The View From My Window: March 2017

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

EdTech Situation Room Episode 45

So excited and honored to participate in the podcast The EdTech Situation Room with Wes Fryer. Here are the articles and show notes.

Chat:

Jamie Camp Good to see all of you!

Jamie Camp I love seeing all of you "together"

EdTech Situation Room hi Jamie!

Peggy George I'm so excited this night is finally here! Great to see you Alice and Cheryl!!

Alice Barr Yea!!! Hiiii

Jamie Camp Hooray!! Peggy's here!

Peggy George Hi Jamie!

Jamie Camp Ep 44 was great as always, Wes!

cheryloakes50 Welcome, so glad to see you Jamie and Peggy!!

Peggy George Last week was NOT a horrible show! Wes did a great job holding down the fort!

Jamie Camp Not an easy thing to do that by yourself!

Peggy George for sure Jamie!!!

Jamie Camp Snow in April! Wow!

Jamie Camp It's been mid 80s in Houston!

cheryloakes50 Yes Jamie, lots of snow!

Peggy George unbelievable weather in Main!!

Jamie Camp Sounds good to me!

Jamie Camp This year's been super crazy though

Peggy George I'm so excited to be able to hear about these updates from Cheryl and Alice!

Peggy George that's a great plan! great way to manage the ipad upgrades!

Jamie Camp Wow--8 year cycles! You really do need Apples for that!

Peggy George so true Jamie!

Peggy George that's a challenge when they stop making particular models

Peggy George I think it makes so much sense for the HS to have laptops

cheryloakes50 Yes, it made a lot of sense at Alice's school. I'll share my story.

Peggy George that's a terrific deal!

Jamie Camp Always trying to figure out ways to put devices in our students' hands in my school. It's a real struggle. Right now we have an entire grade that is struggling with very old laptops.

Alice Barr We actually polled students and they felt strongly . they wanted laptops

Peggy George that seems so affordable when you think about how much money schools spend on textbooks that can't be updated and are usually out of date before they can be replaced

Peggy George Alice, I love how much you include students in the decision making process!

Alice Barr Thank you Peggy. It's so important for them to have a say.

Peggy George very interesting Cheryl! carts of Chromes

Jamie Camp Chromebooks in our upper grades (3-5) have really changed the landscape in our school.

Peggy George It's great for the students to become so familiar with all of the Google tools in HS!

Jamie Camp They've made it easy for kids to log on, so teachers are less reluctant to try things.

Peggy George yes!!! that's the problem!!! very late school year!!! I remember those days in MA! End of June was not unusual.

Jamie Camp battery life great too. We're working on the creative side of things, but collaboration is sooo much easier!

Peggy George good point about battery life!

cheryloakes50 Yes, we do like the google tools and the collaboration.

Peggy George I love Carla Arena!!! I've followed her for years.

Jamie Camp Yes! She's amazing!

EdTech Situation Room really interesting the different directions the 1:1 programs have gone...

Alice Barr She's amazing!

Peggy George I took an online photo course with her many years ago.

Peggy George that was quite a sacrifice Cheryl!! giving up a weekend of skiing!

Jamie Camp I remember that! I started....but alas...I'm a dropout LOL

Peggy George what a creative conference format!

Peggy George it was 2009 I think

cheryloakes50 Yes, Peggy, it was.

Jamie Camp Wow! 8 years ago. Doesn't seem like it at all.

Jamie Camp What a cool thing to have a student assistant to be with you! Great idea!

Peggy George I think she also taught a digital storytelling course I was in

Peggy George what an exciting conference!!!!

Jamie Camp You've both changed a lot of lives!

Alice Barr Thank you Jamie

Peggy George do you have a link for the Brazil conference?

Alice Barr yes in the doc

Alice Barr https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=amplifica%20internacional%20elt

Peggy George just found it. Thanks!. Didn't recognize what it was called.

Alice Barr Won't let me paste the link

cheryloakes50 Amplifica is on Facebook.

Alice Barr https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?...

Peggy George good for you Wes!!!!

Peggy George it's always so frustrating when we can't share links in this chat

Peggy George https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?...

