I recently created a new Blog for future postings. To view, go to mariesontag.wordpress.com. The Blog, titled "Teaching and Writing", focuses not just on technology in education, but also on my historical fiction writing activities. The first Blog posted covers information on Google and Khan Academy's recent partnership to encourage the production of quality educational videos that teachers can use to help "flip" their classrooms. For additional information on my current writing activities, you can also go to www.mariesontag.com. Due to Apple's discontinuance of mac.me, I will be updating my links on the right panel in the near future.

Blended Learning

What Is Blended Learning? 

Have you thought about putting some of your students’ classwork online? Does that mean you’re delving into “blended learning”? I just read a blog by Rob Darrow that discussed a white paper on blended learning. Heather Staker and Michael B. Horn’s paper, Classifying K-12 Blended Learning (Innosight Institute, May 2012) defines blended learning as: a formal education program in which a student learns at least in part through online delivery of content and instruction with some element of student control over time, place, path, and/or pace and at least in part at a supervised brick-and-mortar location away from home. Catlin Tucker writes a passionate response to this white paper in her blog, amending the definition to read, a formal education program in which a student is engaged in active learning at least in part online where they have some control over the time, place, and/or pace and in part at a brick-and-mortar location away from home. Notice that Tucker takes exception to the word “path” in Staker and Horn’s definition. She totally eliminates it in her revised version. I definitely applaud her emphasis on students’ active engagement in the learning process. Her elimination, however, of the word “supervised” definitely wouldn’t meet California Department of Ed.’s requirements for online learning! Staker and Horn did invite others to contribute to their research by asking others to offer “improvements and additions.” So add your voice to the mix. Read the blogs and the white papers. Be part of the “disruptive innovation”!

Upcoming Presentations

Will Richardson, Educational Technology Specialist, will be the featured speaker at this year's CLMS Technology Conference in Monterey, CA, Jan. 13-15. I will give a presentation on "Technology to Engage Students' Minds without Losing Yours". In March, I will give a presentation on how to engender students' critical thinking using the free 3D animation program called "Alice." This workshop will be held March 24 at "The Harker School," sponsored by Silicon Valley CUE. For more information on these conferences, go to either CLMS.org, or www.SVCUE.net. Hope to see you at one of the events!

Gaming Can Make a Better World?

Thanks MFL for sending me a link to this amazing video! This past year was my most difficult year as a teacher. I lost my vision and enthusiasm for teaching because the workload was horrendous. I'm sure I was not alone. Asked to do the job of both a regular teacher as well as a special ed teacher (with no certification or training), I worked over 70 hours a week trying to do the best job possible. I had no energy or will to devote to technology in education. This video, however, inspired me to return to my first love. It's a must see. Check it out and give us feedback on how you might inject at least one thought inspired by this video into your teaching this next school year.

Has anyone used the free 3D animation program, Blender? Or have your students used it? It looks like a great tool for those interested in delving into 3D animation (especially since it's free!), but the learning curve appears pretty steep. Drop us a comment in the box below and let us know your experiences. I'm thinking of adding some of the tutorials for Blender to my 7th/8th grade technology class for the new semester.

Games can be powerful motivational tools in education. I just found a great free game creation tool that's easy to use at classtools.net. They have several different templates. All you have to do is enter your questions and answers. Here's a sample game I created for a review of Ancient Rome for my 7th graders when we get back to school.

Click here for full screen version

I plan to embed games such as this into my Homework Webpage and encourage students to use the games as a review tool. Our adopted social studies textbook has a few online games related to the text, but how much more powerful it will be to specifically target the facts I want my students to know in order for me to challenge them to move on to higher levels of critical thinking. Just as seasonings provide flavor and variety in food, so too a "just in time" game can provide our students with the needed motivation to solidify the facts they need to master in order to move through the stages of higher order thinking. Create your own game for your curriculum and share the link with us here!

Brightlink

I'd like to thank Dr. Sontag for welcoming me to share posts on this blog as a collaborative effort from this point onward.

