Tweet Up Meet Up???? or Why online relationships may need to stay online and don't work face to face unless you are more friendly than I can be.

I hope that those of you who read this find it funnier to read than it was to live.

I got invited to the NECC Tweet Up Meet Up! How exciting! I can get to know people face to face that I currently only know online. This will be great!

I am here with a bunch of colleagues and friends and their wives. My wife couldn't make it because she is actually in a class right now. They are not twitterers (or my personal preference Twitiots) Well, we went to dinner at Matchbox, which was exceptional and reasonably priced. The 6 of us enjoyed our meal and then procedeed to vacillate over what to do next. Most folks wanted to take a bus tour of DC. I suddenly found myself wondering about whether I was going to go to the Tweet up. But my morals prevailed. I want to practice what I preach. The relationships we forge online are as real and genuine as face to face relationships. I could only find out by actually going to this tweet up!

So, being a complete stranger to DC and befuddled by the remarkable lack of large mountains to act as landmarks (Why can't everywhere be like Utah with large mountains to delineate North and South) Well, I knew I was close and on the right street but being a technophile I decided I had better put the address into my GPS. Well let me say, you know how when you are going the wrong direction down a street and you notice the distance to destination is increasing and then the lady says "Please make a u-turn now" it takes longer for that to work when you are walking so....after 15 minutes walking the wrong direction and then turning around and walking back to two doors down from Matchbox. I finally arrived at The Rocket Bar.



View Tweet Up in a larger map

Jared and I have had a regular argument about what happened next. He has argued that relationships thrive best in the environment the first took root in. Online friends work best as online friends and f2f friends work as f2f friends and never the twain shall intermingle in regular life. I say that the online relationships we cultivate are as real, rich, and meaningful as the f2f.

Not so sure, about that now :-( I went to the tweet up, now I am a Mormon, a Member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I don't drink, not beer, wine, coffee, teguila, heck (yes, Mormon swear word nod) I don't even drink caffeinated soda pop (very often) So being in a bar was a little uncomfortable for me and I didn't recognize anyone. It was a very wierd experience altogether.

It did turn out better later. I ended up meeting @kellyhines, @edu4u and bumping into @shareski all face to face. On another note, I now have @garystager following me. It may just be our mutual distaste for SmartBoards, but I think we are going to get along. The actual TweetUp didn't work out so well for me, but I actually think it had to do with me. I was so far out of my comfort zone being at a strange bar in a strange city that going the extra step of talking to a complete stranger was just more dissonance than this little guy could handle (ok, little is clearly a relative term I am really only little compared to the Right Whale model in the @nmnh)

Really, this first try at a TweetUp was a success in the sense that I did something new, I tried. It didn't work out the way I expected it, but I will be joining another one when it comes around!

Tech Tip Tuesday: GradeCam

This week UEN is in Washington D.C. at NECC and we have seen some really cool gadgets and tools. We will be sharing them with your over the coming weeks, but this weeks suggestion actually comes from Judy Gibbons in the Cache County School District.  Judy Gibbons has purchased these devices for teachers and suggests their use in the classroom.  For teachers who have only one computer and can't do formative testing with an online tool the GradeCam allows a teacher to 'scan' their own key and then students can bring up their own sheets and 'scan' them into the computer.  The clever part of all this is they aren't scanned in the old fashioned way but placed under a simple inexpensive document camera which matches the pattern on the key with the pattern on the paper and give students feedback.  Students can then return to working and continue checking their assignment until it's 100% or they can get 1 try and scores feed into the gradebook.

The document cam is not the expensive item it's the software that powers it.  This is why the product comes with a site license not a per camera cost.

Malcolm Gladwell vs My Mom vs. Me

Ok, someone will undoubtedly do a brilliant analysis of what Malcolm Gladwell said last night. And they will be right, but in keeping with my mood I want to provide some counterpoint.

Malcolm Gladwell spoke last night about two different learning strategies.

1st Capitalization
2nd Compensation

Now without any clarification I think most of us could figure what each of them are. So I will give you only a small clarification from my perspective.

Capitalization is playing to your strength's! Isn't this what everybody's Mom told them. My mom sure did. She told me to figure out what you are good at and then do that. Thus.. I got a Biology degree after working on the farm with cows, horses, dogs, cats and all kinds of plants. Made sense when Mom said it made sense when Gladwell said it. These are the folk who keep working at something until they get really good at it.

Compensation is what happens when an individual doesn't have certain skills or abilities naturally, but compensates by learning other skills that enable him to achieve despite deficiencies. Gladwell spoke about the fact that many leaders are Dyslexic and it is the fact that they had to compensate for this deficiency in traditional school by learning to lead, delegate, and obtain content in other ways. Again, Mom told me when I was growing up that if I wasn't good at something I needed to work hard or figure out ways to do it anyway. I don't know if I am juxtaposing this correctly but Gladwell also pointed out that on average it takes 10,000 hours to master any cognitively challenging task. So....if I really want to compensate for my deficiencies it is going to take me on average 10,000 hours to learn that skill.

