Teachers Teaching Teachers #182 - A student-centered follow up: More on games, YouTube, Twitter, and Research - 01.13.10

Post-Show description: 

On this week’s Teachers Teaching Teachers, we had some follow-up’s, and some room for new voices. Paul Allison invited several of his students from the East-West School of International Studies in Flushing, NY onto the show to explain more about gaming. These students were listening and in the chat room on TTT#181 the week before when we talked about gaming in schools with other teachers, researchers, and consultants. The student had asked for a student-centered follow up. Listen to find out where gaming is in their lives.

And stay tuned every Wednesday evening this Spring as Paul and Susan Ettenheim and other students learn about bringing gaming into their curriculum this coming semester. If you know of a gamer, please invite him or her to join us as well! We’d love to include other students via Skype!

And if that’s not enough, this week's podcast also includes George Haines, a 6th grade teacher back on the show to talk about a Twitter project he was about to launch. George was on TTT in August: Teachers Teaching Teachers #165 - 08.26.09 - Meet Lisa Dick and George Haines: Talking about research and diigo George has written us recently to say that he hasn’t given up on “video and self-directed learning via youtube."

I haven’t scrapped that platform yet, but I decided to try to use Twitter for self-directed learning first. It is so much more nimble of a platform, I figured it would allow for a more fluid discussion and more immediate feedback and clarification.I saw that you have a youthvoices account on twitter and I just started following it. My kids are almost ready to start tweeting out their questions and connecting to other kids as part of this “KidSourcing” project. My kids are 6th graders, but I have invited any classes in the ballpark to connect with my kids. We are connecting to kids in Tanzania (http://epicchangeblog.org/2009/10/21/the-twitterkids-of-tanzania/) and I am working out the involvement with schools in Peru, Brazil, China and a couple here in the old U.S. of A. I don’t know how neatly our project meshes with what you are trying to accomplish with Youth Voices, but I figured I would reach out and gauge  your interest in connecting.Here is the basic outline for the project: The idea is to have kids search for answers from the crowd of kids with no help from the adults (aside from monitoring and guiding offline).

The idea is to seek answers to “why” questions as opposed to “What” questions. For example, a question that a kid can simply Google like “when did the civil war start?” is a bad one, but a question like “WHY did the civil war start?” is a good one. Questions that start discussions, lead to independent research and sharing links fit the bill. The idea would be to keep it loose and low impact- not a heavily dependent collaboration. I will probably tell my kids to post a new question each week and I will probably give them an arbitrary number of questions from other kids to help answer.

For the first month we will work in depth on the project, then I hope to make it part of the routine when they come to the lab, meaning they login and check twitter for 5-10 minutes before we launch into whatever other projects we are doing at the time. video and self-directed learning via youtube.I haven’t scrapped that platform yet, but I decided to try to use Twitter for self-directed learning first. It is so much more nimble of a platform, I figured it would allow for a more fluid discussion and more immediate feedback and clarification.I saw that you have a Youth Voices account on twitter and I just started following it. My kids are almost ready to start tweeting out their questions and connecting to other kids as part of this “KidSourcing” project. My kids are 6th graders, but I have invited any classes in the ballpark to connect with my kids. We are connecting to kids in Tanzania (http://epicchangeblog.org/2009/10/21/the-twitterkids-of-tanzania/) and I am working out the involvement with schools in Peru, Brazil, China and a couple here in the old U.S. of A. I don’t know how neatly our project meshes with what you are trying to accomplish with youthvoices, but I figured I would reach out and gauge  your interest in connecting.

Click Read more to see a transcript of a chat that was happening during the webcast.

 
20:47:30 Paul Allison: http://paulallison.tumblr.com/post/331675889/getting-ready-for-the-sprin...
20:47:39 Paul Allison: http://www.teacherhaines.com/
20:47:50 Paul Allison: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html
20:57:56 SusanEttenheim: welcome b7queenie and xomanda7ox
20:58:04 SusanEttenheim: have you joined us before?
20:58:22 xomanda7ox: no i have not but thank you for the welcome!