My first contribution to the blog is to share a product which I've seen demonstrated at my school in London. It is very exciting to see the possibility of this new product, which has only recently arrived on the market. It allows any flat surface to become an interactive whiteboard. The projector is ultra-short throw which removes a great deal of the shadow from teaching in front of a standard ceiling-mounted projector.

http://www.epsonbrightlink.webengager.com/Education/

The down side is that Smart Board software is still superior to the software of any of its competitors (including Promethan's Activboard or the Polyvision Eno Board). Perhaps there will be a way in the future to put the two together!

After watching videos and reading downloads from the online teaching conference (see the previous post), I was inspired to create some products for my upcoming fall classes. The session on interactive tools prompted me to create a voice thread, telling new parents and students about the CA Dept. of Ed.'s suggested reading list. When school starts, I'll encourage students to also leave voice threads, telling us about books they have read recently. The social networking session encouraged me to create a class Wiki. I developed one that I hope to use for an introductory social studies project.

Check out the free online videos and downloads from the Online Teaching Conference and get inspired!

Online PD

With budget cuts, little money remains for teachers' professional development. A few weeks ago I went (for free!) to San Digeo (virtually, from my couch in San Jose, CA!) for an online teaching conference. Although primarily targeting online teachers, many of the sessions gave great tips for regular (face-to-face) classroom teachers as well.

I especially got a lot out of the session on graphic organizers, integrating social networking to foster an engaged community, and a session on MUVE's (session 14 at 2:15pm). I still plan to go back and view some of the ones I missed, such as the live video of the Google Wave session, and to download handouts from the session, Communication Tools for the 21st Century (session 4). Go to any of the links and register as a guest to take advantage of this free professional development training via video and handouts!

Technology in Education – Facts vs. Fiction Regarding the Arizona SB 1070 Debate

We want our students to develop critical thinking, and one way for them to do this is to ferret out first-hand, primary sources for all sides of a controversial issue. The recent flurry of opinions and emotions regarding the new Arizona state law seeking to curb illegal immigration in that state provides a great example of how technology can help both us, as well as our students, hone our critical thinking skills.

Frustrated by the rhetoric (both for and against) that has recently flooded the airways regarding Arizona’s "Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act", also known as S.B. 1070, I decided to go online to read the bill for myself before forming a personal opinion. I was surprised to find out that this 16-page document was fairly easy to understand. I then searched online for recent newspaper articles to find out what has actually been stated regarding the bill. Here’s what I found.

An article posted online by the San Francisco examiner.com, on 4/29/10 reported, “The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Arizona, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) and the National Immigration Law Center, are planning to file a joint suit to also challenge the new law signed by Gov. Jan Brewer Friday, arguing the law is unconstitutional.”

On April 21, the San Francisco examiner.com quoted the U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis as saying, “We need immigration reform, because now each state might want to change laws.” The article also stated that Solis said state officials have “no power” to promote initiatives that would enable them to enforce immigration laws, because that is the federal government’s responsibility.

The New York Times and KTAR.com in Phoenix, AZ (4/23/10) reported that Obama called the Arizona bill “misguided”, and instructed the Justice Department to examine it to see if was legal. Obama said that the federal government must enact immigration reform, otherwise it leaves the door open to “irresponsibility by others,” including, for example, “the recent efforts in Arizona, which threaten to undermine basic notions of fairness…”

Finally, ABC News White House Correspondence Jake Tapper reported that on April 27, President Obama told people at a town hall meeting in Iowa, “This law that just passed in Arizona [which I think] is a poorly conceived law.” Obama believes it will lead to racial profiling. “Now, suddenly, if you don’t have your papers ... you’re going to be harassed,” the president said.

I decided to examine the text of the bill more closely to find out why some call it unconstitutional. Is it, in fact, taking on powers that do not belong to the states? Will it unfairly demand aliens to carry their documents with them, and allow police to engage in racial profiling? Here’s what I found out by examining the text of the bill.

