We have heard plenty from teachers. We have heard plenty from educational "gurus" and theorists what students should/shouldn’t be learning and how we should/shouldn’t be teaching. I have written and talked plenty about the need for globally connected educators. I have even written a chapter in Heidi Hayes Jacobs‘ upcoming book about Global Literacies. It is time to hear from students! Ann Michaelsen, a High School English teacher from Oslo, Norway did precisely that. She gave her students a voice, the time to research, write and platform to share THEIR perspective. What does it mean to be a connected learner as a student? Ann shares in the book’s introduction As a classroom teacher, you cannot create your own educational system. however, you can change what is going on in your classroom. This book will show you how to help your students become connected learners. Our hope is that teachers and students will be able to model a true learner centered environment! The secret seems to lie in giving students a voice, letting them take ownership and asking them to learn skills that help them perform a "just in time" not a "just in case" authentic task. The chapter on motivation is especially interesting. Marie and Silje relate their motivation in school to the ever important question: WHY DO I HAVE TO DO THIS?  The two young authors conclude that it is not just about finding ONE answer to that questions. HOW many answers one can come up with is  directly related to the degree of motivation you will experience. We, as educators (in the classroom, but also as curriculum writers and decision makers) need to truly start making MOTIVATION  part of our priorities. How can we help students come up with more and more answers to this eternal question…beyond "because you might need it in the future", "because I said so"… or "you want to get a good grade". Let’s make learning authentic and real! Let’s make knowing "why they are learning about something" a priority for our students. Let’s help students answer the question "Why do I have to learn this?" in a variety and in many creative ways. Interested in the book? Take a look at their website and a reflection on the process of the work. Connected Learners What My Connected Students Taught Me about Motivation The Powerful Learning Practice Press made the book available as a PDF file. Written by a team of 27 students at Sandvika High School (Oslo, Norway), Connected Learners: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Global Classroom is a unique compendium of stories, advice and how-to articles designed to help high school teachers and their students around the globe shift from classrooms that are isolated and teacher-centered to digitally rich environments where learning is student-driven and constantly connected to the global internet. The 220-page collaborative book takes the reader through all the steps to create a digital classroom, says a spokesman for the team of Grade 9 students, "ranging from setting up Twitter and blog accounts, to finding educators and students online for global learning activities, to how to optimize the use of search engines and teach the key elements of digital literacy." The book represents the culmination of a student learning project supported by English teacher and international blogger Ann Michaelsen, recognized by Microsoft Partners in Learning as a "Global Hero in Education" in 2012. "This book offers a unique insight into what students and teachers need to know in the 21st century classroom," says Michaelsen. "I’m extremely proud of what my English learners have accomplished and shared in this remarkable example of project learning." Entirely written, edited and designed by the students themselves, the 10-chapter interactive digital book is designed to be useful for teachers and students in both high and middle school. "PLPress is helping with the promotion and distribution of this unique book as a public service," said Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach, CEO of Powerful Learning Practice LLC, "and in recognition of all the educators and students around the world who are leading the shift to connected learning." All profits will go into a fund for the Sandvika High students to support physical field trips to schools they collaborate with online.    

There are, no doubt,  many technophobes (among educators and in general) out there. Technophobia is defined by The Free Dictionary as: Fear of or aversion to technology, especially computers and high technology. Over the years, I have seen "the fear" many times. A popular idiom used here in the USA is to compare the signs of that fear to "deer in headlights" The eyes of the technophobe are widened and a form of paralysis sets in as soon as I approach. Although, I emphasize modern teaching, learning and pedagogy, I am perceived as a "technology guru", justifying the terrified look (How could an educator have fear of teaching, learning or pedagogy?) I try to downplay the part technology plays… (No mention of the word "technology" in my job title, emphasizing of the skills, not tools) I try to convince that students will be able to take the "technology" part into their hands, that the teacher did not have to worry about it … I offer to "hold hands" during lessons, in case the feared technology failed, and paralysis sets in… I write step by step tutorials to allow practicing of skills, introducing new tools, planning lessons together I showcase the potential of amplification, engagement, motivation and learning potential technology can bring… (hoping that the results would "convince" and surpass the fear) In Changing- Shifting a School Culture (May 2009…yes almost 4 years ago…), I wrote about my train of thought regarding shifting from figuring out how to get educators familiar and comfortable enough to use technology  as just another teaching tool to how to change or facilitate a shift of a school’s culture into a learning community. [4 years is a long time in terms of technology change... think ... 4 years ago, there were no iPads...] 4 years ago, I believed, that we might be ok, if a teacher continued to fear technology as a tool for themselves, and trust their students to take the reins. 2 years ago, I wrote in a post titled  Enhancement-Automating-Transforming-Informating (May 2011) Long ago, I have resolved that teaching and learning DO NOT depend on technology nor are "not real", good or effective without it (see Changing-Shifting a School Culture, Bringing in Experts. Transformative Teaching and Learning? and It’s not about the Tools, it is about the Skills ). The best "tool" for good teaching and learning…is… a good teacher! That teacher can be a professional educator…it can be "yourself"… it can be a group of your peers… it can be a book, film, audio…(insert whatever media) or it can be… (insert whatever suits you, your learning or teaching style). [Even then still believing that it is NOT about the technology ...] My thinking is shifting again. The sneaky feeling is creeping up over and over again that educators MUST experience the world of technology and modern learning (aka 21st century learning) for themselves in order to understand the transformative learning process the tools can enable ."Good teachers" will still teach (without technology tools)… their students will still learn… up to a certain degree… and not being able to move beyond a certain point. Previously, I thought that as long as the technophobe allows students to use "their" technology and he/she takes care of the academic/pedagogical part, we would be alright, BUT… Pedagogy has shifted… Modern skills and literacies have emerged… Only with that new kind of experience in learning, collaborating, communicating, thinking… can we not only understand but also adapt and tweak the technology tools to serve as tools FOR modern literacies, student learning and amplification. Just as our students… we are experiencing for the first time collaborative, across time (synchronous and asynchronous) and space (we don’t have to all be in the same geographic place), amplified (beyond our local audience, beyond our own perspective, beyond our own language) learning. Just as our students… we are  pioneers and explorers. We are testing the waters, we are giving ourselves permission to "fail forward". There is no road map. Our only directions are: Learn- Reflect- Share Just as our students… we are learning to learn from and express ourselves beyond text printed on a paper. We are learning from experts around the world (via Skype, Twitter and Blogs), we are learning new writing genres (hyperlinked, writing in digital spaces), exploring and discovering new research methods Just as our students… we are surviving information overload and re-learning how to focus, find, filter, remix and create new information. We are learning how to curate information , look at and create information visually. Just as our students… we are acquiring digital fluency and critical literacies, which takes us beyond basic literacy of traditional reading and writing. Just as our students… the most important skill we can learn, support, develop and prioritize is Learning How to Learn Schools need to have/put platforms into place, that support their educators in developing, exploring and experiences new kids of learning that they will then be able to take beyond their own professional development and learning into the classrooms. You need to EXPERIENCE through technology in order to see HOW you can translate that into your teaching! For the technophobe amongst educators, it is time to GET OVER IT! It is time. Take a look around you. The world has changed and it is not changing back. Technology devices, such as smartphones, tablets and laptops connect us instantly to tools, services and platforms such as Twitter, blogs, wikis, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest or Snapchat (among thousands of others). Dr. Gil Perl recently wrote in a blog post Curriulum21 Initiative: Reflections from the Side of the Road that educators need to be at the forefront of understanding a changing world and get outside their own comfort zone. I could not agree more with him. So what does a great 21st Century teacher look like? First of all, we learned that it’s not necessarily the teacher who tweets the pics uploaded to her Instagram account from her iPhone and remixes 3D animation with Khan Academy videos and soundtracks ripped from YouTube, then Snapchats herself doing it. It’s the teacher - whether new to the profession or seasoned veteran - who recognizes that the world is changing and that teachers ought to be on the forefront of understanding that change. It’s the teacher who has a burning desire to learn more and do more, while being open to reflection and redirection. It’s the teacher who encourages his students to take intellectual and emotional risks and models such by extending himself beyond his own comfort zone. It’s the educator who embraces the idea that her job is not to teach, but to help students learn.      

