Parent Meeting Today

This is my first week back at work after my maternity leave. Although it’s hard to leave him at home, it was reaffirming to be welcomed back and know that I’m in the right place. I love my job.

Today, I was asked to speak to 6th and 7th grade parents during their breakout sessions about technology. I wanted to reestablish our connection, reiterate my tenets, and invite conversation.

My main points:

My role is to support student learning and healthy growth for our kids, i.e. the school mission. This includes managing the hardware and making sure it all works + managing the use by students, teachers, and parents.
My three tenets that I always come back to are: Build a Common Culture, Stay Informed, and Start the Conversation.
I am the parents’ tech coordinator too – when they call or stop by to ask questions, it keeps me informed and helps us all troubleshoot together.

I definitely see parenting differently now. I look at my son, who is just beginning to reach for toys, and wonder when he’ll be reaching for the iPad, and think about all these hard conversations that we have in store. I hope I can be as calm and rational as a parent as I can be as a tech coordinator.

Evernote

This isn’t a new tool, but I seem to continue to find ways to use it.

In my previous post, I mentioned that I’ll be presenting at NCCE in March. I’ve begun my literature review phase in trying to dig up a whole bunch of resources to read or reread. I found my way to gamification.org and wanted to save it. So I made a new notebook for my gaming presentation and used the Safari webclipper (best thing ever) to automatically put it in the “Gaming presentation” notebook with the tag “research” and a couple notes about he site. I love that it goes in with one click!

I think I’ll make a note that outlines my research process and timeline.

I also have the Evernote app on my phone and iPad (yes, there are many devices in this household!) so if I’m reading on either of those, I can also put things into the notebook and it will all sync. Perfectly. Hopefully.

I still keep a pad of paper for doodling and brainstorming – I haven’t, and probably won’t ever, gone completely paperless.

ISTE Proposal Reviews

This past weekend I handed off our little bundle of joy to my husband for almost FOUR HOURS! To do what, you ask? I sequestered myself to a quiet room and read proposals for ISTE. I was on two reviewing committees: PLNs and Professional Development. It was fascinating to see the other side of this process and thinking of all the great sessions I’ve attended at the two national ISTE conferences I’ve attended (Denver, 2010 and San Diego, 2012).

A couple things I learned:

More is better. I felt like the best proposals were those that explained each point and made it clear how it related to the goal. Some people only wrote one word for their outlines, like “Introduction.”
Take trendy topics to a new level. One session I’m really looking forward to (if I go to San Antonio this year) is “Twitter 201.” There were probably 10 proposals on how to use twitter in your PLN, but only one talked about what to do now that everyone is on twitter. Getting on Twitter was relevant in 2010. It’s almost 2013.
Don’t link. I’m reading 45 proposals. No, I’m not going to your website to read more.

In related news, I’m excited that I had my first proposal accepted! I’m going to be presenting at NCCE (Northwest Council for Computer Education) in March here in Portland. My topic is Gaming for Learning: Using Simcity in a Middle School Science Classroom. It was accepted early and will be highlighted in the advance program. Wow! I’m already getting nervous…

Back to blogging… and Books

At 9 weeks post partum, I’m beginning to think about going back to work. I’m so thankful to have this special time with our new son and have been cherishing every busy minute. But I will return to work (work outside the home, that is) after thanksgiving, and I’m beginning to look forward to it.

Babies do not give you long stretches of interrupted time, so I’m committing to writing shorter posts but more often. For the next few weeks, I’m going to try to pull from education books that I’ve read and share quotes or key ideas that have influenced my teaching or thinking.

#1. Last Child in the Woods, by Richard Louv

I read this probably 5 years ago, but it still sits on my shelf and definitely influences how I feel about kids and nature. My number one takeaway? Teach kids to love being in nature. Whenever we have service learning pulling ivy, or a class visit to the wetlands, it can feel like work. They need time to play and explore, get muddy and laugh.

Louv talks about “useful boredom” (p.62) when kids sit in a car staring out the window, noticing everything out there. Now that I’m a parent, I definitely understand the desire to keep a child constantly occupied, lest they fuss or cry.

He also emphasizes the need to teach about the environment, not just its problems (p.134), because who wants to just think about all the bad things? That’s not the way to get kids to care. I suppose this applies to more than just nature – if you always approach topics from a sad, “problem” kind of outlook, kids will disassociate.

There are obviously lots more lessons in this book and maybe I’ll go back and read it sometime, but these are the thoughts that have stayed with me.

Parents: Facebook may fade… are you ready for Tumblr and Twitter?

I was scrolling through my Google Reader on this lovely summer morning and came upon Ian Jukes’ reposting of this article from eclassroomnews.com: “Some Teens Aren’t Liking Facebook As Much As Older Users.” WHAT??? Now that we adults finally figured out where they are, signed up for accounts, talked about friending your kids, how to set privacy and account settings, made policies about whether teachers should or shouldn’t friend students…… they are going elsewhere? Of course. That’s what kids do.

