Today I had the opportunity to train a group of High School teachers on a new tool that we brought to the District.  Atomic Learning is a  great tool that not only provides teachers with just-in-time video-tutorial support for supporting the integration of technology into lessons, but also can take some of the burden of classroom teachers having to teach kids how to use the tools by giving the students access to the same tutorials.  I’m hoping that this tool is a boon to the staff this year, especially as we begin to focus more and more on the way that we can use technology to support and improve opportunities for student learning.  I felt particularly validated when one of the attendees realized that this would mean they didn’t have to develop extensive training document for a Google Docs-based initiative they are using in the classroom, as the video tutorials would be a great alternative.  Thanks to all those who attended and contributed with great questions and good discussion.

With over 75 brand new Promethean Boards in our new building alone, and around that amount going into the other middle school,  today’s six-hour training gave both an instructional overview of the tools and the time and collaboration with subject-area colleagues on developing content for instruction in the coming year.  This is the model that teachers are always clamoring for, we need time!  This will be followed up at a number of points throughout the year as we use faculty and further in-service time to collaborate on technology integration with colleagues.  It was well received by the staff.  I had the pleasure of participating in a session led by two colleagues of mine, Pat Corr & Brad Wilson.  They took on the task of mastering the basics of the Promethean Board in a short time this summer, and becoming comfortable enough to share that knowledge with the staff.  Well done to them.

The German Room is starting to look a lot like a classroom, if not quite a German classroom.  Like any new construction we are implored not to put anything on the walls.  Where did these people go to school anyway?  I’ve nearly been squished by various construction equipment on my way into the building, so here’ s to hoping for safe passage next week.

I smiled when I saw this quote from Silvia Tolisano on the Great Quotes about Learning and change. I was fortunate at an early age to have been shown a world bigger than mine when my parents made the brave and scary decision to move from our hometown in England to seek what turned out to be a once in a lifetime opportunity to pursue my dad’s engineering career in the US. Although it took me some time as a bratty 8-year-old to adjust to being transplanted (that is putting it mildly), today I’m grateful every day for the opportunities that have come my way as a result of being here. I was naturalized in 2003 as I finished college, and am proud to call myself an American Citizen.

I have always taken the firm stance that when you go abroad, with the intention of learning about another culture, you also come back with something that you didn’t plan for, a deeper knowledge of who you are and what makes you tick. It’s almost impossible to be surrounded by so many contrasts without stopping to think about what exactly it is that sets off the reaction that you are having: “eww you want me to eat what?” takes on a different tone when you see the perspective from which the world views the “typical” American diet. I traveled abroad many times with my family to familiar territory, but immersing myself in the culture of Germany and Argentina during four different study abroad experiences from High School to College changed something in me in a good way. It made me more open to different points of view — more able to see the other side of a debate and more perceptive of the impact that small events can have on a global scale.

Today I am proud to have family in England and Australia, friends and colleagues all over the world, and most importantly an open-mindedness that I can’t imagine having formed any other way.

I recommend a good look at Silvia’s post from May 4th, 2010 called Global Awareness Going on. She does a great job bringing some alarming statistics to light. Always a good read at Langwitches! Although I always feel somehow shamed at the sheer quantity and quality of the work that she produces. Maybe one day! (Ok – unsolicited glowing endorsement over.)

The deadline approaches . . .

Today is the day that Google will stop accepting applicants for its 1GB Fiber competition.

According to Gigaom.com’s February post on the topic, estimates for the price of Google’s experiment in Gigabit Fiber to the home could range anywhere from $60 Million to $1.6 Billion Lets split the difference and assume that it is going to cost Google at least $500 Million to run fiber capable of 1GB speeds to 100,000 homes (estimates run from $3000 to $8000 per home).  That’s some serious cash.

Now, lets put that in terms of the exposure that they have gotten from the competitive way they offered this up to cities and towns across America.  Mayors and councilmen across the country have done amazing things for this opportunity.  Jumped in icy lakes, dove with sharks, renamed their respective cities, parks, and even local cocktail concoctions to lure in the attention of the residents of the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA.  Heck, Leo Laporte has even offered to shave a ‘G’ into his hair and dye it blue if Petaluma, CA is chosen for the prize.

Put into perspective, what does this cost? Well, if they paid going rate of around $2.6 Million (If wikipedia is to be trusted on the matter.) for this [lame] thirty second Superbowl spot, then it doesn’t seem all that expensive.  Only about 190 Superbowl commercials.  For a solid month’s worth of coverage.  More importantly, Americans are finally learning that they are way behind on the bandwidth scorecard and are clamoring for faster better access than the telcos seem willing or able to provide.

And who knows, coupled with the ‘heroic’ pullout from censored search in China, Google may just about have generated enough good will to make up for its “debaculous” ™ handling of Google Buzz!

My top five:

• Ideation

• Futuristic

• Strategic

• Learner

• Communication

Recently I had the opportunity to  to take the Gallup survey that is at the heart of the Strengthsfinder 2.0 book as part of a professional development session about individualization and personalization.  The concept was that to knowing something about your students helps you to tailor instruction to them, and experiencing that firsthand was a first step toward driving that message home.

The test consists of 122 questions in rapid-fire succession.  You have to choose, on a Likert-like scale which of two options best describes you as a person.  Though sometimes I wanted to choose both, or neither.  In the end, I was amazed that the result was as accurate as it was!  Each person who took the survey got a custom 22-page report with in-depth analysis, ideas for action and case-studies that are eerily familiar.

We also looked at and continue to explore tools for students to use for similar feedback.  There are plenty of surveys about learner styles for older kids and adult learners, but not much online for younger students to use.  As we strive to individualize each student’s experience and learning, what are some of the best tools out therefor gathering this type of data?

An Open Letter to Educators

I was just trying to run a whois search on my domain to see if I could pinpoint exactly how long I have had MrPlatts.com registered, and happened upon the most difficult Captcha I’ve seen yet:

For the curious, I did eventually get through:

Remember everything.

The motto of the Evernote Corporation pretty much sums it up.  I’ve been using Evernote for a few months now, but the software came into its own a few weeks back during a Leadership session where we broke out into six different groups, each assigned to a chapter in the ASCD Book Curriculum 21.  Each group put together a hand-made poster of the main ideas on their chapter.  I decided to try taking snapshots of the posters for each group on my Droid smartphone in the Evernote application.  Within seconds the photos appeared on my laptop’s Evernote Desktop Client, ready for additional note taking as the groups discussed their chapters. Minutes later, the photos had been archived, and the hand written text was indexed and searchable.  .  .  Suddenly Evernote went from a potentially useful tool to a crucial part of my workflow.

[EVERNOTE.COM]

I’ve been a big proponent for some time of thinking about the skills that students are learning through various technologies as the most important aspect of planning for the integration of technology in student learning.  This morning as I was sleepily browsing my Google Reader my interest was piqued as I discovered this set of five visuals that highlight the skills that underly five specific technology tools that are ripe for use in education.

• Blogging
• Wikis
• Podcasting
• Video Conferencing
• Digital Storytelling

Click through the Langwitches Blog for the downloadable set of five pdfs.

I’ve been a long-time follower of the Langwitches blog and follow Syliva on Twitter. She always has something insightful to share, and it is great to see her unique global perspective (From her About page: “I was born in Germany, raised in Argentina and am living in the United States.”)  I’m drawn to her work too, partly because of those things that we share in common.  German & Spanish & the perspective of someone born outside the USA.

Via Langwitches – “It’s Not About the Tools, It’s About the Skills” Downloads