Testing the New iPhone App

Well it's the end of the world and at 12:34 I thought I would send this test. Here we go.

Weekly Evaluation Form for Field Students

11/26 - 11/30 - Weekly Observation Form

I am using this form and feedback to support practicum student teachers in the field. Using Google Drive and its form function, I can easily create and embed forms. I use the data from this form to direct support in areas the students need specific work and focus. I also email this form directly to the Co-Operating teachers. Thank you for your feedback.

Why Recess is Important

Here is a Prezi created by SEDU 183 students who were tasked to research a 21st Century issue surrounding technology, teaching, or learning. This group jumped outside the box to discuss how we shouldn't loose sight of play and recess in the quest to digitize education. Enjoy.

Why Is Recess Critical To a 21st Century Classroom on Prezi

Spread the News: The Teaching Channel is Amazing!

I am very excited to feature a great web resource to you. My wife found out about this when she was looking for resources for a faculty meeting. The Teaching Channel is a compendium of comprehensive and growing videos that are easily organized, saved, shared, and soon to be downloadable. Moreover, the videos are focused on Common Core and Best Practices. 


Here are the categories delineated by subject, grades, and topic. Notice the 140 videos all relating to the Common Core integrations. 



Not to mention they have some really teacher friendly tools like the Workspace. Here teacher, administrators, and coaches can schedule videos, save links, and connect to other educators. 

Overall the site is very easy to manipulate and maneuver. Check it out: The Teaching Channel

Communication and Collaboration with Google Forms

I do not know why this took me so long to make this connection, but in time all things seem to come together. As a university supervisor with 19 field and student teachers spread across a wide variety of rural, suburban, and metropolitan placements, I am always looking for ways to facilitate communication and collaboration between all stakeholders. 

View My Supervising Travels in a larger map

But to my point of this post. The forms feature in Google Drive is an excellent way to collect authentic data on my students in the field. I try to visit each student every week and with additional support when needed, but with 19 students currently in the field, it is quite a task. So any opportunity I can gather direct feedback from the cooperating teacher and the student, I am all for it.


Once the form is created on Google Drive, you can embed the form or email it to the intended audience. Once it is completed by  the recipient, the data is driven directly into an editable, malleable, spreadsheet that I can use to support my students. 

I really like the options Google provides in the question format.  Scales, short and long answer responses, checkboxes, multiple choice, and more, the options are duly sufficient to collect the data that you want. 


The ubiquity of the templates are a nice touch too. No longer a boring white and and black form, Google gives you 97 options for jazz up your collection of data. Simply select and apply. 

Now, I created the form first and then Google generated the spreadsheet. You can choose the reverse by creating a spreadsheet with your questions as the fields and then you can generate the form and then edit the style of questions. I found it easier to deal with the form first; however, if I do this, Google recommends to the creator to not change the spreadsheet in any manner because it may, and it did for me, render the form useless

 

Here are a few of the questions I asked. You can see the spreadsheet is very clear. I can track data overtime on a particular student. Notice in column J I ask "Where do you think they need the most immediate work?". This question is really telling and allows me to direct literature, videos, and other target resources immediately to the student. I do this by using an online file sharing program The Box where I share a folder with a community and a folder directly with the student. 

I hope this has been helpful. If you would like to discuss this further please feel free to contact me. 

KidsBlog: A Great Place to Start

Kidblog is a creation for teachers by teachers. An Edinboro University student Chris LaFuria is integrating blogging into his student teaching experiences for his students. His cooperating teacher, Ms. Barbara Beebe and the Language Arts department showed an interest in blogging and Chris took the lead by discovering KidBlog and working into his practice. 

KidBlog is absolutely FREE! This is a great selling point, but FREE junk is still junk. KidBlog is not junk. It is a powerful blogging platform that features an intuitive student publishing interface, full privacy settings, IPad App publishing, secure SSL logins, and much more. An advanced feature, also free, is the ability to embed Web 2.0 tools like Prezi, Animoto, and Glogster. The downside is the 500 mb of upload space, but that can be easily overcame through outside file sharing programs like Dropbox, Box, or Google Drive. 

