Discovery, Leadership, Creativity

“To fish, water is invisible. To students today, technology is invisible. It is only noticed in its' absence~like at school.”  -- David Truss

“40% of adults — including 46% of those ages 18 to 39 — own an e-reader or a tablet. That's more than double the numbers less than two years ago.” -- from USA Today / Bookish poll

woodleywonderworks via Compfight cc

“I don’t do education for a living, I live education as my doing . . .  and technology has amplified my passion for doing so.” -- Jackie Gerstein

“A broad and longstanding consensus in leadership theory holds that leaders in all walks of life and all kinds of organizations, public and private, need to depend on others to accomplishthe group’s purpose and need to encourage the development of leadership across the organization. Schools are no different.”-- The Wallace Foundation

“Teaching is the art of assisting discovery”  -- Mark van Doren

“Creativity is nurtured by freedom and stifled by the continuous monitoring, evaluation, adult-direction, and pressure to conform that restrict children’s lives today.  In the real world few questions have one right answer, few problems have one right solution; that’s why creativity is crucial to success in the real world.”  -- Peter Gray

Teaching Learning, Game-Changers, iPads, and More

The Shift From Teaching Content To Teaching Learning

In fact, this might be said to be the archetypal error of all secondary level and

By Alvimann

college level teachers. They often wrongly assume their students know how to think about what they are learning. I once was told by a HS English teacher when I wondered what they might do in their department to improve reading performance (which was weak), that “We teach English, not reading, in high school.”

http://tinyurl.com/kojx8tx

6 Things We Know for Sure with iPads in School

Moments of rethinking how we deliver instruction, assess students and collect their work creep up immediately once iPads are in students' hands. This creates discomfort for teachers, but they must overcome being their own obstacle for change. As one teacher asked, "How do I grade their packet of notes for review now that their work will be in Google Drive?" I replied, "Well, how can you arrange it differently so that they apply knowledge instead of just copying it in a packet?"

http://tinyurl.com/q286rwv

The Biggest “Game-Changer” in Education

The real game changer isn’t something external; it is internal.  It is the way we think and grow.  It is moving from that “fixed” mindset about teaching and learning, and moving to the “growth” mindset.  It is thinking differently about education and understanding that all of us as people need different things to succeed.  

http://tinyurl.com/k8ukp7a

iPad and Education – No Longer A Debate! 

If the device isn’t suitable for a task then educators shouldn’t use it. There is no such thing as an iPad lesson. If it will enhance learning then it could be used. If it is not suitable for a part of the lesson, it stays in the student’s bag. There are many options available to educators to nurture learning – the iPad provides a few more.

http://tinyurl.com/oeyauqr

Baker's "I Hate Copyright" Workshop (or "Finding Public Domain and Creative Commons Images")

Today I am giving a workshop on the millions of images available to teachers and students that circumvent the confusing issues related to copyright and "Fair Use".  The following sites supply my blogs and presentations.  I have added some comments.  Please submit suggestions and comments of your own!

 Saturn photographed by NASA's Cassini spacecraft (Government Work)

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morgueFile contains free high resolution digital stock photography for either corporate or public use.

http://www.morguefile.com/

Our search: "eyes"

Strengths: high resolution, no restrictions on use.

Weaknesses: slim selection, decorative rather than instructive

Flickr CC photo by Xavier Donat

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Wikimedia Commons  is a media file repository of public domain and freely-licensed educational media content

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Our searches  "cat", "Martin Luther King"

(note sound clips)

Strengths: enormous catalog, tremendous for history

Weaknesses: searches produce shotgun results, favors lapsed copyright images.

