Do You Teach or Do You Educate? That is the Question...

As an instructional Coach, I struggle daily with the concept of the modernization of education.
What does that mean?

We are stuck in mindsets of the teachers who taught us who taught them who have, by now, died leaving us in a world that they would never recognize.  Yet, we persist in the lessons from the past.  It's what we know.  We teach as teaching has been taught to us.  This need to change.  We need to modernize our approach to education.

Although this is an older video by Pierre722, we need to shift our perception of ourselves from teacher to educator.  When I say shift our perception, I mean not just in title but in practice.  Can we do that? 

Uploaded on Jul 28, 2006

"Education is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a flame." - Socrates

Credit must go to Conjure One for the soundtrack - used without their permission. I made this using iMovie as part of a digital literacy program for teachers at the Foothill College Krauss Center for Innovation in Los Altos, CA. All the pictures I took on campus. Please feel free to use this video in any way wish so long as it is used to inspire others to educate!

Please feel free to use this video for any purposes that promote the discussion (and critique) of what it means to teach, educate, inspire, and otherwise prepare our young people to contribute to and help build a future with increasing promise for humankind.

Building Community in a Distance Learning Course

References

Cameron, B., Kostelecky, K., Morgan, K., and Williams, K. 2009. Group projects: Student perceptions of the relationship between social tasks and a sense of community in online group work. The American journal of distance education, 23 (1), 20-33.

Palloff, R., and Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: John Wiley & Son Inc.

Palloff, R., and Pratt, K. (2007). Building online learning communities. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons Inc.

Peck, M. (1987). The different drum: Community making and peace. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Powell, J., and Lines, J. (2010). Making learning personal: Recommendations for classroom practice. About Campus, May-June, 19-25.

Ritter, C., Polnick, B., Fink, R., and Oescher, J. (2010). Classroom learning communities in educational leadership: a comparison study of three options. Internet and higher education, 13, 96-100.

Steelcase WorkSpace Futures. (2010). How the workplace can improve collaboration: Converging spatial, social and informational trends are creating demanding workspaces that support new patterns of collaboration. White Paper, June, 1-7.

Static vs. Dynamic Technologies

I find myself tending to explore more and more dynamic technologies in my courses and with the teachers and students I work with.  The challenge in doing so, as a coach snot assigned to a classroom, is time.  Embedding these dynamic technologies in helping students explore and produce content, communicate with distant learners, and collaborate with peers synchronously and asynchronously is my goal as I hope to return to either a F2F or distance learning teaching position.   Until then I lumber in the midpoint with one foot in dynamic and the other stuck in the static use of technology.  I say this for I coach teachers in the use of technologies, but simply using them does not make them dynamic.  Technologies become dynamic when they are used to promote student production of information, collaboration on products they are creating, and communication among students is self-generated and interactive.  Alone the technologies are all static; we make them dynamic!

Engaged Learners

Engaging learners is a challenge in any educational setting.  However, when you take away the physical presence of humans, you are faced with an even greater challenge.  No longer are you able to read the body language or even verbal responses a student may have to a learning environment.  The level of learner engagement in an online course is dependent upon the tools and approaches an instructor elects to use.  As approaches to instruction are considered, there are three focal points we must consider: content, communication, and collaboration.

To foster the development of content knowledge, an instructor has a vast array of tools available.  Among them are vidcasts, podcasts, YouTube, teacher created presentations, Google scholar search, on-line encyclopedias including Wikipedia, blogs, Twitter, webinars, and articles.  The interesting thing about these tools is that they could be the same tools that students produce as a culmination of their learning.  With an online course, I particular enjoy viewing available videos to help build knowledge.  They offer a distant physical presence.  The videos may or may not be of the instructor facilitating the course; nonetheless, they provide the human figure which often lacks in a distance learning environment.  It is also a strategy that helps meet the needs of the diverse learning styles of our students.  Beyond video, the internet is perhaps the largest warehouse of information in the world.  Google search options like Scholar, online encyclopedias like Wikipedia, and social networks like Twitter provide endless access to knowledge.

