I know I will blog about this again nearer to the actual dates of the conference, but for those out there who have decided to participate in “All Together Now” 23 Things, here is a wonderful podcast series that you can go ahead and take advantage of now. Subscribe to the K12 Online Conference and GRAB learning on the go that will NOT disappoint you. Yes, it will be last year’s content, but the content is still wonderful. I think this picture from a set in lynetter’s photostream says it all. This is true especially for podcasts, no matter when, where, or even how we consume them.

Where are the K12 Online feeds? Here

Image Attributions:

“Online Things Can Live Forever.” 1 February 2007. lynetter’s photostream (set “interesting Snippets”). July 29, 2008. <http://farm1.static.flickr.com/166/376632696_3f4d7a3755.jpg?v=0>

K12 Onlince Conference Banner 2008
http://k12online.ning.com/

K12 Online Conference 2007 Image
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2247/1520649674_db1606ee7d_o.jpg

Welcome Marc!

Coming to Rock Hill (my official hometown) Marc Prensky is giving a keynote at a local conference for this school district. My husband is part of the planning committee, and yesterday he informed me that the coordinator of the conference (which I am not officially attending or participating in) said I was welcome to come hear Prensky. I guess this coordinator knows how excited I would be–meaning, I suppose, he recognizes that I’m a forward thinker too, and clamor after forward thinkers, either virtually through blogs, ustreams, and other networking or in person, like conferences. Whatever the reason, I am so excited to know I can attend for at least Prensky’s part of this conference. I won’t be able to ustream so don’t ask. The school district does not allow outside computers connectivity (wonder how they will deal with Prensky’s?) I’m still very excited. Will it look bad if I steal a front row seat for a conference that I am neither a paying or contributing member of? The uber-geek in me will be in full swing for sure. The ultra nerd in me also wants to talk to him AND get maybe I’ll even ask for an autograph. Confession–I’m an edtech groupie!

Welcome Ewan!

Ewan McIntosh will be keynoting the first day of the Greenville County School District’s Upstate Technology Conference. This one is absolutely FREE! I have a preso there at 8:00 am, and then at 9:15, Ewan does his keynote! I am so excited! Ewan was very instrumental last summer in making sure many virtual participants could participate in back-channels at NECC and the Building Learning Communities conferences. It made me realize there is a whole different way to enjoy conferences and get professional development, right from the conference I am at AND from my own living room if I am not present. I just emailed the UTC coordinators to inquire about Ustream possibilitis, and I will let you know what they say.

On a sad note, I will not get to enjoy David Jakes as keynote speaker for day 2 of the UTC. Isn’t it cool though that he will also be in SC? And he does indeed have a history in SC as part of the CSRA and the Department of Wildlife, though I’ve heard him talk about that time in his life, and though he is complimentary of his job, well, I’ll just say he doesn’t seem to like SC as a home (but of course that is my take after some “virtual” conversations.) Maybe next week when he is here, someone can get an official and 100% accurate opinion from him directly. Thursday I’ll be in Columbia, SC working with a group from across our entire state to hash out concerns relevant to school library media specialists. Perhaps more details to come later. Then Friday, we fly out to San Antonio for NECC.

Yes this is going to be a VERY exciting week coming up!

Attribution:

Don’t Preach to the Choir

My attendees seemed generally complimentary, and even one of the conference directors greeted me warmly by name when I arrived. But today I was a wee bit disappointed. Our SC State Department of Education library liaison (Martha Alewine) encourages us to get out and speak at different conferences besides our own. She suggests if we are to gain respect in the field, we must stop “preaching to the choir” (presenting to ourselves at our own conference) and branch out and spread our message about information literacy, ICT, and standards-based collaboratively taught engaged learning by presenting at other conferences. What better way to market what you as the teacher librarian have to offer the school and its curriculum? We must help the teacher population see that we can address standards and impact student achievement.

