At first this project made my head hurt. Okay, that’s not quite fair, but I had to read Lou Zulli’s application to the Partners in Learning 2011 US Innovative Education Forum twice before I really realized, or maybe believed, that kids were doing this kind of work in high school (I know I certainly wasn’t, I remember struggling with that thing called BASIC). So, in short, high school students are building and managing the school’s intranet which integrates campus communication, curriculum planning and facilities management into one site.

Their school’s intranet (aka CATNIP) is based on Microsoft SharePoint 2010, which uses Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2 and they’re using professional grade dev tools like Visual Studio 2010 and Expressions as well (btw, if you’re liking where this project is going and you haven’t checked-out DreamSpark, you can get all of these tools for FREE for your school, certainly worth looking into).

The educator behind this project is Lou Zulli Jr., who is the IT Instructor and Network Administrator at the Center for Advanced Technologies at Lakewood High School in Saint Petersburg, FL. The school provides STEM oriented students an opportunity to pursue a science, math and technology focused curriculum alongside of a more traditional high school curriculum. The school received a nice shout-out by Newsweek magazine in their listing of America’s Best High Schools in 2010 (16th on the list). The school is home to a Microsoft IT Academy that enables students to earn professional certifications while in high school.

On this set of projects Mr. Zulli worked with his 11th and 12th grade students to build and support this operational school-wide intranet site adding services and features that are in daily use throughout the school community. Individual students took on a range of projects from developing a virtual school tour using Microsoft Silverlight and Expressions Blend to the creation of lesson plan tracker, a hall pass system and systems for tracking IT assets in the school. Each of these projects was led by students demonstrating autonomy and ownership that resulted in projects being put into production across the community.

The irony of this project is that in Lou Zulli’s application to the 2011 US Innovative Education Forum, which is how we met, he specifically stated: “This project was never intended to integrate with the core subjects identified in the 21st Century Skills Framework.” Instead, as he goes on to write, these projects were meant to augment core subjects in a 21st century environment and he intended this to be “…an exercise in enterprise level development that would prepare these students for similar project development in college or business.” Well he got that right.

Not only is this an amazing example of project-based learning, the nature of these projects requires students to practice project management skills, work closely in teams, interact and engage across multiple levels of the school community to meet the objectives of the given project, while dealing with numerous higher-level logic and problem-solving activities not only within the software development pieces of the project, but the roll-out of these school-wide systems.

How do you assess a project like this? In Lou’s mind (and in his practice) you assess this through the completion of the project. Traditional assessment models just didn’t apply.

Lou is encouraging his students to do real-world work and pushing himself to evolve his way of teaching (perhaps more so facilitating) and preparing his students for what lies ahead. Not surprisingly Lou was a "double winner” at the Partners in Learning 2011 US Innovative Education Forum. He was awarded 1st place in the Use of Technology for Learning category and was on the team of educators who came together while at the event this summer and designed a new project that combines computer science, business and media arts which was ultimately selected as an Educator’s Choice project (see my previous post: When Fish Fly for more on that one).If you'd like to see a nice video of clip of Lou and his students as featured on their local Fox News affiliate go here.

If you’d like to go under-the-covers even more on this project we’ve captured a webcast that is led by a couple Microsoft education technical experts as well as Lou and his students. If these types of projects are of interest to you I would highly recommend you tune into Alfred Thompson’s Teaching Computer Science blog and you can follow him @alfredtwo where he shares many insights from teaching computer science as well as being a software developer himself.

Lou and students have been working on some new projects this year including building online channels for teachers to hold virtual office hours and conferences using Microsoft Lync and integrating SharePoint and Moodle. I look forward to hearing more about these projects and seeing Lou at the Partners in Learning 2011 Global Forum next month in Washington, DC. Keep track of the Global Forum on Facebook or follow me @TeachTec looking for the hashtag #PILGF

Regards,

Rob

I met Kelli Etheredge just over three years ago. She was selected to attend the Partners in Learning 2009 US Innovative Education Forum and was there showcasing her work as a literature teacher and teaching & learning lead at St. Paul’s Episcopal High School in Mobile, AL. I only recall parts of the project she had submitted that year, but what I do recall was her extensive use of an early cloud-based product Office Live Workspace (RIP) - remember that one? Well it’s okay if you don’t, as it has evolved into much, much more as Office Web Apps & SkyDrive, but more importantly was her emphasis on use of these tools to enable collaboration in (and out) of the classroom using teaching strategies to encourage students to share information and combine ideas and activities to produce a better end result.

I’ve continued to stay in touch with Kelli over the years and it is fascinating to see her level of motivation, energy and commitment to her profession. She continues to favor collaborative activities and she and her students regularly use OneNote, Office Web Apps and SkyDrive to collaborate on in class notes and even using some of the frequently overlooked features of voice and video recording within OneNote to embed podcasts into OneNote notebooks to help guide her students.

This past summer Kelli applied again to the Partners in Learning 2011 US Innovative Education Forum with an inspired project she titled: What’s the Verdict? The Count of Monte Cristo Murder Trial where she asks her 10th grade World Literature students to read The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. As the culminating project for this unit the class puts the main character, Edmond Dantès on trial for murder, borrowing her words for your world lit refresher: “In the novel, Dantès seeks revenge on the men who destroyed his life. Although he does not harm anyone directly, Dantès sets events in motion that cause the death of seven people, the kidnapping of two, and the loss of wealth of another.” That would seem like a enough intrigue and controversy to grab any 16 year-old! 

The novel’s premise sets the stage for the mock murder trial of Dantès that her students conduct taking on the roles of prosecutor, defense lawyer and witnesses. Ms. Etheredge uses a shared OneNote notebook to enable students to consolidate the novel discussion notes taken in class and she guides students on how to prepare questions for witnesses (this is where the podcast comes in which she adds to the class notebook) and students use Word or OneNote to create a cause and effect chart to make connections throughout the book.

Now, I will let you in on a little secret, again in Kelli’s words, she is a “recovering lawyer” (the picture to the right is not Kelli as barrister, but playing judge in the classroom). This is her second career, but as they say that is not germane to this project. However, if you’re not feeling too confident on conducting a mock trial in class, Kelli penned a great post (with video) on conducting a mock trial on Peter Pappas's insightful Copy/Paste blog which includes tips for making a mock trial successful.

So why do it?

The book itself has a certain appeal to most students, but the trial provides an engaging hook to motivate students to be prepared, while they also learn to read literature for a specific purpose. What Kelli sees is how student’s improve their critical-thinking skills, as well as their persuasive speaking and writing skills while the collaborative work encourages effective time management and working together to achieve a larger goal.

In addition students practiced writing for different purposes including, chapter summaries, letters to attorneys, questions for witnesses, opening and closing statements, and persuasive writing. You can learn more specifics about the project here.

It is this project that Kelli submitted to the Partners in Learning 2011 US Innovative Education Forum where she took home the well-earned honor of 1st place in the Knowledge Building & Critical Thinking category. It was exciting to see and I look forward to hearing what she is working on now when she represents the US with 10 other peers at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC next month. Track this event on our Facebook site.

Regards,

Rob

(Follow on @TeachTec)

I have been blogging a lot recently on how teachers who are making projects real-world and authentic are achieving amazing outcomes (see salmon fishing in Alaska and student entrepreneurs). We see plenty of words tossed around to describe the teaching we aspire toward: “21st century learning,” “collaborative” and “building community,” however I believe it is useful to shine light on practices where these words are being put into classroom practice so that we can learn and be inspired to build on these examples. A starting point for exploring what this might look like in the classroom is through The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, an organization focused on disseminating information that defines “21st century skills." They have a number of well thought-out lesson ideas (scroll-down and then click a few layers deep).

Here’s a project that received the “Educator’s Choice” award at the Microsoft Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum. Designed by an amazing educator Melanie Wiscount, a Business & Computer Education Teacher at Palmyra Area High School in Palmyra, PA who was also named a Siemens STEM Institute 2011 Fellow.

Ms. Wiscount asked her students to find a place of significance within a 15 mile radius of their school. This could be a historically important place, a business, an organization or an attraction. The first step was to research the site and create storyboards in Word matching the student-written script with media including still and moving graphics, music and sound files. The next was drafting the media and narration, editing video and audio, and an ultimately creating the podcast in Movie Maker.

Prior to the project the class spends time introducing many elements relevant to how we work, play, study and live in our connected world including copyright law and fair use law, ideas around public domain, attribution and Creative Commons licensing, in addition to conducting effective online research and the use of many tech tools.

But what’s a video podcast if no one comes to see it?

Enter QR codes. They’re those funky little bar code-like designs you’re starting to see in magazines, in stores and other promotional materials. Predominately seen has a mobile marketing tool people download a tag reader app for their phone, beam the app at the QR code and it can take them to a web site, deliver location specific information to the person (modern scavenger hunt?), or deliver specific content directly to them. This is Melanie’s personal QR code for her web page. Microsoft Tag is another example and you can check it out and even create one in a few minutes. 

Ms. Wiscount then had her students upload their podcasts to the class YouTube channel and each student created a QR code for their podcast which would send people directly to the video podcast about their chosen location. Some students began to develop their marketing skills working with their organizations to set-up “QR easels” at the location so customers scan the code with their phones and learn more about the organization, for example, Palmyra is located right next to Hershey (as in the chocolate), so you can learn a lot of Hershey history.

A handful of students had the opportunity to present their work to the Palmyra Area School Board and in Melanie’s words, “…it was evident their learning, ownership, and pride in this assignment and their creations had depth and connection. It was refreshing for our school board members to see students so excited about what they created and learned through this assignment.”

And the students had their ah-hah moments too:

· “We had to worry about following copyright and fair use laws. I never realized that what was on the Internet is protected.”

· “I now realize how easy it is for the world to see my work.”

This is an excellent example of how offering students freedom of choice and content, an interesting mix of tech tools like Flip cams, cameras, microphones, software, and using their mobile phones in the classroom increases interest and engagement. While introducing something new, and a bit on the edge, like QR codes begins to prepare students with skills and experiences that go beyond the classroom. If I were a high school student struggling to fill-up a one page resume for that summer job or college application I would certainly reference this project.

I look forward to seeing Melanie next month at the Microsoft Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC. She will join the other finalists from this summer’s US Forum to present alongside roughly 120 educators from 70 countries. It looks to be great event and I will be sharing observations along the way on @TeachTec and on Facebook.