Instruction is much more than ensuring that knowledge is accessed and acquired.  In order to assess that the knowledge is ingrained in the learner’s thought process, it is essential that communication occurs between students and with the instructor.  Communication can take a wide array of approaches.  There are the discussions that take place in virtual spaces supporting the course which include discussion boards and course cafes.  These are public platforms of communication and they may also include Twitter, social networks, and peer or class blogs.  However, communication must also occur in safe places.  Emails, Skype video calls or chatting permit students and teachers alike to have more candied conversations regarding the course work.  In these spaces support can be offered without discomfort.  Peers can not judge feedback in this space.

Collaborative tasks are at the core of instruction that engages learners.  Without the content and the communication this piece would not be able to exist.    Most of us are familiar with wikis, my preferred wiki is Wikispaces.  It is user friendly and ads free.  In spaces like these students can create content together and the instructor can monitor who is doing the work.  It brings collaborative group work to a more accountable level permitting instructors first-hand to confirm the contributions each member offers a group.  Discussion features allow peers to provide discussion point, reflects, and concerns regarding a page or product.  Google offers collaborative opportunities for groups to produce documents, projects, and even maps together.  However, my preference for presentations is Prezi as it permits shared creation of a project.  Finally, a valuable collaborative tool I would like to use more with students and peers alike is Diigo.  Social bookmarking is becoming a fabulous tool for students to share as they conduct research as part of a team.  Participants are allowed to highlight and level notes on a web page collectively.  These collaborative supports offer allow us to offer our students opportunities which span the spectrum of learning from information gathering to assessment.

Involving learners in building content knowledge, engaging in communication with peers and instructors, and working on authentic, collaborative, problem-based tasks in the online environment is readily achieved through the use of rich, web-based tools.  Everyday there is something new.  (I haven’t even begun to address the apps available to foster new avenues for content knowledge development, communication, and collaboration.)

References:

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Durrington, V. A., Berryhill, A., & Swafford, J. (2006). Strategies for enhancing student interactivity in an online environment. College Teaching, 54(1), 190−193.

Siemens, G. (2008, January). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers. ITForum.

Module 3 Post: The Assessment of Collaborative Learning

Collaboration is a vital skill for all learners to experience and find success. The challenge in any learning environment is to balance the individual skill and the collective skill assessments. Many of our students are assessed on their individual abilities, and often when they find themselves in an environment where they depend upon collaborative efforts of a group there is discomfort and anxiety.

Two years ago I was teaching a freshmen high school English class and ran into a situation that exasperated this scenario. In a multi-ability group students were assigned the task of translating a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" into an understandable representation to share with the class. The group size was five. They were given expectations and a rubric in advance. Groups received individual participation grades that were determined based upon the rubric and my evaluation as well as the groups evaluation. With two strong, dominating individuals in one group and the collective mark of a "C," I found myself after school reviewing the group rubric with them. These top students couldn't collaborate with unlike individuals. They didn't try. They didn't work as a team, and the other members couldn't work with them. In a face-to-face setting with students who have been together in their learning experiences since kindergarten, collaboration was not a developed or even introduced skill.

(I am wondering if performing collaborative tasks online may be more effective than face-to-face collaboration among high schoolers. It could eliminate those preconceived judgments people have towards one another. But this is another realm of research.)

Scott Peck is quoted in Palloff and Pratt’s work: “‘It is our task—our essential, central, crucial task—to transform ourselves from mere social creatures into community creatures. It is the only way that human evolution will be able to proceed’” (2007). For this to become a reality, as educators we need to focus on elevating the value of collaboration through strong collective assessments.

Assessment of collaborative learning is a challenge. If collaboration is an essential skill, it needs to be required for all learners. Yet, we are challenged with the notion of meeting individual learning styles of our students. If learners are more comfortable with independence, do we require collaborative work? I believe that individual growth occurs when learners find themselves in situations of dissonance. If collaboration is the key component in learning, instructors need to value it, require it, and support it. The role of an instructor becomes one that “help[s] the team assess whether those goals are being met, and provide guidance for any changes that might be necessary” (Carroll, 2008). It is challenging but vital to collaborative group success. We need to keep in mind that all learners have varying experience and success in collaborative groups. As instructors we are the strongest supports for our learners.

