First of all, let me tell you, I am blessed with a dynamic group of learners this semester! 46 students in two sections of Education Media and Technology let me share my passion and enthusiasm for 21st Century learning on a weekly basis. They humor me with their patience as I explain new technology tools like a child on Christmas morning. I know, at times, my love for this stuff explodes with a gusto that can make some people take a step back and I have reflected on that a number of times, telling myself that “my mission is not everyone else’s mission”, yet after a comment by friend and colleague, Charlie Yeager, about my ability to “sell it” when it comes to the use of technology in the classroom, I sometimes think that my enthusiasm is exactly what people need. So, I guess as I run through this course for the first time, I am not going to check my enthusiasm at the door–I’ve been at this game long enough to understand that enthusiasm for a subject, a passion for something is really what life is all about–and in teaching, if you don’t have it, your students won’t ever get it!

These same students–impress me with their ability to take new things and make them their own. Now, mind you there are a few students that are still anxiously skeptical and not quite buying in to it all, but those that are–are in hook, line and sinker. More than anything else, I feel like I am accomplishing something if a student takes a concept or tool I have introduced and uses it his/her own way, for her/his own purpose. Tools will come and go, activities can be designed and redesigned, but truly taking something and incorporating it into your personal learning experience is (I believe) one of the surest ways of becoming a life-long learning in this digital age. Want to see for yourself? Their blog roll, delicious names and twitter accounts are beginning to take shape–some really good networks are being formed!

Another factor that brings a new perspective to my learning this semester is that I am fortunate enough to have two of my colleagues enrolled for graduate credit in this pre-service course. They are veteran teachers who are Upper Peninsula Writing Project TC’s as well as members of our NHS MI-Champions project. Having their “real-world” voices in our class is a gift. I think that it is a good model for the soon-to-be teachers as they contemplate their own efforts to become life-long learners. Helen and Vickie are two of Negaunee’s finest teachers and I am flattered that they have elected to be part of my learning network! (Be sure to follow the links to their wikis that they have developed, just click their names!) Their desire to take their teaching and personal learning into the digital age is refreshing. They are always thinking, asking questions and most of all doing things to improve the learning experiences of their students.

So the uber-geek enthusiasm I bring to a classroom often projects me forward at speeds, I fail to recognize, are sometimes at a pace that may be a bit difficult for those new to this digital world. I’d like to provide the excuse that if they could jump inside my head and see all of the things I have yet to show them, they too, would clamber for me to move quickly. However, I also understand that I have been traveling this super-highway for a few years and I have to remember that the excitement and passion I have developed was cultivated along the way, not cast upon me in one workshop, at one conference or even during one course. I am going to implement a bit of the “less is more” philosophy when it comes to the actual introduction of “tools”, but will continue to feed their brains and lure them in with sights, sounds, articles, and opinions that illustrate the bigger picture of learning today. If they can walk away from my course with some tools that take them into a world of people, a network of educators, devoted to making education relevant to the needs of children then I feel the future of our schools will be a better place.

Sometimes you find yourself at a place in the universe where everything is aligned just perfectly.  You stumble upon information you didn’t realized existed.  Opportunities present themselves at just the perfect moment.  A speaker, a book, a conversation, a conference, a class–all center around central topics and a theme is born.  That was my life in the month of September.

The two books I read, Toy Box Leadership and Inside Steve’s Brain , both focused on central themes of design, human connections and user experience.  Before this class started, I read Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind and was also able to attend his speaking engagement on  campus.  One of his main themes was design and ingenuity.  He also stressed human connections, the ability to see the big picture and business’ ability to do something more for their customer.  So I found myself reading three amazing books within a short time period, seeing and meeting the author in person and participating in class discussions about the future of education and just what it takes to be an efficient and effective leader.  All of this weaved together to practically put my brain on overload.  I was able to see things differently and make connections among the text that reinforced my beliefs.  Then I got an opportunity to learn at one of the leading companies of the 21st century–Google.  All of this within weeks of reading these books, studying the history of great companies and exploring leadership possibilities.  Those weeks–were amazing and I felt a surge of knowledge and understanding within the core of my brain.

Inside Steve’s Brain, by Leander Kahney, is a biography of a great visionary.  Steve Jobs, Apple Corporation’s CEO,  has had (and continues to have) the innate ability to predict the future–especially when it comes to the types of technology the average person will buy, use and enjoy.  Kahney also wrote The Cult of Mac, which happens to be one of my favorite books.  In full disclosure, I am a Mac addict and find the whole company intriguing.  Even before I read this book, I was constantly amazed at how Mac products captivate a cult-like following.  It is even more apparent and understandable after reading this book.  Steve Jobs is a leader.  His strategies are, at times, unorthodox, but the bottom line is he gets results.

