Ms. Beane's Brain

Notes on Education Evolving: Maine's Plan for Putting Learners First

2012-01-23T12:01:00.001-05:00

Maine Department of Education. (2012). Education Evolving: Maine's Plan for Putting Learners First. Augusta, Maine.

This strategic plan, released on January 17 by Commissioner Stephen Bowen, outlines five core priority areas with detailed goals, objectives, and action plans to implement change in these areas.

The five core priority areas are:

Effective, Learner Centered Instruction
Great Teachers and Leaders
Multiple Pathways for Learner Achievement
Comprehensive School and Community Supports
Coordinated and Effective State Support

In Commissioner Bowen's opening essay, he outlines several challenges that Maine education faces and how these drive the report.

The first challenge Bowen identifies is that our schools are struggling to accomplish what they need to accomplish. On page 3, he states: "The state's higher education institutions report that a shockingly high percentage of incoming students require remedial coursework." He emphasizes on page 4 that "our schools are not struggling due to a lack of effort."

The second challenge is that recent efforts to improve schools have come up short. Since high-stakes testing has driven assessment, other content areas have suffered. A telling statistic from a University of Indiana study revealed that "67% of students report being bored in school every day" and over half reported that they do not see how the material was relevant to them (p. 4). The intensive work done to raise test scores have made "little discernable impact" and "a narrowing of the school curricula at a time when the job creators of the 21st century are calling for more emphasis on creative and innovative thinking and skills" (p. 4).

The third challenge is that our traditional approach to education is standing in the way of success. I found this challenge to be a real eye-opener, as it explained how a committee of ten people sat down over a hundred years ago and wrote our current blueprint for a school day. The blueprint was not designed for students who would pursue college but who would get a full, well-rounded education in high school. It was not designed to meet the needs of the learner, but to cover subjects. Bowen ends the write-up of this challenge with: "We have to address the basic architecture of the industrial-era model of schooling built more than a century ago" (p. 5). Everything we know to be true about a traditional school day, a traditional learner, and "factory-style bell schedules" must be addressed.

Challenge four is that change must be achieved within existing resources. Our budgets are decreasing, not increasing. We need to maximize what resources we have available (and in my own opinion that means to leverage the incredible brain power of the great teachers in the system).

How will this plan be able to accomplish its goals for the five core priority areas while facing these challenges? According to Bowen's introductory essay, change will come through instructional practices, effective teachers and school leaders, multiple pathways to student achievement, a comprehensive network of school and community supports, and careful alignment of the entire educational system.

The document then goes into detail of each core priority area with goals, objectives, and action steps for each area.

Here are the core goals. There is a lot more information in the report--take the time to read it--find it here. It's 36 pages long, so not really lunch-break reading, but definitely worth the time to sit and digest the proposed goals. I think in a few years it will be interesting to see where we are at with them.

Effective, Learner Centered Instruction

Goal: A variety of instructional materials aligned with the Maine Learning Results, which include the Common Core standards, are readily available and support the instructional practice of Maine educators.

Goal: Learner-centered instructional strategies are in place in all Maine classrooms.

Goal: All Maine teachers have access to modern, 21st-century assessment systems and use assessment information to inform instruction.

Goal: Maine's educators have ready access to helpful data and regularly use it to tailor instruction and improve student outcomes.

Great Teachers and Learners

Goal: Educator preparation, training and evaluation are informed by a common understanding of effective teaching and leadership/

Goal: Maine educators are consistently supported through high-quality training and professional development.

Goal: Highly effective teacher evaluation systems are in place in every Maine school district.

Goal: Maine's educators participate easily and often in statewide sharing of instructional best practices and professional development opportunities.

Multiple Pathways for Learner Achievement

Goal: All Maine students learn in a proficiency-based model that allows them to move at their own pace and advance when they have mastered learning outcomes.

Goal: Learner-designed assessments are used in schools across Maine, making students active participants in setting and meeting expectations.

Goal: A wide variety of learning opportunities and settings gives all students access to educational options that work for them.

Goal: All Maine learners actively participate in digital learning opportunities that engage them and allow self-directed, self-paced learning.

Comprehensive School and Community Supports

Goal: All students with special learning needs have access to efficient, effective and appropriate services that help them succeed.

Goal: Coordinated health and wellness programs contribute to a healthy school environment that helps learners make the most out of school.

Goal: Schools and districts are engaged in unprecedented partnerships with families and the broader community as a way to expand learning opportunities for students.

Goal: Students commonly access internships, apprenticeships, and other opportunities to learn in workplace settings, apply academic lessons, and explore potential career fields.

Coordinated and Effective State Support

Goal: Maine students are able to move easily through a learner-centered educational system fully integrated from early childhood to adulthood.

Goal: Maine's students are supportedthrough adequate and effective state resources.

Goal: Information and instructional technologies are supporting instructional practice and efficient school system operations.

Goal: An effective school and district accountability and improvement system helps Maine's schools meet the needs of all learners.

new goals

2012-01-22T10:34:00.000-05:00

When I completed my master's program, it took months to sink in that School was Over. Full time school is intense. I had a semester off once... (and did things like DR2010--some break), but for the most part I was in school continuously for three years.

It's done and over with. I am at the next level. I am doing something absolutely stimulating with my brain and it's not for a grade but a paycheck.

I don't think I am done with school, however.

In order of priority:
1.Spanish (not a master's, but something to bring me to Superior according to ACTFL-I think two or three grammar and conversation courses will help me get there)
2. Certificate of Advanced Studies in Curriculum (found here)

Writing it down helps me focus.

Benefits of nature: Factsheet

2012-01-18T16:28:00.000-05:00

I found a great downloadable fact sheet on the benefits of nature. Click here to download it. Much of what I am reading about nature-deficit disorder is on this fact sheet.

Chawla, L., & Cushing, D. F. (2007). Benefits of nature for children's health, Fact Sheet #1, April 2007. Children, Youth and Environments Center for Resarch and Design. Retrieved January 18, 2012 from http://www.peecworks.org/PEEC/PEEC_Research/S01798C0C-01798C1A.

Click here for much more research on place-based education.

Notes on Wiscasset session of Science Dine and Discuss regarding the National Academies Report entitled A Framework for K-12 Science Education

2012-01-18T10:36:00.000-05:00

How's that for the longest title ever?

Last night I attended a Dine and Discuss session to unpack the current state of science standards in my fair state of Maine. The session was led by a science specialist from Wiscasset, Shari Templeton, who kept us laughing as she explained, in part, the lengthy document known as "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas". (Want to download a free copy? Find it here.) Let's call it "the Framework" to keep things simple. And kudos to Shari for running an informative meeting while maintaining a sense of humor and making us feel at ease. Information and feeling informed is empowering, and I appreciate the state's effort to help keep science teachers and those interested in science in the loop while these changes are being implemented.

Some background: Maine has been chosen as a lead state in the development of new science standards. The Framework is a guiding document, not the standards. The standards are in process by an organization called Achieve, Inc. (Side note: I had the opportunity to get on board with them when I was knee-deep in OER stuff--but declined due to content/time commitment--I could have been right on the pulse of this stuff if only I had jumped on that train!) The idea is that the folks at Achieve will use the Framework to guide them as they develop new standards that will be less "wide" and more "deep". Maine adopted the Common Core standards for math and English language arts in 2011, and these new standards developed by Achieve (called the Next Generation Science Standards) will be ready by the end of 2012 for adoption. For all intents and purposes, these Next Generation standards will become the Common Core for science. Maine is definitely going to adopt them.

So, what is this Framework all about? As Shari led us through the practices and crosscutting concepts, she assured us (a crowd of mostly practicing science teachers) that the information presented is not really new, it has definitely been covered in previous standards. However the way that it is presented is much more integrated, includes engineering practices, and has some new vocabulary. It is designed to get kids thinking deeply about science across the k-12 continuum. From the foreword: "The framework highlights the power of integrating understanding the ideas of science with engagement in the practices of science and is designed to build students' proficiency and appreciation for science over multiple years of school."

We looked at the 8 Science and Engineering practices and the Crosscutting concepts in the session. Shari started our session by saying it was no secret that Engineering is now front and center along with Science in terms of the standards. In the state of Maine, we have more engineering jobs than engineering grads. Simply put we need more people to think of engineering as a viable course of study, and it will now be part of the curriculum.

Here are the 8 Science and Engineering practices:
1. Asking questions (for science) and defining problems (for engineering)
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations (for science) and designing solutions (for engineering)
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Here are the Crosscutting concepts:
1. Patterns
2. Cause and effect; Mechanism and explanation
3. Scale, proportion, and quantity
4. Systems and system models
5. Energy and matter: Flows, cycles, and conservation
6. Structure and function
7. Stability and change

We touched on the Disciplinary Core Ideas in the four areas of Physical Sciences, Life Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, and Engineering, Technology, and the Applications of Sciences. We looked at grade bands--the Framework is set up to say "by the end of grade 2 students will....by the end of grade 5 students will...by the end of grade 8 students will...." meaning that these core ideas are presented over time in an integrated way.

One teacher present asked for exemplars or models of how this integration over time will occur. She, like many good teachers, makes a lot of her own lessons and units, and exemplars will certainly help with that. She made the point that inquiry based learning, while the richest, takes the longest, and that working with other content areas that have different expectations can also take a long time--science teachers and English teachers really want different kinds of writing from their students. Since the standards are not ready to look at yet (Spring 2012 is the expected date to put eyes on them) there is no clear answer to the exemplar question yet. Textbook companies, when the standards go live, will certainly be re-tooling their work to re-align. Shari also informed us that there will be a lot of overlap with math and ELA Common Core standards. Maine assessments, assuming everything goes smoothly, will transition by 2015.

There are several guiding assumptions of the Framework which are worth sharing. Children are born investigators and are able to build progressively more sophisticated explanations over time. The Framework focuses on a limited set of core ideas in order to avoid the coverage of multiple disconnected topics. Another assumption is that understanding develops over time and students need sustained opportunities to work with and develop the underlying ideas and to appreciate those ideas' interconnectedness over a period of years rather than weeks or months. Also, science and engineering require both knowledge and practice -- "the theories, models, instruments, and methods for collecting and displaying data, as well as the norms for building arguments through evidence, are developed collectively in a vast network of scientists working together over extended periods". It is important to connect to students' interests and experience, as research suggests this is critical to learning. And finally, the idea of promoting equity is so that all students have high-quality opportunities combined with rigorous standards to engage in significant science and engineering learning.

Shari led us through an experiment designed to illustrate how implementation might occur with new standards. We divided into groups and were asked to make a claim, show evidence, and then show reasoning for our claim. This was a water based experiment and it was messy, hands-on, and everyone in the room became engaged with the experiment. (We filled a glass with water and put an index card over it. We flipped the glass upside down and the water did not come out, it was capped by the card).

Our group made a claim, shared our evidence, and presented our reasoning--however we were not correct in our claim as to how the card and water stayed intact with the glass. In fact, no one got it right--someone eventually Googled it which made us all laugh because we all know that is what the kids would do. The point was, we were all involved. We were all engaged. And by the end, we all wanted to know WHY. It opened up a different way of looking at the experiment--instead of a cookbook approach (step one, two, three--) it was more of a sandbox approach with lots of questions why and lots of experimentation. I found I did not have the vocabulary to make sense of it--the ultimate answer had to do with molecular attraction, a concept I was not familiar with (I am a Spanish teacher, remember)--but that I was deeply curious after playing with the experiment. The claim, evidence, reasoning piece made a lot of sense. Teaching students to "argue" or defend their claim is central to the Framework. Engaging them is also central--there is the idea that kids are naturally curious and we have to tap into that to engage them.

Long story short--the new standards are not ready yet, but the Framework is what will guide their creation, and the changes are designed to help Maine students reach their science and engineering potential over time. As a non-science teacher I found the approach to creating new standards via this long report done by several professionals and research institutions an adequate/appropriate method. I am excited at the prospect of creating integrated curriculum that engages students and helps them discover their world.

Reference:

National Research Council. A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2011.

reflexiones

2012-01-14T11:46:00.000-05:00

Being out of the classroom is -- well, it takes getting used to. I have a lot of time to think about how I teach, excuse me, taught. It's given me the room to step back and see things differently. I feel very much on the right track with the amount of oral, face-to-face, person-to-person, laugh-out-loud, social interactions I require of my students. I also know the ease with which I can grade oral work is thanks in whole to the 1 to 1 computer program at my school--kids can use Garageband and email to send me work. The video components required for assessment are so easy to make and grade with Vimeo and Keynote. Zambombazo, the world's best Spanish culture website, is still free. And the access it gives my students to pop culture is non pareil.

I feel less satisfied with the grammar.

My mission to go to DR to improve my grammar was a complete failure. The environment I was in demanded English. The Spanish I heard was a delightful mix of many foreigners trying to speak Spanish. The high point was the absolute delight expressed by the kids when I used my "teacher voice" in Spanish. Kids marveled at that--their eyes lit up with understanding. But they also ignored my mistakes because my accent was correct.

Stateside, when I returned from the DR and visited my old students and old classroom, I received feedback. My top student in Spanish 4 told me that I focused more on culture than on grammar. He said having a grammar-oriented teacher (my sub) was the perfect complement to my style. He said this very diplomatically and generously.