KidBlog is a great resource for teachers in districts which do not currently have classroom management systems that allow for student blogging and file sharing. KidBlog really sells the safety and control aspect that is so important to teachers especially teachers whose immersion into technology may just be above their ankles. The platform, I believe is Wordpress, and that makes it easy to navigate, publish, and manage student blogs. 

I like the "Blog" page. Here real teachers using the program in their classrooms share ideas and successes. It would be nicer if these were archived in a sidebar. It would make it easier for explorers to find quick associations with teacher of similar stories. The posts contain videos and pictures that really help to tell the story. Check out 1st grade teacher Karen Lirenman's post by clicking on the picture to the right.

"Over a million K-12 students have a voice at KidBlog. . . Set up your class for free in 20 seconds." Is a nice opening and selling point.  The banner at the bottom suggest well of 2 million blogging students. That is exciting to see and know. 

The support is strong within the website and on YouTube which has several tutorial videos to help teacher bridge the digital divide. Below is a great video created in 2010 which suggests KidBlog is making a lasting impression. This video features Katie, a KidBlog blogger sharing her own story with the program.  

After Chris has a chance to really get deep into his experience with his students, I will interview his, maybe his students, and link it to this post. 

Blogging in the Classroom

Today I am presenting at Corry Middle in Corry, Pennsylvania  to the Language Arts Departments on blogging in the classroom. They have already decided to blog inside their classrooms, but felt they needed a little guidance in creating a purpose and plan. I am using this Google presentation to guide our discussion, share some examples of teacher and student blogs, and invite them to a shared network folder on The Box where I have and they can share resources.

 I invite the teachers to visit this post and leave feedback on the presentation and information provided. I will follow up with this post after the presentation.

The Follow Up

What an excited group of educators. As a department, they are excited about bringing the publication aspect to their students. We discussed various strategies of managing student blogs vs. a classroom blog. I shared my own experiences using Blogger and a few the need to establish a concrete framework of routines and expectations. I also stressed that when they were ready to publish student work or have students generate their own blogs the importance of building an established audience of peers for each students. For more on this check out my post on How I Manage Blogger post.

SIde note: I was impressed with my two student teachers who were already deep in research and study on Blogger - good job Missy - and Kidsblog - good job Chris. At Chris' cajoling, I check out Kidsblog and think it is great. Check out my post on Kidsblog.

Finally, 

Thank you so much for the opportunity to come to your school and share ideas. Thanks for being risk takers and seeking discomfort for our students. 

Do You Know Erie?

This is a video update to the original "Did you Know Erie?" created in 2008 by Jeff Hutchinson and supported by the GE Foundation. This update serves as a reminder of the continued need for awareness surrounding inequity in our schools, poverty in our community, disparity between races, and local funding of education. 



This video was created for the open panel discussion "The Effects of Educational Inequality on Our Community: It's Time to Stand Up for Our Children" which was sponsored by the Secondary Education Club, the Department of Elementary, Middle, and Secondary Education, and the School of Education here at Edinboro University.

Feel free to comment, but keep in mind this was created with the intention of awareness and this is not a platform for vitriolic discussions. 



Thank you for your considerations - good people do good things. Be good.

Day Two of Student Teaching Practicum

Fun, fun, fun, that was the agenda at least for me today. We surprised our student teachers between placements today with a FLASH MOB inspired by our department chair Dr. Kathleen Benson - brilliant! - and delivered by our very own Edinboro Dance Troop. We rehearsed for about 20 minutes the day prior under the divine leader ship of (I will find out). We then waited for the right time and FLASH! The dance troop was interloped within the other student teachers who didn't even now they weren't student teachers. They started - we joined - and a flourish of others zoomed in and made us whole as we danced to LMAFO's "Party Rock Anthem" sans vulgarity. Once I have a link to our actual video, you can enjoy this original with vulgarity:)

BalddaddieTeach as a Poet

I love teaching. I love experimenting. I love sharing. Here I am reading poetry on September 29, the day before my 44th birthday. This was a national event 100,000 poets and musicians for change and took a big risk to share my poetry. I must tell you it changed me and moved me to share these very personal pieces. Feel free to comment.  I hope you enjoy.