For me, iPad workflow has to do with fluency. It is: the fluid movement between apps the unconscious decision what app  to use in order to accomplish any given task The workflow is almost like Grammar in a language. Grammar helps you put components of a language in the proper order, grammar rules help you use the right tense, remix word to create new meaning, the correct vocabulary words attached in combination with pronouns and conjugation help you communicate exactly what you had intended. Workflow= Fluency of iPad Grammar Using iPads in the classroom with your students is more than choosing and letting them use Apps.  I have written several posts about how I envisioned and then observed our students develop iPad Fluency (Fluency of iPad workflow takes time to develop!). Working on iPad Fluency with Lower Elementary Students First Grade Workflow Fluency How Does iPad Workflow Fluency Look Like in Kindergarten We are starting to see more and more examples of students developing iPad fluency, as they take a photo of a mindmap that was written on a dry-erase board and ,without being asked, email them to all their classmates… ask for a mindmap that I started of a discussion held in class and created on the iPad to be emailed to them. Not having the app (in which I had originally created the mindmap) on their own iPad, without missing a beat, substituting the app with Skitch to continue to add to the notes… create a collage of images, saving the file to upload to their blogfolios without painfully getting hung up technical issues of how to import, rotate, crop, save, open in new app, edit, save and publish… quickly looking up a quote or reference of a person in the middle of a conversation/discussion to validate someone’s point of view/perspective. The conversation continues without interruption and research is embedded smoothly… collaboratively take notes, peer edit drafts of writing samples and not even think twice about the transformative nature of this new writing process… I created the following iPad Workflow chart below for receiving and handing in sharing work. Breaking the process apart should help students visualize each step, remind them of "what comes next?" and support them on their way to develop their own fluency. [ The chart was created in ComicLife app, icons saved and imported from the web to the Photo Gallery as I was browsing Safari. The final chart was then saved in Comic Life, exported as a jpg image and as a pdf file to be then uploaded to this blog post to be shared. ] Download iPad Workflow: Receiving and Sharing (pdf)  

The following is a wonderful description, step by step, how one librarian upgraded traditional "animal reports" with a first grade class (six year olds). from handing in paper reports  to  sharing eBook/pdf files with the world from consuming information  to creating and remixing their own information from using and printing out photos and illustrations to properly citing digital and analog sources and creating their own illustrations from working in one medium (paper/markers/pencils) to building fluency between media and apps. from "handing" in an animal report to a teacher to uploading and embedding their creation to their blogfolio as an artifact of their learning in this particular moment in time Upgrades such as the one described below support and promote information, network and media literacy as well as continue to expose and teach basic traditional skills. Guest Post by Karin Hallett. Originally posted on Liquid Literacy Blog. Young readers typically focus on fiction books. Since a couple of my first graders were showing interest in nonfiction books, however, I thought it would be a good idea to introduce the whole class to this genre and take the opportunity to also teach them about nonfiction text features and some basic research steps along the way. To jump start, I randomly distributed a number of nonfiction books (emergent and fluent reader texts, 0.8 to 4.5 AR book levels) on each of our four group tables and asked students to look through the books, noting any differences to fiction books. I then showed them on the projector screen Big Cats (by DK Publishers) from the wegivebooks.org website. We looked through selected pages and identified various text features, including the table of contents, headings, captions, diagram, and labels, discussing the purpose of each. Since one of my goals was to introduce very basic research skills to this class, we discussed what research is and established that good research starts with a "Wonder" question. We brainstormed a list of questions students may wonder about an animal. Each student chose a book about an animal on their reading level. They then thought of a question they were wondering about their animal and wrote it in the organizer I had created. We spent the next two sessions gathering information from the texts to complete the multi-page organizers. Students drew the animal and labeled it. They drew a picture of its habitat and another of its diet. Then they noted at least four facts about their animal. By far the hardest part was for students to compile a five-word glossary. I decided to model this process by reading a section in a book (projected on the screen) and identifying words that provide information about the animal. This process forced students to read their texts closely to not only identify words (or phrases) but also to figure out their meaning. I deliberately approached this project step-by-step rather than let each student work at their own speed. So for each section of the organizer, we discussed the type of information to complete and I either modeled or showed examples. Then it was the students’ turn before we moved on to the next part of the organizer. Those students who completed their sections first worked with classmates who benefited from some help or simply encouragement. It’s never too early to introduce students to the concept of ethical use of information. So one section of the organizer required the "Source of Information". We discussed plagiarism and the importance of citing information sources. For our purposes, students noted author names and book titles on their organizers. My 1st graders have experience using various iPad apps, including BookCreator, which they’ve used to create fiction books in the Fall. For this project, I wanted students to again use BookCreator to show their learning. Since it is impossible to create drawings in BookCreator, I decided to introduce the class to ExplainEverything, an app my daughter’s been using for her school work. Its a versatile tool for creating and can also be used for screencasting. In all, each student created four images: An image for their cover page, a diagram of their animal complete with labels and a picture each of the animal’s habitat and diet. Once finished, the drawings were saved as image files to the iPad’s Camera Roll. The next step was to import the images into BookCreator app for iPad and transfer the text from the graphic organizer to BookCreator.  We spent several sessions on this. Each time, I emphasized the need to make sure all required elements are included and sentences have proper punctuation and capitalization. Invented spelling was just fine. Our last session was a "quality check": going through the book to check for all required elements (cover page, table of contents, wonder question and answer, diet, habitat, diagram with labels, facts, glossary, source, headings) as well as punctuation and capitalization. I was a bit worried that this project would drag on too long for the students to remain engaged, but they displayed an incredible work ethic throughout. They loved to learn about the animals and at all times lots of verbal sharing of information was going on. Also, I do believe that the use of iPads helped to keep them motivated. While I required that students included certain text features and information elements), it also was important for me to allow students to  exhibit their creative sides. So even though I mentioned that dark text on light background is easier on the eyes, some students just "really liked" the very light turquoise colored letters on white background, or the rather swirly fonts. Not easy on my much older eyes, but the products are definitely the students’!  I believe if we want students to take ownership of their learning and products, they must be allowed such simple freedoms. The outcome of the digital nonfiction books is incredible! I am so impressed with my 1st graders’ skills. I feel very lucky to be working with such a creative group of kids. Each of them worked hard on their projects (a total of 13 45-minute sessions) to produce quality books about their research. Their books speak for themselves! Tree Frogs from Martin J. Gottlieb Day School Polar Bears from Martin J. Gottlieb Day School Sharks from Martin J. Gottlieb Day School

