Warlick's CoLearners

Online Chat about Literacy 2.0

The following is a Knitter chat among librarians, administrators, and teachers from the Dallas - Fort Worth area in Texas.

Bicknell (US) • 2009-02-23 09:33:48
How overwhelmed this is...

dwight (us) • 2009-02-23 09:34:03
Hello everyone :)

cheryl (us) • 2009-02-23 09:34:08
cool

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:34:43
I am thinking about making a new Animoto video!

Animoto is very cool. It's almost too easy to impress people. It bothers me a bit that it has become so easy to impress people. What's the difference between impressive and entertaining?

jeffery womack (Tx) • 2009-02-23 09:34:53
Good Morning

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:34:55
Hey Y'All

Clovis Muddybluster (NC) • 2009-02-23 09:34:58
Looking forward to reading your conversation.

Kelli Montgomery (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:35:08
I am thinking this is very cool

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:35:13
hard to imagine what my 4 yo and 2 yo will experience during their education

This actually makes me shutter a bit. We're already seeing the next wave, which will be virtual worlds. It's inhabited, almost exclusively, by pre-teens today.

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:35:17
I'm glad I'm finally online

cheryl (us) • 2009-02-23 09:35:22
classroom tool???

This particular tool is merely an experiment. Look at EdModo (http://edmodo.com/). It is a classroom rendering of Twitter.

Mike M (US) • 2009-02-23 09:35:32
Hello and good morning!

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:35:41
Cheryl, you have to get the girls on my wiki I made for K

Bicknell (US) • 2009-02-23 09:35:52
Have we changed teacher education at the college level... or are they still getting the same thing that we got...

It's all over the place. I am convinced that the reason my daughter decided, after student teaching and graduating, that she did not want to be a teacher after all, was the out-dated preparation she received at her university. I sounds like pretty much the same prep I got, at the same university, 33 years ago.

cheryl (us) • 2009-02-23 09:35:54
send it to me

Shannon • 2009-02-23 09:36:08
same thing

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:36:10
I will...

dwight (us) • 2009-02-23 09:36:30
Microsoft investigates video games in education http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090220/ap_on_en_ot/te c_video_games_education;_ylt=AqiIDDtomECbfk_F3Sg_l aEK77EF

janna (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:36:34
where are my peeps?

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:36:35
what's the address, joni

Teresa Lawson (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:37:02
My mind is thinking about how we will implement this in our classrooms with our students.

I think that one strategy might be to introduce the tool, and then ask the students how they might use it to help them learn. They're already doing much of this stuff, but for their own reasons.

cheryl (us) • 2009-02-23 09:37:09
joni, post your wiki url here, please

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:37:22
only problem with that is that zoe wants to use my laptop all the time--lol!

It's one of the things I love about netbooks. I could buy one for each of my two children for less than what I payed for just one laptop, years ago.

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:37:25
http://andersenfun.wikispaces.com

janna (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:37:26
Sandra? Kim? You here?

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:38:05
Check out Computer Play

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:38:06
We're here Janna

janna (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:38:40
Hi Greg Farr!

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:38:41
job for the future....massage therapy for the tight shoulders and back problems

Debbie (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:38:48
All you young newbies have your laptops.

Sandra Hines (US) • 2009-02-23 09:39:07
Grazing..sometimes it is hard to decide what to pay attention to

Depends on the person and what they care about. Part of our job as teachers and librarians is to help the children care about things. It's something that accountability- and standards-based education makes difficult -- in my humble opinion.

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:39:23
I heart my laptop!

janna (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:39:27
That was me asking how to get on-line...a teesy bit late today :-(

Teresa Lawson (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:40:29
Grazing over information is a great way to describe learners of today.

Jamie McKenzie calls them "Free Range Learners."

Sandra Hines (US) • 2009-02-23 09:40:29
Janna, I'm here.. we are on the right center on 3rd row

Kelli Montgomery (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:40:45
have seen my 13 year-old daughter doing just what he is talking about

Sandra Hines (US) • 2009-02-23 09:40:59
Conversations in the classrooms... do you allow students to talk?

jeffery womack (Tx) • 2009-02-23 09:41:16
We should!

What we're seeing here is that there are multiple dimensions in which conversation can take place within four hard walls.

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:41:35
I'm sharing the K wiki with the elementary librarians in Mansfield

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:41:47
Yes...I do.

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:42:00
AMEN -- students should be able to verify information

And I think that they do, when they care. Again, we have to help them to care.

Troy Bagwell (Tx) • 2009-02-23 09:42:02
I think most of our students are scared to ask the really good questions.