Order of Poems:
"Hold Me"
"Power Tools"
"She is Tall Now"
"The Occasioned Solitude"
"Kings of Suburbia"

Student Teaching Practicum

Today Edinboro's current Student Teachers in the field experienced their mid-placement Student Teaching Practicum. This event is planned between the first and second placements.



Dr. Johnson and I presented a work shop Enhancing Student Teaching through Technology. The first half Dr. Johnson demonstrated iMovie, Inspiration, and Comic Life. With full engagement and humor, he promoted the use of video integrations, concept mapping, and just making the classroom a place of risk taking and excitement. 



I presented a few web sources in the hopes of triggering excitement for the exploration of resources. The first was this tool Blogger and the possible uses of a blogas a portfolio and reflective tool. I then reinforced the idea of Twitter as a start to expanded the student's personal learning network. I shared this link on following and finding educators on Twitter. We quickly moved in to the great pedagogical resources from University of Oregon The Teacher Effectivenss Program.. This is great resources from first day teaching to assessment. The Ducks got this one right!  Finally to just touch on Flipped Learning I showed the students Khan Academy and introduced the idea that the information delivery or concept introduction can be done from home and the exploration and discovery can be done in class. Flip it, reverse it, and make it new!

Thinking about the 21st Century Book

As with the evolution of newspapers, the book as a form is in change. Digital books are here. With the emergence of the Ipad, Zoom, Kindle and many others, these devices are able to platform E-Books. According to Amazon CFO Tom Szkutak, "Millions of people now own Kindles. And Kindle owners read, a lot. When we have both editions [hardcopy and digital], we sell 6 Kindle books for every 10 physical books. This is year-to-date and includes only paid books - free Kindle books would make the number even higher. It's been an exciting 27 months." That was in January of last year. By July of last year, Amazon announced Kindle book sells surpassed their hardcover book sales. Naysayers dismissed this, and held on to the paperback with bulwark resolve. However, the tides continued to encroach, and Amazon duly reported in February that E-Book sales exceeded paperback sells.

Overall, my 9th grade advanced students are strong readers. Some by choice; some by habit, but pretty strong in general. Before I shared these statistics with them, I had them journal about their own experiences with books. First I had them create a list of adjectives (at least 10) describing an actual physical book and/or the experience of reading a book. Then I had them recall and write descriptively about a positive reading experience. I had them focus on who was present, where it took place, how they felt. Their responses were traditional and expected. Lists included parents, siblings, soft lights, hard books, bright pictures, beds, comfort. Titles were shared: A Hungry Caterpillar, Good Night Moon, Harry Potter, Jane Eyre. (She's an AVID reader!) However, every one of their lists excluded their experiences having anything to do with an E-book. Even though a few have books on digital devices.

I then showed them this video "A Next-Generation Digital Book" from TED Talks featuring Mike Matas from Push Pop Press

It was interesting to hear the students reaction towards this type of book. They immediately saw a connection between this and their textbooks.

"We wouldn't need book bags!" Jose shouted.

"Imagine biographies," I said.

"Then why would we need the History or Biography channels?" McKenna posed.

Kyle thought he would read more. That it looked like a video game, and "it looked a lot cooler than a raggy old book."

But as much as I played devil's advocate, they wouldn't or couldn't see the application in their fiction. They held their ground. Alyssa succinctly put it like this, "They would still our imagination." The class mostly agreed. Nevertheless, Kyle was ready to turn in every hard covered, paper backed, book he owned.

This conversation lead us into our discussion about technology development in Rand's Anthem. Here the World Council spent 100 years weighing and implementing the candle. What are their fears? What will they lose? What will they gain?