Spread our Message, Support our Colleagues

I generally try to present at our state edtech conference (SCEdTech), the middle school conference (if I remember to do the proposal), and this one. There are not very many “techy” sessions at this conference, as my friend Dennis Richards has noted before, and from his post here, this goes all the way up to the national level. I really like SCASA’s SLI, as I strongly feel administrators are the ones who MOST misunderstand what should be happening in a library, particularly a 21st Century Library. They are also in a position to “from the top down” help us become more of a collaborating and contributing partner for student learning. In years past, I’ve had wonderful reception and positive feedback from my sessions. My session today was later than I’d ever had before, 2PM. I never expected such a low turnout. It was quite frankly a little disheartening.

I Solemnly Promise…

I promise to all future presenters who draw an afternoon or late presentation I will strive to attend if I’m at the conference. Been there, done that. I know what if feels like now to present to an empty room. I’d have liked to have been out on the beach today too. I especially thank the ones who came.

Attribution:

That video though is not why I write tonight. My head is spinning with ideas for grants. I have a long track record of getting grants funded, but most of them are small time. I have assisted in some larger grants that were $20K, and can proudly attest that one grant was funded three times in a row! W00T!

Grant writing has not always come easy to me. I have however, figured out some tricks to getting them funded.

1. Make sure the funding source knows just exactly how needy your kids are. Using your words to paint a bleak picture of pathetic poor students who are suffering without. Most grants require a needs statement, and this is your opportunity to whip out the metaphorical violin and draw the bow across the heartstrings with that sad and moving tale of just how much your students suffer because there is no funding to do creative and interesting projects.
2. Somewhere in the mix you will be asked to spell out goals, objectives, and maybe (more than likely) an evaluation of your project proposal. While the goal can be written with a relatively global flare–”My students will be better students after participating in this project.”–make sure you specifically state objectives in measurable terms–>Students will increase their scores on MAP testing math assessments by 20 points after the completion of the project. Give specifics here on how you will measure them . If called for, tell how you will evaluate–>When MAP scores are available after the April Assessments, scores in math will be compared to the January assessment.
3. Finally, the third most important part of the grant is the project description. Here is where you get to say what your kids will be able to do if you can implement this project. Describe it in terms of what students will do, and keep it grounded on students. Make sure it is creative, innovative, and engaging. Notice I did not say wow them with technology. Too often people writing grants think if it is liberally sprinkled with technology, it’s bound to get funded. After all, technology grants are typically creative, innovative, and engaging, right? Wrong. Yes they have the potential. But don’t forget to focus on the student learning because of those factors, and not just those factors.

Other tips? I would certainly focus on student engagement. And actually, the last seven or eight grants that I’ve had funded, I purposefully used the language of engagement in my project descriptions as I find those words tend to help the reader focus on the student learning, and not the budget that will follow. This link is a page I created for my old school’s website to inform parents about a school and district focus, and I personally referred to it frequently in trying to locate words I knew would flavor my grant with compelling evidence that it was a proposal focused on student learning. Of particular care I took to write my project description using as many relevant design qualities, and I must say it seemed to pay off. No these weren’t necessarily jargon words, but rather a way to stress that what I was proposing was good for the bottom line, student learning. I used them where relevant. No I did not use everything there 100%, but where it fit, yes, I used it. (I guess I’d better copy/paste and recreate that page since I’ve just confessed I use it frequently. I’m no longer there to maintain it, and in reality it could disappear any day…okay, it is done.)

Why am I writing this?

Well, just recently my principal has been sending out from the district grant opportunity after grant opportunity. I have let so many slip by. But suddenly today, I felt the grant bug bite. I actually whipped up 2 before I left school today. And my mind is churning away on another one, though it will need to be a group effort. Will they get funded? I don’t know. They are due in 12 days, so I have time to sit on them, let them get cold, and then reread, looking for typos I’m notorious for, and also to see if I can add to, rephrase, or improve in any other way. I’ll also get some others to read as well.

Where do the ideas come from?

