A Simple, Succinct Lesson from Twitter

CC image via flickr by Jkonig

This morning, two tweets caught my eye. These two 140 character posts evolved into a simple lesson that I constructed for my students. First, Tim Calvin posted this piece from The New York Times Op-Ed titled “Teaching to the Text Message” by Andy Selsberg. This concise piece reiterated something I have been preaching to my students since the first day of class: Be concise and innovative with language. My essay assignments don’t carry a minimum page length requirement, but they do contain a challenge: If you can persuade your audience in one page, I will be impressed.

Soon after the tweet by Tim Calvin, I clicked on a video shared by Michael Wesch. The video was a midterm project from a communications student. The student’s objective was to “look into my life and what I see everyday”. I was impressed by the video and thought about taking on this challenge myself. What does my screen look like every day? What music would represent it best? I'm still thinking.

After reviewing both of these pieces, I decided to use them both later that day in my English 101: College Composition course. I uploaded the video to our classroom wikispace and added a new page title on the left hand navigation bar. The page title: “Be Concise”. This new page derives the lesson presented by Selsberg in the article and will now serve as a new writing assignment three times a week for my students. Each day I will post a new video, image, or passage for them to review. Their objective is to summarize or caption the media I select for the day in one or two sentences. My goal is that they start to experiment with language and write more succinctly. Similarly, I hope they find ways to express themselves more eloquently and devise innovative ways to articulate their ideas.

I developed this brief writing lesson because two people shared something today. I did not find it in a book or a classroom, but simply noticed it falling down in my tweet deck. This is why social media is amazing. It allows us to scan a table full of puzzle pieces and find two, or maybe more, that fit.

This is your class

CC image via flickr by Jonathan Pobre

I have a late start class beginning tomorrow. The course is English 101: College Composition.  I decided to revise my syllabus introduction along with the class structure and attempt to practice what I preach. I welcome feedback and encourage you to follow along with our classroom wikispace. 

This course will be a collaborative effort that includes those sitting in this room, those that reside in the world of social media, and myself. We will focus on reading critically, thinking critically, evaluating information, and producing purposeful, grammatically sound writing. The goal of this course is to take our message beyond the classroom and engage with the connected world. We will be using the written word as our medium and covering a variety of domestic and world issues. The focus of this course is not the grade, but to become effective communicators in a world driven by connectivity. 

During this course you will not only be constructing essays for a grade, but engaging with a larger community. This community resides in the world of social media and will not only serve as an outlet for information and feedback, but allow for more than one deciding voice on submitted work.

This Wikispace will serve as the central meeting place for this course and allow us to analyze and critique each other's work while constantly learning and adding to this site. Further, this site will be constantly evolving. Like Wikipedia, you will be reading, analyzing, and evaluating information and presenting your thoughts, ideas, and opinions in order to build a better place to exchange information.

This course is not my course; it is yours. I will not lecture at you and I will not give you a grade. Your voice will be the wheels of the course and I will try and serve as your GPS. Don’t think of me as the sage on the stage or the guy with the giant, glaring forehead full of knowledge, but see me as a collaborator. Challenge my points and always feel comfortable when presenting your opinion and constrictive feedback.

Finally, I would like you all to occasionally fail during this course. This is not to say I don’t want to see you succeed, but I want to see you take intelligent risks and think beyond the grade. Don’t settle for average or what you have always done, but go beyond your comfort zone. At the end of this course I hope you continue to think, read, and evaluate critically. I hope this course provokes your thinking in a new way, you continue learning beyond the grade you receive in this course, and thrive as an effective communicator.

Resume and References Available Upon Request

Originally published in August 2010

I arrive at school for a meeting with our CEO. I assume it is a meeting about the upcoming conference that I am holding at his school, ntcamp. I sit down and he begins telling me that our budget is in disarray and that my instructional technology position that I created and began implementing into the school needs to be cut out of the budget. This is sad news, however, I assumed I could still work as an instructional technology coordinator throughout the school while teaching my classes. I had basically assumed the role as ITC for the past year; helping teachers integrate technology with their curriculum. So, I figured I would be teaching the AP English Language and Composition and returning to my regular teaching duties (NOTE: I just returned back from the AP conference in DC. The School paid for the ticket). I created the syllabus and was in the process of submitting it to the College Board for approval and had also set up a summer reading network via a wikispace and blogger. Students were reading, responding to prompts, and then blogging about them. All of the blogs were linked to the wikispace and it was a well-oiled machine.

I ask what classes I will be teaching next year along with the AP courses. He responds with, “We are getting someone else to teach AP.” Wait....WHAT!? Why? This makes no sense. I have the most teaching experience in the English Department and now you are telling me that I can’t teach the course I created? Plus, I can’t teach at all?