“Facebook is just not the big fad anymore,” said Kim Franklin, a 15-year-old from Gaithersburg, Md., who does not have a Facebook account and prefers social media site Tumblr. “It was like everybody was constantly on there, but now not so much.”

Franklin said her 13-year-old sister Nicole hasn’t signed up for a Facebook account, either.

Meanwhile, Laura Franklin, the girls’ 37-year-old mother, always has Facebook open on her computer while working on her parenting blog, Better in Bulk. That, she said, has led her teen daughters to dub Facebook a “mom thing.”

Everybody was there… so they will leave.

This reinforces for me what I’ve been trying to cultivate as a habit of mind: it’s not about the tool. Tools come and go. It’s about the skills, the processes, the connections.

Computer Science

I’ve been investigating computer science and computer programming this spring in a bunch of different ways, trying to make sense of it myself and figuring out where and how it makes sense for middle school students to get exposed to it. I do believe that it is an essential skill that we need to be exposing students to, especially if OES wants to remain a math and science powerhouse. I think computational thinking will be akin to the literacy movement of the 90s, during which schools pushed for reading and writing in ALL classes.

What I’m doing:

Taking a course online
- Udacity.com offers free, self-paced or fixed timeline classes beginning with CS101: Intro to Computer Science and going up to CS387: Applied Cryptography. (How cool!) They have also begun offering statistics and physics. (Unfortunately I only made it through week 3 before succumbing to spring overload, but this summer I’m going to pick it back up and finish the course.)
- I LOVE LOVE LOVE the format of Udacity. They give short 1-2 minutes videos about a concept, then do a 1-question quiz that checks your understanding. After several teaching videos, they have a couple problems to solve that build up to a final goal. The overall goal of CS101 is to build a web crawling search engine, which is awesome, so it gives you an engaging long-term goal.
Reading
- http://compscigail.blogspot.com/ – This is the only blog I’ve found so far but would love recommendations.
Looking at different languages and project options
- Python– This is what I’m learning in the Udacity class.
- Scratch – I’m taking a 1/2 day class at ISTE and hoping to get a better sense of this. This is what students learn in Lower School so it might be the most logical thing to continue in Middle School.
- NetLogo – I met John Jamison at school one day and he told me about NetLogo and the simluations he’s designed and are being used at the Bush School in Seattle in 6th grade humanities. I did a little researching on it and it looks super promising. I’m hoping next fall I can go up and visit Bush to see the project in action.
- Google Blockly – Just released – appears to be a visual programming interface like Scratch but web-based. This would be amazing if we could share projects through our Google Apps suite.

***It still amazes me that all of this is FREE!***

Questions I still have:

What is really the difference between Computer Science and Computer Programming?
Where does this content belong? Integrated into other classes or as it’s own CS class? While there is a natural fit between math and programming because of the logic and ability to manipulate numbers, there is also some talk that doing math problems is a turn off for girls, who engage better with projects that deal with social issues.
Could this be a place for an after school club? Can I develop enough expertise to guide this?
How will girls react to this content? Right now, I only hear boys talk about programming.

Reading Notes: Everything Bad is Good for You, By Steven Johnson

This book was published in 2005 and is a fascinating look at how pop culture is actually making us smarter. Yep, I said smarter. I love books that turn common belief on their nose, like The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, which made me feel like the future was actually a great place to go toward as long as I knew how to look at it.

Here are some notes I took:

p. 41 Games force you to make decisions, during which you have to weigh evidence, analyze situations, and consult goals.

p. 45 When gamers interact with gaming environments, they are learning the basic procedure of the scientific method. This comes from James Paul Gee’s research:

Probe
Hypothesize
Reprobe
Rethink

Video games develop different skills than reading textbooks or watching videos, like logic and problem solving. Video games as you to THINK, whereas textbooks and novels as you to FOLLOW. Hmmm… what would we rather our children be able to do?

What skills do they develop? I’m glad you asked:

1. Telescoping: This is the ability to focus on both immediate and long-distance views. There is a hierarchy of tasks in a game, and you have to manage your time. For example, in some games, you have to walk around and collect things or solve little puzzles in order to get enough coins to buy the right potion to transform yourself in order to get access to a boss villain.

Turns out, this is what we all do in REAL LIFE. You have to run errands and do dishes and pay taxes, all while seeking a larger purpose in life.

2. Probing: Games learn by playing. They don’t read the manual first. They probe the logic (or physics) of the games and find the limits.

Turns out, this is what we all do in REAL LIFE. In your first day at a new job, you seek out the norms, the customs, the relationships, the limits.

p. 48 Ask gamers what is happening to them mentally – not what is happening in the game. That is where the valuable skills are being developed.

p. 55 Games have a narrative when you look back at them, but the stories are not built of events – they are built of tasks.

p. 181 We know from neuroscience that the brain wants new challenges. We problem-solve, untangle puzzles, and lock in on change to try to decipher the cause.

What I find so ironic about the seeming universal attitude towards video games (that they are a worthless waste of time) is that we so universally glorify athletic games for all the values that they teach us: perseverance, cooperation, concentration, strategy, etc. In my opinion, these are skills that can be learned in ALL GAMES, not just athletic ones. Why does it take everyone so long to see these values in video games?

