Posterous X Student Blogging Option?

I created a posterous account last year, but never really played around with the platform enough to determine if it was worth using as a teaching / learning tool.

With some free time this summer to explore Posterous a bit further, I'm leaning towards using it as a blogging platform with one section of students.  The most important reason behind my thinking is that Posterous easily allows students to post via text message (110 character limitation).  With a smartphone, students can post via email, send pictures, video and voice memos.


My thinking behind this decision
1. We have a school of over 1400 students with one computer lab.
2. I have one desktop, one laptop, and one netbook in my classroom.
3. Last year, of the 120 students I taught, all but 5 of them had cell phones with texting plans.
4. Students could post anytime, anywhere, without an internet connection.




Potential applications:
"Live Blogging" in and outside of class.  While students are reading a primary source document, excerpt from a book or the textbook, they could text to post to their Posterous blog.  While watching films in class, students could keep a running journal of their thoughts and observations by texting to their blog.  During lectures, students could post questions, thoughts or critical ideas that they want to record. 

Homework Blogging. Students could easily complete their homework at any time, in any location.  This type of blog posting could change they way teachers look at homework.  Instead of specific questions and assignments to complete, students would have to demonstrate that they are thinking about, reflecting and considering what they are learning about in class.  The Posterous blog, in this sense becomes evidence of reflective learning.  Students could post at anytime, when it strikes them, to demonstrate their thinking and reflection.  The teacher could set up the expectation that students will post X number of times per day, week or term.  As blog posts are time stamped, the student and teacher could easily assess if this reflective process is taking place. 

Has anyone used Posterous as a student blogging platform? 

Google Moderator X Back Channel X Twitter Test

I've used a number of different back channel tools in class (Edmodo, twitter, todaysmeet) and have been happy with the results.  But, I just came across Google Moderator (maybe I missed the boat on this one, but I hadn't heard of it).  What I like so far is that once a discussion is created & the url for the discussion is shared, people can participate in the discussion (by posting ideas & questions).  The best part, is that anyone who participates in the discussion can either "vote" up or down for a posted idea.  The best ideas or questions will essentially rise to the top of the discussion and participants will be validated as others "vote" up their post.

Here is my test, I have created a discussion that I put on to my PLN on twitter.  The discussion topic, "What have you done this summer to improve your teaching?"  I'm looking forward to the responses, not only to see the tool in action, but to get some inspiration before going back to school.  Most of all, I'm running a tech training session to 9th grade teachers in my district at the end of the month, and I can't wait to show them a populated discussion before I show them how to use the tool.

This is a "must use" for me next year!

Please participate and vote in the discussion.

Cheers!

BLC10 Day 1 Reflection: Shouldn't our schools be more like BLC10?

An idea struck me yesterday. After listening through the keynote by Dr. Mitchel Resnick, Darren Kuropatwa, Jeff Utecht, and Adora Svitak's presentation, I was energized, excited, exhausted, disappointed to be heading home for the night, and wanting more the next day. The buzz in the rooms, the passion of the presenters and the desire to connect, share and collaborate with other teachers was strong...why can't school be more like BLC10? Dr. Resnick gave us a platform Scratch, with wide walls and a high ceiling for our students to create and publish. Darren showed us the importance of design, in delivering our message and our lessons. Jeff inspired us to connect our classroom to the world and to give our students an authentic audience. Adora urged us to listen to the leaders in our classrooms, all 30 of their growing voices.

Why can't our students come to school, hear a great, dynamic & inspiring message. Then hustle off to a breakout session, eagerly listening, taking notes, creating, collaborating, back-channeling and exploring the whole time?

I was disappointed when a session wasn't what I expected or didn't fulfill my needs and goals. Shouldn't our students feel the same way when a class falls short of what it could be, when it doesn't help them meet their goals and needs, when the teacher isn't inspiring?  I wanted to be in two places at once yesterday...shouldn't our students feel that way about the potential and possibilities available to them in school and their classes?

