Mobile Learning Summit II

A week ago today I attended the NYSCATE and LHRIC Mobile Learning Summit II in Westchester County. The crowd was energetic and listened to keynote presentations by Richard Culatta, USDOE and Travis Allen, iSchool. Check out the Twitter Hashtag #mobilesummt12 for the chatter during the day. I want to thank two Shift Shapers from the LHRIC that really pulled the day together, Sarah Martabano (Distance Learning/Videoconferencing Coordinator) and Leslie Accardo (Model Schools Core Coordinator). Leslie Accardo greeted the presenters before the Summit started, and unfortunately I missed the greeting because I was sitting in traffic in the pouring rain.  But that didn't matter. She met me and got me settled in the Spruce Room at the Edith B. Macy Conference Center. Sarah Martabano was terrific as the MC and introduced Mr. Culatta to kick off the day talking about Designing Mobile Learning: Personal, Portable & Engaging, and Mr. Allen to wrap it up with a presentation on Becoming a Mobile Learner.

During the three break-out sessions, presenters shared information about iPads, iPhones, iPod touches, BYOD, Verizon Wireless, the impact of mobile learning, and student devices in the SMART classroom.  I had the privilege of presenting two sessions. The first session was Nook Colors in the Classroom and second session was Implementing an eReader: Players, Policy, Purchase, Planning, Process, and Pedagogy. Three Shape Shifters from the Highland Falls - Fort Montgomery CSD joined me via Skype for the first session. Phil Yosso, High School English Department Chair, connected first. Mr. Yosso shared how he has been using Nook Colors with the students in the 12th grade English classes. A year ago we launched a 1:1 initiative with Nook Colors for the Seniors, and Mr. Yosso has has embraced the move to mobility and accessibility. While each Nook is preloaded with 108 titles that are in the public domain, the real heart of the class is launched from his teacher webpage. For each unit of study, Mr. Yosso updates the webpage with related multi-media resources. Mr. Yosso toured the session participants through his webpage and talked about how the students interact with the content via the devices. Next I was joined by Kristen Magyar, Instructional Technology Coach, and Sandra Doller, K-3 ESL Teacher. Mrs. Magyar and Ms. Doller have just started using the Nook Colors with the K-2 ESL students. Their discussion started with an explanation of how they introduced the responsible use of the devices to the students and how they are able to differentiate content, instructional strategies, and assessment by using different stories and applications. The participants asked many questions related to the teachers' efforts and were delighted to learn about the strategies for deploying, managing, and utilizing Nook Color in the Classroom.

Join me next week and I will share how we began our 1:1 initiative with Nook Colors.

Interview with Ozge Karaoglu Ergen

On July 2, my 4^th day in Istanbul, I met with Ozge Karaoglu Ergen. Sitting at a café overlooking the Bosporus River we discussed her career as an English teacher and her adventures with instructional technology.  You can read Ozge’s bio on her blog at http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/. But what you can’t read in her bio is her excitement about what she is doing. When I asked Ozge about her blog and her career she immediately talks about why she started blogging. She said that she wanted to find a way to connect with people and pass along her knowledge about web 2.0 tools. As a result of her endeavors, this year she received the New Writing Award by the English Speaking Union, which she received from Duke of Edinburg Prince Philip in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace. In addition this past February she gave a TEDx talk at  Sabanci University in Istanabul. The theme for her talk was, "Yes, I can do it! " And believe me, she can. Ozge wants to be role model for future teachers, and demonstrate how hard work and patience allow you to follow your dreams. 

For Ozge technology helps her make a strategic shift for learning in her classrooms because it provides students with choices. For example, students can journal using traditional pencil and paper or they can go to pencil.com and submit their journal digitally. She has successfully used Vocaroo with her students to encourage them to speak English. But Ms. Karaoglu has taken this a step further and engaged her students as creators of the Daisy & Drago and Bubble & Pebble cartoons, and now she is developing the app! She says that technology acts as a tool for motivating students to speak and write.

It was truly a pleasure meeting with Ozge and I look forward to her future insights on  teaching, learning, reflecting and being a 21st century learner & teacher.

An Educator's Tour of Turkey

On June 28, 2012, I left New York from John F. Kennedy International Airport and traveled 10 hours and over 5,000 miles to Istanbul, Turkey. Once in Turkey, I joined the 24 other educators on the first day of our two-week Teacher Study Tour, sponsored by the Turkish Cultural Foundation and the World Affairs Council of America.

On day one we visited the studio of artist Hikmet Barutcugil, who has mastered the art of ebru (or paper marbling). In the video clip below, Hikmet's wife explains Ebru.



Explanation of Ebru from Andrea Tejedor on Vimeo.

Jane, an elementary school Art teacher in Harrisburg, PA, practices Ebru.


Jane Experimenting with Ebru from Andrea Tejedor on Vimeo.

After completing her artwork, Jane shares how her experimentation with the art form will impact what she does with her students.



Jane's Interview About Ebru from Andrea Tejedor on Vimeo.

Introducing A Strategic Shift

I have thought about writing this blog for a couple of years now. The problem was that I always struggled with where, when, and how to start. I solved the where by setting up this blog, A Strategic Shift, on Blogger. I am solving the when today. I always thought that when starting a blog, I had to start at the beginning. But the question was the beginning of what: a project? the school year? The problem was I could never find the beginning, so I decided to start at the end of the school year. And the how, well, the how meant sitting down and typing. It seems that the “how” has been solved.

Now that the where, when, and how have been resolved, I need the “what.” The “what” is the easy part. A Strategic Shift is based on the thinking, learning, and pedagogy of the people I get to work with every day. I work with amazing teachers, inquisitive students, and innovative leaders who observe what is happening around us and seek to identify strategic shifts in our practice that impact student learning. I can’t wait to share the work of these amazing individuals, or “shift shapers” that I get to work with every day!

Two of the “shift-shapers” I work with are Kristen Magyar and Jevina Lackahn. Kristen is an Instructional Technology Coach and Jevina Lackhan is a 5^th grade teacher in the Highland Falls – Fort Montgomery Central School District. I have had the great pleasure of working with them for the past two years on the Technology Leadership Team, where we investigate best practices for using technology as a catalyst to engage students in learning. Recently Kristen and Jevina presented at a regional meeting for instructional technology on how they used iPods and iPads to help them complete the Great Race, an interdisciplinary activity that required strategy and research. This year's theme was the “Presidential Run”. To kick-off the race, the students in Ms. Lackhan’s class connected with students in 13 other schools around the United States via videoconference. This set the tone for the race and the students were able to meet the coordinator of the race and their opponents. Next the hard work began. The students had to race from the birthplace of George Washington in Westmoreland County, 
Virginia to Honolulu, Hawaii the birthplace of our new president Barack Obama. The challenge was to determine how they could get from one place to the other the quickest and for the least amount of money, while meeting the criteria for the race. In the end, the class placed 5^th in the challenge. They traveled 7,728.35 miles, a total of 147 hours 46 minutes, and they spent $2,517.96. During their travels, they visited the birthplaces of 13 of our nation's presidents, Revolutionary & Civil War sites, Underground Railroad stops, and important civil rights movement locations.  To complete the challenge the students used mobile apps to research transportation, lodging, routes, and weather and to calculate distance traveled, time traveled, and total cost. Some of the apps they used included Priceline, Hertz, The Weather Channel, and Maps. Congratulations to Mrs. Magyar, Ms. Lackhan, and the 5^th grade students for their hard work and perseverance!