Alan November gave a TED talk about students creating a legacy.  In the NYED talk he referenced our work with the Online Textbook. 

He asked the following three questions on his blog

1. What are the opportunities for authentic work for students within the current structure of school?
2. Can we really expect all students to make a contribution to the learning community?
3. How do we help teachers manage the shift of control to the students making much more of a contribution to their own learning and to the community?

Please comment here or visit Alan's Blog.  Our comments in his blog are below.

Alan,
Mike and I are using skype and google docs right now to talk about this video and the ideas you presented in the talk.  At different districts our students developed the online textbook you referenced in the talk.  We have a few thoughts and comments for your readers.  But lets start with a quote from a 12 year old:  “A student cannot master what is in the darkness, if there is not someone to light the way”  

Within the current structure of schools, authentic learning is an uphill battle. The true opportunities for authentic learning exist in the determination of  teachers willing to take calculated risks and change education back to teaching.  Authentic learning exist only through the hearts, minds and classrooms of teachers willing to create a partnership with their students. You referenced Dan Pink’s book Drive.  Garth and I are driven in our work.  We want students to leave a digital legacy, take ownership of their learning, and create knowledge not just for us and the front of their refrigerators at home, but for all people.  To us, teaching is about heart and passion, our drive.  Learning is not about teachers, it is about students.  We facilitate opportunities for students to follow their passions and learn the way that is best for them.  The classroom is a partnership.  That partnership extends outside of the classroom, across districts and reaches around the globe via technology.  

We believe all students have the ability to contribute to the learning community.  Teachers must help students discover ways to create their legacy.  In the online textbook students are leaving their legacy through podcasting, cartooning, text, etc.  We laid the foundation and allow students to create the structure using their strengths.  

In order to help manage the shift of control students must become active members in the process.  During a recent conference, we took six seventh grade students with us to document the day.  These students interviewed teachers, attend sessions and then produced and edited three videos (links below) in five hours.  The students then presented their work to the 400+ teachers attending the workshop.  It was complete role-reversal; students documented our day, instead of us collecting data concerning their day.  We must also afford teachers an environment that encourages calculated risk taking, trying new methodology and stepping back to allow students to lead their learning.  It’s scary to give control to students; can kids talk, laugh, type on a computer, gaze out the window while learning? YES.  Teachers need to realize that if we look at how we learn research shows that the more difficultly the task, the more social it should be.  We need to open our minds to a more social education.  The time has come.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f1ffiicEpzOjyY  Student overview of the conference
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuliXltnfXE  Keynote mash-up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wo77UZ17lwI  Response to Vision for k-12 Education Today

Mike and Garth
www.teachersfortomorrow.net
“Be the change you want to see in the world” -Gandhi

Six students came to the conference on March 18, 2011 and they did what we as teachers always do.  They documented the day.  The following three you-tubes were made at the conference.  They had five hours to build these video's from 12 hours of film footage.  Mike and I are very proud of their the work they did and the engagement of the 400 teachers from North East Ohio. 

Whew!  We made it.  Garth and I just finished our first Keynote presentation at the NEOtech conference in Akron.  We were able to (hopefully) inspire the attendees to integrate technology and create an even better learning experience for their students.  Garth and I were joined by several students from Beachwood that are creating a YouTube video in response to this this video.  Below is a video of the keynote.  We allowed the attendees to participate in our keynote through a wall made on Wiffiti.

This afternoon Garth and I will be looking specifically at the free programs below:
VOKI
MOTIVATOR
ANSWERGARDEN
CONVERT TO CARTOON
PREZI
WIFFITI
WORDLE
SKYPE
WALLWISHER
MOSAICKR
BUBBL.US
ANIMOTO
GOOGLEARTH

    Tomorrow Mike and I will be presenting a Keynote at the NEOTech Conference (see link).  If you are able to watch, we will be showing the keynote live on the webshow page at 8:30 EST on March 18, 2011–Just click play at 8:30 and you will see us live from Akron, Ohio.
However, I am posting this because five of my students are also going.  They are documenting the day's events for two different YouTube videos that will be posted tomorrow by 4:00 PM.  These students will document the day from their perspective of the meeting, which has over 400 teachers from Northeast Ohio.  They will also document how these teachers are trying to engage students with technology and 21st Century skills.  Watch the introduction to one video a student has already created  for tomorrow.   THESE KIDS ARE GREAT and make Mike and I proud!

