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In the beginning, there was a terrible, terrible flight into Boston and a very sick little boy. The Stacie/eys were weakened, but quickly rallied. The passengers APPLAUDED when the plane landed! Jim, thankfully, volunteered to drive the big white whale,...er....van to the Boston Hilton/Dedham. We'll know better next time than to go to Boston during a nor'easter!

=Alan November=

[|November Learning] The first speaker was [|Alan November]. He began with a bold statement: that before we introduce more hardware and software to the classroom, we must teach students to think critically. He demonstrated how the Internet could be used to do just that and provided several examples. He showed us how to search for information from particular countries so that we don't look at just one (Western) point-of-view. He used the pope's controversial remarks about the Prophet Mohammed and Islam as an example. How, he asked, would we get a Turkish response to those remarks? To simply "Google" an inquiry ([|Pope Benedict XVI + Turkey+Islam]) gives us results from Western sources. November showed us how to "Google" for sources specifically from Turkey. To specify the **source** of information add **[|site:tr for turkey] ([|or host: in Alta Vista]) or site:ac.uk** to learn the British take on the American War for Independence to use another example. Imagine having your class debate a class in London about specific points of the American Revolutionary War. In another example, he suggested that can get a global perpective on The Great Gatsby by engaging with students from around the world who have also read the book. It would bring out different cultural perspectives.

This is known as Grammar of the Internet and November recommended that we teach students this "grammar". (//I'd like to know where to find this grammar, to start putting together a resource that teachers and students can use//.) Here are some resources found by searching "internet grammar alan november" on Google: Alan November's [|Grammar of the Internet] (but does not include the information about site: ) More from Alan November. [|Architecture and Grammar of the Internet] [|Project Look Sharp] Teaching Media Literacy (posted by Ithaca College) [|21st Century Learning] (includes videos of Alan November teaching these skills!)

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More of Alan's main points were about Globalization and helping learners to develop a "[|Self directed-global work ethic]." (Podcast by Alan November about developing a "global work ethic" in our students). What is a "Self-directed, global work ethic?" November describes three skills that are essential.

1. To develop the capacity to deal with overwhelming amounts of information; being able to access, organize, produce, make meaning of, publish and add value to information;

2. To develop global communication skills which include knowledge of social protocols, to listen to, assess and respond to different points of view, and knowledge of how to assemble a team to solve a problem, and to work collaboratively; to use the Internet as a tool for Global Communication and not only as a source of information;

3. To develop a "culture of learning" that is not //__dependent,__// but //independent//; to be self-directed, self-motivated, and self-assessing.

Other points included
Schools are designed to disempower the learner. (How can we describe it?) Have to completely reorganize education. (Again, these are HOT comments. We need more information.) Critical thinking, Critical thinking, Critical thinking No Child Left Behind is ruining US education The real revolution is not technology, it's information Whole world is the audience! Teach ethics & social responsibilities

Are we teaching our students to have "little paper voices" when they could have a global voice?

Here is a link to an article about reinventing schools for the 21st Century Learning--Schools 2.O: [|How to Bring Our Schools Out of the 20th Century]

November briefly touched on the value of assessment. Citing data from the book __Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience__, by [|Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi] (psychology, Univ. of Chicago), that claims that the value of assessment drops drastically the further it is from the a moment something is taught. [|"Flow"] is "a field of behavioral science examining connections between satisfaction and daily activities. A flow state ensues when one is engaged in self-controlled, goal-related, meaningful actions." (Review from Library Journal).

Alan November delivered a powerful, albeit slightly jumbled, message on the direction on education. It's worth taking a closer look either through his summer workshop, his podcasts, or his blog. Or not.

[|Alan November Weblog] [|Pre-Cal blog] See the [|map cluster] for the PreCal blog PreCal [|bookmarks] [|Grammar Girls Podcast] [|E-Pals] [|Skype]

=Tom Daccord= Tom Daccord is a talented teacher who uses media and web 2.0 applications like a musician to enhance learning. In one particularly fine example, he talked about the Vietnam war being defined as the first "living room war" in that images of the fighing were broadcast into our living rooms each night on the evening news. However, many of our resources are text base. In his classes, he uses Neil Young's //Ohio// (iTunes) and a commentary by Walter Cronkite giving America his opinion on the war (YouTube) which you can view below.

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He had examples aplenty. See the links below for more. [|The Center for Teaching History With Technology] [|My Life as a Teenage Hobo: A Radio Program] [|Leonardo's Laptop] Collect-->Relate-->Create-->Donate [|Nobles Middle East Blog] [|Google Lit Trips]

We need to be mindful that we live in a media rich world. Our students know how to use it. What must they think when we load a tape in the VCR? Not that it's "Old", but rather that it's so inefficient.

Tom asked us to consider a few questions:

1. Is your focus on equipment or innovation?

2. Are you supporting meaningful accomplishment?

3. Are you supporting multidisciplinary education?

4. Are you making effective use of both new and old technologies? (Excel, Word, PowerPoint - there is so much more you can do with it.)

=Breakout Workshops= iPods and Podcasts: [|Duke iPod initiative] Nobles has 45 iPods they assign to classes and students They use a 1 computer with an 16 port USB hub to download and update the iPods Examples: Podcasting in Foreign Language Students sign a "Borrowing Agreement" at the start of the school year and are held responsible (kinda, sorta) for irresponsible use.
 * Students in the Japanese class were video recorded cooking a Japanese dish which was then transfered to iPods. Other students were assigned an iPod which they took home, There they listened to and followed the direction, in Japanese, to create the meal for their families.
 * Video flash vocabulary cards for Spanish II
 * Read along with iBooks for French

Links to further information about Second Life (the MMO being examined for educational potential)