What Is School? : 2014

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Whatisschool December 18, 2014

Thank You!

Thank you for voting #whatisschool Best Education Twitter Chat/Hashtag of 2014! Its been a blast creating a forum that sees over 2 million innovative educators each week. Thank you for all your support and sharing your ideas on how we can change education to develop critical skills for a 21st century workforce. There's a lot more to come in 2015! Archives from tonight's chat on coding in the classroom are posted below. Merry Christmas! -Laura

Making Computer Science Work For You

#whatisschool Thursday December 18, 6PM EST

Last week was computer science week, a time in which educators around the world strove to integrate computer science into their classes with an hour of code. Children teachers and parents joined together to make games, program robots and found out that gaining 21^st century skills is a lot of fun and can be easier than you think. So how do you get started with coding?

Ambassadors for coding come from all walks of life. The video below shows this diversity and provides instructions for a simple coding project based on the characters from Frozen that you can do with your students by clicking here.

Questions #whatisschool Thursday December 18, 6PM EST

1) What projects have you tried or want to try with your students that involve programming or writing code?

2) What is the ideal age to expose students to learning code, why?

3) How can students and teachers use computer programming to integrate arts and core competencies?

4) Does learning to code bridge gaps and create applicable uses for other disciplines taught in school?

5) What types of products would you create, what problems could you solve programming with your students?

6) How can programming and coding help students become future leaders and get them excited about learning?

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Thursday, December 11, 2014

Whatisschool December 11, 2014

Amazing!

It was such an incredible chat tonight, so many great ideas flying by it was hard to keep up. My take away was that we are more than ready to operate on a global level and bring this to our students, the question is how. As we move forward implementing ideas that will shape education for the betterment of students, teachers and parents we need to find ways to create consistency to make sharing easy. What we do on twitter as PLN is a great example. Thank you for joining us each week and making #whatisschool one of the best chats in the twitterverse. You are amazing! Archives are below.

Creating A Global Collaboration Project

#Whatisschool Thursday, December 11, 2014 6PM EST

Global collaboration is a buzzword in education conjuring up images of children using instant imaging to join classrooms halfway around the world or authors and experts sharing their experiences with large audiences in remote locations. But recently it has become much more. Collaborative projects augmented by technology have transformed classrooms and communities around the world by taking ideas and bringing them to life. So how do educators set up successful global collaborations?

"We can learn from each other and so enrich our own lives. We need not all be equal in order to live together. And sometimes we are more equal than we want to admit it." –The Inside Out Project

The Inside Out Project focuses on using artistic expression to create great collaborations. This building in Wupperthal, Germany was covered in portraits as part of the Different Views Project, which promotes racial tolerance by using photographs to bring together people of different ethnicities, religion, culture and origin. The hope? To show that being different opens up more possibilities for all of us and should be celebrated.

So what can you and your students create using global collaboration?

Questions #Whatisschool Thursday, December 11, 2014 6PM EST

1) How can global communication be used to share teaching expertise throughout a student body or global community?

2) What lesson would you add an aspect of global collaboration to?

3) How can you use modern and traditional communication to gain support, interaction and feedback from your community?

4) How could the learning environment be changed to create your ideal global classroom, what tools would you need?

5) What experiences, successes or failures do you anticipate collaborating on a global scale would bring, what would students learn?

6) Can you initiate a student led collaborative project or challenge with your class using global collaboration to solve it?

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Whatisschool December 4, 2014

WOW!