Mike and I worked on a Middle Ages webquest for several weeks via google docs, skype and our classroom blog.  We talked about the webquest for a month or more, but when it got to building it we finished it up in a little over a week. 

The webquest is based on a constructionist approach to teaching and learning.  We created podcast lectures, links and guiding questions, but allowed students to explore and play while working.  Each student then created blogs to describe the life they "are living" as a person during the middle ages.  The following are examples of their reflections and growth. 

A "Knight" on his "Castle" being attacked: his real age 12.

I was woken up at dawn by my squire.  He told me that the king had ordered all of his knights to report to his castle.  I packed up my things, suited up, and me and my squire were off.  We left at midmorning and reached there by evening.  The king had ordered a meeting with all of his top officials and knights.
"Welcome my loyal servants.  You may be wondering why I have ordered you to come here.  Recently, my guards have caught a spy from our neighboring kingdom.  After putting the spy through rat torture-" a few despicable men snickered here, "we have found out that they are planning an attack on us within the next three days.  Now we must prepare ourselves for war."
The next two days, I was ordering around soldiers and preparing for battle.  The weapons were sharpened, the greek fire prepared, and the water was boiled.  Finally, they came.
It was midmorning when they arrived.  My squire quickly dressed me in armor, and we went to the king.  He ordered each of the knights to a different part of the castle.  I was on the northern wing, the side that would be attacked first.  I was in charge of the archers.
I saw the enemies marching forward.  The trebuchets loomed in the distance.  Our men stood tense.
As the soldiers marched closer to us, the king and his advisors rode out to meet the enemy king. After a half an hour or so, they rode back.  The red flag was raised, meaning we were still going to fight.
The attacking generals rode in front of their men.  All of a sudden, they turned and charged.  I saw one of my men flinch.
"Hold steady, men!" I yelled.
"Hold," I screamed as they got closer.  One of my men accidentally loosed an arrow.
"FFFIIIRRRREEEEEE!!!!"  The arrows blackened out the sky.  The oncoming men fell by the hundreds.
To counter, the enemies unleashed a deadly array of fiery stone.  The stones pounded our walls, but they held fast.
"FFFIIIRRRREEEEE!!!!" I yelled once more. The next series of arrows was unleashed.
The enemies had now begun to climb up their ladders.
"GRAB YOUR WEAPONS!".  All the men took out their swords and spears.  As the men came up, we chopped them down.  Some of the ladders were covered in Greek fire. We pushed down the remaining ladders after that.
Next came the siege towers.  My men were pegged down from behind protective walls.  Finally, we were able to take them out.
I look at the trebuchets.  One of them fired.  I watched the stone sail through the air.  It hit a large hole where an arrow slit had been before.  I watched in horror as the wall crumpled. 
The oncoming soldiers cheered, sensing victory was near.  Then I had a brilliant idea.
I led my remaining men to one of the tunnels.
I yelled, "Protect the king!"
My men and I ran into the tunnel.  We took a secret passage that led to a tower.  The enemies thought that the king was there, and had kept going down the tunnel.
I listened to their screams as they were burned by the Greek fire thrown down by the men up top.  They were trapped in a fake passage.  Then my men and I came out and finished them off.
After the battle was finished, I was personally thanked by the king.  Then I went back to my nice manor, and rested.

On the Crusade: another Knight heads off,
I rode into the king's palace.  I was immediately greeted by two servants, who washed and dressed me.  Next, I was led to the king's quarters, where he had called a meeting of all of his knights and nobles.
  "My loyal servants, I fear that another war is upon us.  Our new pope, Pope Gregory VIII, has begun a new crusade, and has asked for our allegiance.  Seeing as how we are all children of God, we have no choice, but to join the Third Crusade."
  All of the knights and nobles jumped up and started shouting at the same time.  An uproar went up.
  "Silence!" yelled the king.  "Being my loyal subjects, you all have no choice but to join me on this crusade."
  That quieted all the squabbling men.
  "What if we refuse to go," one man yelled.
 "Then your head shall be chopped off, and you will set an example to any others who dare disobey me."

