Looksee Fishy Fish

He is a poor back kid....

2012-01-12T10:19:00.000-08:00

If you felt a kinda way about the Forbes' article "If I Were A Poor Black Kid" by Gene Marks... then you need to read this post from Rashaun Williams (Twitter at @DJReezey)

I have taught in a school of 100% of "poor black kids" and I teach now in a school that has a lower percentage of this type of kid. This experience has taught me these "resources" that people think black kids have are a joke and even if they are there, the fact that these kids live in the lower tiers of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs means access does not help them in any way. What this perceived access does is let people with means, that don't want to visit or help these kids, think that everything is fine; and if the kid just worked harder they too could achieve the American dream. This simply is not true! There is an unwritten, talked about or documented system that keeps this population of kids uninformed. There is a reason Regan privatized the jails in the eighties and Bush pushed so hard to privatize schools in the two-thousands, and from my perspective it is to keep that flow of people coming in the doors so corporations can make money off a head count.

This Makes Me Sad

2012-01-03T07:04:00.001-08:00

Pirate Wolf Awesomeness

2011-12-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

Yes, I said pirate wolf! Quinn Platzer an art student at SLA mad

e this amazing mask from scratch. (link to how she did it is coming) In the art class at SLA students are asked to make an "Internet sculpture" Quinn found this tutorial online and went for it. There is also a much longer and detailed tutorial. Here is the 3/4 of the way finished view. MORE TO COME!

UPDATE:

Web Ethics - the Meta Lesson

2011-12-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

I was asked the other day to share my web ethics unit plan and for me that is impossible to share because web ethics is the meta lesson in each class I teach. There is a continued discussion throughout the year about doing the right thing online and how to know what the right thing is. That right thing is teased out in class discussion, news articles, movies, acceptable use policies, and teachable moments. Here is my Unit Plan that reflects the meta lesson of digital citizenship. Thank you to Chris Lehmann for inspiring this unit plan and to all my colleagues that make this type of teaching possible with constant support and input.

Stage 1 - Desired Results
Establish Goals:
introduce students to the concept of internet etiquette, familiarize students with the term digital persona, create and intelligent relationship between the student and the laptop, turn students into creators and intelligent consumers of design/information

Understandings:
Students will understand that know . . .
• A lifetime of consumption of information makes it possible for students to make deeply informed decisions about design.

•The internet is not private

•Intellectual property is real.

Essential Questions:
• Who am I?

•How do I interact with my environment?

•How does my environment affect me?

Students will know . . .
• Acceptable use policies for SLA, School District of Philadelphia, Franklin Institute and a college or university

• know the rules to break the rules

• a scholarly online persona is possible and required

• how networks are constructed

• the difference between the internet and the world wide web Students will be able to know . . .
• An online portfolio will help with college applications

• knowing the rules to break the rules will keep students safe on any network

• plagiarism is not a concern when students mesh the content of the units teachers are teaching with their own thoughts

•collaboration is not cheating

• SLA’s core values: inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation, reflection

Stage 2 – Assessment Evidence
Performance Tasks:
• Students act out their home network

• students create a mindmap of their home network

• Students create 1 slide

• Students post two blogs about 1 slide, process blog and reflection blog with second rendition of their slide using what they learned.

• criteria of student evidencing of knowledge will be judged by the common rubric:
Design, Knowledge, Application, Presentation, Process Other Evidence:
• Students participate in class discussions achievement of the desired results?

• Student will grade themselves and classmates with the common rubric

Stage 3 - Learning Plan
Leaning Activities:
Paper hat and cuffs are used to create a group of students linked together to show a students home network

Class discussions about each point of a Acceptable Use Policy – unpacking the meaning. Examples of case histories are given and physical examples of networking are given to illustrate the meaning of the policies.

Creation of a personal Acceptable Use Policy for the students future family.

Creation of a mind map to show the make up of a students home network.

One slide created using the ideas from English class and the Me Magazine for Media Fluency

Students watch Front Line’s – “Growing Up Online”

Students journal and reflect on leaning activities

Presentations of Me slides – transparently, students are “set up for failure” taking the fear out of leaning in front of a group

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slide Design Rubric:
DESIGN -
The design of the slide exudes forethought and planning.
The slide is eye catching, legible and will be remembered.
The slide will inspire an action: to look at the speaker, or influence the viewers thinking.

KNOWLEDGE -
Speaker uses vocabulary from Presentation Zen Website.
Speaker describes visual ideas with words clearly.

APPLICATION -
The slide is clear and uses ideas from Presentation Zen. 
Slide demonstrates the elements of design; line, shape, direction, size, texture, color, value, balance, gradation, repetition, contrast, harmony, dominance, and or, unity.

PRESENTATION -
Speaker is clear and speaks to the audience. 
Speaker can be understood. 
Speaker is wearing a lab coat.

PROCESS -
Student uses their work time wisely.
Student uses the resources given as well as resources found on their own.

SLA's Acceptable Use Policy

Frontline - Growing Up Online

SLA Kids Scooping Up Opportunities in DC

2011-11-14T04:44:00.000-08:00

Diana Laufenberg and Matt Kay took a group of students on a super cool trip to D.C. last week. Here is a student's write up of the event in the Notebook.

Ed.gov blog post features Sinnea Douglass

2011-08-29T17:53:00.000-07:00

SLA's Sinnea Douglas lands on ED.gov blog via Gamal Sherif. read it here

Pugs have eyelashes

2011-08-06T11:37:00.001-07:00

My Life w/ Keith: Sleep'n with My Bone

2011-08-06T10:13:00.001-07:00

My Life w/ Keith: Caged Tounge

2011-08-05T20:35:00.001-07:00

My Life w/ Keith: Tounge

2011-08-05T20:34:00.001-07:00

My Life w/ Keith: Let it All Hang Out

2011-07-31T09:08:00.001-07:00

Found these sitting on my husbands desk this morning ?!

2011-07-28T07:49:00.001-07:00

My Life with Keith: Good Morning Star Shine

2011-07-25T08:06:00.003-07:00

My Life with Keith: Good Morning Star Shine

2011-07-25T08:06:00.001-07:00

My Life with Keith: Couch Potato

2011-07-25T07:56:00.001-07:00

My Life with Keith: Nothing Normal About Chew Time

2011-07-24T14:51:00.001-07:00

My Life with Keith: Pug Tail

2011-07-24T08:46:00.001-07:00

My Life with Keith: Dogs Never Think You Stink

2011-07-23T14:33:00.001-07:00

On my wall = perfection

2011-07-15T12:38:00.003-07:00

Awesome2

2011-07-15T12:38:00.001-07:00

Untitled

2011-07-15T12:37:00.001-07:00

Slayer album art inspired

2011-07-14T19:16:00.001-07:00

Steven's tattoo

2011-07-14T19:14:00.001-07:00

Keith's tongue is long

2011-07-14T14:42:00.001-07:00

Cool bowls

2011-07-14T13:55:00.001-07:00

Untitled

2011-07-14T13:54:00.001-07:00

Water Ice Lid

2011-07-14T13:53:00.001-07:00

Coal Dog

2011-07-08T07:11:00.001-07:00

Test

2011-07-07T23:23:00.001-07:00

Untitled

2011-07-07T23:21:00.001-07:00

2011 Printmaking - With Guest Teacher Katie Lutz

2011-05-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

2011 printmaking periodic table

View more presentations from marciehull.

Imani Rothwell - SLA Student and Poet

2011-05-17T09:40:00.000-07:00

Have you ever had your innocents taking away from you

Your child hood scrapped up like gum

And you were holding on to the rest that was left

Pride dangling on your tongue

Because you’re to strong to swallow it

People constantly looking

Becoming objects in your rear view mirror

As they appear closer on your secrets

Stressing

Can never get any rest

Because of those flashbacks

Have you ever

Locked your secrets in titanium plates

Making sure they never escape

Have you ever felt like your tear duct was glued?

Cause tears wasn’t flowing through

And you just wanted to cry

Understand I’m speaking for those who are innocent

Convicted for crimes they have never committed

How many innocent people do it take

For the Justice system to change

Teaching a kid a lesson

On something they should not learn

Will not make the kid learn

All it would do is have them ask questions

You will never have answers to

Cause you were wrong

I just don’t get it

Cops

Judges

People who falsely convicted the innocent

Always say sorry

But sorry is what we are tired of hearing

That sorry will not make up the time we have missed

36 hours in a holding cell

5 ½ days in juenve

1 month ½ on house arrest

Sorry aint cutting it

Saying you understand what I’m going through

Is a lie

You only understand

Unless you have been through it yourself

Walked in same shoes as us

In and out of jueve

Back and forth to courts

Being judged by judges but judging

Yourself

Wheatear or not you’re a heathen

I am speaking for the innocence

The ones who was

Wrongfully convicted

Put in sticky situations

Have you ever

Wanted a MIR scan for your brain

Just to make sure your

Optical lobe was working

Cause you just looked at your life

And said

Dang

Have you ever had your innocents taking away from you?