Regards,

Rob

Fishing and land use are two critical issues for the state of Alaska. It may not come as a huge surprise that these issues are frequent topics of discussion in Jason Arthur’s class.  Jason teaches at Highland Tech High School in Anchorage. It might be assumed that he teaches social studies or a social sciences class, but he teaches high school math. So when a student wanted help meeting her Algebra 2 course requirement with the goal of finishing the course early, Mr. Arthur worked with her to develop a special project that has now become a mainstay in his curriculum.

The intent of the project is for students to develop an understanding of peak salmon fishing runs for key rivers in the state making predictions on fish count based on analysis of past data. Students mine and analyze data from the Alaska Department of Fish & Game and come up with an average daily number of salmon running through select rivers over the course of a seasonal salmon run. Students take those averages and create a quadratic regression function and graph to illustrate approximate beginning and ending dates of the run along with a prediction of the peak date for the number of fish on any given year. This analysis is done in Excel along with TI graphing calculators. For a state that derives a significant amount of its revenue and jobs through the fisheries industry you can’t get much more real-world than that.

At that point many educators might call it good. A real-world project that hooks (no pun intended) students with a local community issue and puts professional tools in their hands, certainly it is a project where the learning taken could be applied in many scenarios beyond the classroom, not to mention covering a bevy of state math standards, ISTE standards and other critical 21st century skills such as collaboration and scientific analysis, environmental literacy, to name a few.

But here’s where Mr. Arthur and his students take it one step further making the project and learning even more authentic. The students take their information and present it to a panel of experts that may include teachers, administrators, their principal (who happens to be an avid fisherwoman), community members, business partners, parents, and finally to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game officials! Students choose how they want to present their information, and with creativity encouraged, students create videos, PowerPoint presentations and brochures to communicate their findings. 

In the picture an Alaska Dept. of Fish & Game Biologist is giving students feedback on their presentation.

What strikes me about this project is its authenticity. We often discuss real-world happenings in the classroom, I know I certainly watched kids in my social studies classroom engage much more when a current event topic was the focus of the dialogue versus delving into a more obscure and important (?!) historical person or event. Adolescents minds are in the here and now and drawn to issues that affect them or those immediately around them. This is part brain development and part of the psychology of a high school student. Mr. Arthur grabs his students with an issue they can relate to and makes the learning come alive.

Mr. Arthur pushes his students to excel by setting a real-world, locally impactful topic in front of students, guiding them through the necessary scaffolding while establishing a compelling end goal of a presentation in front of key stakeholders. This sounds a lot like what many of us do in our real 21st century day jobs!

It is not surprising that Jason Arthur’s project with the catchy title Combat Fishin’ was one of the 10 winners at the Microsoft Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum. Jason will take his project and represent his students, the state of Alaska and the U.S. to the Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC (Nov. 7-11) where over a hundred educators from 70 countries will exhibit innovative projects from around the world.

If you want to keep track of what’s going on at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in DC, connect to our Facebook page and watch for real-time updates on @TeachTec #msftpil. You can also checkout Jason Arthur’s blog here.

What examples have you found effective in bringing real-world, community issues into the classroom? Where have you achieved authentic learning? I would love to hear what you’re doing.

Regards,

Rob

As many of you might recall there was a fair amount of blogging activity around the Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum we hosted in July. The event brought together just over 100 educators from across the country to showcase and highlight innovative teaching practices that are making positive impacts in the classroom. A post I did highlighted the finalists from this event who would go on to represent the U.S. at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in November 7-10 in Washington, DC. Another post listed each participant by state with a short project description.

The U.S. event combined an exhibit of all teacher projects, hands-on professional learning and new activity we dubbed “learning excursions,” where we organized educators into collaborative working groups and sent them to interesting sites around Seattle including Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the Seattle Underground, and the Seattle Asian Art Museum. The activity served multiple of purposes, we certainly wanted to have these educators see some of the highlights of the Seattle area, as opposed to be locked-in a conference center on Microsoft campus for two days. We also wanted to see what kind of learning activities might be generated when top-tier educators are paired up with similar subject-matter and grade level peers and sent to unique places in a community and asked to come up with an engaging, 21st century learning activity that could be used by teachers across the country.

The results were amazing and much more than we expected. We could tell early on in that this cohort of IEF educators were special. Once we assigned the groups via our online community ideas were flying back and forth and brainstorming had begun! As the educators arrived on-site they quickly connected face-to-face as bonds had already been formed online. We set them off on one lovely Seattle afternoon and groups spent a few hours at their destination gathering artifacts, taking pictures, videos and finalizing their learning activity as a team.

And then came what we affectionately dubbed our “Oprah moment.” The educators didn’t know this, but we announced at the forum that the team with the top learning excursion activity (as voted by their peers) would fill the final slot to represent the U.S. at the Partners in Learning Global Forum. This upped the ante a bit as teams dove in deeper to make these projects great (and to be fair, we gave them until the end of August to complete their projects).

So, we have winner. Chosen by their peers. A team which brought together computer science teachers, a math teacher and a media arts teacher, created the project titled: “When Fish Fly – Pike Place Fish Co.” integrating computer science, fine arts, business and economics asking students to “…collaboratively research, design, and integrate a game simulation replicating Pike Place Fish Market that incorporates the business process, customer interaction and physical energy across multiple content areas. The completed project will support dynamic interaction using the Kinect system and will serve to facilitate an active learning model of education in the targeted curricula.”

The intent of “When Fish Fly” is for students to work in a collaborative design team to create an Xbox Kinect game (using the Kinect SDK among other tools) that replicates the sights, sounds and “sense of place” of this iconic venue within the Pike Place Market (you all have likely seen or heard of the Pike Place Fish Co., it’s the fish market where they throw whole fish when you place an order!). Of course not all students will have a chance to visit this market so the lesson was extended to be applied to any noted venue or location in your community.

Here’s the team that created this project. They will be joining hundreds of innovative educators from around the globe this November in DC:

• Doug Bergman, computer science, Porter-Gaud High School, South Carolina
• Johnny Kissko, math, Frenship High School, Texas
• Margaret Noble, media arts, High Tech High, California
• Donna Thomas, computer science, Sherwood High School, Maryland
• Lou Zulli Jr., computer science, Lakewood High School, Florida

If you would like to see the actual project, complete with alignment to 21st century skills and even a code sample, go here (you may need to register with the Partners in Learning Network to view the project, if you are not already a member, it is free to join).

One of the educators, Lou Zulli has even begun to implement this project in one of his computer science classes (see kids below!). I look forward to checking in with him in a couple of months to see how it is progressing.

When Fish Fly dev team at Lakewood High School:

Testing their new app, When Fish Fly, trying to “catch the fish” with Kinect:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On a separate, but related note on Kinect : On Friday we released new lesson ideas and activities for use in the classroom with Kinect. These resources, aligned to Common Core Standards, were created by a team of educators (including one member from this team – thanks Johnny!). Check out the site and let us know what else you need to bring together gaming and learning in the classroom.

Regards,

Rob

Kicking off this weekend is the second annual NBC News 2011 Education Nation Summit on education aimed at addressing the challenges and opportunities faced in this country. The intent is for this initiative to act as a catalyst toward sparking meaningful change within our education system. On Sunday, September 25th at 12:00-2:00pm (EST) there will be a nationally-televised, live Teacher Town Hall hosted by Brian Williams on MSNBC and moderated online by Rehema Ellis via a live web chat on their site.

As a sponsor of this event Microsoft is hosting special viewings of the Teacher Town Hall at the 11 Microsoft Stores across the country. Each store will host educators and others in the community who would like to join this important conversation while it happens. If you would like to attend this unique in-store event, see a list of the stores and register here. (Insider tip: the Microsoft Friends & Family discount will be offered for all attending.)

For those who cannot attend a store event, during the broadcast you can connect to the live conversation on www.EducationNation.com when it is on-the-air as well as engaging in the conversation using the hashtag #TeachersEdNat.

@TeachTec will be tracking, please join us at a local store if you can.

Regards,

Rob

This is a guest post from Margaret Noble a Media Arts educator from High Tech High in San Diego, CA. Margaret who had the opportunity to participate in the Microsoft Partners in Learning Middle East & Africa Innovative Education Forum and collaborate with educators from across these Middle East & Africa. Margaret partnered with math educator David Stahnke and became a finalist at the U.S. Innovative Education Forum this July. They will be two of ten educators representing the U.S. at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in November. Learn more about their project here.

Reflection by Margaret Noble

On a Wednesday afternoon, I received an e-mail that there was a potential opportunity to attend a Microsoft Partners in Leaning conference with educators from 27 different Middle Eastern and African countries in Jordan. The only hitch was that I had to prepare to fly out in 5 days. Without hesitation, I pushed the send button with a return e-mail stating my enthusiastic, “Yes!” Wondering if I would be one of the lucky ones, I spend the late night hours rechecking my e-mail to find out if my dream would come true. The next morning, I groggily awake to a confirmation email that indeed, I am attending the Microsoft Partners in Learning conference in Jordan.

It is no light task to leave your classroom for a week, especially when school has only been in session for one week. It is a critical time of forming classroom norms and team building. As I scrambled for a substitute teacher, I also consulted with my students on how best to design their week ahead so they would have a positive experience without me. We collaborated and they sent me off with smiles – they wanted me to have this opportunity.

I packed my luggage and I waited for my plane ticket. I had no idea when I would be leaving but it didn’t matter – my heart was already there. In the very last hours before the conference would begin I receive my flight information. On Tuesday I leave in the morning by bus to the San Diego airport. I then fly from San Diego to Los Angeles, then to Italy and finally into Jordan for three nights. I stumble off a plane half awake and a friendly young Jordanian man takes me through customs and helps me to sort out my visa. Next, a four-hour bus ride to my hotel in Aqaba, Jordan - it is 1 AM and I am suddenly awake and excited.

The next morning, I am up and still catching my bearings. I enter a large breakfast hall with extraordinary new foods and I realize on first glance that I appear strikingly different from my peers. I am in drab western business attire but surrounded by magnificent colors, fabrics and cuts rarely seen in San Diego. But, everybody is new to each other and everybody is smiling and chatting. By the end of the day, I made meaningful connections with teachers from 8 countries. I was able to discuss with teachers that I would've never had the chance to learn about if it were not for this forum. And by the end of the conference, I was also able to talk to education leaders, government officials and other ambassadors to progressive education. It felt like a United Nations conference for education.

I presented my project to the entire group of 100+ educators and the walls came down even further between my comrades and me. No differences between teachers in the East or West as far as intention and goals for student experience. We all want our students to be happy in their learning process. We all believe in the value of using technology effectively and obviously we all want our students to succeed.

