My DEN Crib by Lee Kolbert

For the past 10 years now, my school district has put on this huge educational technology conference. I say our district but in fact its really my department. My dept. of ed tech specialists, all prior classroom teachers, consists of a whopping 13 people. Together, in addition to our regular duties, we throw together this technology conference. Just to give you a little perspective, the conference this year consisted of approximately 70 vendors and sponsors, (big-names such as Apple, Discovery Education, Audio Enhancement, Scholastic, etc.) and keynote and featured speakers such as Tim Tyson, Hall Davidson, Kathy Schrock, Mark Benno and Alan November and over 200 breakout sessions! We typically have over 2000 teachers and administrators in attendance. Rain or shine! And we don’t charge a penny for our teachers to attend this terrific staff development event.

Last Friday I had the opportunity to participate not only as one of the people who was running the show, but also as a participant and presenter. Here are a few thoughts that are now running through my head as I sort through my experiences of last Friday:

1. I was (pleasantly) surprised at the level of knowledge, or perhaps interest, that our teachers currently possess as compared to when we first began this conference 10 years ago. I overheard teachers discussing their choices and they were wondering if they should attend the Google Earth session or a session on Second Life. In other words, these teachers weren’t talking about PowerPoint or Word.
2. Many of the teachers were active learners in the breakout sessions. I heard this from numerous presenters, and this was true in my session as well. Teachers were not just interested in sitting back and consuming information from the presenter. And, this was perfectly fine with me and the other presenters I spoke with. We are all for conversation rather than the “I feed you” method. Our participants were conversing, interjecting and adding to the discussion. They weren’t just asking questions, they were at times challenging our very thoughts. This is good! Isn’t this what we want our students to do?
3. Likewise, I was an active learner in my session. My session was more conversational than presenter v. audience and I really enjoyed the comfortable interaction between me and within the members of the group. My session was on del.cio.us bookmarking and using the networking feature. If there was more time, I would have liked to have exchanged del.ico.us usernames so that we could continue our conversation as it began.
4. In many sessions, in the courtyard, in the auditorium and other “remote” places there were video cameras, cellphones, laptops, iPhones, and other electronic instruments of destruction! In truth, we were doing exactly what we won’t let the kids do. We were extending our learning to others who couldn’t be there. Or for ourselves to extend our learning at another time or place. Hmmm, see how that works so well for us. Let’s see, there was video conferencing, uStreaming, text messaging, Twittering (see a Twitter stream below), podcasting, and good ol’ note taking.
5. Like all participants, I could not be everywhere. (However, it is my goal to work on this one.) It is my hope that the participants were making good use of the Presenter Directory at the end of the program. If there was a session I wanted to attend, but didn’t get to, I will contact that presenter to see if I can get a copy of his/her handouts, or hopefully they have information online somewhere. Perhaps they might be blogging somewhere? I hope others are thinking to do the same.
6. I saw a few familiar faces in the breakout sessions on Friday and they weren’t in the audiences. They were presenters. These were teachers who, up to last year, had not even attended one of our conferences. They felt so techno-phobic that they would be absolutely lost at a tech conference. I am so proud of these people for the courage that it took to take the leap and say, “if I can do this, anyone can do this” and want to show others that it’s true! The idea that beginners can not only attend these conferences but have something to share, is too valuable to ignore! I’m already planning a future breakout session or presentation geared towards motivating beginners to share what they know… perhaps getting them to realize they know more then they know. Yeah, you know!
   
   Here’s a snapshot of the Twitter chat that was streaming during the conference.

The image is difficult to read, but there were comments about statements made in sessions, qualities in presenters, greetings to others, “wish you were here,” etc. These were just a few that I was able to find as I went back through my Twitter feed.

As it turns out, when I checked my del.icio.us network this morning, I noticed some familiar names in my network. I’m proud and encouraged that some of the teachers in my session noted my del.icio.us username in my handouts and added me to their networks already… check off item #3.

And the beat goes on…

You may have already seen this, or something very similar, but I ran across it again recently and thought it worthy of a good shaking out. If you haven’t seen it, I think you’ll find it quite enlightening. Anyway, it got me thinking.The “21st Century Learner” conversations have been taking on lives of their own over the last few years. In many ways, the term is overused and has lost it’s meaning. Lots of people throw around the term without really acknowledging what it takes to meet the students of today on their terms. And once we figure it out, it’s a Catch-22: you can’t stop trying to figure it all out once your current students and you finally figure out the “secret handshake,” oh no… see because then guess who’s at the door? You got it! Tomorrow’s students!

So, who are we trying to teach here? Today’s students or tomorrow’s students? Let me take a wild guess here…. er, both? But see, they are one in the same person. Today’s kids are already in tomorrow’s world. Problem being that we aren’t there with them, so we can’t see things the way they can. Have you heard about the cellphone ringtone that only teens can hear? I see it like that. They have their own language that we really can’t penetrate, although we can certainly try.

The difficult part is where teachers have to come out of their comfort zones. I’ve taught a few classes for some local college “education technology” classes and the instructors usually ask me to teach their students about the “stuff” we have and how to use it. I’m often invited to schools to speak to faculties and mostly they want me to demonstrate some of the “stuff” we offer in our district and how to use it. So, through no fault of their own, even the instructors and the adminstrators don’t always “get” that if we can teach people to think differently and to teach their students SKILLS (duh!) and use some cool tools at the same time, then there will be some terrific success. BUT WE DON’T START WITH THE TOOLS! (Do you pick up a hammer and ask yourself what you can build today?)

Well, being the “rule-follower” that I am, I do a little bit of what they ask, but I always work it into the bigger picture-type presentation/conversation about teachers needing to step out of their comfort zones. Depending on how much time they give me (usually I’m offered 30 minutes to give a 2 hour presentation) I like to expose the teachers to some of the realities of how kids do their homework today or how they communicate or socialize with each other or how they problem-solve. And, if you paid attention to the video, the most important piece for teachers to realize is that students today expect to be able to create something. That’s how they learn. According to the video on any given week, 14% of teachers use technology and 63% never do. Now, I’m not sure what statistics the video is using, but when they say, “technology” I’ll guess, they mean any kind of technology, even static technology like powerpoint, or an overhead projector. Lots of teachers feel that if they use powerpoint instead of a blackboard (geez, am I dating myself here?) or the whiteboard, or an overhead or LCD projector they are, indeed, reaching those 21st Century Learners. Then there’s teachers who have made lots of progress and are creating digital stories. How great is that? But many stop before they move on to the next level. What happens to the videos once they are created? How are they being used in the social world our students truly live in? Are they being shared? Or is every teacher who creates a digital story, venturing out to create and recreate the same story?

Teaching is not an art project. There is no finished product. It is constantly under construction, requiring constant observation, new tools, new angles, and input from others.

Ask questions. Ask lots of questions.