We brought the conversation back around to reading, books, technology, and change. I posed the same questions: What are your fears? What will we lose? What will we gain? Their responses were responsible, grand, even dismissive, for their entire technological life experience has been about change. This was just another development that they could quickly compartmentalize the use of: nonfiction - great; fiction - no way. As I read their exit slips, it seemed to me they were protecting those experiences they wrote about at the beginning of class. And for those avid readers, a more cautionary tone was evident - "No one is taking my book from me." - Sean

Ten things an Administrator can do to Make Me a Better Teacher

After serving in a variety of learning communities, I have compiled a list that if implemented by an administration in one institution at one time would make me the best teacher I could possibly be.  So here it is:

 The Top Ten things an Administrator can do to Make Me a Better Teacher

1.  Be a teacher! Don’t forget your roots. Your empathy of the demands of a classroom teacher is necessary for us to communicate fairly and effectively. More importantly, as a teacher you can share your expertise with me. I can learn from you because you have the privilege to see all of my colleagues in action. I am sure what they are doing and how they are doing it is relevant to the learning in my classroom.
2. Understand that the key to lowering your discipline workload is to be in my classroom and seeing what I am doing to stimulate and motivate my students. Maybe you can share some insight into that difficult child.
3. Ask to see my lesson plans not because you have to verify I am following the curriculum or checking a box, but because you earnestly care about the why and how I am teaching. Use them as conversation starters with me or other teachers. Give me feedback if you have a better way or a resource that will tweak my lesson and then follow up with me to see how the lesson idea or resource went. This will show me that you care and more importantly show me you are a resource that I can trust and use. Oh, and if I know you are doing this, then I will meet your expectations happily and readily.
4. Protect my instructional time, in fact, promote it. This shows me that you value what I am trying to do in my classroom and that you really do expect learning, exploration, and discovery to happen from bell to bell.
5. Create a mission statement that I am involved in and can believe in. Make sure everything we do as a school and that I do as a teacher is tied into those beliefs and ideas. Display it everywhere and on everything. Let it be central to every decision you make and it will be central to every decision I make.
6. Model good practice in every meeting and professional development opportunity you provide. As you model this, integrate technology effectively. This will show me that you expect the same and that we are a community of learners.
7. Control the clutter. Keep the entire email list to the staff limited. I shouldn’t have to filter my inbox because I know that everything that is sent to me is relevant to my classroom.  When it’s important I will know and read all of it, and you can hold me accountable to it.
8. Protect our students and me from solicitations that detract from our mission. This will tell me that what happens in this building is not for sale or sponsorship. That what we do here is highly important and unequivocally sacred.
9. Be healthy. You are my leader and resource. I need you in school and on your game. Moreover, send that healthy message throughout the school. Invite me to walk around the track with you after school, remove the soda and candy machines or replace them with healthy choices, and  create intramural games we can play after school. Ask me how I am feeling and share with me what you are doing to look and feel so great. This will make me healthier and happier knowing I have a support system in school and that you want me here and not using my sick days.
10. Acknowledge me. Tell me I am doing a good job when I am doing a good job. Show up in my classroom and ask me what my goals are today. Ask me to show my colleagues my lesson or that resource that you saw me use. Ask me to sit on a committee and tell me why you think I should. Tell me how it will make me grow or send me to a conference and expect me to share when I return. All this will show me that I am valued in this community. That I have contributed to its development and can grow and be stronger in it.

Two More for the Blog Roll

I am asking my students to expand their blog roll today in my SEDU 183 class Teaching and Learning with Technology. In doing so, I decided to model the expectations for my students (always good teaching practice). Anyway, this weekend's assignment is to locate two outside blogs, add those new blogs to their blog roll, and then post about what is so great about these selected blogs. The added requirement is to hyperlink the titles of each blog.