I realize he is right. For me, Spanish is a means of telling a story. I love a cultural lens to lessons because I love the stories. For me, the rules are important but vague. My strictest teacher, Luisana, from days of old in the city of sun, Valencia--her strict reprimands and my host brothers who laughed at me outright and fixed my grammar with a smile--those days are gone. Far behind. My best education in Spanish grammar is...19 years old.

I know I need to focus on grammar. Testing myself with the many free online placement tests puts me at B2/C1 or advanced mid/advanced high. How can I get to that elusive superior rating without some serious grammar work? How do I fix the foundation? There seems to be no other choice but to go back to school and really try to fix this thing. It will make my teaching a lot better. I still want to focus on the stories, but I want to do it with perfect grammar.

Notes on "Last Child in the Woods" Part III

2012-01-13T14:12:00.000-05:00

Louv, Richard (2005, 2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company.

Part III The Best of Intentions: Why Johnnie and Jeannie Don’t Play Outside Anymore

Time and Fear
p. 111 “Our lives may be more productive, but less inventive. In an effort to value and structure time, some of us unintentionally may be killing dreamtime.”
p. 112 “It takes time--loose, unstructured dreamtime--to experience nature in a meaningful way.”
p. 120 “We can now look at at this way: Time in nature is not leisure time; it’s an essential investment in our children’s health.”
p. 121 “By taking nature experience out of the leisure column and placing it in the health column, we are more likely to take our children on that hike--more likely to, well, have fun.”

The Bogeyman Syndrome Redux
p. 123 “Fear is the emotion that separates a developing child from the full, essential benefits of nature. Fear of traffic, of crime, of stranger-danger, and of nature itself.”
p. 124 “Stephen Kellert, professor of social ecology at Yale, and a leading thinker on biophilia, describes how experience in the surrounding home territory, especially in nearby nature, helps shape children's cognitive maturation, including the developed abilities of analysis, synthesis, and evaluation.”

Don’t Know Much About Natural History: Education as a Barrier to Nature
p. 133 “Practitioners in the new fields of conservation psychology (focused on how people become environmentalists) and ecopsychology (the study of how ecology interacts with the human psyche) not that, as Americans become increasingly urbanized, their attitudes towards animals change in paradoxical ways.”
p. 133 “To urbanized people, the source of food and the reality of nature are becoming more abstract. At the same time, urban folks are more likely to feel protective of animals--or to fear them.”
p. 135 “If educators are to help heal the broken bond between the young and the natural world, they and the rest of us must confront the unintended educational consequences of an overly-abstract science education: ecophobia and the death of natural history studies.”
p. 137 “Public education is enamored of, even mesmerized by, what might be called silicon faith: a myopic focus on high technology as salvation.”

Where Will the Future Stewards of Nature Come From?
p. 148. “Pergams and Zaradic warn of what they call “videophilia”--a shift from loving streams (biophilia) to loving screens.”
p. 159 “”If children do not attach to the land, they will not reap the psychological and spiritual benefits they can glean from nature, nor will they feel a long-term commitment to the environment, to the place.”
p. 159 “Passion does not arrive on a videotape or a CD; passion is personal. Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along the grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature.”

Notes on "Last Child in the Woods" Part II

2012-01-11T15:54:00.001-05:00

Louv, Richard (2005, 2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company.

Part II Why The Young (and the Rest of Us) Need Nature
Climbing the Tree of Health
p. 43 “A widening circle of researchers believes that the loss of natural habitat, or the disconnection from nature even when it is available, has enormous implications for human health and child development. They say the quality of exposure to nature affects our health at almost cellular level.”
p. 45 “the idea that natural landscapes, or at least gardens, can be therapeutic and restorative is, in fact, and ancient one that has filtered down through the ages. Over two thousand years ago, Chinese Taoists created gardens and greenhouses they believed to be beneficial for health.”
p. 45 “Beginning in the 1870’s, the Quakers’ Friends Hospital in Pennsylvania used acres of natural landscape and a greenhouse as part of its treatment of mental illness.”
p. 46 “...Roger Ulrich, a Texas A&M researcher, has shown that people who watch images of natural landscape after a stressful experience calm markedly in only five minutes: their muscle tension, pulse, and skin-conductance ratings plummet.”
p. 47 “In the United States, children ages six to eleven spend about thirty hours a week looking at a TV or computer monitor.”
p. 48 “The physical exercise and emotional stretching that that children enjoy in unorganized play is more varied and less time-bound than is found in organized sports.”
p. 49 “Nature is often overlooked as a healing balm for the emotional hardships in a child’s life.”
p. 51 “Wells and colleague Gary Evans assessed the degree of nature in and around the homes of rural children in grades three through five. They found that children with more nature near their homes received lower ratings than peers with less nature near their homes on measures of behavioral conduct disorders, anxiety, and depression. Children with more nature near their homes also rated themselves higher than their corresponding peers on a global measure of self-worth.”

A Life of the Senses: Nature vs the Know-It-All State of Mind
p. 56 “Nature is beautiful but not always pretty.”
p. 58 “...as human beings we need direct, natural experiences; we require fully activated senses in order to feel fully alive.”
p. 63 “Why do so many Americans say they want their children to watch less TV, yet continue to expand the opportunities for them to watch it? More important, why do so many people consider the physical world no longer worth watching?”
p. 65 “Dewey argued a century ago that worship of secondary experience in childhood came with the risk of depersonalizing human life.”
p. 65 “In 1998 a controversial Carnegie Mellon University study found that people who spend even a few hours on the Internet each week suffer higher levels of depression and loneliness than people who use the Net infrequently.”
p. 67 “Much of our learning comes from doing, from making, from feeling with our hands; and though many would like to believe otherwise, the world is not entirely available from a keyboard.”
p. 68 “Not surprisingly, as the young grow up in a world of narrow yet overwhelming sensory input, many of them develop a wired, know-it-all state of mind. That which cannot be Googled does not count. Yet a fuller, grander, more mysterious world, one worthy of a child’s awe, is available to children and the rest of us.”

The “Eighth Intelligence”
p. 72 Howard Gardner “More recently he added an eighth intelligence: naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”).
p. 73 “However, the impact of nature experience on early childhood development is, in terms of neuroscience, understudied.”
p. 73 “Gardner’s designation of the eighth intelligence suggests another rich arena for research, but his theory has immediate application for teachers and parents who might otherwise overlook the importance of natural experience to learning and child development.”

The Genius of Childhood: How Nature Nurtures Creativity
p. 86 “As an expert in the design of play and learning environments, Moore has written that natural settings are essential for healthy child development because they stimulate all the senses and integrate informal play with formal learning. According to Moore, multi-sensory experiences in nature help to build ‘the cognitive constructs necessary for sustained intellectual development,” and stimulate imagination by supplying the child with the free space and materials for what he calls children’s ‘architecture and artifacts.’”
p. 87 “Nature, which excites all the senses, remains the richest source of loose parts.”
p. 87 “The loose-parts theory is supported by studies of play that compare green, natural play areas with blacktop playgrounds. Swedish studies found that children on asphalt playgrounds had play that was much more interrupted; they played in short segments. But in more natural playgrounds, children invented whole sagas that they carried from day to day to day--making and collecting meaning.”
p. 89 “Taylor’s and Kuo’s research demonstrated that children have greater ability to concentrate in more natural settings.”
p. 89 “What happens when creative children can no longer choose a green space in which to be creative?”
p. 92 “Nature offers a well from which many, famous or not, draw a creative sense of pattern and connection.”
p. 97 “The Japanese, said Hirshberg, recognized that American creativity comes largely from our freedom, our space--our physical space and our mental space. He offered no academic studies to support his theory; nonetheless, his statement rang true, and it has stayed with me. Growing up, many of us were blessed with natural space and the imagination that filled it.”
p. 98 “Nature presents the young with something so much greater than they are; it offers an environment where they can easily contemplate infinity and eternity.”

Nature-Deficit Disorder and the Restorative Environment
p. 100 “Ironically, the detachment of education from the physical world not only coincided with the dramatic rise in life-threatening childhood obesity but also with a growing body of evidence that links physical exercise and experience in nature to mental acuity and concentration.”
p. 102 “Children’s Hospital in Seattle maintains that each hour of TV watched per day by preschoolers increases by ten percent the likelihood that they will develop concentration problems and other symptoms of attention-deficit disorders by age seven.”
p. 104 The fascination factor associated with nature is restorative, and it helps relieve people from directed-attention fatigue. Indeed, according to the Kaplans, nature can be the most effective source of such restorative relief.”
p. 104 ‘In a paper presented to the American Psychological Society in 1993, the Kaplans surveyed more than twelve hundred corporate and state office workers. Those with a window view of trees, bushes, or large lawns experiences significantly less frustration and more work enthusiasm than those employees without those views.”
p. 105 “In 2000, Wells conducted a study that found being close to nature, in general, helps boost a child’s attention span.”
p. 108 “More time in nature--combined with less television and more stimulating play and educational settings--may go a long way toward reducing attention deficits in children, and, just as important, increasing their joy in life.”
p. 109 “An expanded application of attention-restoration theory would be useful in the design of homes, classrooms, and curricula.”

Notes on "Last Child in the Woods" Part I

2012-01-11T14:38:00.001-05:00

Louv, Richard (2005, 2008). Last Child in the Woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. New York, NY: Workman Publishing Company.

Part 1: The New Relationship Between Children and Nature

Gifts of Nature
p. 7 “Unlike television, nature does not steal time; it amplifies it.”
p. 10 “The woods were my Ritalin.”

The Third Frontier
p. 16 “In the space of a century, the American experience of nature--culturally influential around the world--has gone from direct utilitarianism to romantic attachment to electronic detachment.”
p. 19 “Not yet fully formed or explored, this new frontier is characterized by at least five trends: a severance of the public and private mind from our food’s origins; a disappearing line between machines, humans, and other animals; the invasion of our cities by wild animals (even as urban/suburban designers replace wildness with synthetic nature); and the rise of a new kind of suburban form.”
p. 23 “We can no longer assume a cultural core belief in the perfection of nature.” On scientific development such as “critter on a chip” or the ear on the mouse.
p. 25 “Today sprawl does not guarantee space.”

The Criminalization of Natural Play
p. 28 “Countless communities have virtually outlawed unstructured outdoor nature play, often because of the threat of lawsuits, but also because of a growing obsession with order.”
p. 28 “Most housing tracts, condos, and planned communities constructed in the past two to three decades are controlled by strict covenants that discourage or ban the kind of outdoor play many of us enjoyed as children.”
p. 30 “If endangered or threatened species are to coexist with humans, adults and children do need to tread lightly. But poor land-use decisions, which reduce accessible nature in cities, do far more damage to the environment than do children.”
p. 30 :The US Department of Agriculture projects forests declining from 767,000 in 1982 to 377,000 in 2022.”
p. 30 “The cumulative impact of over-development, multiplying park rules, well-meaning (and usually necessary) environmental regulations, building regulations, community covenants, and fear of litigation sends a chilling message to our children that their free-range play is unwelcome, that organized sports on manicured playing fields are the only officially sanctioned form of outdoor recreation.”
p. 33 “Another British study discovered that average eight-year-olds were better able to identify characters from the Japanese card-trading game Pokemon than native species in the community they lived: Pikachu, Metapod, and Wigglytuff were names more familiar than otter, beaver, or oak tree.”
p. 33 “In Israel, researchers revealed that nearly all adults surveyed indicated that natural outdoor areas were the most significant environments of their childhood, while less than half children ages eight to eleven shared that view.”
p. 34 “...In Amsterdam, a study compared children’s play in the Netherlands in the 1950’s and 1960’s to child’s play in the first years of the 21st century: Children today play outside less often and for briefer periods; they have a more restricted home range and have fewer, less diverse playmates.”
p. 34 “In the United States, children are spending less time playing outdoors--or in any unstructured way.
p. 34 “Also, children spend less time playing outdoors than their mothers did when they were young, according to Rhona L. Clements, a professor of education at Manhattanville College in New York State/ She and her colleagues surveyed eight hundred mothers, whose responses were compared to to views of mothers interviewed generations ago: 71 percent of today’s mothers said they recalled playing outdoors every day as children, but only 26 percent of them said their children played outdoors daily.”
p. 35 “Clearly the childhood break from nature is part of a larger dislocation--physical restriction of childhood in a rapidly urbanizing world, with nature experience a major casualty.”
p. 35 ”...new studies suggest that exposure to nature may reduce the symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and that it can improve all children’s cognitive abilities and resistance to negative stresses and depression.”
p. 36 “Nature-deficit disorder describes the human costs of alienation from nature, among them: diminished use of the senses, attention difficulties, and higher rates of physical and emotional illnesses.”

Notes on "Becoming Teddy Roosevelt"

2012-01-11T09:41:00.000-05:00

Vietze, Andrew (2010). Becoming Teddy Roosevelt: How a Maine guide inspired America's 26th president. Camden, ME: Downeast.

