Thanks to all who came to my presentation on integrating Web 2.0 Tools in the Mathematics Classroom on Friday at the CCTM conference.  Despite technology problems (ironic huh!) I think it went very well.  It seemed like only the die hards stayed for the last session of the day.  A special thanks to Elizabeth Allen-Hatcher for the moral support and Ann Summers for letting me borrow her computer.  I hope that teachers of mathematics will begin to use the social networking tools that are out there to benefit their teaching and their own lives.

Tomorrow I am presenting at the Colorado Council of Teachers of Mathematics conference (CCTM).  My presentation is on Web 2.0 tools in the teaching of mathematics.  At NECC this summer many bloggers and others including Will Richardson and Bud Hunt mentioned that we (as proponents of 21st century learning and Web 2.0) need to start going to conferences that don’t center on technology to preach the benefits of using technology in the classroom.  Well, this is my effort in that call to action.

Check out my presentation.  Thanks if you attended my presentation, I hope it was worthwhile and that you can take something away from it to use in your classroom.

Got back from NECC 2008 in San Antonio last night.  I have been trying to organize my thoughts since we left, but it has been a bit overwhelming.  I was impressed by the community, the sessions, by the river walk, and by the people that I met.  Here are my notes from the sessions I attended and conversations that I had:

The Key Note – James Surwiecki

James Surwiecki blew me away.  This is not just because he used a bunch of mathematics in his talk, but because of the powerful message that he had.  I haven’t read it yet, but his book “The Wisdom of Crowds”, has the premise that diverse large groups of people are smarter than a few experts.  This has huge implications for teaching and learning, and professional development.  If crowds are smarter than groups of experts (as long as the crowd has a way to aggregate their ideas, they are diverse, and they are independent) then we need to take advantage of this idea in schools, and our professional lives.  I can’t wait to to try the Jelly Bean experiment that he talked about in class this year. This for me was the first in a series of talks that resonated for me and related to the PLC model for professional development that we have in Littleton Public Schools.  I think that in order for this model to be really effective we need to tap into the wisdom of crowds and make our PLCs reflect the characteristics that James Surwiecki believes make a smart crowd.

• Be willing to have real disagreements. The best decisions rise out of conflict.
• Offer opinions simultaneously.
• Lookout for talkative people.
• Have a devil’s advocate.

Some advice for the next president whether it be Barack Obama or John McCain, whatever you do, resource a diverse, independent and well informed group of people before you make an important decision.

Moovin to Moodle – Rodney McPherson

This was a great session that gave us an overview of how to use moodle.   Moodle is a system like Blackboard but it is open source and FREE!!  It was really nuts and bolts type stuff, but I cam away with enough info to really be able to explore more on my own.

David Warlick – Our Students, Our Worlds

Most of David Warlick’s presentation was stuff that I knew about already, however he was energizing and inspiring to listen to.  I especially was impressed by his discussion of the changes in how workers are expected to work and how that relates to how schools work.  He said that when we had classrooms with rows and the tasks students were given to do were repetitive, we were preparing students to do repetitive manufacturing jobs.  Now “We are preparing students for a future that we can’t describe”.  This is a powerful statement that as educators we need to think about as we try to change what we do in our classrooms to fit this new paradigm. The other big take away for me was the idea of creative class job creation that he sees as the heart of the new economy.  I really need to read Richard Florida’s “Rise of the Creative Class”.  We need to train our students to be able to function in this new economy that really doesn’t create a product, but rather is able to see new ways of doing things that are revolutionary. Check out his website and blog, for more information and the presentation notes and slides.

Technology and Differentiated Instruction – Bill Dolton, Lower Merrion School District

The take aways from this sessions were:

• DI: Maximizing learning for all students to increase engagement, efficiency, an learning.
• You can differentiate without technology, but you can’t use technology without differentiating instruction.

Here is a great resource tech4di.wikispaces.com.  As teachers we need to give our students varied experiences, opportunities for access, and allow for a variety of interestes when we use technology in the classroom.  One size does not fit all!

