Eight Conditions

The Quaglia Institute for Student Aspirations has a list of 8 conditions that it argues is important in the lives of students.

"• Belonging means that a student is a valued member of a community while still maintaining his or her uniqueness.

• Heroes are people with whom a student can connect. They have a positive influence and listen to and value students’ ideas.

• Sense of Accomplishment is based on being recognized for different types of success, including hard work and being a good person.

• Fun and Excitement as a condition means students are inspired. Students are actively engaged and emotionally involved in their schoolwork.

• Curiosity and Creativity become evident when students ask “why” or “why not” about the world around them.

• Spirit of Adventure is experienced when students tackle something new without the fear of failure or pressure of success.

• Leadership and Responsibility as a condition happens when students can make decisions and accept responsibility for their actions.

• Confidence to Take Action is the extent to which students believe in themselves and are encouraged to dream about their future, while being motivated to set goals in the present." ~ Russell Quaglia

What do you think? How important are these conditions in our lives? How do these conditions relate to character education and expeditionary education?

Also check out the September 2007 issue of American Association of School Superintendents on Personalizing Schools.

Also NAESP

Operating System Debate

by Martha Thibodeau

Here I am at the Leadership Meeting for the High School deployment of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative. Although I should have expected it, I was surprised at the fervor with which one person broached the PC vs. Mac OS divide. Although Doug Snow tried to be diplomatic, the rest of the room lit up with tension.

Several folks talked about the fact that this is "not about the technology." Other ideas:

*Leadership will play an intregal role in setting the tone for faculty and students.
*Jigsawing the applications is a good way to introduce the different applications to staff.
*Mechanics don't use mac or windows.
*Our teachers are in such a flux now going between windows and linux that it's a good time to throw other stuff at them, too.
*There will always be Mac bigots and PC bigots.
*We have to model the ability to change.
*The students will not have a problem with the platform.
*I wish people would get over that.

For myself, I started out as a PC person, in college, doing programming. Then I started working at Lawrence, and through the help of Brian Barrows, I learned about Macs. To be honest, I am bi-platform. I will use whatever I have on hand. If I want to make a movie...I will only use my mac. Although I would rather use iWeb, now that I've discovered it, I can manage with DreamWeaver on my PC. If I want to do anything else, it doesn't really matter to me, I can adapt to the machine in front of me.

Isn't that what we really want our students to be able to do...adapt?

How

I love libraries. Always have. Today the eMINTS mentors had our monthly meeting in the ATM room at the Bangor Public Library. Both Olga LaPlante and the Bangor Public Library Blog suggested VideoJug as a place to find video How-To's. Here's How to Make Creme Brulee.

Other How-To Sites:

How Things Work
How Stuff Works
eHOW
WikiHow
RefDesk: Do-It-Yourself
ExpertVillage

Skype as a Tech Tool (or more Joys of Skype)

by David Trask

Following up on the recent post on Skype, today I had a Skype experience that was worth sharing. One of my colleagues at another school was having difficulty with getting something to work correctly with ARD. At first we tried the cellphone route, but holding on to the cellphone (even with a headset)...typing...and problems with a weak signal forced us to try another means of communication. I have a SkypeOut account with unlimited calling in the US and Canada...so I simply called his classroom phone. This worked well for a bit when we realized that it would be even easier to do a direct Skype to Skype call to his laptop. (a Macbook Pro) Talk about the ultimate speakerphone! I was able to talk him through the issue and even send some screenshots through the chat feature while we talked. Skype allowed us to bridge the miles and get some quality work done troubleshooting a computer problem. Imagine the ramifications for kids working collaboratively on a project from afar. If you haven't checked out Skype...you should! Skype.com

Character Series: Courage

"Moral cowardice that keeps us from speaking our minds is as dangerous to this country as irresponsible talk. The right way is not always the popular and easy way. Standing for right when it is unpopular is a true test of moral character." ~ Margaret Chase Smith

Question: What place does courage have in schooling?

Courage Resources

Moving On

by Olga LaPlante

I had a workshop today with middle school teachers. Two of them were from King Middle School which is an expeditionary learning school. I haven't been in it, or observed lessons, but one thing is very obvious - they are enthused. They are talking passionately about their classes - expeditions - and are quite creative. It's also possible that I was lucky to meet this particular kind of teachers by pure coincidence, but it was very encouraging anyway. You hear so many controversial things about Portland Schools. However, working with adults has proved that there are great teachers, and great things continue to happen.

So, as I said, that was middle school - with all the buzz around the high school piece, middle school initiative has lost a great deal of its novelty, and has gone to the background. Which actually may be a blessing in disguise - don't I know about that phenomenon!!! - and now middle schools who are savvy in many cases, may go on focusing on their local smaller scale professional development, and this is where the MLTI/eMINTS mentors are invaluable.