Now, me

I used to have students do a simple brain dominance test in my class. I would point out that with the information about what type of learning they were dominant in they could do one of two things.

1. Focus on their strengths
2. Build up areas they weren't strong in

Sound familiar. It sure did to me when Malcolm Gladwell said it last night. It was good when Gladwell said it and it was good when I was saying it all those years to my students. This is an example of what is referred to as resonance or echo chamber effect. When I heard Gladwell I agreed with him and loved what he said because he became the expert confirming what I already knew to be true. (There's stuff there for a whole other post)

Response to Edutopia: Are Teacher Bonuses a good idea?

I have begun following Edutopia on Twitter and got tweet about this poll. I had to answer other because I didn't like either Yes,.... or No,.... it was the .... that I didn't like.

My response was

It is so difficult, possibly even impossible to measure the effect a teacher has on a student. We can measure achievement, we can measure test scores, but how do you measure the sense of self worth a student has years after they leave the classroom of a teacher who cared about them.

I could never repay Darvel Gregory. He was probably the most influential Teacher I ever had. He added so much value to my life. I can honestly say I would not be the person I am today if not for him. What did he teach me? Did he show that extra attention that boosted my self esteem so I could conquer the world. Nope! He taught me to type.

How do you recognize that???? I have a Master's Degree, I blog, I write educational materials, I correspond, and conduct my communication on a day to day basis and I train teachers all which would be nearly impossible if I couldn't type.

I don't know how best to reward Teachers, but I think programs that allow teachers to recieve compensation, recognition, and remuneration for 'value added'. If a teacher can demonstrate that what they are doing is adding value (for example conducting out of school consultations via cell phone or Instant Messaging) they should be able to recieve credit for that. If a teacher can demonstrate a marked improvement in the scores of their students on Standardized tests, show advocacy for literacy, whatever a teacher can do to document they are adding value to the learning experience beyond what is expected in the contract should be eligible for monetary bonuses.

Here's the problem. What is expected??? The expectation for teachers already is that they martyr themselves. When you see a teacher giving up their 'duty free' lunch to help a student with a math problem, or spend hours in the evenings grading papers, or developing a web site so students and parents have access to class materials, it's just expected. We need a better rubric that documents exceptional teaching and then validates it with financial rewards.

When I worked at the Murray School District I was involved in two exceptional Projects both of which were facilitated and helped along by Life Long Learning Associates. The yearly evaluation process in Murray was lengthy, but to me at least so worthwhile. I was able to truly reflect on where I stood as an educator. The last two years I did the evaluation, I actually went through each item on the checklist and documented what I had done that showed that I "communicated well with parents" or "advocated for students" The rubric was on a 5 point scale with a 3 being the expected standard and 4 and 5 being above and beyond the expected responsibilities. The scale was structured so that it would be nearly superhuman to achieve a 5 in all areas. But again, it was a scale that provided a yard stick by which to measure my own performance. A place I could refer to in order to plan my own professional development. If I could you that performance evaluation to in part determine what 'value' I had added to the school setting and then receive bonuses based on that I would have loved it.

The other part of the Evaluation was to document exactly what I had done to improve myself professionally during the school year. What had I done to grow. This part could be a portfolio of work created during the Academy of Instruction and between the exceptional Rubric and the very positive experience I had creating my portfolio I learned to be a reflective teacher, a teacher who thinks about learning. I was not nor am I now perfect at this and certainly part of the reflections have been "Boy was that dumb" but the reflective process and the documentation of how I added to the school were rewarding and I think should be rewarded.

I forgot how much I loved Edutopia

I have loved Edutopia for years, but I forget how great they are. Today on twitter @shiftparadigm made an offhand comment about the "feed the elephant" statement. It immediately reminded me of where I had read it and I had to go look it up and reread the article, and I jumped in an joined the conversation.

I was reminded of this today on Twitter. I read the original probably just a week or two after it orginally posted. This is as relevant now as it was then. I have actually made this part of my doctrine when teaching others. We need to have not only just in time education, but just in time assessment. Assessment that actually shows us what kids are able to do. We don't need complex weighing processes we need better feeding processes.

My own comment, made me realize, I have a doctrine of education, a belief system, a philosophy. My Adviser at BYU Clifford Edwards encouraged us to write out our educational philosophy and revisit it regularly. This is one of the things that blogging has done for me. I revisit educational ideas that resonate with me and visit new ones that sometimes do and somethimes don't.

What are my fundamental Articles of Educational faith? What is my Doctrine of Education? What is my philosophy, my science, my vision? What do I think education should be? Another Professor used Well I think I am going to have to think on that a little and maybe make for another post, but I know what thing, I absolutely believe in learning. Always and forever learning!

BTW if you haven't already read it. Check out: http://www.edutopia.org/dont-weigh-elephant-feed-elephant#comment-62862