How can we lead dynamic change positively?

Chris Jansen: Positive change processes from EDtalks on Vimeo.

Change is an emotional and exhausting process for many. While we try to lead in a manner that is future focused and child centred do we leave behind the people (human factor) that in effect will be causing the change? How can we consider the human factor within this process.
Every time I hear Chris Jansen speak I am humbled by his approach and perspective. His research at Canterbury University is practical and purposeful to all leaders in education.

Chris talks about this human factor and a model to create change in a positive way. It simply is the 4 D approach to an overarching problem, challenge or idea / initiative. It is called the appreciative inquiry with the community creating a plan for positive change.

DISCOVER - pair interviews - share and chat about positive experiences you have had in the past in relation to the topic being discussed. Students be a part of this. Community could also be a part of this.

DREAM - share these ideas with larger group as coordinators gather important main themes ideas as they are shared. These become the basis for the next two steps.

DESIGN - strategic planning aligning with vision big picture, alongside concrete examples and experiences from the people who will be implementing the action. Create a visual pathway for all involved - community, staff, students

DELIVER - action


Builds ownership of all participants, or 'authorship' as stated by Simon Breakspear which is even more powerful!

How can I use an avatar for Digital Citizenship?

What is an avatar?

An avatar is a comic character you can build  make online to represent yourself in the cyber world. You can make a character to look like your but as a cartoon, or you can build one that you would like to be like a princess, alien or animal. They are lots of fun and simple to make.


Why use an avatar?

Avatars are a great way to introduce protection of your identity while working online.
They help us to understand digital safety, learn about what we should and should not share online about ourselves, discover a way to share with others about our ideas and experiences and keeping safe.

What can we do with an avatar?

Students
Practice reading
record our thinking about a new topic or idea
Ask questions to a quiz that we make up
record my learning journey
Tell a story about their art or project

Teachers
Offer helpful tips when doing something new
Run a quiz
Provide instructions for a project
Reinforce teaching points independently
Parent weekly communication
Teach digital citizenship


http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2012/08/use-avatar-characters-to-guide-your-learners.html


8 Awesome sites for creating different ytpes of avatars

http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/02/8-great-avatar-creation-tools-for.html

https://eduhowto.wordpress.com/2013/02/18/15-free-safe-avatar-creators/

http://gettingsmart.com/2013/10/using-avatars-teach-digital-citizenship/

The 6 Phases of Teaching - Where are you at?

I need inspiration for inquiry - What to do?!

Just found wicked site to inspire thinking and language in the classroom.

You can even join in an online conversation with the children!!

Click on the image to discover great inspiration.

What is bullying?

Some facts discovered at Sticks n Stones Community Event

Bullying is.... 
- imbalance of power
-deliberate
-ongoing

How to not become a victim of a bully

Develop Resilience
- coping skills, problem solving skills, self image, confidence and esteem

Stay connected to adults in their life
- Don't underestimate the part parents need to play in kids life
- Good structured time and activities

Sense of belonging 
- establishing relationships of trust

As Parents What Can we do?
- Be the parent not the friend - have rules and clear expectations when using technology in the home.
- no technology in bedrooms
- use settings to block some things
- Read Netsafe online to learn about parental controls
http://www.netsafe.org.nz/keeping_safe.php?sectionID=parents#modal-text

There are no specific laws regarding cyber bullying!

Age groups greatest affected is 8 - 11 years

Biggest influence to create bullies include
- insecurity about themselves
- popularity
- were bullied at some stage

1 in 5 kids are bullied in New Zealand!

Did you know? 
-  deleted texts can still be recovered
-  photos posted online can remain online for much longer than you think even if you delete them
-  you can check the history of searches of your computer

How do I create self assessments, for my students, using Google Forms?

Using cloud technology is so much faster, effective and user friendly - once you know how. This is a great way to use Google forms for self assessment, pre and post test for inquiry or even other curriculum areas. I have used Google forms for surveys and exploring data gathering but this is a great way to use it in the classroom.

What is a Web Browser?

I was more than a little relieved when I saw this you tube clip, realising I am not alone in not really understanding what the difference is between a browser and a search engine. 

So what is a web browser anyway?

