Educational Technology-Individual Development Plan (ET-IDP) for MK (not that MK, the other one):
Since he is a tech teacher, he is always looking for ways he can integrate his content with the content of other classes in a fun and meaningful way. Part of my problem is that he doesn't understand enough of the other curriculums to effectively integrate. Goals for coming year:
Learn GIMP
Learn Office 2007
Learn Adobe Premiere Elements
Learn CSS for Web Design
Increase proficiency in applications already known: Sony Vegas, Java (Eclipse, Blue J), Fireworks.
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Monday, June 30, 2008
Pre-After-Ed
Sahngyoon, John, and I have combined forces to add our POV to the After-Ed forum. Our Ten Things list concerns the application of blogs and wikis in Asian school - Korea, Japan, and China, respectively.
We've split up the 10 with 3 each, then we'll meet to flesh out our ideas and come up with a tenth.
My three: (Did you know...)
1. Blogs and wikis are routinely blocked in China, just mention T**wan, T*b*t, or Tian**man Squ*re and the whole blog or wiki network in in jeopardy of being blocked by the Great Firewall of China. Hence, Blogger, PBWiki, WordPress, etc. are practically useless from a publishing point of view, but the old "This site cannot be accessed" makes for a fine teachable moment.
2. In spite of censorship, international schools are often at the vanguard of educational technological integration. Hong Kong International School and her sister schoo, Concordia International School Shanghai, are using a home-grown course management and social networking system with campus-based servers, featuring a built-in blog engine and wikis on the way. With a keystroke, students and teachers launch and maintain blogs for personal forums, discussion forums, and digital portfolios.
3. English may be the dominant language of the World Wide Web, but other languages are growing in popularity, with Chinese sites growing at a tremendous clip.
4. The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 severed the main fiber-optic cable that connects East Asia to Europe and North America. Internet access slowed to a crawl as the remaining cables had to carry the normal traffic. The cables were repaired over the course of the spring and continue to improve. The Tsunami was a wake-up call that our footprint on the earth is fragile and digital divide can be broadened in a heartbeat.
We've split up the 10 with 3 each, then we'll meet to flesh out our ideas and come up with a tenth.
My three: (Did you know...)
1. Blogs and wikis are routinely blocked in China, just mention T**wan, T*b*t, or Tian**man Squ*re and the whole blog or wiki network in in jeopardy of being blocked by the Great Firewall of China. Hence, Blogger, PBWiki, WordPress, etc. are practically useless from a publishing point of view, but the old "This site cannot be accessed" makes for a fine teachable moment.
2. In spite of censorship, international schools are often at the vanguard of educational technological integration. Hong Kong International School and her sister schoo, Concordia International School Shanghai, are using a home-grown course management and social networking system with campus-based servers, featuring a built-in blog engine and wikis on the way. With a keystroke, students and teachers launch and maintain blogs for personal forums, discussion forums, and digital portfolios.
3. English may be the dominant language of the World Wide Web, but other languages are growing in popularity, with Chinese sites growing at a tremendous clip.
4. The Boxing Day Tsunami of 2004 severed the main fiber-optic cable that connects East Asia to Europe and North America. Internet access slowed to a crawl as the remaining cables had to carry the normal traffic. The cables were repaired over the course of the spring and continue to improve. The Tsunami was a wake-up call that our footprint on the earth is fragile and digital divide can be broadened in a heartbeat.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Last Week/Next Week
We composed i-Images last week. The "i" stands for idea. My idea has to do with faith. I had an image in mind, the lone demonstrator stopping a row of tanks in Beijing, June 1989. As Suhasini, Monique and I talked about our ideas, Suhasini mentioned her idea to build an image around Faith Can Move Mountains, and from there we decided to prepare a series of images exploring implications of that phrase. They'll be posted at a later date.
In the week ahead, Sahngyoon and I will be putting together a broadcast for After Ed that has something to do with use of blogs in language arts in Asia. Watch for that to take shape. We need a third contributor.
In the week ahead, Sahngyoon and I will be putting together a broadcast for After Ed that has something to do with use of blogs in language arts in Asia. Watch for that to take shape. We need a third contributor.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
That was the word in Yenan, China, July 1937
I don't often find myself quoting the Great Helmsman, but as I read what's going on politically west of here, and as I examine how technology transforms pedagogy, something Mao Zedong said is particularly apt:
If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.... If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.
If you want to know the taste of a pear, you must change the pear by eating it yourself.... If you want to know the theory and methods of revolution, you must take part in revolution. All genuine knowledge originates in direct experience.
TIP Conclusion #1
Writing on a blog doesn’t feel like learning, yet students are enthusiastically and energetically engaging in the Writing Process.
