The Dragon Scroll

Props to Chris Dawson over at ZDNet who got me digging what Wolfram Alpha can do for me and my alternative students when it comes to math (see Need help in math? Try Wolfram Alpha here).

I remember reading several blog posts earlier this year heralding the arrival of this math/science based search engine, but I tabled any real investigation. Until I read Dawson’s post and considered the ramifications for alternative and remedial teachers, in particular those with access to an interactive whiteboard (IWB).

First, remedial and alternative learners share the fact they don’t always track the traditional problem-solving steps. Consider traditional algebraic teaching models – write the problem, follow prescribed steps, repeat, repeat until memorized process ingrained in student DNA. In the case of an alternative learner these students actually need to see the answers first, layer a map of the process over this solution, then return to another problem, identify the steps they just saw, then solve according to those steps, then, attempt the problems either on thier own, or against the silhouette of the process map.

Whew! No wonder these kids give traditional teachers fits, and traditional processes give these kids fits.

Enter the wonders that are Wolfram Alpha and your IWB.

Before continuing, let me state I believe the value of the IWB is not in it’s software, though there are many, many powerful and useful tools bundled by manufacturers; instead, it the strength of the IWB rests in being able to open a window to an entire class of students to enhance their understanding. (need convincing head here, afterfinishing this piece of course)

So, in the midst of an aiding my alternative students with their mainstream algebra unit, thanks to W/A I now have the capacity to re-teach material as my students learn best.

“Schlegs, what does it mean – solve 6x+8?”

A few tap son my IWB and I’m at Wolfram Alpha, where I simple enter “solve 6x + 8″ into the search bar. Voila! A solution shows up in both numeric and graphic forms.

No so fast, critics who say this merely gives an answer. Remember, these are kids who likely need to see the entire big picture before they see the pieces.

So, I can select “show steps”, and there are the steps to follow.

The IWB offers a window into this, but even better is how I can use a screen/image capture tool to import the search result into my flipchart, notebook, etc., and then annotate before the entire class. The steps, already there, are ready for analysis and identification. Better still, I retain a digital copy for future reference when needed. And, as we add layers to basic problems, we can repeat the process, and then compare/contrast basic problems with more complex ones.

Surely, this is one wolf that could keep alternative learners off our schools endangered species lists.

My 14 year old body shook and my fists clenched with vim and vigor when I learned that 1979 fall morning my buddy Don Scheirenbeck and I were headed to see The Who come December 3rd.

My arms clenched tightly one around Don’s arm, the other around his mom’s boyfriend’s arm that electric December Monday evening as the crowd surged forward back, left, and right, each of us wondering when, for God’s sake, we would get in to see the show.

I can’t say we wondered at the moment whether or not people were being harmed. We did question why the “security” personnel opened doors, peered out, and shut them in a quick and hasty retreat.
Until, naturally, we came upon a disheveled and rattled Steve Upson on the arena concourse. Steve, himself bullied by the surging mass, was all too aware of what had gone down. He picked up an unconscious fan suffocated by the surge, only to receive nothing more than seemingly helpless shrugs and indifference from authorities nearby.

Still, I didn’t fully absorb the magnitude of the night -at least not until I was greeted by a tear-filled long and strong embrace at my front door; or learned the news at school Tuesday morning that 3 of the 11 killed were my classmates.

It’s 30 years ago tonight. It could be tonight for how I feel right now.

So, 1000 miles from Cincinnati I’m holding my own tribute. Earlier today I shared this history with my students, shared with them my story of being “there” when, tragically, history was made. Tonight I writing this and listening to The Who’s Greatest Hits via Grooveshark.
Rest in peace Jackie Eckerle, Karen Morrison, Steve Preston, and 8 others who died an all too early and senseless death

I found this over at Mr Robbo The PE Geek, a really cool, innovative, and back door way to bring the cell phone into learning. We could all stand to make our worksheets more than just a boring piece of paper.

These days we’re all about the cell phone at Schlegsoftonka.

