Whatisschool September 25, 2014

Bring the Great Story World Mix-Up to your classroom and discover the magic, and science of a  helping the world

Today #whatisschool honed into discussing one of the biggest issues on all educators minds. Digital Citizenship and Cybersafety!  As usual, the #whatisschool PLN didn’t disappoint with a trend setting display of inspirational tweets and discussion threads based around the 6 weekly questions. 

For those of you who are new to Twitter Chats or #whatisschool, we meet every Thursday 7pm EDT to discuss the important issues in Education and this discussion forms an impressive archive of learning for everyone involved. All you have to do is jump on twitter at this time every week and use the hashtag #whatisschool and contribute (or just lurk).

#whatisschool continues to grow and it is an absolute honour to have created this space and to see the development within it. Thank you for being a part of it and please continue to share and engage your PLN as well. It is great to see new people coming along every week and actively participating in what is quickly becoming one of the most engaging chats on the twitter calendar.   

As #whatisschool grows, so does our ability to connect, collaborate and network – keep inviting your PLN - It is always a pleasure to have you here! We have done our best to create an edchat space where people can express an unbiased response to questions about schooling, where educators have a voice in shaping the future through their experience, recommendations and interests.

Here is the archive of our chat.  Please share and make sure you join the conversation next week.  Every Monday we will also share the questions for the upcoming session via twitter and our blogs.

#Whatisschool Thursday, September 25, 2014 7PM

What does it take to be a great leader, thinker and creator in a digital world? Join #whatisschool Thursday 9/25 7PM EST as we tackle the possibilities and pitfalls of opening the classroom to digital global technology.

What images do the words global student bring to mind, how about digital citizen?  Do you see a classroom full of students working on PEDs? Or a twitter style PLN where learning continues 24/7? Maybe a glimpse at students on the other side of the world sharing stories about their classroom and what's in their lunchbox; or maybe you see something much more sinister even dangerous?  In a world where technology transfers information faster than we can consume it we have realized learning opportunities that amaze and excite both student and teacher in their richness and complexity.  We have also seen poor judgement and grievous interaction that has lead to injury, even death.  So how can we encourage students to become masters of technology while teaching them to safely share in arenas where information they post lives on forever? 

This week #whatisschool tackles the opportunities and problems of opening the classroom to digital media as we explore how to help students become leaders, thinkers, creators and digital citizens in a global arena.

Questions for #whatisschool Thursday, September 25

Q1) What is digital citizenship and how can it encourage students to be great leaders, thinkers and creators?

Q2) How would you set up your class to create ongoing even self-directed opportunities for students to interact with others in their global community?

Q3) What safeguards need to be instilled in the classroom and technology setting to ensure good digital citizenship?

Q4) How could you grow a student driven, twitter style PLN that would be a safe place to learn 24/7?

Q5) How could you teach students to use open (global) or closed (district defined) social media to solve big problems working together?

Q6) What values need to be instilled to eradicate cyberbullying and the attitude that anonymity brings acceptance to damaging, even deadly behavior?

Co-moderated by children's book author and education thought leader Laura Hill @candylandcaper and international educator Craig Kemp @Mrkempnz  Please contact either of us with your questions and ideas, we'd love to hear from you!

Bring the Great Story World Mix-Up to your classroom and discover the magic, and science of a  helping the world

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Whatisschool September 18, 2014

Thank you and @web20classroom for another amazing chat!

This was a conversation I was really sore to miss, but back to school night is a must do and also yielded a great time and great information!  I want to send out a special thank you to Steve Anderson for joining us and sharing his knowledge and experience in educational technology.  It is an exciting time to be a teacher and learning from each other will ensure our students have the opportunity to master the skills they will need the most when they graduate.  The archive is posted below.

 #WhatIsSchool Fuels The Educational Technology Fire With Edtech Expert Steve Anderson,

September 18, 2014 7PM EDT

Last week #whatisschool began to explore the importance of integrating technology into classrooms to ensure the best possible future for your students as they enter a global workforce that uses technology as it's hub.  Tonight we take a deeper look at how to use specific technologies to enhance learning and broaden the scope of  education to create schools without walls and global classrooms. To help us we'd like to welcome edtech innovator Steve Anderson to share his thoughts on implementing your ideas!