Child hood scrapped up like gum

Holding on to the rest that was left

Pride dangling on your tongue

Because you’re to strong to swallow it

Interested in School Reform....?

2011-05-05T06:33:00.000-07:00

I will be attending an event that my friend Elizabeth Menasian has been planning for months with the West Philly Coalition for Neighborhood Schools. It is called:

“How the Community Can Change a School” with author Jacqueline Edelberg

5:45 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lea Elementary School auditorium (47th and Locust).

Other panelists will include:
• Stanford Thompson, director of Tune Up Philly
• Sterling Baltimore, director of the Lea Community School at the Netter Center for

Community Partnerships at Penn
• Maurice D. Jones, president of the Lea Home and School Association
• Daniel Lazar, the principal of the Grenefield Elementary School

Learn @ Lunch - New Jersey Schools share a Web Cast with SLA teachers

2011-04-28T10:14:00.000-07:00

Here is the video link to the Lunch time discussion about how and why SLA does what it does. This all comes from the point of view of Tim Best, Zac Chase, Ros Echols and me, Marcie Hull.

This was set up by and filmed by Eric Endress - eendress@njsba.org

This video below is what Eric shot for marketing the Learn @ Lunch hour at SLA
Two things about this video, one... when I am saying "we are special" I saying we are unique in that not many other schools are combining one to one laptop programs with project based learning. And two, my right eye is blind and that is why it looks strange in the video.

Chasing Harvard - update

2011-04-05T06:30:00.000-07:00

LINK <-- Zac Chase made the Inquirer with his social experiment... CHECK IT OUT!

Chasing Harvard

2011-03-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

THIS <-- is a really really really good cause! No joke. Zac Chase is one of the best teachers I know. Please help him live his dream to go to Harvard and to help MORE kids. Kids need him, teachers need him, the world needs him! DONATE NOW!

SLA on PBS

2011-03-21T10:52:00.000-07:00

LINK

Digital Media - New Learners Of The 21st Century: Featuring the foremost thought leaders, innovators and practitioners in the field, Digital Media is a startling preview of a 21st Century education revolution.

2011-03-21T10:46:00.000-07:00

Link

Diana Laufenberg on teachinghisory.org

"Many links and hints and tips and tricks find their way past my screen on a daily basis care of Google Reader, Twitter, and email exchanges with teachers. One day last fall, this video featuring LucidChart came to my attention..." Read more, click the LINK above.

Lauf Can't Stop the Madness

2011-03-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

LINK
"Diana Laufenberg’s talk was very inspiring. She is the kind of teacher I would like to work with. Everything she said was, in my opinion, spot on."

BTW - SHE IS NOW ON A PAGE WITH SIR KEN! Right where she belongs!

Students find their voices at Monologue Festival

2011-03-16T05:41:00.000-07:00

The Philadelphia Young Playwrights and InterAct Theatre presented the winning monologues from the 2011 Young Voices High School Monologue Festival Feb. 16-19 at the Adrienne Theater.

LINK

Shake Up Some History with Cool

2011-03-15T06:36:00.000-07:00

"...But that doesn't mean their teacher, Douglas Herman, has set off an academic free-for-all in his classroom..."

LINK

How far can schools go in regulating teachers' social-media use?

2011-03-15T06:33:00.000-07:00

Philly.com article...
March 14, 2011|By Adrienne Lu, Inquirer Staff Writer

Chris Lehmann, principal of the Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia, said that blogging can be a powerful tool for educators, as a way to reflect on the practice of teaching, to celebrate the successes in education, and to strengthen the bonds of a school community.

"I think it's a good thing that most of the kids at Science Leadership academy know the names of my children . . . and that I'm a huge sports fan," Lehmann said. "Whenever we can allow ourselves to be seen as real people, remember the humanity of our children and take joy in that shared humanity, we're going to do it better."

Lauf in the mix again....

2011-03-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

LINK

Philadelphia social studies teacher Diana Laufenberg, whose TED.com video called "How to learn? From mistakes" went viral earlier this year, will be the keynote speaker at the 2011 Magic Hour Communications Users Conference, April 3-5.

Nascent vision of technology: seeing it in action at SLA

2011-03-11T11:42:00.000-08:00

Check it out click the title it is a link to the blog! Props to Anthony Harley and Chris Alfano and the entire SLA tech team. I am so proud!

"....So this seems to be the modern day A/V club. Bring students on board and train them to become the backbone of technology support in the school. It gives them an incredible education in how technology works, instantly marketable skills, and at the same time, it helps IT professionals in your school to form stronger connections with the student body, and empowers students to serve as teachers (even to the teachers). This gives some of the people who know the classroom the best (students) the expertise, tools and respect they need to help improve learning with technology that just works...."

Teachers Teaching Teachers » Science Leadership Academy

2011-03-09T05:34:00.000-08:00

Teachers Teaching Teachers » Science Leadership Academy: "We asked Diana and Zac to come talk about an interdisciplinary project they did/are doing with juniors."

Why Are Teen Novels So Dark? | The Philly Post

2011-03-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

Why Are Teen Novels So Dark? | The Philly Post: "Yadi Angeles is in 10th grade at Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia. She is currently a high school intern at Mighty Writers, a nonprofit writing program for city kids seven to 17"

Need to watch this! TEDxPhilly Talk - Practical Theory

2011-02-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

TEDxPhilly Talk - Practical Theory: "My [Chris Lehmann] TEDxPhilly talk from November is online! There were some audio problems that required an overdub for about two minutes (you'll know when you hear it.) But the whole thing is up and online. This event was a TON of fun to do, and the energy you get from the audience and the TED format makes it a ton of fun."

Leems write an AWESOME letter - Practical Theory

2011-02-20T14:24:00.000-08:00

If you teach and you think you have a good philosophy about how kids should be treated, here is a refresher.

Chris Lehman has many (tons even) wonderful, well thought out ideas surrounding education. I have to tell you this is one of my most favorite of them all.

this is one of the best lines...
"You must teach because you want to help students achieve their dreams. You must teach because you care almost as much as much about the children in your class as you do about your own children. And you must approach the job with the humility to know that what you are trying to do - to help children grow up wisely and well in an ever-more-complex world - will tax you to the limits of your being. It should - it will - demand the best of you"

Practical Theory

Disagree with EduCon Stucture?

2011-02-01T06:35:00.000-08:00

Here is a blogger that found fault with EduCon practice... read here

This is my comment to Ira Socol:
Hey there... I am the tech. coord. for SLA and I am happy to see your opinions. I need to clarify that the sign on the wall, "No Students On Elevator", was left over from when we did interviews here. There were over 1000 interviews for 150 spots, and our elevators are not equipped for that kind of traffic. We didn't want perspective students to be trapped in an elevator here at SLA.

I wrote this because he has a picture of a sign in our hallway next to the elevator and the caption is "Traditional student/teacher status divider, Science Leadership Academy"

Don't get me wrong here, there needs to be opposition & critique, how else can we get better at what we do? I need it to be about something real.

Edutopia writes about EduCon 2.3

2011-02-01T06:24:00.000-08:00

Here is the link.

Dear Banksy....

2011-01-17T22:29:00.000-08:00

Dear Banksy,

I don't know how to reach you... no one of my station in life really does so here goes...

Hello,
I'm a high school art teacher in Philadelphia, PA. I am wondering why in, this western culture of fame & dolla' bill idolatry, is it so important for Banksy to maintain anonymity?

I would like to pass this on to my students bc I'm horrified by some that seem to envy the rich and famous; as well as by their lack if self-esteem by not being rich & famous.

I don't see anyone speaking to the pleasures of anonymity and a healthy happy life. Of course, the Buddhists are, but that is not sexy to high school student. I think some kids would hear the words of a man like Banksy bc they can identify with him & bc of the statement in his documentary - "...it was never about the money". They will listen bc it is real.

Help a sista' out, Banksy. The kids need a sane voice in the large amounts of insanity, drugs, sex & rock & roll their brains are bombarded with on a daily basis.

4 requests:
1. ignore my spelling it is 2a
2. Check out the kids - www.scienceleadership.org (it is a public inner city school and kids r rocking it out!)
3. Answer my question please!
4. If u have answered this b4 point me in a direction so that I may read your answer.

Thanks for ur time

Leem's driving the point home "School Stinks"

2011-01-14T06:59:00.000-08:00

Here is a snip-it and also a link to the TED talk Lehmann did. Awesome! Keep up the fight for kids!

We all deserve to love learning & to create that passion in a safe environment.

Thank you Chris Lehmann

Stephanie Dunda, teacher of kids with her mad science skills - mixing up some WATER in Philadelphia

2011-01-07T14:08:00.001-08:00

Check out Stephanie on the "Who Are We" page of Project Flow

...students should be creating something together that goes beyond themselves, and educates the public and their communities

Diana Laufenberg mixing it up on the WWW

2010-12-17T06:18:00.000-08:00

Diana Laufenberg teaches kids history here at SLA. She was recently asked to make a TED Talk and that TED Talk went to the front page of TED yesterday. Since then there has been a flurry (more like a blizzard) on the web and here are some of the cool posts happening as a result of her outstanding talk. She is a hero for children and students everywhere and an inspiration to teachers. Here's to you Diana, thank you!