It's 4:45am, and I can't wait to get on the train to Boston at 6:09. Shouldn't our students feel this way about school?

Images: Bob Sprankle, blc10 uploads

sschat = success

Our first #sschat is over, and with the help of a number of very enthusiastic social studies teachers across the country, we were able to share, learn, collaborate and grow in just one hour!  (6-7pm est.)

Since I've never organized or tried to manage a #discussion before, I'm trying to figure out how to sort through and figure out exactly what we discussed...and after some searching, I came across two #hashtag organizers that provided some great data on the discussion.

Here is the link to The Archivist analysis of #sschat, and here is the link to the What the Hashtag analysis.

After looking through the data, I have to give a special thanks to:
@Ron_peck
@Ellsbeth
@Dontworryteach
@Cybraryman1

Without their active participation, #sschat wouldn't have been a success.

Here is a brief summary of what we all came away with from the discussion.

- Voicethread: Upload a primary source document & have students comment / doodle to demonstrate their understanding of the document.
- Worlde: Turn a document, speech or reading into a word cloud.  Have students analyze the document visually before reading & then compare the visual analysis to reading the document. (thanks to @Agins213)
- Great set of voicethread resources. (thanks to @cybraryman1)
- Create historical figure facebook pages (thanks to @kyteacher)
- Students tweet as historical figures & recreate an event (thanks to @woodenmask)
- The American Objects Project ( thanks to @woodenmask)
- Google Voice as an oral homework assignment tool & cellphone to mp3 creator
- Project Based Learning Resources (thanks to @cybraryman1)
- Ancient Civilizations Resources (thanks to @cybraryman1)
- You are here podcast resources (thanks to @classroomtools)
- Doc of the Day: National Archives (thanks to @ellsbeth)
- Edmodo for backchannel discussions
- Polleverywhere: Cell phones as classroom clickers
- Social Studies Research Resources (thanks to @findingdulcinea)

Thanks again to everyone who participated.  We look forward to growing #sschat, and keeping the weekly discussion lively and engaging.  Please let me know of any topic or idea you would like to discuss in the next #sschat, @gregkulowiec.

Next Monday @ 6pm est!

Getting #SSchat Off The Ground

I've been inspired by, involved with, and motivated by quite a few #edchat discussions in the past, and have sat in and participated in #ptchat.  I recently noticed that math teachers are organizing with their own #mathchat...it is time for history teachers to unite and have their own synchronous chat through twitter.

#SSchat was born.  I don't know how many history & social studies teachers will get involved in the discussion, if it will catch on or exactly how long it will take to grow the discussion.  Either way, it will be a fun experiment and test of how involved history teachers are with using twitter as a professional growth tool.

Here is a link to the twtpoll to vote on what to talk about in the first #SSchat.

Spread the word about #SSchat and I'll see everyone Monday night (7-12) at 6pm.

Prezi X Note Taking

While recently sitting in on a presentation made by Justin Reich (Co-Director of EdTechTeacher) about classroom management and assessment in a web2.0 integrated classroom, I quickly logged into my prezi account, opened a blank canvas and started taking notes on his talk.

I have used prezi in the past as conference presentations (the learning curve is steep, but worth the effort) I had never considered using it as a note taking / discussion recording tool. As Justin's presentation continued, I found it easier and easier to keep up with his ideas, connections, listener questions and insights.

Here is what I ended up with:

Assessment on Prezi

Some concluding thougths:
There are limitations with using prezi as a primary note taking device.
1. An internet connection is required.
2. Storage within a free prezi account is limited
3. Presentations must be downloaded and stored offline to free up storage space.

There are also some quickly recognized benefits:
1. Notes become intuitive. Lecturers, presenters, films & presentations do not always share their information or message in a linear format. Prezi allows the note taker to think and receive the information in a non-linear format.
2. A "path" can be created after the presentation. This might benefit students, as they would be forced to review & rethink the information that they were just exposed to and then make connections to content or message that they might not have realized.