I brainstormed a few more workflow possibilities with a basic app toolkit. The Basic App Toolkit contains app that I consider helpful/useful for creating workflows for teachers and students in the learnflow of LEARN-> CREATE-> SHARE Screencasting Explain Everything or ShowMe Skitch Mindmapping iThoughts Popplet Reading Flipboard Feedly Kindle iBooks Researching Safari (comes pre-installed on the iPad) Google Earth Movie iMovie Images PicCollage Presentation Haiku Deck ComicLife Productivity Email (comes pre-installed on the iPad) Evernote Drawing Doodle Buddy Social Bookmarking Pinterest Diigo Writing WordPress Google Drive Notability Reading Workflow Download the Workflow for iPads as a PDF file

No! You can’t just take it! No! You can’t take it, because you found it on Google! No! You can’t just right click>save>use, just because you can! No! You can’t just pretend that you created it! No! You can’t make money off my work that I shared FREELY under certain conditions! No! You can’t just take it…even in the name of education! No! You can’t just take it… even if AND ESPECIALLY BECAUSE you are a teacher! By "it", I mean my work, which includes images, visuals, infographics, infoflyers, blog posts, how to guides, text, jpgs, videos, pdfs, etc.  Just because I love my work, spend HOURS writing, designing and creating does not mean I want someone else to take credit for it. Just because I share my work for free online DOES NOT mean that I give away ALL my rights. I have chose a special kind of copyright license to encourage others to (hopefully) learn from my work. My work is licensed under Creative Commons license. On every page on Langwitches (in the footer), you will see the above icon stating Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. This means, I support collaboration, remixing, building upon and sharing my work AS LONG AS the following restrictions ATTRIBUTION give attribution to me as the original creator (and if I used and credited other work licensed under CC, please give these creators credit to) NON-COMMERCIAL do not use my work in any shape or form to make money, include in a website, book or other form where you receive monetary contributions/reimbursements/etc. SHARE ALIKE if you use my work, you agree to also share your work under the same Creative Commons license terms. In other words… if you choose to include any work or part of my work in your work, do not slap a copyright symbol on your site/book/app/etc. preventing others from continuing to build upon it. As an educator you NEED to know and understand copyright and Creative Commons licenses! It is our responsibility to not only teach copyright as part of digital citizenship to our students, but also to MODEL it anytime AND everytime to our students. I often wonder WHY educators (among many others) just take it, simply because they can. Is it: Ignorance?… "I did not know" Laziness?… "I don’t have time to deal with that" …to learn about Copyright law and to take the the extra time to find out who this image originally came from… On purpose? … ex. taking the time to crop out the attribution included on an infographic or image Anonymity?… What are the chances that someone will actually find out that I used their work… and then bother to take the time to take action against me? Truly believe they are doing the right and ethical thing? I have chosen various paths to deal with DAILY violations of the CC copyright license that I have chosen for my work: Ignore it It is turning into a full time job to find violations, contact information, write an email, follow up, etc. I am a one woman operation, who does NOT charge for anything on my blog, nor supplement with ads and commercials… Contact the author of the violation by writing a canned response letter such as: In your recent blog post you used one of my images without giving proper credit. [insert URL of violation] My work is licensed under Creative Commons , attribution, share alike, non commercial. As an educator, I believe in sharing freely under these conditions to build collaboration and encourage added value, remixing and creation. I see a copyright symbol on your own blog, which violates the "share alike" part of my license. I am asking you to please add attribution to the image, remove your own copyright of your work or remove my image. Please make yourself familiar with copyright and Creative Commons licenses if you use material beyond the ones you have created yourself. Thank you in advance   I make contact to only receive no response Receive a rude response Receive a one liner such as: "Sorry, I did not know…", "Will take it off my site" or "I am in my right to do what I want under Fair Use" Share my frustration on Twitter, Facebook page and now on my blog I have received comments such as the one below on my Facebook Page "I agree in principle but Langwitches has to make a decision to share the free content with and without attributions…or remove the resources and charge membership to get access. The choice is always yours (Langwitches) …just stop whining and complaining. Darrell Garrison takes it a step further by asking the question  "Who is to Blame for Wrongful Attributions for Educational Blogs and How Do We Fix it? I was frustrated yesterday as I was reading an article from one of the educational sites that I enjoy called Edudemic. I usually read what they’ve posted once a day and I almost always read articles involving ideas of how to create PLNs or guides for social media and educators no matter what the source. Yesterday I got to the bottom of the article and saw a graphic by  Silvia Tolisano that I have shared many times and itself is based on an original graphic by Alex Couros as Silvia points out on her Flickr page. What can we do to raise awareness of Copyright law and the ethical importance for teachers to be knowledgeable and models in adhering to licenses and ethical behavior when it comes to digital citizenship? What have you done, when you realized that other educators take your own work or someone you know and "pretend" they created it?

I could not be more proud to be part of Heidi Hayes Jacobs‘ latest book series Contemporary Perspectives on Literacy. You can find my chapter of "The Globally Connected Educator" in the Mastering Global Literacy Book (to be published in November 2013)  and the chapter "Digital Masters: Becoming a Blogmaster, Annotexter, Web Curator", I co-authored with Michael Fisher in the Mastering Digital Literacy (to be published in February 2014) Discover how educators can cultivate globally literate learners while becoming globally connected themselves. The authors explore ways to bring global issues into the classroom and personalize them using new digital tools. Find strategies for implementing global-awareness studies into the traditional school curriculum, as well as creating new types of 21st century learning environments. Benefits Understand why a rapidly changing world calls for the integration of global awareness in the classroom. Learn practical strategies to make global issues relevant to students. Integrate 21st century skills into the traditional classroom curriculum. Nurture students to become citizens able to thrive in a contemporary society. Use global competence to stimulate student interest in learning, college, and careers. The process of writing the book in itself demonstrates the necessary skills and literacies to work collaboratively in a purely digital environment, independent of geographic distances, face2face collaboration or physical documentation. Many chapters were co-authored with authors going through the writing process by using a variety of digital tools that support collaboration beyond having to sit physically next to each other. See the other books in the Contemporary Perspectives on Literacy series. Today’s students must be prepared to compete in a global society in which cultures, economies, and people are constantly connected. It is the job of the 21st century educator to make sure students are equipped to meet this challenge. The authors explain three "new literacies"—global, media, and digital—and provide practical tips for incorporating these literacies into the traditional curriculum.

