keynote+reflections+2011

Ellen Kennedy JFK Middle School Northampton, Ma 8th grade science (Exceptionally late due to lack of Internet- here's hoping it stays working long enough for this to upload!)

Keynote notes: sorry for the giant font- I'm too blind to deal with the tiny font that seems popular on this wiki! :)

Speaker #1: Don Leu Of course, this was the speaker I missed, due to the ridiculous behavior of the people at the hotel- alas- for on reading other people’s remarks, he must have been wonderful. I have been experiencing serious Internet issues, hence the terrible lateness, on the other hand, today this allows me to read what everyone else wrote. Obviously this man made an impression. First I read his article and looked at the slides, and immediately was struck by how much of this talk applies to my own practice. Then I read the other essays, ditto. For me, at our school, which lacks wireless and has only one computer lab, actually teaching this material seems overwhelming. When we do research projects I do touch on most of his 15 ideas, however, many of my students also lack computers at home, and the work they do is often rushed at school without adult supervision. My goal for this year is to get into the computer lab and take one day to go over all this material- as one day will probably be all that I can acquire. While we are in the library doing the research, I have always gone over this material, but doing it with the computers in front of the students may prove significantly more powerful. (We do have a portable lap top cart, however the condition of the computers is pitiful.) Last year I was able to get many of the students to use google.docs for editing. This year I hope to also create a wiki, so that they may peer edit. This too, will allow me to put up these 15 ideas- trimmed down a bit- so that they may refer to them as they go along. With the wiki, I hope to encourage more student led dialogue/questions/peer to peer work. Over the last few years I used facebook, and the work group, created by a student, was very successful. On the other hand, the school gets all worked up about facebook, as if it were the greatest peril known to humankind. We also did presentations and flashcards on line, but some of the sites recommended by the speaker look as if they will be even more user friendly. Our team gets the ELL students, which adds another layer of confusion for the students as they do research. Looking over his speaking points I can see ideas that will help me better guide these students. In response to several of the other essays, I too wonder what the future holds for our students. At the rate Internet information is changing, how soon will we be left in their dust. My ninth grade year was the first that my own school decided to teach a class called ‘computers’ and involved the old ‘go-to’ commands. Everything was saved on a cassette tape! I feel fortunate that I had even that much, and that, courtesy of friends and family, I have been able to remain at least marginally computer literate. Yet sometimes I feel overwhelmed by what the students are expected to understand and/or use. This speaker’s information and resources have left me feeling more confident, and that is without having heard him in person!

Speaker # 2 Justin Reich

Our school is a little bit behind the curve- no way to say that nicely. Listening to the speaker was yet another reminder. The teachers that attended from our school are hoping to create a ‘Technology Tuesday’ to help bring the entire faculty into the fold. Our biggest hurdle is the huge dichotomy in computer literacy, and/or willingness to utilize the computer resources available. Our teachers run the gamut of skill/willingness levels. Add to that our ancient computers and software and it is a recipe for problems. Many of the skills the speaker discussed really need the entire school to be teaching the same way- a scope and sequence approach. Some of the students I get by 8th grade know more than I do, others can’t even figure out how to do spell check. Some have top of the line equipment at home; others have nothing. There needs to be a middle ground. I wish we could simply hand out tablets or laptop/notebooks to each student and set up a wireless connection in the school. At this point the students do not even get a gmail account, and the fear of wireless- ‘the students will text one another in class’- hello- is very frustrating. So, while I found this speaker fascinating, I was also grinding my teeth thinking about how I could utilize any of his ideas. I was particularly jealous of Watertown and their ‘share-out’ online. Virtually everything he said, and I typed out two pages while he was speaking, applies to our school. The high school has a better system, but we are very much in the dark ages. I have found, in using the smart phones and Ipads- that I encourage the kids to bring to my science class- is NEVER a problem. Once the silly things are out in the open, and my phone is up and listening, it actually provokes commentary from the students. Suddenly they are up taking pictures of labs and posting them, commenting on our- forbidden- facebook page, making funny flashcards, sharing with one another, and talking to past students of mine about the best way to succeed. Presentations became more interesting. My only fear was being able to stay with them as they learn new technology, however the kids have been great about showing me new apps and figuring out ways to apply them to school. The only other fear is the one that lurks in the hearts of the administration. I have kept all my ‘illegal’ activities under wraps rather than deal with it, but now, wrapped in the New Literacy cloak, I hope to show how smart phones, Ipads and the like can be used in class. As the speaker said: ‘the students are in the space of learning to solve their problems with technology, why not turn this to our advantage?’

Speaker #3 Richard Beach

In contrast to Speaker #2, I have exactly six sentences typed out for this speaker. It wasn’t because he wasn’t interesting, it was that he moved so fast and tried to stuff in so much that there was absolutely no way for me to keep up. I finally gave up, when I was three websites behind, and spent some time looking at Video Ant, allowing his speech to just float by. (That he kept stepping on the dog, no matter how many times she moved. He did not notice- it was just weird.) I had hoped to review his slides at a later date, and still cannot get them to play- he was having that issue the day itself. Hopefully someone will tell me how to open that at some point, as I know I missed a great deal. It is somewhat reassuring to read that almost everyone said the same thing- too much, too fast. Backchannel is fun, but I would never use it with 8th graders. I would like to better understand his annotation system, but again, was mostly lost. It would have been useful to have him do a breakout session where he actually taught a few of the things he mentioned. Maybe he could have had us just use backchannel, and not tried to have us go to every single website if we had known that we could choose to learn how to use them later. He would have been more interesting if it hadn’t been so stressful. (And his walking on the dog caught the attention of at least two full tables of people- another distraction. I didn’t like putting her under the table due to the proliferation of cables and wires, but finally had to.)

Speaker #4 Tom Daccord

Okay, hands down, my favorite. Of the three I heard, this was the only speaker who knew how to use one hour. He was dynamic, interesting, presented a lot of information, but never left us wandering about on the Internet searching for his topic. I took no notes because I was so entranced. I did, however, create links to each topic and web tool demonstrated. Again, much of what we saw will not be all that accessible in my school, or for many of my students within their homes. But, as he pointed out, things are changing fast, so it was worth hearing his ideas. I really liked the way he answered questions, and spent some extra time after his talk visiting with us to make sure that we were left with a solid base upon which to work.

Overall, the keynote speakers were interesting, however I am not sure it is how I would have planned the day. I was confused by the schedule right off the bat, and it did not get any easier. I would have preferred only two speakers, each with 2 hour slots, or four with 30-45 minutes with the opportunity to do a breakout session with them to better learn the material. It would have been nice to have a keynote speaker who is dealing with/teaching with the kind of situation found throughout the state- lack of funding/time, older equipment, lack of administrative backup, students without any computer equipment at home, and often no free time to go to a library or stay after school- I know what we do at JFK, but it would be interesting to hear other people’s ideas/solutions. For me, a lot of this program was like being in a really great toy store with no money.

Keynote Reflections

Please add your keynote reflections to this page. Remember to include your name and school district with your reflection.
Christopher J. Barrett, Library and Media Science Everett Public Schools Don Leu Reflection - Monday

After several weeks of summer vacation, the last thing I wanted to do was sit and listen to people speak – no matter what the topic was. Right off the bat, I was thrilled with the first speaker. Mr. Don Leu was a captivating and obviously well established educator. I truly enjoyed his enthusiasm for the profession. It is so refreshing to see a veteran educator with the fire in his belly equivalent to that of a rookie teacher. I knew Mr. Leu had much to teach not only the younger teachers, but also the established veterans.

As a librarian, his focus on the “online reading experience” was an excellent choice of topic. One of the lessons I teach all year round is the need to conduct appropriate online research. As he did with Martin Luther King, I regularly try my best to have students choose “bad information” in order to make it a learning experience. I regularly work with the history/English teachers to help their students develop strong online research tools that they can use for a lifetime.

Lastly, Mr. Leu spoke of another topic/lesson that I am in the process of developing. He discussed making global connections with other students around the world. I must say, I cheer him on for this effort. I think this is a key component to becoming a well-rounded student today. They need to understand that they are part of a global community filled with educators/students who have a different perspective on life/issues. The lesson that I am hoping to develop is on the Cuban Missile Crisis. It is my hope to connect with high school students in Russia in order that the American AND Russian students can see how historical perspectives can differ across the globe.

Christopher J. Barrett, Library and Media Science Everett Public Schools Justin Reich Reflection - Tuesday

Mr. Reich’s talk was refreshing because it allowed me to see how fortunate I am as an educator to have a principal and superintendent who not only provide state-of-the-art technology, but also fully encourages us to use it. Not only that, my principal also encourages teachers to share with one another their success stories with using the multitude of available technologies.

The one point that really stuck out for me was “Geek of the Week”. I think this is a great idea. Whether it is a teacher or student. It amazes me how well teachers and students at Everett High School collaborate on the different uses for technology. The ‘older’ teachers are more than comfortable to ask another teacher or even student about the vast uses of technology available within Everett High School. I think it would be a great idea if Everett High School also had a “Geek of the Week” to highlight the great work done by a student or teacher. We are all learners when it comes to the technological breakthroughs of the 21st Century. It is only fitting that we help and learn from one another.

Christopher J. Barrett, Library and Media Science Everett Public Schools Richard Beach Reflection - Thursday

Richard Beach’s discussion on online chat capabilities was music to my ears. While obtaining my MBA, I was able to take several online courses. I actually found these to be the most challenging and thought provoking courses. Until I heard Mr. Reich’s talk, I never thought of incorporating that function into a high school setting. After hearing him discuss the possibilities, I thought, “of course we should be doing that, these high school kids are doing online chat all the time!” I think it is important that we incorporate this tool in the high school setting. It would be an excellent learning tool for all involved – teachers and students!

For whatever reason, as Mr. Beach talked, I kept reflecting on what technologies have I neglected because I thought students weren’t ready for it or it wasn’t ‘appropriate’. Then he started to discuss Fakebook. Which was interesting because I used a similar platform to teach a history class about the beginnings of the American Revolution. At first, due to school restrictions, I was reluctant to use any program similar to Facebook. Then I decided to move forward with it due to the fact kids are familiar with Facebook. Long story short, my lesson included the major countries ‘friending’ each other and then commenting on a fake Facebook page about the beginnings of the American Revolution. It was a superb lesson because the students were totally into it due to the format I used. I was so happy that Mr. Reich touched upon this because it reinforced for me the need to use tools that students are familiar with. It gets them away from the old (textbooks) and uses the tools that they are familiar and excited to use.

Bottom line, the great lesson learned from Mr. Beach’s discussion was to use tools that kids want to use - tools that they are familiar with. It is the best way to reach the students of the 21st Century.

Christopher J. Barrett, Library and Media Science Everett Public Schools Tom Daccord Reflection - Friday

Lastly, we had the pleasure of hearing from Tom Daccord. Leading up to Friday, I was excited to hear him speak. Many people who had heard him before were excited to see him again. The common point made about him was that he always has something new and interesting to say. I couldn’t wait to hear him speak.

I have to say, I think I am well informed when it comes to “research tools” available on the Internet. I was floored when he touched upon the Project Guttenberg. I had heard about it before, but never really explored it. To be honest, I was so enthralled with this tool that I was actively exploring it throughout his talk. As a historian by nature, I was thoroughly enjoying searching for many historical texts. This alone got me thinking about how kids would also be excited to do the same. No matter the topic, I could find a number of texts available to be read. As a librarian, I am excited to teach this tool to the students of Everett High School. Not only that, but I’m also going to make sure I introduce both history and English teachers to this fascinating tool. I still cannot get enough of Project Guttenberg.

This talk was a wonderful end to a great week! In a way, after listening to the three prior speakers, I was fully prepared to listen to Tom Daccord. It was fascinating because as Daccord spoke, I was reflecting upon the different technological tools I learned over the week and how I could best incorporate them into what he was discussing. I started the week off in a whirlwind and ended it confidant and ready to explore the many tools and issues learned over the week! Even more, I am fully motivated to go back to school in September and teach my fellow teachers about they great tools I learned.

