Teaching the iGeneration

@plugusin The #edcampldr session on Flipping the Fac Mtg was v. well attended & provoked great discussion! Reflection: http://t.co/LWMovJIU

"o much about how and where kids learn has changed over the years, but the physical structure of schools has not. Looking around most school facilities - even those that aren't old and crumbling - it's obvious that so much of it is obsolete today, and yet still in wide use."

" I have spent today and will spend the next few days talking leadership with folks from around the country. Leading from the box doesn't really get us anywhere. If we stay in our silo and live in our own world can we say we really lead? Being a teacher-leader, curriculum leader, technology leader, or just a leader is about being public. Its about sharing and learning and growing together. So it bothers me when I hear people, powerful people, people in positions that could really drive change, say educators need to be connected, but in the same breath discount the validity of Twitter or other social networking tools. Their idea of connectedness is the traditional. Let's travel 1000's of miles to have a conversation over dinner about assessment or the Common Core. I can have the same conversations with many more people any time of day. That isn't to say that the face-to-face time isn't valuable. On the contrary, I value greatly that time I get to spend with others. But if we are truly going to drive change and make waves as educational leaders we have to plug in and get connected. We have to reach out and read blogs, send tweets, participate in forums."

"Sample Social Media Guidelines Below are sample Social Media Guidelines I helped to develop for our district. Use them as an example of a way to create an environment where social media use is promoted by your school or district but there is not a policy in place that makes that an impossibility."

"The concern about sharing students' videos on YouTube that I hear most frequently is about privacy. Many teachers and school administrators don't want to put videos online that have students' faces in them. Yesterday, YouTube launched a new editing feature to address that issue. There is now a face blurring tool in the YouTube video editor. These are the steps for using the new face blurring tool: 1. upload your video to YouTube. 2. open the "enhancements" option for your video. 3. select "blur all faces" in the "quick fixes tab." See the slides below for screenshots of the process."

"In a game called "Got Em" the Los Angeles Clippers take pictures of their fellow teammates who are caught sleeping. The embarrassing photo game has even been picked up by other NBA teams and has become quite popular while the teams are traveling. You should sleep at your own risk around NBA players or you might get got. "

"With all of the new technologies that are surrounding us, and to the many school administrators that are not feeling comfortable with Twitter, Facebook, etc., I would like to suggest three ways (as opposed to the typical round number of 10) that you can focus on your own professional development over the summer. Less is oftentimes more in the digital world as we move from simply being "literate" to "fluent" in this language. So for the administrator new to the world of social media and all of the possibilities that it holds for developing instructional leadership, here are three ways that I would suggest starting to learn this summer"

Is this type of education possible? If not, why not? And if not, what are the consequences for learners and learning?

"This program is brilliant because instead of dictating to students exactly what they need to learn in a forced fed fashion, they are allowed to explore various fields of study based on their own curiosity. They are learning how to learn for themselves which is much more valuable than temporarily memorizing a set of facts that are meaningless to the individual. It's a paradigm shift from hoop jumping to mind expansion."

""It's kind of weird," Khan explained, "when people are nitpicking about multiplying negative numbers." When asked why so many teachers have such adverse reactions to Khan Academy, Khan suggests it's because they're jealous. "It'd piss me off, too, if I had been teaching for 30 years and suddenly this ex-hedge-fund guy is hailed as the world's teacher." Of course, teachers aren't "pissed off" because Sal Khan is the world's teacher. They're concerned that he's a bad teacher who people think is great; that the guy who's delivered over 170 million lessons to students around the world openly brags about being unprepared and considers the precise explanation of mathematical concepts to be mere "nitpicking." Experienced educators are concerned that when bad teaching happens in the classroom, it's a crisis; but that when it happens on YouTube, it's a "revolution.""

"oday's Wonder of the Day will make you think twice about how you act online! Have you ever wondered… Do you have good netiquette? What are the basic rules of netiquette? Why is good netiquette important?"

"If you know us here at SimpleK12, you know we love our free eBooks. From time to time, we give them out via email, blog posts, Twitter, Facebook, and webinars. And it turns out, you love our free eBooks too! I've received so many questions about eBooks (mainly, on how to get MORE), that I thought I'd share a list of our most popular eBooks."

"I read this great article from the Harvard Business Review this morning that would be a great article to share with staff at the beginning of year to spark some discussion. The author talks about school's inadequacies in preparing students to actually be leaders in our world because of what they are taught from the first moment of when they come to school. I could take many great quotes from the post (you should really read it), but I love these thoughts on the importance of leaders serving others:"

" Technology alone is not going to move an organization or an individual from Good to Great. However, technology that is thoughtfully deployed can help us move a bit faster. "

A nice John Spencer bit that articulates a few options for classroom blogging projects.

"Many people question the value of twitter and if it can really make an impact for an educator. After nearly two years as a user, I can say with little hesitation that twitter has impacted my life in ways both subtle and profound. "

"There's a grand tradition of using students in videos to advocate for changes in learning, teaching, and educational technology. See, for example, A Vision of Students Today and No Future Left Behind and I Need My Teachers to Learn and You Can't Be My Teacher. Continuing the trend, here's a video from Pearson called A Serious Talk: Kids Demand Next-Generation Learning. Happy viewing!"

"More-so than ever, content is available in abundance via YouTube. We, including our students, can consume content constantly from any device with an internet connection. Have you ever stopped to think about what it means when you upload your own original content to YouTube? Things like: How do I upload something? What settings are crucial to know about? How is this applicable to my classroom and students? Whether you're uploading content you've filmed yourself or uploading a screencast for your students, I thought I'd share some of the YouTube settings that I've found to be most important to make teachers and students aware of."

"On May 16th, Skype announced that it is joining forces with Penguin Group, New York Philharmonic, Science Museum London, Peace One Day, and Save the Children with a view towards giving teachers educational content and access to expert speakers via video calling. This collaboration represents Skype's latest attempt to reach its goal of connecting one million classrooms globally. Skype in the classroom will now feature each organization's content, projects, and available guest-speakers, with Penguin Young Readers Group connecting authors with students for discussions about books, reading, and writing. The New York Philharmonic will offer live interaction with musicians and educators. Save the Children and London's Science Museum will have individual projects on Skype in the classroom by the end of the year. Skyping is no longer a novelty - a once-in-awhile special event. It's becoming a routine part of being an effective 21st century teacher."

"The end of the school year is upon us however many are looking forward to next year. You may be thinking what can you do differently next year? How can you stand out above the crowd? How can your school become a larger part of the school community? While Twitter is beginning to catch on with many educators, schools are lagging in their adoption of the platform. But let's think about it. Twitter is a quick and easy tool to let the entire school community know whats going on with you and your students. Updates can come from anywhere and users don't have to have a Twitter account to follow along. But where do you start? What are some things to consider? Here is my primer and some advice for schools (and districts) that want to start using Twitter."