When students were asked questions about their feelings toward posting their own writing, commenting on others' writing, or reading others' comments, they were overwhelmingly (91%+) positive . Most students do not recognize blogging as the Writing Process, however, as evidenced by survey responses to direct questions about revision and peer review, which indicate a negative effect from blogging.
This finding is perhaps best explained in this student’s comment:
for the question ‘The blog helped me think more about what I was learning in class’ I disagreed, because when I was posting or commenting on the blog, I didn’t feel like I was really learning, although I actually was. I felt more like writing an article for a newspaper, and it was really fun, rather than like strict learning.
One-on-one interviews will clarify these findings.
When students were asked questions about their feelings toward posting their own writing, commenting on others' writing, or reading others' comments, they were overwhelmingly (91%+) positive . Most students do not recognize blogging as the Writing Process, however, as evidenced by survey responses to direct questions about revision and peer review, which indicate a negative effect from blogging.
This finding is perhaps best explained in this student’s comment:
for the question ‘The blog helped me think more about what I was learning in class’ I disagreed, because when I was posting or commenting on the blog, I didn’t feel like I was really learning, although I actually was. I felt more like writing an article for a newspaper, and it was really fun, rather than like strict learning.
One-on-one interviews will clarify these findings.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
The dust is settling
Everything seems to be all right on my end. Most of the kids really got into the blogging, and I think everyone did at least their assigned postings and commenting. I have to sit down and tally it all now. Mountains of data.
I assigned the kids one person to peer review for each of their postings, so I will give them a grade for that doing that. I think maybe 10 points for all 4 assigned comments, with a 10 (or 11) if they went over and above in their comments, and a 9 if they did all in an OK way, fewer points for fewer postings. I hesitate to grade the quality of their comments any more than that because it's new, but I'm being over-cautious. We also have a viewing media category in our LA grading, so I could weight it a little higher by considering it an LA skill (then I'm looking more for participation and less for content)
I will grade their short story final drafts, though, just as I would a "regular" short story assignment. I told them this ahead of time.
On the other hand, in the space of a year, some of my colleagues have gone from What's blogging? to treating it like a drop box for assignments, so the question raised is When do we stop using token grades and actually assess for content and form? I suppose that's a decent question for MAET Class of 2009 to consider in a TIP. Still, I'm not sure. Blogs are quickly becoming institutionalized on my campus, so it'll be interesting to see how they progress in the minds of teachers and of students.
I assigned the kids one person to peer review for each of their postings, so I will give them a grade for that doing that. I think maybe 10 points for all 4 assigned comments, with a 10 (or 11) if they went over and above in their comments, and a 9 if they did all in an OK way, fewer points for fewer postings. I hesitate to grade the quality of their comments any more than that because it's new, but I'm being over-cautious. We also have a viewing media category in our LA grading, so I could weight it a little higher by considering it an LA skill (then I'm looking more for participation and less for content)
I will grade their short story final drafts, though, just as I would a "regular" short story assignment. I told them this ahead of time.
On the other hand, in the space of a year, some of my colleagues have gone from What's blogging? to treating it like a drop box for assignments, so the question raised is When do we stop using token grades and actually assess for content and form? I suppose that's a decent question for MAET Class of 2009 to consider in a TIP. Still, I'm not sure. Blogs are quickly becoming institutionalized on my campus, so it'll be interesting to see how they progress in the minds of teachers and of students.
Monday, February 25, 2008
Busy in the Blogosphere
Oh my. What have I done?
My inbox is four pages long, chock-a-block with myConcordia notifications: "So-and-so has updated such-and-such's blog." This is great. I wasn't sure if kids would take to posting their story outlines and drafts on the class blog, but they seem to be universally enjoying it. Some of them seem to live online.
I'm staying out of it, having learned a lesson from people who try to micro-manage blogs. A couple kids are punching in HTML and tricking out their fonts and text colors, and I'm letting them. I'm glad they're taking ownership. More to the point, though, they are conversing about writing.
I'm seeing a growing sophistication in their feedback requests, from "What do I need to make it better?" transformed into "Is my climax too abrupt? Do I need more detail to make it plausible?"
I had a quick lesson in tagging today. Other than that, they're fairly blog savvy.
I've schedule a workshop session for them tomorrow, so I'll gauge their feelings for the kind of feedback their getting.
I'm nervous that everything they write is potential data, to be sifted and analyzed. I hope it's not that way. I hope that when the dust clears, some results will be apparent.
Am I the only one who feels overwhelmed?