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Compfight provides searches through Flickr's millions of Creative Commons photos

http://compfight.com/

Our Searches: "Destruction", "Wrecking Ball"

Strengths: Tremendous variety; Amazing high resolution selection

Weaknesses: Metadata entered by photographer, making searches tricky; Creative Commons licensing generous, but requires checking

From morgueFile

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Library of Congress Photostream on Flickr

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/sets

Our Search: "Baseball Americana"

Visit Library of Congress

http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/civwar/

Our search: "Civil War"

Flickrcommons Inspired by Library of Congress contributions, it contains tons of pictures from contributing museums and other institutions.
http://www.flickr.com/commons/

Our Search “Theodore Roosevelt”

Strengths:  Fabulous archives, Public Domain
Weaknesses: Except for "collections", may require painstaking search.

Public Domain Photo, Library of Congress

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United States Government

http://www.usa.gov/Topics/Graphics.shtml

Search #1

History, Arts, Culture

National Gallery

“Winslow Homer”

Search #2

Science & Technology

NASA

"Jupiter"

Search #3

Defense & International Relations

State

Flickr Sets

Strengths: “Government Work” photos are free of copyright; Tremendous source material for Art, Science, Social Studies, English

Weaknesses: Quality, Quantity vary considerably among agencies; Tough to search.

Edgar Degas, "The Dance Lesson" from the National Gallery

Becoming a Digital School Administrator: Using Doodle

Unfortunately, one of the trade-offs of moving from the classroom to administration is attending more meetings.  Doodle does not get me out of those meetings, but it surely helps me save time scheduling them.

And talk about an opportunity to model technology!  I was hooked the first time I was invited to Doodle and have hooked others with my invitations.  Doodle is a cloud poll which determines the optimum time for holding a meeting.  It is particularly helpful with large groups where round-robin emailing would be impossible. Send out a Doodle invitation with some possible meeting dates and times and the poll determines the best choices.  I still have colleagues that do the emailing thing- what a waste of time!

I have created the following tutorial for my iTunes U course, entitled,

Becoming a Digital School Administrator 

Quotes for October-- Connected Educator Month

“October is Connected Educator Month, a well-timed reminder as we hit stride in the new school year to not settle into a pattern of isolation, but to consciously strive to view issues in education through multiple lenses.”  -- John Marschhausen

"The question is not if you will find success. As long as you are looking it will find you." -- Stephen W. Anderson

“Many look at tweeting and blogging as technocentric or even narcissistic, yet I look at them as ways of learning and connecting. There are so many real educators out there who want to get better at what they do so that they can always do what is best for kids.”  -- George Couros

“It's greatest time in history to be in a classroom because learning tech is changing at an exponential rate, our students can thrive with it.”  -- Bill Sheskey

“Twitter has become a consistent place to grow professionally.. familiar spot that exists outside geography and beyond time zones.”  -- Sean Junkins

“Football is to education as bullfighting is to agriculture.”  

-- Robert Maynard Hutchins 

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"Network Diagram of My Vancouver Facebook friends"  via Compfight cc

Kris Krug

Tech Talk Roll-out

Marketing has begun for our Tech Talk Conference for Educators on February 28, 2014.  We have already received applications from several presenters and hope to offer a program that is attractive to teachers of K-12 grades in both private and public schools.

A range of topics such as the following will be covered:

Edmodo

Smartboard

Killer iPad Apps

Flipped Classroom

iBook Publishing

Web Portfolios

Paperless Grading

Creative Commons 

The event is a terrific bargain at $40 which includes both lunch and continental breakfast.  The iWizards will also be on hand for a demonstration.

We are now emailing the information below to regional school principals. Please help us spread the word to K-12 educators!