Why Teachers Should Be 'Persons of the Year' by Carolyn Foote

The Guardian

Exchange Morning Post

Principally Speaking: Enveloped By Others
By Dr. Robert Dillon

What Makes Kids Creative? A Box or a Spaceship? – THE DAILY RIFF ...
By coopmike48

NOT TO MENTION THE DEBATE TEAM THAT SHE WORKS WITH!
ASAP's Spotlight on Club Leaders and Students: Spotlight on Debate ...
By ASAP/After School Activities Partnerships

Now she has a segment on MSNBC!

Teachers Effective Working Conditions

2010-12-06T05:50:00.000-08:00

A colleague of mine, Gamal Sherif (SLA BioChem Teacher) wrote this post....

Check out his blog.

Visiting Artist @ SLA - Johnny Goldstein

2010-11-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

Cool blog post by Johnny!

TEDxPhilly is coming!

2010-11-10T05:51:00.000-08:00

See more information here on the speakers. Chris Lehmann will be speaking.

Spanish @ SLA

2010-11-08T10:38:00.000-08:00

Melanie Manuel and her class did this awesome project to learn Spanish.

Diana Laufenberg @ TEDxMidAtlantic

2010-11-08T10:26:00.001-08:00

Start watching at 22:50

Watch live streaming video from tedxmid at livestream.com

START WATCHING AT 22:50

Diana was the only speaker at this TED event to get a standing ovation. In a nutshell she is saying having students consistently going for the right answer is "missing the mark" on real education. We need to "embrace failure" as part of the learning experience. It is part of the instructional process.

I am moved by this talk every time she gives it. I watch her career closely and teach with her, this is how I have heard this before. I highly recommend you watch this, especially if you are in the fight to get students the education they deserve. Diana will give you words to use in your debates about education needing to change that are factual and backed up with experience.

Every decision and experience has shaped Diana's view on education. This view is thoughtful, clear and consistent. She is a champion for teachers and students all over the world.

Great job Diana! And thank you!

help out a friend

2010-11-03T12:39:00.001-07:00

SLA in the Community

2010-10-28T06:19:00.000-07:00

Go Sasha Sapp! Find out about her ILP here.

Check it out....

2010-10-26T06:25:00.000-07:00

Freedom to experiment in safe boundaries makes for a safe and happy community of learners. I have a very extensive acceptable use policy (AUP) unit that all SLA freshmen take part in. During our lessons, conversations and debates, we go over why communities set up rules for a network. This is when I explain that keeping our community safe is important to all of us at SLA.

I go on to say this is not a game of cat and mouse, we are not trying to catch you doing something wrong. We are all learners together, no one will be angry if ways to hack the computer or get by the firewall are figured out. Matter of fact, these are problems that YOU solve, that is a good thing, that means you are learning. It is then explained that hacks can be sketchy or dangerous for our community because it puts jobs, learning and network access at risk. The class and I go though the different scenarios that can make a hack dangerous to our school. Not only are they learning what to avoid, but they are learning why. I think this is a missing link to true understanding of school policies. Students need to understand why adults have made these decisions, so they can determine if they agree with it or not.

I go on with the AUP lesson and ask the kids to show me any hacks they find because I am just as curious as they are, not because I want to get them in trouble.

Waiting in my email today was a note from a student who figured out how to create an administrator account on a Mac without the boot disk. Awesome! Everyone is safe, there is no policing or snooping. There is no yelling or blaming. There is only shared information, a true product of a learning community.

Kids are smart and superb problem solvers.

Art @ SLA

2010-09-24T13:16:00.000-07:00

Spanish Class @ SLA

2010-09-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Temple Article on SLA

2010-09-21T11:46:00.000-07:00

Link

Pictures from learning to network

2010-09-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

Leaning what a network is...

2010-09-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Teaching an acceptable use policy without understanding what a network is can not be done, teaching what a network is can be very difficult. I have been teaching this same unit for 4 years. This year is my 5th and this is the first year students will walk away with a solid idea of what a network is... here is how I did it.

Cool Teacher Stuff

2010-09-07T09:10:00.000-07:00

Diana Laufenberg was chosen to write for the New York Times Learning Blog!

Link to Blog
Reaction to Lesson
Lauf's blog
Where this all began - Teachers Teaching Teachers Podcast

SLA Summer Institue Week and City Expodition Inquiry

2010-08-26T10:49:00.001-07:00

Every year SLA inculcates the new 9th graders into our community by running a Summer Institute (SI). Big shout out to our Spanish teacher Jillian Gerike who spearheads the entire week. SI is usually run two weeks before school starts. The 9th graders file in at 9am and are finished around 12:30. New advisory teachers meet their new advisees and get acquainted during the earlier hours. Then we form different groups that head out into the city to practice the core values (inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflection) to report on that site and make a presentation on the final day.

The SI is very near and dear to my heart. Mostly because it gives me a chance to see the 9th graders before we are in a formal setting. This is important because I teach each and every one of them for the entire school year. It is also a great refresher course on why we do what we do. Our mission and vision (learn, create and lead) state the goals of SLA. Our core values create a plan to meet those goals, and the rubric (design, knowledge, application, presentation, process) lets us see the progress we are making to reach those goals.

The 9th grade essential questions are incorporated to the SI. Students begin to learn about backwards design, to ask questions first and answer them on their own. Who am I? How does my environment effect me? What affect do I have on my environment?

We also go over the school rules. There are three, respect yourself, respect the community and respect that this is a place of learning. Not hard to follow, all positive and it encompasses all aspects of being an SLA student (and teacher).

It has been a great week so far. The presentations are tomorrow.

Here is an example of the inquiry done by my group at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Cool Stuff resulting from the Bill Gates visit

2010-08-26T10:45:00.000-07:00

Here are also the notes from his visit as well as the questions asked by SLA students.

Cool

2010-08-24T05:46:00.000-07:00

Recent shout outs for SLA!

Ladies Home Journal

1:1 schools

From the Desk of Arlene C. Ackerman, Ed.D.

August 18, 2010

The School District of Philadelphia's Science Leadership Academy one of 10 on Ladies Home Journal's list of "America's Most Amazing Schools"

The September issue of the Ladies Home Journal features 10 public schools from across the country that exemplify “what America is doing right” in K-12 education.

We are pleased and proud—but not surprised—that The School District of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy (SLA) is among the featured schools, which were selected by a panel of experts.

In its introduction to the article the magazine’s editors state, “…thousands of bold and resourceful educators are brimming with innovative strategies to lift the performance of American schools and give students new opportunities to learn.” Obviously, those ground-breaking educators include SLA Principal Chris Lehmann and his faculty.

In the magazine’s description of the school and its unique features, Principal Lehmann emphasized that SLA students learn by doing. Using laptop computers, each SLA student creates his or her own learning resources using course management software and an inquiry-based approach to learning. Extended class periods, including science labs, give students more time on task.

We congratulate the staff, students and parents of SLA, and the school’s founding partner, the Franklin Institute, for this well-deserved national recognition. Keep up the great work!

2010-06-26T11:25:00.000-07:00

SLA in the Apple news

2010-06-06T11:15:00.000-07:00

LINK

Element Printmaking by SLA 9th Grade Students

2010-05-11T11:07:00.000-07:00

Every school year since 2007-2008 SLA 9th graders have been involved in a Periodic Printmaking Collaboration between the art and science departments. 2010 freshmen are in the middle of their assignment right now. Here are some photographs of today's art class. This is orange stream.

10 orange printmaking

View more presentations from marciehull.

Rough Cuts Video from TEDx NYED

2010-05-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Tech Set Up for the Bill Gates Visit

2010-05-06T05:28:00.000-07:00

Bill Gates speaks at Science Leadership Academy from Chris Alfano on Vimeo.

The beginning of this school year a group of students came together and named a video production company that does independent work. The name of the company is Rough Cuts and the students that make up the group are Greg Windle, Devon Thomas, Danielle Villa, Jay Mukhtar, Laura Kriss, Olatin Akinsola and Ricky Phram. Along with myself, Doug Herman (digital video / history teacher at SLA), and Chris Alfano (SLA's amazing programmer and IT guru) the students put on a professional looking show.

The gaps of what we don't have at school are filled by renting our equipment from a local video shop called Video Smith. With the help of Video Smith and what the students have managed to put together, the set up looks impressive. If you are in Philadelphia, I highly suggest you check this place out. The employees actually sit with you and teach you how to use the equipment. They will also show you how to hook your existing school equipment up to their equipment. The entire staff is helpful and knowledgeable.

We used Vokle to set up our streaming from the school. This is one of the few services that works with our firewall. We could have also used Ustream, both of these streaming sites are free.

