Caravan

cara·van· (kar′ə van′) (noun) 1.a company of travelers, esp. of merchants or pilgrims traveling together for safety, as through a desert. 2. a number of vehicles traveling together. 3. a large covered vehicle for passengers, circus animals, gypsies, etc.; van. 4. Brit. a mobile home or trailer

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word caravan, other than the Dodge Caravan, is the vision of the travelers on the silk road with perhaps a few camels thrown in for good measure. Dangers lurk everywhere.

But at Oxford Hills Middle School, a team of teachers has a tradition of using the caravan theme as a way of exploring countries around the world. Yesterday and today I have been presenting new tools that help to empower students and teachers in their explorations. This includes tools that help to find, evaluate, organize, process and present information.

It works like this: I spend a couple days in the classroom of one of the teachers on the team. As the kids cycle through his classroom from other classes on the team, I get the opportunity to not only show them some of these powerful tools, but the teacher gets to see the presentation 5 times. I'll also attend a planning period with all teachers on the team to repeat the work one more time. Doing this repeatedly creates a critical mass of people on the team who are fluent in the tools and thus greatly improves the chances of it being seriously used for curriculum projects. A simple model for encouraging integration.

The agenda for sessions included:

1. How to make a PDF and attach it to an email.
2. The wonders of MARVEL - making use of it for the Caravan Project
3. The Powers of Noteshare - how to use it for the Caravan Project
4. Setting up back-up server access for students.

Great fun! The kids are so quick to pick it up . . . and are enthusiastic to start making use of it in their projects.

Making a PDF on a Mac
MARVEL - Maine's Virtual Library
Noteshare Resources

Teaching in 1947 . . . "The Fun They Had"

Read "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Isimov, and then view this old teacher training film. Discuss.

Character Series: Humility

"Keep me away from the wisdom which does not cry, the philosophy which does not laugh and the greatness which does not bow before children." ~ Kahlil Gibran

"Once the game is over, the king and the pawn go back in the same box." ~ Italian proverb

How do we model humility?

Humility Resources

Character Series: Responsibility

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“You are not only responsible for what you say, but also for what you do not say” ~ Martin Luther

Are we teaching our children to be responsible?

Responsibility Resources

Rights and Responsibilities Resources

October = Professional Development Without Borders

by Michael Richards

This is a great month for teaching and technology in terms of professional development. There are two big events coming up, the K12 Online Conference and ACTEM's MAINEd Conference. Each of these events offer educators and administrators a lot to think about when it comes to teaching with technology.

Today kicked off the K12 Online Conference with David Warlick's keynote address "Inventing the New Boundaries" and tomorrow will be a follow up to the keynote with a fireside chat. Over the next few weeks the conference will have sessions for a wide range of educators as well as a wide range of ability levels. Last year's conference was very well received and this year's is already setting the bar even higher. The great part of this conference is the fact that it is free and the sessions can be viewed at anytime from anywhere you have an Internet connection. Check out the teasers for sessions to find something you may want to check out later. The complete schedule with blogging tags can be found here.

At the end of the week ACTEM is sponsoring their 20th annual MAINEd Conference. Everything kicks off Thursday afternoon with pre-conference sessions. Will Richardson and Vicki Davis are each running a session (New Web Technologies Transforming Education and Wikis in Curriculum respectively) as well as other sessions from some great people. The next day there are some great sessions following Will Richardson's keynote address that address the needs of educators and administrators from Maine. If you're not able to make the conference people will be blogging and podcasting sessions so you can always attend virtually. If you're attending and plan on sharing your experiences please use technorati tags ACTEM MAINEd07 in your posts to help people track conversations through hitchikr. I've developed session tags based off the conference sessions that can be accessed here.

The only excuse one might have for not getting involved would be time. Even that excuse is negated by the fact you can follow these sessions through RSS feeds. This allows the user to have a professional development on demand experience, a very powerful 21st Century opportunity. You just need to take the first step and enjoy the ride.

tags technorati : actem mained07

I like a day off as well as anyone does, but ...."Why?"

by Ed Latham

Warning: The views represented in this post are mine and are not being forced on anyone. I offer only some thoughts and observations and of course the question of "Why?"