The first blog I would like to highlight is Dean Shareski's Thoughts and Ideas blog. Dean's blog was an exemplar in Will Richardson's book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (3rd ed). This blog has evolved since the publication, as I am sure Dean has. What I truly like about Thoughts and Ideas is Dean's readable voice. I know that's corny, but I really like his writing style. It is conversational while being wise at the same time. I really enjoyed reading his post "Things that Suck". The obvious title drew me in, but here he shared a unique way to share "civil discourse" while exploring and sharing diverse opinions. This is great for a classroom teacher to promote discussion, an administrator to use with parents groups, and budding professors like myself who dislike the echos in the ivory tower and would much rather hear the ramble of academic discord. I recommend checking out Dean's blog and adding it to your reading list. 


The other groovy blog I would like to shine a little light on is the Cool Cat Teacher Blog by Viki Davis. I stumbled on this a few years back when I was a high school English/Literature teacher and found it very useful. Viki's post from last October, "10 Ways to be a Terrible Teacher" is indicative of her whimsical common sense style that makes a blog reading fun and insightful. Not to mention her blog has over 6,000 readers and won the Blog of the Year in 2008. Too cool. 

Important to Me

My teaching style has developed the same way  my wife's early dating career had. . . I know what I don't like in a classroom,so eventually I will find what I do like. Here is what I dislike:

 



YUCK!

• I don't like rows. 
• I don't like teachers desks that take up nearly 30 to 40% of classroom space. 
• I don't like teacher podiums and stools 
• I don't like lanyards with red pens dangling from them.
• I don't like white washed cinder  block walls nor linoleum floors.

What I do like . . .

More stuff. . . .

My 21st Century Classroom Project

SEDU 183 Final Exam: My 21^st Century Classroom

Summary: For this project you will create your 21^st Century classroom focusing on the following characteristics of a networked classroom:  transparency, collaboration, student centered learning, accessibility, communication, inquiry based learning, and promoting authentic assessment. All outside resources (sites and tools) used will be sourced in the Annotated Bibliography.

Rationale: Since day one, I have asked you to be risk takers, seek out answers to your own problems, and think beyond the current norms and mores of today’s classroom. We have worked to create a Personal Learning Network to support these tenets and begin the habits of effective exploration and discovery. This project not only pushes you to unpack your understanding of the content, but also requires you to demonstrate the skills and resources used during the semester. 

Equivocation: Since we are talking about transforming schools rather than just reforming them, you have every opportunity here to create your ideal classroom. However, what must stay in the realm of possibilities. Remember a dreamer needs a realist as much as a realist needs a dreamer.

Due Date: The final product must be live and active on the day of the final exam. You do not need to come to class, but I will be evaluating your pages during our exam time. 

Procedure: 
Create a separate page for your project on your blog titled “My 21^st Century Classroom.” 

1.  All material related to this project must be accessible from this page alone. 
2.  All links and embedded content must be live and working at the time of evaluation

Create all the following Sections with all of the required content:

1.  Welcome - Embed your "This I believe" video and provide a small narrative telling us what it is and what we will see. You will also link your to your own reflection post from this project.  
2.  My Classroom -  Create and provide a graphic representation of your classroom with a detailed narrative explaining how the construction promotes:   transparency, collaboration, student centered learning, accessibility, communication, inquiry based learning, and or promotes authentic assessment. (Address at least 3 areas)
3. Rituals and Routines -  Explain what daily rituals and routines you will use inside your classroom then explain how they promote:  transparency, collaboration, student centered learning, accessibility, communication, inquiry based learning, and or promotes authentic assessment. (Address at least 2 areas)
4. Instructional Glimpse – Describe a typical lesson that would occur in your class. Use the some or all of the components appropriate to the plan for your level and discipline.  (See Plans)
5. My Technology Integration - Explain how you will use technology (tool specific) to connect students and teacher inside the classroom, publish student and teacher work locally and globally, connect students and teachers outside the classroom, connect with experts around the world, and collaborate with others to creates and share knowledge.
6. PLN - Describe how you will continue to use and grow your personal learning network as a learner and as a teacher. 
7. Feedback – Create and embed a Google form to collect information and feedback. Also, leave your active email in this section, so I can use it to quickly email your rubrics to you.  
8.  Annotated Bibliography – Source all borrowed information and Web tools used in the creation of this project.  Use Easybib.com to format your sources according to the MLA standards.
   

