Podcasts about flat classroom project

Vicki Davis has been writing the Cool Cat Teacher blog for more than 12 years and has been an Edublog award finalist for Best Teacher Blog for most of those. Her blog is listed in the top 50 blogs in education and has more than 100,000 unique visitors who read this blog each month. Vicki was voted a top 5 twitterer in education by the Edublog awards in 2015, and named by Mashable as one of Twitter's Top 10 Rockstar teachers. Recently, Onalytica named Vicki as the top female edtech influencer on Twitter in December 2017 according to their statistical research. Vicki hosts and self produces the podcast the 10-Minute Teacher show since February 1, 2017. Within one week of launch, it hit the top 10 in the k12 store in iTunes. It is a 5-day a week show for busy teachers. Vicki's prior show Every Classroom Matters had over 300 thousand downloads a month and was produced by BAM Radio Network. In 2014, Vicki won the BAMMY Award for Best Education Talk Show Host in 2014. Vicki is well known for her creation of more than twenty global collaborative projects including the Flat Classroom Project which won ISTE's Online Learning Award in 2006 and the MAD About Mattering Project in 2016 and 2017. Vicki is known for her speeches on differentiating instruction, being an excellent 21st-century educator. Her work with classrooms across the world has taken her and her students around the world- to China, India, Qatar, Dubai, Hawaii and here in the continental US where she has shared more than 100 keynotes and spotlights. Vicki's books  Reinventing Writing and Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds, empower teachers to connect their students to technology and the world. Vicki writes for Edutopia and is one of Cathy Rubin's Global Search for Education Top 12 Teacher Blogs. Vicki has 138K Twitter followers (and growing) and more than one hundred thousand unique visitors read Vicki's blog every month. Vicki's on Tumblr, Flipboard, and Facebook, too. Vicki is a Discovery STAR educator and a Google Certified Innovator. She has spoken at Google, Microsoft, and other technology companies about innovative classroom technology use. Her classroom was named one of the most top 10 Financially Literate classrooms in the US by the H&R Block Budget Challenge in 2014. Vicki has 3 three children, 4 dogs, 3 cats, 105 students, and 1 husband and now one more person who has read her bio — and for that — she's most grateful. She is honored to count many of the finest educators on the planet as her friends. ———————————————————————– Kelly Croy is an author, speaker and educator. If you'd like to learn more about Kelly, or invite him to your school or conference to speak please send him an email. • Listen to Kelly's other podcast, The Future Focused Podcastand subscribe. • Subscribe to The Wired Educator Podcastwith over 115 episodes of interviews and professional development. • Visit Kelly's website at www.KellyCroy.com. • Looking for a dynamic speaker for your school's opening day? • Consider Kelly Croy at www.KellyCroy.com • Order Kelly's book, Along Came a Leaderfor a school book study or your personal library. • Follow Kelly Croy on Facebook.  • Follow Kelly Croy on Twitter.  •  Follow Kelly Croy on Instagram 