Through the use of collaborative groups, assessment comes at many levels. Signs of successful collaboration are found when “individuals must engage in self-monitoring, team process monitoring, and proactive commitment to the work of learning” (Anderson, 2010, p.460). Along the same lines, Palloff and Pratt perceive “student self-assessment as a crucial component of performance in an online course containing collaborative activities” (2005, p. 24). Instructor presence and peer evaluation are also important features of assessment (2005, p. 26). “Empowering students to take control of their learning process” (2005, p. 30) makes the assessment of learning an investment on the student’s part. It helps promote ownership in the act of learning, as well as, the fair and equitable assessment of that learning. George Siemens reinforces this approach by presenting a model that sequences assessment: students assess peers, students receive feedback from online community, and educators assess using contribution logs (2008).


As Siemens states, Americans traditionally value individual abilities. What will place learners on a level playing field so that they can be vested in the success of a team? Future job experiences will depend upon their collaborative skills. How do we shift mindsets of teachers and community members to value the collective efforts of our K-12 learners? If we can share a common perception of collaboration, our future growth as a society will flourish as Peck describes.

References

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Carroll, B. (2008, June 12). Assessing the quality of collaboration in virtual teams. Retrieved October 11, 2011, from Leading virtually: Leadership in a digital age: http://www.leadingvirtually.com/?p=54

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer) (2008). Principles of distance education. Baltimore, MD: Author.


Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2005). Collaborating online: Learning together in community. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Startegies for the Virtual Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Siemens, G. (2008). Learning communities. (Vodcast). Principles of Distance Education DVD produced by Laureate Education, Inc., Baltimore

Video Presentation Brainstorming Session...

So, I've selected BUILDING COMMUNITY IN A DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE. Beyond the articles I find, I plan to interview students and teachers who have lived the life of a high school distance learning course. I have emailed the NH Virtual Learning Academy to see if someone there would be willing to talk to me. Our high school does have two teachers who have and do teach through that academy, so I should be able to arrange time with them.

I need to keep in mind that building community is a challenge for even a F2F course. I have always prided myself on establishing a strong sense of community in that setting. My challenge is to identify the key components of community that are essential in any setting and then go from there.

Story Boardish narrative...
1. Title with welcoming music
2. A series of images that show community flashed rather collectively for a several seconds
3. Brief discussion of best practices in establishing classroom communities in general (include research)
4. Transition into distance learning with a deliberate, guiding question and images of a distance learning setting
5. Student interview about courses and feeling a part of a community (in both environments?)
6. Perhaps back to research support based on the information gathered
7. Teacher interview about how they build community (in both environments?)
8. Research information
9. Distance Learning administrator interview that I hope guides administrative expectations and expresses the value community has from their perception.
10. Hope to end with the wishes for the future of online courses from administrator, teacher, and then student stakeholders
11. Images of what distance learning community building looks like and music
12. images fading to resources with music.
13. Bluppers often help us realize that community was developed simply in the making of the video, a product of a distance learning experience. (Up for negotiation)

Love, love, love to hear your thoughts.

Collaborative Interaction: Module 2

George Siemens identified three elements of distance education “that are creating more effective learning experiences and giving distance education an identity of its own distinct from F2F courses.” They are global diversity, communication, and collaborative interaction. I agree all are vital to the success of a distance learning class. I would also add the element of establishing a sense of community, something that challenges even the face-to-face educator. Collaborative interaction is at the heart of building a community in a course.


In the blog “How the Workplace Can Improve Collaboration,” Hughes Marino Inc. explores the variety of ways collaborative interaction can occur in the work place. The focus of the information presented is establishing those collaborative space as necessary for the future of collective work. “With cloud computing one of the established trends of the decade and the launch of technologies like Google Wave and Intel’s Dynamic Composable Computing, worker data is becoming more easily shared, enabling new levels of synchronous collaboration for even distributed teams.” The technologies available are helping foster more effective collaboration in the workplace.

Many of the technologies available are allowing collaborative interaction to flourish. Through the use of wikis products can be created through team efforts. Shared documents, like Google Docs, do much the same; however, wikis allow users to collect multiple varieties of information in a single web page. Collaboration isn’t just limited to common spaces. Blogs can also foster collaborative interaction. Users of blogs permit ideas to be shared and feedback to be given through discussions. Another key tool that has helped develop collaborative interactions is social networking. This platform for collaboration allows for the number of people collectively developing ideas to be of a greater number. English Companion is a strong example of how teachers collaborate and grow as a group.