Qualifier for Narratives:
All narratives must be highly readable. That is they should be grammatically correct, organizationally coherent, detailed and specific, and contain embedded content and hyperlinks to outside resources. 

Expectations:

Your project page must contain all of the following elements:

1. All sections and required content
2. One self-created digital media that is embedded
3. 5 images
4. One embedded graphical representation of your classroom
5. Bountiful links to outside resources and tools
6. A form for feedback on your classroom

Assessment:

This project is worth 100 points x 3 towards your final grade. Your project will be evaluated in two domains: Content and Usability. On the day of the exam I will use the two rubrics to quantify your grade for the project. I will also complete your embedded form.  Be sure to leave a place for me in the form to leave comments and your grade. I will email you my rubrics to you once I complete my evaluation.

Project Evaluation: After you have created your project, complete the form below and have a great day. 

Grading Domains 

Domain: Content

This domain seeks to find answers to the following questions:

 Is all the content presented and accounted for?

·         Is all the content believable?

·         Is all the content explained and rationalized?

·         Is all the content grammatically correct and has no misspellings?

·         Is all content borrowed sourced?

Domain: Usability

This domain seeks to find the answers to the following questions:

·         Is all the digital media and rich text relevant, effective, and working?

·         Is the page neatly organized and visually pleasing?

·         Is this page a valid resource for others to use and model?

Teaching and Learning with Technology Syllabus

Course Rationale: SEDU 183 Tech for Teaching and Learning

To ensure a quality teacher, this course offers students an in-depth exploration of various desktop and web based learning/teaching technologies that students will and can use in their own learning and requires them to consider the implications of technology in their future classrooms. Moreover, this is the first education course that focuses on teaching and technology integrations. This course aims to provide students with a model for student centered learning while working to create and promote personal learning networks and professional learning communities. 

Course Description: This course is an educational technologies course for pre-service teachers. Based on the International Society in Technology Education (ISTE) standards, students will explore the theoretical and practical applications of diverse desktop and web based technologies and use blogging to share and demonstrate student learning and discovery. This course is approved for General Education:  Computer Competency.

Course Objectives: The Participants Will . . .

1.    through selected readings  and activities develop an understanding of the teaching/learning process in relation to the emergence of the "information age.”

2.    reflect on the scope and scale municipalities and localities face when facing integration decision, implications and issues.

3.    actively participate in a personal learning network and a professional learning community.

4.    create technology enhanced learning experiences while developing technology skills reflective of the best practices and applications which assist the learner in achieving pre-selected behavioral objectives.

5.    compare and contrast the effectiveness of various technology types and how they impact the teaching/learning process. 

6.    demonstrate ability to analyze and utilize web 2.0 technologies for the enhancement of content delivery, assessment, and ubiquitous communications.

7.    demonstrate operational competencies with selected hardware which is currently used in the instructional process.

8.    demonstrate ability to utilize prepared software on the personal computer.

9.    demonstrate literacy in terminology related to educational technology, computer hardware, and computer literacy.

Instructional Methods and Topics: Participants will . . .  Discuss topics in large and small groups, work independently and collaboratively to achieve learning goals, and demonstrate learning through participant artifacts shared through blog posts, and in formal and informal presentations.  Participants will participate in a completely paperless classroom. 

This course explores the following questions:

·         Is technology vital in today’s classroom?

·         Are you ready for today’s technology?

·         How is learning changing in the face of technology?

·         What type of teacher will you be?

·         What role does technology play in learning and teaching today and tomorrow?

·         How can innovations, including technology, be sustained in schools?

Course Policies

·    Attendance will be completed each class meeting in accordance to Edinboro University Policy. Roll will be taken each class and excessive unexcused absences (any absences beyond three class hours) will be considered in determining final grades, one letter grade for each class hour missed past the limit is the general guideline. In an emergency, or for an illness requiring an extended absence, notify the Student Support Office (732-5555, Ext. 234) so that all of your instructors can be notified of the reason and duration of your absence by email.