During the two-day conference, there were many amazing keynote presentations. The most striking observation that came through time and time again from these many diverse speakers was that if education is going to really change then we must not rely only on the teachers. School administrations and governments must pick up the slack to help these teachers bring positive learning experiences to their classrooms. And if technology is a central goal for education then we need to give teachers professional development so they can learn to implement ICT effectively in the classroom. If we throw teachers into the deep without proper support then they may have a negative experience in facilitating technology. Instead, we must spend our time helping them learn to design new-media and digital technological projects for their students’ future successes.

Another main idea from the presentations was that technology is not enough to prepare students for the 21st century; technology must be facilitated in a collaborative environment moving away from old-school models. Coming from a world of full technology, I found it important to remember that for some of my peers in the Middle East and Africa resources are often limited. However, these teachers were so passionate and excited about their work; they were effective communicators and knew how to facilitate teamwork to design great classroom projects. They wanted to collaborate with their peers, students and other educators across cultures. I was reminded that innovation needs only enthusiasm, passion and great ideas.

Not surprisingly, I also learned that teachers from around the world deal with the same problem of student disconnection and apathy in the classroom. One of the South African teachers presented the point that it was important to make sure we have “No more boredom in the classroom!” Boredom begets apathy and apathy takes away from learning. The presentations kept reinforcing the importance of fun in the classroom. There is a global movement towards making learning fun. Fun activities help kids to relax and take risks. Fun builds confidence and confidence supports learning.

If a picture is worth 1000 words then an experience is worth a billion. The Partners in Learning Middle Eastern and African event was positively transformative and I commend the Microsoft team for bringing multicultural perspectives to education in such an engaging and supportive way. Only through events such as this will the global educational community be able to come together to support each other, exchange ideas and collaborate. Because of this event, I have forged promising connections and friendships with educators from Saudi Arabia, Gayaza, Ghana, Nigeria, Egypt, Jordan and England.

See the cool photo story Margaret created (remember, she teaches Media Arts : )

(Please visit the site to view this video)

This is the first of a couple of guest posts from two U.S. educators who had a rare opportunity to attend the Microsoft Partners in Learning Innovative Education Forum for the Middle East & Africa hosted in Aqada, Jordan last month. Here’s a dispatch from Doug Bergman, a high school computer science teacher from Charleston, South Carolina. Doug was a winner at the U.S. Innovative Education Forum in July and will be one of ten educators representing the U.S. at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in November. You can learn more about Doug’s winning project here.

This past July, I was honored to have been one of nine teachers selected to represent the United States at the upcoming Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC in November where we will be spending a week interacting with hundreds of innovative teachers from over 75 countries. Over 150 of us will be competing for 4 awards in each of 5 categories related to innovation, technology, and 21st century learning.

Microsoft invited two of those U.S. winners to be guest presenters at the Middle East & Africa Innovative Educator Forum held in Jordan. The next thing we knew, Margaret Noble, an art teacher from California (doing amazing things with technology, math, and art) and I were on a journey to an area of the world neither of us had ever been.

The forum was very much like the U.S. Innovative Educator Forum we had been involved with in July in Redmond, WA, so we were very familiar with the world class expectations of the event. The Microsoft’s Partners in Learning team in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of Education hosted the 3 day event in Aqaba, Jordan, which I can best describe as one of the most beautiful places in the world. Each day was work-hard play-hard…full of presentations, speakers, workshops, panel discussions, sharing of ideas, sightseeing, incredible food, traditional dance, and even an occasional dip in the Red Sea.

But, I found myself more intrigued by my new friends from around the world. Never have I been in one place with the rare opportunity to meet so many talented people from so many cultures, religions, and countries (over 200 educators from over 20 countries, each who had already won their regional events). Over those 3 days, I made some great friends, especially connecting with Joel from Uganda, Mandeep from the U.K, Nourah from Saudi Arabia, Louise and Kim from South Africa, and Saeed from Ghana. And of course the teacher in us already has begun planning collaborative projects. In fact, Nourah will be one of my online judges in next semester’s business presentation panel for my Computer Science class and I am already planning some Skype calls between my classes and those of Saeed and Joel.

One of the unexpected realizations of the experience was that in that room full of people of differing religions, cultures, economic diversity, age, gender, and color, we were really just a bunch of teachers, passionate about what we do, eager to share our own ideas and hear about what others are doing. You could literally see the stereotypes we had in our minds vanishing as we noticed the same gleam in all of our eyes as we told stories about our innovative experiences, students, schools, and friends back home. (to the left Doug pictured with Nourah a computer science teacher from Saudi Arabia)

And with incredible communication tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Skype those relationships will continue long after the conference ended. In fact, it is just beginning.

There is a side to Microsoft that is as valuable as any of their software products…and that is their commitment to education. Events such as these I am involved with now, tools they make available to educators, connections they help build, and recognition they help provide---all of that will help elevate the quality of educators and education worldwide.

See more pictures from Doug’s trip to Jordan.

 

Doug Bergman

Computer Science Teacher, Port-Gaud High School

Charleston, South Carolina

On Friday evening we wrapped-up the Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum (IEF) with the Gala Awards dinner on a fittingly stunning evening in Seattle. All 100 teachers gathered to celebrate, relax and reflect on an incredible 2+ days of project exhibitions, inspiring keynote presentations, professional learning and collaborating (you can see a few pictures on Facebook and checkout the fun video below about what participants had to say at the event). As the evening drew to a close we announced the 9 final projects and 11 educators that will go on to represent the United States at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC in November.

To note, we reserved one slot based on a professional development activity we did at the event where we sent teams of educators to cultural and historical sites around Seattle which we dubbed “learning excursions.” The educators are working collaboratively on new classroom projects throughout the rest of the month and they will vote on who gets the final spot at the Global Forum (announcement to come in early September).

The projects at this year’s event came from nearly all grade levels and subjects and the finalists below were evaluated using a rigorous rubric by an esteemed panel of judges representing education and industry. It is certainly cliché to say all of the educators are winners, but each project was unique and innovative in its own way and it was personally gratifying for me to meet each one of these educators and learn more about their projects as we interacted over the past six months (see the full list of 2011 US IEF participants).

Here are the 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum Finalists (listed by category):

Collaboration

1st place: Colin Horak & Antonio Sablan, Franklin Pierce High School (Washington)
Project: Project Unite
This project evolved out of one 9th grader’s proposal for how to reduce the incidents of immature behavior and fighting amongst his classmates. Dubbed “Project Unite” the class came together in a broad campaign combining t-shirts, bracelets, signs and ultimately an eloquent presentation to the student body during an MLK Day assembly, followed by a moving Microsoft Photo Story presentation of the diversity within Franklin Pierce High School in Tacoma, Washington. The students continued their campaign with a series of public-service video announcements that were incorporated into the 9th grade English curriculum as prompts to promote class discussion on diversity and unity. (See a previous post I did for more info on this project)

2nd place: Pauline Roberts, Birmingham Covington School (Michigan)
Project: Engage – BCS!
Engage is a school-wide 3rd to 8th grade program unique to Birmingham Covington School (BCS). Engage was conceived as BCS sought to reinvent itself to keep pace with the real-world skills that will be demanded of its students when they leave the school system. The overarching goal of Engage was to engage students in problem-based and project-based activities that integrated the four main elements of the enGauge 21st Century Skills: Digital Age Literacy, Inventive Thinking, Effective Communication, and High Productivity. It naturally embraces elements of science, educational technology, technology education, mathematics, and language arts.

Knowledge Building & Critical Thinking

1st place: Kelli Etheredge, St. Paul’s Episcopal School (Alabama)
Project: What’s the Verdict? The Count of Monte Cristo Murder Trial
10th grade World Literature students used a shared Microsoft OneNote notebook, Office Web Apps and Windows Live SkyDrive to share information, collaborate and prepare for a criminal trial of the character Edmond Dantès after reading the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Students develop many 21st century skills including critical thinking, creative problem solving and collaboration to either prove or disprove the liability of Dantès. (here is a video we shot of Kelli in her classroom)

2nd place: Margaret Noble & David Stahnke, High Tech High (California)
Project: Illuminated Mathematics
Mathematics is mixed with media arts to create video, sound, photography, and mixed media installations that explore math related
topics. Students selected topics and then brainstormed creative ways of expressing their research through digital art. Each student also completed a research paper on their topic and gave a PowerPoint pre-production presentation. Student choice and in-class critiques played a critical role. (See a previous postI did for more info on this project)

 

Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom

1st place: Jason Arthur, Highland Tech High School (Alaska)
Project: Combat Fishin’!
Students are exposed to multiple areas of technology and mathematics, including intensive use of Microsoft Excel, graphing calculators, and PowerPoint to learn how to analyze data and make predictions about the future based on available information. The students gather data from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game and use technology and reasoning to help determine optimal fishing times and ultimately present their findings to a diverse set of members from their community.

2nd place: Nathan Manderfeld, Monroe Elementary School (California)
Project : iAM
In this 4th and 5th grade project, students were exposed to careers and technology. They collaborated as they recognized the talents of their classmates and became active participants in their own learning. They did everything from becoming engineers to creating and running their own small business. They stored their work in digital portfolios with an end goal to graduate 5th grade and proudly state a possible career aspiration: “iAM an architect, iAM an engineer, iAM a graphic artist, iAM an author, iAM an entrepreneur, iAM a 21st century learner, and iAM more than a test score!”

 

Use of Technology for Learning

1st place: Louis Zulli Jr., Lakewood High School (Florida)
Project : Center for Advanced Technologies News and Information Portal (CATNIP)
CATNIP is an ongoing project to create a school intranet that integrates campus communication, curriculum planning and facilities management into one site with students working in collaborative teams to develop this school-wide resource. This project uses a wide variety of technologies including Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010, Visual Studio 2010, InfoPath 2010 Expression Blend, and Silverlight all led by the student’s as software developers. 