In short, the school's budget did not include the contract I had signed. I leave the office confused, upset, and bewildered. In a few short minutes I went from having two dream teaching positions to having nothing. I could not make sense of this. I told several colleagues that were in school that day teaching and their facial expressions said it all. No one could make sense of it. A few hours later another colleague of mine encountered the same shock and awe conversation. She was the History Department Chair and in my opinion, and most of the students’ opinion, one of the most well-respected and well-liked teachers in our building.

In the span of an hour my school said good-bye to seventeen years of teaching experience. They preferred to have brand new Teach for America teachers replace us. In the sports world this makes sense. You go with youth over experience (Jamie Moyer being the exception), but not in education.

Moving on...

I have started moving on from my former school and am in the process of seeking out the next path. This journey began on Saturday when I hosted and organized my first unconference at the same school that had just let me go. Not only did I speak positively about the school throughout the entire day, but I promoted their efforts and accomplishments. I have nothing bad to say about my school. They provided so many opportunities for me to grow as an educator and I feel I made a valuable contribution to advancing their curriculum and highlighting ways in which students and teachers can integrate technology more efficiently. I did not want to bring this news with me to ntcamp because I wanted ntcamp to shine like no other. I put every ounce of my energy into making ntcamp the best conference for all in attendance and I am already working towards the next version. ntcamp became my only focus and a welcomed distraction from reality.

If you are going to lose your job it helps to have a Personal Learning Network behind you to pick you up and get you back on track. I recognize the fact that many people are struggling with joblessness in our country and this can happen to anyone. The value and support of a PLN will only make this occurrence easier and reinforce that we are never in this business of teaching alone. It also helps to have a conference waiting for you that weekend where the majority of your PLN will be in attendance. I made a lot of great connections at ntcamp and learned a lot throughout the day. I sit back and smile at all the great comments that have been circulating about ntcamp and am truly excited for more unconferences throughout the year. Thank you to everyone who made ntcamp a shining example of how professional development and personal learning networks can create valuable learning for teachers and in turn benefit all of our students.

Oh, one more thing, if you know of any open positions get in touch with me .

Connect More

30th Street Station, Philadelphia 

As I said my goodbyes and left Philadelphia’s 30^th Street Station I noticed a message on a banner above the door. I paused. The sign read, “Connect More”. While this was not the entire script on the banner, these words were in bold and immediately resonated with me. The remainder of the sign read, “Trains CONNECT MORE Than Cities”. I took a quick picture and was on my way.

This message lingered as I drove home. I sent out a tweet with the picture accompanied by the text “An enduring message from Educon”. This is the message we all must carry with us as we depart from EduCon.  We must connect more.

However, we must carry this message far beyond the “EduCon fraternity”. We get it. Those of us that have attended this past weekend, and in the past get that we must connect, share, etc., but what about those that did not attend? What about the colleagues that don’t get it? How do we delicately approach them and tell them about the weekend without sounding like an overzealous tween that just met Justin Bieber?

We start by opening up subversive connections within our disciplines and work places. Simply approaching a colleague and mentioning one small thing you learned this week is great start to connecting and encouraging a culture of sharing. Don’t bombard them with EduCon highlights, photos, blog posts, etc. but show them one thing you learned and walk away. Follow up in a few days, or maybe a week, or not at all. Just connect.  

As educators we must model these positive connections while empathizing with a hesitant colleague. We not only owe this to our hesitant colleagues, but our students. All of us must encourage building new relationships within our learning environments and promote transparent learning.  

Further, we need to bring new faces into the fold. Edcamps and ntcamps are happening monthly across the nation. There are plenty of free opportunities to introduce colleagues to these learning forums and create new connections.  Much like the train, we need to build more depots along the way so that we can continually bring new colleagues along for the ride.

EduCon is built on connections. It continues to grow because of the culture of sharing and connecting that it provokes. As I left the station yesterday, I promised myself that I would take the message of EduCon and make every attempt to cultivate new connections and reinforce old ones. We all must strive to connect more, to share more, and to constructively criticize each other.

It is our responsibility as educators.

Reform Education From Within

CC image via flickr by bensonkua

Browse any education twitter feed and you are sure to see the word “reform” somewhere in the mix. While I believe serious reform is needed in the education sector, I also understand that I will…

A) …never work in a perfect educational system that is equitable for all and

B) …not see any serious education reform happen in the next few years.