·    Assessment and Evaluation in this course will primarily come from group evaluations and project based assessments. All projects and group activities will have a rubric. There are 3 levels of assessment each increasing with the degree of difficulty, time, and labor requirements of the assignment. Level 1: 10 – 20 points (Reading checks, Exit slips, Show What you Know Activities); Level 2: 50 points (Extended Responses, Informal Presentations, Quizzes); Level 3: 100 – 150 points (Formal Writings, Group Projects, Formal Blog Reviews, Final Exam)

·    Assignments: This course is a paperless class. Most assignments will be posted on your blog by the assigned date. I will comment accordingly and any corrections warranted must be made. Other formal submissions like papers are to be turned in digitally and graded digitally. All work will be submitted in the appropriate MLA style and in the appropriate dropbox before the start of class. If a participant misses a submission deadline, you must email the assignment or email of the updated post and explain why the assignment is late. When an assignment is late it is not eligible for resubmission. Please use the subject line: LATEWORK (then identify the assignment title, course, and Section Number), Penalties for late work are at the discretion of the instructor. Penalties range from a 2% to a 25% depending on tardiness and frequency. If late work seems habitual, the instructor will address the issue and make the appropriate referrals. All assignments must have Participant’s name, course name and section number in the top right hand corner.

·    Blogging and Your Blog You will create and maintain a web blog throughout this course. Every assignment, artifact, and reflection will be posted and/or situated on your blog. When you blog, please understand this is a professional iteration of your academic ethos. Be honest, reflective, and appropriate. A successful blog is dynamic, timely, and interesting. Your blog will be formally evaluated four times throughout the semester.

·    Mastery Learning is the idea that virtually all students, provided suitable provisions can be made in the time allowed for learning and provided that the quality of instruction be held at a high level (Gagne). Students can resubmit work until the ability level demonstrates a mastery.  You are able to resubmit any and all assignments only if the original assignment meets the following requirements for resubmission: you have met with Mr. Smith to clarify expectations and understandings, the original assignment was submitted on time, and the original assignment meets the minimum expectations and requirements. You have 1 week to resubmit the work. If the assignment was a group activity and your group decides it does not want to resubmit, you may complete an alternate assignment of equal expectations and objectives.

·    Student Centered Learning is a key to the success of this classroom. My intention is to place the tools, objectives, and the problem in front of you and allow you the autonomy to seek your own understanding. I believe that Knowledge is constructed by students and that the [teacher] is a facilitator of learning rather than a presenter of information. (Rogers). Here are the characteristics of my classroom (Lea et al): 

1.     The reliance on active rather than passive learning.

2.     An emphasis on deep learning and understanding.

3.     Increased responsibility and accountability on the part of the student.

4.     An increased sense of autonomy in the learner

5.     Interdependence between teacher and learner.

6.     Mutual respect within the learner/teacher relationship.

7.     A reflexive approach to the teaching and learning process on the part of the teacher and learner.

·    Technology usage in the classroom and outside of the classroom is encouraged. Please bring your phones to class; participants will use these in coursework, and bring your own laptops and tablets. Be sure they are vetted through the technology office. You are also responsible for maintaining all of your login information. I don’t now want to waste time in class on these issues. Solve them yourself through the technology office on campus. Please keep in mind when in the classroom, there will be times when direct instruction or whole group discussions will necessitate your complete attention and not require technology. I ask that you keep in mind this general rule while in class: All technologies during class time are used for educational purposes and not for entertainment. Participants are asked to be respectful of this policy. Abuse will be dealt with individually.  Students changing control panel settings or deliberately erasing a resident file will be denied further use of the computers and assigned a seat away from the computers.  The computer keeps a record of when actions are taken.

·    Professionalism in and outside of the class is expected. Participants are expected to be trustworthy, respectful, responsible, fair, caring, and good. Dishonesty, cheating, plagiarism will be processed in full accordance with the policies of the Elementary Education Department and Edinboro University of Pennsylvania.

