Two years ago, CIS 339 a Bronx middle school was at risk of being shut down by the city. Today it's a success story. You are cordially invited to come see what happened at their first Open House this year taking place on Friday, November 13, 2009 from 9:30 – 12:00 p.m.
Visiting other schools that incorporate innovative ideas is one of the best ways to develop ideas that might be a fit for your school and practice. CIS 339 is recognized by the New York City Department of Education as a Model Technology School. They have integrated the Google Suite into every facet of their instructional and their administrative practice and have moved their student achievement along in the process.
Watch this PBS video that shows a bit about their transformation. If you are planning on using Google in any aspect of your instruction or administration you will find this open house worth while.
I’ve had the great fortune to spend a week at Alan November’s Building Learning Communities conference in Boston with a group of New York City school administrators who have made significant progress in becoming transformative leaders. I felt it was important during my week with these leaders for us not only to talk the talk, but to walk the walk and (even if things got messy) use a variety of the tools they were beginning to explore so that in addition to learning about theoretical implications of innovative practices, they would have hands on experience in discovering what it was like using these tools.During our time at the conference our group used a variety of technologies to enhance the way we were communicating and collaborating.To set the stage it was important to establish that our work together wasn’t around learning about things like wikis, blogs, twitter, and learning networks (which we did learn about) but rather about working in innovative ways that enhanced the work we were doing.
Sharing Knowledge with Google Docs
Prior to the conference we established a Google doc where we would each capture our Schedulesto enable us to share our plans for the conference. This would serve a couple purposes. 1) It allowed us to be aware of the sessions one another was attending as it’s always great to be able to connect with colleagues who experienced the same learning as you, process, and extend the thinking. 2) It enabled us to capture the knowledge each of us set out to gain so we had an instant record of our group’s professional development experience.
Using a Wiki for Collecting, Capturing, and Accessing Important Materials
We also set up a wiki page for our conference experience.This provided a place for us to collect and access all important conference information such as the conference program, our daily reflection.It also provided a place where we could capture notes and materials shared at various presentations.
Tweeting to Follow Conference Activities and Share Reflections and Plans
School leaders set up Twitter accounts which they used to follow the goings on of the conference using the tag “BLC09” for the first two days.By day three most school leaders were also contributing tweets that included instant reflections of what they learned that they planned to bring back to their schools. This is now permanently captured and available for future reflecting and all leaders have access to see what their colleagues are thinking of doing allowing them to connect and collaborate.Here are some examples of their tweets using the tag 21cl.
·I plan to introduce digital writing portfolios through student blogs, expand use of wikis/blogs, expand our newspaper to be multi-media
·Use twitter and google docs to promote a sense of community that can be extended outside of school
·Have staff tweet to share what is going on in school using a school tag
·Teachers can tweet homework assignments
·Have students create tutorials using Screencasting. (mathtrain.tv)
·As a leader I will model using tech tools in my practice
·Use Google Docs to construct grade level planning conference agendas and collaboratively write lesson plans
Using Google Graphs, Spreadsheets, and Twitter to Poll Participants
Our group was determining what our online brand would be.To do this, all members of our group were asked to contribute by tweeting nominations for the potential group name using the tag 21cl.I collected the nominated names and placed the 25 nominees in a Google Spreadsheet which we planned to use as a free polling tool.Our group members names were placed across the top of the sheet and each school leader used their five votes to nominate their top choices.As they did this we watched the graph rise and fall.The winner was Transforming Leaders for the 21st Century.
During Conference Reflection Using Google Forms
School leaders completed a Conference Reflection Form a few times during the conference to capture what they learned and planned to bring back to their schools.These were captured as
conference reflections that were published enabling each participant to have the ability to access their own reflection any time as well as those of their colleagues.
Posting Conference Reflections Using a Blog
Each principal is going to write one reflection in response to the question, “What specific thing(s) will I do as a transformative leader in my school?”This will be posted on our newly created blog at http://ted21c.blogspot.com.