2nd place: Doug Bergman, Porter-Gaud School (South Carolina)
Project : Computer Science through Entrepreneurism and XNA Game Studio for the Xbox
Students in this hybrid computer science and entrepreneurship class learn how to manage and work on a single large computer programming project using Microsoft’s XNA Gaming Studio, as well as developing their own software coding and problem-solving skills. They apply the equally important skills of entrepreneurism using the NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) curriculum, building, and eventually presenting a business plan for the game idea they choose. Additionally students identify something they are personally passionate about and create a game or simulation for the Xbox that teaches, demonstrates and generates interest in the area they have chosen. (See a previous post I did for more info on this project)

 

Educators’ Choice

Melanie Wiscount, Palmyra Area High School (Pennsylvania)
Project: History Video Podcasts & QR Codes
Students create a video podcast about an attraction, business, or organization of their choice within a 15-mile radius of their school. They research the history of their choice, plan the podcast (including media, prose and narration) develop a storyboard in Microsoft Word and then create their podcast using Microsoft Movie Maker. The students then put on their marketing hats and generate a QR code (or “tag”) for the “customers” of their chosen establishment, so people are able to access their video podcast on-demand for their PC or mobile device, while also including the podcasts in their class wiki.

You can see the press release here.

Let me know what you think? What is your favorite? Or check out all of the 2011 IEF projects and tell me who you think should be going to the Global Forum? We will continue to share more on these projects on this blog with the goal of sharing these best practices throughout the educator community. Keep in touch through our Facebook page (and be sure to “Like” it for updates) and follow me @TeachTec using #msftpil to keep tabs on these amazing educators as they go onto the Global Forum.

And to close things out, here is a fun video we shot over the 2+ days of the forum:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Rob Bayuk

U.S. Partners in Learning

(putting the “Teach” in @TeachTec)

We just wrapped-up the project exhibitions piece of the Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum! 100 educators, representing 25 different states and nearly every K-12 grade level and subject  (checkout the Photosynth of the exhibition here). And now they are off on Learning Excursions to historical and cultural landmarks around Seattle and then to a fun reception at the Space Needle. Whew!

We had a great live stream of Dr. John Medina’s “Brain Rules” keynote which was a lively and active discussion in the room and via #msftpil and we are looking forward to the same with Jane McGonigal tomorrow (see my previous post on how to tune in).

A few people have asked for a post of all of the projects – in one place – ask and TeachTec delivers   Here it is, brief summaries of the amazing educators from the 2011 U.S. IEF!

ALASKA
Jason Arthur, Highland Tech High School
Project 1: Combat Fishin’!
Students are exposed to multiple areas of technology and mathematics,
including Excel, graphing calculators, and PowerPoint to learn how to
analyze data and make predictions about the future based on available
information. The students gather data from the Alaska Department of
Fish and Game and use technology and reasoning to help determine
optimal fishing times.

ALABAMA
Donna Mackin, St. Paul’s Episcopal School
Project 2: Microsoft Office vs. Google Docs
To encourage exploration, critical thinking and analytic skill development
students were asked to evaluate, discuss and defend opinions on various
software programs used in their school. Specifically, students compared and
contrasted Google documents with Microsoft Word, documenting their
analysis in Microsoft Excel and then sharing their findings with the class.

Kelli Etheredge, St. Paul’s Episcopal School
Project 3: What’s the Verdict? The Count of Monte Cristo Murder Trial
10th grade World Literature students used a shared Microsoft OneNote
notebook, Office Web Apps and Windows Live SkyDrive to share
information and prepare for a criminal trial of the character Edmond
Dantès after reading the novel The Count of Monte Cristo. Students develop
many 21st century skills including critical thinking, creative problem solving
and collaboration to either prove or disprove the liability of Dantès.

Carrie Stuart, St. Paul’s Episcopal School
Project 4: Viva La Cocina!
Students are required to host their own cooking shows to demonstrate
how to prepare a Spanish or Latin-American-inspired dish, which they
prepared and shared with the class. The students demonstrated their
knowledge using Microsoft Photo Story.

ARIZONA
Shannon Nuckolls & Niki Hart, Sierra Verde STEM Academy
Project 5: Kaleidoscope of Innovative Perspectives
After taking on the role and point of view of different immigrants
entering the United States during the Industrial Revolution Era,
these 7th graders were tasked with compiling a multimedia scrapbook
documenting their own life from their homeland to America. This
cross curricular project immersed 7th grade social studies and
language arts students with 21st century technology, such as Movie
Make, Bing, and Publisher.

CALIFORNIA
Kevin Crosby, Independence High School
Project 6: Falcon Autistic Solar Team (FAST)
The FAST team, works with higher-functioning students with autism to
help peer-tutor other schools about how a solar panel takes radiant energy
from the sun and converts it into electricity. The focus of the FAST team
is to travel to other schools and teach their students about how solar
energy works combining LEGO solar kits and presentation skills.

Suzanne Scotten & Olivia Conn, EV Cain STEM Charter School
Project 7: The Heroes Project
In the Heroes Project, students created a short documentary that
highlights a “hero,” someone who has overcome adversity, or who has
done something to “repair the world.” Depending on their technical
skill level, students choose between using Photo Story, PowerPoint
and/or Movie Maker to prepare a digital story to share with their
peers and school community.

Angela Sveda, Ralston Middle School
Project 8: Ecopoetry
How can poetry protect the environment? “Ecopoetry” is a technologybased
project that can be reproduced in a variety of classrooms to improve
poetry curricula. In the project, students use technology to enhance their
poetic skills in advocating for endangered species. First, student groups
write poems (ballads, epics, sonnets, odes, lamentations, and dirges) about
endangered species. Then, they work with Windows Movie Maker to
translate their poems into movies with images, music, and voice recordings.

Nathan Manderfeld, Monroe Elementary School
Project 9: iAM
In this 4th and 5th grade project, students were exposed to careers and
technology. They collaborated as they recognized the talents of their
classmates, and became active participants in their own learning. They
did everything from becoming engineers to creating and running their
own small business. They stored their work in digital portfolios with an
end goal to graduate 5th grade and proudly state, “iAM an architect, iAM
an engineer, iAM a graphic artist, iAM an author, iAM an entrepreneur, iAM
a 21st century learner, and iAM more than a test score!”

Corey Bess, Valley Middle School
Project 10: Teacher Tweets Improve Student Performance
The Teacher Tweets project aimed to determine whether the use of
Twitter in an 8th grade science class would improve student performance.
The data suggests the sample population who used Twitter performed
significantly better on standardized tests and overall grades, compared to
the sample that did not use Twitter. This research provides evidence of the
power of social media and its effects on student performance.

Daphne Bradford, Crenshaw High School
Project 11: Developing Digital Media Geniuses
In Developing Digital Media Geniuses, Crenshaw High School Digital
Media Team students use the skills they‘ve learned in digital photography
and video production, to teach California State Dominguez Hills Osher
Lifelong Learning Institute students (age 55+) how to make digital photo
albums and movies. The primary goal of the Developing Digital Media
Geniuses program is to allow students to use 21st Century skills such as
communication, collaboration and creativity beyond the classroom.

Meg Omainsky, Henry M. Gunn High School
Project 12: STEM Slam
STEM Slam is an online video competition where students made zany
and unexpected video demonstrations documenting how they use
STEM skills in their lives. This project encourages students to drive their
learning in a manner that is personally engaging and creative. People
across the globe can vote online for their favorite videos. This project is a
global celebration of STEM learning.

Margaret Noble & David Stahnke, High Tech High
Project 13: Illuminated Mathematics
Mathematics is mixed with multimedia to create video, sound,
photography, and mixed media installations that explore mathrelated
topics. Students selected topics and then brainstormed
possible creative ways of expressing their research through digital
art. Each student also completed a research paper on their topic
and gave a PowerPoint pre-production presentation. Student
choice and in-class critiques played a critical role.

Corinne Takara, Horace Cureton Elementary
Project 14: You are Here: Street Banner Project
Fifth grade students at Cureton Elementary and one 4th grade class at
Hawaii Preparatory Academy in Waimea engaged in a workshop series
exploring community identity and geometry through photography and
digital pattern design. The synergy of art and technology which drives
Silicon Valley was explored, and students actively experience the civic
workings of their city as they create and submit public banner concepts.

Gwynn Moore & Shannon Wentworth, Aurora Public Schools
Project 15: Digital Draftbooks
Students create a paperless writing environment using Digital
Draftbooks, Online Graphic Organizers, Blogs, Wikis, and Digital
Storytelling to give students authentic purposes and audiences
with no pencil sharpener needed. The ease of use helped reluctant
writers, struggling readers, Special Education students, and second
language learners find ways to be successful with writing.

Misty Jones, Sunset Elementary School
Project 16: 3 Scoops
The 3 Scoops project engages 5th grade students in the creation of
an ice cream shop within the classroom to practice and learn about
investments, profits and losses, and the management of money. Students
used technology to research, survey, create advertising and price sheets,
summarize profits and losses, and teach the basics of spending money to
their kindergarten buddies.

Cheryl Arnett, Sunset Elementary School
Project 17: Making Learning Real-Giving Kids a Voice
The objective of this 2nd grade project was to engage children in
meaningful learning by providing opportunities to explore real world
topics gathered from a variety of people and resources. Students were
encouraged to participate in service projects and create ways to share
their learning with the world by using Photo Story, Movie Maker, Bing
Maps and more. The children learned that even at a young age they could
make a difference and have a voice in the world and their own future.

Amy Jones & Melany Neton, Sunset Elementary School
Project 18: The Kindergarten Restaurant
In trying to engage children and creatively prepare them for their future,
these teachers implemented a Storypath into their curriculum. As full day
kindergarten teachers, they have the gift of time to integrate purposeful
play. Storypaths are an approach that originated in Scotland in an effort
to create integrated curriculum. With the belief that stories help us all
remember and make sense of our lives, the Storypath Approach believes
that children learn best when they are active participants in their own learning.

Laura Voorhees, Hayden Valley Elementary
Project 19: Diving into the Ocean
In a small community in a rural Colorado mountain town, kindergartners
develop a fascination for the underwater world. Sparking their curiosity
and interest in sea animals provides them with a sparkle and a love for
learning. Students are provided multiple opportunities to learn about
sea creatures, and become experts, while they learn about an unfamiliar
ecosystem. Reading, writing, and technology skills are enhanced, including
grade-level appropriate use of Microsoft Word and an introduction to Skype.

Shelley Stetler, Adams 12 Five Star Schools
Project 20: Inquiry Quest: An Inquiry–Based Technology Assessment
The Inquiry Quest project is a six step, inquiry-based assessment which
harnesses the power of the district’s 8th grade students’ ability to
problem-solve, create, and communicate a persuasive message of their
choosing through the production of a digital product. Using tools such as
Microsoft’s Office suite, Photo Story and Movie Maker, students go from
being passive consumers of knowledge to active and excited producers
of knowledge.

