Finding Our Shared Humanity

We are living through a time of unprecedented change. Change is inevitable, but the pace in which our society is changing the way we live, work, communicate, consume information, and relate to each other is moving faster than at any time in human history.

This is being driven by technological advancement. Social media, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, mobile devices, and all of the other advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution are forcing our environment to change faster than we can often adapt.

Global Teacher Prize finalists from around the world put their differences
aside at the Global Education and Skills Forum to discuss how
to ensure every student around the globe has access to a quality education

One of the effects of this rapid transformation has been the polarization of viewpoints. Here in the United States like many other places in the world, our political discourse has never been more divisive. Relationships are breaking and family members are disconnecting with each other because of ideological beliefs.

Throughout history, we have seen that people who are afraid or unsure about the future find solace and emotional protection in their limited tribal identities. We've also seen that such tribalism leads to conflict.

We must fight to find a shared humanity rather than retreating to the divisiveness of identifying with our political parties, religions, races, or even nationalities. We can be all of those things - Democrats, Republicans, Christians, Muslims, Jews, of African descent, of Caucasian descent, of Oriental descent, mixed-race, indigenous, Americans, Iraqis, Russians, etc. - as long as we see ourselves and each other as human first.

Conflict is caused when we put our limited identities before our shared humanity.

Education must be a tool for bridging the gap between differences rather than driving a wedge. Students must be given the opportunity to learn and build relationships with others who are different than they are. Free video conferencing tools make this easier than ever before.

Empatico is a free tool that was developed for the purpose of making it easy for 7-11 year olds find their shared humanity and to build empathy. It takes 3 minutes to sign up. Then, your students can learn with another class and travel the world. It's the easiest way I've found to get started.

Other tools like Skype in the Classroom provide additional opportunities for connection and virtual field trips. No longer are the experiences in school limited to the walls of the classroom.

Global connection alone will not change minds. We must also closely examine our curricula to ensure that shared humanity is being promoted above tribal identities. When children learn that their country is "better" than others, they learn prejudice and othering. Patriotism and love of country are important, but not at the expense of humanity.

If one's nationality makes them better, why wouldn't other traits like race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation make some people better than others as well? It is a slippery slope that we must stop going down. All people have worth, and it is our obligation as educators and adult members of the human race to ensure our children understand this.

We must teach children that they are part of a collective humanity first. We must help them to see value in all people and appreciate differences as learning opportunities rather than reasons for fear and division.

Only when we do this will we be able to truly say that education is the key to a more peaceful and prosperous society.

Michael Soskil is a dynamic speaker, professional learning facilitator, author, & one of the most highly recognized teachers in the world. The book he co-authored, Teaching in the Fourth Industrial Revolution, has been called "an authoritative guide to teaching practice over the next three decades" and has been endorsed by world leaders in government, education, & business. To learn more about Michael's work or to book him as a speaker for your next teacher workshop or event, please visit his website at MichaelSoskil.com.

Disclosure - In addition to using Empatico in my own classroom, I have done paid consulting work for them. 

3 Transformational Learning Activities

Often we hear about how technology is going to transform education. The world isn't the same as it used to be. Information is no longer expensive or difficult to obtain, so it makes sense that we should be helping learners develop ways to use and create knowledge rather than memorize it. Now that the entirety of human knowledge fits into one's pocket, it's time to prepare students for a world in which they will be expected to innovate, create, and solve complex problems.

Yet, this transformation has been slow to develop. For those who have used social media tools to curate a professional network of teacher innovators, innovative and transformational learning experiences seem to be commonplace. In reality, they are not. Despite spending over three billion dollars per year on digital content and providing countless devices for students, the majority of learning experiences that students get in schools are not much different than those they had before. According to the EdWeek article linked above, 

"...a mountain of evidence indicates that teachers have been painfully slow to transform the ways they teach, despite that massive influx of new technology into their classrooms. The student-centered, hands-on, personalized instruction envisioned by ed-tech proponents remains the exception to the rule."

I would imagine that for many teachers, it's difficult to imagine ways to bring transformational experiences to students when you haven't experienced them yourself - especially if you don't know what you don't know. Few districts are using professional development opportunities to model this type of experience for teachers.

Teachers need a place to start.  They need a few easy options to see the value of using the tools we have today to turn control over to students, and some simple ways to get their feet wet. Below are 5 of my favorite ways to help teachers begin transforming their classrooms so that students can be prepared for the world in which we will be sending them.

