American Civil War Augmented Reality

I have a serious request...Please check out the American Civil War Augmented Reality proposal and comment your honest critique of the proposal. ACWAR is the brainchild of history teacher and technology enthusiast Jeff Mummert (check out Mummert's Hershey Before Hershey website).

With guidance and support this proposal can become a reality.

So, what do you think?

The Future of School Field Trips

As an 8th grade American History teacher I am fortunate to take my students on two field trips. In the fall the entire 8th grade goes to Philadelphia and in the Spring our team goes to Gettysburg. Both trips are designed for students to "walk in the footsteps of history".

In Philadelphia the students tour the National Constitution Center to get a wonderful overview of the workings and history of our government, and then spend the remainder of the day in small groups visiting group selected historic sites in Olde City Philadelphia. The self guided tour is popular with the students because they have a say into which historic sites they visit and they can schedule some time at Starbucks. There is nothing like visiting the self proclaimed "most historic square mile" in our nation with students as they are learning about the foundations of our nation. This trip really brings the classroom to life!

When we visit Gettysburg, the students get to walk the same fields where thousands of Americans fought and died for what they believed America should represent. A lot can be learned about the Civil War in a regular classroom setting, but students will never get a true appreciation of the devastation of the Civil War without walking in the final footsteps where so many Americans walked in 1863. The connections from the field trip form a frame around which students can paint their own understanding and significance of the Civil War as they apply their field trip experience to what they learn in class.

So, how can technology enhance traditional field trip experiences? I am not thinking about virtual field trips. Virtual field trips are fine in their own way, but they do not enhance an actual trip. I have some ideas, but I would love to hear how others would use technology to enhance field trip experiences.

To get the ideas flowing view the following TEDTalk by Blaise Aguera y Arcas as he demonstrates augmented reality:

Transform--Not Reform--Education

I'm sick of hearing about education reform. It is too easy for politicians to be in favor of reform. The problem is education reform is a misnomer. Education reform is about more of the same old 20th century, industrial era accountability thinking--high stakes testing and standard curricula.

Why don't we try some new words and approaches. Instead of "education reform", how about "educational transformation"? This approach is dangerous because is means that the traditional educational approach that has been driving education "reform" would be dismissed in favor of real change.

What would educational transformation look like? How about taking a cue from Harvard Education Professor Tony Wagner, who has written about what schools need to do to be relevant in the 21st century. Wagner's 2008 book The Global Achievement Gap details 7 essential skills schools need to be teaching students:

• Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
• Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence
• Agility and Adaptability
• Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
• Effective Oral and Written Communication
  
• Accessing and Analyzing Information
• Curiosity and Imagination

Wagner has written about the blueprint for educational transformation, but it is up to fearless teachers, administrators, and politicians to create an environment where these 7 skills can be emphasized in school. Sadly, the Educational-Testing Complex would take these skills and create a standardized test to assess how collaborative, adaptable, and curious students are.

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For a real example of a school that is trying to transform themselves check out the Hunterdon Central High School's 1:1 computer initiative and their use of Wagner's 7 skills.

Top 5 Tools for My Classroom

As a teacher who is interested in teaching with technology, I am fortunate to teach in a 1:1 classroom where every student has a computer every day. This has allowed me to use technology to get students more actively involved in the lessons, give more timely and better feedback, and better customize learning opportunities for all students. The effect of all this is that students are writing, editing, communicating, and thinking more about their work than they did B.C.--before computers.

The top 5 tools that I have my students use that facilitate student achievement in our 1:1 classroom include:

5. Moodle
I have used Moodle less this year than the last few years because of some of the other tools on this list, but it still is an effective platform for an online class. My favorite feature is the report that enable teachers to track student use of the site. My least favorite aspect of Moodle is the very linear and limited appearance, and sometimes cumbersome features (like creating quizzes).

4. CoveritLive
CoveritLive is a live blogging tool. I love CoveritLive as a platform for backchannel classroom chats during videos or student presentations, and to conduct evening study sessions. The sessions are easily embedded onto other websites and an archive of the session is automatically created at the conclusion of the event. CoveritLive is my preferred tool for synchronous class events outside of school hours.

3. Ning
Since social networking sites have become the way students primarily use the internet to connect and share with others it only makes sense that students have the opportunity to learn in that way in school as well. Ning is a nice site because it allows for an ad free service for educators and is easily customized to the privacy and learning needs of a k-12 class. I set up a private Ning site called iCitizen for a Citizenship unit. Students created profiles, joined groups, added videos and events, and asked and answered questions related to the unit. The great benefit of Ning was that it provided an authentic voice for students who are either shy or who are bored in a traditional school setting.

2. Google Docs
The primary way students submit work, collaborate with one another, and manage their assignments is with Google Docs. Google Docs (and Moodle) has allowed for my class to be virtually paperless. It has also taught students the importance of creating an online system of organization. The downside is that students have figured out how to pass notes with Google Docs (not that students ever passed notes before).

1. Wikispaces
I love wikis! The students use their Study Hall wiki on a daily basis to post assignments, take notes, post content related resources, ask questions, and learn from each other. In the beginning of the year I did most of the posting, now I may do 10-20%. It is pretty much a student run resource that has essentially taken the place of Moodle as the primary online class resource.

So, what are your favorite tools for the classroom?

NCLB--OUT, More of the Same--IN

Obama Calls for Sweeping Changes in Education Law

I never liked the No Child Left Behind law because of its focus on high stakes standardized testing, the focus on what counts on a narrow band of disciplines to the exclusion of the arts and physical education, and on unrealistic goals like the 2014 goal of having every student at grade level--or else.

Unfortunately, the new and yet to be named education program that was unveiled by President Obama on Saturday has many of the same flaws of the NCLB law.

1. A focus on high stakes standardized tests
2. A focus on federal direction leading to ever more regulation and red tape
3. A focus on winners and losers

In each of these areas the "new" educational direction we are taking is more worrisome than the old NCLB for the following reasons:

• More and ever higher, higher stakes tests. A cautionary tale is the mass firing of the Central Falls teaching staff that was applauded by the Obama administration. Read: R.I. Grad: 'It's not the teachers' fault'
• More federal interference and the obsession with accountability measures are destroying public education. Read: Diane Ravitch's latest article--The Big Idea--It's bad education policy. This article hits the issue on the bullseye and is especially convincing since Ravitch used to be an advocate for accountability in education.
• Obama's Race to the Top program identifies winners and losers. Unfortunately, it's the students who are ultimately the losers when so much of our focus is on jumping through the hoops that the federal government has placed in our way. Read: Obama's contradictions on education and Obama and NCLB: The good--and very bad--news.

Hopefully, this too will pass. Unfortunately, it will probably be when another President is elected and declares that the Race to the Top was a failure and institutes a new federal program to rescue the millions of students from under-performing schools. Oh, and those schools will probably be the loser schools from the Race to the Bottom, er- Top.