My inbox is four pages long, chock-a-block with myConcordia notifications: "So-and-so has updated such-and-such's blog." This is great. I wasn't sure if kids would take to posting their story outlines and drafts on the class blog, but they seem to be universally enjoying it. Some of them seem to live online.
I'm staying out of it, having learned a lesson from people who try to micro-manage blogs. A couple kids are punching in HTML and tricking out their fonts and text colors, and I'm letting them. I'm glad they're taking ownership. More to the point, though, they are conversing about writing.
I'm seeing a growing sophistication in their feedback requests, from "What do I need to make it better?" transformed into "Is my climax too abrupt? Do I need more detail to make it plausible?"
I had a quick lesson in tagging today. Other than that, they're fairly blog savvy.
I've schedule a workshop session for them tomorrow, so I'll gauge their feelings for the kind of feedback their getting.
I'm nervous that everything they write is potential data, to be sifted and analyzed. I hope it's not that way. I hope that when the dust clears, some results will be apparent.
Am I the only one who feels overwhelmed?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Checking In
I alloted much of the classes this week to writing. I had to do some coaching about the Writing Process and some strategies for effective writing, but the kids are keen to tell stories. They were discussing character names so I sent them to thinkbabynames.com where they had great name searching for meaningful names. Should make for interesting reading.
For my homeroom in particular, the terrific buzz in the room whenever they were sharing their story outlines, and first and second drafts. There is a wide difference between classes, as my other group is every bit as thoughtful, but with less sharing. My homeroom is loving it, really taking social advantage of peer review, but writing nonetheless. I wonder if they will take as well to the impersonal blogging? Then again, some are passing around their laptops, asking for reviewers to read and comment. How blog like.
This is the scaffold I provided to help make reviewing productive. I'll repeat the same when they write next time and review on the blog.
Outline: Ask two specific questions of your assigned reviewer, then choose two others to share with.
Day two: Reviewers should answer:
1. Something I like...
2. Something I'm not sure about...
3. Tell me more about...
4. You might try...
Day 3 of 3: I made each writer come up with a specific question to put to their reviewer. What specific thing do you want feedback on? This was a struggle for my homeroom, as they kept asking, "What should I improve?" It took awhile to get them to consider where their concerns were, but they came up with, "Where can I improve my sentence fluency?" and "Are my descriptions of the time machine clear to you--please say in your own words what you think I'm describing."
Monday they'll hand in hard copies of the outline, the first draft, and the final, so I can see how much revision went on.
One advantage of blogging for me will be my access to the revision notes. I walked around the room while they talked, but what I didn't overhear is gone.
By the way, I cut back my timeline from three writing assignments to two. There's always something cutting into class time, and I need time for grading!
Hope all is well on your end.
Cheers.
For my homeroom in particular, the terrific buzz in the room whenever they were sharing their story outlines, and first and second drafts. There is a wide difference between classes, as my other group is every bit as thoughtful, but with less sharing. My homeroom is loving it, really taking social advantage of peer review, but writing nonetheless. I wonder if they will take as well to the impersonal blogging? Then again, some are passing around their laptops, asking for reviewers to read and comment. How blog like.
This is the scaffold I provided to help make reviewing productive. I'll repeat the same when they write next time and review on the blog.
Outline: Ask two specific questions of your assigned reviewer, then choose two others to share with.
Day two: Reviewers should answer:
1. Something I like...
2. Something I'm not sure about...
3. Tell me more about...
4. You might try...
Day 3 of 3: I made each writer come up with a specific question to put to their reviewer. What specific thing do you want feedback on? This was a struggle for my homeroom, as they kept asking, "What should I improve?" It took awhile to get them to consider where their concerns were, but they came up with, "Where can I improve my sentence fluency?" and "Are my descriptions of the time machine clear to you--please say in your own words what you think I'm describing."
Monday they'll hand in hard copies of the outline, the first draft, and the final, so I can see how much revision went on.
One advantage of blogging for me will be my access to the revision notes. I walked around the room while they talked, but what I didn't overhear is gone.
By the way, I cut back my timeline from three writing assignments to two. There's always something cutting into class time, and I need time for grading!
Hope all is well on your end.
Cheers.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Writing Prompts
Thank you, Gaoming, for the timeline suggestion! I really have my ducks in a row.
Here are the photos I'll be using as story prompts, one each Monday for the next three weeks.
Friday, February 8, 2008
Success!
I tweaked my blog settings and now I will receive emails of your comments.
I also figured out how to access previous comments. Good thing, too, there's some good stuff there.
Thank you, David, Gaoming, April, and Fatina for the feedback. I will lay out a timeline for this process.
I am interested in quality more than quantity, except where it relates to students wanting to write. Often when I give prompts, one or two students will write two sentences and then lay down their pencils, so I wonder if blogging will entice them to write more. However, that problem is a bit removed from the question of my TIP, so I'll have to rethink that one.