Take a Virtual Field Trip

We all wish that we had a Magic School Bus like Ms. Frizzle that would take our students anywhere in the world (universe) that we wanted to give them experiences that match our content. Now we do. The combination of Skype (the program) and Skype in the Classroom (the website) make it possible to take your students anywhere you want to go.

Using Skype is easy enough that my 93 year old grandmother has figured it out and uses it regularly to chat with her great-grandchildren. It shouldn't be a problem for teachers to learn how to use.

The Skype in the Classroom website, which is part of the larger Microsoft Educator Community, has hundreds of free virtual field trips available. Taking part is simple - use the filters to search for the experience you want for your students, use the scheduling tool to pick a time, confirm with the presenter via email, and then connect on Skype at the time you chose.

My students have had so many amazing virtual field trips this year that it's hard to highlight one here as an example. They've traveled to outer space with astronomer Dean Hines from the Space Telescope Science Institute, met a live penguin and learned about plastic pollution in our oceans from SANCCOB in South Africa, took a tour of a village in rural Western Kenya to learn about the engineering problems of replacing the village bridge, and interacted with live elephants at the Ringling Brothers Center for Elephant Conservation.  Most recently my students learned about how scientists classify animals based on their unique adaptations from the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences.

Give Students Opportunities to Share Learning

We know that feedback is vital to learning. The more meaningful feedback we can give students, the more opportunities they will have to grow and learn.  Yet, at a time when connecting to others is easier than ever before in human history, the teacher remains the sole source of learner feedback in too many classrooms.

Students need a space to share their learning with others and to get feedback from multiple sources. Several free tools make this easy to do. For middle school and high school students, Blogger (which I'm using to write this blog post) is easy to use.  Others I know have lot of success using Office 365 Blogs from Microsoft and tell me that it is very straightforward to use. This is a great option for schools who are already using Office 365. As an elementary teacher, I have used KidBlog in the past with a lot of success, but it is no longer a free site.  Many former Kidblog users I know are making the transition to SeeSaw which now offers a free blogging feature.

Blogging allows students to be creative in how they share their learning.  Many creation apps and websites have embedding features that allow students to share their work on their blog. Videos can easily be included, so students can share documentation of science projects, classroom activities, or evidence of learning. The more creative the culture of a classroom is, the more options are available to kids.


Global Projects to Connect with Others

As it has become more commonplace for teachers to build professional networks on social media sites, it has also become more common for teachers to develop projects that allow classrooms to connect with each other in ways that fit required curricula.  These projects tend to be easy to join, fun for students, and simple for teachers to adapt to their content.

To find a project for your class, there are a few places that you should look.  First, check out the "Live Lessons" page on the Microsoft Educator Community Website. Here, teachers from around the world have posted project ideas in which they want you to connect your students to theirs.  It's easy to use the filters to find the subject and grade level that matches your need.  Also, have a look at the EdTech Chat 'n Chew Podcast Facebook page.  The podcast that I co-host with other Skype Master Teacher global learning experts creates easy, curriculum based projects each month or so that make it easy for you to connect your students to others.

Another great way to find these types of opportunities for students is to look on Twitter. Hashtags such as #GlobalEd, #GlobalClassroom, #Skype2Learn, and #iearn are great places to look for connections.  There are also many other teachers and organizations that excel in creating this type of opportunity for students. Check out Projects by Jen, Hello Little World Skypers, Global Classroom Project, and iEARN.

Here are examples of great projects that are happening right now and are accepting registration:

1. Virtual Valentines Project - designed to teach students geographical awareness and cultural understanding by connecting classrooms around the world for Valentines' Day. 
2. Global School Play Day - Join 100,000+ students around the world in remembering the joy of unstructured play and how important it is for children's development.
3. Same Day in March Project - Language Arts, Math, and Science are embedded in this activity in which classrooms from around the global will be reading a book, learning about weather, and sharing weather data in a group spreadsheet, and connecting to learn about different locations on the planet.

Transformational learning happens as a result of transformational teachers creating environments in which the learner is in charge of the learning. Technology is providing us with tools that make this easier than ever before. If you have had success with any of the above ideas in your classroom, or would like to give us some other ideas of easy ways to create amazing experiences for learners, please let us know in the comment section below. 

The Only Hope for Our Future

In the wake of yesterday's terroristic attack in Paris, I've been thinking a lot about our future as a global society.  There's a whole lot of hate in the world. People seem to be more and more polarized in their political, religious, and philosophical points of view. Compromise, open-mindedness, and empathy seem to be hard to find. Ignorance and bias has too often replaced enlightenment and truth.

Image Credit - Wikipedia

Yet, there is much hope.  And, it lies in education. After all, isn't education always the answer to ignorance?