Well, thanks to Jim for sending me an invite to write here - I guess I needed a special note to start contributing! :)

Expeditionary Learning Resources

King Middle School - Kelly Fitz Science Blog

Who

“Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible - the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family” ~ Virginia Satir

How do we learn to appreciate other people?

Who Resources

Diversity Resources

Resources for Writing Biographies

Biography Resources

Character Series: Responsibility

"If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders." - Abigail Van Buren

How do we develop a sense of responsibility in our children?

Responsibility Resources

ACTEM

I'm attending the ACTEM meeting this morning. For those who might for some reason know nothing about this wonderful organization, let me say that the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine has had a powerful impact on the use of technology as a learning tool in our state. Just a couple of their services to check out:

MaineEducation Technology Conference 2007 - "Learning in a 2.0 World"
Great Deals on Software from ACTEM

Technorati Tags: ACTEM MAINEd07

From Noob to Leet

by Kern Kelley

For those follow the Learning 2.0 conference, a new Web 2.0 toy that's making the rounds is called Animoto. Basically it's a template driven video producer, you provide images and select music, then click finalize. It does this rest. The following video took me about 3 minutes from creating an account to completion. Here's a quick look.





When showing this to one of my Video Production students, he commented:

"It makes a Noob look like a Leet."

My Immigrant to Native language dictionary tells me this roughly translates to,

"A inexperienced user, (a Newbie) can quickly and easily

produce something that looks like a power user (an Elite) made it."

Some edu-bloggers like David Warlick and Wes Fyer are pretty excited about it, while others like Gary Stager lament on his blog: "Animoto lets you create meaningless PowerPoint-like slideshows without all of that pesky, editing, creativity or thinking. I won't even mention the discipline, knowledge and sense of history required of artistic expression. "

I have to agree with Gary's description, EXCEPT that it does have educational value. It raises the bar.

To recreate the effects that effortlessly appear in one of these productions in any flavor of video editor you'd like would take a substantial amount of time, but because they are so easy to create, it makes those production values into vanilla. It's like the first time you play with GarageBand. You create a song, that really sounded like a song you'd actually want to listen to in a few minutes - wow. There was magic there. Then you play it for others and they start nodding their heads and tapping feet. More magic. But soon, the more you listened to what other made, using the program, all those loop diven tracks start sounding the same. To the point where, it's cliche, and boring.

What this has done, for students is that they have to produce better stuff. Don't get me wrong, I think that GarageBand is a fantastic tool and fun way to create quick songs, but if everyone's sounds the same - it begs you to be different.

As students create content and productions like Animoto become the baseline. It makes the quality of work of those trying to stand out have to be that much better. Our expectations increase, and educationally that's not a bad thing.

The Joys of Skype

Want a free download that allows computer-to-computer phone calls, chat, video, conferencing, and more? For a small fee you can add the ability to call regular phone numbers. If you don't have it yet, go here to download the Skype client. I would love to add "Learning in Maine" participants to my
Skype list. Very handy indeed.

My handle is adagio10. My email address is adagio@megalink.net .

Questions:

Who is already using Skype?

What wisdom can you share on that experience?

Skype Download

Listening

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a LISTENING ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ~ Leo Buscaglia

How well do we listen?

Listening Resources

Active Listening Resources

Students and Grief: What is a teacher to do?

by George Crawford

The second week of school is now over. Once again I am faced with a task that all teachers have had to deal with. Helping students learn to deal with grief. A girl in one of my classes has a grandparent that is not doing too well. She has been diagnosed with cancer and the prognosis isn’t good. This middle school age student is on the edge. She is trying to deal with the aspects of her grandmother in the back of her mind. She also has to deal with the issues of schoolwork and the daily life at school. She is sensitive and sometimes comments from her classmates don’t help.

As a teacher, I try to offer support, caring words, and share some of my own experiences. I also try to tell her that if she needs to talk that I will listen and the other teachers in the building will listen also. As teachers, what are we to do?

Every year across Maine, teachers and school staffs have to deal with the issues of grief. Sometimes the grief comes from the family of the students. At other times it comes from within the school community. Grief is something that teachers, students, and everyone have to deal with.

Things to Think About:

How can I help my students deal with grief?

What are some resources for dealing with grief in schools?

Does my school have an approach or plan for dealing with grief?

Link: ENCOURAGING YOUR SCHOOL TO BE GRIEF FRIENDLY

Maine Field Trips

An excellent resource for Maine Field Trips can be found at the Central Maine Self-learners Homeschool Group.

Questions:

How could this listing be improved? Are there other local possibilities you are aware of that could be added to it?