In the book Toy Box Leadership , Ron Hunter and Michael E. Waddell, Jr. write of not gluing your LEGOS together, that anticipating the future and that change it sure to occur.  They speak of pulling with courage and vision that allows your company to grow.  “Until a communicator with a passionate vision challenges us to do something great together, many times we struggle to find a meaningful purpose.” (Hunter, Waddell, Jr., 2008) They talk about aspirations, how to encourage people around you to reach out further, farther than they have before.  Good leaders tell their staff what they can achieve, then they recognize their accomplishments at steps along the way.  Steve Jobs does this at Apple.  He has courage and is a risk taker.  He has a vision that allows him to lead a company that develops and designs things we didn’t even know we needed and now seemingly can’t live without.

Jobs has been called the Walt Disney of this era.  He took a small company called Pixar and made it one of the most profitable movie studios in the world.  He is able to pull the best, most creative and talented people together to make magic.  He has an innate ability to find the very best person for the job.  He is a task master who uses artful delegation.  Hunter and Waddell would use the analogy of Little Green Army men and say that the success is in the setup.  The idea of a sandbox and development of strategy, understanding who goes where, how things get done, who does it and the constant reassessment of the plan in relation to progress are strategies from Toy Box that Steve has inside his brain for sure.  Stories of harsh treatment of people and employee firing in elevators are told like urban legends.  However few have actually been found to have any validity.  Steve Jobs understands that in order for a business to be successful, you need to have the right people doing the right job–and most of all they have to do it! Kahney writes of Jobs ability to “face hard decisions head on”.  Jobs has the ability to say no when needed and understands that his job is to focus on what he is good at–and delegate the rest. When he was faced with rebuilding Apple in the late 90’s, he had to strip the company down to just a few products.  Their line, at the time, included printers, monitors and peripheral equipment.  He wanted to be really good at developing just a small amount of things.  Spreading the company too thin had proved to be unhealthy for Apple.

Hunter and Waddell use Weebles as a symbol for persistence.  This is definitely a characteristic of Steve Jobs.  Apple was almost dead.  Steve Jobs successfully administered CPR and now it is one of the most successful companies of the 21st century.  Steve Jobs also surrounds himself with experienced mentors.  He doesn’t seek it out in terms of direct advice, but studies great visionaries. He has almost a “mystical reverence” for innovative people.  He speaks of meeting with Dr. Edwin Land, the founder of Polaroid.  Their meeting was profound.  Dr. Land said that he always new the Polaroid camera existed, that he could see it as if it were real and sitting right in front of him and that it was his job to make it become reality.  He could see it before it was there.  Steve Jobs related to this in that he felt the same way about the Macintosh.  “It was as if it always existed.” Both Jobs and Land, Kahney writes, had the ability to not invent products, but discover them.

Steve Jobs is without a doubt one of the mostinnovative leaders of the modern age.  His focus is always on the user experience and his stated goal from the beginning was to “create easy-to-use technology for the widest possible audience.  Elitism, perfectionism, passion, despotism, inventive-spirit, and total control have helped Steve Jobs in the phoenix-like rebirth of Apple.  This glimpse inside the company provides a good balance between the factual and the fictitious stories of legend.  It was the perfect book to read after Toy Box Leadership as I believe that the spirit of play is what sparked the desire to create, develop and invent within Steve Jobs.

Bill Bass from St. Louis blogged about his experience and I concur that the best part was the expansion of my network.  Sometimes being in a rural area feels like you are on some lone planet in the universe.  I’m immersed in reading about new challenges and ideas in education while exploring all of the latest and greatest on the web.  Yet when I walk through the halls of my school, my brain (and my heart) hurts when I see some of the current classroom practices that are ancient, rote and routine. My GTA experience was like entering a country where everyone finally spoke the same language.  There was no explaination of theory needed, no precursor to any story, when you discussed engaging ideas for classroom learning.  You were surrounded by people who had different experiences, new ideas, varying personalities, yet all shared the same vision.  That is the power of networking.  Something you can’t explain in an hour of PD or 15 mintues of sharing at a staff meeting.  Why Twitter?  Someone may ask.  It is difficult to explain the power of blogging, wikispaces, twitter, Google collaboration, skype, ning, del.icio.us, or even browser extenstions (Thanks, Kern Kelly!) and all the other collaborative/networking features of the web until you have lived in that world.  What seems so crystal clear to many of us, is so obscure and unimaginable to those that struggle to download attachments to their desktops.  It is becoming more difficult to “Mind the Gap” as my UPWP colleague, Jan Sabin would say.  To remember where people are at and be cognizant of the gap that exists between the one with knowledge and the one that is learning the concepts for the first time.  My PLN is becoming increasingly important to my professional and personal growth.  It, of course, extends well beyond the web and includes many people and places in my local community, yet I would like to find ways to bridge the environment I live and work in to the one I enter through my 12″ PowerBook.  But this past week…due to GTA Chicago…that PowerBook world has exploded…and it is a wonderful thing!