Catherine Hall Scituate Public Schools //Reflections of a Middle-Aged Middle School Teacher//



Lexi Runnals - LPVEC

Jeff Destino Gloucester Public Schools

**Beth Niece** **Scituate Public Schools**
 * Don Leu
 * Justin Reich
 * Richard Beach
 * Tom Daccord

Phyllis Kemp, Gardner Public Schools

Cathy Tucker -Middleboro Public Schools Our first speaker on Monday was Don Leu. This being the first day of the institute training my mind was already boggled down with just settling in that morning. Don's enthusiasm for his subject and his gentle demeanor captured my attention right away and wet my appetite for what we were about to learn. I am a special education teacher in a learning center. I am constantly trying to think of ways to motivate my students and when Don talked about epals I was excited with the possiblilities. Epals was something I had heard about, but never have used. I loved the idea of opening up classrooms around the world to my students as well as allowing me the ability to collaborate with other teachers. So many of these students come from a variety of backgrounds and have never been out of Middleboro, what a great way to open up new ideas to them! Don went on to describe how useful a tool this could be in your classroom and a new way to motivate and excite learning. I was enthralled and began thinking of ways that I could incorporate this tool in my classroom. Another concept he discussed was using student leaders. This is a great way to help students meet with success and gain confidence in the classroom. I will definitely bring this idea back to my school. Don also outlined the differences between online and offline reading comprehension. Throughout the week I thought about what he said as I attended the different groups. Define the problem, locate the information, evaluate, synthesize and communicate. Typically in my classroom I always thought the best way to eliminate the use of ineffective websites was to conduct the research myself and bring the information back to my students. That certainly is not allowing students to prepare for 21st century learning. His example of the Martin Luther King website was an eye opener for me. When he pulled it up on the screen, it looked good, but as you read on the information was shocking!!! In our school computer classes provide basic information on how to research a variety of topics, what wesites are good, what to avoid etc., but not reinforced in all classes. This is a definite need across all curriculum areas. This an an area I intend to focus on in the fall. I would like to hlep students become more independent and effective readers online and I feel that utlizing the tools that I have learned will help them to accomplish this goal. Overall, I was very impressed with Don Leu's presentation. His introduction to the week ahead of us was encouraging and exciting. Before leaving that day, he made a point to come around to the different groups to say goodbye and to offer his encouragement. His presentation provided me with valuable information to take back to my students. His insight and love of teaching certainly came through loud and clear.

Cathy Tucker- Middleboro Public Schools

Tuesday Justin Reich was our second keynote speaker. Justin touched on a lot of issues that arise in our schools as we try to implement technology. For many teachers it is fear of the unknown. Some teachers have difficulty still trying to open up their e-mails and find attempting further technology very intimidating. Many have had bad experiences when they do venture to use the computers and something goes wrong vowing they will never attempt that again! Sometimes it seems like a no win situation. Justin addressed these issues and acknowledged that technology is a positive tool and teachers need to learn how to use it effectively and not fear them.. My team from Middleboro talked at great length on our commute that week about how we can best distribute the information we are learning to our school system and do it in a way that will excite people. Justin brought up the concept of teacher leaders. We thought that we could offer some after school mini lessons with some of our innovative teachers demonstrating lessons that have been effective in their classrooms utilizing technology. In all of our schools we have those educators that are doing amazing things with technology every day in their classrooms. Why not expand that knowledge and offer it to others, think about all the possibilities they could present to teachers who are apprehensive. Tapping into this knowledge and using these teachers more effectively would certainly benenfit our students. I think even teachers who feel anxious about using computers may welcome the assistance in a small group. Justin also focused on how vital it is to have support from your school district. It was interesting to learn about what is going on in other districts and some of the innovative things they are doing to incorporate technology in their classrooms. As he was speaking I was thinking of the cutbacks in our district and how this has affected our tech department. This makes me feel that some of the tools we are learning about may be difficutl to implement, so we may need to focus on the small ideas. This can certainly enhance student learning and as Justin made clear, one teacher can make a difference. Justin discussed strategies to assist teachers to become more comfortable with technology. Experimentation, growth, review and plan. For me that made a lot of sense, the more you practice the less anxious you will feel implementing this in your classroom. Technology is motivating and exciting and should not be feared. Another area he touched upon was communicating with parents. So much of our time and energy as educators is focused on grades, behaviours, attendance and safety. Providing a newsletter from your classroom on what types of technology you are working on with their child would be so helpful and insightful for parents. Offering websites and assistance that they will be able to tap into would also broaden their knowledg and help them keep up with what their child is doing in school. How proactive would that be!I

I enjoyed Justin's presentation. He not only focused on common problems that we as educators face every day in our districts, but possible simple solutions to rectify them. Bottom line I felt was that we have to have everyone on board if our districts are to move forward. Administrators as well as educators have to be ready to assist all students reach their potential.

Cathy Tucker- Middleboro Public Schools

Richard Beach was our third keynote speaker. Richard's focus was on literacy in the classroom for grades 5-12. This an an area that I am especially interested in focusing on in my classroom. Richard had a wealth of knowledge to offer us and a great deal of enthusiasm when presenting. For me there were many times during his presentation that I was not able to keep up with all the various websites that he was demonstrating on his power point. No sooner would I open a website than he would be moving on to the next one. I thought that he tried to incorporate a lot of information in one hour which was very difficult for me. He provided us with some great online tools and websites, but in looking up the information I found I was not able to keep up with what he was saying. His pace was very quick.

Video Ant and Voice Thread intriqued me. They were definite websites that I would like to take time to investigate. I liked the fact that they offered the the aiblity to make videos and incorporate the students' creativity.. I will not pretend that I totally understood how to implement these tools yet, but Richard provided us with many websites on his handout to explore. The concept of annotation is certainly one that I would like to learn more about and experiment with before using with my class. I think that this would be a great way to communicate information. I feel that sharing information in this way would be very enticing to the students and certainly more interesting than conventional way of sharimg information. I feel that I am in a good situation as a learning center teacher to allow students the opportunitity to experiment with some of these tools, .Even though I missed parts of his lecture by trying to get on a variety of websites, I rerviewed his hand out which was very comprehensive and helpful to me.

The whole idea of collaboration is such a great way for young people to communicate and I believe that the tools that Richard was demonstrating in his presentation would be very helpful in order to do this. I have to admit that many of the sites that he was showing us were done so quickly that it was overwhelming for me to keep up with, but I will certainly revisit his presentation at my own pace and see how these can be ussed in my classroom.

Overall, I know that Richard tried to get as much information to us in the short time that was allotted to him. Whether it was my mind on overload or midweek of the seminar, I did not focus on his presentation as much as the previous two days. I did appreciate the information and the knowledge he shared with us and know that as I spend more time acquainting myself with the websites he provided us with they will be very useful.

Cathy Tucker- Middleboro Public Schools

Our last speaker of the week was Tom Daccord. Tom was a vibrant speaker and an advocate of Microsoft Word. He presented us with the question: How will change affect our classrooms and how will we access it? The three focus areas he discussed were reading, research and writing. How is technology affecting these three areas? Tom discussed digital research stating that students need to be effective online readers and that research will be mulitmedia. He discussed and demonstrated sites such as digitalvaults.org which was a national archives website. This was fascinating and so user friendly not only with the text, but with the vusuals that were provided. This was something I could definitely envision my students using and finding interesting. Tom also discussed books online one website inparticular I found interesting was turning the pages. Some other online book resources were e-text and Gutenberg.org.

For the students I work with many are sturggling and reluctant readers. In listening and viewing some of the websites that Tom discussed, I think that this would open up a whole new avenue for these students. I have thought over and over again on ways to make those ipods or smarphones useful tools in the classroom instead of ways for students to get themselves into trouble. This is that whole philosophy change that needs to happen in our schools. Technology is not going away so as educators we need to teach students how to use them effectively and responsibly. This inspired me to look into downloading some books that students could listen to right on their ipod. Many students do better with having the book read to them which would be possible with these tools.

Tom also spoke about how to use Microsoft Word as a multimedia document. I have to admit this was a little too much information for me to comprehend, but once again I appreciate that his information was online and I would be able to access this information at my own pace. Many times I thought will I never get all this and be able to use it, but by the end of the week I was definitely more optimistic that this is something I will be able to do a little bit at a time.

Tom was a great speaker with a lot of great websites to offer us. He stayed throughout the day and attended some of the workshops being offered that day. It was great to see him learning and being a part of the experience that we had. All of the speakers offered us great information and were very interesting to listen to, but my favoite keynote speaker was Don Leu. In being our first speaker he captivated my attention and made me curious about the possibilities that technology would offer our students in the classroom. His idea of student leaders was great and one that I think will be very helpful with the students in my classroom.

Jillian Weil, Everett Public Schools Reflection: Don Leu

Monday morning we heard our first keynote speaker, and having the opportunity to speak with Don Leu before he presented allowed for a brief insight as to who he was and what it was that he would be speaking to us about. I was amazed with the questions that arose in my mind while he spoke about the five components of online reading comprehension. As teachers, I feel that we may not give our students all of the tools they need to conduct a successful online reading experience. As educated adults, we check the credibility of websites; know where to locate valuable information, etc. whereas a student may jump to a website such as askjeeves.com and copy and paste right from the first hit thinking he/she did everything in the correct fashion. They were successful in getting logged on to the internet, found a search engine site, and found a link that gave the necessary information that they set out to find for that particular assignment given, but were they truly successful in locating and evaluating information correctly? One of the websites, the one about Martin Luther King Jr, I agree that many of our students would fall into that trap. My guess is that the number of students that would fall for that website as being a credible and reliable source is more than we think possible. When teaching about evaluating information, I agree that the students need to be made aware of the dangers; so that in turn they will have the tools they need to stop and evaluate websites and authors/creators of websites before diving into the website. Making students responsible for what they read online will help them to be college and career ready. The Common Core Standards state over and over again that students need to locate information, evaluate information, and be able to make sense (synthesize) the information that they read so that they will be able to communicate that information. Once students grasp a plan for online reading strategies they will continue to feel comfortable in using them and in turn continue using them. Another concept I found very interesting is the idea that "the last shall be first". How wonderful it is to see a student who is not always the star pupil in class being able to assist in instructing another classmate to work on the task at hand. Students who have difficulty with some of the day to day obstacles in their classroom would be given more opportunities to interact with their classmates which would in turn perhaps foster new friendships. One of the ideas that Don Leu presented in his keynote address is the idea about e-pals. I would like to give that a try and have my students interact with a morning message from students in another part of the world. Talk about making global connections! This would allow my students to see and learn about children their age from a different part of the world.

Jillian Weil, Everett Public Schools Reflection: Justin Reich

On Tuesday, Justin Reich spoke to us in his keynote address. The idea of the levels of technology instruction could not have been more precise. It seems as though when school meetings are held they are many teachers who are all over the spectrum when it comes to technology. We all know the teachers who simply dust off their computer and treat it as though it landed from outer space and they haven't a clue what to do with it, let alone to incorporate it into their daily teaching lessons and connect it to state standards. Then there are those teacher who use the computer and are proud to be able to say that they can turn it on and that they can send and receive emails. Then there always seems to be those one or two teachers that are using technology so much that you don't even want to engage in conversation in the lunch room for fear that you will be criticized for not using all of the cool tools that they are using with their students. Before I took this institute I felt I was one of those teachers that used technology (Strictly the computer and the Eno-boards) and would never fathom the idea that teachers are allowing students to "text" their answers to the math problem on the board to a number and then the class answers would be presented on a graph for the entire class to view. After listening to Justin Reich, I feel that I am moving up in the levels of technology instruction. Grant it, I may not be comfortable in correcting student assignments in Google docs, but I am now going to go out on a limb and try it and continue to move up and grow with the technology that is in front of me. I especially liked the idea of having a "geek of the week" that would showcase one teacher each week that was doing something new with incorporating technology in his/her classroom. I think it would provide the rest of the teachers in the school with a little bit of motivation to share a tool or program that we use with the rest of the faculty, but not in a demeaning way. It would also provide collaboration between teachers of different grades; the faculty would become a network of mini instructors that would be able to bounce ideas back and forth. Another idea that Justin Reich presented was the idea of communicating with parents early on in the school year. Sitting here I am thinking to myself well obviously that happens every school year right? True it does happen, but it happens in the midst of signing emergency cards, finding out the school rules, meeting new teachers, fire drills, lunch forms, etc. When schools conduct back to school nights for families, we have to address what it is that we are doing to make sure that their child is safe at school and how they can best help their child at home. Imagine if after all of the chaos of the first few weeks of school we send a technology newsletter home to families in a variety of languages that explains and lists resources where they can go to have a successful school year, a newsletter that informs the families about the technologies that we are currently using in our school and how as teachers we are continuing to find new ways to bring these technologies into our classroom. I think it would be a great preview as to the many new things to come throughout the school year.