CONNECTICUT
Lisa Fenn & Laura McDonnell, Roaring Brook Elementary
Project 21: Leap into Learning
The Leap into Learning project allows students to experience the life
cycle first hand as live tadpoles are raised and observed as they
metamorphose into frogs. First graders were introduced to a Life
Cycle web quest designed through PowerPoint, while tracking the
tadpoles‘ life cycle in Excel, completing Life Cycle Centers, and a
Multiple Intelligence Day focusing on learning the life cycle through
a variety of intellectual modes.

FLORIDA
Denise Spence, Dunbar High School
Project 23: Student for Tomorrow’s Global IT Force
Dunbar High School‘s Academy for Technology Excellence program is
engaging 9th-12th grade students in developing the essential IT skills
needed for today‘s 21st century workforce. Students in this program are
being inspired to think beyond high school and to investigate creative
ways to utilize technology. Students are able to learn the necessary IT
skills and get industry certification that will make them highly marketable
to both colleges and to the business world.

Suzanne Banas, South Miami Middle Community School
Project 24: Exploring Climate Change Using the Eyes In the Sky
Using NEO (NASA Earth Observations) satellite images and NIH Image to
animate them, students explored various aspects of climate change and
began to understand global issues in order to take environmental action. The
overall outcome of the project is student-generated research culminating in
multimedia presentations, in which students communicate in a professional
and creative manner while being challenged to solve real-life environmental
issues. This middle school project offered authentic learning opportunities
and enabled the students to acquire skills in computer technology, instrument
interfacing, as well as general problem solving and decision-making experience.

Louis Zulli Jr., Lakewood High School
Project 25: Center for Advanced Technologies News and Information
Portal (CATNIP)
CATNIP is an ongoing project to create a school intranet that integrates
campus communication, curriculum planning and facilities management
into one site with students working in collaborative teams to develop this
school-wide resource. This project uses a wide variety of technologies
such as SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Designer 2010,
Visual Studio 2010, InfoPath 2010 Expression Blend, and Silverlight.

GEORGIA
Kristen Drake, Hightower Elementary School
Project 26: Worksheetless Classroom
Students utilize technology for instruction, practice, and assessment
instead of relying on worksheets. The worksheetless classroom is one
that effectively uses technology, providing interactive practice of
skills. Assessments are online, and students receive specific, immediate
feedback on performance. These elementary school children set and
reach goals for reading fluency, comprehension, math fact fluency and
monitor their own progress.

IDAHO
Sean O’Brady, Sunrise Elementary School
Project 27: Drama in the Classroom.
Drama in the Classroom has children create teaching material. Students
are outstanding teachers. They also learn material better if they are teaching
or creating content specific teaching material. Drama in the Classroom is
an attempt to actively engage learners in the learning process. Students
work higher level thinking skills as they create PowerPoint presentations,
animations, or movies to teach concepts. Curriculum can be tied to the
local environment so learning happens in and out of the classroom.

ILLINOIS
Aaron Fay, Highland Park High School
Project 28: The Flipped Classroom
The “flipped” classroom is a flip on the traditional classroom. “Homework”
will be completed in class with peers and teacher present to assist, but
lectures that require focus are to be done as homework. Lectures are
videotaped and edited to be less than 15 minutes and posted to a school
video website. Students can access lectures through a homework portal as
often as needed. Students unable to attend class can still be held accountable
for course material but lose the benefit of completing work with peers.

Emily Richardson, Naperville North High School & Aubrey Ludwig, Langley High School
Project 29: Condense, Synthesize, and Apply: Using 21st Century
Technologies to Engage the 21st Century Learner
Condense, Synthesize and Apply addresses the challenge of
engaging students to develop and apply their knowledge critically
and innovatively. This two-part project asks students to synthesize
images, video, text, and music into a video presentation that
showcases their unique interpretation of the play Death of a
Salesman. Then, the project concludes with students applying
these skills by creating a video that reveals their understanding of
the American Experience as a whole. Students develop a working
knowledge of Movie Maker.

INDIANA
Don Wettrick, Franklin Community High School
Project 30: Franklin Film Festival
As part of the broadcast journalism class at Franklin High School, the
seniors are responsible for the Franklin Film Festival. To more fully
engage the students, they were asked to produce documentaries
involving local stories and used a classic movie theater in town called the
“Artcraft Theatre” to showcase the students‘ talent. The kids were inspired
by talking with real movie producers and other documentary film makers
and learned the basics of documentary writing structure.

LOUISIANA
Karel Sloane-Boekbinder, Jefferson Performing Arts Society
Project 31: Abstract Expression and the Science of Plant Cells
Thirty students at C.F. Rowley Alternative in Louisiana‘s St. Bernard Parish
recently participated in JPAS Cultural Crossroads‘ residency “Abstract
Expression and the Science of Plant Cells.” Using abstract expressionism,
SMART boards, the work of Joan Mitchell and Microsoft PowerPoint,
students explored the Gulf oil disaster and its impact on their region‘s
environment.

Margaret Simon, Jefferson Island Rd. and Center St. Elementary
Project 32: Voices on the Gulf: Using Multimedia to Respond to the
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
Encouraging students to engage in work that has an authentic audience
can increase engagement levels and commitment. Children used
PowerPoint to create original pictures depicting the results of their
research and to format a storyboard that ultimately became a Movie
Maker project uploaded to the “Voices on the Gulf” site that aims to
amplify the voices of residents impacted by the spill.

MASSACHUSETTS
Saba Ghole, NuVu Studio
Project 33: NuVu Studio: Winter 2010–2011 “Storytelling” Term
Through the theme of “Storytelling,” high school students work in teams
to investigate topics such as documentary filmmaking, dancing robotics,
song production, interactive art, narrative photography, and mobile learning
applications. Combining various technologies such as Movie Maker, Xbox,
Bing, Skype, microcontrollers, sensors, 3D modeling software, and social
media, students create stories to explore issues affecting people and communities
globally, incorporating social, political, technological, and artistic perspectives.

Colleen Werner, Ipswich High School
Project 34: Modeling with Microsoft Mathematics
Students produce an image of a structure or scenario that can be
modeled using a quadratic function. Using Microsoft Mathematics 4.0
and free geometry software, they find the equation of the quadratic
function that fits the image and superimpose the graph of this function
onto the original image.

Roni Gold, Rebecca M. Johnson School
Project 35: The Rise-Up Project — A 21st Century Study Buddy at
Your Finger Tips
Our urban 5th grade classroom uses Windows mobile devices (aka “Study
Buddies”) to transform teaching and learning for today‘s students and
tomorrow‘s teachers. Students use Microsoft Office Mobile tools throughout
the day in all content areas and participate in a web-based teaching residency
where undergraduates in a teacher preparation program receive guidance as
they mentor a 5th grader in reading over email and classroom visits.

MARYLAND
Donna Thomas, Sherwood High School
Project 36: Solving a Real World Problem with
Game Design & Development
Throughout the past few years, students have learned more about how
to make a positive difference in others’ lives by designing and creating
games. In this project, students are learning about and applying leading
and bleeding edge technologies such as XNA/C#, Movie Maker and
various Office programs to design and create games inside and outside the
classroom. For this project, students created a game to assist in curriculum
delivery to rising 9th graders that were not exposed to actual school
property, because the school is closed for roofing repairs over the summer.

MICHIGAN
John Prepolec, Bloomfield Hills Middle School
Project 37: Quality for Kids
Quality for Kids is designed to teach teachers and students the science,
methods, and culture of quality for the enhancement of STEM education
and college preparation. This project focuses on honing the skills to
effectively apply the scientific method including detailed data analysis in
Microsoft Excel. The students learn how cause and effect is the primary study
in science and engineering and they experience the Scientific Method live.

Pauline Roberts, Birmingham Covington School
Project 38: Engage – BCS!
Engage is a school-wide 3rd to 8th grade program unique to
Birmingham Covington School (BCS). Engage was conceived as BCS
sought to reinvent itself to keep pace with the real-world skills that will
be demanded of its students when they leave the school system. The
overarching goal of Engage was to engage students in problem-based
and project-based activities that integrated the four main elements of
the enGauge 21st Century Skills: Digital Age Literacy, Inventive Thinking,
Effective Communication, and High Productivity. It naturally embraces
elements of science, educational technology, technology education,
mathematics, and language arts.

Tasha Candela, Lake Shore High School
Project 39: Electronic Portfolios: The Weebly Wonders of the Web
This e-portfolio project transforms the traditional paper portfolios into
electronic portfolios by using digital cameras, flash drives, a video camera,
headsets, scanners and Microsoft Office. Students learn about career
opportunities and career interests, gaining greater knowledge of technology,
while creating a portfolio they can use for seeking employment. This project
gives students a real-world use of technology which they can put to
immediate use.

MISSOURI
Mike Fitzgerald, Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School
(MICDS)
Project 40: MICDS Green Campus Project
The objective of this Geography project was to have students explore,
“How do our lives impact our geography.” Students were asked to form
and present an original, creative, practical, and measurable solution to
an environmental problem that they identified on the school campus,
in the form of a 2-minute video. A call also went out to many partner
schools around the world to send in “Green” contributions of all sorts, as
well as teaming up with the MICDS 2nd grade, numerous international
schools, and the McDonnell Academy for Global Energy and Environment
Partnerships (MAGEEP) at Washington University in St. Louis.

NORTH CAROLINA
Matthew Kelly, Independence High School
Project 41: Espero [I hope}: presentational communication in Spanish
through digital storytelling
Advanced and intermediate students of Spanish explore digital storytelling
as a medium for self- expression using the Spanish version of Microsoft
Photo Story 3 and Microsoft Movie Maker. The assignment required
students to speak, listen, read and write in the target language and
introduced concepts of media literacy based on autobiographical narrative.

Shea Grisham, A.B. Combs Leadership Magnet Elementary
Project 42: Earth’s Changing Surface: Human Impact
In this project, 5th grade students research how dams and levees help
humans in land development, but also impact the natural processes of
erosion and deposition, as well as the surrounding ecosystems. Students
create their own dams and levees to solve the following fictional scenario:
You have found an amazing house to buy for a great price. The house
sits in a low field in a great neighborhood. However, the house does have
known water problems. Since you have moved in, you have noticed some
flooding in the front yard. The house sits next to a large stream. How can
you control the flooding before your house has any major damage?