Chalk this obsession up to a 6th grader in the house who attests he is “the only one in my classes without a cell phone.” Or, perhaps it’s no fewer than four instances stressing the place and value of cell phones in our lives, and the lives of our students.

A few weeks ago, I conferred with a colleague and a shared student to stem a pattern for failure. “What’s the easiest way to get in touch with your dad?” asked my colleague, Tim. “I can text him now, and he’ll get it when he wakes up for work,” replied our student. And she did, with our blessing, in spite of the fact her phone is to be in her locker from bell to bell daily.

Days later, as I met with another students, his father, and a team of concerned teachers, the father himself requested text message updates to best keep tabs on his son’s behavioral and academic progress.

There it is, in the line of our duties, specific examples of how access to cell phones has a practical place in education. And that’s not even mentioning the academic potential.

Speaking of academics, recent news out of Florida reveals schools in Wesley Chapel are integrating cell phones as essential tools. Specifically, the AP reports, “Tech savvy teachers are asking students to use their phones to record foreign language assignments, take photographs for projects and do mini-Internet searches if they have a Web browser.” These practical applications of a common technology not only make good education sense, but refelct afiscal responsibility as well, given that “A majority of teens have a cell phone today, and with many schools unable to afford a computer for every student, teachers are starting to see them as a helpful learning device.” Clearly, there is great potential and a high degree practicality of surrounding cell phones.

Finally, and perhaps the incident having the most significant impact on me has to be a recent report in National Geographic in which Chinese atrocities against the Uygurs was clearly documented through the lens of a bystander’s cell phone (find the photo gallery here; find the article here).

I was taken aback by the images NG placed in the beginning of the magazine (2 men marching toward the authorities) and later at the outset of the print article (the image of a fallen protester), because (a) they represented a lay person’s first person perspective and account, and (b) they pointed directly to the power of the first person experience.

The events in China are just that, an unspeakable tragedy. But they were documented by an innocent bystander. While I hope our students aren’t bystanders in the learning process, I do hope they are given the opportunity to document what they are learning and access the information they need to learn best. And, it just may be the mobile device that best helps them do this.

I just had a Facebook moment. You know, one of those interactions in which one of the real values of teh site/utility screams out to you.

To understand where I am coming from you need to know where I’ve been. I’ve had a Facebook account now for about a year, initially intrigued and drawn in by the chance to add friends, many of whom I have not seen or heard from in the 20 years we have been apart.

So, like most users, I searched what was familiar, my past, and added friends. Over time, though, I realized these friends, for the most part, are where they belong, in the past. Enter my present phase of Facebook usage – finding those in your present and seeking to connect with them.

Today, however, my true past, my real lineage, has come a calling through Facebook:

“I’m your Aunt XXXXX’s youngest daughter. While we never had the chance growing up to know each other, maybe at least through FB we can reconnect and get to know each other. If you want to be FB “friends” maybe it will give us a chance to catch up. In any event, I wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!”

One day with my wife, I counted my family members. I didn’t knwo a single one beyond their name and their genreal relationship with my family. Now, a cousin has come calling, one with whom I never had a chance to connect due to family dysfunction and a separation fo several states.

I have a cousin. She found me on Facebook. I think I’ll take a chance to connect

Today, my students discovered three things: (1) what a can-can dancer is; (2) the artists music mogul L.A. Reid has produced and the connection he has with their teacher; and (3) this can be accessed mid-lesson for everyone to see with just a few points and clicks.

Thanks to the Promethean ACTIVBoard in my room, I can turn a reading activity into an exploration. Unlike a conventional whiteboard, I can give more visual clarity to my struggling readers and high-fliers alike. I can readily provide context and a scaffold upon which they can start hanging meaning.

Over at Becthablog and The Interactive Whiteboard Revolution, Chris Betcher has been entertaining the idea of doing new things in new ways with the IWB. Moreover, he has been extolling the virtues of the IWB as a tool bundling multiple technologies and thereby expanding teaching and learning to encompass previously distinct and sometimes disconnected facets of lessons into singular experiences.

