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See you at PETEC

Well, I’m heading back to the other coast once again to attend the Pennsylvania Educational Technology Expo & Conference in Hershey, PA. I’ve never been to this conference before, so that’s always fun!

Chris Champion of Cumberland-Perry AVTS is doing a session called, “My First Year with a GenYES Student Tech Team” on Monday 2/9 at 10:15AM. I’m really looking forward to being in the audience for this one!

We are hearing so much about GenYES students from all over the country stepping up to the plate in these rough financial times to help their schools keep a vibrant technology vision alive. GenYES We Can!

Love to meet more PA folks – so email me or send me a Twitter and we’ll get together!

Sylvia

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Inauguration – January 20, 2009

swearing-in2Last week I got a chance to be in Washington DC for the Inauguration of Barrack Obama as President of the United States.

It was a day of ups and downs, but the primary feeling was one of incredible hope and anticipation for good things ahead. We did get caught in one of the crowd scenes and nearly missed getting in place for the actual event, but it all worked out. It was amazing how the mood of the crowd was so bright and optimistic, with people helping each other, making sure kids weren’t squished, and passing along what little information was available.

paradeWe were very fortunate to have an indoor place to watch the Inauguration and parade, so the few hours we spent getting there was well worth it. We could also go up on the roof deck and see even more, with a view that went from Capitol Hill to much of Pennsylvania avenue. There were a couple of broadcast crews stationed on the roof too, and if you study the photos, you will see Al Sharpton in one of them.

I’ve uploaded a set of photos from the day, which ended up at the Bytes and Books Inaugural Ball. No, I didn’t dance with Barrack, but it was still a day I’ll never forget.

Sylvia

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Free NASA opportunity for California math/science teachers

NASA Ames Education and the Lewis Center for Educational Research, is conducting a special workshop for up to 25 science and math teachers from local schools February 26 – 28, 2009 at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA.

This 3-day training program provides teachers with all the necessary tools to remotely access and control the Lewis Center’s, 34 meter, Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope (GAVRT) from their classrooms. The GAVRT program involves American students throughout the world in real science using a hands-on, standard-based curriculum that helps middle and high
schoolers reach for the stars. Students participating in the GAVRT program will assist NASA by monitoring the progress of the LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) during its mission to the moon in 2009.

The GAVRT training is normally $600 per teacher. However, due to a unique LCROSS scholarship opportunity, this workshop is currently FREE to 25 teachers! And, these 32 hours of professional development are recognized for state, district, and NCLB requirements. If you are teaching science or math in your classroom, you are qualified to apply for this unique program.

The training will include a special NASA Ames tour at that is not normally open to the public. Andrew Chakin, world-renown author of Man on the Moon – the basis of Tom Hanks’ miniseries From the Earth to the Moon will meet with the teachers to share his experience inspiring students.

For more information about the LCROSS Mission and the Lewis Center and GAVRT program visit : http://www.lewiscenter.org/gavrt and http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/

Applications are now being accepted for this exciting program. To enroll, immediately contact: Barbara Patterson at NASA Ames Research Center: barbara.e.patterson [at] nasa.gov 650-604-0494

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2008 in review

Found a cool little widget just in time for a “best of 2008” post. According to Postrank – these are the Generation YES blog posts that measured the highest in “audience engagement” for 2008. How do they know? Did they engage you?

Get your own Postrank widget here.

Happy New Year!

Sylvia

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G1G1 now on for Australia

Good news for One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) XO laptop fans in Australia – The program has gotten the permissions necessary to ship XO laptops to Australia. Check the OLPC Australian wiki for details.

See my other posts on the XO laptop:

Sylvia

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A crisis (or opportunity) for service-learning in schools

A recently released report “Community Service and Service-Learning in America’s Schools” by the Corporation for National & Community Service, analyzes trends in service-learning for youth.

The numbers are interesting – the percentage of K-12 schools who say they “recognize” or “arrange” student participation in community service remains high. Although down slightly from a whopping 92% in 1979, it increased from 83% to 86% in the nine years since the last survey. But the study confirms a downward trend in school service-learning, from 32 percent in 1999 to 24 percent in 2008.

Community service is different from service-learning. Service-learning has clear curriculum and learning objectives, and is integrated into classes and subjects. So for a school, service-learning is a bigger commitment that requires funding, resources, and attention, all of which are in short supply these days.

Peter Levine blogged this past week about this crisis in the service-learning movement. Peter is director of CIRCLE, (The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) out of Tufts University which conducts research on the civic and political engagement of Americans between the ages of 15 and 25.

He says,

“It’s my sense that the movement for service-learning has reached a crisis point. It isn’t included in federal education law; it isn’t a priority in an era of concern about reading and math; the federal funding has been cut (in real terms) since 2001; and the quality of programs is so uneven that outsiders could be reasonably skeptical about its value.”

Dan Butin of The Education Policy Blog blames this directly on NCLB, “In such an age of standardized accountability, of course service-learning offerings would be minimized and marginalized. And especially when a reform effort at the K-12 level is not rooted deeply, it becomes a casualty of another innovative pedagogical and curricular offering left behind in an age of all too many things left behind.”