Maine Field Trip Resource

Literacy Across the Curriculum

Mountain Valley Middle School is involved in the Literacy Initiative of the Western Maine Educational Collaborative. Using the materials of Darlene M. Bassett, the good people in that school will be focusing on different reading strategies every month in all subject areas. This September the focus will be on text structures and text features. Along with the monthly school-wide emphasis, students will have the opportunity read books of their choice during designated times in the spirit of SSR, FRED, DEAR, etc.

Want to know more about this program? Check with new principal, Ryan Casey, at rcasey@msad43.org.

Literacy Across the Curriculum
Book Report Resources

Character Series: Humility

"The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature." ~ Joseph Campbell

Where does humility fit in K-12 education?

Humility Resources

Adult Education in Maine

Yesterday I was introduced to the world of adult education. I'll be doing some work with Oxford Hills Adult Education under a federal grant to encourage student "persistence" through a variety of ways . . . including home distance learning.

Jane Courcy and Ramsey Ludlow graciously gave me a crash course in philosophy, structure, buzzwords, and acronyms used. We also passed notes and understandings of how the grant might be implemented. I have a lot to learn. :)

One document they gave me that I had never seen before is "Equipped for the Future Content Standards," which I understand is the bible for structuring adult learning. This publication has its roots back in the early 90's and yet it seems so current. I'm impressed with its view of learning and education.

I was also pointed in the direction of Project Ideal which has a handbook for adult ed distance learning.

I'll be working with Ramsey on her U.S. history course using home computers of the participants. We looked at a variety of solutions for making the connection, including FirstClass, Moodle, and other online environments. We settled on Google online services because of universality, ease-of-use and dependability. See Kern Kelly's description of the Google options here.

Yup, I have lots of cramming to do . . . but I'm fascinated with the possibilities and also on how this model might be applied to K-12.

Maine DOE - Adult Education

Adult Education Association

Adult Ed Online

Google Tools for the Classroom

Maine Native American Studies

In 2001 there was a piece of legislation called "An Act to Require Teaching of Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine's Schools." Since then I haven't heard much about it. Does anyone have any updates on how it is being implemented in Maine schools?

Maine Native American Studies Resources

Follow up On Time vs Pay

Nancy Hudak wanted to post a response to the "Time vs Pay" post, but she encountered some problems and asked me to post her response. The following is her post:

As the union representative (MEA UniServ Director) for Aroostook County area local Associations, I appreciated Ed's comments and responded to him off-list because I only have dial-up service at home and posting a comment is problematic, at best. Today, I am at a hotel for a conference and have high-speed access (yay!) and so thought I'd try again.

What I told Ed was that under Maine law, local Associations are not permitted to negotiate planning time as part of the student day. Oddly enough, the Maine Supreme Court determined - many years ago - that planning time (as shorthand for any sort of collegial, collaborative professional interactions during a teacher's work day) is "educational policy", not "working conditions". As such, most language (if it exists) in local contracts regarding planning time is not legally enforceable. There are some exceptions and if anyone wants a short course in Maine labor/education law, let me know!

However, the problem as I see it is that if teachers are going to have regular professional conversations as part of their work, either the law (26 MRSA 965) itself has to change, the interpretation of the law has to change, or some other new law has to be put into place. Otherwise, teachers must count on local school boards/committees to see the need for professional time and put it into place. After that, teachers can only hope that no new board/committee members get elected who think planning time is unnecessary or that the new superintendent believes that s/he needs to "get tough" with teachers!

If you have a chance, you can check a new law which was enacted this past legislative session (LD 1859, which has not been incorporated into the online statutes as of yet) which does mandate some preparation time at the high school level only "to work collaboratively to design high-quality curricula, instruction and assessments [in specific areas]. It may be a start, but I haven't heard much about how it's being addressed around the state.

Thanks for the opportunity to make my pitch!

Nancy

A Wow! Moment in a Classroom

I was helping out in a high school science class last week. The teacher wanted to have a tool that allowed her to post a question to her students, and get immediate feedback with students' comments showing up quickly without having to get an e-mail approval. We were going to use a blog, but then I remembered that our school had a Think.Com account. The Think site is supported by the Oracle Foundation and has been around for a while. It has built in protection against inappropriate comments being made, and in order to get an account, the administration of your school must request it. It has a somewhat cutesy interface, but the students don't seem to mind that.It also has a lot of tools built into it, many of them like the ones on Moodle or Studywiz. Well, the teacher decided to give it a try, so she posted the following question. "What do you think the most pressing environmental problem is today?" The students immediately posted their ideas, but one among them was having some difficulty. This class contained a Spanish speaking foreign exchange student with limited English. She was having some difficulty with the language. In a few moments, one of her peers who could see that she was struggling, quickly accessed Google Translator and translated comments into Spanish so that she could participate fully. What a moment! The power of the internet.....Posted by: Becky Ranks