If I was sold on the tool before, today I’m willing to set up a sales center.

A week ago, my lesson involved exploring the different media giants and their spheres of influence. This morning, in a related lesson I introduced a New York Times article concerning MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. In this activity, I was able to display the entire text of the article complete with select terms hidden from view. At their desks, students could complete the reading cloze activity, and see their words appear in a contrasting color as we read through the article. In addition, we were able to take notes individually on paper, and collectively on the ACTIVboard.

The flexibility this provides is unparalleled. When a student asked, one paragraph into the reading, “What’s a can-can dancer?” I could bypass some fumbling attempt at “teacher all-knowing fount,” and jump right into a Google search. When the “Who is L.A. Reid?” question arose, Instead of shrugging my shoulder and spitting back context clues from the article, I was off to Wikipedia where we learned exactly who he is.

I want to echo what I’ve read on Betcher’s sites – the board itself isn’t the be all end all. Instead, it’s what the tool allows us as educators and learners to experience that we otherwise might miss out on.

Reflecting on my lesson, I know my kids were better off for my being able to jump through the window that is my ACTIVBoard into the web where answers could be quickly found. I also know that the visual, large-print version of the article accompanying their paper version was an enhancement – we could experience the work individually and collectively without missing a step.

If you have an IWB, you (hopefully) know this already. If not, then have I got a tool for you.

In this age of portable, mobile technologies in which schools and educators race to acquire and integrate these technologies as if in the climactic landrush scene from Far and Away, it’s easy to lose sight of some of the real possibilities.

Now, by real I’m talking negative here. In the last two weeks I learned of two distinct instances in which the portable nature of today’s technology has actually facilitated a tragic outcome.

First, there is the instance in which a teacher and spouse were dining out and returned to their car to find the school issued laptop had been stolen from the parked vehicle. the second involves a teacher utilizing a mobile laptop cart left the room briefly only to return to discover her teacher laptop had been stolen.

Both instances serve notice that our portable technology is coveted. Moreover, the person outside may by someone envious, less fortunate, or simply malicious.

I wonder, what are the guidlines schools are using as they acquire and integrate more protable technologies. And, how will these guidelines change as the devices grow increasing smaller in size and stronger in their function and utility.

Thoughts anyone?

Mass. high school principal bans students from saying ‘Meep!’ after repeated disruptions | StarTribune.com.

I’ve taken time before to talk about teaching responsible use of technologies, and, it’s time again to address how we as educators respond to, incoporate, and teach to effective and sensible use of social tools such as Facebook.

Progressive, technology advocating educators across the country are all too familiar with administrations making sweeping proclamations about the use of social media and other web 2.0 tools. They are also all too familiar with students making inappropriate use of social media.

Now we have a case in which a seemingly well-intended administrator leverages information gleaned from Facebook to thwart a silly act of teenage rebellion, itself set into action by buzz on Facebook.

Excuse me for a moment, my soapbox is ratehr large, nd I have to move it into place. Okay, I’m all set.

First, let me acknowledge that while Facebook is not the villain,  it was a tool by which Danvers, Massachusetts, students sought to spawn a disruptive act. And, for his part, Danvers High School Principal Thomas Murray was merely trying to quell a disruption so that teaching and learning weren’t adversely affected.

However….I wonder how many teachers and students at Danvers High School are working with, and learning together about web 2.0 technologies and thier effective use in school. How often are the students in DHS given real problems to solve through teh use of collaborative tools or leveraging social media such as Twitter or Facebook. This incident reveals teens have the desire and ability to make things happen. Unfortunately, and I know I’m making some assumptions here, it seems the kids haven’t been engaged in learning how best to utilize these technologies for real learning and meritorious problem solving.

Worse, still, the faculty, families and students at DHS will now engage in the all too familiar knee-jerk locking down and hatch battening that usually accompanies such technological “threats.”

