a  global view, start working on collaboration
• Speaking of History – social studies/history blog

RSS – Really Simple Syndication

• Google Reader
• Netvibes
• Bloglines

**Fresh blog content sent to you daily via RSS feeds.

Wikis

Wikipedia is not the only Wiki out there.  It’s a tool for collaboration. Multiple users can edit a single page and provide the information on the wiki. Showing a Wiki that was created in her school rather than creating a book that would sit on a shelf and never be looked at again.

Analyzed grades of 2 years worth of students work comparing wiki to books, and the wiki grades were higher. Students can work on from home, parents can see, gives a wider audience for student work, improving quality.

Showing Wikis in Plain English

Podcasts

Don’t need to have an iPod to listen

Wonderful things available in iTunes

Google Docs

Gives students access to:

• Document creation
• Spreadsheets
• Presentations

Online, no version questions, no worries about updates/upgrading…Mac/PC compatible…can be worked on simultaneously by multiple students.

Ning

Your own private MySpace.

Can be accessed from home and school.

Have kids create accounts based on characters or individuals they are studying in class.  Post avatar pictures as if you were that person.

Can be a member of many Nings

• Smart Board Revolution/ IWB Revolution
• MIDDLE SCHOOL PORTAL
• MIDDLETALK

Creative Content Creation

Students are engaged when they can put stuff together and CREATE:

• Glogster
• Wordle
• VoiceThread

CONTENT CREATION IS SUCH A HUGE THING…WE TEACH KIDS WHO WANT TO CREATE IN ANY WAY POSSIBLE…GIVING THEM MULTIPLE MEANS OF CREATING AND EXPRESSING THEMSELVES VIA TECH IS VITAL.  STILL NEED TO MOVE FURTHER TOWARD GETTING THE STUDENTS USING MULTIPLE TOOLS AT ONE TIME.  TOO MUCH FOCUS ON “OKAY, NOW THIS TOOL IN MY ROOM”.

THANKS FOR SHARING ERICA! GREAT STUFF…WE NEED MORE FOLKS DOING SESSIONS LIKE THIS TO HELP REACH THOSE IN THE CLASSROOM THAT AREN’T YET USING THE TOOLS.  THERE’S GREAT INTEREST IN ALL OF THIS FROM THE EDTECH FOLKS, BUT WE NEED MORE AND MORE IN THE TRENCHES ACTUALLY USING IT.  THANKS FOR BUILDING THAT GROUP!

Professional Learning Networks

Presenters: Shawn McGirr and Troy Patterson

Session Description: Networking is a basic tenet of education. Come and learn how you can create your own Personal Learning Network. Learn which tools you can use to develop a network that meets your needs. Learn the continuum of professional learning network development. Learn how to use podcasts, wikis, social networking (facebook, et. al.), social bookmarking (delicious, et. al), webinars, blogs, microblogs (Twitter), and more. This stuff isn’t just for your students anymore.

MY THOUGHTS IN ALL CAPS

LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS ONE…HOPING TO SHARE A LOT WITH YOU GUYS ON MSP2 AND THE BLOG…THOUGH MANY OF YOU READING IT ON THE BLOG ARE ALREADY FULLY ENGAGED IN PLNS…WILL BE WORKING FROM A TXT FILE AND UPLOADING TO MY BLOG LATER AS THERE’S NO INTERNET CONNECTION AT THE MOMENT FOR PARTICIPANTS

PRESENTATION WILL BE AVAILABLE AT WWW.MIDDLESCHOOLMATTERS.COM

Opened with an Animoto video by Jenny McAvoy-Anteau “PLNs”

Plugging the Middle School Matters Podcast, and the site where the presentation is already posted via slideshare.

PLN = Professional Learning Network, this is still in it’s infancy…still growing and changing, we don’t know the winners of the PLN race

Creating a PLN
There is so much info you can’t get arms around all of it at any one time. Get lots of info from many different places at one time.

PLN or PLC? PLC you don’t get to choose, it’s those in your district or building. A PLN is something YOU choose…who will I read, follow, learn from? If they’re valuable you keep going, if not, drop them.

Suggests creating fake email account to sign up for accounts to avoid Spam.
Second Life

Visited ISTE Island in Second Life to show Professional Development via virtual world. Jenny joining us from Alaska. Talking about the educators she has met via Second Life. “Found an incredible community of individuals with diverse learning needs” a “diverse community of individuals” who have helped her as a teacher and a person. Second Life offers real time chat, near face-to-face, where Twitter is “nearly now” not quite synchronous.

Another difference with Second Life is you can create objects that can be used to share files, etc.

Each PLN Tool fits different people’s needs…Find the one that fits what YOU need!

What do you need to get into Second Life?

• Computer
• Headset
• The Program

Using Second Life to work with Autistic students…recreate community…students create avatar and do the daily things they have to do in real life, in Second Life. Then help to wean them off of Second Life and into Real Life.

Showing Land of Lincoln in Second Life…Lincoln’s White House, Lincoln Library, and other things related to the Life of Lincoln.

Discussing Teen Second Life vs. Second Life…adults only allowed in after background check and then have limited access where teens have full access to Teen Second Life.

Podcasting
Use for Professional Development

Suggestions: Look for Regular Episodes, Search iTunes, iTunes also gives you suggestions for other podcasts.

Podcasts for Students
60 Second Civics Podcast for Social Studies
Grammar Girl for Language Arts

Internet Archive will host anything that is not copywritten for FREE!

Student creation of podcasts can focus on: Demonstration of Understanding, Sharing w/ Others, Summarization, Teaching

Social Networks

• MiddleTalk
• Facebook
• Nings – example: Classroom 2.0
• Virtual Environments: Second Life

GREAT SESSION GUYS…HIGHLY FOCUSED ON SECOND LIFE, AND THAT SEEMED TO BE AN INTEREST OF THE GROUP. A GREAT WAY TO DISCUSS PERSONAL LEARNING NETWORKS THAT IS OFTEN OVERLOOKED. THERE’S A TON TO COVER IN A SESSION OF THIS LENGTH. CHECK OUT THE PRESENTATION FILES ON MIDDLESCHOOLMATTERS.COM