I am pleased to share with you an opportunity for Middle School Students to collaborate on a global perspectives project. Mark Engstrom, the Assistant Principal and Middle School Geography teacher at my new school  in São Paulo, Brazil,  and his collaboration partner, Laurie Clement, a MS teacher in Windsor, Canada, have put together various projects to connect middle school geography students from around the world and to facilitate collaboration among them. This past school year, our students in Brazil worked together with students from Canada, USA and Sweden. They are expanding this opportunity to more schools and countries. Take a look at the outline of the project below and get directly in contact with  one of the Program Coordinators: Mark Engstrom Graded School Sao Paulo, Brazil via Twitter (@markaengstrom) email mark.engstrom@graded.br Laurie Clement St. Rose Catholic School Windsor, Canada laurie_clement@wecdsb.on.ca   Purpose: To facilitate student growth within a global environment.  Students will have the ability to acquire skills in research, critical thinking, teamwork and leadership while fostering partnerships with peers around the globe. Last year middle school students from Brazil, the U.S., Sweden, and Canada connected to work on projects that require many Modern Learning Skills: Creativity and Innovation Students generate and extend ideas, suggest hypotheses, use their imagination and look for innovative ways to present their ideas.  In the Utopia Project, students create what they believe a Utopian country would look like.  They work together to determine the history of their country, the physical characteristics of their land and how that would impact their economic security.   In their groups, they also collaborate on social and political issues such as the education system as well as what type of government will run their country. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving Students are encouraged to use knowledge, facts and data to effectively problem solve.  They learn that thinking through an issue, assessing problems and looking for multiple solutions is more important than identifying an immediate answer to a problem. While studying land disputes, students will investigate the land in question, the causes of the dispute as well as what negotiation strategies have been used to attempt to solve this conflict.  As a group they will also evaluate the current geopolitical situation and discuss possible resolutions.  Groups will then select images and visual representations to accurately portray the struggles that have occurred as a result of that particular piece of land. Communication and Collaboration Technology has transformed the way we communicate in the classroom.  It has allowed us to step beyond our classroom walls and collaborate with students across the globe.  In these projects students communicate and collaborate with their international peers throughout the learning process.  For example, in the Five Most Pressing Problems on the Planet project, the first task is for students to survey people in their lives/community in order to determine which global issues they think are the most "pressing". After this communication, students collaborate around which issues their group will focus on. Empathy and Global Stewardship The Internet along with the various forms of social media used on a consistent basis by our students has provided them with instant and consistent access to global issues.  As a result, it is more important than ever to educate our students on what it means to become a global citizen. Our projects have been designed to provide students the opportunity to explore global issues and increase their awareness of social, environmental, political and health concerns that are present in our world today. Curiosity and Imagination Students will have the freedom to explore, negotiate and make choices.  They will be empowered to take ownership of their learning and become active participants within their groups.  Each of the projects have been designed to provide a significant amount of choice within a well structured environment. Information/Media/ICT Literacy Students will analyze and evaluate a wide variety of sources in order to determine what information is valuable.  In addition, students determine the best platform with which to share out their final product. We now have complete links and almost all of the dates.  Is there any chance you could edit it so that it looks like this:   The 2013-2014 projects will be: 1st Quarter (September 16-October 4) The 5 Most Pressing Problems on the Planet - from Origins to Solutions 2nd Quarter (November 11-25) Utopia Project - an Adventure in the Ideal 3rd Quarter (February 10-21) This Land is My Land! - an Image Gallery of Geopolitics 4th Quarter- (April dates TBA) Sustainable Development- Reality or a Misnomer? Project - an International Debate   Side note: These are probably best done not as whole class projects, but rather for those students who could use enrichment or a non-traditional learning experience.  Each project runs for two weeks and there is a rubric for the grading of each one. Parent testimonial "This project is excellent. Children are collaboration each other and try to learn more. Also this project is also helping to bring children from different country different society and discuss the issues." - Sujit Biswas "I think this was a great experience for my daughter. She has never done anything like this before where you work with people from another country. She really seemed interested in it and was happy to be a part of it. However with all the projects and tests, piling up at the end of the quarter, she did at times get a little frustrated, but overall I think she really enjoyed it and would be glad if she can do it again!" -Hiroko Kawahara Student testimonial "The Five Most Pressing Problems project was my favourite project this year.  I liked working in groups with students around the world and getting to talk about real life problems.  I learned a lot from my partners by talking about which problems we thought were the most important. To help my group in ranking the issues, I created a survey that was completed through multiple forms of social media.  I received responses from over 600 people in over 20 countries.  I think that I’m more aware of global issues now that I have learned so much from the project". - Carly Jacobs * Read more about Carly’s experience in this article featured in her local newspaper,  The Windsor Star. Partners in 2012-2013 Location School Houston, U.S.A. Nehemiah Middle School Windsor, Canada St. Rose Sao Paulo, Brazil Graded School- The American School of Sao Paulo Karlstad, Sweden Internationella Engelska Skolan Partners in 2013-2014 Atlanta, U.S.A. Atlanta International School Esigodini, Zimbabwe Falcon College New York, U.S.A. Avenues School Belgrade, Serbia International School of Belgrade Campinas, Brazil Escola Americana de Campinas Astana, Kazakhstan International School of Astana Chicago, U.S.A. Round Lake Middle School Other Potential Partners for 2013-2014: Delaware, U.S.A. Lusaka Singapore The Hague Sydney Cairo Zagreb Melbourne Hanoi Hong Kong Meknes, Morocco Settat, Morocco Karachi Teaneck, New Jersey Kuwait Zurich Managua Caracas Brussels Piedmont, OK, U.S.A. Jakarta Macao Prague Doha Dubai Lisbon  

As part of my job interview for the Middle School Academic Technology Coordinator position at the American School of São Paulo, Brazil, I was asked how I would re-design a class for 6th graders, entering a 1:1 laptop (BYOL) environment in the middle school. The nuts and bolts of HOW to use a variety of tools (ex. Google Apps, iMovie/moviemaker) and skills (ex. file management) had been the focus of this type of class before. I wanted to place the emphasis on a workflow and learnflow instead of any particular software programs or apps the the middle  school teachers and students were heavily relying on. By making the goal a LEARNFLOW which supports the unconscious, smooth and effortless flow of learning, I was/am hoping that the the skills will  simply become a part of the process NOT the goal. As a firm believer that Teaching is the Highest Form of Understanding, I designed the layout of the course around tutorial creations. According to Alan November and his ideas around the Digital Learning Farm, tutorial designers become empowered learners. They become creators and contributors. The IDEA  for the quarter long course is for students to create tutorials that serve a real need in the school community (easily searchable, topics of tutorials directly related to surveyed needs of administration, faculty and other students). Students will pay special attention to quality tutorial design. The GOAL is to create a platform of tutorials to support learnflow at our school (and beyond) and to amplify learning. Students don’t just hand in an assignment, but leave a "legacy" to be used beyond the timeframe of the class or school year. Others will build on their work, add to, tweak, re-mix and share in return. The PROCESS of learning, creating, reflecting and sharing and the flow between these components is critical to support students in becoming self-directed learners in the 21st century. The SKILLS involved are: communication not only understanding content and process, but being able to express and communicate them to someone else. The communication can be accomplished in a variety of media. collaboration curating all student created tutorials in one place (ex. wiki) will create a hub, where students can search for tutorials of content, that they need a refresher on and  it creates a depository for students in future years to come. writing writing a script is an essential part of tutorial design. Tutorial writing could be considered part of the expository writing and technical writing genre vocabulary using  specific vocabulary related to the content explained storyboarding "Storyboards are graphic organizers in the form of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing"~ Wikipedia digital storytelling a tutorial is a special type of story. It requires the "teller" of the story to engage the "listener" via different digital media networking tutorials are meant for others to learn from us digital media creating, editing, and mixing of a variety of media forms (text, images, audio, video, etc.) and the fluency to work with a variety of media and switch effortless between them empathy the ability to understand and share the feelings (ex. not know how to do something or understand) of another We are looking to bring in "experts". Who could we learn from? Would you be able to contribute to our student learning as they are creating tutorials and could volunteer to skype in? mentor? advise? tweet in? blog in? to give feedback? Can you "?" We are willing to give back    

Good infographic. Well worth going over each point with your students to help them navigate their online lives and build a positive digital footprint. Knowthenet presents Manners Matter the online Netiquette Do’s and Don’ts infographic.

