The National Writing Project and Google Docs have teamed up to offer high school teachers and their students a wonderful opportunity to kickoff the school year with a collaborative writing project: Letters to the Future President. The project invites students to write about issues they would want our next president to address, and to publish their writing for a national audience.

I’ll be heading to Florin High School on Tuesday to help a group of students and their history teacher get set up for the project.  Here’s my agenda:

• Introduce project via NWP website
• Show Lee Lefever’s Google Docs in Plain English
• Have students create Google accounts
• Have them create gmail accounts - with names teacher can readily recognize (e.g., johnd@gmail.com vs. baddude@whatever.com)
• Invite several students into Google Doc I’ve projected to screen and give live demo of inserting comments, hyperlinks, etc.
• Have students create their Google Doc (in this case, students will work collaboratively in teams of 2-3)
• Have teacher explain naming conventions so that can readily distinguish each group’s letter from the rest.
• Q & A - and call it a wrap:-)

Hats off to the many great teachers who embrace the concept of writing to make a difference and to the organizations that support them in their efforts to take their students’ voices to the word.

I’m heading out tonight for New York City , where I will spend the next two weeks at Columbia University participating in the 2008 Memorial Library Summer Seminar on Holocaust Education. I am already anticipating that these 14 days will be a life-changing experience. I realize that across time there are common threads between the events that trigger discrimination, exclusion, and the forced removal of any group of people. Going into the event, it is my plan to develop a lesson around Ishmael Beah’s compelling story (which I first discovered at a local Starbucks) A Long Way Gone - Memoirs of a Boy Soldier.

There are many similarities between the Holocaust and the genocides of the 21st century, but there is, I believe, one significant difference: the absence of the Internet during WWII. In presenting the dark side of history to students, today educators can also provide opportunities and venues for students to take social action. Eighth-grade history teacher George Mayo’s Many Voices of Darfur project and Canadian teachers Jim Carleton and Mali Bickely’s collaborative projects (NECC 2008 keynote speakers) are excellent examples of empowering students to make a difference. Celebrities such as Robert DeNiro are tapping into the power of the Internet, especially video, with powerful pieces such as Armed and Innocent, which includes an interview with Ishmael Beah that I will be including in my lesson.

I realize that the Holocaust Seminar will be an intellectual and emotional roller coaster ride and that, for many reasons, including the  challenges inherent with writing about the unthinkable and unspeakable, not all sessions will be “bloggable” - it is the lessons learned - and to be learned, along with the resources, that I hope to share out with other teachers and their students.

Memorial Library image from: http://tinyurl.com/6xwvaj

I’m sitting in a very packed room with Rushton Hurley (I’m actually hiding from the fire code folks up front where they can’t see that I’m exceeding the room limit). Low Tech Advice:

• time limits
• violence and martial arts (think high school boys)
• podcasts and slideshows - ask the students “Is this what you want other people to hear.” Ease kids into projects so they care about a quality produce
• alone or with others - helps kids who don’t have the equipment
• alternatives - you can give students non-video options such as posters (but they’ll want to do video!)

Resources: These resouces can be used as long as you cite them:

• www.partnersinrhyme.com
• www.podsafeaudio.com
• www.jamendo.com
• audacity.sourceforge.net/

Titles and Screenshots:

• using save-as in PowerPoint (use save as > save as type > save as jpg option)
• screenshots
  • Google Earth or Sketch Up
  • PicLens - plug in for your browser - perfect fix for those with “iPhone envy.” Great tool for teaching vocabulary, for instance.

Free Photos:

• CreativeCommons.com- KIds need to read the attribution requirements; otherwise, they’ll go to Google and not only violate copyright but also pick something that will pixalate like crazy.
• Morguefile.com (newspaper term) - Huge file sizes, which are good for video.

Motion Experience:

• Motion should ahve a purpose (pans, faces, eyes)
• What to do if you’re on PC? Use PhotoStory3 - great, great tool and free! Import pictures > customize motion option > save. If you’re using panning, you want the motion to be different all the time (which is shortcoming with default panning (Ken Burns effect). Oh, and you can create music in Photostory. A bit “elevatorish,” but you have options. Tip: don’t use a favorite pop song because that’s what your listeners will concentrate on — not your movie.