Today is Columbus Day here in the states. It is a federal holiday in which many non-essential services are shut down and the state and government people get a day off. I like day's off so posting this post is hard for me to do, but here we go.

I like to ask questions as anyone in my family would be quick to tell you. Three year old toddlers love to ask, "Why?" and some in my family try to draw mental age connections to my constantly questioning "the way things are." As a teacher, I have always enjoyed the long weekend holidays that seemed to be nicely sprinkled throughout the school year. What a nice time to rest and relax while recharging my internal batteries to keep my energies and spirits up.

As a child, I realized that a day named after a person must mean that the person did something pretty awesome to have the whole nation recognize his/her achievements. Martin Luther King was an easy sell for me as I immediately saw the impact that man had on all of our society even today. Over the years I have come to study each of these one day holidays and the importance they have on our society. We have parades, there are special sporting events, and local towns all have little activities set up for most of these one day (almost always on a Monday) holidays. We also have president's day which lumps together Lincoln and Washington into a little celebration of some important people. Since Lincoln and Washington were not important enough to give each one a day I really thought this Columbus dude was going to be something special. I was floored when it came to Columbus Day!

History Notes... so that people can't say this post is totally without educational merit . President Benjamin Harrison issued that the country should observe a day for Mr. Columbus way back in 1892 (400 years after the landing). The Knights of Columbus took up that charge and helped to get October 12th as a legal holiday. As early as 1907 states started adopting that date as a holiday and on 1909 New York mayor Charles Evans Hughes started a parade up.

Like all youth, I started off asking my parents and my teachers what Chris was so important for. I got many renditions, almost like a mantra, that he was responsible for discovering the New World which lead to the formation of the U.S. Hmmm....that sounded important, so I dug deeper and asked for reading material. Many of the books seemed to state almost the exact same point of view and almost the same text. A few sources seemed to hint that Chris was not exactly a philanthropist and in fact may have been a down-right nasty person. Digging deeper, I found sources that backed up that nasty personality and I learned that Chris was a Portuguese slave trader with a very bad temper. Mr. Columbus was looking to expand his trade product looking to get into more valuable cargo like spices and of course all that legendary gold ... ahhh that true business spirit was alive and well even back then.

Directly, there is data that links Columbus's crew with the forced assimilation of at least one native population (the Tainos of the Bahamas region). Indirectly, the diseases that were home-brewed in the overpopulated Europe and introduced by Colubus's voyage managed to wipe out much of the native population. By some estimates, 80% of the existing population of the New World was destroyed by Christopher Columbus's "incredible discovery".

I love to study history and I have always been appalled with the way the United States has dealt with the native populations here on these chunks of land. I see our continued celebration of Columbus Day as not only an unworthy event to celebrate, but it seems that our culture has established a mantra that only promotes a positive outlook on what has historically been, at best, a wash.

Many had come to the "New World" before Columbus, but Chris was the first to really push for continued funding to help push a country to consider a full scale expansion (invasion?) into this region which had been mostly left alone. I am sure that someone else would have done it if Christopher Columbus had not got all the fame. I am against our continued celebration of such a controversial event.

In our politically charged society, we would not think once about electing someone to federal office that had a rap sheet like our buddy Mr. Columbus did; never mind make up a federal holiday for the bum. The exploits of Columbus's crew against the native population makes even Bill Clinton's escapades with an intern look like child's play. Why then do we perpetuate this holiday? Certainly, there are more worthy men/women in our history that have impacted our lives in much more positive ways! Two gentlemen that come right to mind are Ben Franklin and Thomas Edison. I am not sure if you have looked up these crusty old salts, but if you do, you will be absolutely amazed at the influence these two people had on our way of life even today.

Most shocking of all is what I see in our classrooms. Entire units are set up, and many hours are spent with children celebrating Columbus Day. All with the mantra of celebrating "the discovery of the New World". Students dress up and perform plays. Posters and in-class feasts are frequently observed. If I were a descendant of a people that originally called this land home, I would be pissed. Actually, I guess I do get a little hot under the collar and I am not even a "victim". Especially in our schools, institutions founded to educate people, I would hope to at least see some moderation or something other than the joys of discovery mantra.

