Pan Canadian Literacy Forum

For Darren's take on the events and what transpired please go and read his post Students Rock the Pan Canadian Literacy Forum.




As a teacher you live for these days. Three of my students were asked to participate at the Pan Canadian Literacy Forum Conference. Along with three of Darren’s Students and the two of us we were a panel on 21st century learning.

Going into this presentation I figured that there would be 5 or 6 people in the audience. Wow I was wrong. The room was paced with between 100 and 150 people and it was also broadcast on CC tv to the other provinces in Canada who were also holding this Conference.


The students were amazing. It was one of those... “this is why you teach moments”. The Panel started with a brief introduction from Cheryl Prokopanko from the department of Education talking about Literacy with ICT.



Then I got a chance to introduce what Darren and I do. My introduction was followed by my three students. Now is when I am starting to gush and my pride overflows.



Kate started to talk about collaboration and how we as a class have been working with another class down in Alabama. She did an excellent job telling the audience about the collaboration and the technology (voicethread and elluminate)used to get the job done. Kate explained the Geomonster project we did with the Challenger Middle School Students.

When she was over Karen got up to explain the power and role of E-portfolios. She explained the difference between the regular paper portfolio and the electronic kind. She was an excellent salesman for the use of these assessment tools in a k-12 classroom.

Angelo was my last student. He had the daunting task of explaining about the class blog and everything(scribeposts and growingposts) that goes into making it an artifact of the classes learning for the year. He explained the different uses of the blog and the assignments that make up being part of the classroom community. I was really impressed with how he explained the importance of commenting on each others posts.

Now what was really neat. Darren’s students got up next. Three amazing Grade 12 students. Coming to the end of their High School life. The opposite end of the spectrum from where my students were.

Chris talked about the role of the classroom blog. Similar to Angelo’s but in much greater detail and explained the role of community and the roloe of the blog in creating that community.


He was followed by Graeme that explained Darren”s Developing Expert Voices. Graeme explained how much work went into these projects and how proud students were of there finished pieces. He spent time explaining the rubric and how it was created jointly by the teacher and all of the students.


The last student, Mark, was able to convey to the audience the role of audience and the uses of some of the tools at the DMCI blogs. From Google Translator to cluster maps to askme. What a powerful performance.



That left Darren..... Always the passionate blogger and advocate for youth he talked about 3 inspiring people. Dave Eggers the Ted Prize winner, Ken Robinson and Velki .... a Finnish teacher. Darren explained Dave Eggers wish to have more mentors for students and the importance of being a mentor. His was was called Once upon a School.

Darren explained the role of Ken Robinson and his crusade to allow students to excel at creativity.



Finally Darren talked about the role of the teacher Jukka Sinivirta from Finland. He bows to his class everyday. When asked why he says that they are the future of Finland. Finland by the way has the best math test scores in the Western World.


It was then time for the audience to speak out. The questions started out slowly but then a few more people started to ask questions. Most were directed at the students and they handled them well. Darren has a recording of the event and we will put it to a slide show.

I hope the students will have a second chance to preform this set of presentations. There is talk that they might go and visit the Superintendent. It would be a fitting end to some fantastic work.

I am impressed with the quality of work and the effort put into this presentatio by the students। I loved seeing where these students will be in 4 years. Darren’s students did not have exposure to these tools and this pedagogy early in their Grade 8 life. I know technology will change but wow what these students will be able to accomplish in 4 years time will be quite something. Darren receives my first set of student bloggers next year. True he has had some of them in previous grades. But the first real batch of students taking Grade 12 Pre Cal and AP math will be there next year. Watch out for many special things to come out of Daniel McIntyre.

Here are the slide casts of the day. I will be uploading a flickr later today.

Introduction and Sargent Park Students

| View | Upload your own

Darren's Students and his conclusion.

| View | Upload your own

Groups...Networks does it really matter?

Bud Hunt has written a post. It talks about the the proliferation of groups and networks on in the blogosphere.

Here is some of what he has to say....

I'm noticing a proliferation of niche groups emerging in the edu'sphere -- groups of young folks, groups of women, etc. Something about this is rubbing me the wrong way -- but I can't quite put my finger on what it is.
I certainly admire the time and effort that people are putting into helping others find their way in the forest that is the Internet. But is their enough added value in these different subgroups, particularly among bloggers that are already networked, that makes their existence an asset rather than a collection of subdivisions, new walls keeping people separate? At what point does joining a group mean closing a door, rather than opening one? Or does it ever mean that at all? (I think that it does, sometimes.) Does the creation of lots of new groups lead to a further formalization of these spaces that are informal learning places? Are we perpetuating old ways of doing things in new spaces?

Here was my response to what he had to say.....

Hi I am a member of WOW. I joined because people who I respect and admire are taking the time to inform people who want to know about pedagogy and interesting tools to make teaching better for todays youth. I am a male who just wants to teach better.

WOW to my knowledge was created by 4 friends who wanted a place to share their experiences in the classroom. I have been an active participant in their post and pre skype shows.

The new net is a place where your creativity improves when you get a synergistic energy working with friends. Connecting with people from everywhere allows for a better finished project.

Groups/networks...... if it makes us push the boundaries of what we are willing to do and improve the education of todays youth then so be it.

If I recall the K12online conference was considered a group by some people. Look at all the good that has come and is still coming out of this Conference.

Thanks for a great post. I hope that teachers and bloggers everywhere just push the bar higher and show new and great things to do with our students.

People put up flags when they are worried about groups. I know Graham has written about it in the past and Stephen Downes has also written about it. If a group turns out to be a bad thing and influence in inappropriate ways then we need to take action.

I am of the opini0n that we need to collaborate as much as possible. Perhaps someone will correct me. If it makes us push the bar to new levels then the group, network has done its job.

As I have said already....k12online was considered a group by some. It has created change. Change for the good I think.

Thanks for reading. Bud thanks for making us think. Happy New Year.

Friends...Community...Networks

When I woke up this morning and check my bloglines account and my stat counter to see if anyone reads my blog I saw that someone had visited coming from Darren's Numeracy post from the other day. In the comments under Darren's post there were two links to You Tube videos. They are fantastic. These videos show how we all are connected now using the internet.

Here is the first Video



Here is the second video



I will be attempting a project with some teachers in Alabama in January. This is a great introduction to why you use the web and 2.0 in your classrooms. Look at the possibilities.

Thanks JD for talking about these videos.