Moving Beyond Freebies

• Macs - Final Cut Express
• PCs Adobe Premiere Elements - $99 (BHphoto.com) - It’s a memory hog, so you’ll need a good video card with lots of RAM. Remember to render often, not just save. Big advantage of having multiple tracks. Key frames feature is cool, allowing you to add great effects., such as translucent text floating across an image. Want a good mic for camera: lavalier mic.

Why do we do video?

• another way to show learning
• good for ELL, LD kiddos
• impact (”favorite thing”)
• audience - we need to expand the audience so that kids really stretch

Good news… You can contact Rushton via www.NextVista.org or rh@nextvista.org. Fabulous session!

NWP colleague Kevin Hodgson is a guiding light in many ways. For several years now, he has sponsored the Youth Radio project, a podcasting project connecting classrooms across the nation and world as students share topics and projects from their own classrooms, neighborhoods, and regions. It’s been my privilege to connect with the YR project locally by joining A3WP colleague Jim Faires and his students as they listen to, respond to, discuss, and even take to a worldwide audience YR topics.

In the blogging workshops I currently teach, I always direct teachers to Kevin’s classroom blog. In every session, there will always be a teacher or two who, after touring the Electric Pencil, has a whole new understanding of how blogging can benefit teachers and their students.

Now I have a new resource to share in my workshops. I’ll be directing workshop teachers to Kevin’s NWP article Bringing the World to My Doorstep: A Teacher’s Blog-Reading Habits article. Often in my workshops, I realize that teachers leave all setup with their own blog (an Edublog), but without an understanding that blogging is all about reading - reading other bloggers’ thoughts, ideas, and challenges - and responding. Kevin’s article makes visible “how the world of blogs enriches his teaching, supports his tech liaison work, provides opportunities for his students, and keeps him connected both to his NWP network and to a wider network of educators.”

His article also explains so well the power of RSS, another topic I rarely get to in a 2-3 hour workshop, but I think by having teachers read Kevin’s article, I’ll have a great starting point for introducing RSS early on in my upcoming day-long and week-long summer workshops. I’ll also be introducing the term social media literacy.

“Social media literacy refers to the ways in which bloggers connect and stay informed of each others’ work. One blogger, Chris Heuer , suggests that RSS could be “the fourth “R” in our conception of literacy , noting that RSS-based social media literacy “enables any individual to step into the conversational flow—to not only follow what other people are communicating, but ensure what the individual has to communicate is heard by other people who care about the topic.”

One more time, I want to thank Kevin for his innovative teaching practices, his commitment to bringing others on board with Web 2.0 best practices, and his willingness to mentor 24/7.

National Writing Project and Nat’l Council for Teachers of English hosted their annual conferences last week in New York City. What a treat! I managed to squeeze in some sightseeing coming and going from the hotel to the Crowne Plaza and the Javits Convention Center, and each evening, and all day on Sunday. And even managed a side trip to The Dalton School to visit with Monica Edinger’s 4th graders.

From each NWP and NCTE session, I gained resources and ideas for presenting Web 2.0 tools to teachers and students. Here’s a smattering:

• My kick-0ff Thursday session was an outstanding presentation by NWP Tech Liaisons sharing projects under the umbrella of Writing in a Digital Age. Starting with Kevin’s link to the Pew Internet and American Life Project stats –http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/r/105/presentation_display.asp and ending with Petter Kittle’s amazing “multimodal” piece on the art of unicycling (note to self: check with Peter to see if he has posted this and samples from his composition class to the web), this session was a great way to start the conference.
• Friday morning started with Nancy Patterson’s NCTE session. This was my first time to meet Carla Beard (http://www.webenglishteacher.com/about.html) and Lisa Rozema. Carla started her session on wikis by playing Lee Lefever’s Wikis in Plain English, which drew the audience right into Carla’s humorous, informative presentation (note to self: ask Carla for links to sample teacher wikis shared). Lisa Rozema ended the session with her original screencast on Google Reader (note to self: ask Lisa if she has posted this clip online).
• Saturday’s Technology Roadshow, organized by Sandy Hayes, was a blast. I wanted to drop in all six table discussions. During the opening presentations, I listened in awe as Sarah Kajder talked briefly about Google Lit Trips. Although I’ve visited the site before, had not considered how dramatic this site is when projected onto a full screen. (Note to self: ask Nancy Patterson if she has posted her student-done “digital narratives” to the web.)
• Monday’s ACE (Assembly on Computers in English) session - well worth the added cost of two more days in NYC!
  • Got to meet Ted Nellens (http://www.tnellen.com/westside/), who hosted the session at his Westside HS campus.
  • Got to hear Lisa Rozema present again - this time joined by her husband Rob Rozema (whose student-done podcasts I share with teachers and students alike). To their Google Reader intro, Rob and Lisa added a piece on having students use RSS both for news feeds and blogs to support students in their research projects (note to self: ask Lisa for student samples of blog posts and responses supported by links to articles and posts from their GR accounts).
  • Got to hear Troy Hicks demonstrate the “frustrating parts of wikis” with his reassurance that the “frustration was reversible.” (Note to self: ask Troy for permission to share the wiki he created for this workshop.)
  • Got to work with Ewa McGrail on Copyright and Fair Use Issues for Educators (note to self: ask Ewa for permission to share her activity sheet, which is a hands-on approach to PD on this important issue).

