Second Life is coming back to life

Wow, things are getting busy in Second Life. Check these opportunities out:

Dear SIGMS Member:
 
The SIGMS is sponsoring a special program in the virtual reality environment “Second Life”.  David Loertscher, a nationally recognized expert in school librarianship from San Jose State University, and Robin T. Williams will host a program entitled: “In Command! Teaching Kids and Teens to Build and Manage Their Own Information Spaces And…Learn to Manage Themselves in Those Spaces.” We will look at opportunities and responsibilities related to guiding students in the use of information work spaces that support a world class education.  In addition, we will learn about Knowville, a world-wide initiative challenging children and teens, through various organizations, to read a billion books, write a billion books, and do a billion projects.
 
Time:   Tuesday, September 18th from 9pm-10pm ET/8pm-9pm CT/7pm-8pm MT/6pm-7pm PT.
Location:  ISTE Island Auditorium (SLURL:  http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island/93/83/30)
Teleport:  If you prefer, IM Amarris Aabye or Corinne Fleury for a teleport to the meeting location.
 
Tips:

If you do not have an avatar account in Second Life (SL), go to www.secondlife.com <http://www.secondlife.com>  in advance.  Set up your free account, download the client reader software, and sign in after launching the reader.  You must access SL from a high-speed connection using a newer computer with quality graphics.  (See systems requirements at http://www.secondlife.com/corporate/sysreqs.php). Become familiar with the basics of communicating and navigating in SL in advance.

Arrive at the event at least 15 minutes prior to the start time.  Our events usually fill up the sim and many latecomers are not able to attend.
 
Hope to see you there!
 
Lisa Perez, Area Library Coordinator
Department of Libraries & Information Services
Chicago Public Schools, Medill Training Ctr.

(School library media specialists, if you are not a member of ISTE's SIGMS, you are missing out!)

And

Hello, all!
 
Here is the schedule of events for the ISTE Island Grand Opening Celebration.  The schedule can also be found on the wiki events page…enjoy!!
 
Welcome to the Grand Opening of ISTE Island!
 
The Grand Opening will begin on September 17th, and run through October 11th.  We hope you enjoy the events and festivities!
 
Grand Opening Celebration
 
Sep 17 - Grand Opening Scavenger Hunt Begins
            Week 1 Task - Island Tour Exercise:  Take pics of your avatar at each of 25 numbered flags around the island and post them on Flickr with ISTEGOSH as the tag.
 
Sep 18 - ISTE Speaker Series Session, sponsored by SIGMS, ISTE Island Auditorium (6pm SLT)
            David Loertscher, a nationally-recognized leader in K-12 school librarianship, will speak about how adults can help teens and kids create their own online collaborative spaces. He will be joined by Ms. Robin Williams, who will brief us on San Jose State University's new Knowville.org projects - a reading/ writing challenge to adults and their students.
 
Sep 20 - Grand Opening Ceremony and Formal Ball, ISTE Island Beach (6pm SLT)
 
Sep 24 - Grand Opening Scavenger Hunt
            Week 2 Task - Create A Place to Sit:  participants are asked to create a seat that can be used for a minimum of one person to sit upon.  Seat must be textured (not plywood).  Seat must be original creation of the avatar submitting it.  Seat must allow ANYONE to sit on it.  Seat must be transferrable.  Those are the only rules...the possibilities for creative interpretation are endless!  Finished items are to be submitted to RavenPhoenix Zenovka to be counted as complete!
 
Sep 27 - ISTE Island Grand Opening Recital and Reception, ISTE Island Band Shell and Beach (6pm SLT)
 
Oct 01 - Grand Opening Scavenger Hunt
            Week 3 Task - Networking Exercise:  Find 4 ISTE-SL members, one born for each year that SL has been up and running (2003-2007).
Make a notecard, listing the 4 avatars, with the following information about each: Avatar Name, Avatar Birth Year, RL School/College Affiliation and RL Favorite Color.  Submit notecard to RavenPhoenix Zenovka to be counted as complete!  ONE AVATAR PER BIRTH YEAR - no duplicates.
 
Oct 04 - ISTE Island Grand Opening School Spirit/Homecoming Party, ISTE Island Beach (6pm SLT)
 
Oct 10 - Grand Opening Scavenger Hunt Ends
            ALL SCAVENGER HUNT TASKS ARE DUE!  NO SUBMISSIONS ACCEPTED AFTER THIS DATE!
 
Oct 11 - Grand Opening Building Competition
 
          - ISTE Island Grand Opening Closing Ceremonies and Awards (6pm SLT)
 
Come join the celebration!!
 