But, our focus in education must change with the time in which we live.  Much of the polarization and ignorance we face is the result of a society living hyper-connected lives in a time of information overload without having prepared for it. We surround ourselves with others who agree with us and points of view that match our own. So rare is the intellectual, unemotional exchange of differing ideas. Having instant access to all the knowledge of the human race in one's pocket makes it easy to find justification for whatever makes us feel better - truth be damned.

The internet and all its positive and negative aspects came upon us suddenly. We were unprepared. We are still unprepared a generation later. I could write another dozen posts on the way fear keeps us from teaching students to navigate the bias that is so heavily embedded in the information that bombards them. Instead of preparing students for the world they will inherit, we have made schools into institutions of content delivery.

We strive to teach mathematics in school.  Yet, mathematics can be used to help engineer a manned mission to Mars, or mathematics can be used to engineer a more effective bomb.

We strive to teach writing in school.  Yet, writing can be used to persuade others to help their fellow man, or writing can be used to create propaganda designed to recruit more to a campaign of hate.

We strive to teach science.  Yet, science can be used to find a cure for the world's diseases or science can be used to turn those diseases into the next biological weapon.

It's time, in this time of information abundance, to switch our focus in education from learning content to using content to make the world a better place. Empathy, not the 3 Rs, needs to be the focus of education.  Content needs to become the means to the end, not the end itself.

Because children who learn the joy of doing good for others at a young age and are given opportunities to make a real difference in the world grow to be the positive change makers of tomorrow.  The only way to extinguish darkness is to spread light.

This is not idealogical wishful thinking.  It is because I see so many examples of cultural understanding through global collaboration and student service learning that I remain optimistic for the future. Being hyper-connected doesn't have to be negative. It is through my global network of inspiring educators that I see the amazing stories of what is possible.  We need to teach our students the power of using ubiquitous, instant information for good instead of evil. Whether we like it or not, a hyper-connected world is the one we are sending them into.

Our only hope for our future is education being used to teach understanding, appreciation of differences, and empathy.  I've always loved to travel because it has made me a better person.  Each new culture I have encountered has allowed me the opportunity to look inward and assimilate the best parts of that culture into myself.  This has made me more well rounded.  At a time when virtual travel is free and easy to do in our classrooms, we owe our students that same opportunity.

I am thankful to those who inspire me with the work they are doing to make these positive changes in our education system.  This morning in our Skype Master Teacher group I posted the following:

I appreciate being a part of a group that is working toward the only viable solution to the hatred we see in this world. I am thankful to be surrounded (virtually, and on a few spectacular occasions physically) by the two dozen or so of you who are making it your life's work to spread understanding of others and appreciation of differences to the students of the world. The only way to combat hate is love, and the work you all do to expose students to the power of global collaboration over individual competition, the power of celebrating cultural diversity instead of mistrusting those different from ourselves, the power of seeing a global society instead of maps with human created arbitrary lines is modeling the greatest hope we have as a planet.

To all of the educators that I know, and to those I haven't met yet, who are doing this important work, you have my admiration and thanks.  To those who haven't started yet, we await you with open arms.

Global Service Learning

While at ISTE last week, I had the pleasure of meeting Bob Greenberg, who interviewed me for his Brainwaves Video Anthology series. Bob seeks out "thinkers, dreamers, and innovators; some of the brightest minds in education" and seeks to record their stories to help inspire other teachers.  It was an honor to be chosen by Bob to be a part of this project.  Below is my 4 minute talk about the power that global service learning has had on our students at the Wallenpaupack South Elementary School.

Finding a #MysterySkype Connection for Your Students

Mystery Skype is an educational game, invented by teachers, played by two classrooms on Skype. The aim of the game is to build cultural awareness, critical thinking skills, and geography skills by guessing the location of the other classroom through a series of yes/no questions. Other variations can be used for different content areas.  Classes can play “Mystery Element” or “Mystery Animal” in science class, “Mystery Number” in math class, or “Mystery Historical Figure” in history class.  It is suitable for all age groups, from Kindergarten through college, and can be adapted for almost any subject area.  Some general guidelines that I’ve typed for my teachers can be found here: Mystery Skype Guidelines

Once people learn about Mystery Skype and the student learning that results from playing, they immediately want to begin setting up connections for their students.  In this post, I will share three easy ways to find a partner class for your next Mystery Skype game.