Good infographic to remember how our world has changed (and is not changing back for our kids!) Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community - Visually.  

6th graders are studying Health and Illness related vocabulary in Ms. Piragene’s Portuguese class. How do we learn vocabulary of a second, third or fourth language best?  As a class, we discussed different methods including  mnemonic devices and how they help us remember, organize and make connections in our brain. Some of us prefer: visual connections rhyming words acronyms a sentence in context humorous connections etc. In order to embed modern skills and literacies and connect to our school’s  Core Values and mission, students created Popplets. The tool (Popplet) allowed students to create a web based mind map. Each  bubble/ "popplet"represented a vocabulary word related to medicine/illness/symptoms. SAMR CONNECTION (SAMR Model based on Ruben Puentedura‘s Work) At this point, using the tool merely served as a SUBSTITUTION of the original task. The mind map could have been drawn on a piece of paper  with colored pencils or markers. It became clear quickly how each of the students’ minds worked. Some were linear, some arranged the vocabulary words circular, some connected them by content, etc. Students color coded the popplet, moved them around the canvas, resized, organized, arranged and connected popplets with each other. In addition to text, they could embedded an image or a video into the popplet. SAMR CONNECTION (SAMR Model based on Ruben Puentedura‘s Work) At his point, we entered the AUGMENTATION stage. "The tool acts as a direct tool substitute with functional improvement". The ability to easily move the popplets around, change colors at a whim and create or delete connections improve the task.  Popplet has different options to insert media. One can either choose to upload and use your own image file, find an image on Flickr or insert a video via Vimeo or YouTube. SAMR CONNECTION (SAMR Model based on Ruben Puentedura‘s Work) At his point, we entered the MODIFICATION stage. "Technology allows for a significant task redesign" We have moved from a "flat", "linear" and "2-dimensional" written down list on a piece of paper to a transmedia representation of vocabulary words (including text, images and videos). First, I thought "Great", Popplet provides an easy way for students to access images for their projects. As I was looking closer at this "insert images from Flickr"  function, I wondered WHAT copyright license these images actually had? I chose to throw out the questions to Popplet directly via Twitter (see below). Unfortunately, the answer that I received did not satisfy me completely. I tried to probe a little further, but did not receive any further response. I wonder what exactly does Popplet mean by "It is up to individual creators and depends on whether it is for public or personal use…"? Do they mean that using a possibly copyrighted image from Flickr is ok to use if it is for personal use only? (Not really) Do they mean that using a possibly Creative Commons licensed image WITHOUT giving attribution (there is no way to find the URL of the original image on Flickr) will be up to each user  (not really) Do they mean that when the Popplet is intended for Public use (as in embedding them in a student blog) they should not be using their provided image search function? Most students wanted to add images to their popplets. In discussing LARK guidelines (Digital Citizenship), it suddenly was unclear and difficult in finding images and how to cite them properly. So, for now, I advised our students to upload their own photos/illustrations or search for Public Domain and Creative Commons  images on other sites. Here are a few links to help them search and find images suitable to be re-used on their blogs or other work. Pixabay Flickr Commons StockXChng EveryStockPhoto Wikipedia.org Wikimedia Commons  Morguefile Pics4Learning Once the Popplet was created, students were to embed the popplet on their blogfolios using the provided embed code. Next step will be to write a reflection on how the process of using a mind map helped them learn. Students will read each other’s examples, look at the different organization variations and comment on each others blog posts. SAMR CONNECTION (SAMR Model based on Ruben Puentedura‘s Work) Once students share their mindmap on their blogs, opening them up for a global audience to see and give feedback on, we will have moved into the REDEFINITION stage. "Technology allows for the creation of a new task, previously inconceivable". Students will be able to share and learn from others. Find the popplet used to model the process below:

As teachers are seeing more and more iPads in education and either using their own devices or being given a teacher iPad or a class set, it is important to realize what the iPad is and what it isn’t. The first realization needs to be that the iPad is not (yet) intended to be a replacement for a laptop. It falls short in several areas when comparing it with a laptop, such as: memory storage ability to allow for easy use of multiple users heavy typing tasks traditional software programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Photoshop, etc. With the increased usage of cloud storage, 1:1 programs (where devices are not shared among users), as well as the shift away from specific software programs to web based tools, cloud synched and apps, the iPad’s future seems to be looking brighter as a one-and-only device. The second understanding educators are embracing is the realization that there is more to iPads than finding and loading many apps to the device. It is not about finding apps as substitutions to worksheets, nor automated "kill and drill" activities to practice multiplication facts or spelling words. Educators are looking to using iPads as a tool for: reading presenting curating creating. This takes us to the third understanding about the iPad. Originally seen as a device for consumption only, the iPad has grown up and continues to change constantly.  The iPad has become a tool for creation. A tool to personalize learning and for personal learning. It grew from a device to consume information to a thinking tool. What is and isn’t the iPad for you? Share your thoughts.  

In the past, I have reached  out to the world to complete a survey designed by my students in order to make it possible for them to collected authentic data. The overwhelming response from my blog readers and twitter followers made it possible to create a transformational learning experience for these students. 5th graders wanted to know different perspectives on one historical figure and used a survey to poll people from around the world of their perception of Christopher Columbus in history. Kindergarten students formulated questions for a survey to poll people to find out modes of transportation in different parts of the world. It is time again, for you to step up and make it happen for another group of students. Be assured that your contribution by filling out the survey DOES MAKE an impression on these kids. They realize that they have a voice, that their reach extends beyond their own backyard or school community, others do care and take their school work seriously and that their work is authentic and serves a real audience. The 6th graders of my new school , the American School of São Paulo, Brazil, are in the process of creating tutorials. Part of the process of storyboarding and script writing is to write for an audience. Please take the time to submit the survey below (created by the students). The results are shared among all 6th graders and will inform their decision what type of tutorial they will create and share back to the world. Thank you in advance!