From Jaspers to Honeycutt . . . . A Baker's Half-Dozen

Sitting at your desk and having kids come to you more often? Bees don't wait to flowers to come to them for pollination. -- Kevin Honeycutt

Students can download any student created iBook from our card catalog.  The process of creating content for a class places students into the drivers seat.  I often find that students do a better job of explaining difficult content and have directed struggling students to “check-out” another students book for extra help.  Student authors are empowered and engaged because the work has meaning (unlike worksheets and term papers). --Casey Veatch

Silhouhette of Jaspers*

Both student and teacher are unhappy when chained to curricula and syllabi, to tests and mediocre standards. An atmosphere of uninspired and uninspiring common sense may well produce satisfactory mastery of technical “know how” and testable factual information. Such an atmosphere, however, stifles genuine understanding and the spirit of adventure in research. --Karl Jaspers

"Great teachers have high expectations for their students, but higher expectations for themselves." -- Todd Whitaker

However, technology is quickly changing the role and responsibilities of teachers. Today, we must be willing to be challenged, take risks, learn new methods, and embrace creativity and innovation. It is in these difficult and vulnerable moments when the most learning occurs for both us and our students.” -- Anthony DiLaura

What you ought to be learning at school is that you don't need to be taught in order to learn. -- Seymour Papert

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*from Wikicommons

iTunes U Course Manager Workshop

Recently I sent out the following invitation to staff for an iTunes U Course Manager Workshop:

I will be offering an iTunes U Course Manager Workshop on October 7.  I feel inspired, having published another public course over the weekend:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/course/create-student-tech-team-at/id713690027

If you check out this link or any of the others in this email, do so on the iPad. The best reason for creating courses or collections for iTunes U is the way the materials interact with the iPad.  The interface is like a very organized, tabbed spiral notebook, while iTunes U on the Mac or PC presents more like a list of resources.

Don't be put off by the term iTunes U "course".  One can create a "course" on

French Honor Society, Shays' Rebellion, or The Godfather.  This software can certainly be used to present a traditional college or high school course, as many professors and departments have done. But if you check out my "courses" you will see that they are actually curated digital collections on topics.  

Your can create your ITunes U Course Manager account with your Apple ID here: https://itunesu.itunes.apple.com/coursemanager/  

Even if you don't attend the workshop take the time to explore the fabulous

resources freely available for the use of you and your students at iTunes U. Here is a representative sampling:

Hamlet (The National Theatre) https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/hamlet/id428001046?mt=10

Physics 1 (M.I.T) https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/physics-i-classical-mechanics/id341599916?mt=10

Parallel and Perpendicular Lines (Eden Prarie H.S. Math Department)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/geo-ch3-parallel-perpendicular/id563513228?mt=10

Final Cut Pro X Basics (University of Arizona)

https://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/multimedia-software/id509621125?mt=10

Eating the Apple, The Walking Dead MOOC, and So Much More!

How Tablets Can Enable Meaningful Connections for Students and Teachers

This mobile access extends the learning context beyond the walls of the classroom and the hours of the school day, while the instant access to content and social networks opens up avenues for communication and collaboration across distance and time.

http://tinyurl.com/pajnwnk

Girls Tweeting (Not Twerking) Their Way to Power

Online petitions, like the one leveraged in this campaign, are quickly becoming one of the central strategies for girls and young women creating greater awareness of sexism, and a cost or accountability for those who practice it. Girls like Rios have become modern day Davids taking on the Goliaths of our time

http://tinyurl.com/pt585ks

“The Walking Dead” Inspires a MOOC

The class is being taught by a team of four UC Irvine professors from the departments of public health, social sciences, mathematics and physics. Topics will include population dynamics and the spread of disease, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and post-apocalyptic nutrition.

http://tinyurl.com/nts8cz2

Eating the Apple

Arthur C. Clarke said, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” Under the leadership of Steve Jobs, dedicated to making “insanely great” computers, Apple proved something subtly but importantly different: any sufficiently well-designed technology is indistinguishable from reality—it “just works.”

http://tinyurl.com/nt5wohm

Classes should do hands-on exercises before reading and video

A new study from the Stanford Graduate School of Education flips upside down the notion that students learn best by first independently reading texts or watching online videos before coming to class to engage in hands-on projects. Studying a particular lesson, the Stanford researchers showed that when the order was reversed, students' performances improved substantially.

http://tinyurl.com/mhelt27

A Glimpse into the Future of Learning

http://tinyurl.com/mlv6y8f