Of course, every crisis brings the opportunity for creative solutions. Peter goes on:“On the other hand, the best programs are superb; they fit the outlook of the incoming administration; and there is strong support for service-learning in the Kennedy-Hatch Serve-America bill that both Senators McCain and Obama promised to sign. That bill would direct most resources to poor districts, which today are much less likely to offer service-learning. So we could be poised for improvements in quality, quantity, and equality. Or else service-learning could falter if Kennedy-Hatch isn’t fully funded and the grassroots movement continues to shrink.”

Yes, we can!
The time could not be better to reinvigorate service-learning in schools. Schools can become centers of community redevelopment, eco-awareness, technology support, and service. With support and funding,  service-learning could transform lives of youth and bring community benefits — especially in poor neighborhoods where the need is greatest and these programs have the most impact.

Direct link to report: Community Service and Service-Learning in America’s Schools 2008 (PDF)

Sylvia

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Contest – create a G1G1 commercial for national TV

From Daymotion (a video sharing website):

Submit your Give One Get One (G1G1) commercial for a chance to win a national TV spot! This an amazing opportunity for you to “give back“ during the holiday season and have the chance for even broader exposure of your creative work.

Video guidelines: Create a 30 or 60 second video promoting One Laptop per Child Give One Get One campaign. Get inspired by the concept of connecting children around the world. Need a prompt? How about the G1G1 tagline: Give a laptop, Get a laptop, Change the world

You can be as creative as you want! But remember, the commercial should be kid friendly. In fact, kids are encouraged to participate, along with the guidance and support of a parent or legal guardian. For prize consideration, all submissions must be 100% original, please do not use copyrighted images or music.

Contest begins November 17, 2008 and closes December 15, 2008. Only US residents are eligible for prize consideration.

More details here.

Note: Be aware that if you stray off the G1G1 page at Daymotion, there are videos available that have inappropriate themes for classroom use.

Sylvia

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The people in the room are the right people

Last week I was the closing keynote at NEIT 2008, the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) Education and Information Technology conference. It was an “unconference” and used a structure called “Open Space” to plan and manage the meetings. Other than the two keynote “anchors”, there were no planned sessions.

Open Space Technology is “a simple way to run productive meetings, for five to 2000+ people, and a powerful way to lead any kind of organization, in everyday practice and extraordinary change.”

At NAIS 2008, I found it very successful, and at the same time, a powerful metaphor for learning.

At the beginning of the conference, everyone is free to step up and propose any session they want. Not just ones they want to present, but anything they want to know more about. And then as these suggestions begin to fill the slots, more ideas come forward. After a few sessions, you have another meeting and fill more slots, propose more ideas. (More about how this works)

When it started, it seemed like there were way too many open spots and not enough ideas. People worried that voting would help sort out what to do, that their ideas wouldn’t be popular, that they would miss things, or that we would run out of ideas. But as we heard the Open Space Four Principles and One Law it started to make more sense:

Four Principles

  • Whoever comes is the right people
  • Whenever it starts is the right time
  • Whatever happens is the only thing that could have
  • When it’s over, it’s over

The one law is The Law of Two Feet, meaning, if you want to be somewhere else, do it – just don’t waste the time.

How it worked
Sure enough, most sessions had enough people. Part of the success was due to the facility having many small rooms, enough to accommodate all the proposed sessions. Some had projectors, some didn’t but it all worked out. When we re-gathered for the next planning sessions, people were energized, more sessions were proposed, people decided to continue or repeat a session, and slowly the open slots were filled

I’ve been to other unconferences, and this one was different. Because there was no voting, there was no competitive element and no hidden message that only the most popular ideas or people are important. While I understand that often the physical space is a limitation, I think there must be ways to acknowledge that everyone can contribute.

As I went to various sessions, people were passionate and focused. It’s the first conference in years where I went to every session and wished there were more. Lots of people said the same thing. You know when you go to a conference and the best part is the conversation in the hall? This was all hall.

The kids in the room are the right kids
But really, isn’t this what we hope for classrooms, especially project-based learning environments? Sometimes it’s hard to explain project-based learning. It’s hard to convince others that it actually works, because it’s hard to “see” the learning when the teaching is not continuous direct instruction. You have to trust the process, design situations that will engage students, and then give students time to become immersed in them. You have to trust the students and allow them to take risks, make mistakes, overcome frustrations and work through momentary distractions. You have to believe that your kids are the right kids, that you are the right teacher, and that when it all works, it will be magic.

I took a risk too, I didn’t prepare my keynote presentation until the night before. I felt I wanted to honor the process and trust that the experience of the conference would provide support for my topic of leadership vision to action, especially student leadership. And it did. I liked what I came up with, and the audience seemed to as well. It was videotaped, but apparently only the audio worked. Oh well!

I knew I wasn’t going THAT far out on a limb; I have enough videos and examples that I can pull together fairly quickly. But the theme of trusting the process and the participants ended up providing the perfect context.

Your kids are the right kids, you are the right teacher, and now is the right time. Trust them, trust yourself, trust the process. Now let’s get busy.

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Quote for the day

“All I am saying in this book can be summed up in two words: Trust Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.

John Holt – American educator and author