20:58:36 SusanEttenheim: where are you and what do you teach or study?
20:58:54 xomanda7ox: i'm from new jersey and i attend rowan uni. for elem. ed and writing arts
21:00:14 SusanEttenheim: hi jenny!  Welcome!
21:00:28 SusanEttenheim: can you hear us?
21:00:44 jenny: I did.  Did I just miss it?
21:01:21 SusanEttenheim: No we're just starting!
21:01:22 chris sloan: Hello.  My name is Chris Sloan.  I teach high school in Utah and my students compose a lot on Youth Voices.
21:02:30 jenny: there we go
21:03:00 PeggyG: Hi everyone-audio is great for me
21:03:09 jenny: me too
21:03:59 PeggyG: I feel your stress! Happy to be retired :-) No stress!
21:04:59 george haines: Hello all!
21:05:09 PeggyG: nice break to regroup :-)
21:05:46 chris sloan: Well I'm in a low-state of stress right now.  It's my students who are feeling the stress of grades.
21:07:15 SusanEttenheim: hi peggy - busy setting up my skype list - hi!
21:07:39 PeggyG: good for you Susan
21:08:03 PeggyG: @chris sloan--you don't stress out doing all of the grading?
21:08:06 SusanEttenheim: b7queenie... where are you located?
21:08:37 chris sloan: No.  I've been doing grades for 25 years now, they always get done, so why stress it?
21:09:30 SusanEttenheim: welcome xomanda
21:09:36 SusanEttenheim: again
21:09:38 PeggyG: just heard an amazing HS teacher on Liz Kolb's radio show talking about how she used twitter in English classes with cell phones. Fantastic!
21:09:52 SusanEttenheim: I think I heard that too!
21:10:06 SusanEttenheim: hi carol welcome!
21:10:23 PeggyG: http://twitterkids.org/
21:10:29 SusanEttenheim: thanks peggy
21:10:34 carolteach4: Hi, Susan - sounds like an interesting program
21:11:05 SusanEttenheim: maybe you all remember george from a few months ago?
21:11:30 SusanEttenheim: what's going on in your part of the woods carol?
21:11:32 Paul Allison: http://www.teacherhaines.com/
21:12:03 PeggyG: The recording of the HS teacher will be posted here. It's great! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elikeren
21:12:18 SusanEttenheim: hi scarskee welcome!
21:12:27 scarskee: hello and thanks
21:12:38 carolteach4: Google Apps is catching on at our school; more teachers are experimenting with it with their kids;
21:12:46 PeggyG: great point about the open-ended questions--much more engaging
21:13:02 PeggyG: Hi carolteach4-happy new year :-)
21:13:06 chris sloan: my father in law volunteered for many years in Mwanza
21:13:07 SusanEttenheim: where are you? and what do you teach?
21:13:17 scarskee: i'm not familiar w/ google apps.  can you give an example carolteach4
21:13:37 SusanEttenheim: scarskee - where and what do you teach?
21:13:58 carolteach4: Hi, Peggy - You, too! I just got a shared doc from Rushton Hurley today - I remembered that you streamed for him at NECC
21:13:58 SusanEttenheim: yes carol - taking on at our school tooo
21:13:59 PeggyG: teacher torture :-)
21:14:19 PeggyG: yes Rushton does a monthly newsletter that is loaded with resources
21:14:59 scarskee: i'm a science teacher at Oak ridge HS
21:15:26 carolteach4: @scarskee - Google Apps for schools is a free domain that gives kids and teachers access to google docs, presentations, sites, email, spreadsheet - in a more protected environment; administrator can bulk upload kids and teachers to the domain
21:15:38 SusanEttenheim: welcome scarskee!
21:16:00 scarskee: i'll have to check and see if it is blocked by our firewall...so many things are that i would like to use.
21:16:16 xomanda7ox: what about google wave? have you used or looked into that at all?
21:16:37 SusanEttenheim: xomanda are you using it?
21:16:54 xomanda7ox: i have an account - i haven't found much use for it yet so i'm interested in learning more about it
21:17:01 SusanEttenheim: hi joel and khassan welcome!