Wow, this week has been one of great news and surprises! Not only are book sales of the Great Story World Mix-Up up, but I have been contracted by a national US company to write innovative science curriculm aligned with STEM for children k-6. This fits perfectly with the magic and science the two main GSWMU characters, Penelope and Jilly (who are written by my daughters), use to solve big problems in a magical place called Story World that they really messed up. I am tickled pink! To add to the good news I just found out that #whatisschool is a finalist for edublogs best education chat or hashtag 2014. Credit for this goes to YOU! Thank you for all the support you have given as we strive to build a forum that allows educators, students, parents and other interested people to share ideas so we can shape the future of education instead of having it shaped for us. It is an amazing and exciting time both for educators and students who will change the world in ways we cannot imagine. Please take a minute to like us now, vote for #whatisschool by clicking here or below, voting ends December 18! Thank you again for making #whatisschool a great place for sharing and learning. Archives from this week's char are posted. -Laura

Teaching Skills For Global Collaboration

#Whatisschool Thursday, December 4, 2014 6PM EST

When every computer is a publishing center, marketing platform and distribution center how do YOU teach students to create and collaborate? In this blossoming age of technology the need to develop skills that allow students to become global creators and collaborators is greater than ever. As technology continues to rapidly evolve it influences everything we do in profound ways effecting not only our personal lives but the jobs we have and the way we go to business. So, what can you do as an educator to harness technology to ensure students have the skills they need to compete, create and collaborate in a global arena?

Questions #Whatisschool Thursday, December 4, 2014 6PM EST

1) What does global collaboration mean to you?

2) What programs or collaborations would you like try at your school, how would they enhance your class?

3) What skill sets will students need to be successful in a global arena, how can you teach them?

4) What role will technology play and how will it change the way people live and go to business 20 years from now?

5) Will your students be prepared for success in the world you envision 20 years from now?

6) How does school need to change to make students the global creators and collaborators of the future?

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Whatisschool November 20, 2014

Being #whatisschool tonight, talking about writing and communication, which I am so passionate about, has been nothing short of amazing. For me art, film, writing-both fiction and non-fiction for print and TV, has been a lifelong journey I have now passed on to my kids. It has made them richer, multi-dimensional thinkers, creators and doers. In this incredible age of technology and communication it is exciting, heart quickening, to guide children into the realm of communication and let them go, watch them soar. As teachers you have the power to do this. You also have the power to extinguish their enthusiasm, a flicker of light fading out in the night. Be passionate, be bold, take risks! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain…so do your students. Archives are posted below. -Laura

Author Laura Hill presenting with her daughters

How does Good Writing Create Powerful Communication?

#Whatisschool Thursday, November 20, 2014 6PM EST

Last week we talked about the changing nature of communication and the impact it has on student's ability to succeed. This week #whatisschool takes a deeper look into the mechanics of writing, the basis for all communication. So what is good writing, how does it affect communication and how can we foster a passion for visionary communicating in students?

As an author who also writes with children this topic holds a dear place in my heart. In my work, which spans 15 years of television and documentary production and five years of literary work, I have never found anything that is singularly more powerful, or misleading, than words. Nations stand or fall, relations start or end, great ideas are created or extinguished like a spark in the night, all by words. I have written many articles on the topic of writing with children, Living A PBL Life, Breaking The Mold, Flipped Writing, Why Shared Experience Is Crucial To Creative Writing, Real Life Experience, Making Dream Come True and created a web site dedicated to the Great Story World Mix-Up books my daughters and I have written. Please join me this week and invite your colleagues and students to this very special #whatisschool. –Laura

Author Laura Hill presenting Secret Writing

#Whatisschool Thursday, November 20, 2014 6PM EST

1) What is the most important aspect of good communication, content or proficiency?

2) Can you strengthen student communication and writing skills by creating shared experience?

3) What methods can you employ to increase the impact of student communication and writing?

4) Beyond the written word, what forms of communication have students found most effective and engaging?

5) How can visual and audial technology or methodology increase the power of student communication?

6) How do you see students communicating in the future? What's the most important skill you can teach them?