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:42:06
The K

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:42:18
The K wiki is not totally finished

Sandra Hines (US) • 2009-02-23 09:43:15
I'm out of the classroom, but when I was.. I had to assure my students it was okay to talk.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:43:29
good question about authority - we have to look at information in a whole new way.

Yes, this is true, though outside of academia, we have always looked for the information that was appropriate to our needs. It's just that today, as we continue to answer the old questions and rely on authority-based source, we're increasingly answering brand new problems, and, so, we need new types of information that is social generated rather than authoritatively generated.

What we need to rethink is that in education, we have mostly taught our children to rely on authority-based information for the sake of learning the content at hand -- the standards. We need to expand our standards to include "brand new questions," so that our students have reasons to explore and develop literacy skills related to socially generated content.

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:43:57
very cute joni...seriously....when do you sleep?!?

janna (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:44:22
No talking in the discipline center!

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:45:29
I think that the historians in our population will keep records to show the changes in our digital information...

Yes! That question about the fragility of information today was a good one -- that a lot of people are asking. We need something like a digital "Akasic records."

Shirley (Tx) • 2009-02-23 09:45:43
I am the Radio shack beginner. I can't beleive that I am taking my notes on a laptop. Huge step for an old lady

It's fun to go back and think about the old days and those amazingly impressive tools. I still have a Radio Shack Model 100, the first ever laptop.

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:47:13
I was so excited when the TxASCD paid me with a MAC LCII for writing curriculum. I upgraded to the color monitor.

Joni (US) • 2009-02-23 09:47:22
Thanks, Cheryl...

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:47:40
Interesting concerns about how we document the history of our information in an age of fluid information, wikis, and editable formats. Comments?

Julie Wallace (US) • 2009-02-23 09:49:04
You are actually in North Richland Hills

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:49:34
One of the benefits of this interactive technology is the ability to connect, feed, and post in multiple environments.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:50:21
You need the right tools for the jobs and where they overlap, you can use technology to update all when you update one.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:51:28
How many of us truly teach our kids to teach themselves? Cause for reflection on our teaching practices!

I think that it is one of the potential benefits of our starting to define ourselves as master learners. It forces us to think about learning rather than just teaching. In a way, pedagogy is a language the bridges the divide between teacher and learner. Does a master learner need such a long bridge.

Teresa Lawson (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:52:01
Our kids are not us.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:53:32
@ Teresa Lawson - I agree - but why do we teach them like they are? How do we effect culture shift on our campuses? That's the hard part!

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:54:15
they need direction...but they already have the desire to teach themselves and will attempt to do so.

They will teach themselves what they care about.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:05
I think the biggest shift must come from behind the teacher's desk...the other side of the desk...they're already doing it. We have to catch up.

I think that the best way to do this might be to get rid of the teacher's desk (figuratively). Make the teacher a partner, rather than a manager. John Beck, in a podcast interview, said that gamers do not trust the boss. To them, the boss is the last obstical they have to get through to make it to the next level of the game -- the level boss. He suggests that we become the strategy guide.

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:09
i

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:10
have

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:17
"Are we there yet?"

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:18
a

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:55:49
"No...and we never will be..."

Cheryl Martin (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:56:12
sorry...i have a 2 yo and a 4 yo...i haven't had to teach them to teach themselves...it's innate!

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:56:15
"Why?"

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:56:37
@Greg Farr - but isn't that the point? The journey - not the destination?

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:56:45
"Because where we're going doesn't exist yet."

True! But the way that people learn when they leave school is close. In the world we learn by teaching ourselves, by learning what we need to know to do what we need to do. It's a learning environment without pedagogy.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:57:18
@Greg Farrr - exactly! There is no "There"

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 09:57:37
A new view of life: there are no final destinations...it's all about the trip.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:02:28
digital divide...look smaller scale - what is the digital divide between your staff and your students?

An excellent point!

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:02:47
how do you teach what you don't know?

Greg Farr (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:04:45
you teach how to learn, delete, and relearn

You teach how to work the information environment to accomplish goals.

Sandra hines (Us) • 2009-02-23 10:04:49
Open ended questions and problem solving

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:09:20
Concern: Should we change how we teach children to read? Where do books, paper, and pencil fit into the need to teach children in a digital age?

This is an excellent question. Research seems to be showing that web reading is different from book reading -- and, I might add, it involves more higher order thinking skills. But paper is not dead -- nor is the pencil or book. Actually, it could be that the digital device for delivering content may just look like paper "e-paper." It's here. I simply isn't cheaper to produce than pulp-based paper -- yet!

