Connecting educators passionate about educating innovatively
Welcome to the space where educators connect to share ideas about enhancing education with 21st Century tools and skills.
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Online education lets you choose a lot of colleges and universities; you are not limited only by those situated in your area. You can also have the chance to apply and receive free educational gran...
Tagged: education
Started by Baby Jane in Educational Issues Nov 19.
Please introduce yourself, let us know a little bit about you, and where you are from.
Tagged: welcome, introductions
Started by The Innovative Educator in Welcome. Last reply by Peter Michelli Nov 17.
My middle school is so far off the cutting edge of technology we're not even on the knife. We just got computers into all the classrooms -- two per room -- last year. In mid year SmartBoards were i...
Tagged: innovation, learning, teachers, technology
Started by Deven Black in Welcome. Last reply by Deven Black Nov 3.
If you're applying for an LTG grant and have questions, comments, etc, post them here and I'll do my best to get answers and information to you. If you plan to write a grant, please respond to this...
Started by The Innovative Educator in Educational Issues. Last reply by chris gibson Oct 30.
Hi friend, I need your vote. Please click on this link http://media.weareteachers.com/watmicrogrant/digit click on the blue Click Here to Vote for Me! and you can help me win a mini-grant from We A...
Tagged: pln, weareteachers, minigrant
Started by PNaugle in Welcome Aug 7.
Editor’s Note: This post is written by Dana Lawit an NYC DOE high school teacher who serves as a contributor to this blog. For this post I asked Dana to look through my Tweets to learn, gather, and share what she and others could learn remotely from what I tweeted. Dana does a great job in this post of not only providing an overview of my experience through a Twitter lens, but she also demonstrates how Twitter can be used to enhance learning.
The Innovative Educator just returned from the Building Learning Communities conference on Innovation in 21st Century Schools in Boston. While she was tweeting, blogging, and broadcasting in real time throughout the event, I wanted to compile some of my favorite quotes and takeaways as a non-participant. Think of this post as a cliff notes, or cheat sheet -- a reader's digest inspired by InnovativeEdu's tweets from the event.
Clearly, if schooling is to continue to prepare young people to engage as productive members of their community, schools need to do a much better job and infusing technology and digital literacy into their curricula.
InnovativeEdu: Reading Student as Contributor: The Digital Learning Farm http://tinyurl.com/digitalfarm at BLC09. MOET12:16 PM Jul 27th from webConference organizer Alan November provides a historical context for charging students with responsibility and creation, and offers suggestions as to what the looks like in a 21st century classroom.
InnovativeEdu: Watching the Learning to Change - Changing to Learn video http://bit.ly/1oRKfr at BLC09 MOET12:30 PM Jul 27th from webInspiring video produced by the Consortium for School Networking that frames the need for 21st century classrooms.
InnovativeEdu: Nice post for BLC09 folks and others who are ready to transition from lurking to contributing. Inspiration @ http://blogush.edublogs.org//9:21 AM Jul 28th from webHow do we as educators make the transition from reading, researching receiving to collaborating, creating, and contributing? It's a transition I recently made. This post captures many of the reservations one might have as she transitions from lurking to contributing, but ultimately calls upon all of us to comment and exchange ideas more.
InnovativeEdu: Alan November is @ BLC09 saying we shouldn't have tech action plans just like we shouldn't have pencil and paper action plans.12:24 PM Jul 28th from webTechnology in a classroom isn't innovation. Just as an arrangement of desks and chairs doesn't necessarily yield a classroom. Instead, the deliberate arrangement of chairs combined with human capital transforms spaces to experiences. The thoughtful application of technology combined with learning experiences yields innovation.
InnovativeEdu: Alan November says Ning is "THE" tool for building learning communities at BLC09. At the NYC DOE we were told ARIS Connect was. MOET2:01 PM Jul 28th from webAs I posted earlier, Ning is a powerful tool for teachers and students. Its applications are endless -- connecting students within a classroom, teachers within a school, educators across the globe.
InnovativeEdu: @ BLC09 Alan November says we should replace the word technology with information or instruction @PLCJP really loved this concept.I too love this concept for two reasons: 1) it debunks technology as a fancy word denoting slick, humming machines and 2) folds that word into the work of teaching and learning as another tool.
InnovativeEdu: mathtrain.tv is a site that was set up to share student created tutorials shared at blc09. I think marc prensky would love this.10:30 AM Jul 29th from webMathtrain is great example of creating an authentic audience for student products. On this site, students produce videos that not only demonstrate their own understanding of a topic, but can be used as a resource for other students.
InnovativeEdu: Connecting to students online allows educators to build and develop relationships that would not otherwise be possible.2:14 PM Jul 29th from webI couldn't agree with this more. From my recent experience using a Ning Network with an English class in summer school, I found students reaching out (by sending me Ning messages) that had never engaged in a classroom before. For many, social networks carry with them a different set of social expectations. This is a powerful change of pace for many students and teachers alike bored and unsatisfied by the traditional conventions of schools.
InnovativeEdu: New York City School Leaders just created a learning network for transforming ed @ blc09. Come join us at http://ted21c.ning.com. Ted21cJoin the conversation, join the Transforming Education in the 21st Century Ning and continue the conversation.
InnovativeEdu: Blc09 concept: When you learn something, don't keep it inside. Do something with it. Publish it! Blog it! Tweet it! Discussion Forum it!9:56 AM Jul 31st from txtAs usual, we challenge ourselves and each other to continue sharing and discussing our experiences and insight about innovation in education.
Leave a comment, start a blog, join a Ning network. One of the most powerful and innovative ideas brought about by the introduction and widespread use of Web 2.0 technology is a lesson I'm continually learning and sharing with my students: you are important, and what you have to say and thing matters.
Look forward to hearing every one's thoughts.


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 Schedules to 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
· I will learn and share Google secrets by going to http://tinyurl.com/nwyeey
· 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 Network which 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.
Posted by Bree W. Lewis on September 30, 2009 at 1:38am
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© 2009 Created by The Innovative Educator