Jillian Weil, Everett Public Schools Reflection: Richard Beach

On Thursday, we had the opportunity to listen to Richard Beach speak to us in his keynote address. When he asked us to sign on "Today's Meet", I thought oh no not another one of those accounts like Twitter (one that I never think I will master). However, I was surprised to see how easy it was to post to. I actually even posted twice to the conversation that was going on. How exciting would it be for some of my middle school students to respond to a post on "Today's Meet" in the morning while I take attendance. What a great way for students to interact and want to share their knowledge because it is in a digital format, one to which they will find more lively than writing their response on paper and then turning it in to my desk and waiting for a response back. As I listened to Richard Beach speak, I asked myself do I write notes and try to absorb as much information as I can or do I log on to the websites that he was speaking about and then follow along? I signed into the "Video Ant" and thought how great I can bookmark this site and continue on with my old fashioned paper and pen note taking. He was mentioning all types of websites and I felt as though I was learning another language, that was until he mentioned "Diigo" and I wanted to shout out I use that in my school and at that point I knew that there was probably much more to "Diigo" than I knew and I sat on the edge of my chair to see what he was going to tell us about using "Diigo" in our classroom. Another important idea Richard Beach spoke of was role-playing with students to make characters come alive. I especially like the idea of using "Fakebook" where students can create dialog between characters in a story using a format each and every one of them is familiar with, "Facebook". Lastly, when Richard Beach spoke about using "Voice Thread" I was thinking how it would be great for students to create a page that is almost like a video game. It has audio, it has text, and they can collaborate with the other students in the class about the same topic. It would provide an opportunity for differentiated instruction and each student would be able to respond to the question or topic at hand in a format that best suited their personality while incorporating technology into the reading and writing curriculum frameworks to make them life-long learners in an ever evolving technology savvy world.

Jillian Weil, Everett Public Schools Reflection: Tom Daccord

On Friday we had the opportunity to hear from Tom Daccord, who was the keynote speaker for the day. When Tom Daccord spoke about using Microsoft Word as a multimedia editor, I thought oh no not something complicated for me like trying to correct my students assignments using Goggle docs, I thought I'm never going to be able to keep up with this technology and is it possible for this week long institute to just keep running throughout the school year. In that way, if questions arose or I had trouble with particular programs or websites not cooperating I would be able to see all of the wonderful people that I have been collaborating with this week to figure out Word being a multimedia editor before it was too late? I did however relax when I realized that there are simpler ways that I can incorporate technology in my classroom to make books come alive for some of my students that think it may not be cool to read and to let their peers see them checking out books from the school library or the public library in the center of town. I immediately started naming off students in my school that would love for the opportunity to hear the books that they needed to read be read aloud to them. Imagine that while they were walking home or waiting to pick up a younger brother or sister from school, they would be able to listen to the book, audio clip, or speech they they needed to read for class the next day. My struggling readers and many of my ELL students would jump on board faster than I could probably load the Itunes account and set it up for them. So many of my students do not have the luxury of sitting at a Barnes and Noble and reading the books for school such as a summer reading book, but they do however seem to have either an ipod, or an iphone, or know someone that has an android phone and possibly a computer to which they would be able to do the reading assignment and actually understand what it was that they were responsible for reading and comprehending before they come to class. What a great way to motivate students that are reluctant readers or students that feel that they are not capable of ever being able to get through such a difficult text regardless of which subject area it is in. Alright I have to admit it, over the weekend after being at the institute all week I logged onto the Guttenberg Project website and was amazed at how many of the books that we ask students to read were available for download! I could not wait to go back to my school and let the kids in on this awesome website. The teachers would be excited as well, wouldn't it be a dream if more of the students sitting in front of us were able to be a little more active in the discussion about a particular topic or a particular person for a historical period that we were covering at that time? I think it would be fantastic!

LaRae Davis, Gloucester Public Schools

Reflection: Don Leu
Don Leu’s opening address on Monday began the week with the inspiration and thought provoking ideas that help to get us started on the journey we need to be on. His ideas of international sharing were what helped me get started on my own journey. I have wanted to do this kind of sharing but have not known how to get started and so some of his ideas were inspiring.

Digital Citizenship is another aspect that we are trying to deal with at our school. We constantly are having to work with students helping them try to understand that what they read is not necessarily true. The tree octopus website will be an excellent tool to get started with this. [|__http://zapatopi.net/treeoctopus/__] This website will be a fun way to really get into this discussion. Another place that is excellent for teachers to teach Digital citizenship is Commonsense.org. This website has lesson plans and videos that can be used in a classroom to help with the teaching of this topic. [|__http://www.commonsensemedia.org/educators__]

I also think another interest of trying to understand where information comes from will also be interesting for students. Looking at the URL, the author, and finding the source of the information will be another good activity that Leu suggested. His search of the Martin Luther King website was very helpful in seeing this work. The you tube videos “In plain English”are an excellent way to help explain the different skills needed for searching the web. The following is an example of one just for searching.. [|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8aYoVpdz8o__]

I really thought the categories of Leu’s synthesis of the Common Core Standards was very interesting and relevant for today: “Identify a Problem Locate the Information Evaluate Information Synthesize Information Communicate Information”

When I think of where my students are going and my own children are headed I can’t help but think we have not helped them as much as we need to. Even the name of the new Common Core Standards “College and Career Readiness” shows us the need for this growth in technology and the ability to use and understand the technology that we have at our disposal. LaRae Davis Gloucester Public Schools

Reflection: Justin Reich
Tuesday began with the keynote by Justin Reich. He talked about putting more of the responsibility of learning on the students. The new Common Core Standards also includes giving students more and more independence in their literacy and as Justin Reich mentions we can do this through technology. One way that this can be done is through online writing. This ability can get them to write more and they can develop more skills in writing, revising, collaborating and publishing. One way that I can see doing this is to continue using google docs.This gives students the ability to compose, edit and share documents with others. Here is a video to explain using google docs. [|__http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFem3cDqyDA__]

One of the other exciting ways to collaborate with online writing or getting feedback on books, ideas or other media is through voice thread. I can see using this in my classroom on a regular basis. [|__http://voicethread.com/__]

Justin Reich also spoke about how we all need to decide what works in our own setting. Then we can review what we are doing, decide whether we should continue or review and make changes.These changes are then reviewed and then we are able to experiment again. Gradually fear disappears and we are able to try new experiments again. This trial and review circle is what helps us grow in our profession.

Reich mentions the leadership that teachers have to have to be able to do this. Teachers are the ones who should say what we need with technology. We are the ones who need to push further and explain what we are doing, show what we are doing and tell the administration what we need. Teachers are the ones who drive the pedagogy of the classroom. Most of the valid learning takes place when we are able to teach each other new ideas and techniques we use in the classroom. I can see this happening regularly at our school with our regular professional development and classes that we can give and share with each other. The last thing that Reich talked about was the communication between teachers and families. This is an important aspect in education and technology can help us with this. Parents can see what we are doing through blogs, wikis and other devices. I agree that we need to have a collaborative and learning approach. Where students are not locked out of everything but instead are taught how to use and discriminate between what is appropriate or not. Using the internet and the web for the best they can get out of it and taking that learning to new heights.

LaRae Davis Gloucester Public Schools

Reflection: Richard Beach
I think the secret that Richard Beach mentioned is the ability to activate the passion; the passion for writing, reading and learning. We are all able to do more when we are excited about something. Students are able to get excited about learning when they are able to create and interact with text that they are familiar with or interested in.

All students want to share their opinions, what they think or feel about when they have read or seen something. Using the technology to give annotations to and about text will give them that voice and also allow them see what their peers are feeling and thinking about when they read or view a text. They can give opinions without feeling threatened when they are doing this through technology. For Middle School students to open up in class can be difficult at times. This gives them more opportunities. Diigo [|__http://www.diigo.com/__] is one of the tools that might work to help with this. The following youtube video is an explanation of how to use Diigo. [|__Diigo in Plain English__]

This tool seems like something that can be done easily but I also worry about the technical support at school. Some questions I have that need to be answered are: How can a computer that is used by many students have the toolbar set to the Diigo of one student? This is one of the questions I am going to look into to see if this is possible. We have 30 computers set up in a lab for approximately 230 students. The annotations using Diigo would be great if we had more one on access to computers. I think some of the other tools that I learned this week would be better for annotation because it is not set to the computer but is instead online. This would give the students better access. We cannot ask parents to put certain tools on their computers but we can give the online tools to work with at home. Another possibility of using the technology is to encourage students to read is using ereaders. I feel like this is an area I would like to look into more. Presently we have six nooks for the whole school. The teacher is able to down load books that students want onto these as soon as they are requested. The students who have used them are excited and have even made an informational video on how to use the nooks.

LaRae Davis Gloucester Public Schools

Reflection: Tom Daccord
Tom Daccord was very inspirational and great way to end this week long session of exciting new ideas and inspiration. We were able to think about what our mission statement should look like in the 21st century. How can we get to that place? What changes need to happen to get us there? How can we work together to reach this goal?

These were some of the questions that Daccord raised to help get us thinking. He demonstrated some of the new research and innovations happening to open up learning to all people. The idea of having the ability to access knowledge and primary source documents is amazing. Giving students the ability to find the information they want opens the world to them. This is what education is all about. [|__http://www.digitalvaults.org/__] This website was an interesting example of taking those primary sources and having them at their fingertips. That way they will able to look at documents in the their pure form and see what was happening in our country in the past. This is a National Archive of our history.

==== The other website [|__http://www.turningthepages.com/__] brings books that students would never be able to see but here they are; Davinci’s sketches and one of the first Bibles. Precious art work and literary works can be seen by all now. ====

==== One of the exciting ideas is opening up the classroom to others from around the world. Thinking about students asking questions and getting perspectives from someone who is so culturally different from them. They can get feed back on there questions or on something more creative like there writing. ====

Dr. Don Leu was a terrific opening speaker. Before the room had quieted down and we were still busy at our tables adjusting to the new environment and to our various technology challenges in the new space, he went to every single table and engaged with his students in conversation. Before he even opened his presentation, Dr Leu had modeled a strategy that I want to expand in my own classroom.
 * Aleza Beauvais, Gardner Public Schools**
 * Reflection on __Don Leu__'s Keynote Speech**

Dr Leu was a dynamic, experienced and knowledge-rich speaker. He described our students as "digital natives." This apt description was followed with, "by accident of birth [they] can't automatically use technology." I really appreciated this as every day I hear adults (especially teachers) comment on how good the young generation is with computers when, in fact, some are; some are not. So in just a few graceful sentences Dr. Leu addressed what I find to be a troubling issue. Yes, our students are "digital natives." At the same time, we as educators must figure out what this means because "by accident of birth [they] can't automatically use technology." As mature adults, we might not be "digital natives" yet we have the responsibility to give our students the tools they need for 21st century literacy in the digital age. Just what does this mean?

Dr. Leu spoke of content creators vs. content movers vs. content consumers. As educators we must be consciously aware that some of our students will become all three of these with ease while others will struggle to become content consumers, never approaching the level of content creators or content movers. What basic tools can we impart to our students to support them in their own journeys within these realms? And how?

