TCEA 2010

I write this as my short, but very worthwhile TCEA 2010 experience comes to a close. It is sad to think that this year I only really got to go to the convention one day. It's just how it happened, but even with that, the sessions I attended were great! If you're interested to read about some of the learning, visit my TCEA 2010 Wiki page.

I will also say that my first TCEA presentation experience went great! As best I can tell, everyone was paying attention, they were engaged in the conversation, and (perhaps a tell-tale sign if things are slipping) people didn't get up in the middle of the presentation and leave. I hope to be able to do it again!

For those of you who will continue on with your TCEA 2010 experience - Happy Learning!

Today I Present...

It's my first time to present at Texas Computer Educator's Association (TCEA) and I must admit I'm a little nervous. It's the unknown. I don't usually get nervous about speaking in front of people, but not knowing how many people will be there, knowing if everything is going to work right, knowing if my topic is too "dated"...all those things - the unknown - is making my tummy turn over and over.

My topic - "Using Web 2.0 Tools to Increase your Personal Learning Network (PLN)". How can some of the interactive tools (Web 2.0) that are available on the web help you learn? Things such as blogs, wiki, and yes - even Twitter! How can subscribing to blogs and wikis and following people on Twitter help you learn? That's what this session is all about.

Because of all the planning that goes into putting on a conference like this, proposals for presentations have to be submitted in the Spring the previous year. Because of this, I've known since May what my topic would be. In the world of technology, though, that's a hard call! Deciding on a topic to discuss at a technology conference almost a full year before you present - technology changes so fast, how can you ensure your topic is relevant? (Another unknown that is adding to my tummy flops!) Handouts had to be "turned in" in November and, again, I will often make changes to my presentations even the day before! I'm just glad I use Web 2.0 tools so people have access to the most current - recent - information that I present. :) For tools and a copy of the presentation (after it's over) visit my wiki: http://jmcdaniel.pbworks.com. I will create a link on the front page that will take you directly to a TCEA 2010 page where you'll find information about my presentation and all of the presenations I'll attend.

Best wishes for learning about some wonderful tools all TCEA 2010 conference attendees! As you attend some amazing sessions - continue to ask yourself, how can this help me create a better learning opportunity for my students?

When Technology Fails...

To say technology can be frustrating is an understatement. We've all felt it. You know how it's supposed to work, but it doesn't seem to do what you want it to do (or it crashes, etc.). An experience like that happened to me just this afternoon and I thought, what a good learning opportunity. I hear all the time, our kids know how to use this stuff, but I just can't seem to understand it or I get so frustrated with it. What is the difference between us and our kids when it comes to technology? There are several different things, but one that I realized - they don't give up. If something doesn't work, they try - try again. They figure it out. Isn't this problem solving? Maybe not in the way educators want or think of problem solving, but they're using their brains to figure out how to make something work.

Problem solving is definitely a 21st century skill and allowing our students to struggle a little when trying to figure something out is okay (this isn't only true of technology, but anything). Encourage your students to figure it out on their own and allow them to fail.

The next time technology fails you, remember...it's a learning opportunity!

Information, Media, and Technology Skills

Information, Media, and Technology Skills is another cog in the Partnership for 21st Century Skills framework. These, in fact, are emerging as the new set of literacies that today's students really need to understand: Information Literacy; Media Literacy; ICT (Information, Communication, and Technology) Literacy.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills address the fact that we live in "technology and media-suffused environment" and schools/teachers who ignore this fact will quickly become extinct (that is my opinion - not the Partnership for 21st Century Skills). Many teachers fear the idea that if technology becomes a part of the educational system, their services may no longer be required and they'll be out a job. Who, then, will teach them about the literacies of the 21st century? Those teachers who continue to ignore these new literacies will be the ones who become extinct, but not because technology will replace them, but because teachers who understand how to use and leverage the technology to engage and teacher students will replace them.

Will you become extinct or will you choose to better understand how the face of education is changing?