Rough Cut had four different cameras set up, all of which were hooked into an Anycast. The Anycast is hooked directly to one audio input. That way when the cameras switched cameras the audio comes from the same place, making the editing process much easier. Greg Windle works as the producer and cuts to different cameras during the shoot. All of the camera people have headsets and they all communicate with each other and the producer.

The streaming connects to a converter that goes to the Anycast. The converter has a firewire adapter so we have to use an older Apple MacBook to stream from because it still has the firewire connection. That computer is also hardwired into the network via a eithernet cord. The audio and video need to be adjusted on the Vokle site to the audio and video sources that are coming from the connection to the converter. Vokle gives you choices in the menus and recognizes the equipment you have connected and adds it to that list.

The producer sits behind the Anycast. The Anycast is connected to the converter. The converter is needed because the audio equipment is older and needs to be converted to go into the Anycast; this is because of the different connections not matching up. Connected to this is the deck and the DV monitor. Rough Cut got audio from the mixing board the professional sound company came in with to SLA.

That is the the way we were able to stream and record Bill Gates at SLA.

Some Days This Is How Anybody Can Feel

2010-05-05T07:20:00.001-07:00

Shout Out...

2010-03-08T12:44:00.000-08:00

Rough Cuts Nyc Slide Show

View more presentations from marciehull.

Got This Today...

2010-03-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

I really don't know what to do with this.... can't we put some of this money into schools for kids. I know this kinda cheeba could help change some lives....

Dear Marcie,

We’re now entering the next phase in our nation’s thrust to use data to improve educational outcomes. The challenge is no longer whether or how to build institutional data systems, but to use better information about teaching and learning to improve outcomes for every student.

In the past decade, school districts and states have spent more than a billion dollars to build and implement data systems. Data about student learning—and the systems that collect, organize, and report on this data—are what U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan calls “the driving force [behind education] reform.”

In the next five years, our nation will likely spend a billion dollars more. A focus on the actual use of data must drive our next billion-dollar investment. And this focus has clear implications for how we think about, design, and implement data initiative.

What should we expect from that next billion-dollar investment? All this week on The Quick and the Ed, policy experts will debate and discuss that critical issue. Today, Education Sector Managing Director Bill Tucker lays out five design principles that should underlie new data systems (http://www.quickanded.com/2010/03/five-design-principles-for-smarter-data-systems.html). Throughout the week, guest bloggers will explore the topic from a variety of perspectives.

We hope your readers will not only read the posts, but join in with their expertise and ideas.

Kris Amundson

Communications Manager

EDUCATIONSECTOR
Independent Analysis, Innovative Ideas
www.educationsector.org

1201 Connecticut Ave., NW, Ste. 850, Washington, DC 20036
[t] 202.552.2849 • [f] 202.775.5877 • [e] kamundson@educationsector.org

My Friends are Cool, They Care about Stuff

2010-03-07T06:53:00.000-08:00

(lucky to call him) My friend and colleague Zac Chase has an interesting post that just went up titled "Open letter on behalf of the NWP (National Writing Project)"

I am not an English teacher so I don't know much about the project. Zac is a good teacher and can give his readers and hopefully mine, a better insight into the issues currently going on with the NWP.

He breaks the problem down and makes clear what is going on in the world of English and educational budget cuts. Here is his opening:

The Gist:

The current draft of the federal budget cuts direct funding for the National Writing Project.
The NWP has been one of the few extremely successful examples of a nationally-networked effort to improve K-12 writing for 36 years.
We must communicate with Congress to change the budget.

This post is the same 'ol....

2010-02-27T06:37:00.000-08:00

...but I like to collect them for my readers, my blog scrap book and reflection.

This comes from Greg at Constructing Meaning

The genius of Science Leadership Academy can be found in its Mission and Vision:

“How do we learn?”

“What can we create?”

“What does it mean to lead?”

These three essential questions form the basis of instruction at the Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a Philadelphia high school that opened in 2006. SLA was built on the notion that inquiry is the very first step in the process of learning. Developed in partnership with The Franklin Institute and its commitment to inquiry-based science, SLA provides a rigorous, college-preparatory curriculum with a focus on science, technology, mathematics and entrepreneurship.

Students at SLA learn in a project-based environment where the core values of inquiry, research, collaboration, presentation and reflectionare emphasized in all classes.

The structure of the Science Leadership Academy reflects its core values, with longer class periods that allow for more laboratory work in science classes and performance-based learning in all classes. In addition, students in the upper grades have more flexible schedules to allow for opportunities for dual enrollment programs with area universities and career development internships in laboratory and business settings, as well as with The Franklin Institute. At SLA, learning is not just something that happens from 8:30am to 3:00pm, but a continuous process that expands beyond the four walls of the classroom into every facet of our lives.

Marcie Hull is the technology coordinator and the digital arts teacher at Science Leadership Academy (SLA). (Video from last post here, didn't think I needed to post it again)

One of the most innovative aspects of SLA is the Capstone project every student completes to finish their senior year. The Capstone Project at Science Leadership Academy is an opportunity for students to show the scholars they have become. It represents the culmination of four years of intellectual growth towards an independent and self-directed learner who can contribute meaningfully to his or her community, whatever that means to the individual. It will enable the student to focus his interests and curiosity into a coherent representation of how he thinks and what he believes as he leave high school. The capstone represents a synthesis of the SLA mission and vision as students attempt to answer the questions: “How do we learn?” “What can we create?” and “What does it mean to lead” through a self-selected and designed independent project.

Want another lens on SLA? Here are Two

2010-02-26T09:12:00.000-08:00

This <--- was written by woscholar, who came across this video on the web. Thanks woscholar for the nice things you said and the pull out quotes from the video.

Here is the home of this video.

This project was done by two graduate students, Sabina Kuriakose and Adeniyi Amadou, that came to SLA to find out more about technology and students. You can imagine their shock when I said to them, it is not about that in education and especially here at SLA. They ended up changing their entire project around. This project is the brain child of many schools. The group is called The Young and the Wireless. Here is their blog. Here is the blog out of Philly.

Had to Do this Today...

2010-02-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

This questionnaire was sent to me from Rachel Cohen, a student at NYU. Thank you Rachel for giving me the opportunity to write down my thoughts on these important questions.

Technology in the Classroom Questionnaire

What role does technology play in your classroom/the average classroom at SLA?

Technology is not the role, the pedagogy or curriculum is the role and the technology follows what those two things dictate. The technology in any SLA classroom is ubiquitous, like air, there but not recognized. Technology is a means to and end for critical thinking.

How important is technology to the classroom?

Technology is as important to a lesson or a unit or a project, as a pencil is to a lesson unit or project in art or drawing class. However, a pencil is also a technology. Have you ever been to a pencil lab?

Could your classroom function without technology with the same benefit to your students?

The pedagogy and curriculum of what the school teaches is not dependant on technology. We could still cover the PA state standards and the School District of Philadelphia’s benchmarks without the luxuries of interactive boards, laptops, printers, cameras, microphones, drawing tablets and anything else a school could have in it that is considered “technology”. Technology is the means not the end. Critical thinking, collaboration, and reflection is the end. All these things can be achieved without “technology”.

Why is it important that technology be incorporated into modern classroom setting? Is it?

It all can’t be about technology. What exactly is technology? Over head projector, a bulletin board, a KAT scanner are all considered “technology”. So, we have to think about the term we are using. In my opinion this word technology is used to describe everything from a CAT scanner to a microwave and this makes the word meaningless. When you use a word to describe all things then it is nothing. That being said, there is another problem with this question, the word incorporated is over, if “technology” is not in the classrooms then the classroom cannot reflect the lives of the students. In any point in time a classroom needs to be set up with the advantages of solving real world problems. These technologies assist in with this type of learning. Look at a school that lets out and has rules against cell phones and iPods. The first thing these students do is take out these devices and start using them. A side note of this is also in school students can see other uses for the “technology” and have a depth of knowledge about the tool. They also receive ethical use and modeling of ethical use of these tools by their teachers.

In what ways has technology improved project-based learning?

It creates a space for 24/7 learning. Access to information and experts are at our fingertips. Student and teachers create an online community that is a strong as the actual community. Students and teachers have more avenues to communicate. Projects can be completed in ways that fit the student’s individual learning style. Online collaboration tools help with shared knowledge and they only keep getting better. The teacher stops being the audience students create projects for.

In teaching students about ethical practices on the Internet do you spend time on understanding where to access quality content? Are they learning how to make the distinction between sites like Wikipedia and legitimate research websites like JSTOR?

This lesson of quality content is the lesson in every classroom everyday. To be a student in this school you cannot help but learn the importance of quality content. Teachers will not accept poor quality, it is built into their rubric. There is also more pressure on our students to find primary sources, emphasizing the importance of content and where it comes from. These are the ISTE NETS that are part of the technology curriculum:
3. Research and Information Fluency
Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
a. plan strategies to guide inquiry.
b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a
variety of sources and media.
c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the
appropriateness to specific tasks.
d. process data and report results.