A browser is software program for your computer to give you access to the internet.

To help us understand a little better this is what it actually does......

Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and the various protocols that made it possible. One of these protocols is Hypertext Markup Language, or HTML. 

HTML is a system that makes it possible to insert instructions on how a page should be displayed when opened in a web browser. 

sourced from: http://www.internetsuperuser.com/textbook/using-web-browsers/what-is-a-browser-and-how-does-it-work

A web browser opens an HTML document, image, video, music etc and displays it according to its HTML instructions included in the page. The browser is programmed to read these instructions to determine how the content of the page should be displayed.

There are many types of browsers but they all transfer hypertext. Different browsers have been programmed to interpret the instructions included in the HTML source document differently from one another. This is why we get different searches in different browsers and have trouble opening the same website in a different browser.

Browser features include

• Go back to the first page you started on the internet which is called Home.
• Book your favorite websites
• Print content you find interesting on web pages
• Check your web history, like the websites you visited in the past

You can go forward and backwards to see the previous sites you viewed

sourced from: http://whatismyipaddress.com/web-browser

But what about Google Chrome...(its the one I use)

• Customize Chrome with Web apps, themes, and extensions to suit your needs
• Chrome is also one of the most secure browsers because it is sandboxed preventing malware plug ins reaching your computer
• Chrome runs tabs as a separate processes--so if one of them crashes, the entire browser doesn't go down with it
• Chrome will offer to translate a webpage that is in a different language for you. 
• Chrome has its own built in app store 

http://www.pcworld.com/article/250566/which_browser_should_you_use_.html

This link you what browser you are currently using and options you may like to investigate this site: http://www.whatbrowser.org/#top

So what is a search engine?

A search engine is a website that helps you find information on the web.

There are hundreds of search engines with different features and strengths, but they all do the following:

1. Search the web for commonly used terms.
2. Store the results of this search in an index.
3. A user can then use the search engine to search the index.

NOTE: A search engine is not really searching the entire web. Instead, the search engine creates its own constantly updated list of sites, called an index.

Search engines use automated software programs called “spiders” to search through all the pages stored on the World Wide Web. These spiders visit web page after web page, and copy all the content into their own database – the index.

Each search engine programs its spiders differently, but the most common criteria are:

• How frequently is a word used? That is often a good indication of the topic of a page.
• Where in the page is the word? Words in a heading or near the top are usually a better indication of the topic than words near the end of the document.
  
  The search engine will attempt to sort pages in order of importance, matched to the words you typed into the search bar. This is why word order matters.
  
  Different search engines have different criteria. This means that the same search may have quite different results depending on which search engine is used

Still confused??

Watch this.....

Or check out my slide show for a presentation at your school
https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1lGwG1W7lN515KsJz2AqkWoYh8wAmZHWzcg4xhsfNhDc/edit?usp=sharing

What are the most significant develops for teachers?

Top 5 most significant digital environment developments

New direction for teacher pedagogies

-Challenging the way we understand learning

-Passive learning vs active engagement

-Knowledge building rather than knowledge gathering

-Redefining what is required learning essential for students to cope in the future both as capable citizens in society and online

-children teaching children

-fostering curiosity and passion for learning

-fluid grouping and transparent planning, goals, and assessment

-team teaching approach that reflects collaboration team work and interacting ideas

-facilitating the exploration of information available

-children understand and own the learning process

Personalising learning

Education is about bringing out the best in people while preparing them for a future that none of us know or can imagine

Our planning, assessment and teaching practises need to reflect this

Teaching will be more about deliberate acts of teaching and quality use of questioning Questions that will

extending ideas

challenging current beliefs

engage a problem solving approach

The school / classroom culture that reflects and values

Every idea is a fractal part of the best idea

Collaboration creates a community of learners

A connected, digital citizen whose attitudes reflect empathy and respect, valuing the need to share and source knowledge from a variety of places globally, nationally and locally.

Knowledge building pedagogy values all ideas

Developing a sense of a reputation that reflects who they are and what is important to them. This is both online and face to face.

Specific teaching reflecting where child is in their learning

Opt in workshops for passion projects and interest learning.