Eight Habits of Highly Effective 21st Century Teachers

With this blog posts come a great article as well as some news concerning my career.

First of all the great article! When I was at Region 16 ESC one of the trainings we offered was a Web 2.0 Boot Camp. I have written about the details of this training in the past, but I bring it up now because we ran a 2009 version as well. One of the participants of that course shared some great bookmarks with me on delicious and one of them was right up the alley of this blog.

Eight Habits of Highly Effective 21st Century Teachers is a great article written by Andrew Churches who is in charge of Information Technology at Kristin School in Auckland. He believes that teachers who strive to be considered a "21st Century Teacher" exhibt the following eight qualities:

1. Adapting
2. Being Visionary
3. Collaborating
4. Taking Risks
5. Learning
6. Communicating
7. Modelling Behavior
8. Leading

As I reflect on these 8 qualities, I realize that these are qualities we also want to encourage in our students to be successful in the 21st century. My question is, then, does this mean that to be able to successfully prepare our students for life after school, we must also be willing ourselves to step outside the box of traditional teaching? I will even go as far as to say the task is near impossible to prepare students for the 21st century life for the strickly traditional teacher.

As I've mentioned before, I am not saying that things "we've always done" should go out the window, but I encourage and challenge today's teachers to take a long hard look at what you do in your classroom and ask yourself:

How is this relevant to learning?
What

is the purpose of this task?

If the answers to those questions do not reflect a 21st century type of learning, then maybe it's time to retire that lesson. With the way things change so quickly, it is no longer "okay" to create your lessons once never to have a look at them again.

Do you have any other questions teachers should consider when evaluating their lessons according to 21st century learning and education?

Now for the news! I have left my job at Region 16 Education Service Center. There were many reasons behind my decision to leave - some of them personal - but one of the main reasons is because I would like to focus more on instructional technology and the job, for various reasons, was turning into a grant management position. While grants are necessary and very helpful, I found that I was not able to focus as much on getting technology into the hands of teachers and changing classrooms. After much discussion with my husband, I felt this was the best move for me - both personally and professionally.

I do have plans to stay heavily involved in the Instructional Technology world, though "the plan" is 100% ready to go so I shall refrain from discussing that until it's all ready to go. I have also been blessed with the opportunity to teach some online professional development classes for Texas Virtual School. This has helped keep me busy during the day (though I've been plenty busy trying to get my house in shape after moving into our new house in March), plus provide some extra spending money.

Stay tuned for further developments and hopefully you'll see more and more posts with some great information!

Go forth and be a great 21st Century Educator!

Wes Fryer's Landscape of 21st Century Learning

Wesley Fryer, a leader in educational technology and someone that is in my Personal Learning Network, recently spoke at a conference in New Zealand. He posted his presentation on slideshare. I highly encourage you to watch/listen to his presentation. It is an hour long and definitely gives you something to think about.

Why 21st Century Skills are Important

Dr. Scott McLeod, someone that I follow on Twitter, read his blog posts, and learn from, has recently posted the first in a series about 5 key levers he feels like will move schools forward. He is specifically speaking about schools in Iowa because that is where he lives and works; however, I feel as thought the same applies for schools everywhere.

The very first lever he wrote about is 21st century curricula. As a society we will be unable to move education forward without understanding what it means to give our students a 21st century education. This blogs has focused on defining 21st century skills and even given my readers some practical 21st century tools; however, Dr. McLeod's blog post, Iowa - 21st century curricula, does a wonderful job of answering the why. He states:

Why are these skills so important? Because the rise of digital information
and communication technologies such as e-mail, instant messaging,
videoconferencing, and the Internet have virtually eliminated the workplace
barriers of geography and time. It is now about as easy to work with people
halfway across the globe as it is with folks halfway across town. As a result,
information, money, and ideas criss-cross the globe at dizzying speeds and
work moves to the location of lowest cost or greatest expertise. This puts an
extraordinary amount of pressure on the Western wage premium: why pay an
American worker such a high salary when someone in another country will do the
same work for less?