I read journals, blogs, and partake of many professional development opportunities online (virtual PD) and in real life–attending conferences. One today came from a session I heard about (but did not attend) at SC EdTech and SCASL presented by MaryAnn Sansonetti! Even though I did not attend her session, I did pick her brain about it, and get her handouts as well as review her material made available online. W00T!! A virtual goldmine–thanks MaryAnn. Ipodabilities sounds like a fabulous grant. The second idea came straight from Twitter of all places, thanks to Karl Fisch. He tweeted about attending a neighboring school’s Techstravaganza. I dm-ed him, and asked for a few details. What he emailed me sent me into a tailspin, and I had to write it up! I even suggested it to my principal BEFORE writing the grant proposal, saying we should do this. A grant with a little funding will just make it a little easier! Advice to take away–when you attend conferences, don’t leave disheartened saying we’ll never be able to do that because we don’t have___. GO back and begin that grant. You never know when the right one will drop in your lap that it will fit into.

I hope they get funded, but even if they don’t, I can feel good about the effort. And confession–> I’ve had many more rejected than funded. I just don’t like to share that. But the ones that have been funded have motivated me far more than the rejections have deflated me. Sigh.

Attribution:

Columbia was warm and sunny the whole conference (March 12-14, 2008) and I rekindled old friendships and made some new ones.

Fondest memories:

Sitting with Susan Henley and Camillia Harris (from Charleston School District) in Larry Johnson’s pre-conference session was so much fun–We talked almost through the whole presentation! But I had my laptop so we were pulling up the links to things he was talking about, so it was somewhat related. He never seemed to get annoyed with us, but I do think we were a tad distracting. Apologies Larry!

Eating dinner @ California Dreaming with Heather Loy and Mary (from Busbee Elementary). Although the three of us come from different school levels–Heather is from a high school, Mary from an elementary school, and I am from middle–each of us seem to face a lot of similar issues in our libraries.

Sitting through Joyce Valenza’s sessions were probably the highlight of the conference. She is leading with such an awesome example of what a true 21st century teacher librarian should look like, and I have set her as my own personal role model of what I want to be. I just want to thank Joyce for raising that bar SO high. One of my friends made fun of me for sitting on the front rows of the sessions Joyce gave. I just asked isn’t that what all kiss-ups do? But I truly wanted some of her knowledge & wisdom to touch me, if not physically, than spiritually from her aura. I don’t know why, but I felt the need to be right there. I think Joyce may have been surprised at the lack of knowledge on 2.0 tools, and she even fretted to some of us after her first session that perhaps she needs to slow down or chunk some of the content for easier digestion. I said no, please keep the bar raised high so our state librarians will know what they need to work towards. Note to Joyce: While there may have been fear in some eyes as you presented, there was a spark that we need to fan into a fire on utilizing today’s tools to engage learners. Many came to my session just thelp them understand better, and I thank you for that.

The SCASL Bag Fashion Show was a hoot-and yes, I participated. I hope to get more of the pictures posted and Ida Thompson’s rather funny diatribe that was read as we walked the fashion runway!

Supper at Damon’s with Julia Davis, MaryAnn Sansonetti, and Chris Craft was a delightful way to end the day, and we have some plans underway–watch for them to be revealed soon. Collective wisdom is awesome.

After two full days of “sit and get” style presentations, I was worried about my own presentation on RSS Feeds. I returned to my room Thursday evening set on revamping my preso, removing the little text that I already had in it, and retooling it to be less like the “sit and get” sessions I had been in the two previous days. I tried hard to come up with interactivity, but never could formulate a plan that I thought would work. So I decided to turn to my network. I asked for shout outs at the beginning of my session, asking Twitter to greet my group and tell how they use RSS. I had 24 tweets to share, and I used them to start and finish my session. I was dumbfounded to realize that Joyce Valenza herself and Kathy Shrock, both of whom have been at SCASL before, and both in my reader’s “expert” folder, tweeted to my group. (Joyce had already returned to PA, but sent warm wishes and thanks for the fun she’d had in SC the day before.) I also got a skype chat from Tim Van Heule while presenting, which was rather funny b/c he did not know I was in the middle of my preso. Really cute and funny, and it went something like this:

Tim Van Heule
Sessions already? 8:13 AM

Cathy Nelson
ready 8:13 AM
hi Tim Van Heule 8:13 AM

Tim Van Heule
What’s going on, Cathy Nelson? 8:13 AM

Cathy Nelson
in the middle of a presentation 8:14 AM

Tim Van Heule
Ah… Fun… leaving you to it. 8:14 AM

Cathy Nelson
bye 8:14 AM

My audience got a real kick out of the fact that I briefly chatted (using Skype chat as a text) with Tim. Since I had Skype open there was no disregarding it, so I just pulled it in as part of my preso! I had arranged to get Dennis Richards of Massachusetts to skype in, so instead of waiting for him to call (which is why i had Skype open) I just went ahead and called him. He was at the ASCD Conference in New Orleans. Using wireless on a conference connection is risky business indeed, too, but I forged ahead. It was a stop and go call, but Dennis did a fabulous job telling all how we knew each other from networking with the tools. He introduced himself as a school superintendent in his area, catching many LMS’s there off guard to know that a supt was using the tools as well. He shared that he had only been using RSS since last summer, but now thinks a whole new way about learning, particularly personal learning, now that he uses RSS. I didn’t drag out the conversation long since it was choppy, but do feel I left a strong impression about how RSS can help you develop a PLN (professional learning network) to grow and learn. In the mix I had the RSS in Plain English video as well as a video interview of Will Richardson where he spoke to the fact that educators must first learn the tools themselves before tryng to use them in school with kids. I also showed a short segment of an archived Ustream that Dennis Richards had on his blog where Sheryl Nussbaum Beach is talking about how a network can supplement your learning, and it was form the day before at her keynote at the NCAET Conference no less, going on simultaneously with SCASL–just about 175 miles up the road. Read about her keynote, and even view it here. I hope today I did teach how RSS can play a lead role in professional development, and I think I embodied the example of taking advantage of generous people in my network who helped me out. I thought this was one of the best presentations I have ever done. Of course, I’m biased too.

My audience seemed receptive to my message and now I have a TON of homework to do. I promised all the links I used would appear in the presentation link of this blog, and so I must set out to create that. I also have a 3-hour workshop to prepare for Monday. Am feeling very swamped!!

This opened an interesting conversation anyway, both at school and with my network.  You see the same teacher shared with me that her students could manipulate a streaming video in her class with their little bluetooth phones (which according to our school policy, must be OFF during the school day.)   The video would stop and start for no apparent reason. She tested her suspicions with her own phone after class and discovered the kids’ phones were indeed causing interference (though she wasn’t sure if it was intentional or not.).  So she remembered me showing that you could use the bluetooth on the computer to detect active bluetooth devices in the room, and has since each day showed her students that she can “see” their phones which are supposed to be off.  Her students have also tested her with the ringtone that is supposed to be silent for adults, and they know she can hear it. So she has a power I do not have–young ears that can hear. But I enabled her to be able to see and count the number of devices interacting or interferring with learning, though I’m sure this teacher could probably find a way to channel this ito something positive.  It was an enlightening experience today even still.

Don’t laugh at my scores from the ringtone test. Try it. You may be surprised.

Attribution:

Image: ‘Blackberry‘
www.flickr.com/photos/13604571@N02/2094946972
Image: ‘Mi abituo al silenzio‘
www.flickr.com/photos/58971759@N00/2110611859

So I suggested to Emilie, my primary contact, that the workshop needed to have a panel, and that panel needed to have a variety of representation, including perhaps teachers, parents, guidance counselors, perhaps administrators, school resource officer, any one that may have dealt with issues related to teens and social networking. Emilie put together a fantastic expert panel that went way beyond even what I was suggesting. The panel included me and:

• Kat Hagood, a computer forensic expert
• Kristin Millonzi, an attorney
• Sgt. Trish Taylor, Charleston County Police Department expert on online safety
• Lisa Poston, college admissions advisor (Citadel, I believe)
• Dr. Chris Starr, parent & Computer Science Professor, College of Charleston
• Susan Shrankle, therapist, social worker, author of What in the World are Your Kids Doing Online.
• and Four OUTSTANDING senior students who came from a variety of backgrounds, including average teen, academic scholar, female athlete, and student government representative type.