 I received a number of emails and questions about what types of “innovative work” I’ve seen in my role as a teacher, administrator, and speaker around the country. To be honest, there has been so much great work I’ve witnessed in my own district and traveling that it is hard to share it all. I’ve widdled it down to ten (because that seems like a solid number right?). These are some of the examples I share when doing workshops and working with teachers because I know they work and there are many teachers they can collaborate with that are already doing this type of learning. I’m calling these 10 examples practical because I believe they are doable. They work in most grade levels, in most schools, in most situations. However, as we talked about in a previous post, you and your students are going to have to be the ultimate decision makers on whether or not any of these ideas would work. 1. Let Your Students Design the Learning We all have those assignments, assessments, and units that need some revitalization. Often we toil, thinking about how we can design a project or activity that is going to engage our students and empower them to do amazing work. One time, I didn’t do this. One time, I asked and had a conversation with my students about the final assessment. And that one time turned into one of the most innovative projects I’ve ever been a part of: Project Global Inform. You see, when I brought my students into the actual “designing” process they took an enormous amount of ownership in how we would structure this final project, how we would grade this final project, and what the expectations were from them. Give your students a chance to design the learning with you and watch what can happen. 2. Run a Student-Led Edcamp In 2014 I read about Jason Seliskar running an “Elementary Unconference” as an Edcamp for his 4th grade students. It was fantastic. Thes students create their own learning boards (just like in Edcamp), schedule for the day/class, and then become experts and learners in each other’s session. Since then I’ve seen a number of schools and teachers run student-led edcamps (here is one at a MS) with great success. Why does it work? For the same reason Edcamp works for us teachers: They own the learning and experience. 3. Collaborate Globally I’ve written about this before. Participating in my first Global project (Flat Classroom Project) with my students changed me as a teacher and my perspective of what types of learning experiences we can have “in school” with our students. Now there are many different global collaboration/learning experiences you can take part in. Whether it is joining up for the Global Read Aloud, setting up a Mystery Skype callwith another class, or taking part in the first-ever Global Day of Design, your students can have the opportunity to work and learn with peers from around the world. 4. Maker Projects and Design Thinking Challenges Get your students making, creating, designing, building, and solving problems together with a Maker Project or Design Thinking Challenge. Check out the GlobalDayOfDesign.com for free ideas and Maker Projects to get started. 5. Genius Hour and 20% Time I get messages from teachers every day that have taken my free course on Genius Hour and 20% Time or read my book that are so excited about the work their students are doing. Genius Hour and 20% Time empowers students to go into a depth around a topic that they are curious about. They learn, research, document, and share their process with the world. This eventually turns into a time to create (based on what they have learned) and then present with their peers and much larger authentic audience. Giving students choice to learn and create based on their interests is one of the best ways to create the conditions for innovative work. 6. Class Challenge (Do It Together!) When I taught 11th grade English one of the best experiences was collaborating with my good friend and colleague Steve Mogg on a daily basis. Throughout the year we taught a number of novels and stories that had mystery, court room scenes, and crime scene investigations. So, at the end of the year we created a Class Challenge project that would pit each of our classes against each other in a 3-day long “CSI:Wissahickon” challenge. At the start of the project we would present the crime that had taken place, who the key players were, and what they needed to solve. Each day we would leave a series of clues around our classrooms and the school that would help each class solve the crime. By the end of the 3-days they would have to present their case as a class and we would decide who had the winning argument. It was a blast and incorporated all of those problem-solving and team-building skills we were looking for–but the students always loved it because they worked together as an entire class to complete the challenge. 7. Community Project I’ve recently witnessed students at my school building a beautiful table for the opening of a restaurant; working with the local watershed to solve water run-off problems; connecting with the community to run technology training; and putting on an entire TEDx production from start to finish. In each of these examples the project and work they were doing in school directly impacted the community. Sometimes we take for granted the opportunities for authentic learning experiences that are right outside our school doors. Connect with your local organizations, companies, and residents to see what types of projects would benefit the community while also empowering students to solve problems and create solutions. 8. Teach the World What You Know (create YouTube tutorials) I was in a fourth-grade classroom last month, watching two Garnet Valley school district teachers explain circuits (and how they work). Afterwards the students went through stations where they created circuits using Snapcircuits, Legos, and Minecraft! What was fascinating is how many of the students wanted to create Minecraft tutorial videos teaching the world how to make and design circuits. The students took pictures of what they created and shared them via their teacher’s class Twitter accounts. It reminded me that so many of our students want to teach the world what they know, have the platform to do it (YouTube), but aren’t always given the time in school. These teachers made time to allow their students to not only do the work but also share it with an audience! 9. Let Your Students Debate My favorite day of the marking period as a teacher, was the last day. Not because it was over, or grades were in, or we had a final assessment. It was the day I let my students argue and debate with me the entire class period. We created an Appeals Day where everything graded and assessed was up for discussion and debate. My students spent hours perfecting their arguments, teaming up with each other, collaborating, and building out their cases. It wasn’t so much the fact that they could get points back (they could if their argument was strong) but instead it was the opportunity to debate. You can read more about it here: Why I Let My Students Argue for Their Grades. 10. Write a Book/Release a Podcast Together This last one is something I’ve seen in a number of schools (including our own). It’s so easy now to publish a Kindel ebook or create a paperback book using CreateSpace and/or Blurb. Have a class writing assignment? Turn it into a published book by collaborating and putting it all together before getting in into the hands of parents, students, and other community members. The same thing can be done by recording students and creating a podcast that you can upload to the iTunes Podcast app using services like Libsyn or Stitcher. Have you tried any of these 10 things in your classroom? Would love to hear what you’ve done in the comments so others can try and learn from each other!

Vicki Davis and Julie Lindsay are co-founders of the Flat Classroom Project and have co-authored the book “Flattening Classrooms, Engaging Minds: Move to Global Collaboration One Step at a Time“, due to be released in February 2012.