Workshops for specific teaching developing goals and reflecting on prior knowledge

Professional learning communities

An attitude of innovation in the work place to meet our diverse needs and unique potential in our classrooms is almost essential now

Improve effectiveness of pd

Cycle of continuous learning appropriate and relevant to you

Potential to clarify thinking, gain support from like-minded people, generate new thinking, Sustain improvement of an idea over time.

Opens doors to network with other like-minded professionals, locally, nationally and globally

Teaching as Inquiry Ariki

Collaborate, share knowledge - blog, tweet Facebook, build knowledge with specialists, leading educators, mentors, other schools that are making a difference. Adapting best practices from around the world and adapting it to suit our needs.

Become a lurker – core ed, simon breakspear, jaqui sharp, hey millie, allanah king, Edtalks, Tedtalks, You tube.

Online professional development – vln, Facebook (emerging leaders, e central leaders)

Don’t be afraid to ask questions!

Flexible learning environments

Recognising students learn in different ways at different times.

Digital technologies provide anytime anywhere learning not just the classroom

Invite opportunities for children to share, engage and inspire each other

Range of devices that allow learning to become mobile, integrated and collaborative

We have access to global knowledge and collaboration let’s use it

Variety of seating options

No teacher desk – teachers are modelling the engagement of learning interacting and questioning rather than providing the knowledge at the front of the room. Increases collaboration between teachers

Goes hand in hand with 21^st century pedagogy

Cloud technology - Online data management

A structure like this you get to know your students well.

Provides instant access - not a minute wasted waiting for access to a resource, teacher time, lack of direction and ownership of learning

Impacts students getting access to resources and expertise

Access to learning 24 / 7

To cater for just in time learning and creating a team of learners you need to communicate between students, teachers and parents

Student achievement data

Students provide evidence of their understanding of their goals then set new ones

Provide 24 7 access to their learning, resources to consolidate new learning, a portal for sharing learning, inviting feedback and feedforward, invite collaboration between children globally,

Redefining what is important valid and informative data

Structuring this online for access by any teacher, student, parent

Transparency

Keep up with changes, monitor progress and learning overtime, enabling 1-1 computing, reduce waste and photocopying and expensive stationery.

Collaborative planning online

Meetings from all parts of the country

Work is seen and supported by colleagues

Everyone’s responsibility for that child’s achievement and success not just one teacher.

Top 5 key words

Collaborate

Flexible

Innovative

Connected

Responsible

Watch out for

Social media

Games based learning

Virtual classrooms

Cyber bullying - what is it really?

Technology is changing the way we do things.

In our classrooms we are constantly evaluating the way we use, integrate and enhance our teaching and learning through technology. However, there are times we can be so absorbed with how technology can be used - we may need to realign our focus to the way students are using technology to engage with and develop friendships. This is becoming an increasingly troublesome issue with cyber bullying incidents on the increase. 

This website is great in explaining what cyber bullying is and how it affects children, but most importantly what we can do as teachers or as a parent. This may be a great resource for parents of your school seeking information or senior students who need advice or support.

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/cyber-bullying.htm

How can I manage my literacy and maths games on my blog?

Every year we look at updating our online games for our students to consolidate learning.

This year a collaborative team effort, collated all of our best games for teaching and learning numeracy at an Upper Clutha Cluster workshop.

We all worked in our levels of teaching and added links to a symballoo. This displayed the childrens access to games in an organised and attractive way. Each teacher who worked on the symballoo received the embedding code to put on their blog. Now we all have the best games that we all use and the kids have choice!

www.notcot.com

Check out symballoo for organizing your resources for teaching.

I'm beginning one for listening and speaking activities so that it will grow over time as a resource to pull from for teaching a specific skill. It could be used in many ways. Let us know your ideas.

What do I get kids to do if there is an incident on a laptop?

Cyber safety and digital citizenship is an ongoing and integral part of a teachers day. There will be times that children bring up inappropriate images and search results even if you are filtered. 

There are also times when a child feels like they are being harassed with emails, or bullied through online conversations. 

There is a way you can empower them!
Its called screenshot.

http://www.take-a-screenshot.org/
This is a link to explain how to do it. 