In your experience have you found that incorporating technology in to the classroom has made students entirely dependent on the use of technology for research and out of classroom learning?

Is the dependency supposed to be a problem? Are we still supposed to be teaching the Dewy Decimal System? If electricity were to be shut off permanently would office workers that work on the 18th floor of a building walk up and down the stairs to get to work? I don’t like this question because it doesn’t matter to me how students find information; instead it is more important that they are combining the way they are finding and learning information with critical thinking. We are all dependant on technology for research. How many times have you been out to dinner with friends and somebody pulls out their phone to settle a debate? What information is going to be important? What information is not going to be important? And the ways we obtain that information how important is that?

The argument is often posed that public high schools generally do not teach the way students learn. SLA has remedied this issue through reforms like project-based learning. In what way has technology contributed to teaching the way that students learn?

Actually the way students learn here has less to do with technology and more to do with the ethic of care. We check in with our students and every student stays with the same advisor for the four years they are in high school. I think the biggest impact is the communication between teachers via the Internet and the school portal SLA has set up. Teachers can communicate asynchronously about individual students. This gives teachers the ability to teach to that student’s needs for that particular day, week, or length of a situation going on with the student. This harkens back to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, if the student is not at a place where learning can occur then what good are we doing for that student?

Now to answer your question literally, technology gives students more choices for the output or ways to show synthesis of knowledge. They can choose the output for the assignment that best suits their style of learning. The same goes for teachers, we have more choices on how to present information. The technology gives teachers multiple fast ways to communicate information that all style learners can connect with for real understanding to happen. There are opportunities for teachers and students to communicate understandings are limitless. The awesome and most powerful thing that technology in the classroom does is that it makes it so the teacher can no longer be the holder of all the information. The entire classroom dynamic changes and if the teacher and students understand this and agree to learn together then amazing things happen in the classroom. What makes our school so successful with this project based curriculum with technology combination is that we have agreed to learn together, we make mistakes and learn from them. Teachers have experience to pass on to students and that is why they are needed in a classroom. Their experience and expertise in a discipline are important in stretching the limits of a student’s potential.

Preparing our Students for College

2010-02-08T11:10:00.000-08:00

This year I am a senior adviser. This means I have 20 students looking to me and the other adults (as well as their parents) to get them though the college process. FULL DISCLOSURE: I applied to one college, didn't even think I would go to college, OMG: I am so so lucky I got into Temple's Tyler Campus.

This process has been one of the hardest things I have had to do in my teaching career so far (except for dealing with the emotions of teenager coming to grips with who they really are). SLA took this process very seriously. We have an online college manager called Naviance. This is a great tool if you can get student and staff buy in.

I also found out about a great website that lists all kinds of great information about colleges and Universities (shout our to Michael Cohen) It is called College Planner.

The most difficult process was writing all of the recommendation letters. This is so hard, you know so much about these students after spending four years with them it is hard to break it down. Then there are the ones you have NO idea what to say because of a mental block or other reasons. I put all this writing off until my Principal had to beg me to get them in, as well as the college counselor. Word to the wise get them done early.... it is a time crunch if you don't.

Here are some GREAT tips for writing these letter from the SUPER AWESOME Diana Laufenberg

There are a few things that you should include in your letters about each student:
Academic achievements
Extracurricular accomplishments
Personal qualities and character

Some schools (including the Common App) ask that you compare the student to other students in his or her class in terms of the factors listed above. If a student is excellent/outstanding, please make sure that you mention that.

This is a sensitive subject but most colleges (including colleges participating in the Common App) require disclosure of school disciplinary violations and/or conviction of misdemeanor, felony or other crime. The two questions about this on the Common App are as follows:

Has the applicant ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at your school from 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in the applicant’s probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion from your institution? Yes No
To your knowledge, has the applicant ever been convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, or other crime?

This is a some more advice from our College Counselor Karina Hirschfield

Student Questionnaire

Letter of Recommendation Questionnaire

Name:____________________________ Earliest Deadline:______ Approximate GPA:____

1. What words would you use to describe yourself as a student?

2. Are there any personal obstacles that you had to overcome that you would like schools to be aware of?

3. What classes are you currently taking?

4. How would you describe your classroom interaction/relationships with teachers?

5. What extracurricular activities have you been involved in at Beacon?

6. Extracurriculars Outside Beacon (include community service)?

7. What are you most looking forward to about college?

8. What do you want to study?

9. What assets would you bring to campus?

10. Is there anything I haven’t asked you about that you would like schools to know about you?

Hope this helps...

Great Resources - Quick and Dirty

2009-12-10T07:56:00.001-08:00

Aduim - pulls all your IM accounts into one place
Skreemr - MP3 search engine
Eddy Timer - download for quick timer
CamTwist - can make your desktop broadcast instead of your camera
DROPBOX - can't live without - file saving and sharing and LINKING
Switch - makes files into other kinds of files
KEYPASS - can't live without - keeps all my passcodes
SongBird - alternative to iTunes
VLC - media opener like quicktime
Web Cut / Evernote - keeping parts of webpages in one searchable spot
Engrade - online grade book with great features
Sync subscribed iCal calendars to MobileMe via script
Keep track on tags in Delicious - Youtube tutorial
What should I read next - http://www.whatshouldireadnext.com/search
100 Websites You Should Know and Use - http://blog.ted.com/2007/08/100_websites_yo.php

Here is the Dropio to more great resources from Google Teachers at the Academy in DC

http://drop.io/gtasmackdown

Educon - come be a part of the conversation

2009-11-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

Link to wiki

Educon 2.2

January 29 - 31, 2010

Science Leadership Academy

55 N. 22nd St.

Philadelphia, PA

Empathy

2009-10-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Seth Godin wrote this today. I agree with most of his points and for most people this is true. He overlooks a portion of the population. There are people who are called empaths. About.com has a quick and dirty definition of this trait people can posses.

I believe I am one of these people and I am sure my mother and sister are as well.

I believe people can posses a deep sensitivity and be able to relate to the emotions of another person. I also believe like fear is universal so is pain. The same pain felt by a depressive or chronically sad person is no different than the pain felt from a sixteen year old that does not get that BMW for his/her birthday. It may not last as long but you cannot quantify pain.

that is my two cents...

Where is all this incentive money going to come from?

2009-07-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

Contact:

George Jackson

202/745-2176

(QuEST Office)

gjackson@aft.org

Statement by Randi Weingarten,

President, American Federation of Teachers,

On CAP Reports on Teacher Compensation and Evaluation

The Center for American Progress (CAP) today released two reports, “It’s More Than Money: Making Compensation Reform Work” and “Aligned by Design: How Teacher Compensation Reform Can Support and Reinforce Other Educational Reforms.” The reports underscore the need to support and collaborate with teachers.

WASHINGTON—We are beginning to see research that echoes both common sense and the AFT’s mantra that effective and sustainable education reform must be done with teachers, not dictated to them. We wholeheartedly agree that when differentiated compensation plans and teacher evaluation systems—the subjects of these two CAP reports—are developed, teachers must be involved in them from the beginning.

“It’s More Than Money” gives sound advice to union leaders and district officials when developing and implementing differentiated pay programs, including involving teachers unions, gaining broad community support, ensuring financial and organizational sustainability, and going beyond politics for the good of students.

“Aligned by Design” calls for the alignment of teacher compensation plans with human resources, professional development, teacher evaluation systems, and other education-related factors. The report decries most existing teacher evaluation programs as ineffective, which is a position shared by the AFT.

The most effective way to develop and implement reforms and other improvements for teaching and learning is to work with teachers, not to impose changes on them, as I said yesterday to more than 2,000 educators at the AFT’s educational issues conference. I also noted that evaluation systems need major upgrades from the current—and inadequate—practice of 15-minute-per-year classroom observations. We hope policymakers start recognizing what these two reports say—that collaboration is the key ingredient to tackling the challenges that face our public schools.

Wowza - Got this off twitter from Chris Sessums

2009-07-14T14:47:00.000-07:00

I think Umair Haque's ideas about companies and institutions also apply to schools.

"So I think the most important question companies (<-- put schools in there) can ask themselves today is are we innovating, or are we doing exactly the opposite? Is what we are doing really an improvement?"

"So my question would be is how many of your innovations are really not innovations, how many are really unnovations."

Thank you to Chris Sessums for pointing this out.

Got this from here - there is a cool flash video to go along with it. Below is the full transcript of what he said that can be found on this page

What’s really different about the world today is the fact that we’re much more interconnected. And when we’re more interconnected, we’re more interdependent.

And so the question is, in this radically interdependent world, how do we have to behave to create real value, to create authentic value. Because until we can answer that question, we’re going to see the crisis that we’ve got today, actually intensify. What it really is a kind of a crisis in the way that our organizations behave. So what that means is, we see across industries this pattern of kind of self-defeating, or self-destructive, or value-destructive behaviour, because they don’t know how to do, how to behave any other way.