The Nature of New York
p.20 “...they discovered that both were constantly astonished by the poetry of the natural world. “ (an observation on Sewall and TR’s relationship)
p. 21 “If he was reflective at all during the latter part o this Maine sojourn, it was not about the death that had so weighed on him just before his arrival, but about how much loved being in the woods.”
p. 21 on Maine routines “They would have harvested the garden, begun to ready their houses for the weather ahead, prepared for another season of cutting trees, and gotten back into the affairs of the town they were building out in the woods.”
p. 24 “‘I made up my mind that I must try to learn so that I would not again be put in such a helpless position.’” On bullies on the train up to Maine.
p. 25 “With an ocean out one door and the woods out another, these summers were full of magic for the imaginative naturalist, who would happily take off by himself, traipsing in the bushes or down close to the grass.” On his summers in the country.
p. 26 “After discovery, for Roosevelt, came the desire to understand his findings, and then share that understanding with the world.” On observing a dead seal.
p. 28 “She spent hours reading him stories of larger-than-life men and feats of heroism, both fiction and non-fiction, books about knights and sailors and soldiers.” on TR’s mother’s role in his life.

Pine Tree Pioneers
p. 32 “This was the last frontier of New England, a place where stands of spruce stood majestic and tall, never touched by an ax or blase.” Describing Aroostook County in the 1820’s.
p. 33 ….”the Bloodless Aroostook War or the more colorful Pork and Beans war.” on establishing the official boundary line between Maine and New Brunswick.
p. 37 “Working ceaselessly Sewall was able to ease the circumstances of the family little by little. Under is tutelage--and that of a Penobscot Indian neighbor--David and Sam Sewall became fairly expert woodsmen.”
p. 38 “The academy of nature proved to be his favorite classroom, though, and he learned much simply by following his father and older brothers around.” Bill Sewall’s education
p. 39 “..he brought a gif to his little brother--a compass. The small instrument gave the boy even more self-confidence than the canoe and the gun had earlier.” Bill Sewall’s education.
p. 41 “Bill donated his share to and Island Falls man who had a family to support and no income. ‘That was the way the old-time people dealt with their neighbors up here in the woods,’ he late explained.” Bill Sewall’s character
p. 42 “Like so many Mainers then-and even now-life was a seasonal cycle, and every couple of months brought a new occupation.” Reality of rural Maine life.

A Grander, More Beautiful Sight
p. 48 “‘I have never seen a grander or more beautiful sight than the Northern woods in winter.’” TR on Maine
p. 50 “Dow was able to find the animal’s prints, and they crept along the trail even though it dragged them through cedar swamps, over hardwood ridges, through hemlock woods, and across cranberry bogs.” Will Dow on hunting with TR.
p. 50 “‘The reason he knew so much about everything, I found, was that wherever he went he got in with the right people.’” Sewall on TR’s ways of acquiring knowledge.
p. 51 “‘He said he could read about such things, but here he had first-hand accounts of backwoods life form the men who had lived it and knew what they were talking about.’” Sewall on TR’s ways of acquiring knowledge

Tough as a Pine Knot
p. 59 “‘If I follow my own natural bent I will be a naturalist, for you know how I love nature, the woods, birds and plants and the rough Arab life of the big woods.’” TR on what he would do if he didn’t enter public service
p. 59 “‘...”I don’t know a better or more intelligent race of men than the shrewd, plucky, honest, Yankees--all of them hunters, lumbermen, or small farmers.’” TR on Yankees

Harvard Cool
p. 65 “And enthusiasm, of course, was the trait that all but defined Theodore Roosevelt.” On his not fitting in at Harvard.
p. 66 “Roosevelt took to college like he did most things--with a zeal that bordered on the manic.”
p. 67 “Working in a basement lab with a stiff white coat was the last thing Theodore Roosevelt wanted to do.” On his naturalist leanings.
p. 67 “To TR, the wonders of science--its future and frontiers--were out in the fields and forests and sea awaiting discovery.”

Playing the Frontier
p. 75 “‘It was listening to those talks after supper in the old shack on the Cannonball that I first came to understand that the Lord made the earth for all of us and not just for the chosen few.’” TR out West

Light Comes In; Light Goes Out
p. 83 “...Mary loved the window the Sewall House gave her on the wider world. This came both from her husband’s unending quest for knowledge and from the many guests who stayed with them. Bill was keenly interested in the goings-on beyond the limits of Island Falls. He read the newspaper daily, and both he and Mary regularly visited the community library, which was in Dave Sewall’s house, on the hunt for new books.” On life and learning in rural Maine.
p. 87 “...his sister Sarah told him to go make his fortune and then ‘return and live in his real home.’” On Sewall’s Maine roots and Western adventure.

Badlands Babies
p. 94 “Bill Sewall was forever impressed by the gumption Roosevelt showed in such situations, describing him as ‘afraid of nothing and nobody’”. On how they dealt with other people claiming their land out West.

The Beef
p. 111 Bill Sewall on losing money out West. “‘...Roosevelt did not pretend to be a businessman. He never cared about making money and he didn’t go to Dakota for the money he expected to make there; he came because he liked the country and he liked the people and he liked the wild, adventurous life.’”

Futures and Fame
p. 145 Bill Sewall on progress. “‘Many changes I have seen during my eighty odd years of life, but I do not believe people are any happier now, for all the improvements and new ways, than we were back in the old days.’”

Czar of Aroostook County

p. 157 “He may have become famous, but he still rose early and worked to make something of each day.” On Bill Sewall’s work ethic
p. 160 “Somehow Sewall found the stamina to do it all--customs collector, sheriff, guide, logger, farmer, hotelier.” On his many duties.
p. 162 TR’s achievements. “TR Came to conservation via his passion for hunting, and Sewall, of course, was his greatest hunting mentor.”
p. 163 “During his tenure, Roosevelt worked tireless at protecting the nation’s natural heritage, saving some 84,000 acres a day. He was actively involved in the creation of 150 national forests, 5 national parks, 4 national game preserves, 18 national monuments (including the Grand Canyon), 24 reclamation projects, and 51 federal bird preserves (including the first, on Pelican Island, Florida).”

Quests

2012-01-06T09:47:00.000-05:00

draft

What is a Quest?
1. "Questing is a place-based education model of creating and exchanging treasure hunts in order to collect and share your community's distinct natural and cultural heritage -- your special places and stories." From vitalcommunities.org
"A quest is a community treasure hunt that guides people through -- and teaches them how to see -- a unique community treasure." From poeticsofplace.org.
"Each Quest would be made up of three parts: clues, which teach visitors how to see—or read—a community story; a map guiding them along a specific route; leading to a particular “treasure” and treasure box, complete with a story about the site, a sign-in book, and a hand-carved stamp featuring a symbol for the site." from poeticsofplace.org
"Commonly written in rhyming verse, a Quest contains movement clues that get you from one spot to the next. (A Quest usually includes a site map as well.) The features at these spots illustrate the story. Quests also have informational clues, that interpret the meaning of the features and their place in the story – maybe an old mill site, a beaver dam, an eroded bank, or a low salt marsh." from muscongusbay.org
2. Originated in England 150 years ago and is called letter-boxing there

Why do it?
1. To learn deeply about a local place
2. To work with community members and involve the community in teaching and learning about a place
3. Map community assets
4. Foster sense of place and community

How is a Quest made? (adapted from the vitalcommunities.org site)
1. Pick a spot that that is special in your community.
2. Ask permission to make a Quest
3. Visit the site 2 or 3 times to begin to understand it,and start to think of how to form a Quest that fits the location
4. Look for the experts: people in your community who can teach you more about your location. Ask them to join you at the location.
5. Be a researcher and take notes on what those experts tell you!
6. Choose a strategy. Be creative. How will you create the clues?
7. Draw rough maps of your site. Also sketch or note the unique features that would make good clues.
8. Make a rough draft of your Quest strategy with the clues.
9. Field test the rough draft with lots of people and make changes to make it better.
10. Write a description of what makes your Quest location unique. A few paragraphs is fine--be sure to state why your location is special. This will go in your Quest box.
11. Draw final Quest Map.
12. Make a stamp to use for stamping Quest passports.
13. Get a box to use as a Quest Box (plastic food containers work well). Waterproof the introduction to the site and attach it securely to the inside cover of the box. In the box: a log book; pencil/pen; stamp; ink pad; pencil sharpener.
14. Hide the box.
15. Make sure the box will be monitored long term.

What are potential challenges? (from muscongusbay.org teacher evaluations in 2009)

1. Finding enough planning time
2. Maintaining student engagement
3. Creating a good work flow

In Veron at the public school

2011-08-31T18:26:00.000-04:00

For so many education is a privilege and not a right. This girl attends for a small fee at the only public high school in a community of 50,000 people.

mission, vision, and philosophy wordle

2011-08-10T09:49:00.001-04:00

around the world in less than a minute

2011-04-20T17:01:00.000-04:00

Voyage from MAGROUND Images on Vimeo.

Edmodo

2011-03-27T09:34:00.000-04:00

I recently re-discovered I belonged to a community called Edmodo. This re-connect occurred due to my OER work. Through the state people in charge of my OER work, I was able to conference call with a great gal at Edmodo, Michelle Best, who explained how it works and where OER might fit in to the program.

What has hit me in the past few days is that Edmodo is designed to curate. You are essentially a gatherer of your own materials mined from the web to teach a lesson. You can also attach files from your desktop. You can arrange these items for your classes. You can share them easily with your peers. You can tag them. You can find them easily.

Why is this an a-ha for me? Basically, my desk at this time of year is over-run with paper. Paper is everywhere in my room. It's getting way too cluttered.

Edmodo is my cloud. I'm going to work my way through my courses, and Edmodo them up. So I don't need all this paper everywhere. And if my computer crashes, I will still have my site there.

popplet

2011-03-15T10:30:00.001-04:00

How to use Garageband to assess speaking in World Languages

2011-03-14T20:53:00.000-04:00

Here's something that has been working lately. I have used it with different grammatical structures levels 2-3-4. It's been taking a good 45 minutes per class.

The question is about music. What's your most favorite song? Who sings it? What's the genre? Why do you like it?

There are no wrong answers. We listen to the music. Everyone has to share 5-10 seconds. We ask the questions to each other and listen.

Using Garageband, I then direct the kids to record themselves speaking. You have to break the kids up into pairs. I have a good building for recording, it's very quiet.

The script is there already, as is the soundtrack. So, recording is easy, and then have the project sent as an attachment in email for grading.

The richest learning seems to be when we are listening to the music.

I grade the recording on accuracy and fluency. It's a skill sharpener. Short, sweet, and effective.

I use Garageband to assess speaking quite frequently. I think I will play the convos for the kids tomorrow and do dictation. (Evil cackle).

música: irka mateo

2011-03-12T11:00:00.000-05:00

In 1492, the island of Hispaniola, which is now where Haiti and the Dominican Republic sit, was ruled in part by a female Taíno chief and poet named Anacaona. After she was killed by Spanish colonists, the chief became a potent symbol of national pride for Dominicans. Anacaona is also the name of a 2010 album by Irka Mateo, a Dominican singer who specializes in bringing indigenous themes and musical forms into her songwriting. Mateo spent years traveling across her country researching poorly-documented folkloric traditions, and later hosted a television show about traditional artists called Music From Kiskeya. These days, she’s living in New York and has put together an incendiary band that makes deeply Dominican music that is both thoughtful and danceable. “Hombre de la tierra” features the classic sound of the button accordion, along with bachata-inflected guitars, hard-driving drums, and Mateo’s spirited vocals.

from Gig Alerts

Good morning, Portland, Maine

2011-03-04T22:13:00.001-05:00

Teamwork, teambuilding. I spoke of this time. I knew this time was coming. The crazed time of putting it all together to make sense.

Does it make sense?

Maine OER Flame Conference on Prezi

It made sense today. Today was good.

Crossposted.

Wordle and One Way to Use It in World Languages

2011-03-02T13:58:00.000-05:00

Figure 1

Wordle? What is it? Why care?

I use this word frequency tool to gauge what kinds of words my students are struggling with when speaking Spanish.

Here is the process. It can be tweaked for shorter or longer assignments.

I had my juniors write reflections on a recent career day held at school, in Spanish. They responded to seven prompts about the day, and their responses were 3-4 simple sentences. These were arranged into a short essay.

After writing and editing, they recorded themselves reading the essay. Because we are a 1:1 school they did this using Garageband, but there are many ways to do this on-line.

I received an email with the recording. For record keeping purposes, there is a naming protocol--the subject must be last name and name of project, the file name must be last name and name of project. This helps tremendously when students look at you innocently and say, "But I sent it to you." If I can't find it by last name, they have to re-send.

Meanwhile, using Google Docs, I made a table and emailed my students the link to this table (see Figure 2, example is the Pledge of Allegiance in Spanish). Each student copied and pasted their essay text into the table, as well as their word count, as well as their name, date and assignment.

Figure 2

To evaluate, I listened to each essay as read by the student in Spanish with the Google table up in front of me. I bolded mispronounced words in the table in Google docs and made the table private so that the students no longer had access the the link. I made a list of bolded words by student and posted them in the table. I printed the table and cut it up so each student received a piece of paper with typed feedback on it. In Figure 2, students had multiple attempts to improve pronunciation, and NE means "No error".