Image licensed under Creative Commons by Nancy Sims -http://www.flickr.com/photos/pugno_muliebriter/1384247192/ No doubt, the issue of copyright in the age of CREATING is of utmost importance. Where can you get the images, audio and video you need in order to create and remix for projects, homework and your own interests and passions? Step1: Become aware and understand different copyright licenses.   Step 2: What is Creative Commons? (from CreativeCommons.org ) The idea of universal access to research, education, and culture is made possible by the Internet, but our legal and social systems don’t always allow that idea to be realized. Copyright was created long before the emergence of the Internet, and can make it hard to legally perform actions we take for granted on the network: copy, paste, edit source, and post to the Web. The default setting of copyright law requires all of these actions to have explicit permission, granted in advance, whether you’re an artist, teacher, scientist, librarian, policymaker, or just a regular user. To achieve the vision of universal access, someone needed to provide a free, public, and standardized infrastructure that creates a balance between the reality of the Internet and the reality of copyright laws. That someone is Creative Commons. Step 3: Know where to find images, audio and video that are re-use/remix friendly Sites to search Public Domain & Creative Commons images Pixabay Flickr Commons StockXChng EveryStockPhoto Wikipedia.org Wikimedia Commons  Morguefile Creative Commons Search Sites for Creative Commons audio AudioNautix- Music SoundBible Purple Planet Tango Music CCMixter Sites for Creative Commons video Custom Flickr Search for HD/CC Licensed Video Vimeo Channel for Public Domain Video Stock Footage For Free How do we cite Creative Commons and Public Domain media? Open Attribute-Make citing Creative Commons Images easier (Browser Add-on) How To Attribute Creative Commons Photos by Foter

The Situation: I am working with  Middle School students (Grades 6-8 - 11-13 year olds) at Graded, The American School of Sao Paulo, Brazil. One of the vision of our division  is to create student blogfolios (Digital Portfolios on a blogging platform) to encourage and support sharing and documentation of learning artifacts and to receive authentic global feedback. We are just at the beginning of our journey to use the blogs to document and reflect. Specifically…. Our 8th graders have written a "This I Believe" essay, which they are "upgrading" from a text base essay to a video or audio presentation using images, video or sound to not just "enhance with technology" but to truly transform a reader’s/viewer’s experience. Students are encouraged to use their own images, videos and sound, of course, but that is not always possible or time efficient. Iam creating awareness  to make students’ realize  or at least pause to consider that: they just can’t use a song they purchased on iTunes it is ok, since they will not get caught. can’t just google an image and make it legal to use it by merely citing the source with a link use whatever they want offline and  simply claim Fair Use, since it is for a school project I exposed them to Creative Commons and pointed them to several resources to be able to find images that they can use in their project. (http://langwitches.org/blog/2013/09/07/so-you-want-have-to-create-something/) Students were very engaged and had many questions, what if …, but if….   image licensed under Creative Commons by Tkgd2007- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fair_use_logo.svg The Question? Can students claim Fair Use when creating a multimedia presentation for class with the intend to publish and share the product with a worldwide audience on their blog"? After our meeting, several students searched online to try to prove to me that they were allowed to claim fair use… Here are some of the links that came in via email. http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceptable_use_policy http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/ The Fair Use Guidelines (by the  U.S. Copyright Office) There are  four factors for determining fair use of copyrighted works. The purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes. The nature of the copyrighted work. The amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole. The effect of the use upon the potential market for, or value of, the copyrighted work. Now, these guidelines don’t really spell it out ( in a black and white)  for our students if they can claim the use of copyrighted material for their projects. Resources I am trying to pull resources and material together to shed light on our particular situation of not just being able to use, but also to SHARE the final product on the student portfolio. When looking for the criteria to claim Fair Use, I found the the following section on Fair Use Practices for Students on the website of North Dakota State University: 4. What effect does the use have on the potential market for the work? You may never distribute or sell your projects to mass audiences, and you may keep only two copies of the project. Be aware that federal law also maintains time limitations. You may keep your project for two years and must not harm the author or copyright holder’s profits. Always cite all your sources; the copyright holder of any material used in your class project must be given proper credit. And be aware that these guidelines apply to material on Web (text, images, multimedia objects) which is protected under copyright law One very clear statement of what is NOT educational use was found on the LearnNC, a program of the University of North Carolina To republish or publicly perform a work does not fall under fair use. For example, a student may use a copyrighted image in a multimedia presentation to the class, but may not post that presentation to the web where anyone could see it. An English class may act out parts of a play as they study it, but may not give a public performance. I am  planning to share the following video with them in order to learn more about the four factors that are guidelines (not law). Now What? I am in need of someone with expertise in the subject matter of Fair Use and Creative Commons who would be willing to skype into my 8th grade class to answer students questions. I sent the following tweets out to my network in hopes of someone (who knows maybe even someone at Creative Commons itself) would be willing to make this murky territory a little clearer for our students. Even if you are not able to Skype into our classroom, please help our students by sharing your expertise, resources, or advice in the comment section.

I am working hard at being a "connector" at my new school. I want to help shift the culture to thinking differently about learning. Bringing in experts from around the world to make a topic and content come alive, to answer questions and taking learning off the pages of a book is a critical component of modern learning. I don’t want a Skype call to be an isolated incidence, but to be part of: how we learn how we dig deeper into information how we research, analyze and evaluate information how we become aware of different perspectives One of our 7th grade Humanities class is on to something BIG! They are STORYTELLERS. They are developing a story that soon the entire Graded community and the WORLD will share. Shhhh…. I can’t and don’t want to give too much away, but be prepared… it is BIG Just a tiny clue… In order to prepare, they have called in an expert, Christine Weitbrecht, a transmedia storytelling specialist,  to answer some of their immediate questions and guide them as they are developing their storyline. Students were well prepared for the Skype interview (which makes THE difference between a Skype call and a LEARNING call) and shared the responsibilities to introduce our school, the project, give an overview of the storyline so far and then dig deeper into questions. These 7th graders articulated their questions: How can we best introduce the story to others? What would be the best way to start? What should the timeline be? What about interactivity? Will the audience have a say in how the story continues? Why does Ms. Weitbrech feel that transmedia is the future of storytelling and marketing? On my school blog, I have posted the following questions to the students after the Skype call: What were the advantages of bringing in an expert via Skype to the classroom? Could students have learned the answers to their questions simply from a book? Will the Skype interview support and shape students’ future work on their project? What are some other opportunities in school, when bringing in an "expert" via Skype could help students learn? What do you think? If you can spare a moment read their comments and maybe even leave them a reply. I do want to highlight a few excerpts of the comments for you here though. Mr. Beck (teacher): [...] I think the skype conference with Christine took this project to a new level. Without her expertise, we would have been guessing rather than being deliberate in our decisions on how to actual tell a story using the interactive power of transmedia. As a teacher I learned that even if you don’t fully understand new developments in your field, you can reach out to experts in the real world who can not only serve as excellent facilitators for student learning, but can also be inspirational. Juan Carlos: Since she was an expert and we were just starting to learn about trans-media, we learned a lot of things that we needed to know but before we didn’t know. She gave ideas and suggestions that by ourselves I think we couldn’t have come up with. I also think that some of the answers to our questions couldn’t have been answered by a book. For example the question " Why does Ms. Weitbrech feel that transmedia is the future of storytelling and marketing ? " couldn’t have been answered by a book because it has to be her own opinion Ji Won [...] I think that this Skype interview would be way better than reading off of a book. Although, books are an amazing way of learning and educating, this Skype interview with Christine, an expert, would be much helpful because we got to ask questions unlike a book. Also, books have a limit of information. It only teaches us what is written in it, but an interview is more "interactive." She gave us suggestions in how we could start our project. Since this project is based on a new type of story, it helped us a lot in how to manage it while it is running. A Skype interview with an expert helped a lot because Christine is an expert in Transmedia and we were beginners. I think that a Skype interview would really support and shape students’ future work.  [...] Will [...] She gave us information to improve on our story, and to really give it that "push" that it needs to get of the ground. Also I think that it was useful to talk to her because most of us are not used to writing a story like this. We can wright essays or papers and maybe even a short story. Were as she helped us out with something we had not experienced before.[...] I am asking YOU the same questions than we asked the students. How have you, as an educator, taken learning off the pages of a book by bringing in "experts" via video conferencing?  What are some other opportunities in school, when bringing in an "expert" via Skype could help students learn?  

