Brenda Sherry : Weblog

A Dose of Reality

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 03:10:05 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2010/07/22/a-dose-of-reality/

I’ve just come up for air after an amazing three days facilitating a Digital Storytelling Camp for the Ontario Teacher’s Federation and as a member of the ECOO Subject Association. I was really excited to have 3 days to work with teachers, a nice change from my usual after school workshop scenarios and looking forward [...]

Ever Considered an ECOO Presentation?

Sun, 18 Apr 2010 01:42:49 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2010/04/18/ever-considered-an-ecoo-pres

The E-Call for proposals has been out for a while for the 2010 Educational Computing Organization’s 31st Conference: Inspire, Connect, Learn and I’ve been doing some tapping on shoulders lately…in fact, if I haven’t gotten around to YOU yet…consider yourself tapped upon!
These days I’m feeling very fortunate to have such a rich and varied [...]

What is Deep Understanding?

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 13:26:10 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2010/02/28/what-is-deep-understanding/

“It is the peculiarity of knowledge that those who really thirst for it always get it.” Richard Jefferies

Regardless of whether technology is in the picture or not, I’ve been wondering about deep understanding: what is it, and is it a goal we can actually realize in our schools these days? Sheryl Naussbaum-Beach did a [...]

A First Visit to Educon

Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:36 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/a-first-visit-to-educon/

My first Educon experience certainly surpassed all expectations! It’s a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by educators wanting to gather for some thoughtful conversation about what it means to be a good teacher and a good learner. I’m waiting patiently to hear the recordings of the sessions that I couldn’t attend…it was really hard [...]

What makes a good instructional coach?

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:30:18 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2010/02/03/what-makes-a-good-instructio

My colleague Christina and I were fortunate to be able to take part in a 2-day Coaching Institute with an informative and entertaining Jim Knight, brought to the London area by SDCO. It was great timing for me to explore my roll as a technology coach! I’ve not had any professional learning in this area [...]

Collaboration Brewing in My Twitter Network

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:09:18 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2009/12/17/collaboration-brewing-in-my-

So I was minding my own business this week, reading through my twitter feed, when I noticed that @kjarrett was needing a little assistance with some kindergarten classes that he’s teaching this week in New Jersey. Kevin was trying to bring some relevant learning experiences to these little learners, all around the idea of life [...]

Are birds of a feather really learning together?

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 03:17:03 GMT

http://bsherry.wordpress.com/2009/12/04/are-birds-of-a-feather-reall

Recently I’ve been experiencing a little dissatisfaction with my online PLN. Don’t get me wrong, I love the sharing that goes on there, and I continue to learn from many people in my network, but my happy place has been just a little less happy lately. A day with Steven Katz from OISE, helped me [...]

Talking Blogs Are Here

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 03:34:00 GMT

http://journeyzone-brenda.blogspot.com/2009/08/talking-blogs-are-here.html

You'll probably notice a Listen Now button on my blog, and a widget in the sidebar that allows you to subscribe to my podcast.

I've been getting ready to present at the AT4ALL
Conference in Milton next week and my presentation will be about literacy tools for the 21st century, thinking specifically of our students with special needs. If you are there, the session will hopefully go something like this:

This session shows parents and educators the new kinds of literacies with which our students need to develop fluency in order to develop 21st century skills. Web 2.0 tools like Google for Educators, blogs, wikis, rss, social networking, global projects, diigo and other online tools for literacy will enhance the education of our students with special needs, while allowing them to access collaborative tools that will be so important as they continue their education and move on to the workforce. This session will provide a practical look at some of the best ways teachers can motivate students and enhance their use of technology to improve their literacy.

I find this an important topic because while modalities available on the web are getting more and more diverse ensuring more and more access, it's still a pretty text-based place. If you can't read, it's difficult to navigate deeply and go beyond "surfing the surface" as my co-presenter Peter Skillen, would say.

This week, while I was checking out a really good article about where to start with using cell phones on a blog called The Innovative Educator I noticed the Listen Now button and soon found out that Odiogo.com allows you to create text-to-speech podcasts from your RSS feed to ipod, iphone, and MP3 players as well as instantly reading your content on the blog in a really decent voice!

It's called 'talking your content'. Very sweet! Another way to open access to those who struggle with reading, or perhaps if you have a class blog with younger students who are non-readers this will be a help for you! It's working great so far, so we'll see how it goes as I get using it.

I'm looking forward to learning about lots of new tools to enhance access for special needs students (and ALL students) at AT4ALL...hope you see you there!

