This blog has been written by Lisa Parisi.

I have high hopes for education in general and public education in particular. I truly believe that education is the answer to all our world problems. But I am feeling tired and defeated at this time. I seem, each year, to come to a moment where it seems as if we haven’t made much progress. And now is the time. So here I am, the year winding down, and I look back on where we were in September and where we are now. And I find we are still having the same conversations. And I am tired of the platitudes.

“We must make sure our students are prepared for this unknown future they will face.”

“We must allow them to use technology in all its forms to break down walls, open doors, expand their horizons.”

“We must show students how to think and innovate and create.”

And we all mean what we say and truly believe it. And, yet, we never talk about how to do it. Individuals are successful and, thankfully, I get to connect with many of them online. But as a whole, what have we done to meet these goals?

A week ago I had a unique situation to deal with. I have 24 students in my class. 4 of them were pulled out for the morning for an enrichment program and 7 of them were working with the physical education teacher, helping the children with austism. They had learned about autism through Temple Grandin at the Celebration for Teaching and Learning and were anxious to put their learning to use. That left me with 12 children.

Since I couldn’t begin anything new, I told the students to finish up their projects. I sat looking around the room and saw some students recording audio for their favorite teacher photostories. So throughout the morning you could hear students calling out, “Recording. Silence, please.” Three children went out of the room to record a podcast about how our classroom runs. When they came back in, they said to me, “We made a lot of mistakes. You will need to do lots of editing.” I responded, “No, you are going to edit.” So they sat down with audacity and edited the podcast, adding music at the front and back. I had two students who had recorded a science presentation and were sitting at the computer editing the movie. I had two students at the scanner, scanning pictures to import into a wiki. A few more were working on podcast scripts.

And as I looked around, I realized that the classroom seemed chaotic. But it was a controlled chaos. The children were learning, engaged and excited. I happened to have a sub in the room at the time, since my co-teacher, Christine Southard, was out. I am sure the sub thought this was the most unruly bunch of students she had ever encountered, because they were talking over each other and to each other and across the room to me. They were making decisions about who I should see first for assistance. They were running the classroom. So the sub probably did not appreciate the class. But I did. I was proud of them and excited by the learning and collaboration going on in the room.

This is also the time of year that we are assessing students in reading, writing, and math. Christine and I do this periodically throughout the year to be sure our students are keeping up. And what we are finding now is the learning has far surpassed our expectations. Reading levels are soaring, writing skills are being mastered, math concepts are understood and applied. And all of this with this very “unruly, chaotic class”.

So what does this mean for us all? I wonder, over and over again, why this classroom is not the norm. Why are teachers not able to let go and see what the children can do, when given the reigns? Why aren’t administrators encouraging this type of behavior? Why are we still working on a one lesson per class format? Let’s allow students to demonstrate their learning in different ways. What are we waiting for? Enough with the platitudes. Let’s stop taking baby steps. It is time for huge leaps. I’m ready. Are you?

Images:

Baby steps‘
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29868516@N00/3283470811

‘Team work means….‘
www.flickr.com/photos/81576641@N00/257649874

‘Chaos‘
www.flickr.com/photos/7762644@N04/2391631937

The designers of the PBS for Teachers website have also featured educational resources including Nova, Masterpiece classics, PBS for Kids, and Graphic Organizers. An additional enhancement offered is the ability to customize based on your resources and grade level.

Finally, I would like to pass on to all educators is this feature provided by PBS. Educators can find great resources and lesson ideas from the educational packs posted here on PBS. Here is the definition of an education pack as defined on the PBS website:

An Activity Pack is a set of educational resources focused on a theme and packaged in a widget-format that you can embed in your own class or social media web page. Each pack includes links to PBS web sites and a set of activities by grade level.

Themes that compile the educational packs include:

• The Arts
• Health and Fitness
• Reading and Language Arts
• Science and Technology
• Social Studies

Here is an example of the PBS educational Pack widget that one can embed into a website, blog, or class wiki. This widget features the theme for March “Women’s Rights: Then and Now”.

In closing, I challenge all educators to take time and review the benefits and offerings provided by PBS. Best wishes hunting for your gold nugget!

