Greenhaus Education and Other "Effects"

Learning Pod at LWF 2012 Conference I have just returned from a week in Scotland and London, some of it personal vacation and some of it professional growth on my part, as I attended the Learning without Frontiers conference in London.  That experience in itself was amazing - listening to so many great speakers (Noam Chomskey, Sir Ken Robinson, Conrad Wolfram, etc.).  I will be posting some reflections on those talks at a later time, after I have had some time to reflect and gather my thoughts on what they said.  Overall, my time in the UK last week was just an incredible experience on so many levels but as I am still suffering from jet lag, I think it best to hold off on sharing those experiences! I did want to update on the hybrid PD I am working on - we are currently in our second online Unit and it is not going as well as I had hoped, as I still am struggling with participation from many folks in both cohorts.  As I posted in my Part 1 piece, I had made some executive decisi

This will just be a short post today...just some thoughts on a multidisciplinary problem. I am in Edinburgh, Scotland currently...here for the Learning without Frontiers conference in Olympia,UK next week and taking the opportunity to explore prior to the conference. Walked around the city today, which is so beautiful, especially the view from the castle . Just taking in the gorgeous scenery and getting a feel for the incredible history that is here. Quite amazing. As I climbed the hill to the castle, I couldn't help but be awestruck as I looked up the cliff at the intricate stone wall , built right on the edge of these steep rocks. The natural question is, how the heck did they do this so many hundreds of years ago, especially without the convenience of the modern day construction tools? It's really just mind boggling to think of the sheer man power, time, and mathematics that went into constructing this castle. Yes, even on vacation, I have to think about the math!

Just completed my second round of face-to-face workshops with my two cohorts I am doing my blended learning professional development with on Sketchpad and technology integration in mathematics. In my previous postings ( Planning for Hybrid PD , Follow Up Day 1, follow Up Day 2, Online Community Part 1 , Planning for Hybrid PD Part 2 ), I have been documenting this professional development experience, sharing my planning process as well as what has been happening in the face-to-face and online components as these groups move forward.  The ultimate goal by the end of this process is that these teachers have not only learned the software, but more importantly, have learned  to integrate Sketchpad into classroom instruction to help their students learn mathematics in an engaging way that improves student understanding and achievement in mathematics.  This week we met face-to-face after teachers had a month+ online to try some activities on their own to help learn the software skills w

I have been writing lately about my plans and experiences with hybrid/blended professional development, specifically with technology.  In my most recent post , I shared ideas for the next face-to-face meeting with my two cohorts.  Perhaps because this is foremost on my mind, I find that I am running across others' blogs and articles that are speaking of similar experiences or offering great advice about professional development and the need to rethink how and what we offer teachers in terms of professional development..  I wanted to share a couple that I have run across that I found very interesting. Mark Brumley ( @markbrumley ) wrote a short blog post the other day called Educating Educators Part 1 that talks about the importance of generating excitement in teachers about new technology BEFORE bringing them into any training.  I liked his ideas about creating almost a PR campaign to get teachers excited and interested in the new technology so that they come to any professional

In my first posting, Planning for Hybrid PD - Comfort Level and Confidence First  I shared my thoughts on how I planned to start a long-term hybrid Sketchpad professional development that is combining monthly face-to-face meetings with continued online learning and support. My first lesson was as follows: Lesson One: Begin a professional development experience assessing the background skills of participants.Ensure they are given the necessary tools, starting points, and resources to feel comfortable with what they are going to be doing, see the purpose behind what they will be doing, and know where and how they can get continued support. In my first face-to-face meetings, I did my best to follow Lesson One, assessing the needs, providing the necessary tools,etc. You can read more details about that in my reflection posts related to both the first and second face-to-face meetings ( Day 1 and  Day 2 ), as well as the first online unit . I am now planning for our second face-to-face

I am taking some vacation time to attend the annual conference of Learning Without Frontiers , as this is of great personal and professional interest to me. I am fascinated by the idea of global learning and exploring new ways of learning that use technology to connect. The conference is at the end of January in London, so I am excited on so many levels about the opportunity - professionally, having the ability to meet, see and listen to experts in the field and hopefully network, and personally, having the chance to go to the UK, a place I have never been. To prepare and get familiar with the speakers and event, I have been checking out many of the previous recordings of presentations and talks, which are fascinating. I just watched Jimmy Wales , the cofounder of Wikipedia, and was totally convinced of the value of using Wikipedia with students, which changes a long held belief of mine that wikipedia information is suspect. As a teacher, I distinctly remember being told every

My recent posts have been reflections on my involvement in a blended/hybrid education technology professional development on the integration of The Geometer's Sketchpad into high school and middle school math.  This post reflects on the use of classroom video in the online component, and my thoughts on how schools/teachers could be using this tool to inform their own practice. Part of the online component my participants are currently involved in includes videos of teachers using Sketchpad in the classroom.  The video they watch this week includes the teacher in the video's thought process, the students actually in the classroom, and reflection of what happened.  It is fascinating reading the discussion from my online participants on what they are seeing in the video and how they then connect what they are observing and hearing to themselves. Comments such as: "I liked how the vocabulary was embedded in the lesson without focusing on it - it let students learn without