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Chris Sloan

TTT #291 What we talk about when we talk about Trayvon Martin with Ashleigh Dennis, Al Elliott and Kiseem - 04.04.12


48:00 minutes (10.99 MB)

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers we talk about what we talk about when we talk about Trayvon Martin #trayvonmartin. What have you been talking to your students about this? 

Here are some of the things that have been going up on Youth Voices the past few weeks: http://youthvoices.net/taxonomy/term/33223 And follow this link to find some of the the articles we have been reading and annotating together. (Once in the "Mission," click on each individual title to see students' comments.) http://youthvoices.net/node/36643

Recently, when I (Paul Allison) walked into my teachers room, it took about 4 seconds of talking about what my students were doing for three African-American colleagues to talk in wide-ranging ways about violence and protecting children and dress and racism, and more. I just listened as carefully as I could, trying to learn what their questions were.

We made an open invitation to teachers to come talkttt291bout Trayvon Martin at EdTechTalk http://edtechtalk.com. Paul Allison, Chris Sloan and Monika Hardy hosted this conversation with Ashleigh Dennis , Al Elliott and Kiseem, one of Paul's students.

We agree with what Dan Cantor wrote recently on the Working Families blogs: "What is new and welcome is that more and more white people are reminded or learning for the first time what the persistent existence of the color line means to millions of our fellow Americans." http://www.workingfamiliesparty.org/2012/04/my-son-doesnt-look-like-trayvon/

We think this episode of TTT will add to the conversations you might be having with students and colleagues -- or you wish your were having. Let us know your thoughts by commenting below.


TTT #290 - NYCWP Teachers Fostering Youth Voices with Jim Nordlinger, Amal Aboulhosn, Carla Cherry, and Valerie Burton - 3.28.12


59:59 minutes (13.73 MB)

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers we have a conversation with three teachers from the New York City Writing Project who are part of a study group that has been sponsored by the NYCWP to foster and reflect on the use of Youth Voices by these teachers. Paul Allison, Chris Sloan, Monika Hardy host a conversation with Jim Nordlinger, Amal Aboulhosn, and Carla Cherry from the NYCWP along with our colleagues Valerie Burton, and Fred Mindlin.
teachers290
As an introduction to this conversation, we offer these reflections posted by one of our listeners on her blog, "Short Quips: thinking in (hyper)text" (Check out here blog, to see this teacher's complete response, and view her About Me.):
Tonight I participated in my first live educational conference online through EdTechTalk. The conference is called “Teachers Teaching Teachers” and takes place every Wednesday night. I did not join the group via video, but rather just watched/listened to the other participants and participated through a live chat feature....

It took me a while to catch up to what was being discussed. Participants were throwing around the term “Youth Voices” and I thought at first that it was just a cool catch phrase for high school kids who were blogging. It wasn’t until i joined the live chat that I got a better idea of what Youth Voices is. Youth Voices, it turns out, is a huge site where the main purpose is to offer a space for youth to participate in discussion. It is a place where youth can post their thoughts and comment on other youth’s thoughts....

One of the discussions among the video participants revolved around how teachers should/are assessing their student’s contributions on Youth Voices. One educator shared how she is setting guidelines for how much/what her students need to contribute to Youth Voices within a specific time frame. For example, she will stipulate that her students need to write one post and make one comment within a week, and if they do both they get the marks for it. This particular educator works at a school in the Bronx and has found that participating in Youth Voices has empowered her students to have their voices heard. She noted how much time and effort can be put into a short comment, because the students are very aware of their online presence and ensuring they present themselves appropriately.

... It was an interesting experience to view it. I think the biggest thing I got out of the experience was that I was also able to network with educators from far and wide- always a positive when you are working on developing your professional learning network.

... I would love to come back to join in a conversation in the future, especially if I am looking for information specifically related to the topic being discussed. I am curious to know whether there are any live educator chats/conferences specifically for Early Childhood Educators. If you know of one, pass it on!