Enter Wordle found at http://wordle.net. This is the program I use to give feedback, anonymously share data, and give each student a chance to practice the problem words, see patters, and work on pronunciation.

I took the exact number of words mispronounced from the essay, copied and pasted the column of student errors, and used Wordle to see what words were mispronounced the most.

Look at Figure 1 above one more time. What did they struggle with?

I projected the Wordle, and we discussed the errors, and we went over the largest words several times. Not surprisingly, the fact that most of the mispronounced words were cognates was discussed. We worked on specific techniques of pronunciation.

That is just one way that I use Wordle!

¡Zambombazo! and other things of note

2011-03-02T13:00:00.000-05:00

If you found yourself here via Zambombazo, welcome! I recommend the Zambombazo site to learn Spanish in a culturally relevant and FUN way! It's designed so you can pick and choose activities that get you to use your skills and stretch your mind. Creators Zachary and Betsy Jones have seen amazing growth in numbers of visitors. In my opinion this is due in large part to the high quality activities that are offered. (Although my French colleague misses the French version dearly).

Friday the OER team will present at FLAME in Portland, Maine. Hope to see you there. Our session has "Wishlist"in the title. Of course that "Wishlist" is the Master List of OERs for World Languages.

More to come in April when Phase 2 wraps up.

So, what should be different?

2011-02-13T14:10:00.000-05:00

Been thinking...the tick that tocked was when a lady came to school dressed in a 1910 outfit, and she encouraged us to "make scrapbooks for historical societies to use to learn about the past." I almost lost it. We have so much more than scrapbooks. We are producing mass amounts of internet scrap every second of every day. We know too much about everything in the present. I imagine in 2200 they will have invented some sort of data mining vehicle that can pick through all of this digital detritus to fashion a history that shows we are not ignorant bullies, unaware of the power that so much information represents. What can be done, now?

It's hard to articulate what I want. Let me just say that. This is not meant to be a finished speech but a mind dump. I have these needs, ideas. I have a sense of the whole, but the articulation of the parts eludes me.

I don't want to ever be in neat even rows, that's too much like a cemetery.

I want to know where and how the food I eat at school is grown and prepared. I do want the mandate to come from the state that a percentage of food served must be local. I would love to see a 70% local mandate. THINK ABOUT THAT. This is my hidden passion: nutrition, local food, learning the cycles of food, preparing food as a part of the learning process.

I do want to be in a school that shares all the time in many ways what is being learned. Each class, each home room, each assembly, each meeting. Reflect on learning. Coming back from a conference? Tell us about it. Struggled with the assignment? Let us know. Talk, people. Talk a lot about the learning. Celebrate it. Celebrate that we make mistakes all the time and that is precisely the formula for learning.

I do want to be in a school that has a greenhouse, and gardens, and tree-houses, and a multimedia lab with large screens where kids created the daily information logs that the rest of the school will see. Kids will make movies about their learning, they will be documentarians.

I want to be in a place that understands that social media can be used for great good.

I want to be in a place where the emotional health of the staff and students is nurtured in positive ways. Where there is an atmosphere that promotes individuality, responsibility, personal growth, and civility.

More to come and I hope to come back and tidy these thoughts. Process.

A favorite edublogger: Will Richardson

2011-02-01T18:26:00.000-05:00

Will Richardson. Weblogg-ed.

When will we get to the point where enough people feel dissatisfied with the whole school thing and want change badly enough to rise up and say “That’s it! We’re not going to do this anymore!” I know there’s a slim chance that our collective sense of dissatisfaction with the status quo around education will ever match the passion of those people in the streets of Cairo today. But I’m beginning to wonder if there may not be an untapped feeling of frustration around schools that those bigger voices are just not getting. That’s it’s not about improving the current system but, instead, creating a different, better path for our kids. But I also sense that while many people may feel this discomfort, they don’t quite yet know what to do with it.

He's speaking my language. I've read him for years. I share practically every post. He's got it together. I feel inspired to do something....more to come on that one.

Master List of OERS

2011-01-29T10:29:00.001-05:00

Click here!

Enjoy!

Calvin Coolidge said....

2011-01-18T12:44:00.000-05:00

Free to print! (Link goes to original size in Flickr which you can download.)

Firework

2011-01-13T22:58:00.001-05:00

This will make you smile all day..children are powerful artists....

World Language Open Educational Resources

2011-01-11T19:39:00.001-05:00

free to print

2011-01-09T09:28:00.001-05:00

Licensed CC noncomm, noderiv, print away!

break over

2011-01-01T16:50:00.000-05:00

I forgot one little pearl in my necklace, a woman who somehow hits the nail on the head with posts like this one.

Testing

2010-12-31T14:06:00.001-05:00

Replace your audience response systems with Poll Everywhere

and now a break from the break!

2010-12-22T15:23:00.001-05:00

time for a break!

2010-12-17T08:37:00.001-05:00

Enjoy the season!

From Punta Cana

2010-12-12T20:06:00.000-05:00

Some holiday magic from the DR!

sometimes it feels like

2010-12-11T14:26:00.000-05:00

This post was inspired by John Spencer. He's the third edublogger on my list.* He thinks pretty deeply, and is a geek, which is how I identify myself to the students, because there is no other way to describe how I know what I know. He also is willing to talk about his relationship with God, and that's pretty bold for a teach to do publicly. I admire that.

***

In my job, I work with kids/teenagers. It's a great job. I enjoy working with learners.

Sometimes however there's a piece of me that feels incomplete, and an utter failure at my job. When something just isn't happening the way I hoped it would. When the atmosphere in the room is tense and ripe with disappoint from all parties. When kids and teachers are sick, tired, and grumpy and need more than what comes out of 65 minutes together in one shared space.

Sometimes I fear my class is boring. Linguistics as a science is not boring to me. Spanish is definitely not boring to me. So I wonder why it all translates that way, some days. Sometimes, we just look at each other.

Spanish spoken nicely enough causes temporary relief, and exuberant chatter and integration of ideas makes life bearable...but....

Sometimes it feels like I lack the secret to making language learning alive, vibrant, verdant, viral.

Sometimes I pray for patience, and I can only hold my attention to the matter for about 5 seconds. Is that long enough to have a serious conversation with God? And I ask these kids to pay attention to me? Sometimes I cry when I feel like a failure.

No wonder it hurts sometimes. Sometimes, not one of us is paying attention.

*Next and probably last I will share Will Richardson

crossposted

The digital age

2010-11-28T15:53:00.001-05:00

The digital age, originally uploaded by panacealater.

This is what is coming.

From the archives

2010-11-27T13:32:00.001-05:00

january 2007 038, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

This was my favorite system of laptops. I had my own cart and my own printer.

It rocked.

January 2007, PVHS.

productivity

2010-11-27T12:04:00.000-05:00

Here is my EDU580 tech component for my research! Next I need to upload it at Voicethread and finish the task. Of course this is all pending the stamp of approval from my adviser. Consider this a draft.

good news

2010-11-26T17:34:00.000-05:00

My lit review has been approved and it is time to submit my proposal. This is exciting! My research has been completed (it's been a backwards process) and I will be continuing the OER work until June thanks to a grant extension. It feels great to be doing this work. I am thankful for the funding, the team, and that it works seamlessly with my degree requirements.

Fruit of labors here.

Mountain Bike en Chile

2010-11-23T18:46:00.000-05:00

Trailer Down to Earth 4: Seguimos de Pie 1080p30 from Omar Salas on Vimeo.

ACTFL 2010, Boston

2010-11-20T21:10:00.000-05:00

ACTFL stands for the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages.

I had a great time.

I was right that it would be a long day.

Right now my head is exploding with positive pedagogical energy. No notes at the conference but many clear ideas ringing in my head. This was a GREAT day and I must thank my GREAT district for funding it. We did it as cheaply as we could and the payoff will outweigh the cost in the long run. Good for the children, this one!

BIG IDEA OF THE DAY
The target language MUST be experienced IN the target language 90-100% of the time.

The goal for 9-12 (according to ACTFL standards, my NEW favorite standards, sorry Maine Learning Results) is to reach Intermediate High.

From the GWU site:

Intermediate-High speakers are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations of the Intermediate level. They are able to handle successfully many uncomplicated tasks and social situations requiring an exchange of basic information related to work, school, recreation, particular interests and areas of competence, though hesitation and errors may be evident.

Intermediate-High speakers handle the tasks pertaining to the Advanced level, but they are unable to sustain performance at that level over a variety of topics. With some consistency, speakers at the Intermediate High level narrate and describe in major time frames using connected discourse of paragraph length. However, their performance of these Advanced-level tasks will exhibit one or more features of breakdown, such as the failure to maintain the narration or description semantically or syntactically in the appropriate major time frame, the disintegration of connected discourse, the misuse of cohesive devises, a reduction in breadth and appropriateness of vocabulary, the failure to successfully circumlocute, or a significant amount of hesitation.

Intermediate-High speakers can generally be understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives, although the dominant language is still evident (e.g. use of code-switching, false cognates, literal translations, etc.), and gaps in communication may occur.

Think about that. Students are pretty much destined to commit error. It's ok.

There is hope. I am from a very similar educational background as many of my students, and my level is Advance Mid. Not bad for a kid from rural Maine.

Speakers at the Advanced-Mid level are able to handle with ease and confidence a large number of communicative tasks. They participate actively in most informal and some formal exchanges on a variety of concrete topics relating to work, school, home, and leisure activities, as well as to events of current, public, and personal interest or individual relevance.

Advanced-Mid speakers demonstrate the ability to narrate and describe in all major time frames (past, present, and future) by providing a full account, with good control of aspect, as they adapt flexibly to the demands of the conversation. Narration and description tend to be combined and interwoven to relate relevant and supporting facts in connected, paragraph-length discourse.

Advanced-Mid speakers can handle successfully and with relative ease the linguistic challenges presented by a complication or unexpected turn of events that occurs within the context of a routine situation or communicative task with which they are otherwise familiar. Communicative strategies such as circumlocution or rephrasing are often employed for this purpose. The speech of Advanced-Mid speakers performing Advanced-level tasks is marked by substantial flow. Their vocabulary is fairly extensive although primarily generic in nature, except in the case of a particular area of specialization or interest. Dominant language discourse structures tend to recede, although discourse may still reflect the oral paragraph structure of their own language rather than that of the target language.

Advanced-Mid speakers contribute to conversations on a variety of familiar topics, dealt with concretely, with much accuracy, clarity and precision, and they convey their intended message without misrepresentation or confusion. They are readily understood by native speakers unaccustomed to dealing with non-natives. When called on to perform functions or handle topics associated with the Superior level, the quality and/or quantity of their speech will generally decline.

Advanced-Mid speakers are often able to state an opinion or cite conditions; however, they lack the ability to consistently provide a structured argument in extended discourse. Advanced-Mid speakers may use a number of delaying strategies, resort to narration, description, explanation or anecdote, or simply attempt to avoid the linguistic demands of Superior-level tasks.

Still prone to error! And I am the teacher.

How to get to Superior? The secret is travel. More of it is what Maine kids and their teachers need. Experience is the best teacher. Frame it through service and it's nearly always win-win.

That is why the conference was so good. It gave me a chance to hear from real experts, and experience the wisdom of many teachers. Collective wisdom in one place lends incredible energy. And now I feel more clarity. I am moving in the right direction. I must teach in Spanish and reduce my expectations and help my students reduce their expectations.

.......might I add, World Language Teachers know how to socialize. The ACIS event was wonderful, and a lady we were chatting with earlier (out of 6,000 participants, you meet a lot of kindred spirits!) won a trip to Paris! The view of the city of Boston was incredible on a cold November night. I was proud to be a native of Massachusetts. There was so much brainpower in the room that it felt magical to be a language teacher for Maine kids. Our ideas were fun to share! Sharing is good!

We (my super-colleague Mme. K) are proud to be part of a cool organization like ACTFL.

This trip was a good use of public transportation.

We took car, bus, and train to the heart of the city! Here is our late night happy face routine because we are heading home to God's country, Maine!

ACTFL!!!

2010-11-14T07:57:00.000-05:00

This year my super colleague and I have the great privilege of attending the best conference available in our content area, as it is coming to Boston. I've never been to this conference, which is hosted by ACTFL. When we attend I hope to be able to blog all about it, but we'll see. I am not sure how I feel about this laptop and traveling. I need something smaller, easier, less conspicuous. Ok I will just say it. I need something like the NEW Macbook Air.

Anyway...stay tuned for more on ACTFL. I am yearning for a t-shirt that says "Yo hablo español. Yo uso Recursos Abiertos Educativos. I speak English. I use Open Educational Resources."

Maybe I will just have to make it.

The sharing of OERs is very exciting, but the overwhelming unknowns of the conference prevent me from planning much more to say at ACTFL. The fact we are commuting down from Maine and back in a day, and attending a swank cocktail reception, all while schlepping oodles of stuff in high heels, leaves me worried already that it will all be very tiring and not as fun as say, a conference in sneakers with rolling duffels to carry our loot. We can't look like shoppers at Black Friday. We have to look like teachers, teachers in the big city!