Peggy George woo hoo!! what power

Peggy George https://www.sympla.com.br/amplifica-i...

Peggy George that is so funny!! the Pope is a hacker

Jamie Camp Love that!

Peggy George he's making things happen!!!

Peggy George We have had that conversation for several years at HackEd, the unconference before ISTE

Jamie Camp He is making things happen! I'm not Catholic, but he's making things happen in the larger culture--not just the Catholic church! That's hacking!

Peggy George I agree Jamie!

Jamie Camp so true, Peggy!

Jamie Camp Will you be at ISTE this year, Peggy?

Peggy George no unfortunately, Jamie. So I'll be actively participating in #notatiste

Alice Barr #BrazilEdu Slow chat

Alice Barr #changeitup #studentpurpose

Jamie Camp I think I'm going, so I'll connect with you thru #notatiste

Peggy George what a great idea to introduce slow chat to them! We used that all the way through #notatiste16 last year and got so many terrific resources to add to our Livebinder

Peggy George Great Jamie!!! That will be awesome!

Jamie Camp absolutely Peggy!

Alice Barr Q1: How might we design global activities with #studentpurpose?

Peggy George love that plan! a new question every 2 weeks with BrazilEDU on slow chat

Peggy George yes!!! Participate is the very best way to do a slow chat!!!!

Jamie Camp I've never used participate

Peggy George Cheryl and Alice, you HAVE to use Participate!!!! It captures all of the links people share in a collection! Automatically adds the hashtag to every tweet.

Jamie Camp wow. handy

cheryloakes50 ELTJam

Alice Barr I've only seen it for archiving

Alice Barr Thank you Peggy! Sounds perfect!

Peggy George This was the link we used on Participate for #notatiste16 https://www.participate.com/chats/not...

Peggy George You join with your Twitter login and it's all free.

Jamie Camp How did I not know that, Peggy! LOL

Peggy George Look at these amazing resources we collected in our Collection (1135) https://www.participate.com/collectio...

Jamie Camp Google Docs solves so many problems!

Peggy George it automatically collects them from tweets but you can also add any you want

Peggy George so true about Bob!!!!

Jamie Camp If only Bob were around! How true!

Alice Barr Oh wow. Amazing resources!

Alice Barr Miss him....

Jamie Camp great memories!

Peggy George so happy to see the dogs!! they were always a part of our EdTechTalk webcasts!!

cheryloakes50 https://www.wired.com/2017/03/irresis...

Peggy George it worked Cheryl!!

EdTech Situation Room yay shared links!

cheryloakes50 Thanks!

Peggy George We had a great webinar on Classroom 2.0 LIVE last month that was all about Participate--tutorial, links, PD. http://live.classroom20.com/archive-a...

Peggy George that's a great article from Wired!

Alice Barr Can't wait to check this out. Thanks Peggy

Jamie Camp great point Cheryl. TV didn't live in our hand when we were kids.

Peggy George social behavioral addiction! absolutely!

Peggy George Alice if you have any questions about Participate I would be happy to jump on a Skype call to talk and any time.

Peggy George Parents aren't always the best role models!

Jamie Camp Guiding kids with mobile devices is sooo much harder than it was when my daughter was young--and she's only 26!

Alice Barr Thank you Peggy.

Peggy George Michael Wesch is awesome!

Alice Barr I will take you up on that!

cheryloakes50 Peggy, role models need to be explicit. Outloud thinking, I am putting my phone away until the end of this discussion

Peggy George good point! But they also need to do what they say

Jamie Camp When she was young, we could ensure that she used digital tools in a public family space. She didn't have a way to even USE it in her bedroom or privately. Not it's so much harder for parents.

Jamie Camp *now

Peggy George that's so true Jamie!

Peggy George Look at this (later). The Images4Education course with Carla is still available online. It was 2010. http://images4education.pbworks.com/w...

cheryloakes50 Thanks Peggy! Wow, it hopefully is still timely!

Jamie Camp awww!

Alice Barr Nice!

Peggy George would students want to take a class on ethics?