The rise in collaboration in the workplace is a direct result of the innovative tools available on line. However, blogger Alan Lew questions the accuracy of presented statistics regarding the use of social media among educators in his May 1, 2011, post. I believe he is correct we should question the research presented especially if it is unable to be supported by our own research. Knowing the importance of providing resources, it is difficult to validate the YouTube videos or multimedia presentations that do not reference sources. As writers we need to be certain to provide those references to help build our own credibility. None the less, Lew believes that the use of the tools I have mentioned above are on the rise—so do I.

We are moving to a much more collaborative world and the educational tools we use are fostering that shift.


References:

Hughes Marino Inc. (2011, September 21). Steelcase: How the workplace can improve collaboration. Retrieved September 28, 2011, from Hughes Marino: http://www.hughesmarino.com/resources/steelcase-how-the-workplace-can-improve-collaboration/

Kanuka, H. (2010). Understanding e-Learning technologies-in-practice through philosophies-in-practice. In T. Anderson, The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 91-118). Edmonton: AU Press.

Lew, A. (2011, May 1). Really? That Many of My Colleagues are using Social Media in their Teaching? Retrieved September 28, 2011, from Web 2.0 Teaching Tools: http://web20teach.blogspot.com/2011/05/really-that-many-of-my-colleagues-are.html

Oblinger, D. G., Barone, C. A., & Hawkins, B. L. (2001). Distributed education and its challenges: An overview. American Council on Education and Educause.

Parker, N. (2010). The quality dilemma in online education revisited. In T. Anderson, The theory and practice of online learning (pp. 305-332). Edmonton: AU Press.

Siemens, G. (2008). The future of distance education. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Simonson, M. (2008). Distance Education: Higher Education, K12, and the Corporate World. Baltimore, MD: Laureate Education, Inc.

Evolution of Distance Learning: Module 1

Blog Prompt: After reading the three articles by Moller, Huett, Foshay and Coleman, and listening to the Simonson video programs, compare and contrast the reasons these authors believe there is a need to evolve distance education to the next generation. Do you agree with their positions? Why or why not?

Everything must evolve. It is the natural order of things. Without an evolution, a change, or growth, stagnation settles in and all is lost or abandoned. Learning is no different. If an approach to learning is successful during a specific decade, the evolution of a culture will shift that success in the future and a new approach will need to emerge. It really makes sense. Our goal needs to be continual improvement.

Simonson, Moller, Huett, Foshay, and Coleman are accurate in their conclusion that distance education needs to evolve, as does education in the traditional sense of the word. A blending of the traditional and the distance education is one of Simonson’s conclusions. This argument best matches my own. The other authors seem to pigeonhole distance learning as a separate entity all together. In a way they are correct: distance learning should not be simply taking the traditional educational approaches and putting them online, and Simonson agrees with this argument.

In my mind the approaches of a distance learning experience should fuse into the traditional setting. It will truly shift the traditional approach of “professing knowledge” to the more innovative approach of “facilitating learning.” In the first trilogy of articles read, Moller and the co-writers argue that “while traditional instruction supports individual pursuit of objective and well-defined learning, it appears to be incompatible with the more social collaborative and dialogue-based learning models” (74). In fact, it shouldn’t be any different. Both the face-to-face and the distance learning environments should both do this well.

It's as if our focus needs to be on an evolution of education. And that evolution will result in pulling the best off the face-to-face settings (within and beyond the classroom) and the distance learning setting and infusing the best of each world within the setting that is specific to each. Now, that will be learning at its finest.

We are charting new territory, and our students will benefit!


References:

Anderson, T. (Ed.). (2008). The theory and practice of online learning. (2nd ed.). Edmonton, AB: Athabasca University Press.

Huett, J., Moller, L., Foshay, W. & Coleman, C. (2008, September/October). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 3: K12). TechTrends, 52(5), 63–67.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer) (2008). Distance Education: The next Generation. Baltimore, MD: Author

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, May/June). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 1: Training and Development). TechTrends, 52(3), 70–75.

Moller, L., Foshay, W., & Huett, J. (2008, July/August). The evolution of distance education: Implications for instructional design on the potential of the Web (Part 2: Higher Education). TechTrends, 52(4), 66–70.

Ken Robinson: Changing education paradigms

Every educator needs to check this out!

Moments like this...

I looked up and white cream lay thick upon her top lip. She noticed nothing at all as she continued to eat her cool whip drenched strawberry pie. That is until everyone took notice. I failed to be quick enough to click a picture with my cell before she licked it away with the biggest smile. Madeline had been our designated whip cream pie topper as we passed plates of strawberry and apple pie around the table.