I had a brainstorm.

A wiki.

So with my daughter snuggled next to me on the couch,  I created a wiki: The VanAbel Kid’s LOVE TO LEARN! I uploaded pictures, images, linked to their elementary school, changed the “look and feel” of the wiki and made each of them their own page.  She was mesmerized.  Let me try! So I slid the laptop over to her.  She typed her own information in and included a comment about a future career in art.  We linked to her favorite pages and her blog and gmail account.  I know some of my friends would just chuckle and roll their eyes, but seriously…she is like a sponge and just loves to do this stuff!

It was getting late, so to wrap it all up we went over to Youtube and found a few videos…VanGogh, Picasso and a PBS video on the creation of the Solar System.  Each were just 2-3 minutes in length, but we watched the VanGogh and Picasso ones twice…her comments were priceless…it was a mother moment I’m not likely to forget.  That one is in the hallway at school. (Starry Night)  She had comments for many others.  I saw that one in Little Einsteins!  Look at the swirly, silvery clouds!  That one is silly!  Picasso is kind of different, Mom!  All from a very short glimpse of art.  Sure…we could have done the same thing with a book.  And I probably will get her one…(my home does not LACK books as they are stashed in every corner, bin and basket!), but the engagement and attention grabbing that initially caught her attention, was the musical video of the artwork…the presentation!

We put the computer away and got into our jammies.  We snuggled and read a few chapters of The Talented Clementine” by Sara Pennypacker.  A delightfully funny read.  I tucked her in and sang her her lullaby as she snuggled with Peanut, her blue elephant.

Even though I had pulled a total of 8 worksheets from backpacks afterschool, I am becoming more comfortable with the fact that the learning environment in our home is going to fill in the gaps missing in their formal education.

I am one lucky lady.

Seriously…I’m amazed.  I knew my application was pretty good…but the odds are so great…that I really thought it was a total long shot.

Here’s a link to the video…or did I already post that when I applied?  Either way…here it is again.

A Mom\’s Eye View

WOW–now hopefully my administration thinks it is a big deal too and will give me PD days…otherwise…I will just have to take personal ones…

It is about a 9 hour drive…luckily my brother lives in Chicago…OMG!

Incredible.  Just incredible.

http://ed596digitalstorytelling.wikispaces.com/

http://ed596digitalstorytelling.wikispaces.com/

We had to borrow the mobile MacBook lab from our elementary school to utilize the audio DVD’s the state provided for the accommodated test.  As the students finished portions of their test, they were, of course, curious about the new machines.  The internet was disabled (of course, FEAR of finding answers) and so after some fiddling a few boys started playing around with GarageBand.  WOW.  All I can say is that in a little over two hours all of the kids in the room were hooked.  They were composing, sharing, talking, rearranging and ALL ON THEIR OWN…figuring out a fairly complex program.  I couldn’t help but feel it was the universe telling me…see…not all is lost…the state does not control you, your teaching or the learning that takes place.  By the end of day two, at the lunch break…I had to tell the kids to leave…TEENAGE BOYS…refusing to go to lunch because they were too deeply engaged in learning.  HA!

The unfortunate part is that the machines have to be returned to the elementary school next week.  We have a few machines in the building that will run GarageBand and other iLife 08 programs, but the access is limited.  We copied all of their compositions to a flash drive and I told them in the very least they could use my PowerBook or my iMac to play around some more.

The music they created was beautiful.  Each had a personal style and signature.  They were encouraging to each other, running around the room listening, commenting, and showing each other different things they learned about the program.  It was a real life picture of the type of engagement I have been dreaming about…It was amazing to see students who struggle with reading, writing and math, figure out and problem solve a program to create a work of art.

Our superintendent has all but promised mobile carts for the HS and MS next year…let’s hope he hold true…for there are hidden opportunities all around us, I am sure.