THWT 2010 Summer Workshop

Kanye West X Bob Dylan X Civil Rights...this is one of my old lessons.

Open publication - Free publishing - More kanye

EduBloggerCon East 2010 X Almost Here!

BLC is just around the corner (I've never been and can't wait to attend this year), but before the conference, I will be attending my first ever "unconference" on July 12th. Organized by Liz Davis and Lisa Thumann, this is a user generated and created conference where like minded, creative educators will spend the day collaborating and sharing ideas.  I'm looking forward to attending for two reasons:
#1 - I'm bringing two teachers from Plymouth South with me to Boston & they are excited to branch out and attend.
#2 - Many of the people attending I already follow on twitter & I'm looking forward to meeting f2f and collaborating with these well respected educators.

Here is a link to the EduBloggerCon East 2010 Wiki

Here is a link to the EduBloggerCon East 2010 Sign up page

30 Goals Challenge X Day 2

I took a day (or two) off after posting the first goal I accomplished for the 30 day challenge, I guess life (and work) got in the way.  Here goes my second goal and thanks again Shelly Terrell for coming up with the 30 Goals Challenge!

Goal #7: Step out of your comfort zone.

A few months ago I was asked by my House Master to attend a conference in Las Vegas (end of June), to present about the Freshman Academy Model that we use at Plymouth South.  The conference is run by Education Northwest, "From Structure to Instruction", and it is the first national conference I will attend.  Presenting to an audience of educators and administrators isn't exactly out of my comfort zone.  I have presented at MassCue the last two years and NERC last year, as well as PD sessions in my school, but always on instruction, teaching, motivation and technology integration.  This presentation and conference is an entirely different animal.

Comfort Zone Violation #1: I will be presenting with two administrators from my school.  I already have a great working relationship with both of them, that isn't the concern.  My concern, I am extremely controlling when it comes my work and the finished product we are creating.  I'm going to have to let go and understand that we are working as a team and recognize that I can't and shouldn't do this presentation alone.  I need their help, and we will be better off each delivering a portion of the presentation, the part that we are the most knowledgeable about.


Comfort Zone Violation #2: The purpose of the conference is to demonstrate and present how change can occur in schools.  The premise, we changed our structure at Plymouth South and we now have a Freshman Academy that has been in existence for five years.  We then have to demonstrate how that model improves instruction to benefit, teachers, students and the school as a whole.  I thought this task would be easy.  However, I soon realized that as a teacher I was only seeing the tip of the "freshman academy iceberg".  There was a grant that I had never read through, long term plans that I didn't know about and perspectives from the administration that needed to be woven into the presentation that I didn't know existed.  The experience of putting this presentation together has been eye opening.

Comfort Zone Violation #3: Data, data & more data.  As part of the presentation focuses on how instruction has been improved, I thought it would be important to share data with the audience.  The data that I chose to analyze was: freshman failures rates, team teacher experience and freshman discipline statistics.
I gathered data going back to 1999 for the failure rate data, and back to 2005 for the discipline data.  I used google docs spreadsheets to organize the information and then displayed it in the google gadget "Motion Charts".  I rarely examine data.  Although I might look at test scores and item analysis every so often, I have never looked at big picture, school wide data like this.  The results absolutely pushed me out of my comfort zone.  My impression was that our freshman academy model (100 students with the same History, Math, Science and English teacher) was lowering our failure rate.  However, I never did any analysis or research to figure out if we were actually achieving our goal.  Hopefully this data will push everyone teaching on the freshman academy out of their comfort zone and we can begin a process of increasing learning and driving these numbers down.
Percentage of Freshman Class Failing Multiple Core Academic Courses (1999-2010)
To view the chart correctly:
1. Change X Axis preference to time
2. Change the color preference (top right) to unique
3. Change the size preference (top right) to percentage of class
Then hit play in the bottom corner of the chart.