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Great post by Ben Grey on his participation in Constructing Modern knowledge - he hits several things including the fact that many at the conference said that computer programming should be mandatory for all students and a presenter who said that the problem with today is that too many people have a voice. My comments from Ben's blog are below. Great conversations happening here! Programming - OK, on the programming thing, here are my thoughts. In our curriculum our objective is not as much a specific LANGUAGE. One year I may use HTML with Javascript, this past year I used LSL - what I want kids to know that when they encounter programming and coding that there are certain conventions. Some are case sensitive, some are not. How do you find out how to add to what you know about programming? Do you know where to go to find prewritten code? Can you hack it to make it work to do what you want it to do? We spend about a week - two weeks but I require they know how to handcode hyperlinks and images - they are just too important. But to take 12 weeks or 6 weeks to learn a whole language - yes maybe some value - but to me the value is HOW is the language constructed or built. What are the conventions and how do I educate myself if I am interested in pursuing. What comes out of this time is kids who say either "I never want to do that" or "this is really cool, I love coding." They are doing very simplistic work (although the LSL object languages were pretty advanced) but since we don't have a full course nor time in our curriculum, I do see this as an essential part of what I teach. I'm not teaching it for the language sake but for the sake of understanding the whole body of how languages work - we talk about the different languages and what they are used for as part of Intro to Computer science and have an immersive experience. To me, this is somewhat a comprimise between leaving it out entirely or forcing everyone to take 12 weeks of it. I

The Reflective Principal: A Taxonomy of Reflection (Part IV) Reflection can be a challenging endeavor. It's not something that's fostered in school - typically someone else tells you how you're doing! Principals (and instructional leaders) are often so caught up in the meeting the demands of the day, that they rarely have the luxury to muse on how things went. Self-assessment is clouded by the need to meet competing demands from multiple stakeholders. In an effort to help schools become more reflective learning environments, I've developed this "Taxonomy of Reflection" - modeled on Bloom's approach. It's posted in four installments: 1. A Taxonomy of Reflection 2. The Reflective Student 3. The Reflective Teacher 4. The Reflective Principal It's very much a work in progress, and I invite your comments and suggestions. I'm especially interested in whether you think the parallel construction to Bloom holds up through each of the three examples - student, teacher, and principal. I think we have something to learn from each perspective. 4. The Reflective Principal Each level of reflection is structured to parallel Bloom's taxonomy. (See installment 1 for more on the model) Assume that a principal (or instructional leader) looked back on an initiative (or program, decision, project, etc) they have just implemented. What sample questions might they ask themselves as they move from lower to higher order reflection? (Note: I'm not suggesting that all questions are asked after every initiative - feel free to pick a few that work for you.) Bloom's Remembering : What did I do? Principal Reflection: What role did I play in implementing this program? What role did others play? What steps did I take? Is the program now operational and being implemented? Was it completed on time? Are assessment measures in place? Bloom's Understanding: What was

From my perspective, being friends with students in an informal social medium like face book is fraught with dangers? Its like attending student parties. What do you think? *Note my comment & Chris Kennedy's!

A cross post from the original blog: As an avid Facebook user I'd have to give a big thumbs up to the consensus of the group. I, too, accepted friend requests from students and have stopped the practice. Our district developed a policy that strongly discourages teachers "friending" students on social networking platforms. This has made my life easier. When I receive friends requests I can decline and give them school policy as my reason. Students understand and it is never a big deal. It isn't just Facebook as I receive more friend requests through GoodReads. In response I am unrolling school GoodReads account for our learning commons, as well as a Facebook Group. This was we can be there for them in their network without crossing personal lines. Great discussion thread!

10 alternative tools that either offer a different perspective on digital writing or are a little known tool, that may have huge potential in the classroom. Not everything is free nor is it online - but the list will hopefully provide food for thought when you are looking at your next non-fiction or narrative unit with your class.

From a student's perspective - insightful. Just putting technology in students' hands isn't enough. Professional development for teachers and proper management tools are essential.