Juan Luis Guerra - La Llave De Mi Corazon (DVJ Maxi Remix)

2010-11-07T10:11:00.000-05:00

My fave edubloggers

2010-11-02T18:41:00.000-04:00

First I shared David Warlick. He's cool.

Now it's Scott McLeod's turn. I really like him. His video on revised Bloom's taxonomy and No Child Left Behind is one of my top hits on this blog. The link takes you to his main site, but I subscribe to his blog, Dangerously Irrelevant.

Sometimes Scott is a bit sharp. But he makes his points, and he asks lots of questions, and he shares, shares, shares.

Next up: one of my all time favorites. His name is John Spencer. He writes "Musings from a Not-so-master Teacher".

no longer blocked

2010-11-01T15:27:00.000-04:00

Flickr and Blogger are now unblocked in my building. (Readers with me for a while recall when this first came up). Between then and now have been many emails, help desk requests, and meetings with administrators.

I feel lighter today than I have in ages. I am thankful to have administrators who make time to listen. I am thankful to have a job in this economy. I am thankful for a lot of things.

But mostly I am thankful that I can use these tools once more with students.

Los Van Van TEMBA TUMBA Y TIMBA

2010-10-30T22:01:00.000-04:00

Educational Bloggers I read

2010-10-29T06:51:00.000-04:00

I am going to start sharing the folks on my Google reader (use it if you don't already, saves a lot of clicktime and makes it much easier to see patterns in what you read--if you analyze mine you'd realize that I love technology, education, learning about Portguese and Swedish craft culture, farming, sewing, photojournalism, design, infographics, and a healthy dose of brain mush: basically fashion and gossip sites to help my brain dissolve at the end of a long day).

Here are my shared sites from my reader, sites I pick to share with anyone else who is in my field. Meaning, click in if you want lots of vibrant discourse on education today.

So, número uno is David Warlick.

Here is a pearl of wisdom he offers in his most recent post:

I can’t put my finger on any one statement or situation, but what came to mind several times is how much we, in K12 education, have lost our confidence. I remember, when I was teaching 25 to 35 years ago, a sense of educational entrepreneurship. I couldn’t have expressed it that way then, but I was free and felt encouraged to innovate in order to motivate learning — rather than applying teaching.

One of the professors said that when his daughter came home from her first day in sixth grade, she said that the principal had told the students that they will not be having fun. They will be learning. That is not innovation. It is blunt force education.

Not only have we lost our confidence, but our students are losing their childhood.

People wonder why I am in such a rush with change. Well, his last statement is why.

Next up: Scott McLeod. He really makes me smile with delight when he writes about education today.

bread maker's son

2010-10-28T06:16:00.000-04:00

So I wanted to write about pain. About the pain I experience every time I stick my neck out at work and how hard it is for me to articulate what I know to be right. And so I went to my Flickr (naturally) and searched for pain to see if there were any scowls or anything I could find in my stream. (I search my own stuff--I have 17,000 plus items). Flickr has been on my mind a lot lately, given that I am blocked from it at work and all the visual learning that I use it for is blocked. Pardon me for saying so but any one with 17,000 plus items in her stream, many of them educational in nature, is clearly using a visual pathway to learn. And not being able to use Flickr causes me pain because it forces me to speak out loud about how I learn and how I am different. And really, I know I am different. (Anyone who grew up in a living laboratory called a working farm, anyone whose idea of "community service" means "those neighbors on that island in that ocean that we share....close enough" is clearly going to be different). I know I am total Alt Ed all the way (let me learn my way and please don't punish me for not being like you). I know that normal school has never worked for me. (I tried to quit twice, once in seventh, and once in eleventh, and ended up graduating early). And I know that this is painful and I need to talk about it. It's painful because no one should be forced to sit in neat even rows for hours on end doing worksheets. That kind of learning isn't learning. It's painful because I remember the day when I was 16 years old and took responsibility for my own learning. "We can't give you a transcript for junior year." Guess what I learned junior year? Spanish. It's painful because I know how expensive travel is, but virtually, one can travel for free. It's painful because this, and this, and this, all help me teach. And the blockage....it's just painful.

So blah blah blah...I searched for pain on my Flickr and lo and behold it spat back a few loaves of bread...pain is French for bread. And with bread came this photo of the breadmaker's son. And I laughed out loud. And I felt better. And so this blog is therapeutic yet again.

In terms of work and pain, I know it will all pass in time. I know that I need patience among other lacking virtues. I know.

Cross-posted. My school and my emotions intertwine. That is why teaching hurts sometimes--because we teachers have feelings and we spend 90% of the time meeting the needs of others, at work, and we have needs, too.

it's the beginning of the end

2010-10-27T06:42:00.000-04:00

No panic button, I mean the end of grad school. I have affectionately called it grad skoo since the whole process began, but now that a formal application for a diploma has been submitted, it's beginning to feel serious.

I really do think that my degree program at Farmington has made me a better teacher. I feel I have learned a LOT. Interestingly enough, I don't think Farmington was about stretching my skills in the Technology piece of TPCK. I don't feel it addressed my Content piece of TPCK because I did not take one Spanish course. I did all my literacy work up at Orono, so no connection there. But what Farmington brought to me was a series of challenges to the way I do business. It helped me formalize my teaching strategies and it validated my pathways of teaching and learning. It forced me to consider WHY I do things and WHAT the kids will learn as a result. I learned so much about the different ways that people learn and how to chart growth. I read so many pages of interesting theories and philosophies, and more importantly subscribed to some of the most exciting educational bloggers out there, that give a much more eloquent public discourse about education than I can, at this point.

Number one? Graduate school forced me to share my ideas and I became better at that. I developed a very unique, very awesome personal learning network. Not to brag but my personal learning network is very international and very connected! A high point was presenting at PUCMM in the Dominican Republic. I presented to a faculty there about learning with multimedia and gave strategies for designing learning with multimedia. I did this IN Spanish. It was SO hard and so good for my brain!

Now the sweet spot of my graduate school experience. My research. This research is all about open educational resources and I am part of a powerful movement. I lead a team of 9 others to focus on World Languages. I've put 80 hours in to the research already (yes, a lot!) and will have 60 more in before I am done in June. And I graduate in May! It's all so exciting--to realize that Farmington was a good investment, because it stretched my mind and pushed me to be better at this teaching gig. It pushed me to share more, and dare I say fight more for the pathway I represent.

So yeah. It's a lot of work right now, but I'm close. And it feels so good.

Have I mentioned...?

2010-10-26T21:01:00.000-04:00

I received three Pearson sponsorships (read: free money) for three of my social networks? All are private, but here is the list:

Dirigo Photo--this year Alternative Education students comprise this network
Dirigo Spanish--for my advanced classes, and possible collaboration with the two other high schools in my district
DR2010--I plan to present to the school board soon and this network will be renamed DR2012. This is open. This was great!

My students are most active on the photo network. Great work alt ed! Can't wait to print those pictures large and share with the whole school.

correction codes

2010-10-24T11:22:00.000-04:00

Two great resources. One is a link, one I will post here.

First, this comprehensive list of codes IN SPANISH for correcting Spanish, from the University of Rhode Island. Click in!

I have a list also of correction codes from this source.

Correction Codes

AA Adjective/noun agreement wrong (includes gender and number)

AC Accent wrong or missing

AGR Subject/verb agreement problem; make sure subject agrees with verb.

AP Personal ‘a’ required

ART Article wrong or missing (includes definite [el/la…] vs. indefinite [un/uno/una…])

CC Wrong copula choice; choose between ser and estar

GEN Gender wrong; check whether noun is masculine or feminine and make it agree with article.

INF Infinitive needed

OP Object pronoun wrong or missing; may include direct/indirect object pronouns or masculine/feminine; make sure pronoun agrees with the noun it is replacing.

PART Participle form of verb required; be sure the participle agrees with the noun if it is being used as an adjective or in the passive voice. Ex.: Las composiciones fueron revisadas por el profesor. If it is used in a perfect tense, use the masculine singular form. Ex: Yo he estudiado para el examen.

PREP Preposition wrong or missing

REL Relative pronoun wrong; frequently ‘que’ is missing. Ex.: La casa (que) yo compré.

REF Reflexive pronoun wrong or missing

SP Spelling error

SPN Subject pronoun problem; Ex: Yo, tú, él, ella, Ud., nosotros, ellos, ellas, Uds.

TNS Tense incorrect (includes preterit/imperfect distinction)

VF Verb improperly conjugated (includes wrong verb forms, e.g., stem-changing verbs)

WC Word choice – more appropriate word required; vocabulary error; may be the result of a direct translation from English.

WO Word order incorrect

A student sent this to me :)

2010-10-19T09:41:00.001-04:00

Rita Indiana y los Misterios

2010-10-17T13:37:00.001-04:00

(Feat. Los Misterios)

La canilla preparada pa juir
La pantalla en treintamil
Me trague la gasolina
con un ambenil
Entero
Sin abri la boca toy metiendo
Miedo

Con eto beat haciendo colte
E patelito de epinaca en to eto cuero
Son ajeno, son del que lo toque con ma
Fuego

Exodo
Voy pa Puelto Rico
Exodo
Ma lejo que Egipto

Con un pentagrama e cicatrice
En la cabeza a lo Jack Veneno
Mandale la horma a tu tío en el
Etranjero
Pa que manden tenni
Que se armó el juidero

(Puente)

Con un pentagrama e cicatrice
En la cabeza a lo Jack Veneno
Mandale la horma a tu tio en el
Etranjero
Pa que manden tenni
Que se armó el juidero (bis)

Exodo
Voy pa Puelto Rico
Exodo
Ma lejo que Egipto

(Rezo Oyá)

Te vi mamadeo con lo deo en bola
Deso te gotea la jugola
Vaina cocola
Si me la pide te la canto en yola
Tu ta buenona, te sabe to la rocola
Mi sone son de cuando pitola
De cuando Cuca bailaba con Lola
Punqui pun el tablazo en la tambora
Soba soba
Ni con bengay te mejora
Güay
Tu viene dique hinchao con to lo viento en contra
Si te me cuadra a mi La Montra
Buuuu,
Ponte lo papo de escarba el gallinero
Plumero y pico en pote
Que se armo el juidero

Exodo
Voy pa Puelto Rico
Exodo…

social media

2010-10-16T17:29:00.000-04:00

At our opening workshop in August I really struggled with the idea that social media is not a part of an educational experience. Today I found an article that shares 7 fantastic free social media tools for teachers. At the end of the article are related links that make a case for social media.

http://mashable.com/2010/10/16/free-social-media-tools-for-teachers/

I'm curious: what do you use for social media? Do you have connections with students?

Personally the most "student connected" social media I use is Flickr. There is a reason I keep a clean Flickr. I keep all of my social networks clean but I am especially careful with this website, and when my students use Flickr, I have always modeled responsible networking. I used to allow students to friend me on Google and use Google chat to talk to me, but that was before schools hosted educational networks like email. I require my students to use email, and they receive grades for responding to short, simple e-mails in Spanish. Talk about modeling...letter writing at its finest.

So...talk to me....do you use social media with students? Is it educational?

viva colombia

2010-10-12T06:31:00.001-04:00

Free High School Science textbooks

2010-10-11T14:16:00.001-04:00

http://www.fhsst.org/

Discovered while researching Open Educational Resources.

Basically a team of invested parties set about to create a high school science curriculum that is totally free and aligned to South African learning results.

Makes me curious:

To what standards do you align your curriculum? Maine PEI, your own state standards, Common Core, or some other standard?

Educacíon en RD

2010-10-07T20:59:00.001-04:00

Neruda

2010-10-07T20:35:00.000-04:00

Bilingual baby

2010-10-02T09:00:00.001-04:00

Love this vid!!

L'exam/El examen

2010-09-30T21:39:00.000-04:00

El examen de Manu Chao

2010-09-29T13:50:00.001-04:00

This blog is blocked

2010-09-27T17:55:00.000-04:00

My lovely portal of digital knowledge is partially blocked at school. Blogger is blocked, but since I have my own domain (thanks, bro), I only lose tiny relevant bits here and there. It's driving me a little nuts. The Dipity slideshow I posted below for my threes is blocked since it uses Flickr. Not all blocked, just a few relevant bits. Thank goodness Google is not blocked. You're welcome, trees!

So I've asked for a bypass for my students to use. I've asked very nicely. I hope to hear soon about it. These kids, are, after all, growing up. They are growing up fast, too fast for our rate of decision making. A generation of students, wondering why on earth we don't open it up, make transparent choices, choose to be learners in this century. Choose to be networked. These are the kids whose co-workers will ask, What do you mean, you don't know how to do that? We rant and rave within these four walls, when the whole world is out there. It's out there.

Sometimes I want to shout: If you think what is happening is what this room full of teenagers thinks is happening, well, you're wrong. There is a whole world out there, and my job is to show it to these teenagers, model how to get along in the world with all these tools, construct knowledge about it with them, discover the world.

A student today came to me and said, "I talked to Luis today." Luis lives in DR. He is an expert in his field, an athlete of old. "He told me to get ready for snowshoe season!" Her eyes sparkled like the sun. Her world has shifted because, quite simply, technology has allowed it to. My whole heart fills with joy that this is something I have shared, modeled, and helped her discover.