Some schools have been able to shift the focus of celebrations from Columbus over to the bounty of harvest that is in full swing in many regions at this time of year. I know that idea muscles in on Thanksgiving's fame, but at least celebrating the fall harvest is something that can be educationally supported from most every angle ( I know some environmental people could argue something here, but we could argue about almost anything).

Some schools have been able to focus on the importance of exploration and explorers at this time of year. That's cool. We have so much of life we still don't know about and even here on Earth there are depths of the ocean we still don't know about. Students need to learn about why exploration is dangerous and important to our society. Looking at collections of explorers that may include Chris...well I could support that.

In the meantime, I will finish enjoying my day off and wait until spring, when we run into some other bizarre cultural celebrations : )

How about you? Are there national/state/local celebrations that have made you scratch your head and ask "... I wonder why?"

Universal Design: A Teacher's Perspective

Want a fresh, enthusiastic voice . . . a Maine teacher who is passionate about her work, yet grounded in the realities of the classroom? Check out Amanda Leavitt's blog that is called Universal Design: A Teacher's Perspective. You will discover a teacher's thoughts and feelings about bringing in the new while at the same time being cognizant of the value of the traditional.

It is an important topic on which we need to have many more conversations. Amanda is asking essential questions which all too often are not considered.

What is important? When does technology empower and when does it enslave? How do I responsibly make changes in the status quo? What kind of risks am I willing to take?

Universal Design Resources

Caterpillar Hunter in New Orleans

Sarah Farnham, a science teacher at Winslow Junior High School, was part of an Earthwatch Expedition to New Orleans.



Sarah's Blog
Live from the Field
Behind the Scenes of Hunting for Caterpillars
Teaching Live from New Orleans
Earthwatch Institute
Can Global Warming Cause Caterpillar Outbreaks?
Climatic Unpredictability and Parasitism of Caterpillars: Implications of Global Warming

Universal Access to Human Knowledge!

by Ed Latham

Have you ever wondered how to start a podcast? How about how to reduce a fraction to its lowest terms? Of course you are just dying to learn how to play the violin as well, right?

I have a few sites that may be useful for educators and some of these might not be filtered at your schools!!!!

Please note I am including free resources only. I know there are many very nice resources out there that offer tons of content, but I morally avoid those services as I strongly believe that resources (including apps on school computers) should be free for k-12 education! O.K. enough with the soap box, let's get to the movies...

Internet Archive : A collection of videos about many different topics. Some computer related stuff like iMovie and some more academic stuff like working with fractions. This is not a very friendly site so for total novices hit some of the other links below.

Teacher Tube: If you need a video lesson done up for some subject matter, it's probably already done for you here. Also some cute stuff posted by teachers to help us all laugh a bit. If you wish to record some of your lessons and post them ... this is the site to do it as teachers all over the world check into this site all the time... you could be famous!

University Texas: Many colleges are setting up video tutorials for staff and students. This site has many goodies that people often ask for help with.

I am sure there are tons of resources out there so feel free to add more to the list. PLEASE limit your offerings in this post to "how to" resources (videos are best). The other restriction is that the materials must be freely available; no trial offers or any of that nonsense!

Those of us that just compile tons of links without actually spending time at each link, I would encourage you to look through the link with the following mindset.

"I want to learn how to use/do X and I have only heard about it."

Please post only links that you would actually use or offer to family to help them learn how to independently use some application. I am anxious to see all the cool resources people have found out there.

iBook Roll Out 2007

by George Crawford

This is the sixth year that the 7th and 8th grade students at the Jonesboro Elementary School have had their MLTI iBooks provided by the state. This past Monday we had our annual parent and student meeting on the iBooks. The purpose of this meeting is to "show off" the iBooks and what they can do to parents. We also talk to the parents and the students about the rules of the use of the iBooks and some of the possible pitfalls of not following the rules.