Two years ago I returned from MACUL thinking…pretty much about how we were going to increase our access to technology…(it remains poor…).  I wanted to buy computers, LCD projectors, handhelds…anything to get technology into our kids hands. It was about software, programs and things.   Just before I left for MACUL 2008, I ran across my notes from 2006.  A must have was LCD projectors in every classroom…didn’t happen, well, not exactly.  Still need to do that.  After NECC in Atlanta 2007, things changed…there was an a-ha moment for me when I realized I could be connected to all of the people I viewed as leaders in tech ed…I didn’t have to wait for Will Richardson or David Warlick to publish an article on techlearning.com, I could follow their blog and know what they were thinking every day…I could also see who they were following, and with del.icio.us, see things they were discovering.  Major change in my life as a teacher.  One link lead to another, the use of first Safari RSS feeds, then to Google Reader and wow!  I am reading professionally more that I have in the last 13 years.  I joined wikispaces, created wikispaces, talked, shared, linked and talked some more.  It has only been 8 months since NECC, but I feel as though I have traveled an eternity in Web 2.0 education.

So MACUL 2008?  I knew a lot of the “things” they were talking about, presenting-the concepts, the ideas.  How?  First, NECC…saw a lot of it there…but more importantly?  My interaction with the learning networks I have created.  I had heard about new features in Google Apps through an rss feed of del.icio.us links from Lucy Gray, A Teacher’s Life.  I follow Vickie Davis’s Cool Cat blog and had already read about and understood UStream.  I think it was through a feed that I stumbled upon Google Lit Trips about 5 months ago and wowed my friend when as Hall Davidson was talking about Google Earth, I stole his thunder by showing (my friend) lit Trips minutes before Hall did.  I used VoiceThread last summer in a tech workshop and through the NWP’s  Technology liaison network I joined a Ning site and have seen it in action.  Connections, over and over again, like a huge web of learning, retracing steps, I am learning, learning and learning more.

So I’m back and the question is Now What?  I think that helping the teachers understand the power of that learning network is the first thing on my list this year.  Jason Ohler’s mantra–It’s not about the gear, it’s about the story, from his digital storytelling session stuck with me most…it is about the information…not the number of computers (Although please don’t dismiss my pleas for better access, Jim Derocher, superintendent of schools, NPS!!!)  but it is about how we can make connections, create networks and learn more about teaching and learning.  Then teachers will fully understand the power and in turn be able to pass along that knowledge, help facilitate the learning for students in their classrooms.

I think I am hopeful, yet cautious.  Like I don’t want my heart broke.  I don’t want to return to MACUL in 2010, reviewing my notes and have made such little progress.  I hope that through this project, the MI Champions project, our newly formed team of leaders will be the ones that promote change…change of thinking, of understanding, as to the power technology has for learning in our schools.  It is truly not about the gear…it is about the learning…the stories, the people we can learn from in this every shrinking global world.

Throughout other postings I am getting to know my students, things that bother them, things that excite them, how they learn, process and even manage their time. I have late night learners, last minute procrastinators and those that finish the assignment given before I have even driven the 20 minutes back to Negaunee. It is interesting to see these emerging personalities in such a short time frame. (Note: in addition to the blog, they are using an online companion site for their textbook and they are completing T/F, M/C and essay questions for each chapter. The results are automatically sent to my email.)

Technology is just a tool. In one student’s blog they complained that the use of technology can get in the way of learning. That it can be overdone. (My first thought was…overdone = worksheets, there is nothing in our education system more overdone than worksheets…) I think that the anxiety I have seen from my students as I push them to use more technology to access information and communicate with each other is a prime example of WHY we need to teach more using technology…why there needs to be more professional development TIME for teachers to learn new technologies. The best use of technology for learning is when you don’t even notice the technology–you just see the engagement of the learners, feel the excitement in the classroom, and hear the discussions in the hallways.

I have seen this happen with blogging. In a nanosecond of time, I have seen it work. Twice. The first in our freshmen English 9 blog. We planted the seeds…and just with a little cultivating, they have grown…they are comfortable. They have voices and they feel confident in expressing themselves. The second time, very similar to the first, was in this college class. Brand new to blogging, some were nervous, anxious, and took weeks to learn the process. Others took right too it, confidently expressing themselves, navigating the process, posting, commenting, uploading pictures. They are all coming along, expressing themselves differently than they do in class…some quiet there are more confident online.

It is interesting…and so much fun…to see this all happening…I just can’t wait to learn more!