It's these moments that evaporate worry and concern. My family is fine; we are safe. The videos, images, and maps that I spent hours solemnly viewing online this morning became more and more distant and surreal. I had been saddened by how quickly a typical day in a community could be decimated by a wall of water and devastating quake. Fewer families in the world will be able to experience the warmth that a child's smile can bring. The healing of a nation takes time.

Chapter One Evolution of American Educational Technology by Paul Saettler

• Chapter One Evolution of American Educational Technology by Paul Saettler

  • refer to art, craft or skill
  • Aristotle
  • the systematic use of knowledge for intelligent human action
  • "technology is any systematized practical knowledge, based on experimentation and/or scientific theory, which enhances the capacity of society to produce goods and services, and which is embodied in productive skills, organization, or machinery."
  • Bernard Gendron
  • Heinich, et al. defined instructional technology "as the application of our scientific knowledge about human learning to the practical tasks of teaching and learning."
  • 1. Physical Science or Media Approach to Educational Technology
  • 2. Audiovisual Communications: A Synthesis of Communications and Systems Concepts
  • 3. Behavioral Sciences Approach to Educational Technology
  • This approach has lead to two different instructional approaches in ET: the behaviorist concept and the cognitive concept.
  • 4. The Cognitive Concept of Educational Technology
  • * Attempts to understand the internal processes of behavior and emphasizes knowing rather than responding.
    * Views the learner not as passive but as active, constructive, and playful.
    * Learner becomes an active participant in the process of acquiring and using knowledge.
  • * The organization, processing, and storage of information by the learner constitute vital elements in instructional development.
  • * ET should focus on activating the appropriate learning strategies during the instructional process.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

l(a - Poem by E. E. Cummings

• l(a - Poem by E. E. Cummings

  tags: eecummings poets

  • l(a by E. E. Cummings

    l(a
    
    le
    af
    
    fa
    ll
    s)
    
    one
    l
    iness
    
    
    (1958)

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

E. E. Cummings Biography

• E. E. Cummings Biography

  tags: eecummings poets

  • born October 14, 1894 in the town of Cambridge Massachusetts.
  • His father, and most constant source of awe, Edward Cummings, was a professor of Sociology and Political Science at Harvard
  • left Harvard to become the ordained minister
  • E.E. loved his childhood in Cambridge
  • Attending Harvard, Cummings studied Greek and other languages
  • Cummings volunteered for the Norton-Haries Ambulance Corps
  • Cummings met another recruit, William Slater Brown.
  • Brown was arrested for writing incriminating letters home, Cummings refused to separate from his friend and the two were sent to the La Ferte Mace concentration camp
  • The Enormous Room is Cummings' autobiographical account of his time in the internment camp
  • Cummings and Brown returned back to the states in January only to see Cummings drafted back to the war that summer
  • Cummings and Elaine's marriage ended
  • had no concept of how to treat his new wife correctly, so she found herself love in the arms of another man
  • Cummings' father was abruptly killed and his mother was injured seriously in a car accident
  • a locomotive cut the car in half
  • Cummings also successfully married and divorced Anne Barton in the five ye
  • 1932 is an important year for Cummings because it is the year that he met the woman that he would ultimately spent his remaining life with. Marion Morehouse was twelve years younger
  • Tunisia, Russia, Mexico, and France
  • traveled the world
  • wrote many anti-war poems in protesting America's involvement in Europe and the Pacific
  • collapsed from a cerebral hemorrhage
  • death, three more volumes of his verse were published (p. 484). Counting these works, Cummings died leaving behind over twenty-five books of prose, poetry, charcoal and pencil drawings, plays and stories. He did all this in his sixty-eight years of life.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Langston Hughes- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More

• Langston Hughes- Poets.org - Poetry, Poems, Bios & More

  tags: LangstonHughes poets

  • February 1, 1902
  • Missouri
  • parents divorced when he was a small child
  • raised by his grandmother until he was thirteen
  • travelled to Africa and Europe working as a seaman
  • known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the twenties through the sixties
  • known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing
  • enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s
  • Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experience and the common experience of black America
  • wanted to tell the stories of his people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including both their suffering and their love of music, laughter, and language itself
  • died of complications from prostate cancer in May 22, 1967, in New York

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Dream Poems by Langston Hughes

 

• Dreams
  by Langston Hughes 

  Hold fast to dreams
  For if dreams die
  Life is a broken-winged bird
  That cannot fly.
  Hold fast to dreams
  For when dreams go
  Life is a barren field
  Frozen with snow. 
  