Our special guest for this episode is Ms. Vicki Davis, a very successful classroom teacher in Camilla, GA.  Vicki is also a grant-winning educator who has created several collaborative projects involving students and schools around the world.Vicki and/or her projects have won several awards.   She and her co-collaborator, Julie Lindseay (Qatar Academy, Qatar), have built a global audience around their Flat Classroom Project.Flat Classroom Project  Other projects in which Vicki is active include:Net Gen EdDigiteens As you listen to Vicki's comments during this episode, I believe you will be struck with the reality that this teacher is dedicated, motivated, and determined to prepare her students for success in the 21st Century -- and in a global environment.Should you wish to contact Vicki, she can be reached at coolcatteacher@gmail.com I look quite forward to reading your comments on this blog.  Please click the link at the bottom of this posting and let us hear what you think.  It's possible that your comments will be the ones that stir some other reader into taking the precise action that we desire. You can contribute to this podcast in any of the following ways: Email me

Show Notes |Introductions| Justin Medved and Kim Cofino joined David and Jeff in welcoming our featured guest Julie Lindsay. Kim could only stay a short moment but will join us again in future shows. Intro for Julie: Co-creator of Flat Classroom and Horizon telecollaborative learning projects. Julie and Vicki Davis wrote a Learning and Leading with Technology article on the topic. Access at ISTE but you will need membership to download the article. |Essential Question| How does making connections affect learning? Jeff: Learn from anyone anywhere MIT opencourseware Yale opencourseware iTunes unverisity Authentic audiences are created Students understand the power of connections in their social lives we need to teach them how to use those same connections for learning. George Siemen's Didactics of Microlearning I find informal publishing in blogs and online articles more rewarding than traditional publishing processes. The feedback on what I write informally is more immediate and, as a result, plays a greater role in the subsequent formation of ideas. Writing a journal article, book, or book chapter, is concerned with presenting what one knows. Writing in informal spaces (such as a blog) is concerned with inviting others to join in an exploration of understanding a phenomenon not yet fully known. Learning is about connections. Connecting new ideas to what is already known or thought to be known. In a connected world we take that one step further and connect those new ideas to what other know and create new knowledge from it. David: See his blog post The SOS Team Discussion: Julie shared explained how the Flat Classroom Project is based upon Thomas Friedman’s book The World is Flat. You can access the wiki classroom for more information. She also spoke about the Horizon project from this past year and how it will continue next year. For more information, access the Horizon Project wiki. We then spoke about the type of learning skills that come from students networking using digital learning collaboration tools. Check out Julie’s excellent post on global digital citizenship. Justin shared 3 guiding questions developed at ISB based on the new literacy skills our students need. They are working at integrating these guiding questions across their curriculum. Our students will not just be citizens of their localities but will be participants in broader communities connected digitally. The questions are: How do I find and use information to construct meaning and solve problems? How do I effectively communicate? How do I responsibly use information and communication to positively contribute to my world? For more information on this new literacy and curriculum integration, check out their Google Doc and wiki. The question was raised about how we can deal with the ever changing world of new technologies and improvements to current tools that might lead our schools to switch from current online providers (i.e., blogs, wikis, etc.) to new ones. This will further be discussed in a later show when we focus on school portals and connecting to the community. Take Away from the discussion: Part of shifting our instruction is realizing that teachers can be supported to learn how to use the the tools yet the real work is learning how to use the tools to create learning moments. The 21st century skills that students need for communication, constant learning and creativity in our networked world obviously can only be developed if we design and implement learning opportunities where we use the technology that is becoming an increasing part of the business and everyday aspects of our world. These collaborative learning projects need to be scaffolded with clear communication of responsibilities along with rubrics to outline what is expected when students generate learning objects. It is very important to have someone on staff in our schools who is staying on top of emerging technologies. While some schools are looking to what 21st century skills their students will need and have revamped their mission and student learning outcomes, our school stakeholders need to review their mission statements to see if they are looking forward to prepare students properly. By using the UbD curriculum review process, we can then work to shift our instruction, learning content, and assessments to help our students reach the learning outcomes documented by our updated and relevant mission statements. |Blog Posts of the Week| Jeff: George Siemen's post on Shifting Knowledge David: George Siemen's post on Connectivism vs Constructivism Julie: Jabiz Raisdana's post on Blogging & Connections Justin: Kim Cofino's post on Telecollaborative Tools |Sign Off| Next show is Thursday February 7th. Catch it live at 7:00 PM Shanghai time. Our guest will be Clay Burell from the Korea International School. Check out his Beyond School blog. Essential Question for the show: Passion for learning, how to nurture and grow it? Don’t forget to post Web sites/blogs to the SOS Del.icio.us bookmarking site that support our upcoming EQ.

The Women of Web 2.0 host amazing webcast featuring a discussion about the award winning Flat Classroom Project. Project leaders-teachers, Vicki Davis from Camilla, GA and Julie Lindsay from Dahka Bangladesh provide insight into running a successful global online project for high school students. Hosts Sharon Peters and Jen Wagner field questions and supplies input from the live chat room. Listen and enjoy a lively discussion by leading experts in the field of EdTech