21:17:08 Khassan: hi
21:17:12 carolteach4: I think you still have to have an invitation to get in on Google Wave; not sure I'm ready. Have all I can handle right now.
21:17:15 SusanEttenheim: please introduce yourselves.. where and what do you teach?
21:17:22 jenny: I participated in a collabortive story on google wave
21:17:36 xomanda7ox: if you need an invite i have plently of extras just let me know
21:17:42 Khassan: i want to get invited to google wave, that thing is insane
21:17:53 carolteach4: I am the computer technology integration specialist in a middle school in CT
21:17:55 scarskee: what do you all teach/where?
21:17:56 Khassan: program, sorry
21:18:26 PeggyG: link for the Seedlins show talking about Twitter. It's great! http://edtechtalk.com/node/4633
21:18:48 xomanda7ox: khassan if you need an invite and want to let me know your gmail i'll send you one
21:18:48 scarskee: on google wave are you writing stories? or did you write a story about google wave xomanda7ox?
21:18:51 PeggyG: Seedlings show--can't type!
21:19:10 SusanEttenheim: Digital Habitats; Stewarding Technology For Communities  by Etienne Wenger, Nancy White, John D. Smith
21:19:16 xomanda7ox: i think jenny had said something about the story scarskee
21:19:16 SusanEttenheim: is that it Paul?
21:19:30 PeggyG: I'm a retired elementary principal and university pre-service instructor in Phoenix AZ
21:19:57 chris sloan: http://technologyforcommunities.com/
21:20:06 Paul Allison: http://www.teacherhaines.com/
21:20:49 SusanEttenheim: thanks chris
21:21:09 scarskee: are any of you using twitter with your students?  i'm not but am interested in trying it with my honors class
21:21:13 jenny: Yes.  It was a fun experience to see how to use wave.  Still not sure how useful it will be.  Need to have more participants
21:22:01 xomanda7ox: i was asked to use twitter for a writing course (i'm in university) last semester
21:22:30 xomanda7ox: i think my prof purpose was just to introduce it to us as a "writing space"
21:22:54 chris sloan: did you like using Twitter in your university class?
21:22:56 PeggyG: @xomanda7ox--you would enjoy hearing the interview with the teacher on Liz Kolb's radio show about using twitter for English classes. She had some great suggestions.
21:22:59 scarskee: did you respond to prof questions w/ it or use it to write actuall material?
21:23:21 jenny: Twitter projected could offer students a great way to respond without having to be recognized by teacher formally
21:23:33 xomanda7ox: no we never had to write actual material. we were asked to tweet three times a day but nothing too specific
21:23:35 Paul Allison: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/earthquake_in_haiti.html
21:23:47 chris sloan: what's the link to the Liz Kolb show
21:23:49 PeggyG: one idea was that she had students take on identities from the literature they were reading and tweet about their role in the story as if they were the character
21:23:50 xomanda7ox: we also had to blog for that class - so anytime we blogged we had to post a tweet linking to it
21:23:54 scarskee: was it graded? @xomanda70x
21:24:13 PeggyG: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/elikeren  the recording will be posted here-show was about a half hour ago
21:24:30 xomanda7ox: he looked at our average tweet rate over 34 days - i had way more than i needed so i'm not sure how harshly he graded
21:24:39 xomanda7ox: at the end of the course we were asked to write a final paper
21:24:52 scarskee: @PeggyG i like that tweet idea.  i could use that in science
21:25:06 xomanda7ox: explaining how twitter, blogging, netvibes, and our uni. portfolios acted as writing spaces
21:25:10 PeggyG: interesting grading criteria--tweet rate :-)
21:25:23 xomanda7ox: our main grade was based on our paper i believe
21:25:45 scarskee: interesting.  good they are trying to incorporate tech
21:26:01 PeggyG: great hearing from the students!
21:26:29 PeggyG: those practice tests can be very boring!