If you want globally connected students, you need globally connected teachers who are capable of communicating, collaborating and connecting to experts and peers from around the world. These educators are harnessing the power of global connections for their own learning in order to bring the world to their students. What does collaboration, communication and connections mean in a connected world? What are the steps in becoming a globally connected educator? The presentation below attempts to answer these questions in addition to debunking the myth that "global learning" is occurring  when teachers or schools hold international days for their students complete with food, dances and cultural "dress up". Teachers need to ask themselves if they are globally connected educators (learners & teachers)  BEYOND teaching at an IB school reading an email listserve with members from several countries using books in a foreign setting or written by an author from another culture living abroad and teaching at an International school travel (for their own pleasure or as part of going-abroad student trips) What steps are YOU taking in becoming globally connected as a learner and as a teacher? What are some strategies for making your classroom a global communication hub? If you are interested in the topic, Eduplanet21 has just released  the Globally Connected Educator’s learning path I authored. With the increasingly interconnected nature of our global society and the need for a very different kind of literacy for our students, extending teaching and learning beyond the walls of our classrooms is especially vital in this digital age. Through a blend of authentic examples, hands-on activities, and engaging social learning experiences, this learning path will guide you through the process of modernizing and globalizing your classroom practices while expanding your professional learning network to include colleagues from around the world. I also contributed a chapter on the globally connected educator in Heidi Hayes Jacob’s upcoming book (available in November 2013) titled Mastering Global Literacy.

Thank you to Larry Ferlazzo for sharing the following Infographic on his blog. by floydworx. Explore more infographics like this one on the web’s largest information design community - Visually.  

Connected Educator Month is only a few days away. Seeking to build on this success, the Department of Education has called together a second Connected Educator Month, to be held (by educator request) in October, 2013. This year’s event will have a special emphasis on helping districts promote and integrate online social learning in their formal professional development. Other goals include: Getting more educators "connected" (to each other) Deepening and sustaining learning of those already connected Stimulating and supporting collaboration and innovation in professional development. Looking at the goals, I want to take a closer look at "getting more educators connected". I see Twitter profiles of educators every day who have "jumped on board" by joining "The Twitter". I wonder if these newbies are network literate? Where do they receive the support to grow? Who supports them? A typical profile might look like the one below. No tweets and tentatively starting to follow random people. Or it might look like this one, with already a few tweets under the belt and a growing number of people to follow. At this point I am following over 5000 educators. That might seem a lot and very overwhelming to many. I acknowledge the point of view of many others who have unfollowed everyone on their Twitter list, to handpick few they wanted to follow. Others have a large disproportionate difference between the number of people that follow them and the one they follow. These methods  work for them. Twitter is about building, growing and maintaining your network for YOU. It has to work for YOU! My network would not necessarily work for someone else. I would not get the same benefits out of someone else’s network. That is why it is called PERSONAL. @langwitches I am also fiercely protective of the kind of educators I follow. I will unfollow people as my own interests change, grow and evolve. I unfollow people, when THEY interests and the things they tweet about change. I am a "connector" though. I work with colleagues from all subject areas and different grade levels. I want to be able to curate and funnel resources to the Art teachers as well as to the Math teachers. I might be looking for collaboration partners, peers or experts who can bring in different perspectives, authentic feedback and serve as primary sources. My role as a connector is facilitated when I receive a constant stream of ideas and resources, I did not even know I was looking for them. I don’t want to rely on people specifically having to @mention my username to make me aware. Creating a Twitter account (or starting your own blog) is only the first step in building a PLN (Personal/Professional Learning Network). Your network won’t build or grow itself. I am on a constant lookout to STRATEGICALLY add members to my Twitter network that will enhance the QUALITY of content of my feed. Here are some strategies that work for me. Be clear about what you want out of your network. information filter? resource curation? support for your learning? potential collaborators? global audience? controversial discussions? stimulating discussions? opportunities to read and write in other languages? multiple points of view? preaching to the choir? answers to burning questions? tech support? …and what you will or will not tolerate non-educational related issues (sports scores? illnesses? family affairs?, etc.)? foul language? bullying? self-promotion? Once you have an idea of how your network will help your specific learning needs it is time to actively and strategically grow. Become a detective by reading blog posts Blogs are great spaces to intentionally be looking for twitter handles of educators that are involved, transparent and willing to share. Reading blogs about your specific interests and learning needs will yield new additions to your network. Read the posts with the intention to look for connections. Does the author mention other collaborators or resources? Does he/she include additional Twitter handles in the post? Follow these links! Check to see if the mentioned twitter user feeds match your criteria of quality followers for your purposes? In the example below, I found the link to a Math blog on Twitter, which in turned shared the Twitter handles of various connected Math educators. Bingo, for the connector, who wants to support her Math teachers with resources, ideas and potential members for their learning network. @Trianglemancsd, @bobloch, @mbosma8, @LukeSelfwalker, @ddmeyer, @fawnpnguyenAs you are reading blogs,  take the time to check if the blog author is on Twitter. Most blogs will should have  Social Network buttons displayed in one of their sidebars or as a link in the top navigation bar. Click on the link, check out their Twitter feed and, if interesting, follow them. by taking  advantage of people using personal brands Sometimes, unfortunately, bloggers don’t easily display a link to their Twitter feed. It requires a little more detective work. In the example below, you will see a blog about TCKs (Third Culture Kids), that I am a reader of. The name of the blog is DrieCulturen, but I was having trouble finding a direct link to a Twitter account. It was worth a shot to hope that the author was thinking about personal branding and was using the same username "DrieCulturen"on Twitter. Bingo… I was able to find the Twitter feed and start following them. @drieCulturen by commenting and following up on blog posts When you leave comments (make sure you also include your Twitter handle) on blog posts that are of interest to you, it is worthwhile checking back to see who else has left a comment and contributed to the conversation. Follow the breadcrumbs to check out their blog and/or Twitter feed. by exploring twitter followings When I find a Twitter feed that is especially interesting, I wonder who inspires that person? Where do they get their resources? Collaboration or discussion partners? I check out the list of people THEY follow to be able to harvest potential quality contributors to MY feed. @edtechworkshop by exploring twitter lists Twitter allows users to create public or private lists of specific users they follow. Once I find an educator who contributes significantly to my learning, I take a look if they have taken the time to organize the people they follow into a specific lists. I can also see, the lists that they have have subscribed to an are a member of, which will give me further people to explore. @allanahk @jefflippman regularly check who has started following you Make it a habit to check who has started following you. Take the time to click yourself through to their profile and their last tweets in order to make a strategic decision to follow them back or not. Once someone looks interesting, digg deeper by following some of the strategies mentioned above. pay attention who @mentions you on Twitter People who take the time to interact with you on Twitter (not the spamming kind of mentions) are always worth to check out. These twitterers have already shown that they are interested in connecting and contributing. @mmreesescott harvest #hashtags Hashtags are the threads that string together a Twitter conversation about a specific topic. Looking for someone interested in a particular subject or topic. Find an appropriate hashtag and follow the conversation to see who is also interested. Below you can see a snippet of people participating in a connected conversation thread of the Connected Educator Month via the hashtag #CE13 tweet out specific requests Looking for resources or collaborators? Just tweet it out and see who response as well who gets recommended to check out. @kidsilkhaze @LesothoJohn What are some of your strategies you use to grow your network? How do you read online with a lens of network literacy? As you make your own thinking visible, HOW are we going to teach these strategies to our student ? Is anyone teaching them?      