Call me a cynic, but don’t call me a quitter. I am also aware that most State and Federal Governments are not taking time to listen to what educators have to say about education reform. Rather, they are paying attention to prominent voices in the entertainment, business, and music industry. The rhetoric continues to the talk show circuit and eventually finds its way to the educators. Our voice: small, full of static. Solution?

Teach the hell out of your classrooms and give your current students the best opportunity to question, think critically, and seek out new learning opportunities under our current education system.

A lot of energy is burning on ways to develop new reform structures and ideas for reform, but it’s not happening this year. It’s not happening any time soon. We need to give our current students the best opportunity under a system that most of us would like to see overhauled immediately. We must, for the sake of our students’ future, change the tone of reform and move towards innovating our best practices, sharing our best practices, with what we have while developing dynamic leaders. We all owe it to this generation of students.

There is no denying education is in a state of flux but let’s prove “them” wrong in the classroom every day rather than with redundant rhetoric. When we change the rhetoric from what we have to do, to what can we do, then we make progress. Let’s build great learners with what we have today, rather than what we hope for tomorrow. This is not to crush our hopes for a better educational system, but if we want the system to thrive we need to change the tone. This happens each day by creating dynamic learning environments where students can constantly question, analyze critically, search efficiently and safely, synthesize and create, and feel as though everything they are doing in your class is purposeful and necessary for the rest of their lives.

Every school has the right to emulate great school systems throughout the world, but many lack the leaders to push and provoke their teachers. A great school system starts with a great leader. Not simply a leader who follows the straight and narrow or who spends all hours of the night working at his or her desk, but a leader who has a clear vision for creating classrooms that are purposeful. A leader who gives his faculty autonomy and trusts they will yield engaging lessons.  I can only speak from a teacher’s point of view, but a dynamic, purposeful classroom starts with a leader that is willing to take a risk and listen to their faculty.

When you tie all of these elements together - dynamic classrooms, innovative leaders, engaged students - you create the classroom today’s students deserve. We need to work within what we can control. Educators need to stop getting frustrated and worrying about when and how the system will change. Rather, make an immediate impact on your classroom today, tomorrow, and throughout the rest of your career.

The educational system will always have flaws. So what are you doing today to instill the best learning practices in your students? What are you doing today to promote innovation within your classroom? What are you doing today to combat the notion that no matter how hard it feels to deal with the educational system, testing, etc to make sure your students are leaving your classroom with the ability to learn, question, analyze, and create? If you expect to see a Utopian vision of education in your lifetime you are dreaming. We need to focus on what we have today and thrive. We owe it to these students!

iTeach180 Project Days 29-30

Shouting fire in a crowded theatre is bad. Similarly, tweeting about blowing up an airport is just as bad. Last week you may have stumbled upon this story reported first by The Guardian. I found it via Mashable under the title “#IamSpartacus”. The writer’s of Masable pose an interesting question at the end of their adapted article,

Was Paul Chambers really breaking the law when he joked about “blowing the airport” on Twitter? Subsequently, are all the Twitter users who have repeated the message breaking the law, too?

The easy answer is yes, however it strikes up a good debate. This is how I will start my class today. This article raises many good lessons about using social media responsibly and understanding your audience. It also presents students with the realities of how using social media irresponsibly can result in serious consequences. 

Objectives:

Students will be able to explain how to use social media responsibly

Students will be able to analyze how to use social media responsibly

Process:

Depending on your class size split the room in half. One side will argue for Mr. Chambers and the other side will argue against Mr. Chambers.

Allow each group a day or two (again, depending on class size and time) to research the story and construct their argument. Each group must share a google doc with their group members and the teacher. This document will house the minutes from group meetings, links to secondary sources, and each member of the groups’ role.

During the debate one member from each group will backchannel the debate proceedings with the hashtag #chamberdebate (or what ever hashtag you decide to use) NOTE: Later on we will analyze the thread of the backchannel and use it to evaluate the debate and reflect on the effectiveness of each groups’ argument.

Another option for this exercise is to use USTREAM.com to broadcast your debate to your personal learning network or possibly the school. I have done this before and it really gives the students an audience and produces excellent feedback. Make sure you consult with administration, parents, and your academic technologist before going through with this. 

2010 EDUBLOGS Award Nominations

My nominations for the 2010 EDUBLOGS Awards 

Most influential blog post: The Power of Flexibility by Sarah Edson
Best Individual Tweeter: Dr. David Timony (@DrTimony)
Best Group Blog: Connected Principals 
Best School Administrator Blog: Burlington High School Principal's Blog 
Most influential tweet/ series of tweets/ tweet based discussion: #edcamp 
Best use of a PLN: The Educator's PLN
Lifetime Achievement: Chris Lehmann