Sec. 6. Section 23-212 of the bill states, “A state, county or local official shall not attempt to independently make a final determination on whether an alien is authorized to work in the United States. An alien's immigration status or work authorization status shall be verified with the federal government pursuant to 8 United States Code section 1373(c).” I found no evidence in the bill that it will usurp federal authority, or violate the U.S. Constitution. In fact, Kris Kobach, a law professor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, explains, “The Supreme Court since 1976 has recognized that states may enact laws to discourage illegal immigration without being pre-empted by federal law.”

Sec. 3. Section 13-1509 of the bill states that if someone is found to be an illegal alien, they are guilty of a misdemeanor crime of trespassing in the State of Arizona. If they are in violation of federal law due to their illegal status, and in possession of dangerous drugs, deadly weapons, or property used for the purpose of committing an act of terrorism, they are guilty of a felony, under the State laws of Arizona. This section appears to fall within the scope of the 1976 Supreme Court ruling.

Another law this bill enacts is to make it a misdemeanor if an alien fails to carry certain documents. Sec. 2, Article 8, Section 11-1051 E states, “A law enforcement officer, without a warrant, may arrest a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States” (such as being an illegal alien).

If an officer has probable cause to suspect that a person is in the country illegally, this bill gives the officer the right to ask the person for documentation showing that he or she is here legally. If such documentation cannot be presented, the officer can arrest the person and contact federal authorities to ascertain the person’s legal status. This appears to be the section of the bill that stirs up fears of racial profiling, and is perhaps the section that prompted Obama’s statement, “Now, suddenly, if you don’t have your papers ... you’re going to be harassed.” However, part J of this section states, “This section shall be implemented in a manner consistent with federal laws regulating immigration, protecting the civil rights of all persons and respecting the privileges and immunities of United States citizens.” And Section 2 B specifically states, “A law enforcement official…may not consider solely consider race, color or national origin in implementing the requirements of this subsection.”

According to current federal law, this Arizona state law requiring aliens to carry documentation is not a new or unfair law. U.S. Code Title 8, section 1304 part (e) states, “Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him pursuant to subsection (d) of this section. Any alien who fails to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100 or be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or both.” This federal law has been in effect since 1940. The Arizona law simply adds a state penalty to what was already a federal crime.

In light of this evidence, the only portions of Arizona’s law that I might question are the meanings for the phrase, probable cause in Sec. 2, Article 8, Section 11-1051 E, and reasonable suspicion, as used in Sec. 2, 11-1051 A. Section 11-1051 E says, “A law enforcement officer, without a warrant, may arrest a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person has committed any public offense that makes the person removable from the United States.” In 11-1051 A it says, “For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement official…where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made, when practicable, to determine the immigration status of the person.”

What one officer determines is probable cause or reasonable suspicion may not appear to be so to another officer. However, I discovered that there are specific, legal standards for these terms. If an officer claims that his actions are based on probable cause, the official must be able to prove that his or her interpretation is based on specific facts and inferences. Proof of probable cause for an officer to arrest a person under suspicion of illegal alien status would have to be the absence of legal documentation, as referenced above. I also learned that the legal standards for determining probable cause are even stronger than the standards for reasonable suspicion. Reasonable suspicion must meet the legal standard in United States law that a person has been, is, or is about to be engaged in criminal activity based on "specific and articulable facts and inferences", according to Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (1968). An arresting officer cannot lawfully make contact with a suspected criminal, for example, just because of a person has an accent or a certain skin color. The officer can only make lawful contact based on specific facts that the officer can articulate or infer.

The emotional ranting that I have heard on both sides of the issue appear to stem from “what if”, or “this could happen if” scenarios. Based on available legal information, Arizona legislators seem well within their states’ rights to enact and uphold the legislation of S.B. 1070.