Skype in the Classroom Website

If you have never taken the time to explore the Skype in the Classroom (SITC) website, drop everything and do it now. In addition to Mystery Skype connections, this site will allow you to find authors, scientists, social innovators, and experts who are willing to talk to your students via Skype call to enhance their learning. There are also Skype Guide lessons which will teach you how to use Skype in your classroom and how to best use the website to create amazing learning experiences for your students.

Finding Mystery Skype connections is amazingly easy on the Skype in the Classroom Website.  First, create an account and log in. You can use your Skype or Microsoft ID to create your SITC account.  Be aware that, while they are connected to each other, your SITC account and your Skype account are different.

 

Next, Click on the “Mystery Skype” link on the top of the page (click on pictures to see them bigger).

On the next page, scroll down a bit and you will see a few different ways to connect with other teachers who are willing to Mystery Skype.  On the left side of the page, there are drop down menus that will allow you to narrow down the choices.  This is helpful because there are over 100,000 teachers and experts using the Skype in the Classroom website.  If you choose “United States” as the country you will have the option of narrowing your choices down by state as well. Clicking on any teacher’s name will take you to his/her profile where you can send him/her a message (see below).

My favorite way of searching for Mystery Skype connections on SITC is by using the map feature.  Above the drop down menus there is a blue button that says, “Search the Map.

The interactive map is very easy to use.  Simply move the map and zoom in/out on the location with which you are looking to connect.  Teachers and guest speakers in the area shown on the map will appear below.  Clicking on any of their names will take you to the teacher’s profile.  On this page you can see Skype in the Classroom lessons that he/she have created, lessons in which they’ve participated, and information about his/her class.  To contact the teacher to set up your Mystery Skype, click on the “Send a Message” link on the right side of the page.

In the message, make sure to introduce yourself, to list what classes and/or grades you teach, and to list a few times that you would like to connect.  I also like to include my email address and to have the teacher respond to me via email so that it is easier to keep track of our discussion.

Finding Connections on Twitter

Many educators use Twitter to learn from each other, share lesson ideas, and to set up collaborative projects for their students.  This is a great tool that can be used to find Mystery Skype connections as well.

To get the most out of Twitter, it is important to understand hashtags. Hashtags are used by people in their tweets as a way of curating posts into categories. For example, someone sending a tweet about a math lesson might put #mathchat in their post so that others who follow that hashtag can see it and respond.  Kindergarten teachers may use #kinderchat in their tweets, and principals may use #edadmin.  A rather comprehensive list ofeducational hashtags has been collected and published by Jerry Blumengarten. 

If you tweet out a request for a Mystery Skype using the correct hashtags, there is a good chance that another teacher will see it and respond to you. It’s always a good idea to put the age/grade of your students and any preferences you have in your post.  Since you only have 140 characters, feel free to use abbreviations like “Ss” for Students and “Ts” for teachers.  Make sure that you use one (or more) of the hashtags below in your 140 character post.

Some of the best hashtags to use when looking for Mystery Skype connections are:

•        #MysterySkype – Lots of teachers follow this hashtag and use it to connect.
•        #Skype2Learn – This hashtag is used for Mystery Skype as well as other types of Skype lessons.
•        #SkypeMT – Skype Master Teachers are experts at using Skype in education. Using this hashtag will let them see your request and help you find a connection.
•        #GlobalLearning – Teachers from around the world who connect their classrooms for global projects follow this hashtag.

A good tweet might look something like this:

Following the hashtags listed above is also a good idea if you are interested in using Skype in your classroom.  To follow a hashtag on Twitter, use the search feature at the top of the page. Type the hashtag you wish to follow in the search field.  Make sure to include the # at the beginning of the hashtag.

After you search for the hashtag you’d like to follow, click on “All” on the top of the page to see all tweets using that hashtag.  If you see a post to which you would like to respond, click on the arrow below the tweet.  This will allow you to tell the person that you are interested in connecting with him/her.

Building your professional network on Twitter will also make it easier for you to find connections.  When you see people who are tweeting about things that interest you, click on their name.  In their profile you will find a button which will allow you to follow them and see all of their tweets. Just as in real life, the more you interact with people, the more you will build relationships that lead to collaboration.

Use Your Other Social Media Networks to Find Connections

Many people think of Facebook as a place to share pictures with friends and family, but it can be a great tool for finding connections for your students.  It never hurts to ask for what you need from your network.  I’ve had a lot of success finding experts to connect with my students in this way.  It also can be a great way to find Mystery Skype contacts. 