We began the evening with a dinner that was catered by the Wando High School culinary arts students. What an awesome way to include other organizations in a program! Even though these kids and their instructors were not directly involved in the program, they planned and executed a meal that I swear was restaurant quality, and they fed us in their “bistro,” a small dining room that allowed the panelists to chat and get to know each other before the event. That was a wise move as it put us at ease on stage, and allowed us to see what expertise we were bringing to the panel, and also let us know who may be better qualified to answer posed questions. A wise move indeed.

I am not a good counter for activities, but there was an auditorium FULL of interested community members and parents. I spoke for roughly 35 minutes, and then it was turned over to the panel. Many parents and community members came and asked a lot of great questions that were easily answered by the panel experts. At just before 9:00, Emilie had to tell the lines of parents at the microphones we would only be able to entertain three more questions. But she promised the crowd that plans were underway to have another similar event in the fall. Parents were very pleased with the activity, and students were also pleased to have a voice in the discussion, both from the audience and the panel.

The absolute BEST part of the night had to be the students on the panel. They were the true “experts” in the mix, and they were absolutely amazing. The panel Emilie put together was made up of authorities on the topic that represented groups impacted by social networking. I grabbed some great ideas for the next time I conduct this workshop.

My hope in writing this post tonight (I started it late last night, and am finishing tonight) is that other educators (be it LMS’s, teachers, administrators, or whatever organization works with kids and is responsible for learning) will be able to read about last night’s parent workshop, and create their very own very successful workshop. See her flier too–it’s really cool. myspaceflyer2.pdf

1) More and more districts are looking into wireless as a more feasible means of providing access in their building(s) and district offices, and removing the costs associated with wiring. It is becoming the norm for more and more wireless places, and this is no different for schools. A school or district can go wireless with secure networks, and all one has to know is the password to gain access. The IT hardware folks can lock down a wireless network and make it secure in a relatively easy manner. Even the routers and such you buy at Best Buy and other electronics stores can easily be secured. I predict that in probably 7, but more likely 5 years, there will be more wireless workstations than not. You almost cannot buy a laptop anymore that does not come equipped with wireless capability, and many laptops are also coming equipped with an internal webcam, which brings me to my 2nd thought.

2) This initial thread also asked about the use of webcams in schools. Brian Crosby (author of the blog Learning is Messy and recipient of NUMEROUS awards) out of a school district in Nevada was able to completely and efficiently serve the needs of a former student diagnosed with Leukemia who b/c of her illness had to stay at home. Brian arranged for the student to have a webcam and for his classroom to have a webcam, and through a program called skype, involved this little girl in the everyday activities that took place in his class. This gained him national attention and notoriety, and caused many educators to rethink what possibilities a webcam can bring into a school. Most shockingly, this was not recently, but I want to say 2 years ago. I personally use a webcam and skype to talk to other school librarians around the nation, and would like to explore bring guest speakers into my library program in an effort to show that our world is truly global today, and students can gain insight and perspective from folks they might never have had the opportunity to see, hear and interact with before. Carolyn Foote of Austin, Texas recently had an article in School Library Journal about hosting an author at her school using Skype and a webcam, and I have participated frequently in conferences from around the world I might never have had the opportunity to participate in, all b/c a friend (Lisa Parisi) who had a webcam found a way to include me in the session (using Skype and Ustream as the vehicle to transport me there.) These 21st century tools are here, and we must embrace them. I promise our students have.