Powerful Learning Practice – Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum-Beach

I always really enjoy Will Richardson as a speaker.  He has a way of motivating you that many speakers lack.  This presentation was a call to change how we do professional development.  The old way is dead!  Just showing teachers how to use tools does not significantly change their practice.  A couple of a-ha moments for me were: Students should be able to create personal learning networks and use them effectively and ethically. Creating on the web is not hard, what you do after is. Longer term immersion is essential to professional development.This ties in to the discussion of PLCs above.  In order to make our PLCs more effective we need to be sure to have ways for the time to be extended and work to be done outside of the 2 hours we get everyday. Below is a quote from the Monday Models blog

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Re: NECC Day Three (A)

By Chris Marchetti on 7/1/2008 3:08 PM

Today I have been to a few sessions, two not so good, informative but did not give me any new insights or Ah ha moments. But when I went to Will Richardson and Sheryl Nussbaum Beach’s presentation about Professional development, I saw something that was immediately applicable to the PLC model that we have adopted at LPS. One of the big complaints that I hear from teachers is that there is not enough, or too much time face to face. The not enough time folks say this because they feel that they have to many things to look at, data to analyze or common assessments to make and not enough time to do it all and talk about how to change their teaching practice. The too much time folks say that they need time to process and having two hours becomes not as productive because of the lack of process time. Richardson and Nussbaum Beach advocate a system that has some face to face time, but adds collaboration in virtual modes in between so that the conversations are continuous and the work done is continuous. This would satisfy both of the sets of folks and their complaints. I think their model is worthwhile to look at closer as we continue to implement PLCs. Check out www.plpnetwork.

All in all NECC 2008 was a great experience.  I think that more than any session that I saw, having converstaions with other folks who see the importance of technology in the classroom, was the best part.  Talking with Keely, Kent and Mary Kay from LPS, who I traveled with about what we saw.  Talking to Bud Hunt and Dean Shareski in the Bloggers Cafe about privacy for teachers and the implications of blogging and your online presence made me think and reflect about how I behave online.   I can’t wait to explore the things that I learned begin to apply them to my teaching.  Most of all though the experience has solidified my resolve, and I know that I am doing good work, and the right work to improve education. Look for more on the sessions at NECC 2008 at the a wiki of our experiences at the conference.

I have to say I was totally impressed with the students on the panel. They have taken control of their own learning, and have given themselves opportunities to be successful. They were motivated, smart, articulate but they were not the students that I wanted to here from.

Don’t get me wrong, they represent the best of what we, as teachers, see on a daily basis. Unfortunately more often than not a majority of our students are not as motivated to learn and are not willing to extend their learning outside of the classroom. Before the conference I posed a question to the panel, but I realized quickly after their introduction that they were not the students that I really wanted to have answer it. Here it is:

The conventional wisdom for teachers who think that technology will reshape teaching and learning, is that students find using blogs, wikis, and other Web 2.0 technologies in the classroom more engaging than traditional teaching methods because most students use technologies such as MySpace and/or Facebook, and are texting all the time. Is this actually the case? Thanks.
–Christopher Marchetti, Littleton High School

So, I want to pose this question to the blogosphere. What do you think? Will “regular kids” by in just because technology is involved?

Also, during the round table discussion the math/science group talked about how we may have to scaffold our kids to get them ready to interact in a professional way in a social network centered around learning. I think this is the challenge that we face and I wonder how others have tackled the issue.

This weekend, I spent my Saturday at Arapaho High School at an unconventional conference, Learning 2.0: A Colorado Conversation. While I have been to many conferences about mathematics teaching, educational technology, and others, I have not had an experience like this. It wasn’t life changing or anything like that, but rather, affirming. The things that I am trying to do in my classroom and the things that I am trying to help other teachers bring in to their classrooms are good things. Technology is powerful.

The things I am going to take from the conference are these.

• Have my own blog (here it is). Reflection is an important part of growth for our students and for us.
• Grow my professional community.
• Good teaching is good teaching. Technology shouldn’t be used for technology’s sake.
• Balance is important. Sometimes the choice not to use technology in the classroom is the right choice.

I think these ideas need posts of their own. More later.

I want to thank Ben Wilkoff for allowing the great conversations at his session. Also, the math and science teachers at the round table discussion and the students who came to talk about the power of technology in their education. It seems we are all struggling with bringing Web 2.o to our classrooms and even wondering if we should. The group from Adams 14, who talked about Professional Learning Communities and their importance both within our schools and districts, and outside in the greater world. And last, Dan Maas, Mike Porter, Bud Hunt, Karl Fisch and everyone who put on the conference.