Ruth’s Ruckus2

Social Bookmarking would benefit a number of teachers in my school.  I am thinking specifically of working together to build a list of bookmarks that would be somewhat like a Portaportal.  I have created a portaportal for both  schools, but I am the only one building them.  This limits the viability and growth potential of the list.  I did not really think of introducing “web based” bookmarking to many teachers.  I have mentioned it to one of the math specialists and a reading specialist.  I think a better tactic might be to hold an inservice for the staff – one of my schools is ready for it -  and introduce the concept.  I know several would embrace the idea for their own personal productivity, but all would embrace the idea of creating a communal group of bookmarks of teaching resources.

I actually think a workshop on social bookmarking might make a great Tech Tuesday session.  It’s quick and the application to personal productivity is immediately visible.  It would also work well as part of a Web 2.0 for personal productivity exploration workshop.

Sharon Elin has a great Educational Technology focused blog. I subsribe using my iGoogle reader, but will add it to my blogroll here…

This challeng is to find two blogs to follow and share a bit about them.  The first blog I will share is Alice Mercer’s blog.  Reflections on Teaching is just that…her reflections on what she sees in the world of education, what she does in her computer lab, anything that she feels tells a story about where education is or is going.  I’ve been using a widget in my iGoogle page to follow her… I’ll be adding her blog to my blogroll shortly.

I subscribe to It’s Elementary… http://edtechtalk.com/ItsElementary – it’s a podcast on the EdTechTalk website. Alice Mercer a fellow Den Star who is a great Computer Lab Teacher is one of the moderators…I follow Alice – her blogs, tweets, plurks, slideshare – so this seemed to be a natural fit for me. They used to publish twice a month, but they seem to be publishing once a month now.

I usually try to be more positive about division wide projects even if I don’t agree with the way they are carried off.  Unfortunately there is no way to put a positive spin on the what the teachers in my schools have had to endure with the gradebook this first nine weeks.  It’s been so bad, that I have been scheduled to do additional inservicing in BOTH buildings.  In preparations for next week’s inservices, I have been creating a timeline of events, things that both the teachers and I have had to make adjustments for over the last 6 weeks.  I felt the need to document this transitional period  for them to validate what I know has been a really bad experience for most.

I’m using TimeRime for this timeline.  It’s a free web2.0 aplication that I have known about for a while, but have never gotten around to exploring…seemed to be the right tool this time.

I have been looking ino use of microblogging for my own professional development over the past year or so.  I first heard about using microbloggin for educational purposes back in 2007 when a colleague returned from the ITRT summer camp all jazzed up about using Twitter.  I couldn’t see use for the application at the time.  I have since begun to understand the utility of microblogging for professional development.  My PLN is connected through these platforms in various ways.  I have learned to use PLURK for connecting with educational technologists all over the world.  I have difficulty using Twitter in the same way.  I find the arrangement of the messages difficult to sift through.  I know there are ways to organize and search the messages, but I haven’t got that far in…

This is a VETC09 session. Live Blogging…

Sharon McGlone, TRT at Booker T in Norfolk, is presenting.

Things that help:

• TRT gives overview to students
• TRT creates samples when planning with the teacher
• TRT co-teaches
• students practiced in diads
• Rubrics given to students before they were assessed
• Teacher training is key
• refer to podcasts as “audio files” to increase teacher comfort
• Students in groups worked best
• be careful about identifying students when putting their projects on the web
• sometimes you may need to use a file converter depending on your intended application

Using recordings to improve student oral language – Oral assessments every 4 weeks

Students were able to listen to themselves and classmates while creating their projects once files were posted on the web.  Students self selected conversational topics.

Students work is posted on the web as part of a student portfolio and for comparison of student fluency.  After students learned to record themselves – they did extensions.  Research a topic and then record themselves talking about it.  Students got excited.  Shy students were more apt to participate.  Additional project extensions include creating a slideshow (PPT, moviemaker, photo story) and using the student audio files with pictures.  Students can make wordles out of their speeches out of their topics.  Students wanted to reread or recreate their readings to help with the timing when using the file for projects.