This year we had almost all of our 18 7th and 8th graders. I showed the parents and students the software on the iBooks including Google Earth, GarageBand, iMovie, and Microsoft Office that we have. I also showed them some of the 'freebies" that I added. These were open source programs that I learned about after attending the FOSSED conference this summer.

Stellarium, a planetarium software was added along with Celestia for astronomy. I also added Smell-o-Mints, an interactive periodic table software and also AbiWord for word processing. I also showed an iMovie done by one of last year's 8th graders that showed how his brother lost a canoe joust.

The getting of an iBook has become a "rite of passage" for our 7th graders and they look forward to this. It is not as much a novelty as they were 5 years ago but the 7th graders still feel that it is important.

We also are dealing with the issue of students taking home their iBooks this year. I am still waiting for our School Committee to pass my take home policy. The students are excited about the prospect of taking home their laptops and I am a bit nervous as the Technology Coordinator. Other schools through the ACTEM list have indicated that the laptops going home on the whole are successful.

Things to Think About:

How does your school "roll out" their MLTI laptops to students?

What are some of the benefits and pitfalls of the MLTI laptops?

How can my school minimize problems from the laptops?

What is my school's laptop take home policy if they have one?

What can the high school MLTI learn from the middle school program and how can the middle school project share ideas locally with the high school?

What are the benefits of one to one computing in schools and what are the pitfalls?

A Day in the Lives . . .

Three things that continue to perplex me:

1. How many people there are who don't know how to copy/paste.

2. How many Maine citizens there are who are totally unaware of MARVEL.

and

3. How many who are still unaware of the powerful learning that is taking place at the Skowhegan Area Middle School using a project-based philosophy.

Recently Apple spent some time doing interviews and documenting the happenings at SAMS in order to create a video for their site. Check out this Skowhegan gem: Our Town Skowhegan Maine And this one: Archives. And don't forget this: Skowhegan Downtown Revitalization Project.

Additional information at MaineLearns

For still more information, email Laura Richter

Related Resources:

Video
Essential Questions
Digital Storytelling
Critical Thinking
Cooperative Learning
Process Skills
Inquiry Learning
Questioning
Constructivism

School Discipline

"Restorative approaches to discipline, rather than punitive, deal more effectively with student misbehavior by encouraging students to take responsibility for their actions and find ways to 'make things right' with those they have harmed, according to conference organizers. Restorative discipline empowers students to be accountable for their actions in a school environment that is caring and responsive."

I'd like to thank Ernie Easter from the New Sweden School for bringing the following conference to my attention:

Transforming School Discipline: ‘Restorative Justice’ Conference on Nov. 28 - 30, 2007, in South Portland.

Wikipedia: Restorative Justice
Belinda Hopkins: Transforming Conflict
Belinda Hopkins: Restorative Justice Consortium

Other Resources on school discipline and student behavior:

Behavior Management Resources
Classroom Management
Computer Classroom Management

Still more resources that connect with human behavior:

Icebreaker Resources
Trust Building Resources
Community Building Resources
Team Building Resources
Listening Skills Resources
Active Listening Resources
Diversity Resources
Learning Styles Resources
Expeditionary Learning Resources
Stress Management Resources

What are your thoughts on school discipline?

Explaining Copyright

by Deborah White

My college freshman New Media major son is home for October Break. He was quick to share this video that explains copyright law and fair use in a unique, entertaining, and clear manner. High School and Middle School students (and teachers) could benefit from viewing this video and discussing it on several levels.

This is on Stanford Law School's Center for Internet and Society. There are other resources on this that could proof helpful for teachers and their students.

A Fair(y) Use Tale

Web 2.0 Workshop at Gray-New Gloucester Middle School

We are reporting out of the Gray-New Gloucester Middle School Today. This post and comments will be changing as the day continues. As we work our way through the agenda, comments will be added. Whether you are at Gray or not, feel free to add your 2¢. In fact, we would love to see comments from other places in Maine and beyond.


View Larger Map

Morning session is done at GNGMS. We had an unexpected video Skype experience, communicating with Keith Kelley and class at MSAD#48.