Questions for this week's chat #whatisschool

Thursday, September 18, 2014 7PM EDT

Q1) Educators use social media to enhance professional development 24/7 how can you bring this experience to your students?

Q2) What portable devices or programs would you use to increase student learning and engagement?

Q3) How would teaching change in your classroom if all students had 1:1 access to technology?

Q4) How can you cultivate digital citizenship using the global classroom concept?

Q5) How can the use of new teaching models including flipped classrooms and "expert reversal" nurture learning 24/7?

Q6) In the future, what new devices or wearable technology, real or imagined, would you use to enhance learning?

Steve Anderson @web20classroom

Steven W. Anderson is an educator, speaker, blogger and Dad from Winston-Salem, NC.  As a former Director of Instructional Technology and Instructional Technologist and Classroom Teacher, Steven is a recognized expert in the infusion of technology in teaching and social media for learning.  He has been a presenter at several educational technology conferences, served as a panelist and was a featured speaker at the first ever #140Edu Conference. He is also responsible in helping create #edchat, In 2012 he was named an ASCD Emerging Leader, recognizing young, talented educational leaders in their field.

Co-moderated by children's book author and education thought leader Laura Hill @candylandcaper and international educator Craig Kemp @Mrkempnz  Please contact either of us with your questions and ideas, we'd love to hear from you!

If you missed EDCampLI…

Saturday I attended my first EDCamp, which was held in my own backyard on Long Island. 

Growing up on Long Island is a real experience.  From it’s humble clam digger roots to the mansions and millionaires of the Hamptons, miles of white sand that make the pristine beaches of Fire Island, and orchard upon orchard of grapes where some of the best wines in the world are produced, there is really something for everyone.

 Fire Island 

If you don’t know where Long Island is, let me clue you in. Long Island juts off the east end of NYC and has long been a mecca for artists, innovators, the rich and famous boasting residents like Jackson Pollack, Teddy Roosevelt, Charles Lindbergh, Walt Whitman, Natalie Portman, Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy, Billy Joel, Calvin Klein, Francis Ford Coppala, and Steven Spielberg. Dee Snyder of Twisted Sister fame lives down the road.   It's the home of famous movie scenes like the "horse head" scene from the film The Godfather (1972), which was lensed at Sand’s Point Preserve; North By Northwest (1959) 
and The Manchurian Candidate (2004) at Old Westbury Gardens and Arthur (1981) staring Dudley Moore at Caumsett State Park.  

It is no wonder that education innovation has a hub here.

Entering EDCampLI, I was greeted by Carol Varsolona of NYEDChat who interviewed me (and many others!) about #whatisschool and the impact it is having on teachers and the way they thinking about education.  Change in education and integrating technology were the big themes of the day. 

Laura Hill #whatisschool interviewed by NYEDChat

Co-hosting NYEDChat was Tony Sinanis who also spoke of telling your school story by branding with technology and social media. Look for his book, The Power Of Branding, out now. Talks with Teachers creator Brian Sztabnik, who lives nearby and is just brilliant was there, along with Doc Sheilah, who presented a talk title “What does your Vox say?” And the list goes on. Tom Whitby, Gwen Pescatore, Dan McCabe and even Starr Sackstien showed up to share their knowledge with packed rooms of educators. It was truly a day of learning and connecting.

Laura Hill #whatisschool and Tony
Sinanis on branding your sch

So if you have a chance and there’s an edcamp near you, why not go!  It got me revved up to do some spectacular author talks on the Great Story World Mix-Up series I write with my daughters and inspired me to share more widely my ideas on the shift needed in teaching to prepare students for a technology based workforce in a #whatisschool lecture series.

The organizers are amazing and you never know who you will bump into. Innovative like-minded educators are right next door, take the leap and head out to an EDCamp, you've got so much to gain and nothing to lose!

-Laura

Laura Hill #whatisschool and
Doc Sheilah on Voxing

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Original Post: Excited To Go To EdCampLI

This weekend Long Island is hosting it’s first EdCamp, Saturday, September 13 and it couldn’t come at a better time!  Long Island is home to a wealth of educators, educational institutions and students of many faces, all poised and ready to use and infuse the system with new models of educational technology and methodology.  What better way to network, share ideas and experiences than a face-to-face meeting with people you’ve been speaking to all along!  

My question to you going into this weekend is what do you expect to get out of it? 