#whatisschool is an international twitter forum co-founded by author, speaker Laura Hill and tech teacher Craig Kemp that attracts thousands of educators who come together to re-imagine school in order to give students the skills they need to be leaders, inventors and creators in a global digital/communication economy. Join us every Thursday night at 7PM EST, questions and archives of each week's chat are posted below. To bring #whatisschool to your school email Laura Hill or contact me on twitter @candylandcaper. I hope you join us! -Laura

A Special Thank You

I wanted to send a thank you, to all the educators who make #whatisschool an amazing forum and to those celebrating Thanksgiving this Thursday, I'd like to take a moment to reflect on all the good that we have done. You and I are on the forefront of leadership exhibiting the willingness to explore, change and create; skills we want our students to embrace as they go into the world. For myself, this has been an extraordinary year in which I find myself busier than ever but even more importantly, I find myself evolving in thought and action. Make a pledge to yourself this Thanksgiving to say Thank You to all the people who have made this year extraordinary and if nothing extraordinary has happened yet, be the agent of change! Don't worry about the nay-sayers and the blatant self promoters. Make a promise to yourself that 2015 will not be filled with the same reasons, or excuses, for not making a difference however big or small in your world. Do it for yourself, do it for your students. Thank you for all your support and amazing input, you are each and every one a gold star -Laura

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Friday, November 14, 2014

Whatisschool November 14, 2014

Thank you for joining us for another amazing chat #whatisschool. As I sit down each week to write the questions and vet the ideas I think are important to you, I find I get very reflective. Pouring through the archive, sometimes for hours, is a real eye opener not only showcasing the questions educators are asking but the brilliant solutions you are finding to the changing environment you find yourself in each day. You are heroes, you are learners you are inspiration, you are teachers. My daughters are your students now and the lessons they learn will shape who they become. Be bold, be loud, make yourself heard! I am thankful to have such an amazing PLN. Archive from this week's chat is below.

How Does Communication Effect Teaching?

#Whatisschool Thursday, November 14, 2014 6PM EST

"We are living a public life on a global stage, the ones who can express themselves best, will be heard." -Laura Hill, Author The Great Story World Mix-Up, co-creator #whatisschool

As we quickly move toward a communications based workforce students who have mastered the ability to communicate are the ones that will be heard. So how do we maximize these capabilities when we don’t even know how students will be communicating?

Dr. Hussein S. El-Ghoroury, CEO and Founder of California based tech developer Ostendo, thinks he has found one of the answers to the future of communication in a 3-D smart phone based holographic interface that uses nanotechnology to project real time images from a camera no bigger that the one on an iphone. Due out in consumer markets this summer Dr. El-Ghoroury had this to say in a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal:

“Imagine if everything coming back to you was in 3-D-all your shopping, all your gaming, everyway you receive data.”

Dr. Hussein S. El-Ghoroury, CEO and Founder of Ostendo

So, how are you preparing students to communicate in the future?

Questions #Whatisschool

Thursday, November 14, 2014 6PM EST

Join us for this special time change this week!

1) What methods of communication have you employed to expand your students' ability to communicate?

2) Which methods or technologies do students use to communicate with peers? Are they same as those used in school?

3) How can students and teachers employ these methods and technologies to strengthen communication skills?

4) How do you see people communicating in the future? How can you build student skills to replace forms that are obsolete?

5) Think of some ways, real or imagined, that would strengthen student' communication skills on a global stage?

6) What role, if any, does communication play in students becoming future leaders, creators and thinkers?

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Whatisschool, November 6, 2014

Is Evaluation A Valuable Tool?

#Whatisschool, Thursday November 6, 7PM EST

In a world that is constantly changing, we find ourselves in a battle to keep up. Evaluating practices to ensure we are at the top of our game. We all need people to give us feedback, that’s how we improve ….

This week #whatisschool delves into evaluation. Are we using evaluation to improve our teaching? What implications does evaluation have on the teaching profession? What does your ‘ideal’ evaluation look like?

Until recently, many teachers only got one word of feedback a year: “satisfactory.” And with no feedback, no coaching, there’s just no way to improve. Bill Gates suggests that even great teachers
can get better with smart feedback.

How do we know how to get better? How do we develop our skills? Join us for #whatisschool this week as we delve deep into the heart of evaluation.