Basically we are doing a disservice to our students if we are not preparing them for the workforce they will join. The best thing we can do for our economy is teach our children to be competitive.

I would highly encourage you to read the rest that post. He's got some wonderful statistical graphics and goes on to answer the "how." I also encourage you to subscribe to his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant. Make him a part of your PLN (personal learning network).

Are you preparing your students to be competitive in the 21st century workforce? If the answer is no, you need to take a step back and reassess.

Microsoft's Career Resource for Students

Microsoft has created a FREE (love that word!) online course that aims to prepare youth for 21st century job. How cool is that!

This course, called Career Forward, is all online and is organized into four modules. The course can be given in a classroom type setting or the students can complete individually and the project aims to get students thinking about what they want to do with their lives. It also gets them thinking about their career path and the skills they need to have to succeed.

I will be honest, I haven't take the course, but on first glance, this looks to be like a great resource for student's to realize what job field they may want to look into and what skills they need for that job field. The course is free and available to any U.S. student.

Anyone who may have used the product, I encourage you to leave comments about the quailty of the course.

21st Century Skills - Learning and Innovation Skills

It has been said, by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and several other people, that learning and innovation skills are the skill sets that will set students who are prepared for this ever changing world and work force and those who are not.

Because teachers of today are preparing students of tomorrow for jobs that don't yet exist, knowing how to learn is a must for our kiddos. Not only that, but they have to be innovative and creative problem solvers. They must know how to look at a problem and find a solution for it - either something they create or know how to find the answer.

We will not be there to help them. Their parents will not always be there to help them. Their bosses will not have the time to help, but will expect results. If we don't teach our kids how to learn and solve problems, we will be doing them a disservice.

Additionally, our students will need to know how to work together to solve these problems. No more is is the loner sitting at the desk who has the bright idea, but the group as a whole that brainstorms and comes up with the best solution. And by the way, the group might include many different people from many different backgrounds, countries, and experiences. Our kids must know how to work with other people who, more often than not, are different than they are.

Please visit the Partnership for 21st Century's Learning and Innovation Skills for more information. I would want my kids to be set apart in the work force - do you?

21st Century Skills and English Map

On November 24th, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills released the 21st Century Skills and English Map which is:

a new framework that provides educators with teacher-created models of how 21st century skills can be infused into English classes.

How wonderful is that! A map that will help English teachers infuse 21st century skills into their classroom. And, better yet, it's using a teacher-created model! Wonderful!

They also have a map for Social Studies as well as many other publications. I encourage you to visit their publication listing and choose one to read/review. If you find something outstanding, post that information as a reply to this post and share with everyone else!

Good 'Ol Days of Wheelwright, Kentucky

I have subscribed to receive notifications of any new Edutoipa articles and this one caught my eye. The title of the article is Community Connect: The Bluegrass State Blends Technology and Service Learning by Suzie Boss.

Students have taken pictures from Wheelwright, Kentucky (a former coal-mining town that has basically become a ghost town) and perserved the history by restoring these photos. They've even published a coffee table book and DVD.

This is one example of how students in the state of Kentucky are honing their 21st century skills. The statewide Student Technology Leadership Program (STLP) mixes community service with technology in hopes of empowering students with technology. The article goes on to highlight additional student-led projects as well as giving information on how the projects have inspired teachers and community memebers alike.

This article is definiely worth a read...

Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes

Many (notice I said many - not all) teachers have a fear/belief that technology could quite possible make their job obsolete. Could this happen? Doubtful! I am here to say, though, that if educators don't get on board with the changing face of education, they may become obsolete. They will not, though, be replaced by technology, but by educators who get on board with bring education into the 21st Century.

Teachers need to change from being the giver of knowledge (because with the Internet, knowledge about anything can be found), but the facilitator of learning. I've mentioned this in previous posts; however, today's topic of the importance of the Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes brings this point home.

Learning to read, write, and understand math, science, and history is still at the very heart of our students' education needs; however, the way our students learn these things is changing...and changing at a very rapid pace. Teachers are still a very important key in this learning process, but it is very necessary to help facilitate the learning as opposed to giving the knowledge and just expecting them to learn. That doesn't cut it anymore!