Facebook groups also provide excellent opportunities for teachers to connect and learn from each other.  Some groups are public (anybody can join and contribute), and others are private (you must be invited).  If you do a search in Facebook for “Education”, you will see more than a thousand groups where educators are communicating and collaborating with each other. More specific searches such as “Mystery Skype” will give you less results, but may help you find a group that meets your needs.  Find a public group that looks interesting, and join to get involved. If you see a closed group that you would like join, you can send a request for membership. 

The Most Important Thing Is to Get Started

Trying something new is always a little scary. Setting up your first Mystery Skype is no different.  It’s natural to be nervous, especially when you know that another teacher will be seeing your class and any mistakes you make on camera.  Everyone feels that way when they start out, and for that reason, the communities of teachers on the Skype in the Classroom website, Twitter, and Facebook are usually happy to help you get started.  Don’t be afraid to tell the teacher(s) that you connect with that you are new to using Skype and may need some help. Teachers who are experienced at creating this type of learning experience become passionate about helping others do the same for their students.

Once you start using Mystery Skype as a learning tool with your students a new world of global learning will open up to you.  The possibilities really are limitless when you can bring other classes and amazing people into your classroom via Skype to help your students learn. You can see the reactions of teachers to the amazingexperiences their students have had on the SITC website.

There’s no time like right now to add your story to that list.  Go find your perfect Mystery Skype connection!

The Power of Appreciation - Reflections from #TCEA15

Sometimes, as teachers, we forget the impact that we have on others.  Sometimes we also forget how much others impact us. And, sometimes we forget to tell people how important they are to us.

Over the past four days at TCEA in Austin Texas, I have been reminded of all three of those facts. As I hurtle through the air at 600 miles per hour 30,000 feet in the air on my way home, I want to take this post to remind those who impacted me so much in the past few days how appreciative I am.

Before I arrived in Texas, I had never met Karen Balbier, Andrea Keller, Joe Meza, or Gina Ruffcorn in person.  Karen, Andrea, Joe, and I have recorded podcasts together along with Dyane Smokorowski and Micah Brown for over a year now, but we had never met face to face. Gina and I had connected our students and talked through social media before, but had never met.  

I somehow won the PLN jackpot.  Sure, like many others, I’ve got an amazing group of thousands of teachers on Twitter, Facebook, and Skype that I learn from every day.  Beyond that, I have been so incredibly blessed in the past 12 months to get to really know so many of them as friends.  I don’t think there is anyone who has a more amazing group of friends who are changing the world than I do. Andrea, Joe, Karen, and Gina, are simply four of the most passionate, amazing educators that I know, and it was amazing to be able to see that in person for a few days.

Presenting a workshop to 90 teachers on global learning with Karen was a great experience.  Like many other sessions I’ve given before though, I was worried afterward that I hadn’t done as great a job helping them as I could have.  I am so passionate about the topics I talk about that sometimes I worry when I don’t see the same level of excitement from every member of my audience.  

I’m not sure if this is a feeling that all teachers get, but I’d imagine that we all face it at times.  Maybe this is one of the downsides to having an incredible PLN.  Being connected to other Top-50 finalists for the Global Teacher Prize, Presidential Award winning math and science teachers, Teachers of the Year, and thousands of others who have no award next to their name but deserve one can be humbling when you see the amazing things they are doing.

“Have I done enough?”

“Did I have the impact that I should have?”

“Would it have been better if I… ?”

These were the thoughts swirling around in my head after our session when I checked my Facebook notifications and saw that Nikki Greene had tagged me in a post. She was thanking me for encouraging her to apply for a grant that she had just received, and for giving her the confidence to pursue the things she is passionate about.  To be perfectly honest, I don’t remember encouraging her. She is a two-time state finalist for the Presidential Math Award, passionate about finding new ways to create great experiences for her students, and an amazing teacher, and I have no doubt that at the time I just told her the truth about herself.  But, her thanking me in that post did just as much for me as I could have ever done for her. It allowed me to see the positives from my session and to feel confident that my enthusiasm made a difference.

Her expression of appreciation allowed me to remember that the most important things we do as teachers often go totally unnoticed by us.  We do good for others because it’s who we are. The lunch money you give to the kid who is worried because Mom didn’t wake up before he left for school, or the smile you give to cheer up the girl who is walking down the hall with her head down are instantly forgotten by you.  But, for the student who can breath easier knowing they can get lunch, or the kid who sees that smile as a sign that someone cares about how they are feeling, those actions mean everything.

Over the next two days I ran into several people in the convention center, got private messages on Twitter, and emails from participants that confirmed that there was a ton of excitement built from our workshop. We generated an excitement in teachers to empower their students and connect with others around the world to provide amazing educational experiences for their students. I have no doubt now that the session was a complete success and that I was being overly hard on myself. 