Inspiration as defined by Merriam-webster.com says it is “the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions: act of influencing or suggesting opinions.” It was after reading this definition of Inspiration I was able to get my mind wrapped around what I wanted to write in this blog entry. I am writing this post to accomplish two goals: 1) be a guest blogger in collaboration with Tim Holt of El Paso, Texas. 2) Express the inspiration and respect I developed for a middle school student in Connecticut.

What inspires me personally?

My family is the biggest influence and inspiring portion of my life. See, both of my parents were educators for a time. They always focused on what was best for the students and not what was best for them. My sister is the head of the education department at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs. She loves working with students and educators making them aware of all living animals, reptiles, and insects on Earth. She too wants to provide students every possible benefit of learning in a student-centered environment. I see this same attribute in how my wife approaches her daily task of working with a wide range of students in her high school special education classroom. Some students are high-level functioning students while others are either mentally or physically disabled. But that does not change her approach to finding ways to let each and every student become productive citizens. The other two inspirational parts of my life are my children. My four-year-old son is always asking questions. Then again, what young child does not want to learn about his surroundings? The thing that amazes me about him is his ability to remember the smallest trivial piece of information along with the passion his possess in wanting to attend pre-school. If he misses school, his world has been rocked. Then there is my nine year old. One of her biggest characteristics is her passion to help others. She is always looking out for the other person. If there is a way she could help a friend or classmate out, she will get involved. Honestly, she is my “Extreme Home Makeover” watcher. We watch the show together and there are not very many episodes she does not make a comment about wondering how to make a difference locally or globally.

Who else inspires?

Students inspire me. Thus, they are the focal point of my “Mantz’s Mission” podcasts and several blog posts. I feel that the key to improving education and the success of technology implementation rests in student engagement. I also see students and educators inspiring one another. For example, three educators that indirectly inspire me in how they inspire students are Kymberli Mulford, Ginger Lewman, and Paul Bogush. Kymberli has students assist her during professional development sessions with other educators. After all, what is more powerful than being an educator and learning from our students and understanding what inspires them to learn? She also said that several teachers observed the passion of the students and felt that they could integrate a variety of tools into their own classrooms. Next educator is Ginger Lewman. I strongly believe that this lady has as much energy, if not more, than Tim Holt and Kevin Honeycutt. Ginger is the Director of face-to-face learning at the Turning Point Learning Center in Emporia, Kansas. Ginger, along with a great cast of fellow educators, has developed a curriculum using project based learning activities to inspire their students to search out the answer and collaborate on developing possible resolutions to global issues. Through one of her projects, I learned of Paul Bogush in Connecticut. Paul and Ginger teamed up for a collaborative project that placed students in the role of debaters. The students had to research issues being addressed in the presidential campaigns. Upon completion of their research, each student team debated the other students using uStream channels embed into a wiki site. I observed this debate remotely and was just amazed by the ability of the students to communicate their points. Wow, what a powerful use of technology transparently to get across to their students the importance of understanding the issues and being able to communicate.

It is this transparent use of technology and openness to let students explore that inspires Paul’s students. I was honored to view and later interview one of Paul’s middle school students “Meg” about her digital story project. Paul had challenged the students to create a digital story about an African American that influenced others. Rosa Parks was Meg’s selection. To make a long story short, she continued to inspire me with her passion to learn and willingness to stand up (in this case “sit down”) for the rights of others. We continued to talk about how she was inspired by the lesser-known people that have influenced American history. Here is the digital story created by this young inspiring lady from Connecticut. Thanks again Meg for being such an inspiration!

Who are some of the lesser-known women that have inspired?

In recognition of March being Women History month, I have compiled a small list of inspiring, influential women from America’s past. Those ladies include Betsy Ross, Clara Barton, Mary Elizabeth Bowser, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Rosa Parks, Carrie Chapman Catt, Susan Brownell Anthony, Amelia Earhart, and Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR just for beginners.

In another challenge that meets present day inspirational women came from Heather Braum. The challenge was Ada Lovelace Day. Here are the ladies of technology that I feel deserve to be acknowledged and recognized for the time they take to inspire educators and students today with the integration of technology. Tammy Worcester, Dyane Smokorowski (Smoke), Becky Herl, Rita Betts, Laurie Korte, Sheryl McCoy, Teryl McGee, and Carol Skyring. To learn of additional ladies that influence technology please check out the list of my friends on Plurk.

