Gail Desler

Exciting conversations are budding on Youth Voices and on Voices on the Gulf. 

Martha, a senior at the East-West School of International Studies in Queens (Paul Allison's school) begins this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers by putting out a call for other students to join us on TTT. She wants to talk about how students express themselves creatively outside of school. We hope more students will be able to join us on the next TTT, Wednesday, October 13, 9:00 pm Eastern / 6:00 Pacific.

Margaret Simon, whose elementary school students have been shining on Voices on the Gulf joins us on this podcast as well. Margaret has invited a few of her students to join us on TTT this coming Wednesday as well.

Gail Desler, Chris Sloan, David Pulling have updates to share with us as well. We talk about research, I-Search and more!

Enjoy this podcast. Join us on Wednesday, and invite a student to join us as well.

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The conversations around Voices on the Gulf continue on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers.  Joining on this show with Gail Desler,  who works with teachers in the Sacramento flyway in California, and three guests from Louisiana: Margaret Simon, David Pulling and one of his students at Louisiana State University at Eunice, Erin Jackson.

Learn more about teaching and learning about the environment, including references to bird artists John Muir Laws and Olivia Bouler.

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21:03:36 Gail Desler: Hi Peggy

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Laura Beth Fay and Tim Baker join Susan Ettenheim and Chris Sloan to talk about Scratch and its uses in junior high.  Susan met Laura and Tim at the 2010 Scratch@MIT conference.  Tim’s interests in environmental education align with our ongoing Voices on the Gulf project; like Susan and Chris, Laura works with her local writing project – in Susan’s words “lots of overlapping pieces.”

Laura Fay is an 8th grade reading teacher at Fisher Middle School in Ewing, New Jersey; her students use Scratch to compose multimedia as part of her journalism curriculum.  Tim is a graduate student in interaction design at the University of Maine, and he’s helped create an environmental simulator for middle school students aid their understandings of ecosystems called Sim Stream.

Meet Laura, just the way Susan did at the MIT conference: http://kimpearson.net/?p=804 Laura is active with NWP@Rider - NWP@Rider is dedicated to supporting and developing literacy in the Mercer County, New Jersey area. Laura also works with literacy and Scratch and interactive journalism. 

Tim Baker came to MIT from Orono, Maine with his project Sim Stream. University of Maine Undergraduate researchers are developing a grades 6-8 virtual, educational system that poses environmental issues for students to explore in their own ecological system, drawing from diverse areas of study. By learning to use scientific observations, analyze data, and draw inferences in formulating decisions and policies, students develop an appreciation and understanding for natural resources, human-non-human inter-dependencies and the need for civic responsibility.

About Scratch: Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art – and share your creations on the web. As young people create and share Scratch projects, they learn important mathematical and computational ideas, while also learning to think creatively, reason systematically, and work collaboratively.

 

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On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Steve Muth and Ben Papell founders and on-going co-conspirators at VoiceThread join Susan Ettenheim and Chris Sloan to talk about what’s new at VoiceThread AND how they can imagine VoiceThread supporting our efforts with http://voicesonthegulf.org.

In addition, Bill Ferriter, a sixth grade science teacher in North Carolina, joins us. Bill has just published a great book, Teaching the iGeneration. There are a lot great ideas in this new book, but there’s one that is perfect for a VoiceThread discussion: Collaborative vs. Competitive dialogue. In an email, Bill writes:

Collaborative and competitive dialogue is something I talk about in Teaching the iGeneration and something that VoiceThread facilitates nicely.  We could talk about how our world emphasizes competitive dialogue—-kids are surrounded by marketing messages and celebrities and politicians screaming for attention and unwilling to listen to other viewpoints——but collaborative dialogue is essential for solving the kinds of global, cross-border challenges our world is facing. 

Alicia Blair, a colleague and science teacher at an alternative school in Mississippi, and Gail Desler, who works with teachers in Northern California, join us as well. Alicia and Gail have been helping us to keep it real all summer.

Enjoy!

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On this podcast a few of us who attended Educon 2.2 reflect on our learning there. Appropriately enough, we were guided in this reflective conversation by:

• Hannah, a student from The Science Leadership Academy in Philadelphia
• her history teacher Diana Laufenberg
• their Principal, Chris Lehmann

On this podcast you'll hear what four teachers, three of us from different Writing Projects, had to say just a few days after ther conference. You'll hear from:

• Paul Allison, New York City Writing Project
• Joe Conroy, NWP at Rutgers University Writing Project (Don't miss Joe's video, below.)
• Gail Desler, Area 3 Writing Project in Northern California
• Dolores Gende, Academic Technology Coordinator and Physics teacher from Dallas, Texas
  

If you were at Educon, we hope you'll be able to compare notes with us. If you were not able to make it, perhaps this podcast can suggest why there's so much interest in Educon!

Here's how the organizers of EduCon 2.2 describe the conference:

What is Educon?

EduCon 2.2 is both a conversation and a conference.

And it is not a technology conference. It is an education conference. It is, hopefully, an innovation conference where we can come together, both in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the big dreams.

The Axioms

Guiding Principles of EduCon 2.2

1. Our schools must be inquiry-driven, thoughtful and empowering for all members
2. Our schools must be about co-creating — together with our students — the 21st Century Citizen
3. Technology must serve pedagogy, not the other way around
4. Technology must enable students to research, create, communicate and collaborate
5. Learning can — and must — be networked

Enjoy Joe Conroy's Video!

Watch What is EduCon? in Educational & How-To  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

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