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

TTT #289: Connected Learning: Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Clifford Lee, Katie MacKay, Meenoo Rami, Lacy Manship, Antero Garcia 3.21.12


55:53 minutes (12.79 MB)

On this episode of +Teachers Teaching Teachers, we talk about Connected Learning/connecting-our-learning with Elyse Eidman-Aadahl and this amazing group of NWP teacher leaders listed here: Paul Allison, Chris SloanClifford Lee, Fred Mindlin, Katie MacKay, Chad Sansing, Meenoo Rami, Lacy Manship, and Antero Garcia

You can see some of what we discuss through the following links:

Connected Learning
Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

TTT #288 Looking at the embedded literacies: InstaGrok and Readitfor.me w/ Lisa Parisi, Steve Cunningham, Kirill Kireyev 3.14.12


59:57 minutes (13.72 MB)

We want to introduce you to the founders of http://InstaGrok.com and http://Readitfor.me on this episode of +Teachers Teaching Teachers.

The cores of both of these services have theories of action that emphasize literacy as we know it now. Both founders think that your students might find their services useful for learning, reading, doing research, managing information, and knowing the world.

We think you'll enjoy this conversation with +Kirill Kireyev and +Steve Cunningham.

Learn more about their online services that are being made available for free to schools. See if there might be a place for them in your work with students. Test your theories of literacy in 2012 next to those embedded in these new learning tools What search tools do you think might enable your students to engage in "safe and personalized learning?" (InstaGrok) What tools do you think might help your students to "understand and actually put the big ideas to work?" (Readitfor.me).


Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.

TTT #286 Open Education: CONNECT... COLLECT... CREATE... SHARE... with Cable Green, Mary Lou Forward, Karen Fasimpaur 2.29.12


67:40 minutes (15.49 MB)

On this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers, Chris Sloan and Scott Shelhart host a conversation about Open Education. They were talking just before the first ever Open Education Week which took "place 5-10 March 2012 online and in locally hosted events around the world.”

As it says on http://www.openeducationweek.org ”The purpose of Open Education Week is to raise awareness of the open education movement and its impact on teaching and learning worldwide. Participation in all events and use of all resources is free an open to anyone. Read more

Our guests on this episode of Teachers Teaching Teachers are Cable Green, Mary Lou Foward and Karen Fasimpaur.

Cable Green, Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons. Most recently, Green was the Director of eLearning & Open Education for the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, where he provided leadership on strategic technology planning, openly licensing and sharing digital content, growing and improving online and hybrid learning, and implementing enterprise learning technologies and student support services. One innovative project, the Open Course Library, creates low-cost, digital, openly licensed (CC BY) instructional materials for 81 high impact community college courses. As Director of Global Learning at Creative Commons, Green is responsible for setting strategic direction and priorities to build a global movement that will enable robust and vibrant practices and policies for free sharing of education and learning assets. Cable will lead Creative Commons’ recently-announced project to provide technical assistance to winning grantees of the Department of Labor Trade Adjustment Assistance Community and Career Training Grant program.

Mary Lou Forward is the Executive Director of the OpenCourseWare Consortium, providing leadership for the organization’s efforts to support OpenCourseWare use and development globally. Prior to joining the Consortium, she served as Dean of African Studies for SIT Study Abroad. In that role, she provided academic and strategic leadership for 29 programs across the African continent, leading SIT’s incorporation of technology and distance learning in international programming and developing innovative opportunities to collaborate across countries and between diverse student groups. She has also worked on community-based development in Africa, with an emphasis on the incorporation of appropriate technologies and sustainable resources in small-scale enterprise development.

Karen Fasimpaur is an enthusiastic user of OER in K-12 classrooms. She works with teachers to help integrate, remix, and share open-licensed curriculum to engage students and differentiate instruction. Prior to this work, Karen was an educational multimedia producer, a textbook developer, and a teacher.

Click Read more to see a copy of the chat that was happening during the webcast.
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