"Deliverology." Dr. Leu described a wonderful strategy employed in a classroom in Great Britain using ePals. As he was speaking I found the ePals website and opened an account! This, to me, demonstrates the power of digital access. My mind was racing with the possibilities. This was the first time in my entire educational career (which is rather lengthy) that I have found myself in an environment in which I was encouraged to experiment and explore while the instructor was simultaneously delivering his/her speech! Are we finally ready to recognize that some of the best, most effective listening is not when the students are facing front with their eyes on the teacher? Will technology change what the polite listener looks like? Deliverology looks different in the context of twenty first century literacies.

Dr. Leu briefly mentioned having our students compose a "clear and effective email message." I wonder if this should be specifically mentioned in the Massachusetts Curriculum Frameworks. Is this as important as the ability to compose a clear and effective letter? Letters are specifically mentioned in the Frameworks at several grade levels. Are the Frameworks based on an educational model that is already anachronistic? Do the Frameworks need to be updated with digital literacy in mind?

Dr. Leu described how lessons that embrace digital technology can "help the last become first." Digital technology can create new peer dynamics within a classroom of individuals who have established a learning and power hierarchy that can raise a few and leave many as the underdogs. It teaches to new strengths that students will need in the work place - the world they will live in after they finish school.

According to Dr. Leu, data have shown that approximately six years ago kids started reading more online than offline. This tells us that we must prepare our children for digital citizenship. We must move quickly to embrace what has already arrived. One question that Dr. Leu's keynote address led me to consider is how digital technology might be changing human development. Is it possible that our digital natives are already experiencing different patterns of human development from those that we have already identified as a culture?

Justin Reich brought even more good energy to an already highly, positively charged event. He started with a one word check-in and I must admit that my first thought was - How cliche. YET, the check-in response that I came up with has proven to express the essence of my experience at the conference. I have found the fountain of youth - and it is digital literacy! I say that as one of the senior members of the institute :)
 * Aleza Beauvais, Gardner Public Schools**
 * Reflection on __Justin Reich__'s Keynote Speech**

Justin Reich's keynote speech helped to shape my personal constructs for understanding how digital literacies and teaching in the emerging digital age shape into a single whole. First he spoke of "data analysis and anthropological research" and the "patterns that emerge from stories." At our table on Monday we had discussed the meta-narrative in society - how it has changed in the digital age and how poly-vocality is emerging. The anthropological aspect of digital literacy is deeply fascinating to me. And in my mind this connects to a question which arose for me during DonLeu's speech: the emergent nature of human development. I feel that I am an eyewitness to the changing patterns of human development as I watch, compare and contrast the similar, yet vastly different homes in which my grandchildren are being raised. The role of digital technology in shaping their personal memories is striking. To a casual observer, these children are "so smart." Yet, with all due respect, I feel that the order of human development is being turned on its head. No one is smarter than previous generations. Just different. Certain skills come earlier and others, not at all. From an anthropological perspective, the role of digital technology is very exciting and profound.

Reich then went on to speak about "pockets of innovation across the country," saying that "we want them to scale up and engage collaboratively." I am so appreciative of this declaration as it gives me permission to explore and experiment in my classroom. Experimentation is not something we are often encouraged to pursue in the public school classroom. We teachers are in the odd position of being both bureaucrats and innovators, roles which are often considered at odds with each other, yet our roles require the skills of both. Reich described the cycle of experiment and experience, saying, as "innovative work is scaling up, change produces fear." He then had us turn and talk to our neighbors, a popular and dynamic teaching strategy with which I really appreciated playing the student's role. This opportunity really allowed me to experience the benefits of processing what the instructor had presented. How is it possible that as an educational community we took so long to discover this? More important, how wonderful that we have!

I believe that "writing in online environments" is what we need to do with our students. At this point, the more opportunities we provide, the better. This truly allows teachers and students to experiment. Clearly, some avenues are better than others. We are all pioneers and this fountain of youth takes us all back to the model of pioneering adventure that is the backbone of this country. It has the potential to remove what has become the bureaucratic nature of teaching and learning in the United States.

Reich also observed, "Lots of things we've been doing right for hundreds of years." This is an essential truth that we must never forget. Validating the past gives us permission to pioneer into experimental territory in the future. As Reich said, "Focus on the literacies. Technology is a means to an end, no an end in itself."


 * Aleza Beauvais Gardner Public Schools **
 * Reflections on Keynote Speaker __Richard Beach__ **

Richard Beach’s presentation was full, full, full. I felt that he attempted to cover a semester’s worth of material in one hour. This in itself was a powerful learning opportunity. As a teacher I often find myself needing more time and wanting to bring a lesson to a logical conclusion, even in the face of a shortage of time. It was healthy for me as a learner to experience the feeling of being overwhelmed and then struggling not to shut down, especially when, based on the profiles posted on the website, I had most looked forward to this speaker. I hope that I have the strength and self-discipline to return to the protocol I established as a beginning teacher, that of never cramming. My belief was that a teacher accomplishes most when squeezed for time by engendering goodwill and allowing the students to leave promptly and on schedule. I feel that this is still true, yet I can see that as a veteran teacher, I have drifted toward wanting to use every last minute. I truly want to revert back to my old ways on this matter.

Now to Beach’s content. . . Dr. Beach started by saying that in this era of digital literacy we now “construct knowledge together.” I loved that. To me this means that learners become teachers and teachers become learners. This leads right back to Dr. Leu’s statement that digital learning environments can allow the last to become first. Constructing knowledge together also takes my thoughts back to the metanarrative. The role of the metanarrative in society, in classrooms, in families and in relationships is profound and I am fascinated by the evolving influence the metanarrative has in our emerging digital age.

Dr. Beach also spoke of the Common Core Standards as old fashioned because they omitted pedagogy and digital technology. This comment really sparked my thinking. I feel that the Common Core Standards are a fabulous, essential step forward for public education. They provide a powerful tool for educators at all levels to improve the education we provide. I am so pleased that they are a work in progress. This gives me hope that they will evolve to meet the needs of the twenty-first century.

One twenty-first century challenge presented in digital environments that was mentioned by Richard Beach is the need to create a context. This is an intriguing statement. Dr. Beach then compared the experience of reading and interpreting in an online environment to looking at a painting in a museum. I was very excited by this comparison as much of my masters work was on the arts in education. As educators we must consider how much background knowledge to provide and how much context to create. Ultimately the students’ work is to create their own meaning. Context has to be developed thoughtfully and cautiously.

In conclusion, Dr. Beach said, “Classrooms need to work better than Congress. Digital collaborative spaces are powerful places to co-construct common knowledge.”

*Practically speaking, Dr. Beach introduced us to Diigo, a great tool for annotating and sharing responses to a given text. Students need to have Diigo on their browsers in order to “talk back to texts.” Clearly Diigo is a powerful tool for students to use to construct their own meaning and to work collaboratively to interpret online texts.


 * Aleza Beauvais Gardner Public Schools**
 * Reflections on Keynote Address by __Tom Daccord__**

The single most powerful message that I heard from Tom Daccord was permission to experiment. This intrigues me. Why did I not feel permission to experiment before Friday? Was the entire week preparing us to hear Tom Daccord? Have I really felt constrained in my classroom. . . Limited and not encouraged to experiment. . . Discouraged from experimenting? These questions rattled around in my mind as I listened to Daccord’s words.

Daccord caught my attention when he said that there need to be changes in the instructional core – There need to be transformational changes. He posed questions. What will change look like? How do we get there? How do we assess change? He spoke of traditional, pre-digital modals and forms versus digital modal and forms. He described hyperlinks leading us to supplementary information. Now this in itself does not seem to be something that I did not already know. What makes it noteworthy? I think that these statements took on larger meaning because of the context each of the previous speakers had created as well as the context that Daccord shaped for his listeners.

Daccord began to describe a political-social reality that is the broader context within which our digital literacy must function and be applied. He described how Congress turns to us, the citizens. (This reminds me of the humorous, thought-provoking quote from John Adams: “In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a Congress.” Does this quote have relevance in the digital age?)

Daccord asked a simple question: Are any of our class texts available on an online platform? This question carried far more meaning for me on Friday than it would have on Monday. “Hyperlinks can enhance reading by creating contexts.” How well I remember the pain and agony of being a curious seventh grader, eager to learn the meaning of an unfamiliar word or a new term, being told to look it up in the dictionary! That was most frequently a deal breaker then and there. Immediately I can see the power of hyperlinks in an online text.

Daccord introduced several online resources that I have begun to explore: Flickr, thwt.org and famousscientists.org. I find Flickr is already broadening my horizons and enhancing my own digital literacy as I learn to navigate YouTube and Flickr simultaneously. Thwt.org is a tremendous resource for me as a teacher of writing, research and citation. In a way, I think that the name of the site is misleading and had I not been in his audience, I might not have looked into the site as its title suggests that it is for teaching history, when it is a tremendous resource for ELA teachers as well. Famousscientists.org is another trustworthy resource for teaching research and biography – making it a tremendous resource for ELA teachers interested in expanding their digital resources.

Finally, Daccord ended with a strong and clearly worded challenge. “We need to be as accurate and clear in our communication as ever. But what does literacy mean in today’s world of emerging, bookless libraries?” This conclusion is just a beginning. At the beginning of the week I would not have been open to the idea of a bookless library. By the end of the week I find myself a proponent. I look forward to returning to school and telling my colleagues that I have found the fountain of youth – and it is digital technology!

Lisa Morse, Gardner Public Schools Reflection: Don Leu The New Literacies Institute started out with our first keynote speaker, Don Leu. Right away I was taken by his kind persona and genuine enthusiasm. Don really got my attention when he was discussing Epals. Epals is a way to connect with other teachers and students all over the globe. I had never heard of this before, and I thought it was fabulous. There are so many different aspects of curriculum that you could tie into it-everything from geography, to writing skills to different cultures. Epals is something I am definitely going to try to use in my classroom. I think the students would love it. Another concept that Don talked about that I absolutely loved was the “the last should be first” concept. Don talked about taking one of your struggling students and making him or her the expert in some kind of new technology. This student would be the go-to person for any other student who had a question. I think this is such a great idea. I think it would be so empowering for a student who has some academic difficulties to now be the expert and be able to help his or hers peers. I also think this would be great to do with a student who might be withdrawn or a bit of an outcast. I really think it would help these students feel successful and good about themselves. I was also intrigued and surprised when Don told us that more kids read online now than off-line. Before, when I thought about kids using the internet, I pictured them using it more for video games, but now it is clear to me that no matter what they are using the internet for, there is definitely reading involved. It has also become clear to me that there are different challenges and skills with reading online and our students need to be explicitly taught these skills. I think Don outlined it pretty clearly: define a problem, evaluate, locate,synthesize, and communicate. I think our students lack these skills, and infact, a few of my team members and I have already talked to our principal about our students being taught them. I was SHOCKED when Don showed us the example ofthe Martin Luther King Jr. website. I was horrified to find out that the website was run by a white supremacist group. I think a lot of my students would have “fell” for the website, and that’s scary. Last year, my students had to use the internet to do some research, and they had difficulties knowing which website was credible and which was not .After attending this conference, I know I will be better able to teach them what to look for and how to know when a website is reliable and credible. Finally,I was surprised to see that other countries are ahead of us when it comes to accessibilityto the internet. Many think of the United States as this all powerful country,and while for the most part that is true, it is lacking in some areas. I think it is time that the United States realized that these new technologies is the direction that we are going, and make some changes so that everyone can have equal ability to access it. I really enjoyed listening to Don, and I think he was the most valuable keynote speaker of the week.