And we don’t seem to be able to overcome that pattern; and so until we can overcome that pattern, I think that the crisis that we see today, even if we bail ourselves out of it, by bailing out the banks, by bailing out the automakers, the crisis will keep on repeating itself, across industries; it will keep on going on until we answer that problem, of very very self-destructing behavior; and so they’re kind of zombies.

They know that they have to behave differently to create real value, but they don’t know how to do that, because they haven’t been organized and built in a way to do it.

It’s kind of in their very DNA, because the question is not one of strategy, not one of competition but one of institutions. And unless you realize that institutions are what you have to change, you wind up as kind of as a zombie.

Why do we see these patterns of destructive behavior going on? I think the reason is actually very simple: capitalism in the way we built it today kind of undercounts costs and overcounts benefits. Many of the costs that we’re now becoming more and more familiar with – social costs, environmental costs, human costs, the costs of unfairness – and it overcounts benefits, that’s kind of a structural flaw, the heart of the way that we built capitalism itself. And what that translates into is that we see this pattern of behavior of where I strive to make myself better off but I’m indifferent to whether you are better off. And if I can do that, then the result is very, very small amounts of real value that are being created, and today we’re facing that fact.

The way that we should think about it in the 21st century is that we create the world through out action and through our behavior.

So the world is kind of a function of what we do. And when we act in one way, we create one kind of industry, one kind of environment, one kind of world; and when we act in another way, we can create a very different kind of environment, or industry, or world. And so I think the question of “how do we respond to the world”, we have to think about the fact that we are responsible for the actions that we take, because those actions then go on to create the kind of world that then comes back to effect us. And so the challenge in the 21st century is learning to create authentic value, real value.

So my question would be is how many of your innovations are really not innovations, how many are really unnovations.

So I think the most important question companies can ask themselves today is are we innovating, or are we doing exactly the opposite? Is what we are doing really an improvement?

Debate Topic: Bricks and Mortar Schools are Detrimental to the Future of Education

2009-07-09T11:52:00.000-07:00

Gary Stager @ NECC09 Debate - became my HERO

Gary actually comes on at 42mins. 45secs. time marker during the 1hour and 16 min video, you may want to let it load and just listen to what he says... unless you want to see this.... it made a big stink!

Dr. Gary Stager - Visiting Professor at Pepperdine University & Executive Director of teh Constructivist Consortium

Debate Moderator - Robert Siegel, Senior Host National Public Radio’s, “All Things Considered” (***note, really fun to put a face to this voice)

Here are my favorite pull out quotes and at the bottom is the entire debate on video.

Blindly using tech to support NCLB and other medieval educational practices

...Depriving children of the richest possible educational experiences when we know better, shows the bricks and mortar of our souls...

We need to define what physical schools are good for...

Unfortunately the very things that make physical school viable in the future are the first things to be stripped today from the curriculum.

Knowing the child well enough to build upon their interests, passions, strengths and desires..

Don’t tell me that socialization will be jeopardized if children lean on line when the number one infraction in schools is, well... talking

Don’t tell me about your online field trip to Belarus if your students no longer visiting the firehouse.

and yet I never imagined that 19 years later we would be faceting giant pre- Gutenberg technology to classroom walls.

It Seems to me that interactive white boards require brick and mortar while reinforcing the dominance to the front of the room

Without dramatically higher expectations and the creation of more productive context for learning there will be no difference between brick and mortar schools and whatever the future holds, that will be a shame for our children because they will be the losers.

Skeleton In The Closet Of Project Based Leaning

2009-07-07T14:13:00.000-07:00

Picture by About Nice kind of weird

Project based leaning takes a lot of time. For every project teachers work very hard to include rigor and connect the project to a real world learning experiences. By the time they plan the project explain the project and get all thirty kids in the classroom on task, time is up. Yes the kids come back the next day and continue their work but in a given school year they have to move on at some point. The fact about real project based learning is that it does not end with a test, and teachers are setting students up for failure. This is the skeleton I am referring to. The very reason we give them the project is to promote self learning and when you learn by yourself you usually make mistakes until you have a deeper understanding of what it is you are trying to achieve.

There are not a lot of discussions among teachers about failure but isn’t this the point of trying something new? You learn from your mistakes and you are certainly not going to be successful the very first time. Of course this does not hold true with each standard and concept and there are those students who are the exception because they have super brains. (side note... at Educon last year Diana Laufenberg did present a session called Fear of Failure)

Ever tile anything and then wish you could rip it out and do it over? This is because by the time you finish what you began you start to master tiling and learn from your mistakes. I think project based learning should rip up the tile and destroy the first try. Then redesign the the tile project, and the teacher/guide angles the second go around toward the most important standards and benchmarks the students need to leave that unit knowing. There is also a need for careful regard to the organic learning that can occur during these attempts.

You may argue there is not enough time in the school day or year to accomplish those types of projects. I did at a lunch with David Jakes. But for David, time wasn’t the problem: you can carefully plan and scaffold this learning though the four years the students are in that particular school. After David Jakes brought this to my attention I have to admit I agreed with him. Educators can do this. I am thinking this is what would be a part of pedagogical reform.

News 21 Project - Young and the Wireless

2009-07-07T11:28:00.000-07:00

There are two students working on a project about Teens and Technology. They located SLA by reading Matt Kay's blog in the New York Times. Matt Kay is the English teacher at SLA. The two students called Matt and Matt said if they come by some one will hook them up. Below is a list of schools working on parts of the same project...

Arizona State: The Latino Experience Across America
California-Berkeley: Urban Reporting, Demographics and the American Tapestry
Columbia: U.S. Charter Schools -- Exploring Cultural, Linguistic and Immigrant Challenges
Maryland: The U.S. Political Landscape -- Racial Identity and Attitudes
North Carolina: Changing America -- Population and Energy Use
Northwestern: Urban Youth and the New America
Southern California: Southwestern Shifts -- New Communities and New Realities
Syracuse: Teens and Technology

The above schools are collaborating on a News 21 Project 2009. There are two kids from Syacuse working with SLA, their names are Sabina Kuriakose and Adeniyi Amadou. As I understand it, all the schools are collaborationg to create a new form of storytelling though multi-media. I gave them David Jakes' website, I hope they are not disappointed that this is alreading being done by elementary and high school students.

Sabina Kuriakose is a senior at Syracuse University, dual majoring in broadcast journalism and international relations. As a member of the inaugural '08-'09 ABC News On Campus Syracuse bureau, she covered the Binghamton shootings and Buffalo plane crash.She interned with the National Emmy award-winning investigative unit at NBC10 in Philadelphia. She was also a reporting intern at WBNG in Binghamton, N.Y. last spring. Sabina has reported for CONNECT, a local public affairs program produced out of Syracuse University. She is interested in reporting for multimedia platforms. Kuriakose grew up in Bensalem, Pa., a suburb of Philadelphia.

Adeniyi Amadou was born in Benin, raised in Paris and educated at a Virginian boarding school. His college studies started at the U.S. Academy at West Point and he earned his bachelor’s degree at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Amadou’s interest in journalism developed during his undergraduate studies.

This is the link that to the blog Adeniyi has been keeping while doing the research with Sabina. Here is the link to Project 21 the initiative on the future of journalism.

As always with SLA there is a twist to the story. Technology is like air here so there is not much of a story about kids and technology. SLA also practices a hierarchy of caring for students, teaching our disapline, using technology. This is the story that Adeniyi and Sabina are coming away with. I told them to go back to their professor to make sure this was they story they needed and they got the green light. I am excited to see how they excecute this project.

NECC 09 - Sylvia Martinez

2009-07-07T09:35:00.000-07:00

Here is the link to Sylvia Martinez's presentation on ISTE Vision

Sylvia Martinez had a session at NECC ’09 and I wanted to summarize her main points. And put in my two cents about the points she brought up. She says most of the things I would like to say but just can’t properly synthesize. Just as a side note I have been to sessions by her before and I keep going to them because I like to be reminded of what she practices and how she employs those practices. The presentation I attended was called 30 Years Later: The Best Technology Professional Development.

For more information of Generation Yes go here.

• Maybe more isn’t the answer for teacher professional development,
“just in time” training may be an alternative.

I know “just in time” training has been practiced in my school. And one way I have managed that as a technology coordinator is to set up ways to connect with me that will facilitate this “just in time” training. I am available online as much as possible during the work day, email and IM and texts are always a way to get in contact with me and if I can’t assist the teacher, I usually can get a student or one of the other teachers to assist that teacher. The next two things she says illustrate why this contact is so important.

• If you are fixing a problem it is too late - teachers can’t wait for tech. support

• Tech support does not happen in real time... it is not cost effective. If the teacher continually goes to plan B there is no reason for plan A

• What is the wall between where teachers learn and where teachers teach?

I love this question and have no idea how to answer it. She did by saying teaches need to bring their professional development experiences back into the classroom. And to paraphrase if that can happen in the classroom via a learning community - even better.