The additional component to this area of 21st century skills framework are the 21st Century Themes. According to the Partnership for 21st Century Skills:

...schools must move beyond a focus on basic competency in core subjects to promoting understanding of academic content at much higher levels by weaving 21st century interdisciplinary themes into core subjects.

Those 21st century interdisciplinary themes include:

• Global awareness
• Financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy
• Civic literacy
• Health literacy

These items may be taught in our school systems of today; however, as is pointed out in the quote from Partnership for 21st Century Skills they believe these themes should be woven into the core subjects. That means that the core subjects are taught using projects and ideas that promote the interdisciplinary themes.

For most, that is a shift from what is currently happening in the classroom. No longer is lecture followed by paper/pencil test enough. Really - it should never have been enough, but that has been the method adopted by most educators for many years now. No longer can a teacher sit back and watch the students learn. The teacher should be an active participant in guiding the students' learning - the keyword there being active. Giving a worksheet to the students while reading the newspaper at your desk will no longer cut it. That is a rather extreme example. Do I believe this is happening in most classrooms? No, but I know it does happen to some degree. There are still teachers who think that the most effective way to teach is to hand them a worksheet where they have to do 20/30 (or more in some cases) problems practicing the same concept. It doesn't work! Do you go home and do a worksheet to learn to bake a cake? NO! Why would we think our students learn this way?

Yes - I am quite passionate about this. Engaging our students in their learning is so important and the change needs to happen now. We can no longer sit back and see if this will work. It works! Engage your students. We'll all be better for it.

21st Century Skills Framework

I have not been able to post to this blog as often as I intend and would like, but I am not giving up. I hope this information, though few and far between, will still help a teacher on their journey to move their teaching into the 21st Century. Today's topic is the 2nd installment in a series of postings about what 21st Century Skills look like for our students. If you have not read the 1st Installment, What are 21st Century Skills, I recommend you take a look. This post will focus on the Framework that the Partnership for 21st Century Skills created.

For a visual representation of the Framework, you can visit the Partnership for 21st Century Skills page dedicated to the Framework.

They have broken down the skills into 4 Basic Categories. Here I will outline what those categories are, but will be going into further detail in subsequent blog postings.

• Core Subjects and 21st Century Themes
• Learning and Innovation Skills
• Information, Media, and Technology Skills
• Life and Career Skills

It may seem at this point that I am just outlining information you can find on Partnership for 21st Century Skill's website (which is true), but my goal is, once there is a good foundation of understanding, to go into further detail about how instruction needs to change because of these skills.

Take the time to really understand 21st century skills/themes - our students will be glad you did.

What are 21st Century Skills?

I felt it important, if this blog is to be used to move teachers toward 21st century teaching, that I write to the idea of 21st century skills. What does this mean? What skills does this include? What can I do to ensure I am teaching these skills?

I plan to address some of these questions in the next few blogs. I know everyone is gearing back up for school (if you haven't already started) so I hope you will begin thinking about 21st century skills when writing lesson plans and teaching your students. Addressing these skills needs to be a natural part of your teaching.

The best place to start for information on the 21st century skills (or literacy) is with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Their mission statement:

Serve as a catalyst to position 21st century skills at the center of US K-12 education by building collaborative partnerships among education, business, community and government leaders

Their members include many businesses and education entities. There are actually nine states (unfortunatley, Texas - where I am from - is not one of them) that have become involved and made it a state-wide initiative. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has great resources and publications that you may find useful in professional development as well as using at your school to further the idea of 21st Century Skills and being a 21st Century Teacher.

My next post will include information about the framework and exactly what the 21st Century Skills include.

Good luck with the beginning of school and remember...our kids deserve an education that will prepare them for their future!