RPZ - RavenPhoenix

I wouldn't miss seeing Dr. Loertscher in Second Life for anything! Say hello to Blue Skunk Johnson if you get the chance.

Happy Monday

Monday morning and 900 e-mail users in our district received their personal version of this message - with a Trojan horse attachment...

 Dear user djohns1,
 
It has come to our attention that your Isd77 User Profile ( x ) records are out of date. For further details see the attached document.
 
Thank you for using Isd77!
The Isd77 Support Team
 
 
+++ Attachment: No Virus (Clean)
+++ Isd77 Antivirus - www.isd77.k12.mn.us   

Guess what I'll be doing all morning? I hope there is a special place in hell for people who create these things. Or at least that their purgatory is a very long stint in tech support.

Oh, and thank goodness we're still 95% Mac. 

The responsibility for effective staff development

My first Sunday at home since July. Feels weird, but good. What shall I do? What shall I do?

Last week, Scott McLeod asked the question, 'Why is staff development so bad?" and Tim Stahmer follows up at Assorted Stuff. Both posts are well worth reading. A couple reactions/thoughts regarding staff development...

1. Professional development should be considered the responsibility of the professional, not the organization. Seems like I remember someplace in the dark recesses of what passed for my formal education, I was told that in order to be considered a "professional" one had to take responsibility for one's own learning. Tim laments that "teachers must get their training on their own time and often using their own money." And the problem here is....?

I will bet dollars to doughnuts that you, dear reader, consider perusing this blog some sick form of "professional development" and that you aren't reading it during school time. Dedicated professionals have always learned both in formal and informal ways, have done most learning outside the school day, have paid their own costs, and have made it a priority.

This is called being professional. Teachers need to act like professionals if they wish to be regarded as such. Sorry, but it's the truth. The logical consequence of professionals not taking their learning seriously is that they are so ineffectual they will no longer be employable. Well, that's the theory.

2. Organizations should facilitate individual/individualized staff development. Tim suggests an IEP for every teacher, something I have been advocating for some years, especially in the area of technology. In articles from 2000/2001 issues of Leading & Learning, I described our district efforts to create "professional growth targets" as a means of organizing technology staff development initiatives.

To meet a professional growth target for a year, we expect teachers to take about 30 non-school hours to learn enough to move at least one level on one of the Rubrics for Restructuring. The teacher, principal and other specialists jointly plan how those 30 hours are spent, and how the gain in knowledge and skills can be demonstrated and documented.

Tools to help make this happen are in the articles.

This worked pretty good for a couple years in our district, Here is what teachers told us about the approach:

At the district level, we have assessed the viability of such an individualized staff development approach. By using a survey tool, we found of the 38 respondents that:

70% felt they had successfully completed the PGT
70% thought the plan was clear
81% found the work they did meaningful
55% found the work they did learning about technology also helped them in other educational areas
78% found there were sufficient PGT options from which to choose
44% found these PGTs more rigorous than those in the past; 33% found them as rigorous

And then it fell apart, and I am not quite sure why. Mostly, I think, it was a lack of monitoring on the part of administrators as to whether any work was actually done. It's easier to just count heads in a formal staff development session. Our staff development folks, including our computer coordinator, didn't really buy into it. There was a general lack of trust that teachers would do the right thing. It was ahead of its time. i did not have the personal charisma to keep selling the project. Who knows?

Interestingly enough, our current Professional Learning Communities have some of these same elements, except now it is small groups rather than individuals who are planning and being held accountable for professional learning. A step in the right direction.

And I've not yet given up the fight about IEPs for teacher technology competencies. We just need to somehow thread them into the work the PLCs are doing. 

3. "Sit and git" has its place within the larger plan. First a disclaimer: I make pretty good beer money by going to conferences and giving one-time workshops and breakout sessions. I also enjoy attending these (sometimes).
Sit and Git, Spray and Pray (whatever the clever derogatory appellation du jour for short sessions offered during professional development days or conference is), such learning opportunities ought not to be simply dismissed as ineffective and drop kicked from the educational ball field. Like classroom lectures, good short sessions can be effective in meeting specific purposes. Those include:

• Introducing participants to a new concept, theory or practice with the expectation of self-directed follow-up. (What is meant by authentic assessment.)
  
• Teaching specific, useful skills, especially if practiced within the time allotted. (How to design a good rubric.)
• Bending a mindset or encouraging an action. (Assessments can be used not just for ranking students, but to actually improve the learning process.)

Concrete, even discrete, learning opportunities have a place in professional development, provided they are part of a larger profession growth plan or teacher IEP.

OK, it's after 10AM. What did I once do with my Sundays?