NEW JERSEY
Kim Leegan, Union Catholic High School
Project 43: Adopt a Country
The Adopt a Country project is a year-long World Studies project. Students
select a country which they independently research throughout the year.
In connection with the project, students keep a weekly journal about the
country, as well as responses to guided questions. Students are encouraged
to take global service action for certain country projects. A diverse set
of technologies and skills are applied throughout the project including
desktop publishing with Microsoft Publisher, PowerPoint, Word and Bing.

NEW YORK
Vince Interrante, Mineola Middle School
Project 45: Weather Investigation: A 21st Century Learning Approach.
As part of a 1:1 computer pilot project, this class is able to use a
combination of Microsoft Office 2010 with OneNote to collaborate and
communicate with peers and adults in this project-based learning activity.
The objective of this project is to have the students become adept at
using 21st century learning technologies that will produce engaged
students who take ownership of their own learning. Consequently, the
role of the teacher naturally shifts to the facilitator of learning from the
more traditional stand and deliver model.

Barbara Bonnani & Marcia Sterenbuch,Old Bethpage Elementary School
Project 46: Celebrate the U.S.A. — RAPPING TO THE CENSUS
This is a highly collaborative effort to get 2nd grade kids
learning about the Census by pulling in music, technology and
social studies. Students learn about the U.S. Census by studying
questionnaires, gathering, graphing and interpreting data (from
community and individual family responses), and creating written
responses that will be used to address listening and speaking
standards. Culminating activities will include a rap song containing
all of the new information students acquire throughout the unit.

OHIO
Robert Baker & Greg Martin, Cincinnati Country Day School
Project 47: Shared Microsoft OneNote Applications: A Teaching
and Learning Utopia
Using Microsoft OneNote in a shared environment allows teachers
to do more and better formative assessment by having a window
into student work, anytime and anywhere. Students in courses as
far ranging as 5th grade French and Upper School Physics are able
to continue to work within the paper paradigm, placing everything
from handwritten notes to audio/video clips they create in a notebook.
This in turn can be shared with the classroom teacher and/or other
students in the class, thus leading to more effective collaboration.
The major goal was to create a school-wide environment in which
the sharing of information was simple, effective, and flexible and
enabled both creativity and productivity.

Milton Alan Turner, Saint Ignatius High School
Project 48: French IV Video Projects: Les Téléjournaux (TV News Shows)
et les Causeries (TV Talk Shows)
Students research topics using authentic resources to produce television
news videos, talk shows, and newspapers in French. This offers students
an opportunity to direct their learning and the technology tools they
wish to employ throughout the project.

Kacy Carter, Jackson Memorial Middle School
Project 49: STOP – REVIEW
Lock kids in a room and have them create a dynamic project that reviews
critical content they have learned about our nation‘s history. Students are
charged with the task of creating a stop-motion video that both informs
and entertains the viewer, while demonstrating the class‘s understanding
of the content learned. Students create storyboards, organize themselves
into groups, decide on music and sound effects, and then film the video.

PENNSYLVANIA
Laurence Goldberg & Shalon Doctor, Abington School District
Project 50: What Would You Do with $100?!?
Students decided what they would do if given $100. They engaged
in discussions about money, resources and values, and selected the
options of saving, spending, or giving their money away. Students
worked collaboratively and engaged in debate and discussion in
various heterogeneous and homogeneous small groups as well as
other classes. Through discussions and personal reflections, students
were able to come up with the ideas necessary to complete the task.

Melanie Wiscount, Palmyra Area High School
Project 51: History Video Podcasts & QR Codes
Students create a video podcast about an attraction, business, or organization
of their choice within a 15-mile radius of the school. They research the
history of their choice, plan the podcast (including media, prose and
narration) develop a storyboard in Microsoft Word and then create their
podcast using Movie Maker. The students then put on their marketing hats
and generate a QR code for the “customers” of their chosen establishment, so
people are able to access their video podcast on-demand for their PC or
mobile device, while also including the podcasts in their class wiki.

Blair Mill, Hallowell Elementary Schools
Project 52: Rock out on Rocks
In Rock out on Rocks, students recognize that natural resources,
in some shape, form, and limited amount, can be found in their
state or country. Using an online mapping program, students
research and find information related to the earth science content
area, rocks. Students learn the basics of how to research necessary
information, using a digital organizer. From this, they publish their
research into a Microsoft Word document and create a letter to
their parents/guardians discussing what they learned about their
favorite rock, chosen from a selection of six Pennsylvania rocks.

Valerie Fasy & Diane Heitzenrater, Keith Valley Middle School
Project 53: Find Your Future
As part of the Financial Literacy/Career Exploration classes, 8th
grade students are inspired to “find their future” by engaging in a
series of activities related to career pathways of interest. Students
use a variety of technologies including Microsoft Tag Reader,
Microsoft Office and video conferencing to research and collaborate
with others. The 21st Century skills incorporated in this project
include problem solving, teamwork and communication.

Frank Machos, School of the Future
Project 54: Music and Marketing as a Cultural and Consumer Influence
Students explore the impact that music, surrounding them both
consciously and subconsciously throughout their daily activities, has
on their life. Students discuss the vast roles of music in marketing
including jingles, commercial scores, retail environments, and celebrity
endorsements. The students demonstrate their knowledge of these
concepts and media literacy by creating marketing campaigns for print,
radio, or television to promote products and by constructing a retail
environment to sell their product. Students utilize digital tools such as
Movie Maker, Songsmith, Paint, Audacity and PowerPoint to create a
professional quality advertisement and business proposal presenting
their ad campaign to potential funders.

Elizabeth Harvey & Thomas Gaffey, School of the Future
Project 55: Slope and Stairs
Project 100 is a problem-based, supplemental math class for 9th
graders. In one of the units, learners investigate slope by building
stairs for an actual basement in a house near the School of the Future.
Learners were given nine activities which mandated that they submit
an artifact as evidence of learning the skills in that activity. The purpose
of each activity was to build the skills needed to create a scale model
of stairs out of foam core poster board. Learners were then given the
opportunity to apply what they learned in a real situation— to rebuild
the basement stairs for a neighbor of their school.

SOUTH CAROLINA
Doug Bergman, Porter-Gaud School
Project 56: Computer Science through Entrepreneurism and
XNA Game Studio for the Xbox
Students in this hybrid computer science and entrepreneurship class learn
how to manage and work on a single large computer programming project,
as well as develop their own software coding and problem-solving skills.
They apply equally important skills around entrepreneurism using the
NFTE (Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship) curriculum, building and
eventually presenting an actual business plan for the game idea they
choose. Additionally students identify something they are personally
passionate about and create a game or simulation for the Xbox that teaches,
demonstrates, and generates interest in the area they have chosen.

TENNESSEE
Kelly Huddleston, Franklin Road Academy
Project 57: Create a Business
Working with a partner, students create a business, beginning with
a business plan, writing a mission statement and tag line, and then
creating business cards and letterhead. Students also complete a series
of spreadsheets to track their income and expenses, as well as produce a
commercial and design a web site. Finally, students showcase everything
to the rest of the class in a PowerPoint presentation.

TEXAS
Elsa Holm & Erika Timmons, Ginnings Elementary
Project 58: Broadcasting Our Future
This project meets the requirements of Achieve Texas through the
integrated use of technology. Achieve Texas‘ standards require
that all elementary students in Texas be made aware of career
opportunities. Students explore career clusters identified by
Achieve Texas through interviews and classroom discussions. Skype
is used to interview Manuel Teodoro, a former editorial assistant
for CBS News and a correspondent for the Cable News Network
(CNN). The students filmed and produced additional interviews
within the school using Flip Video cameras.

Lynne Zalesak, Jackson Middle School
Project 59: Bringing US History into the Present: The Young Nation
Middle schools social studies students create digital stories describing the
major achievements and effects of a main theme in the development of
the United States as a nation. They present their project across a range
of tools including Microsoft Photo Story, Movie Maker, and PowerPoint,
incorporating other forms of digital media to enrich these digital stories.

Robyn Hrivnatz & Sarah Bauguss, Katy ISD
Project 60: Growing Knowledge in Math and Science
Middle school students integrate math and science in a realworld
setting to plan, design and plant a garden bed using
Excel and OneNote for measurement calculations and design,
while tracking the status of their seedlings in a OneNote Notebook
on their laptop or mobile device. Students then document their
observations in the tool of their choice including Movie Maker,
Photo Story or Animoto, ultimately sharing their artifacts on the
class Edmodo sites, enabling classmates to comment, collaborate
and learn from each other.

Joli Brock, Slaughter Elementary
Project 61: A Global Ecological Journey with the Smithsonian and
SHOUTlearning.org
This unit aims to teach 2nd graders about the importance of educating
themselves about global environmental awareness and responsibility.
Students extend their learning online through ideas provided by
the Smithsonian and SHOUTlearning.org, using technology to reach
classrooms around the world and create a dialogue about conservation
and preservation of our natural world.

Johnny Kissko, Frenship High School
Project 62: Xbox 360 Kinect in Education: Same Classroom, New Identity
Mr. Kissko explores the integration of Kinect with Xbox 360 and gesturebased
learning in a variety of educational settings. Kinect integration fits
within the parameters required to operate public schools, making active
learning within enclosed walls now a tangible possibility. Teachers and
students learn how to effectively integrate gesture-based learning and
use a bank of resources to consult for future exploration as the Kinect
education community develops and evolves.

UTAH
Donna Pence, Beacon Heights Elementary
Project 63: Art, Bullying, and Videotapes
504 elementary students, led by their art specialist, worked collaboratively
across the student body to create 87 videos that teach and entertain
their peers about responsible and appropriate behavior. Student projects
ranged from live actors, puppet shows and Claymation combining
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Movie Maker to produce their films.
Emphasizing collaboration, teamwork, critical thinking and problem solving,
the project ultimately culminated in a new school-wide Film Festival.

VIRGINIA
Cynthia Feist & Tara Jeffs, Loudoun County Public Schools
Project 64: Mathem(AT)ics: Integrating AT in Mathematics
Using Microsoft Office tools, educators responsible for teaching
mathematical concepts awaken their students‘ natural curiosity
and problem solving skills by providing a variety of strategies
and techniques that promote motivation and support active
engagement in mathematical thinking.

Nancy Morris, George H. Moody Middle School
Project 65: Finding the Balance
Students used 21st century skills to collaborate, research, analyze and
create a multimedia presentation to educate their classmates on the
structure of the United States government. When the research was
complete, students collaborated in groups to create a unique digital
presentation to convey their research and conclusions to the class using
any type of digital platform that was available to them in school.