Future inspiring and influential women that come to mind is Paul Bogush’s student and my nine-year-old daughter. Who are your up and coming inspirational ladies?

Finally, I hope you take a moment and step back to reflect upon those that influence and inspire you on a daily basis. Please keep in mind that educators can be viewed as role models to our students. It is this honor that educators should cherish as we look to inspire students today and tomorrow.

I have created a brief introduction video to Doodlebuzz using the free Jing Project screen/video capture software produced by TechSmith Corporation. Please enjoy and provide me feedback to this post on how this could be used in education to address needs or your own thoughts of Doodlebuzz itself.

Until I can figure out why the embeded Jing Project video does not work properly, here is a link to the video on Screencast.com: Doodlebuzz.com

Now that I have hopefully caught your attention, or at least made you hungry, I am going to explain my passion and what fuels it in regards to education.

As a youngster growing up, I attended four different K-12 school districts stretching from Kansas to Oklahoma. Throughout those school years I experienced a wide range of teachers and instructional methods. Both of my parents were former educators and would always look for the best school systems before identifying a home to purchase. Thus, my education has been influenced not just by teachers and administrators but also by my loving parents. It is this parental interest that partially fuels my passion in education. I so believe that parents need to be involved in their child/children’s education as much, if not more, than teachers and administrators. Parents that participate and interact in a positive manner with their child/children forms and shapes a great deal of the child’s character. Those parents that neglect or abuse their child/children cause so much damage in so many aspects of the youth’s life. Unfortunately, many of those issue affects the student at school. Thus, this area of concern is another passion point for me as an educator, I raise this point as a result of reading a discussion started on Plurk by Paul Bogush. In all honesty, I do not know of any good educator that has not seen the good, bad, or ugly as a student or instructor and chose to interact with students through those times in hope of making a positive difference and showing he/she people do care. What does bother me in those and a variety of other situations are those teachers that do not want to become involved whether it is working with students.

In building off of this point of being positive with students I want to point out a video that has been running ramped on social networks of Twitterand Plurk. This video truly expresses my feeling for believing in students regardless of race, sex, or home lifestyle. This video comes from Dallas, Texas.

Now did that video make you think? Did you ask your self if you “Believe”? Honestly, if this video did not send the same message as I am trying to put forth when explaining my passion for education, those fellow educators that have shared it too would not be “believing” in their students today.

Another source that fuels my passion for education centers around the engagement of students. I ask you now to reflect upon your own education experience and ask yourself Which teacher(s) influenced you and why? Let me guess, those educators have a common characteristic regardless of who is answering this question. I would say that our influences were direct results of educators that engaged us with higher order thought provoking questions, provided real world applicable scenarios, and interacted with us on a personal level.

One evening while reflecting upon the same question that I previously stated, I read through a variety of blogs looking for resources to be used in with my college students. I came across a digital story created by Wesley Fryer. The digital story fit my need quite well. It is titled: Strive to Engage not Enthrall. The emphasis was for students to be engaged and not enthralled. Wesley was trying to make the point that students need opportunities to be inspired, challenged, motivated as well as time for reflection along with collaboration. Over the next few months while providing professional development workshops I stressed that communication between educators and their students was a major key for success. Two additional videos that I would like to bring to your attention about the need to permit students buy-in or take ownership in their own education are 1. A Vision of Students Today 2. A Vision of K-12 Students Today.

To emphasize that need to improve communication and student engagement, I participated in the national mentor certification training developed by Dr. Chris Moersch. Dr. Moersch first developed the program in 1994 and it was known as the Levels of Technology Integration. As the needs of our students and educational systems changed, so did the name is now recognized as Levels of Teaching Innovation(LoTi). LoTi combines the emphasis combines higher order thinking/questioning (Bloom’s Taxonomy), student engagement through the use of authentic real world forms of assessment and the integration of technology as a transparent resource.

It is the vision of Dr. Moersch along with my own experiences and passion that drives me to continue discovering tools and pedagogies that nourish the motivation of 21st Century students. I feel that students of today and tomorrow will need to be self-motivated, anytime anywhere learners. For those reasons, I find it my “mission” to pass along the positives of education and the tools that can be used to motivate and engage students of the 21st Century. I will end this post with a phrase I use a lot: To teach is to educate and to educate is to teach.