El Parque Nuez

I’ve been blogging with the cooperative catalyst group (coopcatalyst.wordpress.com) recently. Really enjoying the conversations over there.  Check it out.

I posted this one over there too, but hoped a few more folks would have the chance to look at it over here.  Not sure how this whole blogging in two places thing works yet!

Also, @Larryferlazzo posted this tonight, that relates to what we’ve been thinking about recently: http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/2010/07/30/my-most-popular-blog-posts-on-parent-engagement-over-the-past-year/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

In edtech and learning stewardship circles (thinking of conversations with the #edopenmic last week and with @johntspencer specifically), the idea of parental involvement seems to have come up often recently.

I noticed it but really didn’t understand it until last year.  The complexity of the support networks many students in low-income communities have (and I’m assuming in many suburban ones too) is something we’ve yet to really tap into.

Shouldn’t social networks help us tap into this interconnected rhizome better than previously possible?

This is more than just a linguistic shift (i.e. moving away from saying “parent involvement” to be more P.C.).  It’s a conceptual one.  It transforms how we look at the network that raises our kids.

This rhizome of support, advocacy, accountability, and learning should be seen as a strength, or in @johntspencers words, a solution and not as an enemy to many of the things our kids face or need help with.

Roots branch out, but rhizomes interconnect and support.  I can be facebook friends with a student, his older and younger siblings, titi (aunt), grandpa and mama simultaneously.  I can mass text an entire family to make sure I get some important information to at least one of them, which could spread afterwards anyway they seem fit.  I can just ask what folks use, and tap into it, rather than forcing them to fit in the box I feel most comfortable with.

If you’ve ever pulled out weeds, you know that roots are easier to pull out than rhizomes.  Rhizomes are stronger.  Rhizomes are resistant.

We should be attaching ourselves to these networks, and leveraging to meet the needs of our students.  We should be seeing them as assets, and not as liabilities.  I can see something like this as indispensable and impossible to ignore by school communities and reformers alike if played right.

How do you all connect with these networks?

What successes have you or others that you know had?

What setbacks?

How do you intend to tap into these networks this coming year?

Any other thoughts?

We don’t see our friends or colleagues as only people in our immediate physical environment anymore because of social networks and PLNs.  Can’t we start to be more cognizant of the realities of family life outside the nuclear in the same ways?

Image via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/venessamiemis/4087645206/ from http://www.flickr.com/photos/venessamiemis/

I sent this out a few days ago, hoping people would find it useful.  Feel free to use, adapt, talk about, trash, whatever.  It’d be nice to get something like this together and send it en mass, with the collective power of all our PLN’s behind us.  That would be pretty hard to ignore.  Please comment if you find necessary.

17 July 2010
Open Letter to Network Policy Power Brokers,

Congratulations!  You have the opportunity to be a change agent.  You have the chance to be at the forefront of all that is new and path-breaking in education.  What is this chance you ask?  You have the chance to link our students to people and knowledge from around the globe.

We believe strongly that filtering is indeed an important aspect to responsible technology leadership.  We recognize the risks open networks pose to schools.  We want our kids to have constructive experiences.  We want our kids to be safe. However we do believe that this safety must be balanced with the wealth of learning that can be fostered through social networks.

We write you this letter as a member of a network, 348 people strong and growing (My own network as of July 17, 2010).  People we connect with have followers too.  We are large and focused on revolutionizing the learning opportunities of our kids.  This network has not only made us better teachers, but it has galvanized a society of other change agents around the globe.  We learn and act in real time, from anywhere.  We learn from people we’ve never met.  We share our own thoughts with a confidence and polish unprecedented in our academic careers.  Anyone can join, usually for free.  The platforms?  Twitter.  Wordpress.  Wikispaces.  Animoto.  Youtube.  Skype.  Facebook.  The list goes on and on.

The problem?  I can’t access these services, and a multitude of other social networking applications, from my school.  More importantly?  Neither can my students.  Most of my students don’t have access to the Internet at home.  They cannot enjoy the same learning network I have built over the past year.  Those that do do not have the support from people they do trust, teachers, to help them understand how to use these tools responsibly.  Imagine if they could utilize these devices and receive the guidance and care we all provide them in other arenas!

We write you to begin a thoughtful conversation about changing filtering policies in our schools.  This is something we can change if we put our minds together.  It will cost us nothing, but the benefits will pay off in droves.

Please consider participating with us on this crucial matter.  We can’t do it without you!

Best wishes from us all,

A society of committed and networked and concerned educators.

Image via http://www.flickr.com/photos/coffeemick/3393399278/in/

With all this talk about collaboration, I’ve wondered what if we had a chance to create our own school? What would it look like?

I’ve been thinking through a learning vision with some friends at a new school. Here were my initial thoughts. I would love comments and suggestions. I haven’t seen much actual “crowd sourcing” of these ideas, and I think it would be of constructive use for our edtech society.

******************

The technology vision demonstrates an innovative approach to learning, and serves as a catalyst for a world class education for all students who attend.

We will recognize diversity of learning, and use universal design principles to ensure maximum fulfillment of individual capacity and beyond.

We commit to equitable use and training, all students should have just opportunities.

We consider 1:1, because it makes sense in a student centered international school.

We use Open Source because it saves cost.

We commit to an Open Network, so our students can connect through social networks (filtering out the really bad, but teaching teachers how to teach their kids to be responsible). Teacher on/off switch admin privs.