This said, perhaps I’m way wrong, and I’ve underestimated everyone here from the top down, and the kids were merely participating in a project about  the impact of social media on teen and school culture, and using teh stunt as a means of gathering data.

Sure, and I really want the flair and invitations to games and causes my Facebook friends keep sending me.

Earlier, I posted about teachers taking the lead on responsible and appropriate use of handhelds by integrating and teaching to their utility and possible uses and applications.

In the back of my mind I wanted to refer to a British PSA released earlier in 2009 (it’s below). About this video, David Kasumoto, writes,

“Mr. Watkins-Hughes is also a lecturer for the Documentary Film and Television department at the Newport School of Art, Media and Design in Wales. He enlisted his own students to work on the film, which was made for – and with – the Gwent Police Department, located about 150 miles west of London. Mr. Watkins-Hughes says the longer-version of this film will be shown at schools this year, to be incorporated within what’s called the Personal and Social Education (PSE) curriculum. And he’s now in talks with the BBC to have the film, presently entitled “COW” – to be broadcast later this year throughout the U.K.”

I had seen the PSA earlier based on a prompt in my Twitter feed, but wasn’t aware of its origins. I understand this is the product of professionals and higher education stakeholders, but it sheds light on how students can be engaged to create meaningful content. This content, in turn, can be incorporated into legitimate curricular settings, such as the U.K.’s PSE curriculum.

The latter idea is what I find really worth commenting on. So, this video gets incorporated into a curriculum. And kids watch, gasp, and weep (some), and nod their heads in somber understanding. But, have they seen and worked with the these devices in a meaningful, appropriate alternative within thier daily work to develop a more sound understanding of the tool in their hands.

Here’s the video. It’s worth the watch as it really does depict what could happen, and the stakes in the handheld game

PSA Texting and Driving, U.K., August 2009, (HQ) Master Original Video

By their very nature, kids are inquisitive and experimental, especially when it comes to what they perceive is cool and exciting. Take handheld technologies such as the iPod Touch or a data-enabled cell phone. Even more “traditional” technology tools such as laptop or desktop computers have a magnetic attraction for many kids.

Today, a  couple of things I read and saw reminded me that for all their acumen our students seldom know how to use the technology tools they have wisely.

First, there is the story of a bully prevention program recently called into the Monticello, MN schools to deal with a climate in which students were “sexting” as a means of bullying and intimidating others (find my highlight here: http://www.diigo.com/07sw9 the entire article may be found here: http://tinyurl.com/yf90lm8 ).

Next, there is this image I saw as I left Minnetonka High School this morning. Great, timely message, especially considering a few years ago 2 MHS seniors were killed in an auto accident with handheld usage believed to be a contributing factor.

Left unchecked and, really, uneducated about the positive, practical uses of cell phones, students have chosen to utilize their mobile devices for inappropriate purposes with sometimes deadly consequences.

We spend hours educating our kids from early ages about interpersonal space. appropriate touch, and substance use and abuse, stressing responsible, positive choices. Yet when it comes to the handheld device, we banish any thought of the subject. Instead, we draft student behavior codes emphasizing the tools are to be locked away from 10minutes before school until the final bell. Likewise, any teaching to safe, appropriate and responsible use is locked away.

Administrators and teachers alike are want to exclaim, “It’s a Pandora’s box. Once the phone/iPod comes out in class, the kids are distracted.” To this I ask, “What would it be like in a classroom if we distracted our students with real, engaging uses of these “taboo” tools  in school?

Consider the what ifs:

1. What if kids texted data in from the field/lab or from their small group?
2. What if kids successfully integrated math calculations into Social Studies lessons because they utilized the calculator on their phone?
3. What if students used their cell phone, iPod Touch, or Nano (latest gen) to create a video response to an essential question?
4. What if kids conducted a texting while tasking simulation to get the point?
5. What if iPod Touch apps were utilized in a classroom?
6. What if kids accessed lesson content on their iPod?

What if we started integrating and teaching responsible use?