Curriculum and Instruction

Infusing the teaching of 21st century skills into curriculum and instruction is imperative and often times can be done by using technology to enhance the curriculum and instruction that is already in place.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has set up a resource area entitled Route 21, "a one-stop shop for 21st century skills-related information, resources, and community tools." You can go here for many, many resources posted by teachers and other professionals. The exciting thing is you can join the community and post your own resources about 21st century skills.

Curriculum is the what of teaching. It becomes important at that point, when creating the curriculum, to have a grasp of 21st century skills. Instruction is the how of teaching. Understanding the 21st century skills in instruction becomes using knowledge to infuse 21st century skills into teaching. Route 21 describes in Curriculum and Instruction ways to meets the needs of the 21st century learner to achieve student outcomes described in its Framework:

• "to adopt a 21st century curriculum that blends thinking and innovation skills; information, media, and ICT literacy; and life and career skills in context of core academic subjects and across interdisciplinary themes, and
• to employ methods of 21st century instruction that integrate innovative and research-proven teaching strategies, modern learning technologies, and real world resources and contexts."

It is important as educators that we infuse our current curriculum and instruction practices with the use and teaching of 21st century skills to prepare our students for their futures.

21st Century Skills

There is a lot of discussion happening in the instructional technology world and education in general about 21st century skills for students. In fact - this blog is about teaching in the 21st century. Those that say "This is how I learned and look how I turned out" don't realize the damage they are doing to our kids. That attitude will not prepare our students for the world that will live in when they are grown.

The article 21st Century Skills from Campus Technology gives this example "Recently, a new hire at a friend's company was assigned the task to review, analyze, and write a report about several organizations the company was interested in working with. Andrea Brands, AT&T's director of public affairs, describes the result: "My friend received a poor narrative, just a long summary, and it wasn't comprehensive." The employee didn't use any initiative, didn't go beyond the superficial. The employee was unprepared for the job."

Most teachers will agree that would want their students to be prepared for the future. Isn't that why we do this?

The solution: become a 21st Century Teacher. That means the words "that's technology and I've been fine without it so far" or "I don't have the time or resources", etc., can no longer be a part of your vocabulary. It should become unacceptable for classroom teachers to dig their heals in and not learn what will help our kids be successful. It can be such a fearful thing for some people and THAT'S OKAY! What is not okay - fear that drives teachers into denial about the importance of moving their teaching into the 21st century. It will not be easy. It may not even be plesant in some cases; however, that does not diminish it's importance.

What exactly does a 21st Century Teacher look like? Someone whose teaching focuses on student and not on the teacher. Anthony Chivetta, a frequent writer on the Students 2.0 blog, makes this point in his blog 21st Century Education: Thinking Creatively "Twenty-first century education won’t be defined by any new technology. It won’t be defined by 1:1 laptop programs or tech-intensive projects. Twenty-first century education will, however, be defined by a fundamental shift in what we are teaching—a shift towards learner-centered education and creating creative thinkers. Today’s world is no longer content with students who can simply apply the knowledge they learned in school: our generation will be asked to think and operate in ways that traditional education has not, and can not, prepare us for." Here is what strikes me about this statement - it is made from a student. Again I say - aren't they the reason we're here!

Because my focus is on instructional technology, my job focuses on helping teachers move towards 21st Century Teaching by using many of the technology tools available; however, it is not enough to use the technologies - it is in how they are used. The paradigm has to shift in teaching or nothing that is changed will work. Help the students understand how to learn and research and find the answers themselves, don't just give them the information. What's the fun in that? :) Foster that curiosity that people are born with naturally. It's okay to say "I don't know". Most kids these days don't expect adults to "know everything" simply because they understand the true expanse of knowledge and information.

If you are a teacher that has begun the process of becoming (or have become) a 21st Century Teacher (I do realize it doesn't happen overnight...and I don't expect it too!), I applaud you. If you want to move towards 21st Century Teaching, I challenge you to find someone in the first category because, as educators, we love to share! If you fall under the category of "don't think so - that is not for me" than I challenge you to think of your most successful student and think about where you would like him/her to be in 10-20 years. Will that attitude help them get there?