Connecting Across Schools and Across the Year with A Free Learning Network
Our group spent a session designing and creating the TED21C Learning Networkwhich will be used across the year for schools to connect, communicate, and collaborate both within their schools and across schools.School leaders created groups and customized their home pages.
Capturing Memories Using Flickr
Photos of our experience were captured at Flickr using a new account we set up at ted21C (friend us).These photos are also posted on our learning network.
I’ve spent a memorable week working with school leaders who are thinking about ways they will bring transformation back to their schools.During that time we were Flickring, Blogging, Google Docing, Polling, Networking, Tweeting, Eating, Speaking and more.I can’t wait to see their plans for taking some of what they learned back to their schools as they continue down the road of transformation.
As a Google Certified Educator I am often asked how to get started using Google Apps. As many teachers know, Google Apps Education Edition is a free suite of hosted communication & collaboration applications designed for schools and universities. (See the top 10 reasons to switch your school to Google Apps.)
Though I know Google is a valuable tool, when faced with this question, I first ask, “Why Google Apps?” This is important to consider as the goals and objectives must come before the tool. Here is a recent response I received to that question:
We're looking for a school web site that is enhanced by the tools that Google seems to offer.As a school, we'd like to be able to communicate with students and parents about assignment deadlines and events, on a general school-wide level as well as for individual classes. We'd like email accounts for students and teachers, calendars, class web pages. We are also interested in using Google docs as a means of encouraging collaboration among students during group projects, lab activities, etc. I think there are a lot of applications to our school.
We are on paid site right now, but I have heard a lot of good things about Google Apps for Education. It seems more user-friendly/intuitive since Google is something the kids (and staff) are used to working with. Not to mention that it's free.
This school seems to have some great reasons for using Google Apps. Now that the stage is set, here is how I recommend getting started.
GET READY
Read the Quick Start Guide The Education Edition is engineered to help schools organize the wealth of knowledge that lives inside schools. This guide will assist a full-scale deployment of Google Apps.
View Tutorials & Tips View videos and tutorials on how you can use Google Apps at your school and in the classroom.
Sign Up for Free Email with Message Security in Google Apps Education Edition for K-12s Keep your students safe with Google Message Security, offered free to current and new K12 Google Apps schools that sign up before July of 2010. Customizable inbound and outbound filtering based on content or senders - you make the rules.
Set Up Sites for Teachers Check out the new Sites for Teachers page to see how teachers, students and administrators are using Google Sites to create their class sites, organize school trips, and run school projects.
Help Students Search Effectively Educators often say that they could use some help to teach better web search skills in the classroom and make sure Google is used well and to its full potential. Google Certified Teachers have develop a set of nine modular and practical lessons to help educators do just that.
Take a look at Classroom Activities and Tips Posters Be sure to check out some examples of teacher work in the new classroom activities section and check out the handy tips posters, which you can print out and hang in your classrooms, computer labs and libraries.
GET SET Once you’ve done your homework, it’s time to start connecting with others doing the same work. These will be your best resources to becoming successful using Google Apps for Educators. Here is how you do this.
Get on the map Find other Google Apps educators & students around the world. When you visit the Map you will find schools, along with their url, that are using Google. Figure out the key people at that school. Connect and visit. Here in New York you will find:
Become a Part of the Google Teacher Community Here you will find the Google for Educators Discussion Group designed to keep you updated on Google's K-12 Education initiatives. The group has become the home of a vibrant community of educators. In this space educators start discussions with fellow teachers; share ideas about innovation in education; ask questions about where to find teaching resources; tell colleagues about curricula you've created that have worked really well and more. You will also find examples of classroom activities using Google products.
GO! You are now ready to begin using Google Apps at your school. You will want to introduce this to your colleagues through a meeting or email. When doing this be sure to include your school goals and objects around why you are doing this. Have some simple ways they can get started now. Share some ways you plan to measure success.
You may also want to get started with this video that explains “Why Google Apps for Education.”
Celebrate Your Success and Get on The Map Once you launch this work in your school, add yourself to the Google Community Map publicly with your colleagues. Share your success by commenting here. Invite others to your school (physically or virtually) to see the great work you are doing.