21:26:42 xomanda7ox: it was actually surprising.. i took a "educational technology" course and my writing course taught me much more about technology than the ed tech course did
21:27:16 xomanda7ox: but i think that is due to twitter and following teachers who incorporate technology into their classrooms
21:27:22 PeggyG: @eomanda7ox-how awesome that your writing teacher integrated technology!
21:27:47 scarskee: that is interesting.  but incorporating tech in assignments gives it all more meaning
21:28:35 PeggyG: focusing on the content and the communication rather than the technology is such an effective way to do it
21:28:46 scarskee: @xomanda7ox are you an education major?
21:29:03 xomanda7ox: it  was an intro. to writing arts course, broken into three modules. the module that incorporated technology was "technology and the future of writing"
21:29:04 scarskee: i agree PeggyG
21:29:10 xomanda7ox: yes elementary ed. and writing arts
21:29:14 carolteach4: Fortunately, at my school all technology is tightly integrated with curricular assignments.
21:29:37 PeggyG: so glad you're sharing your experiences @xomanda7ox! very interesting!
21:29:41 carolteach4: No tech skills are really taught in isolation
21:29:51 scarskee: @carolteach4 are you at a MS HS ES??? do you have a tight firewall?
21:29:56 xomanda7ox: here is a link to our course website: http://williamwolff.org/courses/tfw-fall-2009/ it provides an overview of the class and also you can see the major assignments
21:30:08 PeggyG: they shouldn't be @carolteach4 but too often they are
21:30:41 carolteach4: I teach grades 7 and 8; we are pretty lucky; most wikis and blogs and even YouTube are unblocked. Facebook and MySpace are blocked, however.
21:30:43 PeggyG: thanks for that course link! I was going to ask if you could share it!
21:31:36 xomanda7ox: this is the particular things we had to do with twitter: http://williamwolff.org/courses/tfw-fall-2009/tfw-assignments-f09/#twitter
21:32:00 scarskee: that is lucky....have you ever used YouTube for assignments or as reference
21:32:16 xomanda7ox: is that directed toward me?
21:33:31 chris sloan: If I had to label myself as a gamer, I guess I'm a "lame gamer."  
21:33:31 carolteach4: When the kids in a 7th grade science class created a website that served as their student-generated text on topics in the study of weather, they embedded YouTube videos in the pages they created on Google Sites to visually explain the concepts they were assigned.
21:33:50 xomanda7ox: it's actually really interested listening to students talk about gaming
21:33:50 Khassan: im super pro gamer
21:33:56 xomanda7ox: (younger students)
21:34:01 PeggyG: I just participated in a LearnCentral workshop with the developers of games for learninggamesnetwork.org and they are running a series of sessions (free) for creating games for classroom use. very exciting
21:34:18 Martha C: why aren't you on skype, kevin?
21:34:36 Khassan: i am
21:34:40 xomanda7ox: i'm a gamer and i was observing a third grade class two semesters ago and one boy saw my nintendo ds in my purse and seemed so excited
21:34:49 xomanda7ox: it is nice to see it as a way to connect with your students
21:34:55 Martha C: well, you didnt pick up... lol
21:35:09 Khassan: i didnt get the call
21:35:16 PeggyG: happy place is a good thing :-) stress reducer
21:35:24 Khassan: yes it is
21:35:28 chris sloan: For instance, I'm interested in teaching the 2010 Census and the USC Annenberg's Redistricinting game.  http://www.redistrictinggame.org/
21:35:50 Martha C: i love my happy place... XD
21:36:04 PeggyG: that sounds great Chris!
21:36:19 xomanda7ox: there is this great geography game on facebook
21:36:36 xomanda7ox: ive actually learned a lot from it
21:36:47 Khassan: not at all
21:36:53 scarskee: FB is good in so many surprising ways
21:36:54 SusanEttenheim: kevin what is your skype name?
21:36:57 PeggyG: the games can have lots of learning potential
21:37:05 Khassan: dragonslayer852
21:37:10 SusanEttenheim: hi lhansen welcome
21:37:21 xomanda7ox: http://www.facebook.com/#/apps/application.php?id=23438505508&ref=search... there is the link to the geography game
21:37:32 carolteach4: I am not a gamer, but my son, an aspiring elementary school teacher, is quite a gamer. He met his current girlfriend in a multi-player game; they visit each other at least once a month - a five-hour drive. She is a lovely young woman who manages a facility for developmentally challenged adults.