Lisa Morse-Gardner Public Schools Reflection: Justin Reich Our second keynote speaker was Justin Reich. Justin started out by talking about a big problem we face when trying to introduce new literacies into our schools-fear. Justin talked about how a lot of teachers are afraid of the new technologies, and this is something I think every teacher can relate to. At my school, there certainly are some teachers who are afraid of change and do not want to integrate any new technology into their teaching because of that. However,as Justin discussed, teachers influence teachers. What I took away from that is if there are some teachers who are afraid and/or reluctant to use technology in their classroom, other teachers with the knowledge and enthusiasm can work with them to help get them on board. Since attending this conference, a few of my fellow team members and I have met with our principal and discussed how to introduce what we learned to our colleagues. We are thinking about having some(optional) after school sessions, open to whomever wants to attend, to share what we have learned and how it could be used in the classroom. I think it will be great, and I think as some people attend and learn some cool new things,they will tell others about it, and m ore and more people will come and become excited. That is my hope, anyway! Another thing that Justin talked about that I found to be so true is how teachers need to be supported when trying new ideas and using new technologies. He talked about how it has to come from all sides: from principals, from the IT people, from the superintendent, and from the community. The bottom line, in my opinion, is that no matter how excited and into using the new things that we learned you are, if the key people in your school and school district do no tsupport it, you can only take it so far. I am lucky to have an amazing principal who fully supports our use of what we learned from attending the conference. We (my team members and I) plan to set up a meeting with our head IT person to talk to her and make sure she is on board to. I feel badly for those teachers who do not have the support that I have. Justin also talked about teacher recognition and acknowledging those who are taking risks and using something new in their classrooms. He talked about one school district that had a “geek of the week” on their school website that highlighted a teacher and what he or she was doing. I thought that was a cool idea. As teachers, we put a lot into what we do, and I do think it would be nice to be recognized for it every once and a while. It would also be a great way fo rother teachers to see what neat new things their colleagues were doing. Justin’s speech made me think about what I can do to be a “teacher leader.” I am excited to share with my fellow colleagues what I learned while attending the MA New Literacies Institute. I hope my excitement and enthusiasm encourages others to try something new.

Lisa Morse-Gardner Public Schools Reflection: Richard Beach Thursday’s keynote speaker was Richard Beach. I thought he had a lot of great things to share, but for only an hour, it was too much. By the time I had gotten to a website he was talking about, he was on to the next one. I think it would have been much more efficient if he ran one of the digging deeper sessions, since he clearly is very knowledgeable. What I did get from Richard is that there are online tools to use for annotating, and that is something I am very interested in. My school uses a balanced literacy approach. I am an ELA teacher, and an important skill that we teach the students is how to annotate text. We teach them to annotate any questions they may have while reading, any thoughts they have while reading, and any connections they make while reading. By annotating, they are able to think about their thinking, and it makes the learning experience much more meaningful. Right now, we give the students sticky notes to write down their thoughts and questions. While I think the sticky notes are useful and convenient, they tend to be expensive, and sometimes they can get lost. I like the idea of being able to annotate a text online. I also like the “fostering critical annotations” protocol that Richard developed. It is similar to what I use-thinking about connections, what you feel as you read, and what questions come up. I am going to sp end some time before school starts thinking about what websites would be practical for me to use with my ELA students. Another thing that Richard shared that I thought was interesting was VideoAnt. I think it’s a neat idea to be able to annotate videos on YouTube. I do not know how much I would actually use this, since I do not know if I will have my students actually post anything on YouTube this year. As with anything, the big problem is getting students access to the technology. My school only has one computer lab, and you are only allowed to sign it out once a week. By the time you get the kids down there and logged on, you are really down to about a half hour. In a dream world,every classroom would have carts with laptops for every student. Since that’s not my reality, I need to think about which things would be the most practical to use, and which things the students would get the most out of. As I mentioned before, I think Richard could have been much more helpful if he had more time and was in a smaller setting. His presentation was just too quickly paced, and the slide show he posted on the wiki does not allow you to view it. I would have enjoyed listening to him in a different format.

Lisa Morse-Gardner Public Schools Reflection: Tom Daccord Our final keynote speaker was Tom Daccord. Tom had some cool websites to share. One that I liked was the National Archives Experience. I would have to explore it further to see how I could use it in my ELA classroom. I think the students would be really captured by it. Another website that I think I could definitely use is the Turning the Pages website. I think it is so cool how you can view books online that you otherwise would not be to see. The website also seems to have nice features, such as being able to zoom in. I was also interested in Google books. I am glad that Tom presented this website, because I was not aware of it. I see Google books being useful for my reluctant readers. I think these students would think it was much cooler to read a bookonline. The hard part, once again, is getting these kids access to computers. If they do not have a computer at home, they would only be a ble to read at school, and even then it would be hard to get them on a computer. This is when it would be great for iPads to be available for students. If they could read a book on an iPad, I think they would actually be excited to read.

As I spent time reflecting on the week’s keynote speakers, I really found Don to be the most interesting and the one who presented the most useful information. I also found Tom’s speech to be useful because he presented great new websites that I had not heard of before. The other two, while I’m sure they are quite knowledgeable,did not hold my attention as muchIt was challenging because sitting towards the back, it was hard to see and hear the presenters. I also felt at times that with the speakers, either too much information was being given, or not enough. I know it must be hard trying to say everything you have to say in just an hour, but I think people felt overwhelmed at times. I think that time would have been better spent going deeper into the DT&T sessions.


 * Anne Marie Salvon's Reflection on Donald J. Leu's Keynote Presentation on July, 18 2011**
 * Longmeadow Public Schools**


 * Don Leu’s keynote presentation was inspiring and invigorating. He was not only able to help us visualize the “perfect storm” that is occurring in education with regards to New Literacies, but he presented us with a practical array of web 2.0 tools to prepare ourselves and our students for acquiring these new literacies in our own “global villages”. Leu was able to crystallize the importance of understanding that today’s students need to develop additional reading comprehension skills for online reading. The Internet has changed the educational and business worlds, and the criti****cal 21st century skills that students must strive for are the ability to define a problem, locate, evaluate, s****ynthesize and communicate.**
 * I was fascinated with the Internet Users in the World information that Leu presented us with, which is repeated here for your convenience. [|Twenty-nine percent] of the world’s population read and write with the Internet, and of that percent, a whopping 44% reside in Asia. Things that may you go “hmmm”!**


 * Leu recommended using** **tools like [|ePals] to build global communities for our students, and help them discover the potential of how Internet projects can help foster these new aforementioned 21st century skills. He also presented us with easy and engaging ways to teach the online comprehension skills of locating information and performing critical evaluation in order to authenticate facts and information. Leu shared some excellent examples of websites that appeared, at first sight, to be educational and trustworthy to the untrained eye, but were in fact racist, offensive and illegitimate. Students must learn how to efficiently and effectively scan electronic sources for authenticity before wasting any time gathering note facts from them.**


 * All in all, Don Leu’s insightful presentation highlighted the “perfect storm” dilemma that the world of education faces in today’s 21st century, and he offered us viable ideas on how we can work together to "reach a safe harbor". I especially enjoyed his examples of how allowing “the last to become first” among your students is a simple, yet infectious teaching mechanism that helps everyone in the classroom succeed. I look forward to implementing his ideas in my classroom this year as I continue to strive in helping my students become, in the words of Don Leu, "content creators" as opposed to "content movers".**


 * Anne Marie Salvon's Reflection on Justin Reich's Keynote Presentation on July 19, 2011**
 * Longmeadow Public Schools**


 * Reich shared his ideas about the elements that support a culture of “experiment and experience”, namely “skunkworks of experimentation”, increasing supply of technology, administrative support, family/community outreach, and a managed approach of Internet safety. I particularly appreciated the first few elements promoted by Justin, which support “small teacher cohorts”, as he refers to them, where teams of teacher innovators must be supported by administration, who provide planning time and professional development opportunities (such as the MA New Literacies Institute); you can’t just dole out the technology and expect great things to happen, teachers must be given time to work/learn/experiment together, both in and outside the classroom.**


 * Next, Reich delineated the importance of reaching out to parents and the community to help build support for this new groundbreaking “experiment and experience” culture. As a parent of a new 5th and 9th grader, as well a s a teacher, I echo the importance of reaching outside the school walls to these influential stakeholders. This communication could be as simple as a letter home to parents inviting them to visit your new wiki, or you could share your students' positive experience with say a Skype call to another classroom in a different country via a newspaper article in order to educate the community on why you need them to increase their donations to the local, Longmeadow Educational Excellence Foundation ([|LEEF]), which is a private, volunteer,** [[image:leef_banner.jpg width="352" height="65" align="left" link="http://goleef.org/"]]**non-profit foundation committed to underwriting grants to provide teachers and administrators opportunities for innovative educational and enrichment programs beyond the tax supported budget **.


 * Moreover, Justin alluded to the fact that school districts need to establish viable Technology Committees, consisting of a diverse set of stakeholders, and I’m thrilled to report that our new Superintendent recently created such a committee. Anyone was invited to join, so I did, and I am convinced this Technology Committee will surely assist in the retention of institutional knowledge. I am thrilled to be a member of this committee, which I hope will support a culture of “experiment and experience”.**


 * Lastly, it was refreshing to hear Reich offer substantiated evidence from the “OFSTED” report regarding how “managed” online school systems were more successful than “locked” ones at effectively safeguarding students’ safety. I firmly believe in the importance of teaching our students about Digital Citizenship at the middle/high school levels, which will educate them on how to deal with the reality of an “unlocked” Internet.**


 * Anne Marie Salvon's Reflection on Richard Beach's Keynote Presentation on July 21, 2011 **
 * Longmeadow Public Schools**


 * Similar to Justin Reich, I was enamored by Richard Beach’s decision to utilize an interactive tool such as ****[|TodaysMeet] to bring the [|backchannel] to the forefront of his presentation. Beach demonstrated how this interactive tool is a fantastic way to connect with your audience in “realtime”, and address their needs; however, quite honestly, I’m still trying to figure out how you would do this as a one wo/man show? Perhaps you could publically check the pulse of the audience by flashing to the backchannel after every new point (every 10 minute interval or so), otherwise it seems to me that it would be too distracting to the flow of your presentation; not to mention, some people say the most inappropriate things when they can do so anonymously, no matter how “mature” the group. I will have to think long and hard about how I might use this type of live stream in my classroom because it certainly intrigues me.**


 * Beach shared a vast array of incredibly engaging tools that could be very effective in the classroom environment. He challenged his audience to consider the idea of contextualization, which is the necessary process of f **** raming texts in terms of goals, beliefs, and norms of the author. We must educate our students to think critically when researching and validating resources on the Internet. Beach proposed utilizing a “critical response protocol” (CRP) to assist students in not only responding to others works (theories, innovations, ideas, music, writings, media, poems, paintings, etc.), but to also have students invite audiences (immediate peer audience/Facebook “friends”, larger affinity groups via Diigo Groups and/or Ning site) to give feedback to their work via the CRP. **


 * We were introduced to this amazing **** VideoAnt tool that allows users to add annotations to videos so teachers could utilize it to provide feedback to students’ video productions. And, because Beach took the time to walk us through how to use this tool, I also learned that Internet videos have a “long link” option for each URL ****, versus the default option; very interesting. I am eager to utilize this tool in my classroom instruction. I was also intrigued by the idea of "online role-plays to foster argumentative writing". **


 * Additionally, I had already been convinced that I needed to set up Diigo Groups for my classes from a session that I attended at the 2010 MassCue convention so that my students could share bookmarks and annotate sites using sticky notes among Groups, and Richard’s reiteration of its advantages has caused me to “just do it”. And, I had used Voicethread in my classroom at the beginning of the last school year, inviting students to share their ideas on the benefits and potential pitfalls of Social Networking, and it provoked an exciting interchange of thoughts and ideas; but, to be quite honest, I used it as an “extra” activity for the students who finished up their Digital **

Longmeadow Public School
 * Anne Marie Salvon's Reflection on Tom Daccord's Keynote Presentation on July 22, 2011 **


 * I was not able to attend the final day of the MA New Literacies Institute so I am not able to reflect upon Tom Daccord’s presentation firsthand, but I have reviewed the others’ reflections as well as, his vetted resources and find them all to be very interesting.**


 * I am eager to share Daccord’s [|Best of History Web Sites], [|The Center for Teaching History with Technology], and his [|Teaching English with Technology] resources with the social studies and English teachers at my middle school so that they too can learn how to effectively infuse technology into their courses.**


 * I have merely skimmed the following websites that Tom introduced, and can’t believe their potential. I had difficulty utilizing Turning the Pages website do to plugin issues, but plan to resolve this soon. Digital Vaults is an incredible feed to our National Archives that I can’t wait to share with all my colleagues – wow! I had never heard of issuu.com, and I am eager to test it out with one of my own research topics before using it with my students. With regards to Google Books, I can’t keep up with the plethora of Google’s tools; it seems this one is going to give the Kindle and the Nook a run for their monies, huh? Finally, as for wix.com (a flash player website builder program), it certainly was extremely easy to sign up for an account and explore what others have made using Wix, but I was not convinced that it offered enough privacy options, which is always a concern to me as a middle school teacher. I’ll have to dedicate more time to investigating the nuts and bolts of this program in order to unveil its merits in my classroom.**

__**Reflection on Don Leu**__
 * Michelle Eastman, Northampton Public Schools**

The two major ideas that stuck with me while I think back to the presentation Don Leu gave was that educators need to teach the less capable readers about the new literacies before the rest and the idea of the “perfect storm.”