I learned lots of new tools at TCEA that I am going to share with my colleagues. The one thing that I am most committed to as I travel home isn’t implementing a new tool, though.  I am committed to doing for the teachers around me what Nikki did for me.  I want to show them the unseen impact that they have on those around them. As we enter the time of year when state assessments and preparation can send even the most positive teacher into a funk spiral, I want to help those around me feel the joy that comes from knowing they are making a difference.  

Because they are, and they deserve to know it. 

Global Holiday Song Exchange Skype-a-Thon

The following post is cross posted from the "21st Century Learning at the South Elementary" blog that I also author.  There I post the great learning experiences that we bring to our students.  Unfortunately, with all that is happening lately, I have struggled to keep up with sharing some of those great experiences here.  I am going to try cross-posting some of my favorite activities in both places to see if I can do a better job sharing with you all.

Global Holiday Song Exchange Skype-a-Thon

South Elementary music teacher Jean Shields leads 3rd grade
students in song.

Yesterday the students at the South Elementary got to experience one of the great joys of the holiday season - music from around the world.  Through Skype, our students took part in seven different group calls that allowed them to exchange holiday songs with students from five different continents. The planning of the project over the past 2 weeks was done with the help of a lesson posted on the Skype in the Classroom website.  We asked for classrooms in other locations to contact us if they wished to participate.  Many of our connections were made through that posting.   We wanted to make sure that we had 2 other classrooms connecting with us in each of our time slots.  During our group calls, each class had the opportunity to sing three of their favorite holiday songs for their partner classes.

The first call of the day partnered our 3rd grade students with children in Russia and Poland.  Some of the Russian students dressed up as traditional holiday characters from their country: Papa Frost and his granddaughter who deliver presents to children on New Year's Eve.

Our next session partnered our 3rd graders with students in France and Venezuela.  A French newspaper wrote about the interaction here:  Mende : Jeanne-d’Arc connectée au reste de la planète.  The highlight of this call was when all three schools sang "Jingle Bells" in their own language.  It was a beautiful three-continent, three-language sing along.

 The third group call connected students in Mrs. Spitzer's homeroom with students in Greece and Canada.  Our Greek friends shared a bit about their Christmas traditions and insisted on taking a three-country picture at the end of the call.

Our fourth connection stayed within the United States. Mrs. Gates's second grade class connected with schools in Massachusetts and Delaware.

Session five also stayed within the United States.  Our 4th and 5th grade chorus got the opportunity to share the songs they had been practicing with a Middle School chorus in Virgina and a group of 4th grade students in Utah. There was some fantastic singing going on during this call as you can see in the video below.

 

The sixth session of the day of the day brought countries in North America together.  Second grade students in Mrs. Gates's and Mrs. Seifert's classes and Mrs. Conklin's Kindergartners sang for and with students in Mexico and Canada.  Since the Mexican students spoke Spanish and the students in Canada were French speaking, there was another multi-language caroling activity at the end of the call.

Our last connection of the day was between Mrs. Flynn's second grade students,  first graders in Colorado, and third graders in Hawaii.  The Colorado students played the xylophone along with their songs.  The Hawaiian students sang a unique version of "The 12 Days of Christmas" that substituted in gifts from Hawaii like coconuts, giant squid, and papaya trees.

In addition to our seven connections during the day, classrooms that could not connect live due to time zone restraints or holiday breaks sent us videos of their students singing.  We received videos from Serbia, India, France, and Kenya.  Those videos can be seen on the Distance Teaching Project website and will be played as part of our morning news broadcast during the next few days. This was an amazing experience for everyone who participated.  We've already had multiple requests to plan another Holiday Song Skype-a-Thon for next year.

Connected Classrooms and the New World of Learning

Yesterday I was blessed with the opportunity to share some of the great work our students have been doing with some of the most passionate do-gooders of the world at the 2014 Social Good Summit in New York City.  The summit was sponsored by Mashable and the United Nations Foundation.  My talk with Wendy Norman from Skype about the power of students connecting globally via videoconferencing to change the world was broadcast to over 160 countries and translated into 7 languages.  This was undoubtedly one of my career highlights.

The video is embedded below.  Wendy speaks for about 7 minutes before introducing me and letting me finish the presentation.

Round Table Discussion with State TOY and Kenyan Teachers

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in a round table discussion through Google Hangouts with some amazing State Teachers of the Year from around the United States and teachers at the Cheery Education Centre in Nairobi, Kenya.  I am grateful to Dyane Smokorowski for inviting me to participate.

Below is the video recording of our call.