Grant for Senteos (Smart Response)

I was excited to learn that my teacher partner and I received a grant from the Silicon Valley Education Foundation to purchase a set of Smart Response devices. These handhelds help students and teachers make assessment more fun and personal. Check out future grant funding dates from SVEF. It's a great organization.

The article I had published in the April/May '09 Innovate Journal regarding my new learning theory now has a new link. It can be found at
"A Learning Theory for 21-Century Students". Then click the link for the April/May 2009 issue. They have also archived the interview they conducted with me regarding the article, at ULiveandLearn Webcast.

Currently I'm working at my local middle school teaching 7th grade Language Arts and a Technology elective. My stint as the district's Instructional Technology Teacher on Special Assignment ended this year, due to budget cuts.

I am teaching several classes at RAFT this fall. Check out their offerings at www.raft.net.

Duke University Alice Symposium

The presentation I gave at Duke University last week went well. What a beautiful place! I left my iphone in the taxi on the way to the airport, but the driver was kind enough to take it back to my hotel, and the hotel people are mailing it to my home. Gotta love those North Carolina folk!

I talked with the Alice people (Steve, Wanda, Pam, Don) about my idea to get tech/art schools to partner with Alice and have students create more objects for the galleries that teachers can use in their curriculum, and they gave me a green light. On the way home from NC, I had a layover in Phoenix, and met with the provost from the University for Advancing Technology in Tempe. He is enthused about the idea, and hopefully we can get something set up. I'm going to look into setting up appointments with other art schools in the Bay Area to see if I can get others on board.

One exciting find at the Alice Symposium was that Alice 2.2 now has all the bugs worked out and is ready for download from www.Alice.org. We've been using 2.0 this year, because it was more stable. Alice 2.2., however, provides the ability to create video files of the Alice worlds that can be shared on the Web. You can view a student-created Alice world here that relates to 6th grade Language Arts/Social Studies standards, created this past school year in the Union School District. Other samples can be viewed at the "Critical Thinking with Alice" website.

New Learning Theory Translated into Spanish

I just received an email from the editor of Innovate Journal, notifying me that my article on my new learning theory has been translated into Spanish by Universidad de Concepción in Chile!

The English version can be found at Innovate Journal. A link to the Spanish version can be found here. To hear and see the Webcast I had with Innovate Journal regarding my new learning theory, visit the Innovate Portal site.

Presenting a Paper at Duke University, June 17, 2009 - and Other Summer Plans

In June, I'll travel to Duke University to present a paper at the Alice Symposium (Alice is a 3D animation program), and I'm very excited about this opportunity. I've never been to North Carolina! My goal is to develop collaboration between teachers to create Alice 3D animiation tutorials that can be used by middle school teachers to help engender critical thinking in core subjects that relate to standards. I'd also like to stimulate partnerships between the developers of the Alice program and tech schools that teach 3D animation modeling. In this way, perhaps we can develop a larger bank of 3D objects that the Alice program can use that include characters and environments middle school students encounter in their core subject areas.

During the summer, I have also applied for an IISME fellowship to work with Adobe in order to gain a better understanding of the business world, in hopes of bringing this knowledge back into the classroom next fall. I will also be teaching some classes at RAFT during the summer, so it's shaping up to be an exciting next few months!

Journal Article on My New Learning Theory

The April/May 2009 issue of Innovate Journal (an online, peer-reviewed educational magazine) published an article on the new learning theory and instructional design model that I developed over the past four years while working on my doctorate. The magazine held a Webcast last week, and have now archived it, so by going to the Webcast link and logging in, you can hear it for yourself. Just go to Innovate Journal to view the article and to navigate to the Webcast. You just have to sign up (free!) to log in.

SVCUE Silicon Valley CUE Conference Feb. 28, 2009

For those of you in the Silicon Valley area, join us Saturday, Feb. 28, at The Harker School, 8am-3pm for a mini-CUE conference. More information is available at svcue.org. Besides the great sessions available to you, there will be over $7,000 worth of door prizes given away! Workshops include sessions such as PBL with Office, Google Docs, Moodle Basics, Geocaching, Geography Awareness, Document Cameras, and many more. Hope to see you Saturday!