  I rode back to my manor as fast as I could.  I had a week to gather all my forces, and meet the rest of the army at the capital.  For the next week, I gathered my armies.  Every man strong enough was put in the army.  Only the women and children were left.
  We rode down to the shore, where we boarded the ships and sailed off.  There were rumors that King Richard, a good and well respected king, was leading the crusades.  This raised the morale of some, but by the end of the voyage, morale was rock bottom.
  The voyage was treacherous.  Men were dying, throwing themselves overboard, starving, and killing each other.  At one point, we even had to drink the blood of our horses, who were dying every day.  By the time we reached the Holy Lands, almost half of the men were dead.  
  There we joined with the rest of our forces.
  For the next several weeks, we slowly forced our way towards Jerusalem.  After capturing the city of Acre, King Richard decided to go south to the city of Jaffa.
                                                                             *             *              *
  The scouts sprinted as fast as they could.  I saw them run by, heading straight for the king's tent. Within five minutes, the alarm was sounded, meaning we were about to do battle.  We all rushed to get suited.  Nobody knew what was happening, and some were panicking.  I saw one praying, and another just staring at the cross around his neck.
  After getting suited, I ran over to the king's tent.  I rushed in.
  "What's going on?" I asked.
  "Saladin is just over the horizon.  We must prepare for battle."
  As I walked out, I saw a knight in shining armor not 50 meters away.  Immediately, I knew that was King Richard.  He had a group of twenty other knights guarding him.  King Richard was supposedly a ferocious warrior, and a brilliant military leader.  This was the first time I had actually seen him.  He seemed to cast off some sort of aura.  All of a sudden I was filled with strength and courage.
                                                                            *             *             *
  I looked out across the large field.  Not 150 meters away stood the Muslim armies, my hated enemies.  Behind, hidden behing the walls of Arsuf were all of the archers, waiting to shoot us down.
  I saw King Richard ride out to greet Saladin.  After five or so minutes, they each rode back to their armies.  I tried to steady my heartbeat.  I took a deep breath.  My horse neighed softly underneath me.  I tried to calm it down.
  The flag was raised, the signal given, and all the knights began slowly walking towards the enemies.  The rest of the men walked behind us for protection.
  "Hold your formation!  Steady, steady," someone yelled.
  We began to gallop, slowly getting faster and faster.
  "CHARGE!!!"
  We sprinted towards the enemy.  They loosed their arrows and raised their spears.  A few men fell, but most were unharmed.  We slammed into the enemy.  I was jolted out of my seat, and thrown into the enemy.  One of the men had stabbed my horse.
  I was so enraged that I took out my sword and began picking off everyone around me.  I took them all out, the men that had killed my horse.  I was in such a rage.
  I ran over to my horse, who neighed softly at the site of me.  A long spear pierced its breast.
  I barely dodged the sword.  I kicked the legs out from under the enemy, and then finished him off.
  It was a long and hard battle, but because King Richard was able to maintain our formation, we were able to defeat Saladin.  The final blow was struck by the Hospitallers, who took the right flank, while the Templars took the left.
                                                                  *            *             *
  We continued to battle toward Jerusalem, but alas, we failed to capture it.  King Richard and Saladin signed a treaty that would allow Christian pilgrims to enter the city, but it would stay under Muslim rule.
  The voyage home was possibly more treacherous then the one going to the Holy Lands.  
  But I was still happy, because I was finally going home.

Or this Voki from the Crusades...She also wrote a long blog about the trip.

Several months ago, I wrote about confidence and then motivation.  I said then I would come back to motivation at some point...so here I am with part two.

I have been reading a lot of Daniel Pink lately. First, I read Drive.  Alan November interviewed Mike and I a few months back and he had mentioned this book after some comments we had made about motivation and creativity.  I thought I should get it and start reading, although I was sure I was sold on the ideas before I broke the pages.  Dan's main point in Drive, according to his twitter summary: "Carrots & Sticks are so last century.  Drive says for 21st Century work, we need to upgrade to autonomy, mastery & purpose." (Pink/203). 