Pleasantly diverse group of 40 educators. It was a delight working with you! :) This afternoon, Alison Skoczenski, the District librarian is presenting the local library database, MARVEL - Maine's Virtual Library, and Del.icio.us.

K12 Online Conference 2007

by Kern Kelley

The K12 Online Conference 2007 is almost here. It runs from October 8th to the 27th. Go to k12onlineconference.org for more details. Here's a quick explanation from the website:

"The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference run by volunteers and open to everyone."

You can click here for a flyer or listen to a terrific interview by Bob Sprankle, Cheryl Oakes and Alice Barr with a couple of the conferences organizers, Wes Fryer and Darren Kuropatwa.
Check out podcast #24 at: www.bobsprankle.com

Pi Day

by Deborah White

I know it's early to be thinking about Pi Day (March 14) but I stumbled upon these two songs - one about pi and one about friction that I just had to share.

Enjoy!

Mathematical Pi Animated Video

Mathematical Pi Lyrics and guitar chords

Mathematical Pi Audio

Sound of Friction Lyrics and guitar chords

Sound of Friction Audio

Universal Access to Laptops?

by Olga LaPlante

I happen to have a friend staying in Thailand at the moment, and working at an international school. International also implies private, or not free.
When we talk about China, or Asia (which would then include Thailand), do we somehow have this stereotype that those kids are well-educated, successful and pose a serious threat to US job-seekers? It will be safe to say yes.

Now, last time we spoke (on Skype, of course), he said (he teaches French), that he has a small class, they are all A students. They say, "That's all???" after he assigns homework, quite disappointed... He said that they might enjoy joining Alliance Francaise, and they did to take a course. It's middle school students by the way.

Now, my question was - to my friend's son who is a high school student now - do you have laptops? He said - no, we have like 4 computers in the lab/library.

Does this tell you anything? Can US schooling be in the large part a product of the culture, rather than limited resources, poverty, ESL students etc.?

Comments?

Fire Prevention Week

by Deborah White

Fire Prevention Week is always the week in October that includes October 8th and 9th in it. Why? Because in 1871 on those days there were two big fires - The Great Chicago Fire and the Great Peshtigo Fire!

Information on those fires can be found at:

The Great Chicago Fire

The Great Peshtigo Fire

You can also find resources for teaching fire prevention and life safety education by going to one of these sites.

National Fire Prevention Association

American Red Cross Masters of Disaster

FEMA for Kids

Scholastic's Fire Prevention Program
Resource #1
Resource #2

Call your local Fire Department! They'll be happy to work with you to teach your students fire prevention and life safety skills.

Editing

"Remember the waterfront shack with the sign FRESH FISH SOLD HERE. Of course it's fresh, we're on the ocean. Of course it's for sale, we're not giving it away. Of course it's here, otherwise the sign would be someplace else. The final sign: FISH." ~Peggy Noonan

Stenhouse Publishing has announced a new book by Jeff Anderson called Everyday Editing - Inviting Students to Develop Skill and Craft in Writer's Workshop. The book is expected to be available by October 17, but the handy thing about Stenhouse Publishers is that we can browse the entire book online until that time, much as we might view a book in a bookstore before we purchase it.

Other Web Resources for Editing

Any other helpful editing resources?

Pigs at Fryeburg Fair

"Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise." ~ George Orwell

What a beautiful day! My brother, Mike, and my sister, Susan, visiting from Bellingham, Washington, spent some time with me enjoying the Fryeburg Fair today. We casually toured the buildings and events. We did the the classic hot sausage and onion sandwich and washed it down with fresh lemonade.

But it was the pigs that caught my attention. It occurred to me that seeing pigs almost always connects me with two of my favorite books: Charlotte's Web by E.B. White and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Both stories have pigs as main characters, and both offer a great deal of wisdom on the human condition.

I highly recommend them for read-alouds. Good for just about any age, in my humble opinion.

Other than the many variations of the Three Pigs, anyone know of any other good pig books?

Charlotte's Web Resources

Animal Farm Resources

Don't forget MARVEL! Maine's Virtual Library. Check out NoveList and NoveList K-8 for information on Charlotte's Web and Animal Farm.