I know my goals are simple; I connected on Twitter to better understand what educators are experiencing in order to add direction to my in-school author talks and workshops, to share my insights on how education is changing to meet the needs of students entering a communications based economy with #whatisschool and to enrich my own children’s education by understanding the opportunities available. 

What I hope to get out of EdCampLI is a deeper enrichment and a connection to educators who are striving towards the same goals, right here in my own backyard.

I hope if you see me you will stop and say hi, introduce yourself and let me know how I can help you, I’ll do the same!  It will be a fantastic day; I hope to make it as meaningful as possible and to see you all there.

-Laura

Whatisschool September 11, 2014

Amazing Conversation on EDTECH in the Classroom

The archives are up for tonight's #whatisschool edtech chat, it was truly amazing.  The ideas flew by so rapidly it was impossible to keep up, and this was the easy week!  Mark your calendar for next Thursday when Steve Anderson @web20classroom brings his edtech expertise to the #whatisschool forum.  I'll be posting the questions early so you can get this most out this great opportunity to ask an expert how and why edtech can work in your classroom.  Tonight's archive is posted below. 

Educational Technology, #WhatIsSchool

 September 11, 2014 7PM EDT

As we race towards graduating our first classes of digital natives into a workforce that is evolving as quickly as technology; educators find themselves excited, confused, determined and frustrated as they try to infuse their curriculum with technology and teaching methods that will provide students with the skills they will need.  It is no longer a question of should we add technology, it's an obligation that comes with giving students their best chance in success.  So what technology should you be adding, taking away or ignoring all together?  For the next two weeks #whatisschool will explore the evolving role of technology in classrooms and how its changing the way we teach, think and interact.

Questions for this week's chat #whatisschool

Thursday, September 11, 2014 7PM EDT

Q1) What technologies have you used in your classroom, what do you wish you could use?

Q2) What is your biggest hindrance to using technology in the classroom, how can you overcome it?

Q3) What would you say to peers, administrators or parents who are skeptical about the value technology adds to class?

Q4) What strategies and technologies could you use to increase student engagement and student voice?

Q5) How would these strategies and technologies better your school and the community it is in?

Q6) How could you create a support system of educators, students and parents to make your classroom technology successful?

Co-moderated by children's book author and education thought leader Laura Hill @candylandcaper and international educator Craig Kemp @Mrkempnz  Please contact either of us with your questions and ideas, we'd love to hear from you!

Whatisschool September 4, 2014

WOW!

Thank you for showing me once again what it means to be a teacher; dedication, passion and amazing ideas!  As we move forward into a new era of education and opportunity we are bound to provide students with the best chance at a future where they will be leaders, creators and inventors. These talks we are having today are shaping that future and are the first step in creating a new definition of education with students, parents and teachers in forefront. Keep pushing, trying new teaching methods, technologies and global solutions and encourage others you know including students to share their ideas at #whatisschool.  You are amazing. Archives are below.

Re-imagining school, what will you do this fall?

#WhatIsSchool September 4, 2014 7PM EDT

Lately, global discussions with educators have focused on many exciting innovations happening in teaching including technology, methodology and implementation of classroom design. But for every good idea or opportunity conversations suggest an equally bad result if changes in education aren't treated with focus and thoughtfulness regarding the purpose of the education itself.  Roughly half the students in current teaching systems are under prepared, or under challenged by the curriculum. Add to the thought that we are training students for opportunities in a world in which only 40% of the jobs currently available will remain in existence.  With more and more strategies cropping up for alternative education and completely new school models, how will you change?  

Questions for this week's chat #whatisschool 

Thursday, September 4, 2014 7PM EDT are posted below.

Q1) Assuming half your students won't be prepared for the workforce after education, what can you do to change it?

Q2) What is the critical skill you are not able to teach that would change student's futures for the better?

Q3) How can you use technology or modern methodology to better prepare students for jobs & higher education?

Q4) How can you use global components & real world experience to enhance learning for unchallenged students?

Q5) What is one thing you would ask of administrators in order to accomplish the goals set in questions 3 or 4?

Q6) If your children were in school today what skills would you want them to have upon graduation?

Archives from tonight's chat!

Co-moderated by children's book author and education thought leader Laura Hill @candylandcaper and international educator Craig Kemp @Mrkempnz  Please contact either of us with your questions and ideas, we'd love to hear from you!

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