The first main idea is “the last should be first.” The main reason for teaching the less capable readers about the new literacies before the rest is to empower those students. If these students feel important and successful then that will help motivate them to keep reading. Everybody wants to be successful. Don Leu made that important point clear throughout his presentation.

The second major idea was the idea of the “perfect storm.” The students we are teaching have grown up with technology everywhere. The internet is a giant place and it requires additional reading and writing skills. There are so many people on the inter [|__net worldwide__]. North America only makes up 13% of the internet user population. Students are spending more time reading online then they are reading offline. Many of our classrooms and teaching practices are not taking that into account. Students need to learn how to read online. These skills include: 1. Define the problems, 2. Locate information, 3. Evaluate information, 4. Synthesize and solve problems, and 5. Communicate solutions. This is how students will weather the perfect storm.

We can not even image what type of jobs will be available to these students when they become adults. These students will have to learn how to work has a team player possible will people from all over the world. Other countries are embracing technology and seeing the importance of teaching educators which will help students with their online literacies. It is time for the United States to help educators weather this storm. It shouldn’t be happening in little bubbles or pockets of classrooms, it should be happening everywhere in every classroom. The internet is not going away. The United States needs to start making a point of educating educators on these new literacies, assess these new literacies, and help students better navigate this world they are living in.

__**Reflection on [|__Justin Reich__] **__
 * Michelle Eastman, Northampton Public Schools**

When I think back on Justin Reich’s presentation I recall him talking about the need to have teacher leaders and that those teacher leader need to experiment, review, and plan.

We are the teacher leaders of technology. We have the most power to affect change in our classrooms. We need to not let fear hold us back. This cycle that Justin talked about of Experiment, review, and plan was a circle with one leading into another and continuing on and on. When you plan something new there is a certain amount of fear associated with it. That could make you not want to try it because you could be afraid to fail. But teacher leaders need to take it to the next stage and experiment with the plan. The first time a teacher experiments with a new plan that teacher learns from what went well and what didn’t go so well. Then it is time to review and plan again. This process helps a teacher become a better teacher. We are do this in the beginning of our teaching careers.

Teacher leaders should continuing this cycle of experiment and experience throughout ones career. We need to stand strong and push for what we need. We need to not be in fear of being innovators. We need to gain the support of administrators, have ongoing PD, and increase the supply of technology. This can be done by creating family and community communication and involvement. We need to push for what we believe is best for students. Getting the funding for technology seems to be the biggest obstacle.

I am going to use this cycle Justin talked about the try to affect change at my school. I am going to propose a teachers teaching with technology committee. I hope that the administrators will support this effort and that other teachers in my school will participate. I hope to learn with my colleagues about these new technologies. I am in the planning phase and I have talked with the three other teachers from my school that attended the New Literacies Institute. I do have my fears but I am going to work to create an environment that I believe in which includes using technology and collaborating with other teachers. The __teachers teaching with technology committee__ will help bring awareness to my school that the need for technology and knowing how to teach with it and use it and have it is ver important.

__**Reflection on Richard Beach**__
 * Michelle Eastman, Northampton Public Schools**

This presentation was the most overwhelming one for me. He encouraged us to follow him along to the websites and places he was talking about. I was new to most of the topics he was discussing. It was a mind overload and the speed was very fast to even get a taste of the sites and topics. He had so much to talk about it could have taken half the day or more to thoroughly review each site and topic.

I did think having a digital commonplace space for students was an important part of his presentation. When given this space students will do amazing higher order thinking and reflecting. I need to become more familiar with these tools. That is the overwhelming part. I want to teach my students about all these wonderful tools but I can only teach them as much as I know. Many students are technologically savvy therefore I can learn as much as I can about a tool then experiment with it in class, the students may be helpful in this process. I will probably be surprised at what I learn in the process and how quickly the students catch on and take off with it.

Another point Richard had was the importance of fostering critical annotation which will benefit all students. Annotations will help students think critically by being able to make a note of explanation or comment that students can add to a text or diagram in a commonplace space that is given, one such place is VoiceThread.

VoiceThread is a tool that I will try to use. He talked about it and showed a few things that can be done with it. I’m not sure I would be saying I was going to try using VoiceThread if I had not attended another session on VoiceThread to become more familiar with it. I think this tool creates that common space for students to comment or explain their thinking about a certain book, topic, or picture.

I believe it is important to take something away from every presentation. The one tool that I will bring back to my classroom is VoiceThread and although I might not be perfect at it, I will learn, and promote critical thinking in my classroom.

__**Reflection on Tom Daccord**__
 * Michelle Eastman, Northampton Public Schools**

As I was reviewing Tom’s notes and links that went along with his presentation I found a great website when I went on the [|__teaching english with technology website ,__] then I went to [|__research and writing and clicked grammar__], then I clicked on [|__Grammar Guides & Resources,__] then I went to [|__Grammar Girl__] , and listened to the [|__How Do Words Get in the Dictionary? Podcast.__] Of course did I go directly there? No, I went to several other links that I found less interesting, backtracked, went to another link and so on. I thought the Grammar Girl was interesting. Then the podcast had an advertisement for [|__The Math Dude__] and of course I had to check it out since I also teach math. So, I have been online for about one hour reviewing these links that lead me to many others links. So what is my point? My point is technology can take you in so many directions. It can be mind boggling. Some days I have to walk away from the computer after an hour or more feeling like I got nowhere. Another days I find so really great site or sites and feel like my time wasn’t wasted.

During his presentation, Tom talked a lot about history and technology. Although I thought it was very interesting, I didn’t see how I could use the tools he was presenting in my classroom. I did enjoy learning about them though.

There is so much information and tools out there. Some of the information and tools will be useful to me and make sense and others will not. It takes a lot of time to browse the internet and to find the thing or things you think you are looking for. Sometimes you find what you didn’t know you where looking for. When I went to the Keynote speaker section of our wiki and started reading about Tom Daccord and the speech he made to us, I was brought in this direction I didn’t even know I would go. I learned about some interest podcasts by following many link. I was thinking about what might be useful for my students. How am I going to bring something back to my students. As I sit here, I still don’t know if the podcasts are grade sixth appropriate. I have something that I can bring back to my student though. I think they are interesting and worth sharing and as a teacher I will experiment and review to see if it will be a useful tool.

Nicole Mele, Falmouth Public Schools Reflection on Keynote Speaker, Don Leu

As soon as Don Leu started his keynote speech, a pulse of excitement swept over the Horace Mann room at the Microsoft NERD center. So many times at professional development, I hear things that I have already heard several times before. But, as Dr. Leu continued to present new ideas that I have not heard of before, I knew that I made the right decision to come to this New Literacies Institute.

One of the first topics that Dr. Leu presented was the ePals Global Community found at [|__http://www.epals.com/__] . This is website that allows students from all over the globe to correspond with each other and learn about each other’s cultures. I was so intrigued by this idea that I signed up right away and by the next morning, I already had someone from the UK and Kenya contact me. It makes so much sense that if students are collaborating with students from other places and they know that their writing is going to be seen by so many more people, it makes them that much more invested in their work.

Another idea of Dr. Leu’s that resonated with me, was the last should be first. Of course, as teachers we are always trying to build up students with learning disabilities, but he gave me some new ideas that seemed really attainable. With the use of technology, it would allow a student to be introduced to something, that no one else in the class knows about and become an expert at it. Then, be able to teach it to everyone else. What a great opportunity to boost a student’s self-esteem!

Dr Leu also spoke about source evaluation. He gave the example of finding two heights of Mt. Fuji. Students love to find mistakes! They look for them on the board, in books, in each other’s work, anywhere. So, I am sure that they would be able to find conflicting information on the web quickly. That experience would be very powerful for the students and a good lesson to learn. For my students, fourth graders, I have always been cautious of sending them off on searches. So, I was very happy to learn about the Google custom search that would allow me to determine the web site that would be available to them.

It was a wonderful experience to learn from Dr. Leu’s expertise. He had a relaxed, down to earth demeanor. He also seemed to take a real interest as us, his students, and the work we were doing. At lunch her circulated around the tables and told us that he would be following us on our wiki. Seeing him in action inspires me to be a better educator.

Nicole Mele, Falmouth Public Schools Reflection on Keynote Speaker, Justin Reich

On Tuesday, Justin Reich came in to speak to us about “Scaling Innovations in Teaching New Literacies.” In his presentation he shared with us a graph illustrating the cycle of experiment and experience. I feel like a am a teacher that uses technology a good amount in my practice. But, it’s true that most of the time, I used the tried and true technology that I am comfortable with and have had success with before. Last year, teachers were invited to apply to get a document camera, LCD projector, and laptop for their classroom. I applied and was fortunate to get a set for my classroom. It’s very much true that it was a year of “experimenting.” As an institution, other teachers in the building were curious about the classrooms that were granted the technology. By the end of the year, many of the teachers were questioning to find out how they could get the technology for themselves. Fortunately, the program was offered again and many more teachers applied the second time around. So, I can see how there is initial fear and then after experimenting is growth. I have seen this in myself and my school.'

Another part of Mr. Reich’s presentation really got me thinking. He showed a graph that showed how teacher leaders generate demand. I thought this was interesting. This is probably more so true in middle and high school than elementary, because the students go from class to class throughout the day. But, I think that it can also be true in the elementary classroom as well. For example, I have a blog for my classroom. Sometimes I will post great websites or games that will help the students study for tests. One time a student asked me if there were reviews up on the blog for a test that I had not prepared. I felt a responsibility to get something up there. I figured, if they’re going to use it I should make sure that I do my part!

Mr. Reich shared with us the idea of having a “geek of the week”. I liked this idea because there is so much great instruction going on right within our own school. It would be fun and easy to see what other teachers are doing by having one teacher have a short presentation at each staff meeting, as our school has them weekly. Also, if there is one each week, it wouldn’t make a teacher feel like the spotlight is on one person too much.

Mr. Reich gave us many thoughts to ponder. Again, day two started by filling our brains with all of the possibilities that technology and the new literacies possess.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nicole Mele, Falmouth Public Schools <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reflection on Keynote Speaker, Richard Beach

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Richard Beach was the keynote speaker for Thursday and he kept us on our toes. One of the first tools that he showed us was <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://todaysmeet.com/__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> What I loved so much about this is the ease of use. I could really see myself using this in the computer lab with my fourth graders. There would be so many uses for it. It could be a great review, way to go over open response questions, or just a great alternative to the usual hand-raising. This tool is perfect for the more introverted students who don’t like speaking in front of the class. And, it makes those real impulsive kids think a little before they speak. If technology ever becomes 1-1, today’s meet would be the ultimate end to “hang onto that question” or “write your question on a sticky note so you don’t forget it.” I loved that tool and can really see myself using it when school starts.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All my former students know that I am a huge fan of sticky notes. When my students are making connections to text, I require them to use sticky notes. So, I could see myself really getting into annotations, something that I had no idea about previous to this week. The guiding questions that he gave us in his handout were excellent. These were: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Fostering Critical Annotations <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Critical Response Protocol <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">1. What do you notice? (Describe without judgment: "I notice...") <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">2. What does it remind you of? (What memory, experience, story, music, other work does this trigger? There are no wrong answers or associations.) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">3. What emotions do you feel as you respond to this work? (Again, no wrong answers.) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">4. What questions does it raise for you? ("I wonder...") <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">5. What meaning or understanding is intended or conveyed in this work?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It was very helpful that Mr. Beach gave us a handout because with the amount of information that he shared with us I could have another week just to go over the information that he shared in one hour with us. But, I found it eyeopening and interesting to hear about just how much is out there to assist us with new literacies.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nicole Mele, Falmouth Public Schools <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Reflection on Keynote Speaker, Tom Daccord

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tom Daccord’s keynote speech was a fine way to wrap up the week. He left me feeling energized and intrigued by new literacies. I was awed by the resources that can be found on <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://www.digitalvaults.org/__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> I felt like this site ties in the new with the old. It takes so may amazing primary sources and makes them interactive and accessible for everyone to use. One of my units in social studies is immigration and I think this would be a wonderful resource to share with my students. After a simple search, I found photographs of immigrants at Ellis Island, people in traditional dress of their countries, actual paperwork immigrants had to fill out, posters relating to immigration, and so much more. I could see even one of these documents being a great activator and starting so much conversation. While Mr. Daccord was speaking, I had to stop myself from getting absorbed in the site, as I was finding so interesting.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Something else that Mr. Daccord introduced me to was downloading books from the Internet for free. He provided us with several sites where there are many text available free. I always thought that all books would have some expense connected.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All of the speakers were unique and had so much to share with us. In the field of education, we spend so much time in our own classrooms that it is invigorating to hear from experts in the field and collect new ideas and resources. I am very appreciative to have been able to hear first had from each of them.