Emerging Web 2.0 technologies are discussed in the perspective of how elearning is evolving into a future dominated by personal learning environments.

The following is a transcript of a teaching experiment, using the Socratic method, with a regular third grade class in a suburban elementary school. I present my perspective and views on the session, and on the Socratic method as a teaching tool, following the transcript.

An amazing look at the human body with multiple perspectives from the inside! 

#TEDActiveEDU How can we empower kids to reshape the education system?  Fantastic idea worth spreading started by Steve Hargadon on March 3, 2011 calling students to action in speaking up about their education. Our Flat Classroom Keynote from Mount Carmel Area High School "Student Perspective ~ Change Matters" was one of the top 10 videos.

Denise Finley's unique perspective on differentiating vocabulary instruction. 

Small Basic is a lighter version of Visual basic. Interesting site to start kids out programming from a problem solving perspective. Demo'ed at #140ed conference to show how programming is not boring for kids.

By Claude Almansi and Jan Schwartz October 3rd, 2011 "Scoop.it is a new application that is still in beta, although it's fairly easy to get an invite to join. Claude Almansi found the app, sent an email about it to a list serv, which prompted Jan Schwartz to join. We've only been at it for a month or so, but already both of us have found some good information that we otherwise would have missed, and we are helping to spread the good work about education technology and change. First, some information about Scoop.it that Claude dug up. The web service was conceived in France, launched in December 2010 and its web site is in English. It's a social site for sharing news events and articles via subscription. Even if you don't subscribe, Scoop.it can be used to look for information items selected by others on a given theme via its public search engine. You do need to subscribe if you want to create and curate your own topic on a given theme or subject. For example, Jan was particularly excited to find a blog written as a result of a live chat sponsored by the Chronicle of Higher Education, which talked about the topic of Cathy Davidson's recent book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn. There were four panelists and 1500 participants on the chat and one of them, David Palumbo-Liu, wrote a blog about his experience, which was very different than Jan's and so an interesting read for perspective. She would not have found that blog if not for Scoop.it. Claude curates a site for Multimedia Accessibility. Currently Jan is 'scooping' under the title Technology for Teaching and Learning . You can curate as many different topics as you like."

1. Demonstrate how conversations in blog comments provides greater knowledge gain for all involved, because each individual sees a different perspective of the task - giving everyone greater "food for thought!" 2. Model personal learning networks in action!

The theme/focus this year is on Convergence in Workplace Learning. We will bring together people who look at different aspects of learning and knowledge work to understand better what's going on in those areas and how we should be thinking about this holistically. As always, this conference is about getting together interesting people who bring a slightly different perspective and have meaningful conversation around innovation in workplace learning. We typically get more than a thousand people signed up and at least a hundred in each session.

DIVER is a tool for authoring and sharing DIVES. A DIVE is an annotated perspective on any video record. Content can be captured by equipment ranging from basic consumer video cameras to specially built, high-resolution 360-degree panoramic cameras with a multi-microphone array

A serious look at learning spaces and how the new ways of learning demand a different perspective of learning spaces and what they look like. Very rich.

If you have no idea what network-centric grantmaking is and you write grants or work with fundraising - this blog post is an important read for you. (Buy Beth's book - the networked nonprofit - it is great.) Themes as per Beth: These themes include: 1. Listening to and consulting the crowds: Actively listening to online conversations and openly asking for advice. 2. Designing for serendipity: Creating environments, in person and online, where helpful connections can form. 3. Bridging differences: Deliberately connecting people with different perspectives. 4. Catalyzing mutual support: Helping people directly help each other. 5. Providing handrails for collective action: Giving enough direction for individuals to take effective and coordinated action.

As former elementary science and math education professor, I was always encouraging preservice teachers to teach science and math from a hands-on, minds-on perspective. My goal was single minded in the sense that for students to learn science and math their curiosity must peaked. This was always a challenge because most of these preservice teachers learned science and math by rote memorization of facts. Their prior knowledge and experience had few opportunities to actually investigate science phenomena and truly understand the usefulness of math.