CUE Palm Springs, March 5-7 '09

The theme for the March 5-7 CUE conference in Palm Springs is "Driving Student Success." I'm looking forward to hearing the Keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Marzano, and attending many of the great sessions that will be offered. See for yourself at http://www.cue.org/conference/schedule/.

I will present a session on the free 3D animiation program, Alice - and how teachers can learn to use the program along with their students, as students work through a tutorial on critical thinking. The tutorial can be re-vamped to use with any grade level, 4-12, in any subject that has a controversial issue. For a download of the PowerPoint and handouts I will use in the session, see the links on www.timetrek.org.

Jigzone.com - Make Jigsaw Puzzles for Free

pedagogy19k Jigsaw Puzzle
I just heard about a Website that will enable you to make your own jigsaw puzzles for free! Click on the picture above to see how the puzzle works. The site is called jigzone.com. Simply upload a picture file, and you will get a link to a puzzle of your picture that you can post anywhere. I heard about jigzone while listening to Joan and Ben's SMART Board Lesson Podcast. Students can then manipulate this puzzle on the computer to complete the picture. If you have a SMART Board, the picture could be on the SMART Board as students walk in, as a way to introduce a lesson. Those who come in first could go up and manipulate the pieces to put it together. If you don't have a SMART Board, have the puzzle on a computer in your room for students to manipulate.

I'm going to use my puzzle on a SMART Board at the beginning of a teacher training on Word, where we will discuss the different tool palettes. A way to use this puzzle idea in Language Arts would be to create a picture with two or three vocabulary words, and align pictures above the correct words. Having students put these puzzles together gives them some time-on-task with viewing the vocabulary words and thinking about their meanings, while they have fun putting the puzzle together at the same time. You could also challenge students to create their own puzzles, typing in vocabulary words and finding pictures to accompany the pictures. I created my pictures and text using Photoshop. The person who shared this idea said he created his picture by using a free photo editor called PhotoFiltre. This application, however is only for PC. Go to Google's Piscasa for a free MAC photo editor.

Jeopardy PowerPoint Class at RAFT

I had the privilege of teaching a great group of teachers at RAFT on Saturday, Aug. 2. One teacher came all the way from North Carolina! Actually, she was in town for the week because she was going to a workshop in San Francisco, and came to RAFT in San Jose for our Saturday class. By the end of our session, teachers were creating their own Jeopardy PowerPoint games to use in their own classrooms.

We made some corrections to the Jeopardy Directions, so I told the workshop attendees that I would include a download of the new directions on my Blog. Even if you didn't attend the class, you're welcome to download the handout. I'll also include a download of the template here too.

Alice 3D Animation Storytelling Class

From July 14 through August 1, I took a workshop to learn the 3D Animation/Storytelling program called Alice. Alice is a computer program developed by Randy Pausch (The Last Lecture)and a team from Carnegie Mellon University. Alice is a free educational software that teaches students computer programming in a 3D environment. We learned the program the first two weeks from two men who have worked with Randy Pausch at Carnegie Mellon. The last week of the session, we taught a group of middle school students how to use the program. Our group of 24 middle schoolers quickly learned how to use Alice and were programming wonderful 3D animiated stories in no time. It's a great way to integrate problem-based learning and project-based learning into the curriculum. The program can be downloaded for free from the Alice site.

If you haven't viewed the inspirational youtube video clip of Randy giving his "Last Lecture" at Carnegie Mellon, you need to see it. As of today, it has already been viewed over 5 million times, and it was only posted last year. Don, our teacher from Carnegie Mellon, had a difficult time teaching the last class with us on July 25, because Don told us that he had just found out that Randy had passed away that morning. Randy, age 47, died from pancreatic cancer that was discovered in his body in 2006. For more information on Randy, see "An Enduring Legacy" posted by Carnegie Mellon.