Course Expectations:

The Instructor expects Participants will . . .

·         actively participate in the blogosphere and the personal learning network.

·         be punctual, present, prepared, and actively engaged in every course meeting.

·         ask questions to ensure clarification and understanding.

·         communicate in advance with the instructor prior to class if you will be absent and follow up with the instructor and D2L

·         communicate with the instructor in advance of course meeting times if you are seeking clarity on an assignment.

·         submit all assignments in the required format and meet all assignment deadlines.

·         reflect on class activities and assignment according to Curriculum Framework belief statements.

·         behave appropriately and respectfully.

·         be honest and honorable in all aspects of your participation and production in and outside of this course.

The Participants should expect the Instructor will . . .

·         actively participate in the blogosphere and the personal learning network.

·         be punctual, present, prepared, and actively engaged in every course meeting.

·         question all participants.

·         provide several modalities for communication and counseling for every participant.

·         design lessons and assignments that are grounded in the beliefs statements of the Curriculum Framework and that meet and challenge the needs of each participant.

·         provide constructive and timely feedback and evaluation.

·         respect all participants.

·         protect the learning environment by dealing fairly and swiftly with errant issues within the class.

·         be honest and honorable

Equivocation and Philosophy

I opened this document with objectives first to set the stage for the things you will do and learn. What is missing is the equivocation. Yes, you will at times seem lost. Yes, you will work hard and find it difficult working with others. Yes, you will struggle. But know that you started this journey because something or someone ignited a passion for learning within you. If you approach this experience with humility and grace, but more importantly, as a learner, the hard work and the struggles will have been purposeful and the experience so much richer. I believe that as much as you can learn from me, I can learn from you. In our class and in your education always be a risk taker, have fun, and ask questions.

Course Schedule

The following schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor according to time constraints, resource availability, and student needs. Please refer to this as a guide.

Week	PLN	Activities and Topics	Assessments	CF
1	Introduction	Intro to Class and Blogging; What is a PLN? Introduction of text	Setting up Blog (Level 1 10 points); Blog Lesson 1 (Level 1 25 points); Post “The Power of Networked Learning”	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
2	Chapter 1	Blogging continued/Lesson Planning	Post “Understanding the Power of PLN’s	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
3		Desktop Publishing: Doc, Exl, PPt	Lesson Artifact; Reflection Post;	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
4	Chapter 2	Web 2.0 - tools and gadgets; Tool Discovery Project	Blog Eval (Level 3 100 points);	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
5		Digital Imaging; Tool Discovery Presentations	Lesson Artifact; Reflection Post	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
6		Open Source Resources	Article Response Post	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
7		Podcasting; Tool Discovery Presentations	Post “Becoming a Networked Learner” Reflection Post	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
8	Chapter 3	Podcasting	Podcast Project Artifact; Lesson Artifact and Post	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
9		Video Blogging/VideoPSA; Tool Discovery Presentations	Post “Implementing a Networked Classroom” Individual Vid/Blog; Blog Eval (Level 3 100 points)	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
10		Video PSA/Presentations	PSA Project Artifact	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
11	Chapter 4	Hardware: Tablets, laptops, Scanners, Whiteboards Tool Discovery Presentations		C, D, E, G, H, I, J
12		Google Docs Project	Post “Becoming a Networked School”	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
13		Your 21st Century Classroom Project	Blog Eval (Level 3 100 points)	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
14	Chapter 5	Workshop	Post “Ensuring Success of Learning Network Adoption”	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
15	Epilogue	Workshop	Epilogue Post	C, D, E, G, H, I, J
Exam		Present to Group	Final Exam/Group Rubric	C, D, E, G, H, I, J

Statements A, B, are embedded in Mr. Smith’s daily lessons and practice as he models and utilizes his teaching practices and skills to deliver and create a student centered classroom. Due to the nature of this course, students will be giving back to an online community by voicing their understanding on their blogs and sharing this with the community at large as a resource.