If they take a screenshot they have recorded the incident and have the evidence they need. It can then become part of the documentation required to manage ongoing situations. 

Its one button to push and then the child can alert you to their dilemma and become empowered and in control of the situation.

How can I get a wider audience for my class blog?

www.bubblews.com

It goes without saying that managing a class blog is a bit of work!. The worst part is when you feel like no one is even looking at it. Some very very people have collaboratively put together this slideshow of different things they have done to get a powerful and interactive audience. I can't wait to try some of their suggestions.

https://docs.google.com/a/wanaka.school.nz/presentation/d/1dBwFQxbBbEnyIFoIbM1bB2mJUaL8LgJGTHcofsHrV1g/mobilepresent?pli=1#slide=id.gf9f5dbad_0134



Another useful tip is if you use your mobile device for blogging this is an app you must get!!
It allows you to take video, photos, manage and change settings on your blog while on the run. Reduce the time you spend uploading and downloading images. Its free!

www.zeropaid.com

How do I approach cyber bullying with students?

This story was emailed through to me and it made me think differently about how we should be approaching cyber bullying. Have a read and see if you would change your approach.

For a long time, in my presentations on digital safety, I included a section entitled Approaches to Avoid and Alternatives to Use.

The worst experience I ever had in doing this was when I was invited to do the keynote presentation for a major state-level conference for an organization that does state-level work on school safety. I arrived the day before and was able to sit in on a fully day workshop for law officers on the new Internet safety curriculum just created by my host. I could have easily illustrated every one of my points on what NOT to do with this curriculum - and added a few points (Like do not include slides with NetLingo and Emoticons for the purpose of demonstrating to students that you understand their digital culture - sigh). So the next day, the agency director who provided the funding to the organization introduced me - and he and the director of the organization held a press conference after my presentation to announce the availability of these materials. :(

So this is a long message, outlining my current thoughts on approaches to avoid and alternatives to use. One important thing that I would strongly suggest is that if a school is going to have a guest presenter, you ask to review the presentation in advance of approving the contract. Also review any curriculum or messaging you are considering providing looking for the following concerns. Look closely for any of the following.

1. No hope. No help. Suicide is an option. I was looking into a report of youth suicide involving a sexting situation and found that 6 months before this sad event, the school had a presenter in digital safety who focused time on sexting. The students were told: If a nude image of them was shared, it would go public and destroy their reputation. If they reported this to the police, they would also likely be in trouble because they had created child porn. And that some young people to whom this happened have committed suicide. A semi-nude image of this girl had been taken when she was flat drunk (unconscious) at a party - so reporting would likely have gotten her, the student who hosted the party, this student's parents, and the other students who attended the party in trouble. The distribution was limited.

The messaging that cyberbullying or sexting is leading young people to suicide is EXCEPTIONALLY dangerous!!! It is also inaccurate. Suicide prevention professionals will tell you that there are always multiple risk factors involved in a decision to suicide. The greatest concern is contagion - presenting the idea that if you are being cyberbullied or a nude image of you has been shared, you should consider suicide an option. It has become "fashionable" for parents of young people who have suicided to set up organizations and promote themselves as speakers to warn against these risks. My VERY STRONG recommendation is to NOT allow any presenter, school staff or guest, EVER make this kind of presentation.

Always focus on the message that even if something bad had happened to you when using digital technologies, things will get better. The hardship and problems will not last forever. Help young people learn about the multiple ways they can respond to these negative situations.

2. Epidemic! Crisis! There is no epidemic of cyberbullying (or bullying) or sexting or young people hooking up with digital predators. The data on incident rates indicates around 20% of young people have experienced some level of cyberbullying - but it is important to also ask how upsetting these situations were and how effective the young people felt in responding, most surveys do not. When I ask, about 50% indicate the incidents were not upsetting or not that upsetting and around 60% - 70% indicate they were easily able or with some difficulty able to resolve the incidents.

There is no evidence of an explosion in sexting either. Most of the surveys with higher numbers combined "nude" images, "Semi-nude images (could be bathing suit), and "sexually explicit" messages in one broad category of "sexting."  Many teens engage in sex and might privately send images. The issue of concern is the broader dissemination of such images.