  Dream Deferred
  by Langston Hughes

  What happens to a dream deferred?
  Does it dry up
  Like a raisin in the sun?
  Or fester like a sore--
  And then run?
  Does it stink like rotten meat?
  Or crust and sugar over--
  like a syrupy sweet?
  Maybe it just sags
  like a heavy load.
  Or does it explode?

  

  Dream Variations
  by Langston Hughes
  
  To fling my arms wide
  In some place of the sun,
  To whirl and to dance
  Till the white day is done.
  Then rest at cool evening
  Beneath a tall tree
  While night comes on gently,
  Dark like me-
  That is my dream!
  
  To fling my arms wide
  In the face of the sun,
  Dance! Whirl! Whirl!
  Till the quick day is done.
  Rest at pale evening...
  A tall, slim tree...
  Night coming tenderly
  Black like me.

  
  

   

 

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Langston Hughes: Gale - Free Resources - Black History - Biographies -

• 
  

  • Langston Hughes

    (1902-1967)
    Writer, editor, lecturer

  • novelist, columnist, playwright, and essayist
  • world travels influenced his writing
  • His long and distinguished career produced volumes of diverse genres and inspired the work of countless other African American writers.
  • "a Harlem Renaissance poet"
  • search for employment led his mother and stepfather, Homer Clark, to move several times.
  • households of his grandmother, his mother, and other surrogate parents
  • Hughes often transformed his own agonies into the sufferings endured by the collective race and sometimes all of humankind.
  • After graduating from Central High School in Cleveland in 1920, he moved to Mexico City to live with his father for one year.
  • race, class, and ethnicity
  • poverty
  • world travels
  • Paris
  • Africa
  • Washington, D.C.
  • first volume of poetry, The Weary Blues, appeared in 1926
  • soaking up theater and music in nearby New York City
  • A second volume of poetry, Fine Clothes to the Jew, was published in 1927
  • first novel, Not Without Laughter, published in 1930
  • He expressed disappointment with the completed novel
  • In 1930, however, Hughes separated from the control and the financial support of Mason.
  • integrity meant more to him than any luxuries her wealth could provide
  • began to tour the South with his poetry
  • Hughes created poetic and dramatic responses to the men's plight and the mixed reactions of the American public.
  • Russia
  • explore the Soviet Union
  • saw many reasons to appreciate communism
  • openly praised practices he had observed in the Soviet Union: no "Jim Crow," no anti-Semitism, and education and medical care for everyone
  • World War II Efforts
  • Hughes escaped military service
  • put his pen to work on behalf of political involvement and nationalism
  • encouraged readers to support the Allies
  • During the 1940s Hughes's poetry also continued to be published: Shakespeare in Harlem (1942), Fields of Wonder (1947), and One-Way Ticket (1949)
  • Cold War
  • Hughes endured several years of attacks and boycotts
  • insisting that the pro-Communist works he had published no longer represented his thinking
  • Hughes chose self-preservation and sustained his career as a writer
  • Frenzied Work Pace
  • accept multiple book contracts simultaneously
  • frantic pace of writing, editing, revising, and publishing from the 1950s to the end of his life
  • The last ten years of Hughes's life were marked by an astonishing proliferation of books: juvenile histories, poetry volumes, single genres anthologies
  • Hughes was inducted into the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961
  • Hughes's death on May 22, 1967, apparently resulted from infection following prostate surgery and two weeks of treatment

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What is poetry - The definition of poetry.

• What is poetry - The definition of poetry.

  tags: Poetry define

  • Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;"
  • Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;"
  • Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing."
  • unwillingness to be defined, labeled, or nailed down.
  • Poetry is the chiseled marble of language; it's a paint-spattered canvas - but the poet uses words instead of paint, and the canvas is you.
  • economy of language
  • considering a word's emotive qualities, its musical value, its spacing, and yes, even its spacial relationship to the page.
  • Poetry is evocative.
  • evokes in the reader an intense emotion: joy, sorrow, anger, catharsis, love...
  • surprise
  • Poetry is artistically rendering words in such a way as to evoke intense emotion or an Ah Ha! experience from the reader.
  • It doesn't like your definitions and will shirk them at every turn. If you really want to know what poetry is, read it. Read it carefully. Pay attention. Read it out loud. Now read it again.
  • defining poetry is like grasping at the wind - once you catch it, it's no longer wind.