Questions For #Whatisschool

Thursday November 6, 7PM EST

What does evaluation mean to you?
What does evaluation look like in your organisation?
As an educator, how do you use ‘smart feedback’ to ensure you are the best teacher you can be?
How do you make evaluation an integral part of your programme?
How do you use technology to evaluate your teaching and your students learning?
What does your dream evaluation system look like? What needs to change?

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Thursday, October 30, 2014

Whatisschool October 30, 2014

TYTYTY

Wow, what a fast paced chat #whatisschool tonight! The ideas were flying so fast they were possible to keep up with and so were the side chats. The ideas and the energy you bring here each week are amazing! You are making a difference not only for yourself but for every educator you meet and pass an idea on to. Tonight we had some students join us, as my daughters often do. Please encourage everyone you know to get involved in shaping their future, the future of education. Let’s foster a system that nourishes thinkers, creators and doers who will change the world. You are making it happen, don’t stop now. Archives are posted below.

Who's Pulling The Strings?

#Whatisschool, Thursday October 30 7PM EST

Over the past few weeks we’ve discussed many ways to strengthen student experience using modern methods and technology to build skills for a workforce that doesn’t yet exist. But what if the industry you work in has other objectives? Are the stakeholders students, parents and teachers or is somebody else pulling the strings?

Thomas Frey, a senior Futurist a the DaVinci Institute, a Colorado Think Tank, had this to say,

Thomas Frey, Futurist

“Colleges are in the business of selling classes. Students are in the business of gaining marketable skills. These are two radically different objectives…Business professionals in the future will require twice as much training as their counterparts today, just to stay competitive. As we move further towards a globally competitive workforce, competition will stiffen, and our need to shift gears will happen at a moment’s notice. We will no longer have the time and place luxuries of waiting for the right opportunity for education to happen”

So how can teachers help students gain the skills they need while working with tools designed to make profits?

Questions For #Whatisschool

Thursday October 30, 7PM EST

1) How have pre-designated tools helped or hurt your ability to teach students 21st century skills?

2) What technologies have you employed that best suit the needs of building 21st century skills?

3) How can out-of-the-box teaching methodology nurture students to be thinkers and creators?

4) What forces work in opposition to teaching students effectively?

5) What role should budgets and business play in determining what and how students are taught?

6) How can you foster 21st century learning with the tools at hand? What, if anything, needs to change?

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Thursday, October 23, 2014

Whatisschool October 23, 2014

Thank You!

Thank you for bringing your amazing energy and ideas to #whatisschool tonight! This week's topic is especially dear to my heart as I see so many students who get discouraged or feel left behind because their talents and interests don't match the measurements or offerings available. It's a hard road. To give up class time to help students drill down into their talents, to encourage them and foster an attitude of exploration and excellence can change a child's life. You are amazing! Scroll bellow for tonight's archive.

Which Students Get The Best Opportunities?
#WhatIsSchool October 23, 2014 7PM EDT

Everyone knows the formula to scholastic success; work hard, create a resume of clubs, sports, activities and charities you’ve led, maintain a 4.0 average, right? Perhaps not. In an interview conducted by The Atlantic this past June, Drew Gilpin Faust, President of Harvard University, had this to say:

“We could fill our class twice over with valedictorians… make your children interesting!”

Drew Gilpin Faust, President Harvard University

So how do you make your students interesting to prospective colleges? Is there a right or wrong age to start? This week #whatisschool examines the goals behind the goals of learning and how to help students build their portfolios while developing their passions and maintaining the performance records academics demand.

Questions for this week's chat #WhatIsSchool

Thursday, October 23, 2014 7PM EDT

1) Is it more important for students to excel at their passions or excel on tests?

2) What learning styles can you employ to help students develop personal talents while maintaining high grades?

3) How can you implement programs using real world experience to foster multidimensional student experience?

4) What technological tools or experiences can you provide to help students nurture their voice and influence in the real world?

5) How can you increase stakeholder buy-in to implement real world programs that improve your community?

6) What can you do to help make your students interesting to increase their opportunities after graduation?