How do you share?

After you teach that amazing class – where the discussion was lively, the students engaged, and the transformation of understanding palpable – what do you do? Do you celebrate with your colleague at the desk next to you? Do you put it as your Facebook status? Do you share with your division head?

When you teach that class that didn’t quite go as planned – where the questions fell flat, the activity was too simple, the students’ eyes glazed over – what do you do? Do you ask a colleague for help? Do you debrief with a mentor? Do you ask a couple kids what went wrong?

“We remain open as learners when we remember to listen to ‘What do you think?” – Chris Lehmann

We need to share, and more than just at the lunch table. Why? Because sharing gives us new perspectives to explore and stimulates conversation.

While there are many ways you can share these days (blogging, twitter, nings, full-on conferences), EdCamp is a great way to share your ideas with teachers from other schools in the area. There is no sign up fee or deadline. We are lucky enough to be hosting the next one on Saturday, May 12th, at OES, 9am-4pm. I’ll be there – how about you?

Acceptable Use

For the Middle School, we follow this Acceptable Use Policy. It is explained to the students at the beginning of the year, I do a short review with the 6th grade tech class, and this year we also reviewed it in January with the 7th grade.

Acceptable Use Policy, 2011-2012

The school’s information technology resources, including email and Internet access, are provided for educational purposes. The laptop issued to students should be considered an extension of the classroom for the purpose of providing access to educational resources. Adherence to the following policy is necessary for continued access to the school’s technological resources:

Students must

1. Respect and protect the privacy of others.

Use only assigned accounts.

Not view, use, or copy passwords, data, or networks to which they are not authorized.

Not distribute private information about others or themselves.

Not publish pictures of others without their consent.

2. Respect and protect the integrity, availability, and security of all electronic resources.

Not download or install any application, extension, or software on the school’s laptops.

Not store any personal files on the school’s laptop. Only files associated with school are allowed.

Not stream video or audio through the school’s network during work hours without explicit permission from a teacher for a specific educational purpose.

Observe all network security practices, as posted.

Report security risks or violations to a teacher or network administrator.

Not destroy or damage data, laptops, networks, or other resources that do not belong to them.

Conserve, protect, and share these resources with other students, faculty, and staff.

3. Respect and protect the intellectual property of others.

Not infringe copyrights (no making illegal copies of music, images, games, or movies!).

Not plagiarize.

4. Respect and practice the principles of community.

Communicate only in ways that are kind and respectful.

Report threatening or discomforting materials to a teacher.

Not intentionally access, transmit, copy, or create material that violates the school’s code of conduct (such as messages that are threatening, rude, discriminatory, pornographic, or meant to harass).

Not send spam, chain letters, or other mass unsolicited mailings.

Not use direct communications such as IRC, online chat, or instant messaging during school without a teacher’s explicit permission.

Not intentionally access, transmit, copy, or create material that is illegal (such as obscenity, stolen materials, or illegal copies of copyrighted works).

Not buy, sell, advertise, or otherwise conduct business, unless approved as a school project.

Students may, if in accord with the policy above

Use the laptop, its software, and the school’s IT resources to communicate, collaborate, and create original works as enrichment or extensions of the school’s curriculum.

Use direct communications such as IRC, online chat, or instant messaging with a teacher’s permission.

Use the resources for any educational purpose.

Consequences for Violation. Violations of these rules may result in disciplinary action, including the loss of a student’s privileges to use the school’s information technology resources.

Supervision and Monitoring. School and network administrators and their authorized employees monitor the use of information technology resources to help ensure that uses are secure and in conformity with this policy. Administrators reserve the right to examine, use, and disclose any data found on the school’s information networks in order to further the health, safety, discipline, or security of any student or other person, or to protect property. They may also use this information in disciplinary actions, and will furnish evidence of crime to law enforcement.

I follow this with my most important messages:

Anything you do online is public, repeatable, and permanent: You should be comfortable with seeing it on the screen in gathering
Don’t tell anyone else your password (except your parents)
Don’t use anyone else’s computer
Log out: be wary of autofill passwords
Chat is not necessarily with who you think it is (anyone could be looking at the screen, regardless of who is logged in) and nothing is private
At higher institutions, the consequences for violation can be expulsion
Harassment is never about what you meant

Resources for Speed Geeking

During our Professional Growth and Development day, I’ll be leading a speed geeking session on using RSS feeds in Google Reader. (The tech department got the idea for speed geeking from Kim Cofino.)

We will start with a brief tour of Google Reader:

Finding good blogs:

I think the hardest thing with trying to find blogs that will be interesting is finding the FIRST one. So I’ve created a bundle of my favorite blogs that you can check out: Click this link and then click the “Subscribe button.”

Reading:

I tend to scroll through my reader a couple times per week. I often get a couple really interesting articles that I like, but I long ago gave up trying to read everything.

Mobile reading:

One reason that I like having everything online is that I read a lot on my iPhone, which can access my google reader through safari or through an app. (I’ve just started playing around with “Feedly,” but there are dozens of apps for reading.)