Jackie Machamer, Old Colony RVTHS Reflections on Leu, Reich, Beach, Daccord

Arthur Murphy

1. The first keynote speaker at the Massachusetts New Literacies institute was Don Leu. Of all the speakers I thought Don did the best job of engaging the audience and getting us all interested in his presentation. He was very personable and the information he was presenting was relevant. He started with getting new literacies into the classroom. One of the tools he showed us to do this was to introduce EPals. This is an online resource that connects you with different classrooms around the world. This could be used as a simple connection for students to learn about their peers across the world, including their culture, school environment, etc… Epals could also be used by the students to perform global projects, this would challenge them to choose a relevant global problem and try to address it with their peers across the world. I am a middle school history teacher and have a heterogeneous classroom. Having students from all educational levels can be very difficult. Don Leu addressed this with the notion that New Literacies allows the last to be first. I have used technology in the classroom since I started teaching and I strongly agree with this notion. With New Literacies most students are starting with a blank slate. This allows students who struggle with basic reading and writing skills to have the chance to lead or teach their peers the new skills they have learned. The student will now not only have learned new classroom skills but also social skills that will be valuable as they continue their education. After a few trips to the computer lab with each of my classes I was not surprised to hear that most students read more online than offline in the world today. I am also falling into that trend, I find myself reading more online. Although they are reading more online, most do not know the basic skills that will let them understand what they are reading. Don went through the basic skills that are a necessity when reading online. He proved his point when he searched for a site on Martin Luther King Jr. and found a site on him run by a white supremacist group. This was a great lesson and he went further to show us how you can weed these websites out. The students need to locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate. He defined each one and how they work together for students to really get the most out of their online reading. Don closed his speech by going over statistics which show that the United States is behind many other countries in technology in the classroom. We as teachers need to step up the use of technology in the classroom. Not only bring in technology and allow the students to use technology as a medium in their work, but connect with other teachers from around the world to see how they are integrating technology. Don really allowed us to see that technology is not just a wow piece in presentations but is a necessity in basic skills for our student’s educational future.

2. Our second keynote speaker was Justin Reich. Justin started out by talking about fear. He talked about how many teachers are afraid of the new technologies, and this is something many teachers can relate to. I am on the district’s technology team and I have found it very challenging to introduce new technologies to teachers. These aren’t even extra helpful websites, I am talking about the districts mandatory grading system. I agree with what Justin said about teachers helping other teachers, but they do need to want to learn. Teachers can make really stubborn students; strength in numbers always helps so a group of competent teachers that are working in an open environment is your best bet. The group of teachers in my district that went to this training have already set up open technology sessions where new technologies can be introduced. We are all very excited and think that this love of technology will be contagious. Justin also discussed that the district needs to support technology for teachers to be successful. I am lucky enough to work the school in the district that gets most of the newer technology. When I first started teaching at the school our administration and staff embraced technology and we are now the flagship for the district. This does bring some stress because seeing we are getting the biggest bulk of the technology we have to show strides in the classroom. I think this is what also scares off some of the other teachers from jumping in on using technology. They are very comfortable with what they are doing and don’t want to risk failure. Over all I thought Justin had a great theme but did not bring a lot of substance to his thoughts. I think that fear of change is an obvious issue and I thought he could of dived into strategies and ideas to combat this more in his presentation.

3. Thursday’s keynote speaker was Richard Beach. I really did not get a lot out of Richard’s speech. It was very fast past and confusing. I could not follow along with his presentation, by the time I went to a website he referred us to he already began to move on to a different subject. I think it would have been much more efficient if he walked around during our group time and shared his ideas and gave us tips on our projects. He did mention the importance of using technology to annotate text and videos. My district is spending a lot of time and money on balance literacy and a huge piece of this is annotating text. I would have thought it was not possible to add useful annotations to video and online text, but Richard mentioned some helpful websites and quickly walked through how to annotate youtube videos. I really think that the presentation was a waste of the information and tools that Richard has at his disposal. Either he needs to work on slowing down and focusing on what he really thinks teachers need to understand or work with smaller groups.

4. Our final keynote speaker was Tom Daccord. Tom shared some great websites. The one I found most useful was the National Archive Experience. I teach middle school history so it would be perfect for me. My students would have a wealth of credible evidence at their fingertips. This would help them on any research project and would save them a lot of time. Tom also introduced Googlebooks. This is another website that gives students access to read online. I think that again the difficulty with the websites that Tom gave us was the availability of technology for students. If they do not have access at home they will have to stay afterschool or go to a friends. I have discussed this issue with the administration and we can introduce this technology but need to make sure there is another alternative besides online reading. I think this would work well.

To be truthful I thought that each day’s guest speaker, except maybe for Don Leu, was the least productive time of the week. Being an educator one of the basic rules is the smaller the class size the better connection you will get with our audience. I believe that each speaker should have had their own session during the day that you could sign up for. This would have created a buzz about what they were doing and got more interest in what each speaker had to offer.\

Lisa Tabaracci-Falmouth Public Schools
 * Keynote Reflection: Don Leu**

Don Leu, the first keynote speaker of the week was motivating, engaging, and inspiring. What a great beginning to an exceptional week of learning and exploring at the Massachusetts New Literacies Institute. I feel fortunate to say this was the second time I had the privilege to see Don Leu speak. He was equally as informative and innovative about education and the needs of our students as when I saw him five years ago. He was truly one of the reasons I was so enthusiastic to attend the Institute, and I was not let down!

Leu led us off into our week of discovery by introducing us to what he refers to as “the perfect storm” in literacy education. Next year I am headed into a “storm” myself as I am taking on a dual role as reading specialist and technology teacher in my building. This is a new way of thinking in our district…uncharted waters so to speak. This position grew from a conversation I had with our principal regarding the need for a full time technology teacher rather than a tech assistant. Because our current reading specialist was leaving and our technology assistant, it opened the door for me to jump in and combine these two positions. Don Leu’s speech reflected my current thoughts in education and helped me feel justified for jumping into a position that makes me feel both excited and nervous at the same time.

Leu believes that three fronts are converging in this “perfect storm.” The Internet is becoming this generation’s defining technology for literacy and learning, online new literacies require much different reading, writing, and social practices, and the workplace is requiring far different skills than ever before. We are in world where it is imperative to possess online reading comprehension, communication, and problem solving skills to become successful citizens in the workplace and within our digital world.

Don Leu continued to amaze us as he shared world Internet usage and population statistics. North America is the third largest user of the Internet, behind Asia and Europe. It is clear that we need to start teaching our students to be responsible learners who can use the Internet effectively and innovatively. Our students are now spending more time reading online than offline.

Leu shared many examples to help empower us as educators and to see the need for teaching students to critically locate and evaluate online information. These included conducting a search for Martin Luther King and ending up at a page created by a white power organization, and a completely fabricated animal-the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus.

Leu then asked the question “can we weather this storm?” He showed us statistical projections that ALL classrooms will have 1:1 computing in 7-10 years. If this is a reality, which I believe it is, we have great things to accomplish and change in education at a rapid speed! As of now, misalignments exist in the way we assess readers, public policy, and the ways we instruct our students. Leu believes that neglecting research into online reading comprehension helps to perpetuate that “the rich become richer, and the poor become poorer.”

Don Leu, with his down to earth demeanor, and enthusiasm, effectively invited us, and inspired us as educators to help navigate towards a “safe harbor” for new literacies for our students. He left us with closing thoughts that our participation in this institute was part of the defining change that we need so much right now. What a great way to begin our weeklong journey!

Lisa Tabaracci-Falmouth Public Schools
 * Keynote Reflection: Justin Reich**

Justin Reich began our second day at the Institute with motivation and excitement again. Justin Reich is a doctoral student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, as well as, co-director of EdTechTeacher.org. Being introduced to EdTechTeacher.org was one of my personal highlights of the week. Almost immediately I began to explore the site and became a friend on facebook. I had to stop myself from exploring the site so I could remain focused on his speech. EdTechTeacher.org is a valuable resource to stay current with trends in technology and education. I plan to share it with staff when I return to school this fall.

Reich started off with a one-word check-in on how we were feeling so far at the Institute and I thought this was a bit odd at first, and then as the words from others kept flowing, it allowed me to get a pulse of everyone in the room. I was surprised that many people were feeling excited and apprehensive at the same time. It opened the discussion perfectly into Reich’s “cycle of experiment and experience” and how this begins with fear. Many comments in the room reflected a sense of fear and I continued to think about how people’s feelings were changing throughout the week as we began to experiment and learn together. It was easy to see how Reich’s explanation of change is present in our schools today.

I was impressed with his discussion of “scaling up innovation” and how there are, what he calls “pockets of innovation,” happening in our schools. One or two teachers are doing really great things with technology, but we want to see WHOLE departments, teams, schools, and districts that are doing really great things with technology. This definitely rings true in within our school and our district.

He continues to explain how our fears lead to experimentation, my new position next year (literacy specialist/tech teacher) is clearly part of this “experimenting” phase within our school. Reich believes from this experimenting we are lead into positive growth and “institutional capacity” which begins the cycle again with more experimentation. He then asked us “so…what is the grease that keeps this cycle running?” His explanation is that it is teacher leaders, he stated that it is impossible to do without teachers-we are the ones that generate demand. I hope to become one of these lead teachers within our district. Reich explains that we as teachers have the most impact on other teachers’ practice.

Reich gave a thorough explanation of the elements to support a culture of experiment and experience including doing “skunworks” of experimentation, public recognition of innovators, increasing administrative support, ongoing PD and the supply of technology. Most importantly, and perhaps controversial, is a managed approach to Internet safety. Justin Reich explains that we need “managed technology” rather than “lockdown” schools.

The last important point I was greatly influenced by Reich was that “perhaps we don’t have a technology committee but we have instead a 21st century skills committee.” I think this comment portrays an excellent shift in thinking and the foundation for, not only my career move next year, but all of our attendance at the Institute.

Lisa Tabaracci-Falmouth Public Schools
 * Keynote Reflection: Richard Beach**

The third keynote was Richard Beach, he used many resources in his speech to show how to teach students to think more critically, evaluate information, and construct knowledge. I honestly had the most difficulty connecting with his pace and topics. This may be partly due to the fact that many of his resources seemed more applicable to the upper grades and I am an elementary teacher. The other reason I may have had so much difficulty absorbing the content could be that by Thursday I was so full of resources, sites, and innovative ideas, that I had not had the opportunity to fully explore yet, it was difficult to let more in, especially at such a rapid pace.

Beach began by introducing us to TodaysMeet.com were we could connect and comment with one another during the speech. On one hand, I feel this is an excellent tool to build an even deeper understanding of new information presented and to challenge learners to synthesize this knowledge and construct new knowledge to share. On the other hand, it was a bit distracting and may have led to my overwhelmed sense from the get go. Still, you could sense the vast impact it could have in a classroom setting.