Ashley Hickcox & Amanda Arman, Fairhill Elementary School
Project 66: When I Grow Up: Parallel Model Career Search
When I Grow Up is intended to motivate and guide students as they
leave elementary school and prepare for middle school through a metacognitive
process. Students learn about different careers and match
their strengths and interests to choose a future career to investigate and
share about. Students take one or more surveys, interview professionals
in the field, research online and in the library, and create a project in
the field of their choice. The big idea of this project is meta-cognition —
students need to understand their strengths, interests, weaknesses
and motivations. Students focus on their identity — both in the
present and what they would like to see for the future.

Toni Rader & Nick Grzeda, Loudoun County High School
Project 67: InterroBANG: To Inspire Creativity and
Prepare Students for the Future
Invite students to participate in real world learning that begins
with a challenge (a question) that leads to discovery and ends with
insight and surprise. Using InterroBang, a socially-networked gamebased
site, students are empowered to showcase their passions
and expand their personal growth, while applying a diverse set of
technologies along the way, including Bing Translator, Flip Cameras,
Movie Maker, Publisher and Microsoft Office.

Patricia King & Laura Rahn, Mountain View Elementary School
Project 68: Graphic Novels to the Rescue!
How to make history come alive is a common question for most
educators. In this world of video games and social media it was obvious
where the answer would lie. Finding a way to integrate Social Science
instruction and technology became the goal, with an underlying
focus of promoting the importance of reading. The idea of creating
graphic novels, based on historical facts was born. Upon completion of
instruction of Virginia: 1607–1776, students were given an opportunity
to create their own historical-fiction short story.

WASHINGTON
Cheryl McClure, Meridian Middle School
Project 69: Warm up to OneNote
Students use Microsoft OneNote to respond to daily warm-up (entry task)
questions in an 8th grade science class. Too often middle school students are
masters at writing only brief responses, not always demonstrating their true
understanding of core concepts. The use of 1:1 synced OneNote notebooks
allows teacher visibility and understanding of individual student learning,
enables an easy method for providing feedback and ability to check student
assignments. Using OneNote warm-up questions has enabled students to be
engaged and encouraged to write complete details of their understanding
and pose any questions or concerns they have regarding the given science topic.

Robin Hoover, Finn Hill Junior High
Project 70: Voices of Injustice
In this high school English project, students research and create three unique
voices from one global situation of social injustice—historical or contemporary.Students are expected to showcase all perspectives of the social injustice, including
the human rights‘ violations, by creating a fictional story for a victim, a persecutor
and a neutral bystander. Students are expected to showcase one voice in a
written narrative (linguistic), another in an oral presentation (auditory/kinesthetic),
and the last in a digital presentation (visual/auditory). Each voice needs to
address the universal human experiences associated with the social injustice.

Matt Palmer & Kim West, Lake Washington School District
Project 71: Changing Technology PD: It’s About Students
Not Seat Time
This is a three year technology integration project to prepare district
educators to infuse technology into the classroom, with the purpose of
ensuring a common level of proficiency in identified technology skills that
integrate into everyday teaching in the classroom. This scalable approach
focus is student-centered, using best practices that align to state standards.

Bret Crane, Redmond Junior High
Project 72: Fairy Tale PowerPoint Students use Microsoft Ribbon Hero
as a learning tool to be introduced to PowerPoint.
Student understanding is supplemented by mini-lessons depending on proficiency.
Students utilize PowerPoint to retell a Grimm Brothers Fairy Tale, creating a
summary of the story which acts as an outline for the slides (scenes) they will use in
their presentation. Once an outline is drafted, they choose Clip Art (or create their
own) for backgrounds, story characters, and props, manipulating as needed to fit
their theme and animation needs, citing sources used, and rewriting the story in
their own words. As a final step, students present their stories to the class.

Carrie Calonzo & Rebecca Winbauer, Glenridge Elementary School
Project 73: Third Graders + Math Problems = Problem Solving Experts
In this student-driven project, 3rd graders showcase their problem
solving abilities with Photo Story presentations and filmed videos
explaining their mathematical thought process. Problem solving
abilities are showcased with Photo Story videos and SMARTNotebook
presentations shared with the class.

Michelle Zimmerman, Amazing Grace Christian School
Project 74: From the face in the webcam to the face of humanity:
Pre-teen researchers influencing little livesUsing technology for society’s good is a skill that needs to be modeled,
instructed, and practiced with an authentic purpose as young students
prepare for the future. This project leveraged participatory action
research which sought to locate the emergence of skill development
through an intersection of human connection and laptop use in a crossage
mentoring model with middle school and preschool students. To
increase understanding of new forms of learning within a non-traditional
grouping of 6th and 7th graders in a 1:1 laptop environment, the teacher
drew on their perspective and creativity as they utilized production and
internet tools to facilitate their own data collection.

Jamie Ewing, Mount View Elementary
Project 75: bing’edu: bing Education
Every year Google does a “Doodle for Google” competition where
students redesign the Google logo. Since Mr. Ewing‘s school is in Seattle
he wanted to do something that was more locally based. He created
his own competition using the engaging Bing home page as a vehicle
to allow students to express what education means to them. Students
combined writing, photography, GiMP design software, and Bing.

Betsy Weigle, Adams Elementary School
Project 76: Connecting Classrooms with Skype and PowerPoint
The objective of this project was to open the classroom to the world by
bringing children from Washington state and South Carolina together,
virtually, to share insights on Native American cultures. Students used
presentation and interactive conferencing technology, which allowed indepth,
real-time interaction on shared content. Students prepared short
PowerPoint slide shows or posters, verbal presentations and question/
answer sessions.

Colin Horak & Antonio Sablan, Franklin Pierce High School
Project 77: Project Unite
This project evolved out of one 9th grader‘s proposal for how to
reduce the incidents of immature behavior and fighting amongst
his classmates. Dubbed “Project Unite” the class came together
in a broad campaign combining t-shirts, bracelets, signs and
ultimately an eloquent presentation to the student body during an
MLK Day assembly, followed by a moving Photo Story presentation
of the diversity within Franklin Pierce High School. The students
continued their campaign with a series of public-service video
announcements that were incorporated into the 9th grade English
curriculum as prompts to promote discussion on diversity and unity.

Kenneth Ryan Olden, White Swan High School
Project 78: The Shield of Achilles / Project Symbolic
At the time of this project, students were reading The Iliad, specifically
portions of Book 18: The Shield of Achilles. This text portion details
the shield that Achilles carries into battle against Hector. The shield
is constructed of various scenes depicting elements of ancient Greek
life, specifically elements that the soldiers valued and fought for but
were unable to attain for themselves due to their chosen profession.
Students used the idea of the shield to create their own non-linguistic
representations that mixed music, video, and still images to create short
films that depicted the elements of their life that they personally valued.
The students then showed these videos to an audience of peers, community
members, and family members and posted them to personal websites.

Regards,

Rob

(keep track via @TeachTec and track #msftpil)

The 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum is happening this week in Redmond, WA. 100 top educators from 25 different states arrived in Seattle today. We have a busy 2+ days ahead and 10 projects from this group will go on to represent the United States at the Partners in Learning Global Forum in Washington, DC in November.

I wanted to let you know how to watch the two keynote presentations live from Redmond. We will be UStreaming both keynote presentations in their entirety (see details below). These will not be recorded so we encourage you to check them out as they happen!

Thursday, July 28 – Dr. John Medina – 8:45am (PST), 11:45am (EST)

Dr. John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist, has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. Dr. Medina takes us on a journey into the inner workings of the brain, revealing the ways we can most effectively improve our lives at school, work and home. Medina’s non-traditional arguments and proven insights can be found in his The New York Times bestseller Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Learn more about Brain Rules.

Friday, July 29 – Jane McGonigal – 2:15pm (PST), 5:15pm (EST)

Dr. Jane McGonigal, director of Game Research and Development, Institute for the Future is a world-renowned creator of alternate-universe cyber games. Dr. McGonigal reveals insights on how games can be used to fix the problems of the world — the real world, that is. Author of The New York Times bestseller Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World. McGonigal explores the power and future of gaming and reveals how its collaborative and motivational aspects are being used to solve some of the most difficult challenges facing humanity. Learn more about Dr. Jane McGonigal.

Watching the 2011 U.S. IEF Keynotes online

There are two ways to watch these keynote presentations:

1. On the Partners in Learning Facebook page. Simply “Like” this page and come back at the noted time to watch the live UStream of the keynote. We will do our best to pass along any questions you have online to the presenters.
2. On the 2011 U.S. IEF web page. If you aren’t on Facebook, you can go to the event web site.

If you are on Twitter, follow me @TeachTec and use the #msftpil hashtag and we will be making observations and blog posts throughout the event.

Another good way to stay in touch is the Microsoft Education Newsletter where we will provide updates on the 2012 event along with other classroom resources from Microsoft.

Regards,

Rob

I have been blogging quite a bit on this big event and we have 100 top innovative K-12 educators on our Redmond campus this week for the Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum. Educators will exhibit projects that creatively use technology to positively impact learning. The top 10 educators from this event will go on to represent the United States at a global forum this fall that will draw 700 educators, school leaders, press, and education thought leaders from 75 countries.

We are extremely happy to have an incredible list of judges for the U.S. event who are volunteering their time this week (and many hours prior) to review projects and interact with these educators to make their assessments. Educator’s projects will be evaluated based on a detailed rubric that has been used globally in other regional forums that assesses the project’s learning design, evidence of student learning, collaboration, knowledge building, extending learning beyond the classroom, use of technology, and how the teacher is innovating.

We wanted to extend a sincere thank you to all of these individuals who are helping to showcase and highlight these amazing educators who are doing innovative and creative things in classrooms throughout the country.