Vicki Davis, the coolcatteacher, had invited me to chat about connecting your classroom to the world for an episode on BamRadio’s show "Every Classroom Matters". You can play the episode in your browser or listen to it via iTunes.

Connected students need connected teachers. Connected teachers need backing from connected administrators. Connected administrators create and support connected schools! What do I mean by connected? I am looking beyond the traditional meaning of being connected. It is not as simple as looking at traditional networking… belonging to a Rotary Club…going to educational conferences… knowing your colleagues and staff… attending the local area school network days… I mean being connected to people (who you most likely will never meet) who inspire, support and amplify your LEARNING. It is an intentional connection for specific purposes not merely a passive "knowing the right people". Being connected means reaching out for diverse perspective, conversation partners, collaborative or crowdsourcing opportunities  as part of your everyday work and learn flow. The following short video shares what being connected means to several educators who are living the "connected life" as a professional educator. What are some next steps for administrators to become connected leaders and learners? Next Steps: Dedicate time: minimum 15 minutes a day Grow your PLN: read blogs and Twitter Tell a story: Go beyond marketing for your school, but see sharing as part of the mechanism of your network. Bring connected learning to the consciousness of your learning community Participate actively: Seek out online conference, Twitter chats or follow Twitter hashtags around an interesting conversation As a connected learner, I look to my network to: gather resources I had not seen (see 1 below) have a conversation about the topic I am exploring or wrapping my mind around  (see 2) listen to points of view I had not considered (see 3) get inspiration (and sometimes a laugh)  from people who are so much more creative than I am (see 4) be part of a crowdsourcing experience (see 5) 1) Using the #ce13 hashtag or reading customized magazine style RSS readers,  I am connected to a constant flow of resources and conversations going on. I came across the following blog post by George Couros- Isolation is Now a Choice Educators Make. 2) By tweeting the link, @cmtmalvern responded with an intriguing statement and a short, spontaneous and instantaneous conversation had started. 3) I also had a face2face conversation with my Director of Technology, Mike Dunlop, who was questioning (as I was developing the image of the Connected Leader above) that I was heavily leaning towards Twitter and Blogging as the preferred platform FOR connecting. I am guilty as charged. I am biased towards twitting and blogging, since these are the platforms that I am most familiar with and primarily use for connecting. I DO agree with him though that they are NOT the only choices for becoming a connected administrator or leader. LinkedIn? Take a look at The American School of Bombay  and their statement on LinkedIn. "Aligned with our Mission, Core Values, and Strategic Objectives, ASB uses LinkedIn to support and develop: Professional connections within the ASB Community Connections to potential speakers for the classroom, division, or at the school-wide level Associations and partnerships with organizations in support of school initiatives Relationships with local, national, and international governmental and education institutions" Pinterest? Pinterest is quickly developing into a viable source for inspiration and connections to other educators I found the Singapore American School’s presence on Pinterest  visually connecting and "" Celebrating all things SAS!"  Facebook? 3) & 4) My friend and colleague, Mike Fisher, responded to a question (What to say when an administrator asks WHY do I need to be connected?)  I posted on Twitter (but which gets automatically posted to my  Facebook page. "Anything that is unplugged won’t work. Want to be electric? Bright? Productive? Plug in!" 5) I am extremely intrigued by the transformational learning experience of crowdsourcing. Transformational… because it simply would not have been possible to create and learn in this amplified way before the existence of technology and our connections and network. Sheryl Nussbaum Beach asked her network to contribute to a document as she wondered  where to best begin to authentically build the connected school? Take a look… what do you wonder about? This is a collective wondering by educational leaders in Northern Ontario. Feel free to help us build collective intelligence by adding your ideas to their questions. Just start by typing below the question with your resources, blog, experiences, answers or suggestions. Maybe extend the wondering with questions of your own. Be sure and include your Twitter name so they can follow you and follow up. Not only do we learn from people who otherwise we would never have been in contact with, but  as Joan Young points out in her blog post 7 Ways My Classroom is Better Because I Connect I learn from the collective wisdom of the crowd. We promote the idea that students should develop skills by observing others as they learn and make mistakes. Surely it makes sense for us to connect and learn vicariously through the lives and work of other teachers.  If another teacher has used a process or tool and has shared what worked or didn’t work, this can save enormous time and energy. My students then have a teacher who is not as exhausted, but continuously inspired by stories of "what really works." How do you interpret the shift of what a connected educator means? How is it different? Are we talking at cross purposes when we think of being connected? Further Resources: Connected Educators Official Site Langwitches Diigo Bookmarks "Connected Educator" Connected Principals The Connected Educator Culture by Tom Whitby What Connected Education Looks Like New York Times Article 11 Ways for Fostering an Innovative Culture by George Couros

I have been using the words workflow and learnflow in conjunction with learning in the modern world. Workflow is defined by Wikipedia as: The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion. In an iPad classroom environment, a workflow takes on the shape of having a strategically selected toolkit of apps available and knowing what app to use for specific purposes. When a workflow exists, students and teachers know what steps to take to receive information edit, format, remix and create information (sometimes using several apps to obtain the desired results) save information share, send and disseminate information For example a screencasting workflow on the iPad  using and app, such as Explain Everything, would look as follows: import selected images needed add annotations (text, arrows, shapes) as well as audio recordings to explain concept save the movie share the movie by emailing it or uploading it to video sharing site A learnflow is when the individual steps of a workflow are not viewed as individual steps, but are rendered unconsciously, smoothly and effortlessly. The learnflow is part of the fluency, the iPad user has attained in order to not see using individual apps as a goal, but their use have become merely a tool in the pedagogical aim of learning. The path of learning takes me smoothly from reading information to evaluating then curating to effortlessly manage the information. As I learn, I unconsciously reflect, share and amplify my thoughts. My learning is intrinsically connected to a cycle of connecting, communicating, collaborating and publishing. It has become my learnflow.    

In honor of Connected Educator Month, I wanted to pay tribute to educators who inspire me and I learn from daily, virtually and in person. They feed my professional soul, they are conversation partners and they keep me excited about being a teacher. I am standing on the shoulders of giants, aka my network. My work is a direct result of their curation effort, their ability to trigger my imagination, their contribution to help me make sense of things I never thought or dreamed about and the pool of past experiences each one brings as an educator. I am not an original, I am a remixer of the collaborative experience and knowledge building network, that technology allows us to access, connect with, learn from, reflect about and then continue to share. Thank you all. Just in case you want to play detective and grow your network, I have added the following members of my network (in no particular order of importance) to this list for you to consider. @whatedsaid @joycevalenza @wfryer @mumbaimaggie @joedale @lindayollis @ryanbretag @suewaters @dogtrax @courosa @heidihayesjacob @adambellow @braddo @plugusin @fisher1000 @surreallyno @julielindsay @tracywatanabee @chicfoote @rmbyrne @jackiegerstein @edtechworkshop @sarahwilkies @coolcatteacher @smenegh @mscofino @teachwatts @thecleversheep @bernajeanporter @lparisi