3rd) and last, more and more students are going to be bringing their laptops into our schools. There is no denying it, and with the difficulty (especially in SC) with budgeting for Technology, why not embrace this concept and allow the students who have the capability to provide their own means to connect at school? With them bringing their own, and students without access using the schools resources, we would definitely come closer to a 1:1 program for providing computer access, and maybe join our counterparts from around the world in global projects and 21st century learning.

Yes, it does open up a can of worms, and yes, the higher ups will have to develop guidelines and policies. There are already schools in our state that allow students to bring their own laptops to school, and it is ludicrous to deny them when they have the means. Let’s not bemoan this, but rather celebrate it. We as school librarians can be a part of the solution instead of the problem by assisting our building level admin with policies and procedures to accommodate this growing trend. It is not going away.

I wish I had included one more thought. As we prepare students for college, it is
practically inconceivable that anyone would send their child to study at a post high school institution with out a computer of some kind. I read somewhere earlier this year that nearly 87% of entering college freshman bring either a personal desktop or laptop computer with them, and identify it as a critical tool for their success. In my opinion, it is inevitable that this will trickle down to our k12 schools. It is a futile battle to try and keep them out. We cannot hold back the flood of 21st Century Learning.

Image: ‘Scale‘
www.flickr.com/photos/81851211@N00/393169578

Image: ‘SilvestrFlickrn‘
www.flickr.com/photos/75724432@N00/339969095

Can anyone tell I had a LOT of staff development in recent years on this?? As a staff we were encouraged to have our students assess their own level of engagement to use on our own as a way to assess our “work.” We literally took time at the end of a class to get feedback (mostly anonymous) from our students. A popular one I used was small stickies and a chart with the Levels–and as kids left they put their sticky on their level. Students were encouraged to make other comments on the sticky, and encouraged to put their name on it too, which was strictly optional. There was no punishment, as I explained all the time I’m trying to fine tune a lesson, and their feedback is important to me.

I haven’t used this at all this year–shame on me–but I think I will get it back out. This was a great way to let me know I was creating lessons and activities that either worked or didn’t work.

Descriptions of Each of the 5 Levels of Engagement

There are five levels of engagement that students might go in and out of during a lesson. The more compelling the lesson is and the work associated with it the higher the likelihood that students will stay engaged. There are other reasons why students will stick with a lesson and work assigned or abandon it. Dr. Schlechty has defined all five levels of engagement

Engagement – High attention and high commitment —Authentic, willing and purposeful attention and true commitment to the demands of quality work. Student engagement should be the central concern of all teachers so that student achievement will increase. The core business of teaching is to create challenging, engaging, and satisfying work for every student, every day; therefore, staff engagement is seen as attention and commitment to designing such work. Students who are engaged learn at high levels, retain what they learn, and can transfer what they learn to new contexts.

Strategic Compliance – High attention but low commitment. There is learning occurring but the reason for the work is not the reason the students do the work. When strategically compliant, the students substitute their own goals – such as grades, class rank, college acceptance, parental approval – for the goals of the work. Students who are strategically compliant learn at high levels but have only a superficial grasp of what they have learned, so they do not retain what they learn for very long and usually cannot transfer what they learn from one context to another.

Ritual Compliance – Low attention and low commitment. The work has very little meaning to students, but they will do just enough to get by. The ritually compliant students do the minimum amount of work in order to avoid confrontation and negative consequences. There are no substitute goals for them. Students who are ritually compliant learn only at low levels and do not retain what they learn, so seldom can these students transfer what they learn from one context to another.

Retreatism – No attention and no commitment. The students who are retreating are disengaged from current classroom activities and goals. They may feel unable to do what is being asked, may be thinking about other things, and/or may be emotionally withdrawn from the action of the classroom. Students who are in retreat do not participate as they see no relevance to the work and, therefore, learn little or nothing from the task or activity assigned.

Rebellion – Diverted attention. Negative learning occurs as rebellious students abandon the learning we offer them and replace it with their own agenda. These students learn little or nothing from the task or activity assigned. They may even bring others along in their diversion as they encourage others to rebel or they provide too much of a distraction.