I’m back home now, fighting a terrible head cold but excited to bring with me such great resources to share with my California colleagues, along with memories of the NYC experience.

I think it’s important that students understand that blogging is different then IMing or text messages - two genres associated with fast, spontaneous dialog. To justify blogging within the school day, I believe our students should gain a sense of audience, which, depending on the blog project, may extend across geographic, socio-economic, and generational boundaries. And let us not forgot the administrator, be it a curriculum “coach” or even a supportive principal. How can we justify the in-class time if we do not promote opportunities for our students to grow as writers?

With enhancing student writing at the core of this post, I am throwing out a rough draft for a rubric. As I toy with this draft, I’m thinking of the students in the Youth Radio podcasting project. The problem with this draft is that it’s my words and does not yet reflect the voices and input of the students themselves - or any exemplars/non-exemplars. I’m hoping to get with Jim Faires’ class when they come back “on track” for some feedback and a revision session or two.

 

Blog Rubric

A Road Map to Full-Credit Posts and Responses

Exemplary

• Blog Etiquette – Shows clear respect for the learning process and patience with different opinions. Shows initiative by asking others for clarification, bringing others into the discussion.

• Critical Thinking – Entries indicate critical thinking and personal reflection about the discussion topic and an understanding of questions and comments before responding. Makes connections from ideas of other Youth Radio members.

• Writing – Entries show excellent command of Standard English.

Good

• Blog Etiquette – Shows respect for learning process. Comments often encourage others to participate.

• Critical Thinking – Most entries indicate critical thinking and personal reflection about the topic. Ideas are interesting enough that other participants respond to them. Comments are logical but may not make connections from other Youth Radio members’ posts/responses.

• Writing – Entries show good command of Standard English.

Fair

• Blog Etiquette – May make some insightful comments; however, by insisting too forcefully, or by not participating enough, does not contribute much to the overall progress of the discussion. Word choice and tone may send negative messages.

• Critical Thinking – Posts indicate limited personal reflection about topic. Comments may not always flow logically from previous comments or responses.

• Writing – Entries contain a number of grammatical and/or spelling errors that may cause readers confusion and interference with understanding.

Not Yet Meeting the Standard

• Blog Etiquette – Displays little respect for the learning process. May respond about individuals rather than about ideas.

• Critical Thinking - Responses display a lack of preparation and/or reflection.

• Writing – Numerous grammatical and/or spelling errors make entries difficult for reader to follow.

My favorite online road map so far to “good blogging” was posted by Susan Ettenheim to the Youth Voices elgg - What’s Good Blogging on the elgg? Intended to be read online, this resource uses hyperlinks to provide examples and additional explanations. It also includes a great list of sentence starters.

And for the billionth time, I’ll reference David Warlick by ending with his guiding questions for evaluating a blog:

When reading a blog, ask:

1. What did the author read in order to write this blog? What did he or she already know and where did that knowledge come from?
2. What are the other points of view? What are the other sides of the story?
3. What did the author want readers to know, understand, believe, or do?
4. What was left unsaid? What are the remaining questions and issues?

When writing a blog, ask:

1. What did you read in order to write this blog? What do you know and where did that knowledge come from?
2. What are all points of view on the issue?
3. What do you want your readers to know, understand, believe, or do?
4. What will not be said? What are some of the remaining questions about the issue?