21:37:55 xomanda7ox: carol that's funny - i'm a gamer and my boyfriend and i met through a game as well
21:38:02 PeggyG: that's a great story @carolteach4!
21:38:23 xomanda7ox: we're about a 7 hour drive apart - he's in ottawa, canada and i'm in new jersey
21:39:29 PeggyG: I have a great book by Karl Kapp called Gadgets, Games, and Gizmos for Learning that provides great rationale for games in school
21:40:54 carolteach4: Those pictures from Haiti were chilling; really made the terrible tragedy there more real to me. Former President Clinton said if many folks donate as little as $10.00 each, it will make a big difference.
21:40:58 scarskee: how do you feel about it PeggyG?
21:41:04 scarskee: games that is
21:41:32 PeggyG: the book or games in the classroom?
21:42:02 xomanda7ox: kevin - have you heard of the site gotfrag.com?
21:42:07 PeggyG: I think they are very engaging for students if used appropriately--not just free time to play
21:42:23 chris sloan: James Gee collaborated with Sandra Day O'Connor on a simulation called "Our Courts."  http://www.ourcourts.org/
21:42:58 PeggyG: @Chris sloan--that was something mentioned on the learninggames workshop this afternoon! James Gee
21:43:02 SusanEttenheim: hi maryfarrag welcome! where and what do you teach?
21:43:20 xomanda7ox: i think video games bring another aspect to the classroom which is the writing aspect.. there is a whole world of competition and news coverage
21:43:25 Paul Allison: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/jan/10/playing-in-the-virtual-...
21:43:37 maryfarrag: Hey all. I teach English conversation online. I am an American living in Cairo, Egypt.
21:43:50 maryfarrag: It is almost 5 AM & I lost the time lol
21:43:52 SusanEttenheim: welcome maryfarrag!
21:43:59 xomanda7ox: i love to write but i also love video games so i looked into writing for an online gaming website (gotfrag.com)
21:44:02 maryfarrag: Thanks for the welcome.
21:44:28 PeggyG: great links! there are some great problemsolving/communication skills involved in games
21:44:35 xomanda7ox: agreed
21:44:41 SusanEttenheim: where and what do you teach?
21:45:24 maryfarrag: Does anyone else use Skype for teaching?
21:46:03 xomanda7ox: i think what many have done in the past (which is looking down on video games) is a mistake, instead we should embrace their interest in games and show them how they can use their education to get a profession in something they love
21:46:10 xomanda7ox: like news coverage/video game designing
21:46:38 carolteach4: Our principal and one of our art teachers recently visited a school in China. We do not have the infrastructure right now, but we are trying to get the media center set up so we can Skype with a class at the school in China.
21:48:01 carolteach4: My biggest problem with overhearing my son playing video games is really inappropriate language the kids engage in.
21:48:10 xomanda7ox: ughhh! agreed
21:48:18 carolteach4: I'm old fashioned, I guess.
21:48:43 PeggyG: @maryfarrag-I participated in a Skype interview with a 5th grade class in another state when they were studying the states and I told them about AZ-it was a lot of fun!
21:49:44 PeggyG: @maryfarrag--the skype interview was with video so I could see the whole class and the individual kids asking me questions and they could see me
21:50:02 carolteach4: You Tube and Voice Thread have great cooking tutorials.
21:50:14 maryfarrag: Apparently I missed the Teachers Teaching Teachers chat???
21:50:21 maryfarrag: Yes is that Peggy George?
21:51:03 PeggyG: yes :-)
21:51:10 maryfarrag: Ahhh hey Peggy.
21:51:18 maryfarrag: I don't have sound. Is there any?
21:51:35 xomanda7ox: yes on the top right
21:51:37 PeggyG: click on the icon below EdTechTalk for audio
21:51:41 xomanda7ox: click on one of the  streaming links
21:51:43 xomanda7ox: or that!