Any organization, company, or presenter who focuses the "dangers" and uses inflammatory language in their marketing materials should be avoided. Fear-based messages will not prevent risk behavior. Focusing on positive social norms will change risk behavior.

The vast majority of young people are making good choices when using digital technologies and the majority of them are responding effectively to the negative incidents that do occur. Use this insight.

3. Simplistic rules against normative digital behavior. Look over materials to see if they suggest that the young person should not post their name or school name online. Facebook requires the use of actual names - because this results in higher accountability. There is NO evidence whatsoever of predators tracking down victims based on their name and school name. It is a good idea not post your home address or phone number. Also check what the materials say about posting photos.

4. Stranger danger warnings. "Never communicate with an online stranger." Or worse, is/was ISafe's message: "If you communicate with an online stranger, you are a willing participant in online predation." Millions of children are waddling around Club Penguin safely communicating and playing games with strangers. Also, strangers do not present the greatest risk. I track news stories on sexting and online predation. By far the most common news report is of situations involving teachers or coaches.

It is best not to let people you do not know - or a friend does not know - have access to your social media profile. But mostly what students need to be able to recognize is when someone is engaging in dangerous behavior - significantly older, always wanting to talk about sex, asking for nude images, sending nude images, promises of gifts, being "creepy," and the like.

5. "Tell an adult if something makes you uncomfortable." We can tell students to tell an adult until we are blue in the face and they are not going to - especially the adults have received all sorts of the above type messages that will likely cause them to overreact and make matters worse. Teens are striving to become self-sufficient - this is their developmental task - and you do not become self-sufficient by always running to an adult to solve your problems.

So we need to focus on strategies they can use themselves to resolve the challenges that might emerge - and indicate that they should ask for help if the situation is really serious, they are very upset, or what they have tried has not worked. Also advise them to tell the adult that what they want most is guidance - and if at all possible they want to respond to the situation without the obvious presence of an adult assistant.

6. Cute videos and "contracts" for digital safety. There have been a number of organizations and companies that have created "cute videos" imparting simplistic rules - some even advertise this as "teacher proof" - because all the teacher has to do is "plug" the students into the video and let them watch. Then the students "pass a stupid quiz" and  sign a safety contract. Will not change risk behavior at all.

Encourage students to write their own personal standards related to posting information about themselves, posting information about others, interacting with a wide range of people online, responding if they are attacked or are at risk, responding if they witness another student is attacked or at risk.

7. Adult as "sage on the stage." Any adult who tries to act like a "sage on the stage" when presenting to young people from about grade 6 on is very likely to "trip on their toga." We are the digital immigrants. They are the digital natives. They know this. They will ROFL if you try to pretend that you know as much as they do.

In every way possible, engage students in talking with each other about their insight and personal standards. You can use older students to communicate to younger students. Or have small group discussions, followed by large group discussions. The adult should be "guide by the side" - asking questions to deepen understandings.

My cool story on this point. I was asked to present workshop sessions on Internet safety at a Girl Scout Leadership Conference. So I asked the girls if they thought the following statement was true or false. "The majority of young people make good choices online and respond effectively to the negative situations that do occur." Most of them said this was false. I told them this was true and I was going to prove it to them. They were at round tables. I told them they were doing to discuss two issues with their small group - posting personal material and safe interactions with others - and come up with guidelines that we were then going to discuss this in the large group. Each group came up with marvelous standards - so I was able to reinforce their insight. The high school students were able to do this more easily than the middle school students. So if you are going to try this technique, it may be wise to ask some older students to be leaders in each small group.

A woman who was at the door came up to me after and told me what she had heard. On the way out, one girl said to another, "Wow, there are some things I need to change on my Facebook." I seriously doubt she would have thought this way if I had stood up there and lectured. This very successful experience led me to really focus on how to use positive norms to address digital safety. This approach is what I have used in my new Cyber Savvy resources - on my web site.

I do hope this is helpful. Please feel free to forward this message to others - or post it on a blog.

Best,

Nancy

Nancy Willard, M.S., J.D.
Embrace Civility in the Digital Age
http://embracecivility.org
nwillard@embracecivility.org