Rant over, issue not. I will keep the faith here--that in the end, teaching and learning will be supported, and we can carry on the business of educating our future caretakers and decision-makers.

PD for Teachers (Like Students Do It)

2010-09-27T17:21:00.000-04:00

I read this article yesterday and I think it summarizes nicely where teachers need to be in terms of tech:

PD for Teachers (Like Students Do It). Will Richardson is very articulate. I find myself sharing a lot of what he writes.

We as teachers often start with how do I do this? Someone must show me. And students start with, how do I do this? I will play around and figure it out.

Neruda

2010-09-26T10:27:00.001-04:00

Flickr: pablo neruda on Dipity.

hear ye, hear ye

2010-09-16T19:15:00.000-04:00

Lately my finger has been pointed outward and the nature of things inevitably causes a few fingers to point back at me.

One of my flaws as a Spanish teacher is that I don't speak enough Spanish.

Last night decided that one week a month will be an all Spanish week. One week a month! In a school year that's nine weeks, which equals one whole quarter. That feels better to me. Dedicated time that adds up to something.

Reflections. I am not sure why this period of my life is full of so much inward reflection and outward motion. Maybe it is because I am nearly done with my advanced studies. And part of me wonders if I am ready to graduate? That is silly, right? Thousands of people earn degrees all the time. It's more than a piece of paper...right?

Right?

week three/semana tres

2010-09-15T15:17:00.000-04:00

Week three, sickness hits.
My classroom is a ripple
that turns into a wave.
No one feels quite right today.
Even the Internet feels broken.
We shrug and sigh through the last period.
Finally someone
has the bright idea
to haul out the bean bags
and have me read them a story
"just like in kindergarten!"

The words are in Spanish,
the pictures, familiar--
it's a monkey! and
a man in a yellow hat.

They listen, rapt--
shining faces, smiles
emerging from shadows.

If only every day
could be like kindergarten.
We could rest, we could play,
we could read, we could run--
what am I thinking?

I hated teaching kindergarten!
They were messy!
They were loud!
They cried!
They had to use the bathroom
when I was in the middle
of Very Important Lessons!!

But yet--
the tranquility of
ears listening, eyes watching,
brains working out words--
I love this part.

So. No real answers.
Just happy the day ended
on a Curious George note.

close to tears

2010-09-09T18:33:00.000-04:00

One of my classes came in today and I had just spent a good hour grading their work from the weekend before. I stood in front of them and said, "I really can't give any credit, except to one person. Only one person read the directions and did this the way I expected. So, the rest of the class did not receive any credit--I put a zero in for the first try. I'm not disappointed; you are all pretty new at this."

Several kids looked like they might cry. One boy started sputtering at me, and I had to ask him to speak more respectfully. I felt awful. Was I really the first teacher in the two weeks of school that has told them they aren't going to receive credit for work that does not meet my standards?

"Don't look so sad!" I hastily added. "I stay after school one day a week and I can help you, and show you what you need to do to make it right. That day is tonight. Please come if you can, and we can fix this."

After that I taught them the lamest joke in Spanish, which basically goes, What does the fish do? The answer is nada, which means both nothing, and swims. They got it, they laughed, the mood lightened, and we worked on skits for the rest of the time--lots of great questions, and mini-lessons.

Promptly after school several students showed up in my room, and we worked together to make the work right, and they were singing, and smiling, and one girl said, "This is actually fun." We sat in a big circle and laughed at how easy the work really was, with practice.

I hope they know that staying after is never a punishment, it's just another chance to practice and become better at these new things.

Grad school notes

2010-09-08T16:52:00.000-04:00

(Thanks, Dr. M)

Working on design principles for sharing research in a presentation. We will use Voicethread this semester--cool.

Goal 1 Clear and to the point

Principle 1: Relevance

Tip: you can use media here to set the stage.

Build around take away message then tell them what they need to know to understand the message.

Don't saturate with the data. Not all of my data on OERs will be relevant to my presentation.

Principle 2: Appropriate Knowledge

Make use of what the audience already knows.

Present ideas that grow out of familiar ideas (OER is foreign but educational websites are not).

Know the audience and address concerns and interests.

Activate schema--give context.

Goal 2 Direct and hold attention

Principle 3: Salience! Tell things at the relevant time.

Tease it out.

Tip: you can use color in text. It also helps to organize.

Principle 4: Discriminability

Two properties must differ by a large enough proportion.

Basic design here.....headings etc.

Principle 5: Perceptual Organization

Viewers will consider together materials that are organized into a single group.

Goal 3: Promote Understanding and Memory

Take advantage of how mental processes help

Principle 6: Compatibility

Form compatible with meaning.

Principle 7: Informative changes

Every change in meaning should be conveyed by a change in appearance.

A change in appearance usually triggers an expectation that the information set will change.

Principle 8: Capacity Limitations

We have a limited capacity to retain and process.

Don't make it harder than it is.

(I think I will enjoy designing my presentation....)

My last professional presentation

2010-09-08T16:17:00.001-04:00

This was shared in April in the DR...playing around with Slideshare today for grad class.

Presentaciónpucmm

View more presentations from Amity Beane.

does this happen to you?

2010-09-06T10:21:00.000-04:00

I subscribe to Google reader and use their shortcuts to navigate the page. I hit the letter j on my keyboard, the next story pops up.

I now find myself hitting that key ALL THE TIME. I just want to get to the next thing on the page and not have to scroll through stuff that does not matter to me. Of course this does not work in other situations besides my reader, making me feel like the WHOLE WORLD NEEDS TO CATCH UP and QUICK to Google.

Does this happen to you?

Google-itis. When you rely on Google to do stuff that doesn't apply in other situations. What other things does Google do that you wish happened in other places?

Thanks Osocio

2010-09-06T08:44:00.000-04:00

One of the websites I read daily is Osocio, which is a marketing-for-good site that collects ads that are essentially public service ads. I've seen some amazing ads since subscribing. This one I especially enjoyed because there seems to be a gap in knowledge of the culture of being Muslim in American. I hope you enjoy seeing this as much as I did.

Cuba en

2010-08-30T11:46:00.000-04:00

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuba

Para leer :)

Diurno con llave nocturna--Neruda

2010-08-28T12:15:00.001-04:00

For level 3.

Son las nueve de la mañana
de un día enteramente puro,
a rayas azules y blancas,
recién lavado y estirado,
justo como una camiseta.

Todas las briznas olvidadas
de leña, de algas diminutas,
las patas de los insectos,
las pálidas plumas errantes,
los clavos que caen del pino,
todo reluce como puede,
el mundo tiene olor a estrella.

Pero ya viene el cartero
escupiendo cartas terribles,
carras que debemos pagar,
que nos recuerdan deudas duras, cartas en que
alguien muriò
y algún hermano cayò preso
y además alguien nos enreda
en sus profesiones de araña,
y luego traen un periòdico
blanco y negro como la muerte
y todas las noticias lloran.
Mapa del mundo y del sollozo! Diario
mojado cada noche
y quemado cada mañana
por la guerra y por los dolores,
oh geografía dolorosa!

Ya la tarde rota se arruga
y vuela como papel muerto,
de calle en calle en calle va,
la orinan los perros errantes,
la persiguen los basureros,
le añaden aliños atroces,
tripas de gallos, excrementos,
zapatos irreconocibles
y es como un Fardo el viejo día:
sucio papel y vidrios rotos
hasta que lo tiran afuera,
lo acuestan en los arrabales.

Llega la noche con su copa
de enredaderas estrelladas,
el sueño sumerge a los hombres,
los acumula en su subsuelo
y se lava el mundo otra vez,
otra vez regresa la luna,
la sombra sacude sus guantes
mientras trabajan las raíces.

Y nace de nuevo otro día.

ready

2010-08-25T16:40:00.000-04:00

Room painted, books organized, supplies in order.

New programs installed. New music in the cd player.

New faces. It's a yearly thing.

Usually I feel great anticipation. This year I am just ready. I am prepared and ready and juggling the myriad other things in my life. I am trying to do this with a smile.

Tomorrow I see the kids for the first time. That is the best part of my job. The kids.

The major bummer of today was not having access to educational sites because they had been blocked at the venue.

I get so frustrated when teachers cannot access what they need.

But tomorrow the kids come and I am reminded why I love this job. Not because of cool tools but because learning is awesome. Learning in action is awesome.

comments on a useful course

2010-08-17T16:02:00.000-04:00

EDU572, Technology as a change agent, has been a very useful course.

After reading Reeves, I realized the need for a one-page plan for my courses. These plans outline essential skills and concepts that are needed for mastery of a level. The document is aligned to the Maine Learning Results.

After reading Liberating Learning, I realized I need to advocate more for evironmental learning design--basically setting up spaces that are alive and not ignored due to being plugged in. I don't think interactive is quite the word--I think there exist separate values of different types of learning spaces. Face to face time in a living environment is superior to on-line learning in my value system.

Thinking out loud in a very informal grant proposal allowed me to focus on real data collected over time about how my students learn and how I learn and how we differ. I understand I teach to myself intrinsically and must develop outward practices of differentiation. Hopefully someone wants to pay for this professional development.

Evaluating the district tech plan was somewhat painful as I realized the infancy of our district and its culture. I have a Utopia in mind and sharing a strong vision of appropriate technology integration (see above, environment and living learning spaces) is really my goal. It starts in my own department of World Languages and will hopefully spill over.

This course was extremely practical because the activities on change readiness gave me the permission to be patient with myself and others. We are in the midst of a long, slow change. In ten years, I hope I can point to a successful student and say, "We learned together."

All work is here.

beanbags?

2010-08-17T15:13:00.001-04:00

Today four bean bags that I have waited literally years for arrived in my classroom.

What a thrill! What excitement! Could they really fit in those boxes??

Well, once out of those boxes, four bean bags expanded so that one corner of my room is rather overshadowed by four HUGE bean bags.

I hope these are not an issue (multiple people jostling on bean bags is not a management issue I desire) but I realized if kids could settle down in a comfy spot to actually READ something, then the bags are worth it. I also figured that if 4 bags are just too much, I am sure I could find people to take one or two from me.

As it is, with the bags next to each other against the wall, I think 12 people could squeeze on them...not that I want that to happen...it's just...they are HUGE.

curriculum and assessment 2010

2010-08-05T10:55:00.000-04:00

Today is the third time we've met and I must say Mary and I kick butt at this stuff.

Level 1 (ten hours)
1. Examine and reflect on the World Language Seminar model and tweak it. We did a survey, and sixty kids gave us feedback we will use.

2. Specifically, re-organize the Seminar to be a list of tasks instead of calendar-based. Started this. Done!

3. Create project sheets for each task and make them into .pdfs for the wiki (ETA we created these as we went along last year--not a huge timesucker) A lot of this has to do with me cleaning out my laptop before it gets re-imaged. Find that here.

4. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are.

5. ~~Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.~~ Mary is doing this in Pages until I fix that page of the wiki.

6. MAKE BINDER GUIDELINES with STUDENT SAMPLE
(colors for different tasks, etc?)

7. ~~Make 1 page plan with essential skills, unit themes, metalanguage, translation guidelines, and contact info.~~

8. Make Metalanguage Flap Posters for level 1 These are almost done--waiting for definitions to be done (see above). I plan on making them like this: Kirsten's page.

9. ~~Finish Welcome Letter with links on wiki~~ Here it is

Level 2 (ten hours)

~~1. Create a metalanguage list~~ Here they are!

~~2. Create a task-based list to meet Maine Learning Results. (Worry about project sheets as we go--at least create the first few).~~ Here they are!

3. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are!

4. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.

5. Create binder guidelines for students with student samples.

6. Make graphic organizer for ¿siete qué?

7. ~~Make Metalanguage Flap Posters for level 2~~

~~8. Sign up and build the SAM series in Discovery Education~~ What an exciting new tool we have been given from the district. SAM is in both French and Spanish and is perfect for our level 2. Most exciting is that the videos are embeddable!

Level 3 (ten hours)
~~1. Make a list of units by semester.~~
2. Make project sheets for each one. WIP
3. Isolate essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage list.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 4 (ten hours)
1. Create list units for each quarter.
2. Isolate essential skills.
3. Create a metalanguage list.
4. Create Google sites for each student.

Based on this list, the biggest investment to be made is time.

curriculum and assessment 2010

2010-07-26T15:31:00.000-04:00

Level 1 (ten hours)
1. Examine and reflect on the World Language Seminar model and tweak it. We did a survey, and sixty kids gave us feedback we will use.

2. Specifically, re-organize the Seminar to be a list of tasks instead of calendar-based. Started this. Done!

3. Create project sheets for each task and make them into .pdfs for the wiki (ETA we created these as we went along last year--not a huge timesucker) A lot of this has to do with me cleaning out my laptop before it gets re-imaged.

4. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are.

5. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples. I plan on making them like this: Kirsten's page.

6. MAKE BINDER GUIDELINES with STUDENT SAMPLE
(colors for different tasks, etc?)

7. Make 1 page plan with essential skills, unit themes, metalanguage, translation guidelines, and contact info.

8. Make Metalanguage Flap Posters for level 1

Level 2 (ten hours)

~~1. Create a metalanguage list~~ Here they are!