Thoughts about NECC 09

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 21:54:00 GMT

http://journeyzone-brenda.blogspot.com/2009/07/thoughts-about-necc-09.html

I've just returned from my 4th NECC Conference held this year in Washington, DC and once again I've found it to be great professional learning, especially from the perspective of connecting and re-connecting with both people and ideas. The big focus for me was student learning and projects with constructivist technologies: students inquiring, collaborating, and creating with tech, rather than a focus on tech tools. I feel refreshed in my mission to make sure that teachers are transferring control of learning to the learner...regardless of whether they have one computer or 30 in the classroom!

Dropping in on the Constructivist Consortium event meant seeing Gary Stager and Sylvia Martinez and the folks from LCSI which was a treat! LCSI has launched a new piece of software called Transform which I'm excited to be experimenting with in the next few months.

A new release from Fablevision is an amazing software called Animation-ish...and yes...it comes from the writer of the book Ish, Peter Reynolds! I'm going to order that software and give it a whirl this summer. The interface is playful, creative and downright gorgeous.

Watching @garystager do a fabulous job speaking his truth at the ISTE Panel Debate about Brick and Mortar Schools was inspiring! I enjoy Gary's honesty and his dedication to what is right for kids, even when it goes against the bureaucracy of school boards, curriculum and policy makers.

I love seeing the real deal of classroom teachers at work inspiring kids and it was great to see @mariak, @kathycassidy and @marragem sharing their primary classroom uses of technology. They've started a wiki if you are interesting in joining in the conversation about how technology benefits primary students: http://primaryconnections.wikispaces.com

Two of the best things that I did was to revisit sessions by Alan November and Jamie McKenzie. Both of these guys have influenced my work in educational technology and it's been several years since I've checked in to hear them; it was definitely worthwhile to see their newest presentations that re-affirm the kinds of deeper approaches I'm trying to promote among the teachers and students with whom I work back in Guelph.

This year it was wonderful to spend time with so many of the educators that I know already from Ontario and the US, with the added bonus of meeting a bunch of people from my twitter learning network f2f! I spent a fair bit of time learning from the ISTE folks who have many suggestions that will benefit the delegates at the ECOO conference here in Ontario next November! I can't wait to share those benefits with Ontario teachers!

Another real highlight was meeting up with the Great Lakes Constructivist Consortium, a group of teachers who believe in student centred, experiential, ecological and equitable learning environments! I will look forward to becoming involved and learning from this wonderful group of people.

A visit to the Canadian Embassy from MindShare Learning was something I never thought I'd be doing in Washington! :)

Washington was a really great city and I'll have to go back where there is time for more sightseeing. I was grateful to stumble upon a very nice place to eat, sit outside and chat for ages with friends in Georgetown...I miss it already! :)

Tech Connect - Baby Steps

Sun, 29 Mar 2009 03:13:00 GMT

http://journeyzone-brenda.blogspot.com/2009/03/tech-connect-baby-steps.html

Teachers at UGDSB continue to surprise me with their interest in learning new things, despite the incredibly busy teaching schedules they have! I put a shout out to see if any teachers might like to gather together online from the comfort of their own internet connections and learn about using technology in the classroom, expecting about 5 responses. I've now sent out the schedule to 18 eager teachers...this should be awesome!

In planning this I'm no expert with Adobe Connect but I have attended a few meetings as a guest and have now run a few conference meetings for ECOO as a host, with the help of my friend Karen Beutler. I've used other communication tools like YacPak, skype, ichat, and Elluminate and I think I'm ready to branch out and try using this tool for learning with other teachers, so I'm jumping out of the nest; comfortable with giving this a try and learning along with them to get it going.

I've decided to make the first session a welcome one, with a chance for participants to play around with the interface. I'll have a few goodies to share in order to keep people interested and hopefully wanting to come back! I am imagining these sessions will move into becoming interactive webinars where we can share issues and teachers can request what they'd like to learn. I can easily give teachers the option of sharing things with the group as well, so this intrigues me...how interactive might this tool be?

What is best practice with online PD and conferencing software like Adobe Connect?

So far, I've gathered the following ideas from my colleagues who've used this model, but please add comments if you can share some expertise!

1) If at all possible use two monitors, so that one monitor allows you to see what you are sharing, and the other lets you keep track of the back channel chat which is so important to learning this way.

2) Try to have an attendee who can troubleshoot as your technical person. Upgrade this person to another host presenter so that they can grant permissions if there are technical issues that your attendees are trying to sort out as the session continues.

3) Always begin with a slide that reviews the process of getting connected and checking your audio. With a huge number of people it's probably preferable that not all attendees us a microphone, but mostly use the chat. (I'd like to experiment with this)

So that's what I know so far! I love trying new things and usually start with a basic plan and adjust as I go, taking into account the needs of the group and their interests in learning.

Looking forward to any comments that might help!