• People learn better in a community

I can’t agree more with this, SLA is an example of this. Building that community can be the biggest challenge here, but the payoff is tenfold the work it takes to bring people, students, teachers, partners and parents together. I think one of starting points is to have a clear and direct mission statement. What I just wrote is not my original idea, I have heard Chris Lehmann say this over and over, maybe not in the context of creating a community, but I think that is one of the results of a clear and direct mission.

• Teaching students how to support technology for the teacher

Making them (students) responsible for something that really counts, gives the students ownership over what they do and it pushes their learning. We can’t afford to overlook any resource in schools.

• Where is my Personal Learning Network (PLN)? Teachers were more interested in talking to their friends online. This was after learning how to connect to other educators in a learning community. The obvious outcome was that teachers were not not taking what they learned back to the classroom. You have to bring the professional development learning back to the classroom.

I have done this myself. I have a wide PLN on all kinds of social networks. I find that I bring little of what I learn back. I think this is because I already have a scope and sequence and hate to interrupt it for fear of confusing the students. What Sylvia said made me think I have to organize what I learn in such a way that I can incorporate it in my next year lessons. This way my practice and lessons don’t get stale. The drawback (or “consequence to my best idea” - Chris Lehman) is I am never mastering a lesson or unit, instead I am always tryingnew things.

• Constructing modern knowledge, teachers put on their learning hat.
Get frustrated in professional development sessions as a teacher this way feeling what it is for your students to learn in your classroom.

• Kids are masters of technologies and they exist in your schools to help the community learn. Club of students led by a teacher

I try to practice this everyday. Luckily I have a system in my school that streamlines this type of program. We have student do learning outside the classroom in a program called “Individualized Leaning Programs” and the students can choose to work with our systems administrators to repair and learn about technology in our school. I support this by pointing students with an interest in this direction.

• Teachers can decide what they want to teach and collaborate with the student to make that lesson come to life. This means designing and planning together.

This hearkens back to what Sylvia said before about students owning their learning. This also promotes community in the building.

• When you see technology make a difference in your classroom then you believe it.

To me this means as a technology coordinator I should go into classes and assist the teacher in a lesson so that teacher can see the students learning with the tools. That way the teacher can see the process and the product of the students learning, making that teacher a believer in the practicality of these tools.

• Kids need our (teachers / coaches) life experience and we need their abilities to share learning in the classroom.

My friend and colleague Zac Chase gave me a bit of a push back on this statement because I tweeted it out “Kids need our (teachers / coaches) life experience and we need their abilities to share learning in the classroom. - @smartinez #necc09” And Zac Chase tweeted back “Push back: I think we have that ability. And I think we have to be careful not to discount their life experience.” So I tweeted, “I think student life experience is a part of shared learning environment” and he tweeted back “Life experience is, in general. I'd challenge the idea that a set group has a set contribution.” What I leaned from Sylvia and Zac was to be mindful of the students life experiences when planning and collaborating.

• Planning vs. organic learning? Empowering student voice.

This one is a tough one for me, I tend to teach as I was taught, not a big surprise.So if we get side tracked or off topic it is a reach for me to let the lesson merge one direction or another. Granted I have the luxury of being an electives teacher so it is easier for me to get off topic and not have major ramifications to what the student have to learn. I can only imagine with all the pressure teachers of major courses have to stay on task. Or the ones that have a core curriculum and can not make decisions on their daily in class lessons, books or projects.

• Ask yourself (school & district staff members) If you are asking a teacher to do something, is there a possibility a student can take on this task, thereby lessening the burden on the teacher?

When I hear of new initiatives or task teacher or myself have to incorporate to my day I wish there was a list posted of what the daily tasks are for teachers. In this age of transparency I think it would be interesting. Also, it can be used as a guide to influence what initiatives are important and how to prioritize them in a teacher’s day.

• Trivial bells and whistles get boring quickly - real engagement is the key
I have always been a believer in this idea.

I want to teach a course to teachers based on Jonassen's Mindtools Thinking Model
Definition: Mindtools are computer applications that require students to think in meaningful ways in order to use the application to represent what they know. (p.
3, Computers in the Classroom - Mindtools for Critical Thinking, by David H. Jonassen, 1996) It is so important to learn how to use the tools we have at our disposal to make students think about their learning instead of drill and kill. These type of application to the tools can also be used as a babysitter and this becomes dangerous. Even thought the best way to learn the test is to teach the test. I am a fan of teaching students how to think instead of how to take a test. I think this will benefit them in the long run. I would be most proud of my teaching ability if I were able to pass on the joy for learning instead of the ability to ”play school”.

Tired Choir

2009-07-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

The slide above Tim says "Consequences" (I love this picture)

Tim Best and I presented a session at the National Educators Computer Conference (NECC) this past week called the Tired Choir. Our basic write up read like this... "Expand 21st-century teaching practices by identifying key entry points and developing a plan to augment these practices in your schools".

The tired choir is referring to all the folks who show up to these conferences being the same people. We all seem to be talking to each other over and over again. Not that it is a bad thing to be trading ideas with colleagues/friends/peers. Zac, Tim and I have found going to other conferences and speaking to educators, the same questions keep coming to the forefront. We thought there was a need for this type of session, so we submitted our pitch. *Note... Zac Chase was to join us for this session. He was flying to Africa as we were giving this session with Teachers Without Boarders. Congratulations Zac!

Our intent was to give educators, no matter what their position may be in a educational setting, an action plan. Thereby, being able to go back to their individual settings and start whatever initiative is important to them.

You too can go to our wiki to fill out a form with your ideas. The spreadsheet is also published and there is a link on the wiki to see ideas by other educators. Their contact information is there along with mine and Tim’s. I encourage you to get in contact with those who are like minded.

Huge SHOUT OUT to our ISTE volunteer !

This is Gail

Thank you Gail

Also IT and Barbara were a great help to Tim and I.

Thank you EVERYONE for making us comfortable and being such friendly and superb help.

All I have are questions....

2009-06-15T16:41:00.000-07:00

"...the results did allow federal officials to conclude that in music and art, white and Asian students scored higher, on average, than African-American and Hispanic students, girls outscored boys, and private schools outperformed public ones."

Taken from this <--- article sent to me by Diana Laufenberg (my colleague & friend)

Do they really need to take a survey to figure this out? (snark ahead) Oh wow... the brown kids are under served even in the arts! ARGHHH! When is anybody going to do something about the educational inequity in the country INSTEAD OF JUST TALKING ABOUT IT AND REPORTING IT?! (ok, not snark but RANT)

It reminds me of something that Lauf told me and some graduate students the other week.... "ya can't fix the plane while it is in the air." Kaboom a light bulb went off for me. I now not only think about how better to serve brown people but I am thinking what it is I can do to be a part of good change. Sustainable change. Change that does good stuff for kids. What is my part in this? Why do I feel so passionately about equal education for everyone?

I ask this too, Where is the %^@* audience for this implosion of education that is going on? Where is the audience that wants to hear about how creativity is being killed? Where is the audience that want to discuss how many generations of inner city youth that have been cheated out of a decent and equitable education?

Where are the politicians that want to face this and actually get their hands dirty, instead of cutting a ribbon? Where is the administration when a troubled kid acts out in class because s/he hasn't eaten in two or more days?

In all this hubbub who is thinking about kids? Who is making decisions about what is best for them instead of their career ?

Where is the decent wage for teachers that work to make a better day in their classroom each day. Why do "good" teachers do so much without being paid? Why is there competition amoung (some staff) staff?

Why are educators/parents so afraid of letting kids on an open network to the internet?

Am I that much of a progressive that I am having a hard time understanding the state of education right now?

A secret part of me wishes it would blow up and we could bring the plane down to fix it. The kids deserve it... the teachers deserve it, the families deserve it, our communities deserve it, but mostly our country deserves it.

"Windle - BurS" aka Hull's (my) Advisory

2009-06-14T10:27:00.000-07:00

Recently I was asked by a colleague in the Philly School District about how I run my advisory and why, to outsiders, it looks so successful. I enjoyed writing this and wanted to share it. Please give me feedback or criticism to make this a better experience for my kids. Let me know if you have suggestions for less corny activities we can engage in as a group.

So here it is the bad and the good of the "Windle -BurS" (<-- that is the name they chose together to call our advisory, it is a combination of 3 names of students... and they all voted on that one?!)

How my advisory is successful? This is a hard question to answer, so I will list what I think works and what I think does not work.

First I will start with what I currently do and then I will tell you how I want to make my practice better.

1. Every adult in our building has the same attitude towards our advisory time. That way it is modeled by the adults that we cherish and deem that time to be most important. (I know this is not always the attitude among staffers, you can make this idea apparent to your kids, by acting in certain ways and proving to them the importance)

2. The school has 2/year meetings with parents and teachers and the student comes to these meetings as well. During this time I impress upon the parent and the student I am thier advocate in the school. Meaning no matter what should arise bad or good I will be there to make sure that child is safe and comfortable in the school building. I also let mom/dad aware that much of the child's progress inside and outside the classroom is documented, and I will communicate that when necessary.