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Blind Date by Carbonneau

Blind Date by Carbonneau: "Picassohead"

Webinar Notes: World of Warcraft

Date: Thursday, July 29th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86942

Many students today are engaged in what some have called a parallel curriculum. This learning isn't taking place in desks or even in schools, but rather in virtual spaces called Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games or MMORPG's. These game-based worlds force players to tackle a variety of cognitive challenges that scale proportionately as their skill level and proficiency increases. These persistent game worlds are also intensely social spaces, forcing players to work cooperatively in a variety of roles to advance in the game, fostering communication and even leadership skills. These are the very "21st-Century Skills" that schools advocate but are often failing to produce. What might it look like, though, if these games were brought into the classroom? How does this look, logistically? Are there solid curricular connections? Join us for an interview with Lucas Gillispie and Peggy Sheehy, two pioneers who are doing just that with the popular MMORPG, World of Warcraft.

Lucas Gillispie has been an educator for more than a decade now, working as a high school science for ten years before taking a position as a district-level instructional technology coordinator for Pender County Schools in southeastern North Carolina. Lucas holds a MS in Instructional Technology from the University of North Carolina Wilmington where he completed thesis work researching the effects of a 3D video game on middle school student’s achievement and attitude in mathematics. His interests include gaming in education particularly the use of MMORPG’s (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplay Games), mobile game-based learning, virtual training and simulations. His current projects include the WoWinSchool Project, a collaborative effort to explore the impact of using World of Warcraft in both an after-school program and as part of the regular instructional program and iPod Games for Learning, a program that explores the use of game-based learning using the iPod Touch. His presentations have been well-received at Games, Learning, and Society, Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education, Games in Education, NCTIES, and NCDLA among others.

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Notes...
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Cognative Dissonance (A guild of educators learning to game/Gaming to learn) 250 Members. International group.

Some skills that may carry over:
Sense of direction and map reading
Economics

Curricular Ties:
1. After School Program
2. Communication Skills
3. Leadership (create guild, vote, decision making)
4. Creative Writing about their Guilds and Characters
5. Will be a Language Arts Elective
6. Cultural Comparison (in world and virtual world)
7. Motivational aspect.

Join wiki at http://wowinschool.pbworks.com.

Buy software $30 buy software package and there is a second [ackage for more advance access. Subscription $15/month or Buy 60 day game cards $30.

http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/pd_list is a site that is free for educators to explore the potential of gaming. Staff Development is available. Worth exploring. "BronStuckey: Contact me for more information about Quest atlantis bestucke@indiana.edu"

Bill Brown: The auction house is another amazing tool for learning. The economy of WOW (a truly free market economy) has been the subject of several college courses. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1385158/world_of_warcraft_as_a_college_course.html

Teachable moments online during games when you offer comments when you are playing at the same time.

World of Warcraft (WoW) in Education

Lucas Gillispie
Peggy Sheehy


Notes for todays session:


Josh Wilson: The Jesse Schell TED talk is also good. I highly Recommend Byron Reeves' "Work Sucks, School is Great" as well.

As far as Steve's question about the Virtual World or game becoming more attractive than the real world: I think it saves my sanity daily after a day at school. It helps me leave those frustrations behind and have a life that is NOT dictated by the worries of my classroom and school.

Review the research of Constance Steinkeuhler

Vormamim the Patient: were building Animal Farm in VWs - uses game based - wow like approach - CYBERGOGY

Student thoughts towards WoW -

Cory English: I think the greatest part of the experience is the continuous raising of the bar to set acheivable goals for yourself and your guildmates, and continue onto the next step. There really is no ceiling for goals. Just as I'm listening to this, I received my acheivement for Lormaster (Doing a large number of quests through the World of warcraft universe) and am setting my sights for the next goal.

Tripp Gregory - NCSU: As you mentioned earlier, one of the most exciting aspect of the game was its ability to turn anyone into a leader. I was a good student (correct me, former teachers of mine, if I am wrong) in most regards and I wasn't antisocial by any means...but playing WoW definitely turned me into a very strong leader as Lucas touched on. Every night for weeks, an hour or more a night, I led 10-40 people from all over the country in raids...it was great! Lots of experience.