Levels of Engagement

Students who are engaged:

• Learn at high levels and have a profound grasp of what they learn
• Retain what they learn
• Transfer what they learn to new contexts

Students who are strategically compliant:

• Learn at high levels but have a superficial grasp of what they learn
• Do not retain what they learn
• Usually cannot transfer what they learn from one context to another
• Substitute their own goals for learning (getting good grades, college acceptance, etc)

Students who are ritually compliant:

• Learn only at low levels and have a superficial grasp of what they learn
• Do not retain what they learn
• Seldom can transfer what they learn from one context to another
• Learn because they want to avoid negative consequences

Students who are in retreatism:

• Do not participate and therefore learn little or nothing from the task or activity assigned
• Find no relevance in the assigned activity or task.

Students who are in rebellion:

• Find no relevance in the assigned activity or task.
• Sometimes learn a great deal from what they elect to do (though rarely that which was expected)
• Develop poor work habits and sometimes develop negative attitudes toward intellectual tasks and formal education
• Often disrupt others from learning.

Attribution:

Image: ‘Bacha3‘
www.flickr.com/photos/51035751904@N01/4191055

Image: ‘untitled‘
www.flickr.com/photos/86603835@N00/1435154217

Image: ‘Ratinder‘
www.flickr.com/photos/30083883@N00/404731585

The key to school success is to be found in identifying or creating engaging schoolwork for students.
- Phillip C. Schlechty

The Working on the Work (WOW) framework is an outline for improving student performance by improving the quality of schoolwork.
- Phillip C. Schelecty

These are some quotes I have used before when talking to teachers about student work. I am once again trying to make teachers understand that having a class sit in rows and face the front for a 90 minute block is just not conducive to learning for all our students. My curriculum coordinator and I are trying ti find engaging lessons that we can document for future staff developments, and here is an interview we conducted Friday. We asked these students 3 questions:

• Describe the assignment your class is working on.
• How is it related to your class subject matter (in this case 7th grade Social Studies)?
• How would you rate this assignment on a scale of 1 -10? Why?

I am surprised at how well the students in this group answered. They spoke the TRUTH! The assignment was to create a VoiceThread about a Revolution. The teacher for this class had collaborated with me in the library to plan this project, and even completed most of it in the library. He is pleased as punch about the results, as I am too. But I want to focus on what an engaging lesson looks like. Here are the design qualities of an engaging assignment:

• Content and Substance: Educators, in collaboration with the community, identify the essential learnings and skills that students must master.
• Organization of Knowledge: Content is organized so that access to the material is clear and relatively easy for all students.
• Product Focus: Engaging work almost always focuses on a product or performance of value to students.
• Clear and Compelling Product Standards: The Standards for assessing the products or the performances are clear and important to students.
• Protection from Adverse Consequences for Initial Failures: Students receive feedback on their work and have opportunities to reach the standard throughout the process.
• Affirmation of Performance: Student products are observed by persons other than the teacher.
• Affiliation: The design of the work requires cooperative action among students and adults.
• Novelty and Variety: The work is varied in methods and format so that students use a variety of skills, media, and modes of analysis.
• Choice: Students are provided with choice in the ways of doing the work and the methods of presentation.
• Authenticity: The work has significance and is related to consequences in the present lives of students.

In no way do I think the assignment we collaborated on exhibited all these characteristics, but a good many of them were visible, even to the students who so innocently expressed as much in the video clip I shared. Comments (not all from the tape) that reaffirm to me that the kids felt it was an engaging lesson:

“We got to choose our own topic.”

“We didn’t just use a book to learn about Revolutions.”

“We made…a powerpoint with pictures to tell about a Revolution.”

“Oh I need to redo that b/c I sound dumb!”

“We learned that a revolution is not just about conflict, but about change.”

“My VoiceThread showed how the skateboard changed over time.”

For there to be learning, a lesson has to be engaging. I am happy to say I think this one accomplished its mission.

We asked some students Friday; trying to insert video here:

Download Video: Posted by cnelson at TeacherTube.com.