~~2. Create a task-based list to meet Maine Learning Results. (Worry about project sheets as we go--at least create the first few).~~ Here they are!

3. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are!

4. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.

5. Create binder guidelines for students with student samples.

6. Make graphic organizer for ¿siete qué?

7. Make Metalanguage Flap Posters for level 2

Level 3 (ten hours)
~~1. Make a list of units by semester.~~
2. Make project sheets for each one. WIP
3. Isolate essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage list.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 4 (ten hours)
1. Create list of potential tasks for students to choose from. Each task must incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students will choose one task for each quarter and the last quarter will be student-created task based on my model.
2. Isolate essential skills.
3. Create a metalanguage list.
4. Create Google sites for each student.

Based on this list, the biggest investment to be made is time.

Why I make those work lists I do...

2010-07-23T09:31:00.000-04:00

Notes for Adobe Connect meeting

# What is the need? How did you uncover it?

The need for an aligned curriculum came about because of an “end of an era”—the French teacher who had taught at Dirigo for her entire career (and by all accounts producing French-speaking students by year 4) retired, leaving me as the “head” of the department. There had been no strong Spanish teacher (or one that stayed more than 2 years). The first year without Mme Murray at the helm there was a crisis with the long term sub since we did not find a qualified teacher in time—finally we hired the current French teacher. By this time, about a year and a half on the job, I discovered the curriculum could be adjusted, as long as we were willing to do the work of alignment. We discussed options, what we liked, what we didn’t like. We looked at the numbers in the beginning of language instruction (9th) and at then end (12th). We decided we could re-articulate why and how languages are learned and we decided to collaborate on all themes, units, and assessments, starting at level 1 and working our way up. That was last summer and we initiated the brand new World Language Seminar to freshmen last year. Our goal was to provide rigorous, dynamic instruction that would serve as a foundation year for the rest.

# What is your goal?
The goal now is to put the time in to levels 2, 3, and 4—to discuss assessment, align to the MLR’s, integrate technology especially based on my findings from my research project—the end goal being a higher than 12% retention rate at the highest level.

# How do you plan on addressing this need?

This need is being addressed though hours of curriculum work with my colleague. We set goals, make lists, and “attack” our curriculum time with very focused energy. This year level 2 should be making its aligned debut. Next summer level 3 is slated to be aligned, and in 2012 we should finished with level 4 and know the result of this four year initial period. Ultimately we want to move from 12% in advanced instruction to 30%.

# And, how will you assess the intervention?

The easiest way to see if what we are doing is working is to see how many kids end up in level 4, and if they can compare on a national test of Spanish or French. The issue currently is non-rigorous, poorly designed sequencing of instruction that neglects the basics. We want to equip kids with the basics but go far beyond that in advanced study. Currently our advanced level students are still of the cohort that had another teacher besides us.

pecha-kucha

2010-07-23T08:28:00.000-04:00

source

cool, right? this presentational format is 20 slides/20 seconds per slide, and is a Japanese form of presenting a focused presentation. I chose this for its visual richness, the fact I cannot understand him yet am delighted by the illustrations. I am truly a visual learner--rich, gorgeous colors and images delight me.

So how do this translate to my grad class? I think I might do one of these to talk about World Languages at Dirigo.

PD Needs Assessment, Goal, and Plan

2010-07-16T20:01:00.000-04:00

I am using a situational gap analysis to precede my PD needs assessment, goal, and plan (taken from EDU572 Blackboard).

Situational Gap Analysis

The situational gap is the distance between today's reality and our vision for tomorrow.

Exercise 1: Focus on the current reality without making a value judgment about it (just the facts).

When you consider technology integration in your school-

What is creating that gap today? Time is the biggest factor in the gap between integration and my department at school. This is a gap created by value placed on time in the system.
Is it technical, cultural, and/or instructional? This is a cultural issue as it has to do with the value of time and how teacher spend non-instructional time.
What can we do to bridge that gap? Create a specific plan for developing curriculum and request the time to do so with clear goals and measurable results. Ask for meetings to be focused and on task. Respect and value the time of colleagues, administrators, and students.
What is your vision for your department? For your school? My vision is to have a four-year World Languages curriculum in place that is dynamic, integrated, and rigorous. My vision for my school is to become a healthy, robust network of connected learners in a more transparent learning environment.

Exercise 2: .

What do you see as your primary role(s) within your department? Within your school? Within my department I work in tandem with the French teacher to create units and align curriculum to the Maine Learning Results. Within my school I am a part of a leadership team that is currently undergoing revision.
What is the vision for your department as it relates to your school? The World Languages department seeks to empower students as communicators, which directly ties in to the Expectations for Learning at Dirigo High.
Why is this vision important? I recently heard a great quote that is posted to this blog that says, "It's not our job to make you happy, but rather to make you strong." This may sound a little harsh but I love the fact that it is my job to help students learn how to communicate and understand language, which will help them in every other area of life.
What difference will it make in student achievement? World Language instruction improves literacy across the board. A rigorous program will empower students in other content areas as they make connections between words and meanings. Cultural awareness is also a key outcome of World Language instruction and that adds value to a student's education.
How will you go about achieving this vision? What are some of the specific enabling strategies you intend to use in the next few years? My colleague and I dedicate curriculum time to making goals, working toward them, testing out new ideas, reviewing them and refining them. I see this continuing until we complete the four years of curriculum. Right now we have the first year aligned with specific steps for summer work, the majority of summer work being the development of year two.

The final goal of a situational gap analysis is to identify what the outputs/results are for each area. This activity forces participants to go BEYOND thinking about the activities as the results. It helps us focus not on the what is delivered (staffing, money, training, time, equipment, etc) but instead on what this resource does (results/outputs).

More time with my department ---> Curricular development that is dynamic, integrated, and rigorous ---> increased communication and literacy skills among students in the program

Needs Statement
World Languages at Dirigo include French and Spanish. Instruction begins in 9th grade. Students enter with varying skills. In the past 3 years, only 12% of students who completed level 1 matriculated to advanced instruction (level 4). Of those students, many lacked basic skills and consistency in communication. In addition, the number of students who studied Spanish was disproportionate to the number of French students, with no clear reason why.

If these trends continue, advanced study of World Languages may dwindle to a degree that requires cutting the department. That would certainly inhibit the endurance of advanced skills. In addition, students need instruction that allows them to go beyond high school studies for leverage. Essential skills must be retained in order to advance to higher levels of study.

The World Language program has begun to shift practice from disjointed curricula to collaborative teaching and design. As a result of intense focus on essential skills at level 1, World Language Seminar was devised. Presently, the gap exists between levels 2-4 in terms of collaborative teaching and design to mitigate the problems addressed above.

The need to solve the problem has become evident as the department re-establishes itself after many years of constant change.

Goal and Proposed Plan
In order to successfully change the outcome of the past three years which has been very low numbers in advanced classes with students that lack essential skills, levels 2 through 4 must undergo substantial review and revision to become more dynamic, integrated, and rigorous. Based on how long it took to design Level 1 as a team, run it, review it and tweak it, the time period needed to implement proficiency level changes is 15 to 24 months per level, which can overlap. We are in month 19 of World Language Seminar (level 1) and are in the revise stage after reviewing the data from last year. Beyond level 1, lever 2 must be addressed this year in a focused, in-depth review. Levels 3 and 4 will be the subject of intense focus in subsequent cycles. The overall "overhaul" time period will probably be 4 years total.

A list of objectives that I created in June adequately states next steps for curriculum work in my department. The list is by level.

Level 1 (ten hours)
1. Examine and reflect on the World Language Seminar model and tweak it. We did a survey, and sixty kids gave us feedback we will use.

2. Specifically, re-organize the Seminar to be a list of tasks instead of calendar-based. Started this. Done!

3. Create project sheets for each task and make them into .pdfs for the wiki (ETA we created these as we went along last year--not a huge timesucker) A lot of this has to do with me cleaning out my laptop before it gets re-imaged.

4. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are.

5. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples. I plan on making them like this: Kirsten's page.

6. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 2 (ten hours)

1. Create a metalanguage list

2. Create a task-based list to meet Maine Learning Results. (Worry about project sheets as we go--at least create the first few).

3. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are!

4. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.

5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 3 (ten hours)
~~1. Make a list of units by semester.~~
2. Make project sheets for each one. WIP
3. Isolate essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage list.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 4 (ten hours)
1. Create list of potential tasks for students to choose from. Each task must incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students will choose one task for each quarter and the last quarter will be student-created task based on my model.
2. Isolate essential skills.
3. Create a metalanguage list.
4. Create Google sites for each student.

Based on this list, the biggest investment to be made is time.

make a list

2010-07-13T18:25:00.000-04:00

Take a few minutes sometime between now and our chat at 7pm and list 12-15 things you value the most about your current position - anything from the work itself, to your colleagues, to your classroom space, etc. Be as broad in your thinking as possible, but also choose the most critically important factors.

location to my home
location within the campus
actual room is good size good light "good space"
freedom of pedagogy-I align practice to MLR's
great colleague to collab with
WLS -- love this course
one to one
tech tools like projectors and cameras
small school, community school
sports program is entertaining
arts program is entertaining
dr2010 was allowed to happen
grants grants grants
rsu means more resources to my department

Next, prioritize the "job satisfiers" into three groups

Important- things that you value, but, if gone, wouldn't cause too much difficulty

sports program is entertaining
arts program is entertaining
rsu means more resources to my department
small school, community school
location within the campus
one to one

Very Important- one step up the scale

location to my home
actual room is good size good light "good space"
great colleague to collab with
WLS -- love this course

Critically Important- things without which the job would be terrible

freedom of pedagogy-I align practice to MLR's
tech tools like computers, projectors and cameras
dr2010 was allowed to happen
grants grants grants

Once you have grouped them write the critically important list inside a circle. Drawing a bulls-eye-like pattern, write the very important list in the circle outside the center and the important list in the outer most circle.

My perspective

2010-07-06T17:07:00.000-04:00

Please respond to these questions in a document (word processor of your choice).

1. How is the technology function structured within your school? How do you staff it? How do you support it? What are the structural elements put into place to make technology happen, in terms of programs and people? What kind of structure are put into place to make things happen?

We are a one-to-one laptop school of approximately 320 kids, 30 teachers, 3 administrators, and support staff. We recently regionalized and became an RSU. The main office of the RSU is located at my campus. I therefore have more access to technology specialists than others in my school or region.

At my school, there is one person in charge of acquisition and installation of hardware and software including the phones. I do not know who controls filtering of the internet, or who troubleshoots Apple issues, because that seems to be a regional office now and not specific to my high school, so different people respond to these queries. I do not know who controls the policies of what to do when a kid disobeys the laptop program. I do know that there seems to be one person in charge of all the computers for my high school. She checks them in and out and she filters their content. I do know that administrators have had a rough first year with one-to-one integration.

I can’t speak for other people in my school, but I know that having more curriculum time with my colleague in World Languages is key to integration.

Thought in my head that needs to just come out: There is never time to just play and do on the laptops. No time to do whatever we want. That's too fun. I want to integrate. I need time to create using these marvelous apps and time to tinker and fiddle with these tools. Who cares how fun it is if it gets the job done?

I think the fear is Farmville. I could be stuck up and say I despise Farmville, but there is a serious lesson in economics there. Not to mention--if a user changed the language to a World Language, I bet there would be some immersion language learning. The point is the technology we do use, we are not sure how to use in the classroom and there is a fear of it. We are a school in flux—that is the underlying narrative push.

2. How well does your school do the human resource side of technology, in terms of the tech support and tech integration function and also in supporting and empowering non-technology staff (teachers and administrators) to use technology?

The tech support at school has not been what I would call helpful in terms of helping me to access curricular components that are blocked. On the other hand, I have been given things to play with—especially cameras—and we make things with them in the classroom. When I had desktops, support was superb.

Maybe we need to serve the kids at their level? Offer workshops for them, by them—offer hardware and software sessions? Teachers and kids together, learning how to do cool stuff.

There is very little support at school by anyone for any initiative-there has been in the past, but this year tech presentations on Google, wikis, and other tools fluttered to a standstill as change creeped in and reminded us of how things are different.

My school is in flux. We regionalized this year and combined three districts. We have a new principal.
This post may be hard to interpret to someone not in my school world. I say things like school, region, district. My school is 320 kids. My region is about 1400. My district is that 1400 plus two more regions, one bigger, one smaller. When I say my school I mean 320 kids, not 1400 plus.... When I say my campus I mean where I teach which is separate from most of the 320 kids in a satellite building to the main building. It just worked out that way--and I happen to be in the central office building, close to the tech action.

3. How well does this fear of technology operate within the political dynamics of the school system? Is it successful? Are there power struggles? Do you have troubles getting resources that you need? What are some political issues that surround technology function within your school?

The largest issue is regionalization and a desire to comb through everyone’s policies for “best practice”. The schools are so different in their approaches and so far this process has stymied the urge to grow with technology. The new one to one at the high school had given birth to new culture, one in which the kids are always in trouble for doing something on their machines that is not within the policy. Teachers are becoming enforcers. Learners have left the building and are reading Twitter feeds somewhere off-campus, where it is allowed.