Again, this is an excellent question. There is a group, lead by Donald Leu at the University of Connecticut that is defining web reading and web literacy.''

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:09:45
Amendment to concern: kindergarten, first grade, and emergent readers how to read

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:21:34
The easy accessiblity of media is leading to new conversations about copyright, creativity, and intellectual property

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:27:26
Someone should do a cost analysis - paper, copiers, maintenance, ink, printers - to the cost of 1-to-1 with those laptops.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:33:16
Students like social networking for the feedback - 24/7 photos, comments, friends. They don't get that kind of instant feedback at school...

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:34:10
I just asked David to be my friend :D

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:34:53
LOL..cool!

Randy Rodgers (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:42:47
Student cleared of cheating: http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/03/19/student-wont-be-expelled-over-facebook-study-group

Thanks for this. Looks like I was a little behind on this one.

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:43:14
How do we open and teach within these worlds when environments are blocked? (rightly or wrongly)

We work it. We have to come up with real, sound, logical, compelling, and st-st-st-st-standards-based reasons to unblock them.

Randy Rodgers (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:43:55
@ Debbie Andrews Begin by getting admins (academic and tech) to events such as this

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:46:44
tks -- I have been talking with our ITSIES who are here :D

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:47:22
A good point is raised -- We librarians need to PARTNER with our ITSIEs and our administrators

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:50:41
@Debbie Andrews - I agree - it needs to be a partnership to help the teachers and students

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 10:57:47
Social Networking sites are targeting the tween market - lots to offer the tween set - http://www.momlogic.com/2008/02/top_5_social_netwo rking_sites.php

Sandra Hines (US) • 2009-02-23 10:58:35
Our brain demands complexity. Is the perturbation? Do we learn without perturbation?

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:04:35
Some of this technology making you scratch your head? Go here,scroll downand learn about it in "Plain English". http://www.commoncraft.com/show

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:06:30
Interesting that the Texas 8th Grade Technology literacy test is testing productivity software like Office when our kids are much more multimedia than that!

Yes! Yes! We're in the same place in North Carolina. Tech literacy means being able to solve problems with productivity software -- the way you were taught to solve it. You lose points for using resourcefulness.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:07:06
How do we meet our students' needs when our assessment tool is so obsolete?

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:08:31
I love common craft

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:11:27
Teachers need to learn to be effective questioners... Not lecturers

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:14:16
Administrators have to not only allow but support, encourage, model, and expect these multimedia, non-tradtional methods.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:15:54
Harry Wong - the one doing the work is the one doing the learning. Who's working in your classroom?

I love it!

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:16:38
Okay. Rome wasn't built in a day -- from my wonderful colleague sitting next to me

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:17:48
We're thinking outloud about learning styles in this conversation. Now we need to add a virtual learning style -- including the tactile, kinesthetic, visual and auditory aspects within the virtual environment.

Interesting. It's spacial learning -- through your mouse.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:18:08
You have to become relevancy experts.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:19:28
@ debbie - now it's built, burned, and rebuilt in an hour.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:21:14
@Debbie- I agree, the virtual envirnment is so immersive that we have to think in new ways, but it also let's us create in ways not available to us in RL

Again, it's a "sandbox."

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:34:44
Kids don't pigeonhole information and technology...they mix, match, and mash-up to create!

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 11:50:02
Virtual realities are fabulous until you get into how to support them on your current bandwidth/server infrastructure. Any grants out there for that?

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 13:38:11
Too sweet - real world skills with classroom content.

Greg (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:02:13
The list currently on the wall ties in well with Schlechty's work!

It really does. Schlechty is from the teacher perspective, and the list I showed was from the student's perspective.

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:03:24
Thanks, Greg...thought I was alone out here.

Greg (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:04:16
It's the after lunch doldrums...

Dwight (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:09:36
When I first started teaching the Overhead was technology

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:10:09
@Dwight - wow....

Dwight (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:12:18
I have the evaluation to prove it

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:14:05
me, too

Debbie Andrews (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:14:44
so another interesting topic. What should the 21st century classroom contain?

Dwight (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:18:09
cell phones

Dwight (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:18:32
BYOL: Bring Your Own Laptops

Yep! I don't think you'll see much tech in the classroom of the future. Tech will be personal. You'll carry it with you.

jeffery womack (Tx) • 2009-02-23 14:19:54
Laptop, unlimited access to post, find, and use the information on the web..

Kim Estes (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:22:13
High speed, broadband Internet access with student server space in the gigs, and quality multimedia and productivity software

Dwight (TX) • 2009-02-23 14:27:43
I like that and build online or at least on server portfolios