BE THE CHANGE!

Second Life

No, I am not a cat who has nine lives and is soon to begin living my second one.

Second Life is a virtual world that has totally been created by it's users. Going public in 2003, it has exploded and today is inhabited by millions of people from around the Globe. Users create fully customizable in-world avitars. On any given moment in Second Life (or SL if you're speaking in-world), you will possibilty come across a various array of different characters. I, myself, have not been a member very long; however, the things I have learned and people I have met up to this point have been very exciting!

You may be asking yourself, why should I be interested in SL? Simply put, it's use in education is becoming more prevalant. Just today I met a librarian in a Chicago school district that specializes in technology who has a big part of ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) in SL. Yes, to answer the second question you may have. ISTE has a group in SL that hosts many different events, including a "social" on Thursday nights where technology educators from all over the world meet to have discussions. How exciting is that?!? Personally, I don't ever have the opportunity to share ideas with others except those in my own little world and those around me. Now, because of this group, I will be able to share ideas with educators from all over the world!

Many universities from all over the United States are also getting involved. They use SL as a place to go and have chat sessions with their students about their RL subject. There are even teachers who use SL as their classroom! How exciting is that?!? Although I have not gotten into this part as of yet, you are able to enable voice chat. Your avitar will actually be speaking your voice!

Let's talk about price. This Web 2.0 tool is free, but you'll soon realize there are things that do require money. The in-world money is called lindens which can be purchased with RL (real life) dollars. I will say, though, there is a lot of things you can do that are absolutely free. If you never want to spend a single RL dime, you don't have to spend a RL dime. There are even ways to make lindens in-world, but that would be something to do after you had really been involved in SL for a while. An example of a RL person making SL lindens - a co-worker of my husband's is a singer who has a singing career in SL. RL people pay linden dollars to hear her sing at various concerts. I'm actually attending one this afternoon! These jobs are never something you would do to make much RL money, but can help get SL money without having to pay RL dollars.

Check it out! If you're one who enjoys discussion with others to improve education, you'll be glad you did. Everyone is very nice and helpful so don't be shy about asking questions. That's how you learn. Everyone there was new at some point and are eager to help you enjoy SL. If you already have a SL account, please look me up and send me an IM! I would love to chat with you. If you ever create a SL account, I hope you'll look me up as well. I would definitely help you out any way I can! I am JennAFuzz Gabardini. Please feel free to ask questions or discuss SL here!

I do plan to eventually start a SL blog for JennAFuzz which will share her exciting adventures in SL as well as share things that I am learning through her because of educator groups I am a part of. Once I have created that blog, I'll post the information here.

I hope to see you in SL!!

Welcome to My Blog

Students of today crave technology. Some teachers of today shy away from technology. Never a good combination. Why this blog? To encourage and inform teachers about becoming a 21st century teacher for our 21st century kiddos. They are wired differently and they learn differently. Yet there are still teachers out there who teach like they were taught.

What's the harm in this? We learned it just fine the old fashioned way and look how we turned out - just fine! The problem is that our kids have to know how to communicate in a global economy. There are skills that kids of today have to know and understand that weren't important when we were going to school. I plan, in the days to come, to blog on the different skills that a 21st century student needs to have that, in a "traditional sit in your seat and listen to me talk" classroom does not provide.

I hope that you learn something from this blog. That is the intention. My mission is to help teachers be successful using technology in their classroom. Feel free to comment (even if you disagree!!) and add your own "2 cents".

The plan - to blog at least once a week (if not more) on issues relating to integrating technology into the every day classroom. Sometimes it might be as simple as a link to a great article. If you're an avid user of technology - good for you! Please share your expertise with us. If you're ready to use technology, but not sure where to start, hopefully you'll find some great things to get you started. If you're convinced technology is for everyone else but you, I hope you keep reading to "prove me wrong". The world would be boring if we all had the same opinion, but how much richer the conversation is if there is discussion!

May this blog help at least one teacher to realize the importance integrating technology into every aspect of their teaching!