We the Teachers

Our district has been talking about Instructional Collaboration and what that means. The focus on the district level has been all about getting in each other's classrooms and learning from one another in the process. However, there are lots of other ways to collaborate as well. Today, I found We the Teachers which is a website that is dedicated to the idea of instructional collaboration. It has lesson plans submitted by others as well as groups and forums for you to join. I started a group for us just this morning. You can join if you like. I have also posted a forum question for us to consider. As a teacher I can hear an idea that I may or may not want to use, regardless, the sharing of that idea spurs my thinking so that I can come up with an original idea that never would have happened otherwise. I believe that teachers talking with teachers about ideas promotes best practice and creativity.

There is one thing to consider in all of this: Collaboration is what we make it. If we decide to collaborate, it is important to make it a habit. In our busy lives one more thing can seem overwhelming, but collaboration is counterintuitive. Yes, it is one more thing on the plate, but it is a little like celery on a diet, there is no negative outcome from having it. Having said that, join us as we begin a journey of sharing and learning together.

Google Code for Educators

School districts are not always able to create great computer courses. It requires a couple of things that most school districts do not have. First, it requires a constant influx of monies. No school can start a great computer course today and say that the same course is relevant two years from now without working really hard to make certain that software to teach the course is constantly being updated and added to. Often districts are simply trying to fight the battle of having computers for students to work on. Software for computer courses takes a back seat.

The second requirement is for the relevancy of information for the educators who teach the courses. In many school districts these educators are teaching other courses (like Math, Tech Ed, or Science) and so are pulled in several different directions when it comes to keeping current. Exactly which graduate course do they take -- the one designed to meet the needs of four of their six classes or the one designed for that extra computer course? So when a movement comes along like Google Code for Educators with a Creative Commons License, I begin to believe that humanity is basically good after all.

Google Code for Educators has video lectures, tutorials and PowerPoint available for use. Their video lectures include topics on Ajax programming, web security, Advanced C++ and distributed systems. You can even search their database for CS curriculum or join their forum either as a lurker or a contributor.

For those districts that struggle just to get started there is the free software Alice which allows students to learn computer programming in a 3D environment. There is a lot of good stuff there.

I have to say it seems as though the wired of the world are giving back, doesn't it? What a fantastic thing!

Visual Literacy

I got to do two great things in the past week. First I got to show our virtual library to the administrators so that they could understand our direction when it comes to information literacy. I had just read an article about pecha-kucha in Wired magazine. and was willing to try it for my presentation. According to the article, pecha kucha is an art and information form which allows 20 (almost exclusively) visual slides to be shown for 20 seconds each as a presentation is given. It got me to thinking how often we allow students to do PowerPoint presentations that contain words that they simply read aloud back to us. By the end everyone feels like falling asleep even the teacher. Each pecha kucha presentation is a total of 6 minutes and 40 seconds. Interestingly, pecha kucha nights are popping up all over the place. I looked a few up myself. What time do many start? 6:40 P.M. Pretty clever huh? My first attempt was not a riveting success. Though I did have 20 slides--all visual images--I went well over time (10 minutes plus). You really have to plan what you are going to say rather than just have an idea. You may want to look at Daniel Pink's pecha kucha from Wired. It is certainly a much better example than my initial try.

Secondly, I got the opportunity to teach some visual literacy elements to one of our social studies classes. I took some time to look around for some ways to teach this. If you ever want me to come to your class to teach visual literacy, contact me. In the meantime, consider asking students to evaluate some really good images and the powerful messages that go with them. For more information about visual literacy consider this article by Dr. Anne Bramford. Yes, it is commissioned by Adobe, but even so, the definition of visual literacy is accurate and educational.

Rubistar

I think that I have shown many of you the great resource Rubistar. It can be a teacher's best friend when you need to develop a grading rubric for a project in your class. Rubrics are a great way to create parameters of success for your students. Take a look at Rubistar. I think you'll love it.