Peggy George haha! if you're not using your device for , put it away. I couldn't do that.

Jamie Camp Ironically we had an issue at a district meeting--about modern learning--where the presenter made us all close our laptops. It really turned me off.

Peggy George it would me too Jamie!

Jamie Camp I was pretty done after that, sad to say....

Jamie Camp great point, wes. what does that feel like to a kid who IS using his/her device appropriately?

Peggy George I look up related resources to expand my learning, look up word definitions, take screenshots, etc.

EdTech Situation Room I can tell you what it feels like, it's really frustrating!

Peggy George Jason, is that you typing for EdTech Situation Room?

Jamie Camp Yup. It was counterproductive for me b/c it irritated me so.

EdTech Situation Room no this is wes typing

Peggy George that's some multitasking Wes!

Peggy George I didn't think Jason was with us.

Alice Barr https://sites.google.com/a/yarmouthsc...

Peggy George thanks Alice!!

Jamie Camp Thanks Alice. I need to put some time in on this, and I'm sure your site will help!

Alice Barr Welcome! Feel free to use!

Peggy George I just participated in a live stream watching Steve Sherman interview the French actress/director for the Nat. Geographic film series MARS. It was incredible!!

Jamie Camp Lots of good links to explore this week!

Peggy George Steve Sherman's interview with Clementine Poidatz. Amazing for kids to see. He does it for his students. https://youtu.be/SamDgksR128

Jamie Camp $329 is good news for schools.

EdTech Situation Room oh that is great Peggy - that series looks like it will be super

Jamie Camp You're amazing Peggy!

EdTech Situation Room thanks for that link!

Jamie Camp Love hearing Geek of the Week with all of you! Like old times!

EdTech Situation Room yes!

Jamie Camp Yes! Thinglink VR looks super cool. I want to try that too!

Jamie Camp Ooooo! Isn't that cool for virtual field trips!

Peggy George Steve has been doing daily interviews this past week that been powerful. Today was a blind skateboarder, one a hearing impaired piano player. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCADd...

Peggy George I love the Thinglink VRs!

Jamie Camp Oh my! THAT'S app smashing!

Peggy George Adam Bellow will be our guest presenter on Sat. April 8th that is all about BreakoutEDU!! Can't wait!

Peggy George that is so cool Alice!!!

Peggy George Alice always has been stages ahead!!

Peggy George breakout games are becoming great PD experiences for teachers too!

Jamie Camp Peggy looks good!

Jamie Camp Yes, we're thinking of some PD Breakout sessions for the summer.

Peggy George Cheryl!!! Hadn't heard about that re add-ons!

Peggy George what was it called again?

Jamie Camp Swweeet is right!

EdTech Situation Room Google Add-on Revision History Assistant

cheryloakes50 Google Add-on Revision

cheryloakes50 History Assistant Mystery Skype https://education.microsoft.com/skype... Amplifica International https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?...

Alice Barr Where do these links go after the show?

Peggy George Paul Allison is still doing EdTechTalk shows. One just started: Playground City: digital media, bike mechanics, food justice, and cooking in Orlando, Florida http://edtechtalk.com/ttt

Peggy George they disappear unless Wes copies/pastes them I think

Peggy George Thanks Cheryl. Found Revision Assistant

Alice Barr I will have to find the field trip link.

Peggy George our guest presenter this Sat. on Classroom 2.0 LIVE are the co-creators of #digcitkids Curran Dee is 11 yrs old & he's doing the presentation. "Digital Citizenship from a Kid's Perspective."

cheryloakes50 Thanks everyone!

Peggy George What a fun conversation!!! So excited to have been part of it virtually!! Thank you Cheryl and Alice and Wes!

Jamie Camp Thanks everyone! It was fun to be with you all tonight!

Peggy George very busy summers for teachers who "get 3 months paid vacation"!!

Peggy George don't you hate it when people say that???

Peggy George http://cheryloakes.com

Jamie Camp LOL Peggy!

Peggy George http://alicebarr.com

cheryloakes50 Thanks Peggy! Have a great evening, see you online!

cheryloakes50 Thanks Wes, say hi to the family!

