I believe that learning is a lifelong journey. I conduct workshops and training sessions helping learners of all ages develop their skills in critical thinking, reading, and communication. This site is an ongoing presentation of the conversations along my learning path. So join me.
Chalk
Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered
traversing my way through the Blogosphere. From professional to
personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way
touched my head or my heart!
More on ISTE's NECC09 and EduBloggerCon (my head is still processing all the great info, my heart remembering the great friendships forged! Hope to see you all in Denver for #ISTE10)
I went directly from NECC to two days with Omaha Public Schools ELL/ESL teachers (a great group of leaders!). I look forward to talking more about both events next week! Have a wonderful holiday weekend.
I like to use the last day of the month as a way to look back at some of this month's best posts (and the year before that), a bit of reflection and a bit of a reminder in case you missed a good one:-)
I also like to take this time to say a big "Thank You" to those who listen; those who share; those who teach with abundance of care. I am your biggest fan! Together...
I so thoroughly enjoy Angela's Promise Poem, after creating the Wordle yesterday, I invested some time in creating The Promise Poem slideshow. Hope you enjoy rereading as much as I do:
We're on the final turn before my biggest event of the year, the 8th Annual Maiers Literacy Bootcamp -- and this year the intensity is packed into a single day. We'll be looking at how to design a great student experience, core curriculum, habitudes, and several breakouts on using technology and techniques to enhance teaching and learning.
One amazing thing about this event is the response I've received from out of the area. Not just outside of Iowa (though several are coming from various states), but several outside of the continent! Actually had a few teachers from Brazil and Australia inquire about coming.
So...
We'll be making the keynote (and possibly the closing segment) conversations accessible to the global community We'll be doing so via UStream, Cover-itLive, and Twitter.
(If you're thinking about registering at the last minute, stop thinking and just do it -- or just show up at the door. It's already a full house...but why not?)
It's been less than two years since I've begun laying digital footprints, and I am so thankful for the friends, teachers, guides and collaborators because of the tools that are available to use. Would you believe two years ago, if you'd have searched my name, you'd find one single picture. Unfindable two years ago. WOW!
So stay tuned. Though only a small portion of the day will be available Live, I'm sure many of the presenters and participants will try to keep the conversations alive in the breakouts.
Thanks for a great two years! Here's to a smashing day on Monday.
In this TED talk video, Clay Shirky says we are witnessing the end of the era of top-down control, and a big reason is the social prowess of tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and SMS and TXT messaging.
There is an important message not to miss here: Where conversation is hushed and (attempted to be) controlled, collaboration is slowed and ideation, production, and creativity are stunted.
I'm a big fan of Twitter, not only for its connective and collaborative possibilities - but the real-time search of breaking news (as Clay points out several times in this 17-minute video). I love, love, love the changes that are happening. And what great possibilities for our learning and our teaching!
Chalk Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered traversing my way through the Blogosphere. From professional to personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way touched my head or my heart!
With less than two weeks to our Des Moines 21C Literacies Day, I thought we'd share the C's of the breakout sessions:
------------ Breakout Session Descriptions
CORE HABITS: Habitudes Core habits - The Habitudes of the 21st century learner is really a core piece of this day, and every day going forward as learners. Without the right Habitudes, their future success will be limited. This session will explore tools and strategies to help identify and teach students the importance of Imagination, Curiosity, Perseverance, Self-Awareness, Courage, and Adaptability.
COMMUNICATION: Read/Write Images, sounds and animations — like words — become important building blocks whose meanings to help all voices be heard. Just as the same words and phrases can be arranged or manipulated to express different meanings depending on the author’s intent, so can sounds and images. In this session, tools to create various content and message types will be explored.
COLLABORATION: PLN - Sharing/connecting
You know my motto: We are smarter together. Time, space, and geography are no longer limits to collaborative possibilities. We will explore tools and projects that will help you create a personal learning network so you can take charge of your own professional learning, make collaboration and connecting easier, and give you ideas for classroom implementation to meet Iowa Core Curriculum standards.