Oh, and I like Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Evaluating a Blog.

Technorati Tags: blog_evaluation, YouthRadio, YouthVoices

In a recent phone conversation (via Skype) with Paul Allison, Paul mentioned he had been asked by the NWP to think about ways to continue supporting and providing teachers with professional development opportunities for integrating technology into their teaching practice. His concern is for the teacher who already has a start in that direction, and wants more (like me:-). I realized after finishing our call that he already has the model in place. His Wednesday evening Teachers Teaching Teachers Skyepcast is an hour’s worth of sharing ideas, questions, ramblings, and possibilities within an online community of like-minded educators.

In my search for the Teachers Teaching Teacher link, I stumbled upon a great post by educator, activist, writer, and teacher advocate Linda Christensen of Rethinking Schools. In reading through her Teacher Quality: Teachers Teaching Teachers article, I am reminded of the power of the TTT model. I’m pulling one paragraph, but, truly, the entire article a excellent read.

“During my seven years as a curriculum specialist designing professional development in Portland Public Schools, I wanted teachers to see themselves as curriculum producers, as creative intellectuals rather than technicians serving out daily portions of someone else’s packaged or downloaded materials. I attempted to create spaces where teachers could work together to develop their own curriculum and discuss education issues. “

Four years ago, I sat in a training at my county office of education and listened to a “curriculum expert” (a former PE teacher who had never actually taught ELA) hype the power of the newly adopted ELA text and program. I remember feeling physically ill when she told us to go back to our districts and site and tell teachers to “put away their favorite units.” At some point in her presentation, she used the term “teacher-proof” lessons. Four years later, it’s still a struggle and juggling act for many teachers to dodge the curriculum police, but they are doing it. While they appreciate the additional materials made available through a textbook adoption, they continue to craft their lessons to meet the needs of their students. They find support, validation, and inspiration through the TTT model.

And the good news is that Web 2.0 tools (great resource posted by NWP colleague Eric Hoefler) make a TTT model even more deliverable.
Technorati Tags: Web2.0

I’ve added a new site to my Bloglines reader: EdTech Live. SteveHargadon has created a bank of podcasts about the power of Web 2.0. I’m listening right now to his December interview with Will Richardson. I’ve shared many times Will’s video with teachers during my Weblogs in the Classroom workshop, but through Steve’s interview I am hearing how Will came on board with blogging - starting with the insights of Pat Delaney, my NWP colleague and mentor - who also brought me into the blogosphere. The word I keep hearing is transformative. Through Web 2.0 I believe the potential is there, but we are just at the tip of the iceberg. Quote from Will: “Once you read, then you have things to blog about.”

Three people who challenge my thinking and greatly expand my teacher’s toolkit received national recognition this week: Phil Levien, Paul Allison, and Troy Hicks.

Thanks to an email from Beth Yeager, I can look for Phil’s picture on the cover of this month’s CTA magazine. I’ve had the good fortune to meet and work with Phil through our mutual association with the Cente for Teaching for Social Justice at UC Santa Barbara. I think the Anneberg site’s recognition of and video of Phil is the best way to sum up his work with ELL students. Part of the introduction to the theme of the CTA article - and certainly reflective of Phil - says: “Inspirational teaching means showing students how to think, not just what to know; engaging the heart as well as the head; and igniting passion that will continue to fuel itself.” A great quote!

Thanks to an email from NWP’s Paul Oh, I am also thrilled with the recognition both Paul Allison and Troy Hicks have from the Online Database. I met both Paul and Troy three years ago at the NWP’s Tech Matters Summer Institute. Since then, I try to connect with any professional development they are involved with. I jumped a ton of steps Novelmber in Nashville while attending Troy’s session on podcasting. And an important part of my professional life is joining Paul and his group for the Wednesday Skypecasts of Teachers Teaching Teachers.

Standup ovation for all three

I’ve followed a few of Will Richardson’s Weblogg-ed posts regarding his switch from Manila blogs to WP. I am making the same switch via edublogs. Many thanks to James Farmer for offering a free site for educators. My only suggestion would be to offer a theme or two geared to elementary classrooms. The WP interface is user-friendly enough to bring teachers on board with blogging within a two-hour workshop. Jumping in to edit a theme’s CSS, however, is definitely for the advanced user.