Partners in Learning 2011 U.S. Innovative Education Forum judging panel:

Khalil Abdel Massih

Microsoft Partners in Learning Manager, Microsoft Corporation, Dubai

Deirdre Butler – Head Judge

Senior Lecturer in Education, Digital Learning, St. Patrick’s College, Ireland

Leslie Conery

Deputy CEO, International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), Oregon

Vicki Davis

Teacher & Author, Cool Cat Teacher Blog, Georgia

Steve Dembo

Director of Online Community and Social Media Strategy, Discovery Education, Illinois

Les Foltos

Director, Peer-Ed, Washington

Byron V. Garrett

Senior Consultant, NBC News - Education Nation, New York

Robert Ginsburg

CTO Version3/CSI Cloud services, CSI Technology Outfitters, South Carolina

Rod Gode

Senior Director, US Education Specialist, Microsoft Corporation, California

Mary Alice Heuschel

Superintendent, Renton School District #403, Washington

Lee Kolbert

Manager, Dept. of Educational Technology, School District Palm Beach County, Florida

Peter Magnuson

Senior Director, Strategic Partnerships, Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)

Brian McAllister

Co-Founder, Roadtrip Nation, California

Michaela Miller

Director, Teacher and Principal Evaluation, National Board Certification, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington

Kirsten Panton

Western Europe Lead, Partners in Learning, Microsoft Corporation, Denmark

Jonathan Parley

Manager of Creative Design and Media, Center for Digital Innovation, Washington

Betty Paugh Ortiz

Senior Vice President of Innovation, The NEA Foundation, Washington, DC

Linda Pittenger

Director, Innovation Lab Network, Council for Chief State School Officers, Washington, DC

Cheri Rhinhart

Director Information Technology, InterMountain Education Service District, Oregon

Heidi Rogers

Executive Director, Northwest Council for Computer Education (NCCE), Idaho

Troy Ruemping

Associate, Point B Consulting, Washington

Dennis Small

Educational Technology Director, Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, Washington

Alfred Thompson

Academic Developer Evangelist, Microsoft Corporation, New Hampshire

Gregory Whiteman

Director of Technology Integration, Kent School District, Washington

David Wicks

Assistant Professor, Director of Instructional Technology, Seattle Pacific University, Washington

Janet Wilson

Owner, Randle Wilson Consulting, Washington

Amy Wong

Director, STEM Integration Silicon Valley Education Foundation, California

Pat Yongpradit

Computer Science Educator, Springbrook High School, Maryland (*2010 Partners in Learning Global Forum winner)

We sincerely appreciate their time and efforts.

Regards,

Rob

Over the past two years or so in working with a diverse set of educators, digital storytelling, or some derivative thereof, continues to be one of the primary uses of technology in classrooms across all grades levels. Though we can argue about what the most pure definition of digital storytelling is, the basic concept of capturing or gathering images and developing a narrative with those images remains a consistent theme. I still believe it is one of the most effective and accessible means of using technology in the classroom (some much so that I created the first e-book for educators from Microsoft on this topic with the intent of encouraging the craft), as it just makes sense on so many levels. So when the project Espero [I hope], by educator Matthew Kelly, a Spanish teacher from The Academy for International Studies at Independence High School (Charlotte, NC) became a finalist for the U.S. Innovative Education Forum I was intrigued.

As the title suggests, students are asked to develop a digital story about their personal hopes and aspirations. Aimed at Mr. Kelly’s seniors, this is a timely task as graduation lies ahead and thoughts turn to life after high school. The interesting twist is that the students have to do this in Spanish! The tool of choice is the ever-popular Microsoft PhotoStory, but he uses the Spanish version of the software as well as guiding them to Spanish-language tutorials on the product to familiarize themselves with how it works. To encourage students to grasp the power and impact of still imagery he has them watch the seminal film La Jeteé  (1962) by French director Chris Marker (with Spanish subtitles of course) documenting the three most powerful images from the film (which incidentally was the inspiration for the film 12 Monkeys).

The project focuses on a number of 21st century skills including media literacy, practicing good digital citizenship and respect for intellectual property, as well as properly attributing sources, while the Spanish learning goals are to be able to communicate, read and present information in the target language. By choosing a personal topic and encouraging self-expression students have ownership in the end product while asking them to think about their goals and their next steps which is not often an area explored too deeply, at least in a formal way during the high school years. It is nice to see Mr. Kelly get a shout-out in his local paper for his work.

I am looking forward to meeting Matthew Kelly and learning more about his project at the U.S. Innovative Education Forum in Redmond next week. It will be an action-packed two days including two great keynote presentations by Dr. John Medina and Jane McGonigal which will be streamed through our Facebook page so “Like” us there to be sure to receive the updates. Also, as always be sure to follow at @TeachTec and we will be using @msftpil throughout the event.

Regards,

Rob

A curated multimedia exhibition entitled, “Illuminated Mathematics” produced by 12th graders may not be what you’d expect to see high school seniors working on. But at High Tech High (San Diego, CA) they are certainly taking a fresh approach to math and art (among other curricula). In Margaret Noble’s digital art class and David Stahnke’s math class, students created an intriguing exhibition combining sound, video, animation, photography and interactive installations with the goal of promoting math awareness through art, media and design.

The goal was to help students develop deeper connections to mathematical concepts and theory while connecting these concepts to the world at large and being able to communicate these concepts to their peers and community. Many teachers struggle with how to connect what they are teaching to the lives of their students. In this project a combination of student choice, not only in the math concept they explore, but also in the media arts output led to increased student buy-in and some extremely creative student work.

They first researched a math theory, narrative or phenomena including ideas like the Mysteries of Pi, is Math a Universal Language, Art, Nature & Fibonacci, Entropy and the Mathematics of Sports. Once deciding on a topic they researched, wrote a paper and presented a PowerPoint presentation to their class explaining their concept. Students then determined an approach to exhibiting their concepts through a digital art project using photography, sound, web sites or video.

The results were a creative array of video projects including animated fractals, chaos theory and relativity (separate exhibits), an artistic representation of tessellations, music produced using Pythagorean scales, photography that displayed entropy (ice melting in a warm room is a common example of increasing entropy – don’t worry, I just learned that too), Pi and mental illness in mathematics, and a silent film which used cryptography to crack a love letter, among a number of other creative choices. You can see much of this student work here on Ms. Noble’s blog. (scroll down). This work was exhibited for the public at a local performance and visual arts space.

What strikes me about this project, beyond the unique cross-curricula integration, are the educator’s abilities to let students drive the work. This can be an unsettling notion for many educators particular in math curricula were a linear, textbook-driven approach is often the norm. By turning the concepts over to students while offering intriguing hooks between these complex mathematical theories and elements of a student’s daily life, the level of engagement undoubtedly increased as evidenced by the creative output. Mr. Stahnke reflects on this aspect of teaching in an article he wrote, noting that by offering student’s a voice in their learning not only increases buy-in, but can have the effect of narrowing the achievement gap citing one student who struggled in math making significant strides during this project.

And playing off the theme of student voice, perhaps best to close with one student’s reflection on the project (borrowed from Mr. Stahnke’s article):

“It definitely widened my view of math. At first I thought math was only useful to scientists and mathematicians, but this project showed me that math is everywhere.”

Now I need to delve into animated fractals!

Regards,

Rob

Margaret Noble and David Stahnke will be exhibiting their “Illuminated Mathematics” project at the 2011 Partners in Learning U.S. Innovative Education Forum hosted at Microsoft’s worldwide headquarters in Redmond, WA later this month. To see other projects that will be featured at the event see my previous post.

I suppose this will not come as much of a surprise, especially for those teaching middle and high school, but the typical 9th grader isn’t often too concerned about global issues. While inspiring action (in anything) can be quite challenging except for maybe free food, Xbox or a quick text response. Developmentally students are just getting to where they need to be to take on larger, more complex social and global issues and moreover, they are attempting to figure out where they fit into the global mix. The fact that their actions can have a positive or negative influence on someone else across the world is a big concept, and not just for students.

I got to experience this first-hand as a first year Social Studies teacher taking on a World Cultures class where my ninth graders at the end of the year had to conduct a Mock United Nations, adopting and representing “their” country, bringing many skills together at the end of the year. I certainly wished I would have come across Kim Leegan’s approach to teaching World Studies. Ms. Leegan is one of the finalists in the 2011 Partners in Learning U.S. Innovative Education Forum. She teaches at Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, NJ and received a nice shout out here by her local paper. Her yearlong project for her 9th graders called “Adopt a Country” not only provides the necessary scaffolding for students, but leads students to delve deeper into their adopted country and the end results are inspiring her students to take action on a global scale.

Students work on developing their online research skills as they research different political and cultural aspects of their country maintaining an digital journal along the way. As new components of the project are introduced throughout the year students create different artifacts and share them in the classroom including exploring the food and music of their chosen country. At points throughout the year students demonstrate their learning to their teacher and peers including the “Passport Project” where students create a passport in Microsoft Publisher and “visit” different countries to get their passports stamped.

The goal Ms. Leegan strives for with her students is to create global citizens. In her own words she believes this project, “…helps the students make a real connection between what they are learning in the classroom and what they can do in the world.” Students not only become aware of the cultural and political differences of other countries, but more attuned to the social and environmental challenges countries face and how what we do here in our little worlds can impact what is happening to a person or group of people in another country. This type of global awareness is fundamental to enabling a 21st century student to be a successful, productive and responsible citizen.

Though like with most good stories, there is a bit more. As the students become more expert on their adopted country they become more attached to it as the year progresses. Later in the year Ms. Leegan asks them to explore a particular social issue their country faces. The challenge is to not only determine the social issue, but also what approaches or solutions might be in place to help address this challenge whether it be a relief agency, aid organization or a business model such as the Fair Trade organization that helps ensure local farmers get fair compensation for products sold around the world.

The point of all this is to build awareness and “global responsibility” in students so they recognize they can and should take action to make an impact. Some of the results she has seen is that students developed the “Pencil Project” collecting school supplies for elementary schools in Costa Rica and one group started the “Refugee’s Read” project leading fundraising activities to help teachers in Ethiopia get books for students in refugee camps. A project to support Haitian coffee farmers evolved into a full-blown school club called Project Haiti with the goal being to help raise awareness that in supporting organizations like Fair Trade we can all help Haiti become economically independent. Not surprisingly this project is already receiving an award, the 2011 Governor Jefferson Award for Outstanding Youth Service in the field of Peace and Justice. Wow!

As you’ve probably gathered, to get there is multi-staged effort that helps students develop many core skills while going above and beyond not only the standards in her home state, but a number of 21st century skills along the way, however, in the end it is Ms. Leegan finding creative ways to engage students throughout the year which leads to deeper student buy-in and ultimately student-driven action that goes beyond the classroom.

I look forward to learning more about this project later this month in Redmond at the IEF event. I will continue to blog on some of the many amazing projects that will be exhibited at IEF. To stay in touch, follow me @TeachTec and “Like” us at Partners in Learning on Facebook and we will be posting more details about the educators and the event, including our plans to UStream the keynote speakers.

How have you inspired your students to take global action?  Please share your thoughts.

Regards,

Rob

(aka putting the “Teach” in TeachTec)