Welcome, Bena. So glad you are my 2.0 friend. It is now official we are cyber-buddies. hhj

Hi Bena,
I am working as a Curriculum Facilitator in an international school in Tokyo. This year I have been focusing on having teachers produce quality curriculum maps. We use RUBICON ATLAS. I like to move on to discussions from the maps about student learning and am wondering if you could suggest what direction I might take, or some good conversation starters.
Leanne

HI Bena,
Wow, it is cool to connect with you here on the Classroom 2.0 site. I thought CMI 2009 was wonderful and we all learn so much together! Here is the photo editing site that teachers enjoy so much http://picnik.com. My web site is http://sheskeylearning.com there are samples of Web 2.0 tools, writing strategies and sample workshop video there that you can review. I look forward to the retreat coming up and I hope that we can have more time to talk in the near future.
Bill

hello Bena, isnt it fun that our pictures can be on the same page:-)
I really loved your idea on facilitated thinking, and exploring as a community. Do you think sustainability might come it to this? My feeling is that slowing down and sustainable futures might go hand in hand, I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Bena:

I just wanted to share with you some new strategies we are incorporating at West Middle School this year. In our student planners we have developed I Can statements related to ELA, Math and the Habits of the Mind. I have to credit you with the idea as well as our staff for embracing the idea that Middle Schools students can use I Can statements as a means for self assessment and discovery. Thank you for sharing this idea with us and I'll keep you posted on our progress. I have attached a copy of our I Can statements for Habits of the MInd. Let me know what you think. I Can Habits of the Mind.pdf

Thank you for taking a look! We are really excited.

Hi Bena, here's the link..

2009 Media Projects and PSA's

John

Thank you very much Bena, we all learned from the creative process and also enjoyed viewing the finished projects.

They are great models for my new students and are certainly meant to be viewed by other students and teachers. Please do share.

Bena - I have had some exchanges with Brian Graham. The "I Can" statements that his group created will be useful for me to model affirmations for my students. In my class students are required to make affirmations for health-related goals and to describe how several Habits of Mind will help them to accomplish what they want. I suspect the "I Can" statements will help the students take ownership of the Habits and to make them less abstract. I'm grateful for a new piece to facilitate and reinforce student learning. I'm not so impressed with my metacognition because I teach and model affirmations and the Habits of Mind and the use of "I statements" in assertive relationships but I never put the I statements into the HOM's. I clearly still need your guidance and wisdom. I will send you student work soon. Thank you. Scott R.

Hello Bena - I agree that it is difficult to find the time with the current demands in education to evolve with all the emerging technologies. Unfortunately our firewall at school blocks all social networks so I need to access from home on family time. I suspect many of us will just browse now and then. I am however very grateful to be able to capture wisdom from those with enlarged perspectives and significant experience. Your words "a reminder of what indicators serve to tell them if they are using the habits" serve as a powerful reminder that most adolescents do not seen to natuarally have such cues in place. I am very concerned that the distraction with all the text messaging and other electronics is preventing many from being mindful of themselves. I think I'll try to get them to take a snapshot of their thoughts and identify them as task orienting or task interfering cognitions. I would love to see some data about whether or not such practice would result in more effective or more anxious students. I suspect both are true. Best regards, Scott

Hello - It seems like you pop into my life at just the correct time to positively affect my planning. Your advice is perfect for where my classes are going over the next few weeks. I will plan more effectively with your direction. It seems you are my "critical friend" providing feedback that helps me focus my instruction and to grow professionally. I will develope I can statements to model for students how advice from peers (Thinking interdependently!) may help us to grow. Our written exchange will be one of my examples. I will read Daniel Goleman's new book. I am concerned with the presence of our students and children who often are not physically and emotionally present in the classroom, athletic field, or dinner table. Thanks for the lead. I hope you know that even though you are not physically present in my lab, I am your student and hundreds of facilitators and classrooms within the educational community are your lab. You're just smart enough that you don't have to grade hundreds of assessments. Best regards Scott

Thank you for your kind words, Bena:-). I hope you are enjoying a beautiful weekend!

Bena - I just wanted to check in with you. Since Rick Dunlap did a courageous sharing with the school community (by grade level) about exactly what occurred leading up to his son's death, every day has been like a full moon. His honesty and plea for kids to tell folks when they need help has facilitated a great sharing and outpouring of the "stuff" that kids carry around. Some of the trauma that these kids have endured is damn near unspeakable. I finally exhaled last week when the last most difficult pair of rape victims who were experiencing PTSD symptoms convinced their parents and themselves that they needed to walk toward their fear and enter into treatment. I have heard stories that would make your head spin. Interestingly all of these guys were cutting, shooting up drugs, or prostituting rather than deal with the underlying issues in their life. They also had very good grades. If you were to walk through these halls you would think you were in a fine upstanding middle-class community. State tests don't seem so important right now! I believe Rick's sharing saved some lives for sure. His honesty and courage was powerful, heartfelt, and authentic. A side note of interest. These new kids have very different brains. They also can't draw! They demonstrate a powerful display of inadequacy when asked to draw. They have spent years texting but not doodling or drawing. My students showed extreme frustration, cursing, throwing paper, and yelling in frustration when asked to draw a simple silhouette of an "ideal" male or female shape.
I'm wondering what else is being lost with the new habits and corresponding brains that these kids are developing. They certainly do not know how to play well, negotiate, or express emotion face to face. If you have any time for reading check out The Brain That Changes Itself by Doidge. It has some very cool stories and some powerful implications in regard to learning. Best Regards - Scott

Hi Dr. Kallick,
Thank you for your comment and suggestion. The website is very useful and I have used it in the past. My colleague and I presented 2 HOM workshops for our staff as part of our administrative internship. Both workshops focused on meaningful ways to integrate the HOM into classroom expectations and daily lessons and using a common language to identify effective thinking and learning. In my own classroom, the students are introduced to the HOM in the beginning of the year in lieu of classroom rules. The students then reflect on their effort at check points using a HOM reflection rubric. The scale ranges from "All of the time" to "Never" and the students provide concrete examples of when they have modeled that particular HOM. Please stop by our classroom blog to read a post about the HOM and see our class HOM handout (embedded) at our blog: http://theconch.edublogs.org
Thank you again.