Thing 15. Collaboration

Just to follow up on an earlier post, I plan to collaborate a fellow MILI participant, Mark Anderson, Arlington's faculty technology advisor. The Criminal Justice Power Point Research project will take place in his lab, and I will rely on Mark's Power Point expertise during the project while I handle the research component of the project. As for the readings in Thing 15: Collaboration, I could not agree more with the spirit of the article from "Teacher Librarian" entitled: "Collaboration: Where does it begin?" by Ruth Small. Ms. Small accurately describes the divide between the teaching faculty and librarian/media specialists that exist in most schools. I believe one of the most important reasons for that divide is the fact that most teachers do not consider librarians/media specialists as fellow "teachers". It is patently obvious from this program that teachers have so much to learn from our colleagues in the library. Clearly, these colleagues should be used in collaborative activities. However, only a small minority could work collaboratively with librarians for any significant period of time because there are scores of teachers and one or two librarians in each building. What's the answer to that dilemma? At least three librarian/media specialists in each high school. I omit middle schools and elementary schools because of my ignorance of their needs vis a vis numbers of librarians. In the second reading, "Collaboration and Reflection: Proactivity and Reflection: Tools to Imporove Collaborative Experiences" by Doug Johnson (www.doug-johnson.com), the author speaking from the meida specialist position supports Small's premise, but provides strategies for gradually erasing that division. To his credit, Johnson emphasizes the necessity for relflection as a proactive tool to imcrease collaboration. Johnson, as have many others, correctly identifies the main obstacle to collaboration as the fact that most teachers prize their independent status to the point where if blocks collaboration between them and other colleagues in the building. I was quite interested in the third reading: "Toward a Theory of Collaboration for Teachers and Librarians" by Patricia Montiel-Overall of the University of Arizona as published in the School library Media Research section of the American Library Association (vol. 8, 2005). Why the special interest? Montiel-Overall comes from the perspective of a social constructivist (a student of Dewey and Vygotsky, et al). Social constructivism relies on collaboration as a foundation for learning. Social constructivists argue that without true collaboration true learning and teaching will not occur and that the losers will be the typically underserved members of society. This progressive notion of learning/teaching is over a century old and traces its roots to the pedagogy of Dewey and Montessori and the psychology of Piaget and Vygotsky. In this area, those of us who have studied in recent years at the Hamline University Graduate School of Education recognize the theory as espoused by Montiel-Overall. Most importantly, to the purposes of this MILI program which is collaborative as a premise is the argument, as noted by Montiel-Overall, that collaboration has been identified as one of the factors that contribute to improved research skills (and) this positive effect is one of the primary reasons collaboration is promoted (citations omitted). Collaboration is the buzzword at this moment in time in St. Paul. The question remains, as Johnson notes, will we take the time to actively reflect upon our activities. If not, I would say, the chances of long-term success are limited. Before turning to the fourth piece, I would note that Montiel-Overall makes a strong case for collaboration as essential to true integration of content and information literacy standards, as well as integrated instruction and integrated curriculum, in general. In short, this reading is highly recommended. As for the fourth reading "A Rubric for Collaboration", I will have to wait to comment on it until I use my laptop that has "Word". The blog prompts ask three questions. First of all, what do you see as barriers to collaboration? Time and space. . .conflicting responsibilities. . .lack of technological resources--we need a technology Marshall Plan for the public schools. . .lack of ongoing reflective activities. . .and, of course, failure of significant members of the faculty to buy into true collaboration. . .The second question is: How can the barriers be overcome?. . .more prep time devoted to collaboration. . .more SLMSs (School Library Media Specialists--I like that acronym). . .a technology Marshall plan. . .Finally, the third question: Is collaboration worth it?. . .(btw is that a rhetorical question?). . .Of course it is, We cannot survive as a group of independent contractors. . .Successful institutions are collaborative, successful teams are collaborative, successful relationships are collaborative--the list is infinite. . .However, when one's time to take care of one's personal responsibilities increases while the time to take care of professional responsibilities decreases, it becomes problematic. Without radical change to the working conditions of the teaching profession these essential collaborative activities will not have the necessary time to germinate and bloom. drfaust

Thing 10. Copyright and Plagiarism (Part I)

Just a quick note: I cannot seem to access the two copyright quizzes. It seems the links are dead. Anybody know the answer. t/y drfaust

Thing 9. Streaming Video (Part I)

This is just a preliminary comment concerning the use of video in the classroom. I have used video ever since I have had access to video equipment. When used properly and appropriately it almost never fails to enhance and improve the lesson. Our students come from a video age. Failure to recognize this fact can be fatal to connecting with students. Many of my colleagues recoil at the fact that so many of our students spend so much time in front of a video screen, be it television, computer monitors, or an XBox. This is not going to change. In fact, that horse left the barn when Thomas Alva Edison and the Lumiere brothers (France) produced those first memorable motion pictures in the late 19th century (btw, YouTube possesses some great portions of early motion pictures by the aforementioned pioneers). Thus, all of us need to take a deep breath and deal with this fact. My seventy-six year old mother (still working and a lifelong educator) spent many hours every week at the theater in a small rural Minnesota community as a child in the 30s and the 40s. I would attest to the fact that this early exposure to motion pictures has not stunted her intellectual growth. Now, the question for we educators is to steer our students to quality video, television, etc., rather than rant about the "soul-deadening nature of modern popular culture." That argument has failed for over one hundred years now. Are there vulgar, profane, and obscene representations? Of course. Are there beautiful, poetic, and life-affirming representations? Of course. Our job as educated elders is to guide our students to these pieces of art. Our projectors allow us to open up this wonderful world to our charges. By the way, just before the holiday break I found two ecstatic pieces from the greatest tap-dancers in history, the legendary Nicholas Brothers (found on YouTube--an excerpt from the great musical "Stormy Weather" (1943) starring Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Katherine Dunham, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, Fats Waller, and other luminaries too numerous to mention). I showed these clips to a class full of kids who live and breathe hip-hop. Their reaction? Awe and wonderment. Thanks, YouTube! drfaust
p.s. you government and history teachers, don't forget c-span!