The main issue is control and power. The balance has shifted and still shifts with the change that continues in our school. Combining resources and power structures is process that will happen over time. I am not saying any one person, group or committee is vying for power, but power is shifting in a very large system. And, it will take time to develop a new systemic culture.

I am most concerned with my school of 320 kids, and this small community and small culture we are trying to shape of kind, productive, thoughtful, contributing citizens.

The place for the most powerful growth, in my eyes, is to work toward a more open, transparent school. Sharing tools and ideas and networking like mad would allow a lot of this control to be non-essential because everyone can see what everyone else is doing and there is a flow to work that includes these tools.

In this utopia of open sharing, no one ever has to ask for help. Someone is always there to show and guide. Awards are given out regularly to the best networkers, and they give workshops for how it is done. Average age of winners and subsequent expert presenters: 16.

4. What are the messages sent to your school about the technology? What beliefs do people hold in their heads and their hearts about technology in your school organization? How well is the symbolic function around technology fulfilled in terms of getting buy-in, getting passion, getting people to think that work is meaningful and essential as opposed to marginal and optional?

The message of the previous school year, when the one to one program was brand new, was that kids waste a lot of time of the computers and often were "caught" doing bad things. Some things were legit bad, but some things were just common ways of communicating today--through static messages of less than 160 characters.

Marginal and optional seems to be the key phrase in the preceding question. Tech seems both marginal and optional to teachers and admins but not to learners. In the times we are in, of flux, of change—no one seeks to buy in to the latest gadgetry and trainings and applications. People want culture to be steadfast, not fluid. People want less to do, not more. People want to teach, quite frankly—the tools don’t matter if the dialog is not there.

When I hear the word marginal I think about poverty. I think about people living on the edges. When I read the brilliant blog by John Spencer, it made more sense--we have told a lot of people these white boxes are purely entertainment, and there is no room for entertainment in school, and there certainly isn't time for learning at home since kids spend all their time at home catching up on their entertainment.

The idea behind the dissonance between learning at home, learning at school, entertainment at home, entertainment at school, is the tool can be controlled. Well, the mind can’t. That is the main problem. You just can’t control the mind.

EDU572 #2 SWOT Analysis

2010-07-06T15:52:00.000-04:00

summer class

2010-07-06T11:17:00.000-04:00

For the first time in a long time I am taking an on-line course. Long ago, learned that my social learning style did not go well with pure on-line coursework. I can't just read and comment! I need real live people to argue with!

Well, this class has promise as it will use Adobe connect to meet 4 times. I had never used Adobe connect before the OER project. The first time I used it, it felt so awkward. After three meetings I felt very comfortable. It is a good example of learning something because it is part of a way of doing things, not learning something just because. My motivation was high, and now that I know the app and am going to use it in another professional venue, I am very happy!!

My next major goal: Tandberg! We own the equipment and I designed a unit a few years ago that requires Tandberg between buildings in the region. Maybe it will happen this year? Maybe not? We'll see.

Back to the online class. It is called Technology as a Change Agent. I will post the sources for reading on the right when I can. This course looks right up my alley as it asks all kinds of great questions about technology in school--who controls, manages, etc. the technology. I think I will learn a lot about the structure of tech at my school and also how to move in a direction with it that makes sense for my learners. We are lucky (we meaning my colleague Mary and I) because in our content area (World Languages) there is so much available to assist learning.

So, back to school for a month. Online, not too bad. My two projects are full swing, OER and grad class. After this class only three left and I have a master's degree with a research focus. My research is in progress right now and I could not be happier about it--researching OER's has been a lot of organizational WORK but now that I am into it, it feels great knowing it will work toward my degree.

So, now on to read some text books and make some notes....

quote of the day

2010-06-29T15:36:00.001-04:00

"It's not our job to make you happy, but rather to make you strong."

rays of light

2010-06-29T15:32:00.000-04:00

If you want to keep your Ning for school

2010-06-24T13:57:00.000-04:00

Got Ning? I do!

Need a k-12 sponsorship? I just applied! (DR2012....)

Click here...

Updated Summer Goals

2010-06-18T15:57:00.000-04:00

Work in Progress....

Level 1 (ten hours)
1. Examine and reflect on the World Language Seminar model and tweak it. We did a survey, and sixty kids gave us feedback we will use.

2. Specifically, re-organize the Seminar to be a list of tasks instead of calendar-based. Started this. Done!

3. Create project sheets for each task and make them into .pdfs for the wiki (ETA we created these as we went along last year--not a huge timesucker) A lot of this has to do with me cleaning out my laptop before it gets re-imaged.

4. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are.

5. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples. I plan on making them like this: Kirsten's page.

6. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 2 (ten hours)

1. Create a metalanguage list

2. Create a task-based list to meet Maine Learning Results. (Worry about project sheets as we go--at least create the first few).

3. ~~Isolate the essential skills.~~ Here they are!

4. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.

5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 3 (ten hours)
~~1. Make a list of units by semester.~~
2. Make project sheets for each one. WIP
3. Isolate essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage list.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 4 (ten hours)
1. Create list of potential tasks for students to choose from. Each task must incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students will choose one task for each quarter and the last quarter will be student-created task based on my model.
2. Isolate essential skills.
3. Create a metalanguage list.
4. Create Google sites for each student.

Tech skills for 2010-2011
1. Learn to use Audacity
2. Play with Voki

I think I am done with Ning. I saw an awesome example of Google sites for World Language portfolios. I am going to keep the wiki with syllabi, though, as that is a great parent portal. I wish I knew how to use Moodle.

in memory

2010-06-15T16:20:00.001-04:00

in memory, originally uploaded by Amity Beane.

A beautiful and lovely student has left us all for good. I weep today because she is loved and will be missed by so many. Rest in Peace.....

WLS Final Reflection

2010-06-14T10:41:00.000-04:00

thanks Seth Godin

2010-06-13T10:49:00.001-04:00

via the Brazen Careerist, a comment by Seth to Penelope Trunk:

My take is that [generation Y] is the last one that will be as totally brainwashed by the system, by the schools and by companies and by society to believe that the industrial age (and compliance) is their ticket to the carnival. The smart ones will see that and play a different game, and the sooner they realize how bad the scam is, the faster they'll recover.

This is my hope...that school can move out of the industrial model and become more about environmental learning, hands-on problem solving.

And yes I know we need to teach reading, writing, the basics! I don't have a non-industrial answer to that. But I am thinking.

tech narrative 09-10

2010-06-11T16:32:00.000-04:00

This is a reflection on my technology usage this year.

Woo-hoo, started the year on a high--we are now one-to-one!

Decided to use Ning for levels 2, 3, and 4. Got them on there with little trouble. Had a chat, took it out. Made groups for each class. Started putting the work of the day on the group pages. Had students update their status every day. Was not consistent with the technology because it seemed "extra" to the kids. Want to have more paper and pencil activities so that I can edit their work better. Now that Ning will cost, it's out. Quite frankly I hated the ads--double quite frankly the kids did not buy into the social network part. However for my DR2010 trip, Ning was perfect.

Used Skype in the class a few more times. Diversity Day was a highlight. Used it to communicate with my Dominican contacts and Skyped Luis into two meetings with the parents and students before my trip.

Via Skype, conferenced with a teacher in Arkansas. Exchanged written letters in the mail, 35 of my kids, 26 of hers. The kids loved having real pen pals. We did not do Facebook or anything at all online and we explicitly taught not to make online connections with people we barely know. Real old-fashioned letter writing was a great exercise and Skype helped the Arkansas teacher and I communicate about the project.

Used Wordles--they still rock. Will use it to reflect on level 2 vocabulary by having each student make a Wordle of their final essay and then making one big mother of a Wordle to see frequency of vocabulary.

Participated in a national internet message board for language teachers....which led me to discover Actualidades and Zachary Jones. Started using it as the first activity of the day in my level 3 and 4 class. Communication improved dramatically around listening to music and discussing.

Used online flashcards. Do these work? It seems like a painful way to learn vocabulary. I know, I am spoiled by having learned language in context, via immersion.

Used Quia to make online quizzes and tests. I love it, it is not free, therefore...yeah I will probably pay for it :) I was able to record for assessments (I recorded saying the date and time and students listened and wrote what they heard). This was such a timesaver for me! Especially if a student was absent the day of the assessment. Just need headphones.

Used Google forms all year long, and LOVE them. The survey dumps data into a spreadsheet. Made this type of assessment a breeze to grade!

Used two wikis for source information in classes. I created them with content from summer curriculum work with Madame K, the kids and parents used them.

Got pro accounts on Vimeo and had one already on Flickr. Also, Picnik--but that is mostly for personal use. Vimeo was perfect for student video projects. Made grading them "Do-able", one-stop shopping for 70 videos!!

Got a pro account on Wix but had to cancel since my school BLOCKED them. I must have spent a hundred bucks before we resolved that they would not unblock Wix. Frustration led to contemplation which led to...Magcloud. And people, our photojournalism final project is not a mere website but a real magazine--paper, ink, lovely!! (soon for sale, too.)

Tried unsuccessfully to get internet Radio unblocked. This after surveying students to see learning styles. Aural was #2. It is my weak link a teacher--literally, I scored less than 5% aural learner--which made me think, I NEED MORE MUSIC AND IT HAS TO BE FREE (hence internet Radio). Thank God for Zachary Jones!!!

Used SAM which is an on-line video series from Discovery Education, the one I use is hosted here. Also available for French classes but I have no free link to SAM in French.

Professionally I presented to the staff in the first semester a few times, about wikis and Google. Second semester I was hired by the Maine DOE to lead World Language teachers in research of Open Educational Resources. The official site for that is here. We are currently on Goal 2.

Heard about Google sites from two sources--they are my next Thing. If you know about them, do tell in the comments.

Leave me a comment on tools you've used, or what you may have learned, and/or goals for next year...

and have a great summer!

Candidate Form

2010-06-09T16:10:00.001-04:00

OER

2010-06-09T15:57:00.001-04:00

Summer Goals

2010-06-07T00:34:00.000-04:00

It's four days of school, and four days of finals, and one day of housekeeping, and 2009-2010 school year is ovah (remember I am in Maine--we say such things).

I'm giving 40 hours to summer work--exactly 40 hours--and these are the goals. All of these imply web-work, and revised syllabi.

Level 1 (ten hours)
1. Examine and reflect on the World Language Seminar model and tweak it.
2. Specifically, re-organize the Seminar to be a list of tasks instead of calendar-based.
3. Create project sheets for each task and make them into .pdfs for the wiki (ETA we created these as we went along last year--not a huge timesucker)
4. ~~Isolate the essential skills~~ done!
5. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples
6. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 2 (ten hours)
1. Create a metalanguage list
2. Create a task-based list to meet Maine Learning Results. (Worry about project sheets as we go--at least create the first few).
3. Isolate the essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage master definition page with tons of examples.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 3 (ten hours)
1. Make a list of units by semester.
2. Make project sheets for each one.
3. Isolate essential skills.
4. Create a metalanguage list.
5. Create Google sites for each student.

Level 4 (ten hours)
1. Create list of potential tasks for students to choose from. Each task must incorporate reading, writing, listening, and speaking. Students will choose one task for each quarter and the last quarter will be student-created task based on my model.
2. Isolate essential skills.
3. Create a metalanguage list.
4. Create Google sites for each student.

Tech skills for 2010-2011
1. Learn to use Audacity
2. Play with Voki

I think I am done with Ning. I saw an awesome example of Google sites for World Language portfolios. I am going to keep the wiki with syllabi, though, as that is a great parent portal. I wish I knew how to use Moodle.

DR2010 SURVEY

2010-06-02T09:06:00.000-04:00

WLS2 survey

2010-05-26T10:50:00.001-04:00

PJ Final Rubric in Development

2010-05-19T09:11:00.000-04:00

MetaLanguage

2010-05-13T10:30:00.001-04:00

Blogs: Dead or Alive?

2010-05-12T21:36:00.001-04:00

Blogs: Dead or Alive?, originally uploaded by Rachel Smith.

This graphic pleases me in every way. It makes me want an IPad, and Autodesk Sketchbook Pro!

Thanks to the person who took these awesome notes and inspiring me to think visually. I don't keep notebooks but I do keep sketchbooks, imagine it!

losing identity--for my bosses

2010-05-07T20:13:00.001-04:00

The ever-brilliant blog Adventures in Pencil Integration speaks of a loss of identity as being a primary fear in developing technological skills.

Well, I agree with that. And who has time to shape a new identity, when everyone else on the internet seems to do it better, faster, slicker, with a better camera, with a nicer lens, with more Flash, with just better content, with more time to play.

Some times it feels that way.

I think what I am driving at is we (the teachers) need more time to learn. They (the kids) learn things fairly quickly, especially when the tools to build identity are accepted in the classroom (ie, social networks, on their cells, computers, what they use on their buses and at their lunch tables). While they long for a classroom where they can be themselves, we need time to shape on-line identities that are as powerful as our non-internet selves. Our passion must translate, now, to a more fluid, and less teacher-centric pedagogy. There are experts everywhere. We need to step up our game.

Give us more time--time to play, shape, practice, learn, share, evolve. Show us how to do it. Heck, get them to show us. Let the kids do some professional development for us.