I have always bought into this type of thinking.  Motivation comes from within, not external threats or bribes.  I found several really interesting quotes in this book, that I would like to share before we move on.
-"They're working hard and persisting through difficulties because of their internal desire to control their lives, learn about their world, and accomplish something that endures." (79) Do you see this in your classroom?
-"People to contribute rather then just show up and grind out their days." (100) -What teacher has not wanted this?
-"No matter what kind of business you're in, it's time to throw away the tardy slips, time clocks, and outdated industrial-age thinking." (101) -When was the last time you handed out a tardy slip? Why are they late anyways?
-"We're born to be players not pawns." (107)  Directions: read pages ??? and answer these questions. 
-"Control leads to compliance: autonomy leads to engagement...only engagement can produce mastery" (110-111) When was the last time you had true engagement and what caused this engagement?
-"Effort is one of the things that gives meaning to life.  Effort means you care about something, that something is important to you and you are willing to work for it." (125)  How often in your work room is the conservation about EFFORT?
-"Do the workers refer to the company (school) as "they"? Or do they describe it in terms of "we"?" (129)  Do your students see school on their team?
 
Daniel Pink's book is straight forward, the world has changed and we still are using an outdated method of motivation that is not based in research and science. 

So here we go.  Schools motivation ideals are screwed up, according to Pink. They are based on the old idea that teachers are the masters of knowledge and if students will only open their mind to what we are saying they will be successful.  That used to work for some.  They would do well, go to college or take a job at Ford and live a happy life (Pink called this Motivation 2.0). However, the world has changed and a new version of motivation is needed (Motivation 3.0). I disagree with Pink here.  The ideas of Motivation 3.0 are not new ideas, but they are hard to implement in today's schools and often overlooked.  High Stake Tests, Common Core, RttT, and other devices simply dictate what we "have" to teach; without focusing on who we are teaching.  We lose site of kids and only see numbers, data and value added (by the way that is education talk for teacher Motivation 2.0: merit pay).  That encourages more Motivation 2.0.  How do we move to more 3.0 motivation? 

We need to address the three elements of Motivation 3.0 according to Pink.  First, Student's need to gain autonomy, not empowerment (we love this word, it gives the impression that students have power in the system).  Autonomy is self direction. Second, Mastery of the topic (big word in education ten years ago).  And third, purpose (education likes to use meaning or relevance).

Can a classroom achieve these in today's world?  I believe we can.  But I also believe the system right now makes this very, very hard to do.  Being creative and finding ways to use technology helps us provide autonomy, mastery and purpose to student work.  We won't ignore standards (nor should we), but we can and will find ways to engage students in self directed and meaningful work. 

The collaboration between Mike and I has made it possible for us both to create new and exciting ways to provide students with Motivation 3.0.  No homework has helped, collaboration between the schools adds purpose and meaning and self-directed WebQuests/PBL's give students actual autonomy.  But at times it becomes overwhelming.  It is one thing to try and change the way students are motivated, learn and engage in the world, but it is a whole other task when you take into account 6 previous years of being "educated" in a broken system. 

For muscle memory, every time you do something wrong, lets say shoot a basketball, it takes three correct times (for every one) to replace what your muscle has learned.  The question know becomes not just how do we change how we teach, but how do we help students unlearn what they have become so used to doing in our educational system.  I find it very difficult sometimes to convince students that I am not grading a project, or that they can take a quiz whenever they are ready.  Students have learned that they will be told and shown how to survive in education.  What happens when these students go out into the world to find jobs that require independence, creative thinking and the ability to self-monitor?  Schools create learned-helplessness in students.  We need to encourage students to be independent thinkers that formulate their own methods to their own answers.  The data collection systems of education need to change to meet the new education system of the 21st century; we need to stop attempting to make new methodology fit into old data collection routines.

If you have read Pink's book and see it in a different light or have comments on this post we would love to hear from you. 

"‘No limit for better.’ I think that is a worthy credo."   -Harrison Ford (carpenter turned actor)

Student's in the language arts classes made movie trailers for books they had been reading.  This was a twist on the traditional book report.  Students used flip cameras, iMovie and of course staff to make trailers for the movie version of the book they had just read.  I have seen at least 15 (they love to show these 3 minute mini-films) and was even asked to be in a few.  Clearly the kids love taking what they have learned from a book and creating and building trailers around the main themes, characters and settings. 

I can't upload a students whole trailer as both students names and images are in them, but I did take my Oscar role out for you to see below.  Of course, I play the bad guy who is back to reek havoc on the world.  Roll out the red Carpet....