We use technology because it helps learning be socially relevant, and that impact be shared globally.

We commit to a secure network, but we don’t confuse security with paranoia.

We ensure a robust network because our students deserve media rich applications and the ability to upload their creations.

We use global networks to support IB, because we believe the missions of IB can only be supported if our students actually interact with the world authentically. A network can lead them to inquire, care, be compassionate and to act.

We use Web 2.0 and social networking tools to support our PYP curriculum. Our students construct knowledge and act while acquiring concepts, knowledge, skills, and attitudes by constructing meaning of their world.

We use networks to foster the education of adults, connecting adults to the classes we offer as well as services offered from the St. Louis community that help them reach their own potential.

We believe in students and families having ubiquitous access to the internet. We consider making the network available in the home.

We have a tech use policy that’s appropriate to conditions in school community.

We have a low student-tech ratio (not just computers) because we believe students will do more profound things if they are able to customize their own learning or produce things that demonstrate their learning.

We have a sophisticated funding vision because we believe learning is too important to be impacted by fluctuations in the economy.

Funding vision for technology also includes humans…(one IT in each building, and a tech director/instructional design coordinator)

We do not use the words “TECH INTEGRATION”, but rather learning design to reflect our innovative style of facilitating understanding, knowledge and action.

We believe that access should be seamless and ubiquitious. We want an ecosystem of deep thought, creation and sharing to permeate the building.

Professional learning community, not tech led pd. Teachers need to have the resources to take ownership over their own learning.

We believe in assessment for learning as much as assessment of learning.

Lease to buy with insurance. This will keep costs low while not locking us into older machines.

We could create a Classroom endowment fund that would generate the money necessary for yearly innovation purchases. We seek innovative sources of funding.

We could seek the support of tech angel investors from the social entrepreneurial realm that would upfront cost for innovative programs.

We believe expectations and procedures should be taught up front, Tech bootcamp (for teachers and students), but also recognize a lot of learning happens from mistakes.

Balance between creation and observation/analysis.

Research based decisions, action research for teachers.

We believe our kids should have access to workshops (green screens, video editing, digital photography, storytelling, etc.)

We recognize that good tech compliments and deepens real life and real relationships with people and knowledge.

Wifi is possible.

http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/07/13/texas-district-to-extend-wireless-into-low-income-neighborhood.aspx

And wifi must also exist to meet parent goals.

Unlocked network. Teachers have the right to unlock specific websites if necessary, or at least have accounts that have finer access privileges than kids.

Technology planning committee should also be global, and should include non tech folks.

Mini grants spur on teacher innovation, and are a layer on top of an already empowered teacher community.

We think a 1:1 student to passionate expert ratio is as important as a 1:1 student to computer ratio.

Thanks for reading, I would appreciate any comments/improvements.

Things are worse than they seem when you are frustrated

Things are worse than they seem when you are frustrated

Things are worse than they seem when you are frustrated

Things are worse than they seem when you are frustrated

Things are worse than they seem when you are frustrated

Yes.  I did type that sentence five times (no copy and paste for me).  That catharsis helps me remind myself that it’s probably not as bad as it seems.  I need to remind myself that there is always something that can be squeezed from the worse of experiences.  I also need to remind myself that I genuinely respect my teachers, for their hard work, for their insightful feedback, and for having much more expertise than I may ever have.

But grad school isn’t doing it for me.  Sometimes I feel like it is 100 years old…

Of course I’ve learned some invaluable things; things that I wouldn’t have learned if I was not enrolled in a grad program.  But I’ve learned some nasty habits this semester.  First, I’ve become a worse student than I ever was in High School (and I was a bad student in High School).  I don’t turn work in on time, and although I spend a lot of time to make something of quality when I do (10 hours on a lesson plan wooo!), I tend to procrastinate in ways I never did before.  I’m just not too motivated to do things.

I don’t blame my teachers, I blame the entire blasphemy of an institution we call higher ed.  I’m sure there are some programs that offer the same kind of real time learning, project based thinking, impactive discussion and challenge that I yearn for.

Although I’m not motivated by graduate school, I can say that I’ve been driven by learning online.  I can say that I feel more challenged by y’all (My PLN and fellow ISTE goers) than I do by my classes.  I can say I have more of a drive to learn through twitter, diigo, pixton, jing, skype, etc. than I do on blackboard or by typing papers.  I can also say that I’ve used more of both the theory and practical knowledge I’ve gleaned from PLN than I have from my classes.

Lastly, and most importantly, I’ve written 57 pages on my blog in the almost one year since I started (double spaced, 12 pt font, 1″ margins as outlined by APA guidelines).   My master’s thesis is less than 40 pages, and there are a whole bunch of tables and graphs scattered throughout.  I’ve tweeted 616 times, connecting with people most of whom I’ve never met around the globe.

That disparity is amazing.  Things need to change for the better, or there is no way we are going to meet the need of 21st century learners.  I wonder what it would be like if I could encourage my professors to join my PLN?  Imagine what our relationship would be if we had the kind of access to each other I have with members of my PLN?  How might both are learning be different?

Are there any other folks with different/inspiring experiences?  Are there folks out there who are creating sort of “open universities” for new teachers who need help becoming both better teachers in the traditional sense and in the revolutionary sense?

Image courtesy of James Delaney via flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimdelaney/387951541/