Alice Barr Thank you so much for coming on tonight Peggy and Jamie!

Peggy George Thanks for allowing us to post links tonight Wes!

Jamie Camp Thanks so much everyone! I still learn so much from all of you! Great way to spend a Wed evening!!

cheryloakes50 Great to connect with you Peggy and Jamie!

Jamie Camp Good night Peggy!!!

Peggy George good night all

Sunday, March 26, 2017

#Amplifica2017

On March 18th, 2017, I had the pleasure of presenting at #amplifica2017 at Colegio Marista Arquidiocesano in Sáo Paulo, Brazil.

This conference was about using technology for teaching and learning and sponsored by a group of very passionate teachers who are Google Certified Innovators. 400 Brazilian teachers gave up their Saturday to come and learn. Cheryl Oakes and I were invited by Carla Arena whom we met online. Cheryl taught with Carla on Webheads, we connected through the Seedlings podcasts, and we met in person in the summer of 2010.

The hosts at Colegio Marista were so gracious. People went out of their way to help us and make sure that we had what we needed at all times. They gave us a tour of the amazing facilities and showed us some of the unique features of the school. It was built in the early 1800’s as a boys’ boarding school. It’s built around a quadrangle. There’s a chapel and a small auditorium (one of two) on one side. On the third floor where there are now state of the art science labs, were display cases with the original lab equipment that has been used through the years. A soccer pitch and a swimming pool are all within the confines of a city block. It was clear that teachers and students were incredibly proud of their school. One of the things that really impressed

me about the school was the fact that students go to school from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. But then they have the opportunity to stay as late as 9 p.m. if they want to. There are lots of activities for the students to participate in. But what we noticed was the youngest students were free playing in the quadrangle and having a great time. There are benches all around the edge. Parents and caregivers were also enjoying some time together. It was so nice to see students excited to be at school and wanting to stay late to play together. Colegio Marista has developed a strong sense of safety and community.

During the conference, each presenter had a bilingual student who helped us set up and worked with us during our sessions. The students were so accommodating, helping us navigate our way around the school, get us on the network, and kept time with reminder cards that counted down how much time we had left to present.

Cheryl and I did the first session together - Change it up with Student Purpose in Mind. We wanted to stress was that we are in a small world and connecting students is one of the most powerful learning opportunities to put learning in the hands of the students. We modeled a connected classroom (Thank you Maria Knee, Kathy Cassidy, and Amanda Marrinan) and demoed Mystery Skype. Our purpose was to help teachers see that these tools are fairly easy to use and that students can do most of the work. We also introduced the idea connecting to other teachers through the use of hashtags and proposed the idea of a slow chat using the hashtag #BrazilEdu. Our intention with #BrazilEdu is to ask a question every other week and see if we can get people starting conversations, connecting with one another, and learning the value of being online to get new ideas for teaching and learning. The session was well received. Teachers seemed excited about trying out some of the ideas.

I did two sessions on digging deeper into Google Docs. Perhaps the biggest aha moment was when I showed teachers how to make a web page out of a Google Doc and share it with parents without too much fuss. They also liked the new tool for using Google Keep notes and we looked at some ideas for how to use Google Keep in the classroom.

I think my favorite part of the day was the coffee break. It was scheduled between the last two sessions. But it wasn't just coffee, a DJ and dancing were also on the menu. The music was pumping, people were line dancing and everyone was re-energized for the last session. Amazing!

My last session was introducing Breakout EDU. I brought the game with me. We think this was the first time it's ever been played in Brazil. We played Faculty Meeting because it's a little bit shorter (30 minutes vs. 45) and introduces the concept of solving puzzles. It's meant for 15 people but I had 35 in the room. It was a little crazy with so many people, but they dove right in and tried all kinds of things (in their second language!) They were quick to solve the puzzles but they had a fabulous time doing it. Victor, the student helper was amazing, helping me translate when necessary. They never used the hints. They ended up breaking out in 16 minutes. We then debriefed and talked about how Breakouts can be used in a class. I also introduced digital breakouts. It was a great way to end the day.