21:51:56 SusanEttenheim: xo click on edtech talk A
21:52:14 xomanda7ox: yes thats what im listening to
21:52:17 carolteach4: Seedlings had a whole show on the math and grammar games at arcademics.com. I had the kids log into the site the last few minutes of a class one day, and they absolutely loved the games - even thought the math skills were easy, they were gaining fluency.
21:52:45 SusanEttenheim: xo do you have it?
21:53:01 xomanda7ox: have?
21:53:10 SusanEttenheim: the audio?
21:53:13 xomanda7ox: yes
21:53:18 SusanEttenheim: great
21:53:36 SusanEttenheim: oops mary do you have sound?
21:53:43 maryfarrag: Thanks I have audio now. Newbie here :)
21:54:02 PeggyG: no problem marryfarrag! we were all newbies at one time!
21:54:26 carolteach4: Twitter the link, and you'll get lots of educators looking and giving feedback; maybe kids, too.
21:54:52 maryfarrag: Gaming while chatting lol
21:55:01 PeggyG: good point carolteach4 :-)
21:55:26 carolteach4: The newest reseach says multitasking really isn't such a good thing; however, women HAVE to do it all the time.
21:55:31 carolteach4: Lemonaid
21:55:47 maryfarrag: I used to do that in Pittsburgh
21:55:50 carolteach4: Lemonaid Stand is another game kids like and practice math skills
21:55:55 carolteach4: Lemonade
21:55:56 SusanEttenheim: operation neptuene
21:56:14 PeggyG: Lemonade Stand is available on iphone/itouch too :-)
21:56:18 xomanda7ox: yah that sounds a lot like what is being described now
21:56:37 carolteach4: Does anyone remember Monkey Island? That had lots of problem solving.
21:57:08 carolteach4: How about MYST - one of the first successful games built all in HyperCard
21:58:14 PeggyG: Myst always used to crash our computers at school
21:58:27 carolteach4: Our kids used to play Oregon Trail; they really liked it. Where in the World is Carmen Santiago, also.
21:58:42 jenny: Gizmos and Gadgets
21:58:59 PeggyG: Oregon Trail is now available on iphone too... fund to see some of those classics being brought back
21:59:41 SusanEttenheim: wish Operation Neptune would come back
21:59:45 PeggyG: I find the inappropriate language coming from the kids playing the games--not the games themselves (based on my grandkids)
22:00:39 carolteach4: But - cursing does not go over well at all in a school setting.
22:01:19 xomanda7ox: yep
22:01:29 carolteach4: I understand that Civilization was a really cool game, but it wasn't as accurate as it might have been.
22:03:08 carolteach4: Kids are learning programming making their own games using Scratch.
22:04:06 jenny: my son could always give me detailed descriptions of strategies used in games
22:04:06 SusanEttenheim: what ages carol
22:04:08 SusanEttenheim: ?
22:04:18 SusanEttenheim: what kinds of games?
22:04:22 carolteach4: Speaking of books, we discussed Hunger Games at our book talk this afternoon. Fabulous book!
22:04:36 jenny: he used a lot of critical thinking as well as recognizing patterns
22:04:52 jenny: I just wish the babes had more clothes on!
22:04:55 SusanEttenheim: hi online73 where an what do you teach?
22:05:10 carolteach4: The kids at our junior high (before we went to middle school) 7-8-9 were playing Civilization
22:05:16 oline73: Anyone interested in getting 5th-8th graders involved in our KidSourcing project on twitter shoot me a tweet at @oline73
22:05:34 oline73: Hi Susan- it's George, couldnt get in earlier
22:06:34 jenny: nite
22:06:49 carolteach4: Thanks everyone - great show - love the student perspective
22:06:56 Peggy George: sorry my browser froze so I missed the end of the chat but could still hear audio. Great show with lots of great ideas from the students!
22:07:09 tunaguy: Night all
22:07:11 Peggy George: thanks everyone
22:07:34 Paul Allison: night!
22:07:54 xomanda7ox: thanks for having me!