Teachers were able to create files for students to listen to and practice and put them on the web.  Files are posted on their websites (linked from NPS site    http://ww2.nps.k12.va.us/education/components/sectionlist/default.php?sectiondetailid=34&category=168&).  Teachers can show students how to download the files to MP3 players (PPS kids could practice this in class if the teacher has borrowed the class set of MP3 players from OITMS).

Students could peer review each others work…

The TRTs are working on completing 21 things for 21st century teaching…Here is my first post…a new avatar.  Many thanks to Rosemary B.  the librarian at Wilson for introducing me to this site.

This session with Marzano is entitled: Developing Standards-Based Schools One Teacher at a Time

There is a growing movement to change the way we allow students to show what they have learned.  So many things are beginning to come together sometimes the terminologies get confused, but we’ll get that sored out.  New book coming out about formative assessment…formative assessment is at the crest of the wave of change that we are beginning to see. 

We need to make a distinction beween forms of assessment and uses of assessment.  Forms of assessment: obtrusive, unobtrusive, and student generated. Obtrusive: instruction stops and assessment begins – the traditional paper-pencil test, student presentations.  There are a lot of ways to get information about what students know.  Unobtrusive – instruction doesn’t stop – Phys ed teacher shows kids to throw and then watches and makes observations.  Student Geenerated is the most powerful.  Student says “let me show you what I know”.  It allows students to guide there learnign.

Uses of assessment: Formative scores, summative scores and instructional feedback.  Formative scores can be derived from any one of the previous forms of assessment, are scored in some fashion and recorded and can/should be used to track student progress over time.  Summative are pretty much the same except the represent a student’s final status after some interval – this can be derived or informed by a series of formative scores.  When students track theri own progress there is a 36% gain.  instructional Feedback – derived from obtrusive and unobtrusive, can be scored but usually not, not recorded, but used to provide students and teachers with information that should change their behavior.  These can use these to inform summative scores.

Students can usually accurately tell you what score they should receive.  If they give you a score that you can’t justify you should ask them to demonstrate their knowledge.  Students need rubrics and multiple assessments in order to get the correct feedback for this. Tests aren’t necessarily accurate nor do they show you student learning over time. Teachers need to take scores and use their judgment of how the student has progressed over time to determine what the grade should be.

Eventually a district or school has to address the issue of report cards with rigor and courage.  Perhaps the sacred cow that is the report card needs to be changed. Changing your report cards to standards based instruments will be a bumpy road.  Scores with letter grades are arbritary.  There is no logic associated with this type of grading.  Students and their parents need to know where the student started at a certain point of time and the knowledge that they gained over the period of time that is being reported.  Then they can look and see the student’s rate of growth over that period and identify if there is a problem with the student’s rate of learning.  If a student comes into the time period with a certain level of knowledge in a subject area and leaves without gaining any additional knowledge (if it has been presented) there is a problem.

Performance based VS Time based educational systems: Performance based does not require students to figure out teacher rules from year to year. Requires student to take control of their learning.

Individual teachers can operate a standards based classroom.

• Map out the curriculum (District should give this to you)
• Teacher the required topice for first quarter and report scores
• Allow students to work in small groups or individually a few times during the week during second quarter to increase their learning on quarter 1 topic while introducing Quarter 2 topics.
• Quarter 3 introduce new topics while giving students the opportunity to go back to the previous 2 quarters information in small groups and individually.
• Continue the same for fourth quarter.

This will change the paradigm of instruction.  Changes:

• Students understand what the overall structure of the course will be and the info they will be required to demonstrate.
• Student will be able to demonstrate increased understanding at any time in the school year.  They have the option of going back at any time. 
• Topics are organized into measurement topics
• students can demonstrate competency any time they think they can
• Students have the responsibility for their progress.