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Global #Kidwish Project

"Great moments are born from great opportunity." - Herb Brooks

It's been an incredible week.  Every week seems pretty incredible since I switched jobs this year from being a 5th grade teacher to a Curriculum Support Coach.  I still often miss having my own class and being able to act on moments of serendipity without having to convince someone to let me borrow their students, but it's exciting to have the job of helping teachers and students do awesome things every day.

This week was exceedingly incredible, though.  First, I was able to work out the details with our local newspaper, The News Eagle, to allow our 5th grade students to start writing blog posts for their website.  The paper was looking for the perspectives of students in the area, read the blog posts our students have been writing, and asked if we could partner up.  There's no better way for our students to learn to write than to actually be journalists, so we were happy to accept.

Next, after about a month of research and planning, the our 5th grade students put on their first US History Living Wax Museum.  Each student researched a figure from early American History, wrote a monologue in the first person, and came up with a costume that was as historically accurate as possible. We invited younger students and community members.  Each student stood or sat frozen until "activated" by a visitor.  They then came to life and delivered their monologue before freezing again.  It was a whole lot of fun, our students learned a great deal, and the comments from our visitors were overwhelmingly positive.

The most exciting thing about this week is the launch of an fantastic global collaboration project that I have been lucky enough to be working on with three absolutely amazing teachers from across the country.  A few weeks ago Dyane Smokorowski, Andrea Keller, and Karen Wright-Balbier contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in collaborating on a project intended to connect classrooms.

One of the great things about being a networked educator is the inspiration that comes from seeing the things that others do with their students.  Having been connected to these teachers for years, I was so excited and humbled that they thought of me to help out with this.

Our intention is to connect regular ed, special ed, special needs, and mainstreamed classrooms across North America so that students can share their wishes for 2014 with each other.  They'll do this by exchanging holiday cards and meeting face-to-face to share their wishes via videoconference.

I believe that school should be less about what you know and more about what you can do to make a difference.  Instead of telling students to sit down and listen, we should be empowering them to stand up and facilitate the change they want to see in the world.  Instead of complaining about what's wrong, I want my students to start becoming the members of society that make things right.

My hope is that this project is a way to help students start those conversations.  If the four of us can assist teachers all over the world in helping their students share their wishes and dreams for the upcoming year, maybe those students and teachers can start making them come true.

To learn more about the 2014 Wishes Project, and to sign up, visit the website we created.  You'll find information about the project, a map of classrooms that have already signed up, and possible extension opportunities.  If connecting with other classrooms like this seems overwhelming to you, don't worry.  We're going to help you with whatever you need to make this successful.

I opened this post with a quote from Herb Brooks, a hockey coach most famous for guiding the 1980 USA Olympic team to the gold medal in the Lake Placid Olympics.  Great moments are born from great opportunity.  I know what an amazing opportunity this is for our students.  I can't wait to see the moments yet to come.  I hope you'll join us.

Friday's Five - Diversity and Understanding

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Friday's Five is a feature every week where I pick a new topic and list five items that I think fit best.  Then I ask you to share your thoughts in the comment section.  For an archive of past topics, check the Friday's Five Page. 

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”

I love that Mark Twain quote.  Being open-minded, leaving behind one's own ethnocentric biases, and experiencing another culture is by far the best way to understand others and their points of view.  Unfortunately, it's not possible to travel with our students in a way that would allow them to have those experiences.  Many of my students growing up in rural Pennsylvania will go their entire childhoods without even visiting New York City or Philadelphia, both of which are a two hour drive away.  With school budgets being cut, even local field trips are becoming a thing of the past.  Certainly a class visit to a totally different country and culture is out of the question, and seems even ridiculous to mention.  

The challenge for us is to find ways for our students to interact, be exposed to, and appreciate the differences of other cultures. It's exceedingly difficult to do in a country where 95% of the news coverage is about domestic matters.  With the increasing bullying problems we seem to be having in our schools and online and the seeming lack of acceptance of anyone different in our society, finding ways to understand others is of increasing importance.  How, then, can we travel, meet others, and learn from them without leaving our classrooms?  Here are five suggestions.