Additional links:

BronStuckey: Seminole County Schools FL Quest Atlantis Summer Camp 2010-what integrative learning! http://youtu.be/wjJAqjiweGA

Bill Brown: The auction house is another amazing tool for learning. The economy of WOW (a truly free market economy) has been the subject of several college courses. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1385158/world_of_warcraft_as_a_college_course.html

BronStuckey: http://atlantis.crlt.indiana.edu/site/pd_list

Hillary: @Ed Jones : Constance Steinkuehler at UW - Madison - http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/mmogresearch.html

BronStuckey: http://www.QuestAtlantis.org

Vormamim the Patient: also from Blizzard - http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/215926/the-real-science-of-starcraft-2

Cindy: http://website.education.wisc.edu/steinkuehler/blog/

Lucy Ganfield: I would love to help, with my SWAT program, (Students Working to Advance Technology) after school program structure, and my work as an online instructor with Learn NC, I am Moodle trained) to help with lessons on student leadership with my program resources at www.swatweb.net I will get in touch. I am in Apex, NC

http://www.ted.com/talks/jane_mcgonigal_gaming_can_make_a_better_world.html

Moderator (PeggySheehy): http://wowinschool.pbworks.com/

http://www.vlcglobal.com/

Moderator (PeggySheehy): http://www.pbs.org/kcts/videogamerevolution/impact/myths.html/

Terry Smith: James Gee - video for later on gaming benefits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGd1URORsoE

Josh Wilson: another resource: http://www.learninggamesnetwork.org/

Lisa Linn (Clarevoyant): how about Virtual Environments instead? We already have a SIG dedicated to that http://sigve.iste.wikispaces.net/

Enzo: several MMORPGs share similar characteristics... some "clone" WoW very well for FREE... what are some of the reasons why you choose to use WoW instead of Perfect World, for instance? or Jade Dynasty http://jd.perfectworld.com/

jokay: Watched amazing video about creativity yesterday.. think it applies to both social media and gaming .... ‎..new media supports creativity, & this creativity creates happiness through meaningful work and ties with community.. http://bit.ly/cnIZsl

Zoe (@zbpipe): My 9 year old wrote this blog some time ago about Warcraft (begging for help- so mom would change her mind). I needed THIS session back in January. http://waxter.edublogs.org/2010/01/07/world-of-warcraft/

Moderator (Lucas Gillispie): Check this out - http://www.mmogchart.com/

jokay: List of MMOPGs here - http://wiki.jokaydia.com/page/Mmog_list

Laura: MIT has some really good educational games--a lot of the researchers play WoW: http://gambit.mit.edu

Josh Wilson: US legal system games: http://icivics.org/

Webinar Notes: The Future of Education

Classroom 2.0

A live and interactive FutureofEducation.com interview with Sam Chaltain, author of American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community.

Date: Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
Time: 5pm Pacific / 8pm Eastern / 12am (next day) GMT (international times here)
Duration: 1 hour
Location: In Elluminate. Log in at http://tr.im/futureofed. The Elluminate room will be open up to 30 minutes before the event if you want to come in early. To make sure that your computer is configured for Elluminate, please visit http://www.elluminate.com/support. Recordings of the session will be posted within a day of the event at the event page.
Event and Recording Page: http://www.learncentral.org/event/86940


Sam Chaltain is a DC-based educator and organizational change consultant. He works with schools, school districts, and public and private sector companies to help them create healthy, high-functioning learning environments. Previously, Sam was the National Director of the Forum for Education & Democracy, an education advocacy organization, and the founding director of the Five Freedoms Project, a national program that helps K-12 educators create more democratic.

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NOTES and THOUGHTS.............................................................
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Collaboration can't be effective without that self-reflection, or individuals will be counteractive in the collaborative efforts.

Order, Structure, Control. Three vital aspects of education.

"Begin talking locally about order then decide the structure that will achieve that order."

Structures: http://mc2paedia.wikispaces.com/
Other website to explore: http://rethinklearningnow.com/

Modern Society The Matrix... Jeff McMullen... Mining our minds for the precious material. Need a deeper paradigm shift individual that is realized collaboratively.

Rethinking education is a process.

Seeing major shifts now. The shift will never end. The process is slow.