CONTRIBUTION: Publishing Web 2.0 Information and content have traditionally been relatively static things, created once and rarely if ever changed. People don’t just refer to information, or just copy it, they interact with it. They modify it, they create it – and this is to be encouraged. Tools such as podcasting, video-casting, and photo sharing will be examined in this session.
CONTENT INTAKE: Infosumption The amount of content available is growing at an exponential rate, and can become overwhelming to even the best of researcher. The ability to use rapidly changing and evolving technologies to safely filter and find content in order to achieve our personal or professional goals is a critical 21st century skill. This session will support teachers and students to be able to find information they need, determine its importance and authority, and how to use itor share it.
CHANGE: Change Agents For leaders and school administrators, this session will support you with resources and practices as you continue to move your schools forward in the process.
There are still a dozen seats remaining. Register Today.
Questions regarding college credits, timing, and other bits of info will be covered by both email and the blog. Thanks!
To prepare for the conversations, I asked students to describe what reading and writing is like in various content areas. The most immediate answers centered around "facts to be memorized,"
"vocabulary to be defined," and strategies to "remember EVERYTHING to pass the test!"
In school, content reading and writing instruction revolve around consuming and remembering what someone else has produced.
In stark contrast, outside of the classroom, "content" is positioned in a drastically different way. We are simultaneously filters, producers, and co-creators of content. Successful producers of content must do more than simply churn out meaningless facts and ideas.
Successful online writers use their creative and curious spirit to generate content not only to inform, but will inspire, even transform the lives of their audience. Success on this age of read/write web is not determined by how much you know, how many pages of content your produce, or how long you have been "expert" in your content area. Success is determined by how your audience responds. If your readers are not impacted by your message, then how much you know matters little.
We must prepare our students for a very different relationship with content. Perfect penmanship, knowledge of participles, and the perfect 5-paragraph essay will not be enough to adequately prepare students for the content that will be mediated and vetted by a global audience that demands consideration.
Our students must leave our classrooms understanding how to communicate what they know and beleive in a way that considers, honors, and believes in their audience. Author and Entrepreneur Rajesh Setty writes a brilliant piece on how audiences respond to content.
Spam: If your content does not provide a
reasonable ROII (return-on-investment for an interaction) for the
reader or is self-serving or simply useless, the reader will mark it as
spam. Posting something that may be assessed, as “spam” is the fastest
way to losing credibility.
Skip: The reader makes an assessment that he or
she won’t lose much by reading it. In this case, the reader has not
written you off yet but if you consistently create content that is
worth “skipping,” the reader might write you off.
Scan: The reader thinks there are only a few parts
that are of relevance and wants to get right to the core of the content
and skip the rest.
Stop: The reader is touched by the article and
stops to think about the article, it’s relevance and what it means to
him or her personally and professionally.
Shift: The article is transformational. The reader
is so deeply affected (in a positive way) by the article that it shifts
some of their values and beliefs. In other words, this piece of writing
will transform the reader and make him or her grow.
Send: The content is not only useful to the reader
but also to one or more people in the reader’s network. The reader
simply emails the article or a link to it to people that he or she
cares.
Subscribe: This is the ultimate expression of
engagement and a vote of confidence that you will continue to provide
great content. When the reader wants to continue listening to your
thoughts, he or she will subscribe.
Teachers need to be great learners to lead great learners. I believe that learning is a lifelong journey, an ongoing exploration and way of life. I challenge myself and others to always be striving to find and share big ideas in every million dollar conversation.
Chalk
Talk Friday represents conversations and brilliance I've discovered
traversing my way through the Blogosphere. From professional to
personal development, these are the posts and links have in some way
touched my head or my heart!![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=9c5bc129-6c2f-464a-917a-8c5bd0bef811)
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