Thing 8. Dribbling Lessons for Information Literacy

While assaying some of the "Content Area Informational Literacy Lessons" exemplars compiled by Metronet, I noticed a few things I would like to briefly discuss. As a social studies teacher, I accessed the U.S. History lesson entitled "Interactive Research: A Time Period in American History' created by Walter A. Freeman of the Nashua (NH-?) School District. The lesson is a very nice lesson, but I believe appropriate only for very high achieving students (AP or IB) with excellent technology skills. By the way, the lesson is found at the "Apple Learning Interchange 2007" website. Under the lesson's "Tools and Resources: Internet" section, I found two excellent articles by Robert Harris from "VirtualSalt" ("www.virtualsalt.com"). The first is "Evaluating Internet Research Sources" which again should probably be limited to very high level students. The second is an excellent guide for teachers titled "Anti-Plagiarism Strategies for Research Papers." Unfortunately some of the other links that Freeman provides are no longer functional. These are located on the "Plagiarism Theme Page". However, an outstanding link concerning copyright is functioning. The link is "10 Big Myths About Copyright" by Brad Templeton (www.templetons.com/brad/copyright.html). This is a nice handout for students and something all teachers should keep handy in their office and classroom. Also, I investigated the Government/Citizenship lesson. The lesson is "Get It on the Ballot!" and concerns election ballot referrenda and initiatives (excellent for a lesson on direct democracy). It is found at the PBS web site (www.pbs.org). This lesson can be utilized by a wider variety of students than the History lesson. However, I must make some comments about the "Online Resources" section. There are four online resources listed. Two of the four, the"Ballot Initiative Strategy Center" (www.ballot.org), and "Fair Vote: The Center for Voting and Democracy" (www.fairvote.org) are "progressive" (left of center) advocacy groups. Thus, to present balance for the lesson, a teacher should search for "conservative" (right of center) groups. The other two resources are excellent and objective: the "Institute & Referendum Institute" at the University of Southern California (www.iandrinstitute.org/ballotwatch.htm) and the Federal Elections Commission (www.fec.gov). drfaust

Thing 6. Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator

Upon the end of the break on Wednesday, I will be conducting a pilot project with my second hour Criminal Justice class in which they will create a power point production of an issue of their choice concerning Criminal Justice (e.g. sentencing, capital punishment, juvenile justice, racial profiling, state and federal drug policy, DUI policy, alternatives to incarceration, electronic privacy, interrogation and torture, etc.). The easiest part of teaching research for me is helping a student find a topic of interest that is relevant to the content we are studying. The most difficult challenge will be motivating the students to work in an efficient manner with the time limit, which in this case will be ten class periods from start to finish. Also, the ability to convert their research into a Power Point production will be difficult. The RPC Teacher Guide will help me in a variety of ways in this journey with this particular class. The Support Materials are outstanding. I will use several for this project. As for Step 1: QUESTION, my students will receive three items. First, the "Minnesota 5 Student Research Planning Guide". . .Second, the "Narrowing a topic using a general to specific triangle" planning aid. . .Third, the "What is research?" poster. As for Step 2: GATHER, my students will receive two items, First, the "Improve your Google search tip sheet". . .Second, the "10 Qs for evaulating web sites" student aid. . .As for Step 3: CONCLUDE, my students will receive the "Outline organizer". . .As for Step 4: COMMUNICATE, my students will receive three items. First, the "Useful Transitions Tip Sheet". Second, the "keyhole Essay tip sheet. Third, the "Storyboard" (for oral presentations with electronic slides. As for Step 5: EVALUATION, my students will receive one item--the "Grading Rubric for the research process". . .I will keep you informed as to my group's progress. drfaust

Thing 5. Create and Maintain a Teacher Web Page

My New Year's Resolution vis a vis teaching is to maintain an up-to-date teacher web page. So far, my web page is rudimentary and does not yet contain anything that will be of any real use to students, parents, or colleagues. other than my basic contact information. I am planning to feature a video on a weekly (at least) basis concerning relevant current events and/or historical events. As of yet, I am having difficulty figuring out how to use Urban Planet to link up videos to my site. Also, I would like to feature, again on at least a weekly basis, an article or essay concerning either relevant current events and/or historical events. Again, my ability to establish links is lacking. Also, my website will contain the weekly schedule for my various classes. Finally, as a history teacher, my website will contain the state standards for United States History. My recommendations for teachers attempting to set up a website is to find someone experienced in setting up websites, tellling them exactly what items you want on your website, and then work with that person for several hours until you feel comfortable doing the work yourself--otherwise, hire a webmaster (lol). . .drfaust

Google's Cloud

Happy New Year!
I recently read an article in the NYT's Sunday business section. Essentially, the article concerned Google's ongoing high-stakes competition with Microsoft in Microsoft's backyard. Most interesting for me was a detailed mention about Google's belief that, in the very near future, 90% of all computing tasks will be accomplished online. Google calls it "the cloud." For example, Google now has a free service that allows a user to, for example, create a document on a Google site (docs.google.com) which can be accessed from any computer, anytime, anywhere. I've checked it out and I'm pretty excited about the possibilities--do not have to have your computer with you at all times, for one thing. There are some privacy concerns but that is true in all working online on any computer. Once again, that issue should be dealt with by our elected representatives (re: electronic privacy should be one of the most important issues right now and in the coming decades). Check out this Google offering and see what you think.
drfaust