1. Virtual Field Trips - While it doesn't allow you to interact with others, virtual travel is a great way to experience other locations without spending any money or travel time.  As an added benefit, you aren't limited to the present time.  If it fits your studies, you can visit Ancient Rome or Colonial Williamsburg.  There are many resources out there that will allow you travel virtually.  A few weeks ago someone shared a "List of 100 Incredible and Educational Virtual Tours You Don't Want to Miss."  That's a great place to get started.
2. Find a class in a very different culture and connect as pen pals.  Up until the past decade, this would have been an expensive and time consuming option.  Now, with the technologies available to us, the cost of postage and the time it used to take to send letters is no longer an obstacle.  Use e-mail, Google Docs, a wikispace, or some other technology to instantly communicate with other student around the globe.  Exchange pictures of schools, classrooms, and pets.  Discuss upcoming holidays and favorite dinners.  Share family traditions.  Talk to your students about how "different" doesn't mean "wrong."  Your students will start to see that while many of the things that people do around the world may be different, we have a lot more in common than many people realize.
3. Videoconference with other locations.  If your students are studying King Tut, who better to conference with than an expert in Egyptian Archaeology who is currently digging in Egypt?  If you are discussing addition and subtraction, why not Skype in with students from Europe who learn to add and subtract from left to right and ask them to explain why that makes sense to them?  If we want our students to think about solutions to problems from many points of view, we need to expose them to many points of view.  Videoconferencing makes that easy and fun to do.
4. Collaborate with students from other cultures on a project.  The number of web 2.0 tools that make it easy to collaborate is exploding.  Instead of only using those tools to allow for in-class collaboration, connect with other classes in foreign locations and collaborate with them.  If you are studying the rainforest, maybe you can connect with a class in Brazil and figure out how you can work together to make a difference to save species.  If your class wants to know the effects of climate change on glaciers, why not connect with a class living in the Alps, Rockies, or Himalayas and study it with them?  We don't know a lot about the future world we are sending our graduates into, but we do know that it is getting smaller and that global collaboration is becoming more important.  It's important to give our students opportunities to practice those skills in school.  
5. Model the skills you want your students to have.  How can you find classes, experts, students, and teachers in other cultures and countries?  Build a global professional network of educators with whom you regularly collaborate using social networking sites like Twitter, Plurk, Facebook, and Google+.  Regularly seek out different ways to do things and be open to change.  Share new ideas that you stumble upon with your students.  If you want your students to be life-long learners, model for them what it looks like.  

Now it's your turn.  How do you teach diversity and understanding in your classroom?  How do you connect with other cultures?  What tools have you found most helpful for collaboration with others around the globe?  How have you build your Professional Network, or what difficulties have you faced in doing so?  Do you find that your students are lacking understanding of other cultures?  Please share with us your ideas and pass the post on to others using Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Plurk so that we can hear their ideas as well. 

ISTE 2011 - Day Four and Final Thoughts

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Now that I'm home, I want to reflect on my last day at ISTE 2011 in Philadelphia and share a few thoughts on my experiences at the conference.  The past four days have been a whirlwind of learning, networking, and discussion that was one of the most intense and enlightening periods of my teaching career.  For the first time in my career, I was in an environment where the majority of people I interacted with shared my passion and vision for transforming and/or revolutionizing our current educational practices.  That was an amazingly powerful experience that I find hard to fully describe.

Here are some of the things that I took away from my last day at ISTE:

• I started the day by having breakfast with Dyane Smokorowski at an Amish eatery in Reading Terminal Market.  Speaking with her was one of the highlights of my trip.  I am a great admirer of what she does in her 8th grade classroom and her views on global collaboration.  Even though we had never met face-to-face before this conference, I feel like I've known her for a long time.
• I got another chance to browse the poster sessions in the morning.  It seemed like a lot more of the sessions were math based, which made me happy.  One teacher was showing how to use one of my favorite tools, Geogebra.  In the student showcase section there was a group of high school girls showing off the robotics they had created and the software they used to design them.  Their session was mobbed, and unfortunately I didn't get a chance to speak with them or get more information.  Their work was very impressive.  
• For the first time, I saw Kevin Honeycutt present.  I feel fortunate that I got to spend quite a bit of time with Kevin and got to know him over the past few days.  His presentation was awesome.  He speaks with an authenticity that I've never heard from a presenter before.  The audience was as engaged as any I've ever seen.  One of my favorite quotes from his talk came when he was discussing cell phone policies:  "Kids used to pass notes on paper.  We never banned paper!  Get real!"  The video below is Kevin presenting the same session last year.
• After that session, I said my goodbyes to the people who have been so incredible to be around for the past four days.  I look forward to the next opportunity I have to see them in person.  Until then, I appreciate the fact that they are a part of my PLN. 
• As incredible as ISTE was, the best part of my day was when I walked in the door at home after a 2.5 hour drive and my two children came running up to me and gave me a big hug while yelling, "Daddy! Daddy!"  In moments like that I am reminded that I am the luckiest man in the world.