As far as the tendency for kids to be too nice in commenting, I don't think it will be too great a problem with the current class I have. They do well in overcoming the culture of niceness and tend to give quality feedback, even if it is constructive criticism. I've been working on this with them. Nonetheless, it's something for me to watch; I ought to make sure my questions address that factor.
Thanks! I don't feel so isolated anymore.
I also figured out how to access previous comments. Good thing, too, there's some good stuff there.
Thank you, David, Gaoming, April, and Fatina for the feedback. I will lay out a timeline for this process.
I am interested in quality more than quantity, except where it relates to students wanting to write. Often when I give prompts, one or two students will write two sentences and then lay down their pencils, so I wonder if blogging will entice them to write more. However, that problem is a bit removed from the question of my TIP, so I'll have to rethink that one.
As far as the tendency for kids to be too nice in commenting, I don't think it will be too great a problem with the current class I have. They do well in overcoming the culture of niceness and tend to give quality feedback, even if it is constructive criticism. I've been working on this with them. Nonetheless, it's something for me to watch; I ought to make sure my questions address that factor.
Thanks! I don't feel so isolated anymore.
Work-arounds
Someone, somewhere used Blogger to post ideas that are anathema to my landlords, so Blogger is blocked in the country of my residence (and home for five years). So I can't access my own blog, except through a proxy server. I can post, though. I will rely on email copies of comments however. So, if you would like to comment on anything, feel free to email the content to me as well. Thanks!
The work-around I'm hoping will work is reading my TIP members blogs through proxies, and then emailing them with my comments. Not the best fix, but better than remaining dark, eh?
Please Fasten Your Seatbelts
OK, the second semester is upon us, so it's time to unleash this TIP on my grade 8 English students.
Just a reminder of my TIP: What effect does blogging technology have on student practice of revision in the writing process?
I'm taking David Wong's advice and incorporating interviews with the kids ahead of time, in addition to online surveys.
I'm going to create a single blog on the school server with each of my students (18) as authors. Most of them have their own blogs, but this one will allow them to post written pieces for everyone to see (one stop shopping).
One limitation of blogging technology in this scenario is that our course management software, with the built-in blog engine, is password protected, so the only people who can read and comment on my student's writing will be fellow students, parents, and other teachers. I'll write to the designer and see if he can generate a limited-access password that will allow you, my fellow travelers on this TIP trip, can view the kinds of things that end up on the blog.
Request: Anyone have a writing prompt that has engaged kids in the past? I have a few, but I'm always looking for something new. (They universally disliked Radiohead's The National Anthem; they universally liked Serat's Sunday on La Grande Jatte The classics never go out of style.)
Just a reminder of my TIP: What effect does blogging technology have on student practice of revision in the writing process?
I'm taking David Wong's advice and incorporating interviews with the kids ahead of time, in addition to online surveys.
I'm going to create a single blog on the school server with each of my students (18) as authors. Most of them have their own blogs, but this one will allow them to post written pieces for everyone to see (one stop shopping).
One limitation of blogging technology in this scenario is that our course management software, with the built-in blog engine, is password protected, so the only people who can read and comment on my student's writing will be fellow students, parents, and other teachers. I'll write to the designer and see if he can generate a limited-access password that will allow you, my fellow travelers on this TIP trip, can view the kinds of things that end up on the blog.
Request: Anyone have a writing prompt that has engaged kids in the past? I have a few, but I'm always looking for something new. (They universally disliked Radiohead's The National Anthem; they universally liked Serat's Sunday on La Grande Jatte The classics never go out of style.)
Monday, January 28, 2008
Bring on the Rat
Next week is Spring Festival, better known as Chinese New Year. So long Year of the Pig (see you in 12) and welcome Year of the Rat.
For millions of Chinese,and a relative hand full of non-Chinese, it will mean hong bao (red envelopes of money), a much-deserved respite from work, fireworks, family and food. I'll get me some of that, and I'll also dive head-long into transforming my Teacher Inquiry Project from theory to reality.
I'm thankful for the support I had last summer to lay out a solid plan (thanks all, especially Joan and Brandon!). And I look forward to the feedback of my esteemed peers.
Anyone else using SurveyMonkey or Zoomerang? Relative merits of each? I used SurveyMonkey for my film class on the free side, but I think I'll subscribe for three months so I can do more with the data.
I'm looking forward to reading your TIPS, too.
Last questions: Any rats among us?
Monday, January 21, 2008
This is a test
I'm posting this via email to see if I can circumvent the totalitarian whims of my landlords.
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