What struck the biggest cord with me throughout his speech was when he referred to “creating passionate affinity spaces.” Creating such learning environments allows students to be active participants in their learning. We as educators know this is critical.

Again, Beach stressed a common theme central to the week and other speaker’s messages, the need to help students question, critically evaluate and synthesize information online.

Beach shared a handout that will become a valuable tool that lists excellent resources such as VideoAnt, Diigo, VoiceThread, and iPad apps.

Lisa Tabaracci-Falmouth Public Schools
 * Keynote Reflection-Tom Daccord**

The last keynote speaker of the week was Tom Daccord, an educational technology specialist who is quite accomplished in the field of teaching with technology. Tom opened up with the idea of change. He asked important questions such as:


 * 1) What does change look like?
 * 2) What does change look like at the instructional core?
 * 3) How does it look in our classrooms?
 * 4) How do we assess this change?

This opening was a great way to wrap a week that sent us off as teacher leaders to address the changes that are happening currently and the changes that we can help to propel in our schools and districts regarding technology literacy and learning.

Tom Draccord made it clear that, without question, there are “revolutionary changes happening in reading, writing, and how we publish information.” Draccord’s talk and resources touched largely on the last piece of publishing information. He explained that digital research has moved from linear and print based to multi-modal and screen based. This became evident as we explored [|www.digitalvaults.org], a national archives “experience”. An experience it is! I was amazed at the access students are now able to have to archives and research. Most intriguing to me was the ability to manipulate, create, and connect knowledge with the resources available. This was one of the most powerful and eye-opening experiences for me that I took home from the week. Using the create tab allows students to use the resources found on the archives site to create a poster or to create a movie. Tom stated that “we are at the advent of the bookless library” and the resources that he highlighted surely made this come alive to his audience!

He left us with some important questions as educators regarding what it means to be literate now. He discussed the potential of being visually literate, and implicated a shift about our literate skills involving audio. With the multi-model and screen based opportunities for learning and creating readily available to our students and us these are important considerations for our future.

In conclusion, all of the speakers of the week shared powerful messages and tools that empowered me as an educator and will leave a lasting impression to share within my school and district. I left inspired and challenged to create new ways of teaching and presenting information and collaborating. I hope to inspire my students and challenge them to the same degree with this wealth of new knowledge.

Keynote Reflections **<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Posted by:Nichole Freeman, Falmouth Public Schools **
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">__I. Donald Leu__ **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">When I learned that Donald Leu would be presenting at the Massachusetts New Literacies Institute, I was thrilled. I read his work in graduate school and quoted him throughout my own work. His foresight into the future of academia is crucial to our developing students, and I could not wait to hear him speak.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leu did not disappoint. His calm and confident demeanor held my attention throughout his talk as he provided the audience with important information about the future of education. Most importantly, students remained at the forefront of his discussion as he described “The Perfect Storm” in education. I found myself sharing the highlights with family, friends, and colleagues as soon as I got home.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> I registered for the course when I worked as a K-4 Reading Specialist. Soon after, I accepted a first grade teaching position and questioned attending the New Literacies Institute. When Leu started discussing morning meeting and epals [|__http://www.epals.com__] / I knew I made the right decision. As a previous fourth grade teacher, I experimented with epals, but never followed through. Leu’s suggestion to incorporate epal connections into a morning message sparked other ideas for epals across the curriculum. For example, in our study of American symbols, we could learn about the symbols of our epals’ countries.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leu’s emphasis on the differences between online and offline reading intrigued me. The statistics demonstrating students today do more online reading than off did not surprise me. Instead, the data solidified my thinking about teaching today’s children. The digital age saturates our children daily with information in a variety of ways. As a mother of two elementary aged children and an educator, it is my responsibility to ensure children can locate, evaluate, synthesize, and communicate the information effectively. The example of the Martin Luther King shocked and angered me. When teaching my students to think critically about the sites they use, I often refer to the “.org” sites as reliable. To think that students could stumble upon this information and have the opportunity to download and disseminate information from the site is maddening. Instruction on critical thinking skills needs to begin early on. I’m glad I’m at the forefront!

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Classrooms, like so many areas of life, remain a place where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In new literacies classrooms, this principle must change. Most importantly, we can change our instructional practices to better meet the needs of all of our learners by employing one simple principle: “the last should be first.” According to Leu, this simple practice requires us to make the struggling learner become the expert on the new technologies so he can teach the rest of the class. A simple methodology I cannot wait to employ.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Another way we look at inequalities is through access to the web and to computers. According to Leu, professional development is more important than having the technology. However, having the tools and the access certainly makes life easier! Our national policies need to change to enable all of our learners the same opportunities. Imagine if all of our students could access the web at home, like students in Japan and Mexico ( [|__http://www.viasat.com/news/e-mexico-national-project-bridge-digital-divide-mexico-linkstar__] ), or if we had five weeks of professional development time like teachers in Finland.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I walked away from the discussion with goals for my own children, ideas to use in the classroom, philosophical thoughts about instruction and educational policies, and an enthusiasm to teach students and share with colleagues. First grade, here I come!


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">__II: Justin Reich__ **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Justin Reich’s topic centered around “Scaling Up Innovation” and focused on the cycle of experiment and experience. Our changing world demands that educators change along with it. For some, the thought of changing common educational practices evokes strong feelings of fear, frustration, and anger. With support from fellow teachers and administrators, change gets easier. Reich asked, “Who has the most impact on teacher practice? Who has the most impact on pedagogy?” I found myself thinking, “Amen,” when he answered, “Other teachers!” Our colleagues inspire us to do more, think more, and be more for our students.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> As I head back into the classroom, I hope that I can serve as a role model to other teachers who think that technology is not necessary at the early grades. If we want our students to achieve and be “college and career ready,” the time to begin their literacy instruction is during their early development, and this instruction must include the new literacies. Some may worry about Internet safety, but I would argue that we need to teach our students how to be safe online. In fact, Reich discussed the OFSTED Report (visit [|__http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/resources__] for more information) which found that blocking students access to websites did not teach them Internet safety. I liken it to my yard that has a pond. People are always asking me if I am nervous about the pond and my two children. They ask if I have ever considered a fence. “No,” I explain. “I have to teach them how to swim.”

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sharing ways other districts handle professional development and innovation got me thinking about what we can do in our district. Reich emphasized the need to build an infrastructure with our school’s community to excite them and encourage them to help with innovation. This infrastructure includes teachers, families, administrators, and other community members. Working cooperatively can only make more of an impact on student growth and development. Our community supports our schools in a variety of ways, and we are lucky to have a strong Volunteers in Public Schools program. Perhaps there is someway we can utilize the support of this amazing group to help us develop new and innovative programs.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">I have already talked to my principal about my experiences during the New Literacies Institute and plan on sharing some of what I’ve learned with my colleagues. I’ve been thinking about hosting some informal, voluntary get-togethers to share a few of the tools. Creating a community where we can support each other’s learning, share ideas, and experiment with new instructional tools will benefit out students and help them to be “college and career ready.” Tapping into the online community of educators will also help inform my teaching. While I’m not looking forward to the late nights ahead, I am looking forward to meeting new people and learning the necessary skills to teach today’s students.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">__III: Richard Beach__ **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Day three of this exciting week brought us to Richard Beach’s keynote address. Like the speakers before him, he shared lots of valuable information. When he introduced [|__TodaysMeet__], a tool similar to Twitter, I thought it might be something I could handle. I tried to set up a [|__Twitter__] account and get in on the action on the MNLI wiki and had no success. I found [|__TodaysMeet__] very easy to use and even posted a few comments for fun. Perhaps it is just me, but I did find the “Tweeting” and “Meeting” during the speakers’ presentations to be very distracting. While I see it’s value and appreciated the freedom to check it out, I’m not sure I would use that tool in the same way in my elementary classroom. Although we are in the 21st century, I still believe in common courtesy. Is it not still considered rude to talk during a presentation? We talked about teaching our students to be “good digital citizens,” and I question the definition of “good.” I could see utilizing it, with some guidelines, during a teacher workshop or a common planning time--it would be the equivalent of the sidebar conversations we all tend to have, just quieter. With my students, I may use the tool as more of a virtual whiteboard, similar to [|__Wallwisher__], but easier for my first graders to handle. Using the tool this way would allow students who are not comfortable speaking out in class to post their thinking in a safer way.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Beach moved onto constructing meaning and contextualizing it, but I think I was posting a message on [|__TodaysMeet__] looking for some Tylenol (not because of Beach’s talk)! Once I got focused, I liked what Beach said about helping students to think critically about the images they see. This is a skill students need to develop very early on and something I could have fun teaching first graders to do. The guiding questions he provided will help me frame thinking for my students and lead them on the path to becoming critical thinkers, not just “content consumers,” as Leu described.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> I was checking the status of my Tylenol when Beach started discussing annotating videos. Again, I had to regain focus! My first thought about [|__VideoAnt__] was that it was a tool for older students. As I reflect on it now, I think annotations could be a great tool for any level. This tool would allow students to watch a video and pause at certain intervals to review/discuss content with others. I could also see teaching students to share their thinking as they watch a video. Teachers could videotape lessons and create workshops for colleagues and/or parents. This tool would be another great way to communicate with parents and community members, too. Teachers could video students working, and the students could annotate the video with their own thoughts.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> With an increasing headache, I listened as Beach explained other exciting tools like [|__VoiceThread__] and [|__Diigo__]. I planned on taking the DT&T session on using [|__VoiceThread__] and could not wait to hear more about it. Of all the tools, I thought this tool may be the most useful for my first graders. I did not get to learn about Diigo, but I have certainly added it to my list of late night playing sessions. By the end of Beach’s talk, I had my Tylenol and was sufficiently full of new information. I packed up my belongings and wondered what tomorrow’s speaker would bring.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; vertical-align: baseline;">__IV: Tom Daccord__ **

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">My notes from this keynote speaker were the longest. Perhaps it was because I was determined to be a “good digital citizen” and stay focused on the speaker. Daccord challenging us to think about change. “What does change look like? How do we make it happen?” he asked. I firmly believe that as educators we have a responsibility to teach the students we have before us, not the students we think they should be. Technology is shaping the concept and activity of reading, research, and writing. It is no longer linear and print based. It is multi-modal and screen based. Our students have grown up in a digital world and access information much differently than we did. We have to acknowledge and embrace that difference to help our children achieve success.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%;"> Daccord’s keynote address left me truly astounded by all of the possibilities that lie ahead. He shared [|__Digital Vaults__] with us, and I watched carefully as he demonstrated this powerful research tool on the screen. I thought about how I could use this with my first graders and loved the idea that I could utilize tags to identify related information and create a pathway of documents. Again, I have to help lay the foundation for future researching skills and this site could prove to be a useful one.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">In Leu’s keynote address, he talked of “content consumers,” “content movers,” and “content creators.” We, the citizens of the world, have the power to become content creators. The Library of Congress calls out the the public to be contend creators as they seek to find information about documents and images from their library. This project is only possible because of the digital age. Imagine the possibilities.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">While I do not think my students will be reading Tom Sawyer online for quite sometime, the idea that many of the classics are available digitally is intriguing. Teachers can essentially create their own multi-modal text book! What will the publishers think of that?

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Daccord claims we are at the advent of the bookless library. I can see that happening, and I wonder how that will affect our society. Some teachers are not ready to give up the books in lieu of digital texts claiming that there is nothing like holding a real book in your hands and escaping to another place. Not too long ago, I agreed with that sentiment. Now, however, I am the owner of a BookNook, and I love it! Like anything in life, we need to strike a balance between screen time and off-screen time, and educators have to adapt our teaching to the needs of the learners we have before us. Our students today access their information in a multi-modal way. If we continue to teach the way we have, our students have no chance of being college and career ready.

<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #0a1384; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 90%; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Ending the week with Tom Daccord left me feeling enthusiastic about the future of our schools. Change is imminent, and we have embarked on a new path with the Common Core Standards. The adoption of these standards requires all teachers to be teachers of literacy, and while not explicitly stated, teachers of new literacies, as well.