I have been to therapists, court cases and homes of my advisees.

3. This philosophy is promoted in our school in two ways. We teach children first and sometimes a realization of a bad/good day is more important than the lesson they are going to receive in that given day. This comes from a philosophy by Nel Noddings and her book The Ethic of Care here <-- is a link to her background.

My Advisory & my actions:
I will visit kids on my prep & take them out of class for a short 2 min conversation to see where they are in their head, or help to solve a problem that they may be having Sometimes it is to tell them something good I have heard from other teachers. It is a big deal to kids that you take YOUR time to acknowledge them. They get this and acknowledge the effort you took to find them, to single them out. (this by the way is encouraged and a suggestion, as well as the idea of my principal Chris Lehmann)

I let my kids know they belong to me (I am the adult in the building that is there for them at any moment) and I am their safety net in the building for a hug or a talk or a laugh. To share stories or just to make it through the day. It is the softer side of school, the place where they get to be a kid and not a student. (also Lehmann's words)

I act like a bulldog to fight for their comfort and progress at the school. I am timely at mediating conversations between them and teachers they may be having a conflict with. I try hard not to let things fall though the cracks even if they are small matters. If I do, I tell them I have not forgotten about the issue and will address it as soon as I can.

I apologize if I feel like I did something to offend them or give them the wrong idea. I apologize if they feel like I overstepped my bounds or made them uncomfortable. I try to find what works with each child, like a stern conversation or a hug with some kind advisce to get their act togher.

They know they can come to me at anytime in the school day and I will drop everything I am doing if they are in crisis. I go as far as finding coverage for my class so I can help them then and there.

I try to help them stay organized with what is going on in school and I am very serious when it comes to school wide efforts. College is coming and we have to do some boring activities for that, so I let them know it is going to suck but we will get through it together and we will make it as fun as possible. These are the days I surprise them with candy and snacks and if they complete a mundane activity they get to pick a treat.... yes it is bribing but they really don't mind! And you get to look like the best adviser ever! :0)

Surprise them with a pizza day. Have a cereal day - they bring in their favorite cereal you bring milk, spoons and bowls. Try to have them organize food days. Maybe one loves to make a certian treat or dish, encourage them to bring it in on advisory day. Have a combined peanut butter and jelly sandwich day with another advisory, it is cheap and they LOVE it.

We close the door and they are allowed to rant and rave about any issue going on and it STAYS in that room. They like to get off their chest about the difficult teacher that day or what kid has been a real jerk. They like to talk about decisions in the school they don't agree with. Their favorite topic is fairness and how something was done to defy their idea of fairness. I let them do this and I am silent and interject only when I think they are going in they are going in a direction that will make their live harder.The key to this is that they only want to be listened to.They want an adult to take what they are saying seriously and not blow them off as having a temper tantrum. They love these days and pull their chairs up close to my desk and they totally loose track of time. It becomes a very special moment for us to bond over issues that they feel passionately about.

We also talk about good things that happen to us.

I try to share as much as I can about myself, my ups and downs, my short comings. I tell them that I love them.

I even fight for those kids who are considered troubled and disruptive to the school. I look for their good qualities. I inform teachers how to handle them in a classroom setting, some need to move constantly, some need a job, some need to be told immediately they are inappropriate and not to let it go. Some need to know they can leave the classroom at anytime with out getting into trouble, like that door is not a trap to them. I ask teachers to send these troubled kids to me before disciplinary so that they can decompress and talk about the problem and feel like they are being heard and being treated fairly. I let the teachers know about their struggles and why it is they act out the way they do in the classroom. I am not soft on on these kids, I give them hard boundaries and let them know they have to respect the boundaries and me. I ask the kids not to put me in a corner where I can't help them because it will compromise my job and my reputation with my colleagues. I try to sympathize with them and let them know they made mistakes but it doesn't change the fact I care about them and will always advocate for them to the best of my ability.

Here is what I don't like about my advisory:
I am not organized about it. I don't plan ahead to make it more of a tight knit group. Most days we sit and chat and I want this time to be more meaningful. This is partly to do with my personality. I can't stand the hokey "hippie lets get to know each other better" activities. But I also have not done the research to find activities that would achieve the same goal in not such a corny way. I feel like I let some students go for too long and we become distanced. I do this because I feel like I lack the ability to reach the child... and I am afraid to approach it in the wrong way. And I hate to admit this... I just give up. I give up because I want to be perfect and my personality is an all or nothing kind of mentality. So if I feel like I can serve them, I stop trying. (eeeek that was hard to write)

I have a hard time keeping track of their academics and this is a huge problem because the student can get themselves in such an academic downward spiral they become hopeless. And by the time I get involved there is not much I can do. This is when I feel like I really let them down and my colleague down as well as the parents.

Advisory next year:
I am planning on their final year to teach them how to manage student loans, what an interest rate is, how to balance a budget, a checking account, savings account, a credit card. Life skills... How to buy furniture, how to get a lease. What to look for in a good apartment, how much to pay for an apartment in relation to their income. Phones plans and basic niceties. How to buy a car. What loans really are and how they can get out of hand. How to have a back up skill so they can work in whatever city or town they live. I believe they should have a skill so they can bring in a decent wadge, to get to their dreams. What tools to have in their possession/abilities to solve their own problems and to help the people around them.

Future of Education - Student Participation in Building the Learning Environment

2009-06-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sarah Pinard and I were on a panel to talk about student participation in the learning. The panel also included Susie Boss, Connie Weber, Sylvia Martinez, Jane Krauss, and student. Click here <-- to listen to the discussion

Galileo, TFI and SLA

2009-03-26T09:34:00.001-07:00

These are pictures of SLA students show them working on pod casts they are producing for the Galileo exhibit at the Franklin Institute. The podcast are going to be used as audio docents to compliment the exhibit. The educational packages that get sent to teachers across the country will also include the work by these students.

The exhibit opens Saturday, April 4th.

Here <--- is a link to the exhibit.

Teaching with Bi-Polar disorder is No Fun

2009-03-22T05:14:00.000-07:00

Some people may think it is very strange to be so open about my bi-polar disorder and that is fine. I hope that by me being so transparent I help other people and I help myself not to be so afraid.

Recently I have been having a severe bought of the blues. So much so that I have sought help after almost 10 years of regulating the disorder on my own. I have been seeing a psychiatrist in South Philadelphia. We have been working on finding that "cocktail" that will help my brain function as close to normally as possible. This doctor recommended that I also find a psychologist that is under my insurance and I have done so as well. Now I have three doctors working with me to put me on the mend.

Now with the back story out of the way I can tell you why I bring this up in my blog about education. This disorder has made it close to impossible to do my job efficiently. I am there but I have been a shell of myself... a ghost. I have let my principal, the teachers and the students know what I am battling. Of course my discourse with the teachers is different from my discourse with my students, but it is really the same information.

Depression in itself is the pits but to teach with it is close to impossible but not impossible. In my case transparency is the key to making teaching possible with this disorder. This may not be route for most people but for my situation it has been working out for me. I think there are angles and switches to use that will help anyone that battles this type of disorder to be happy and comfortable in their job. It is just a matter of doing the work to find out what that is and the bigger part; not being afraid to make mistakes.

My Resources PART 1

2009-02-10T06:18:00.001-08:00

I was asked during EduCon to make a post about my resources. This is actually a hard process. I do so much "just in time" training so my resources and presentations are scattered. I am up to the challenge and kind of excited to put all of this information in one spot.

BOOKMARKS -
I keep all of mine in Delicious
I am not the best at keeping them organized...

WIKIS -
One of my first presentations - here
NECC 2007 - here
Science Leadership Academy new teacher professional development - here

TUTORIALS -
I can not upload PDFs here so go to this WIKI

never reinvent the wheel - here are tutorials I can not take credit for...
iLife
iWork
Adobe Creative Suite
How to use wikis - here
Common Craft - here
(learn all about RSS, Blogs, Wikis, Zombies, Twitter, Social bookmarking, etc...)

BROADCASTING -
Mogulus
Ustream
Teacher Tube

I create the image for each of our laptops every year. Here is a list of the software I included on the 2008-09 image. I also review this list each summer and make edits.

Adium (free instant messaging application for Mac OS X that can connect to AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, and more.)
Adobe Creative Suite (industry standard for design)
Adobe Reader (free)
Audacity (Audacity® is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds.)
CamTwist (free)
Chipmunk Basic (free)
CoolIris (free firefox)
Dropbox (free 2 gigs) <-- this literlly changed my life! Firefox (free)
Opera (free)
Flock (free)
Flip4Mac (free)
Gimp (this I include if I can't get Adobe PhotoShop) (free)
Google Earth (free)
Google Sketch Up (free limited)
Handbrake (free)
Inspiration
MacScratch
Microsoft Office
iWork
NVU (free)
Scanner drivers
Skype (free)
Switch (free)
VLC (free)

For teachers -
Remote Desktop
Easy Grade Pro
Promethean
Eddy Timer (free)