Roxanne inspired me to do a Wordle on my blog. So here it is. (click to see it bigger) I picked the one where the Read Around the Planet words were close together. It’s funny that New is so big for all the updates of content providers. Glad to see that ASK and Veterans made the list too. Not sure why December is so big! 🙂 Click it to make it bigger.
Also, it might be blocked at your school, so try to view it at home….
How do you interpret it? Feel free to comment!
We have a panel of veterans coming in on November 11 from 9:00-10:00. We’ll be using the interview format, with each class getting an opportunity to ask questions of the veterans.
I need some more interactive classes! If you can join us, please sign up online here, and then email me to let me know you want to participate.
FREE!! 🙂
Just a reminder to everyone who is subscribed to my blog, to make sure you’re subscribed to the TWICE blog as well. Particularly if you plan to participate in Read Around the Planet this year. It’s time to start thinking about this big project, and you’ll want to know about the updates and tweaks to CAPspace for Read Around the Planet…..
Are you subscribed to Roxanne Glaser’s blog? If not, be sure to check out these two informative reflective posts on last week’s Monster Match sessions:
You may as well take a moment to subscribe to her blog too if you haven’t already!
So, what’s next? I have two days of ASK Stellaluna, more November and December ASK programs, starting to prep for Mrs. Claus in December, and getting some Eco-Conversation projects for December off the ground. Also getting ready to get to work on verification for Read Around the Planet.
What are YOU working on next?
Last day of Monster Match. Whew! We made it. I had 37 classes participate, which doesn’t sound like too many compared to a few other VC friends. But I’m still pleased with the results.
I thought you’d enjoy some “horror” stories from the week. These are some of the interesting things that went on behind the scenes. Any project of this size is going to have some little “issues” along that way the need resolving.
Still, we had some great conversations about similarities and differences, and got to know each other a little more. I even heard a class this morning comparing who they were “rooting for” in the election.
Finally, a few more Monster Pairs for your viewing pleasure…
Lakeshore and Coloma Middle Schools, MI (6th grade)
This was one of the better matches I saw at the middle school level. Pretty close!
Doesn’t the head look a bit like a chocolate bar?
Coloma Elementary, MI and Groesbeck, TX (4th grade)
And here’s the monster that matched the one that got recycled. Check out the guitar!
Hope the stories this week inspired you to do similar projects. I’ve seen a few on CAPspace: Elves Exchange, Turkey Time, etc. You too can do this kind of project!
Another day of Monster Matches and some more pairs for you.
This monster’s name was “Mr. Cranky.” It’s fun to hear what the kids name their monsters. One class today said, “what is your monster’s name?” to a class that hadn’t named their monster. They had to think quick!
And the other pair….
Also, I caught some pictures of Ms. Purple Haired Facilitator herself!
“Who’s listening?! Are you thinking about the similarities and differences?”
“Now, children, it’s time to dance to Monster Mash!”
Ms. Purple Haired Monster was so kind to drop in on a connection this afternoon where the partner class was late and confused. Quick thinking “on her feet” to entertain our kids. Thank you!
As I’m listening to Monster Matches today, I hear the students working hard to identify what is similar and what is different between their monsters. In the session I’m listening to now, both teachers are having their students identify things that are similar and different. The teachers also have the students think about how they could have written their description better.
It occurred to me that this fits nicely with Marzano’s strategy of having students identify similarities and differences.
As an instructional strategy, it includes various activities that help learners see patterns and make connections. For example, students compare things that are similar and contrast things that express differences. They classify when they identify features or characteristics of a group of objects or ideas, and then develop a scheme to organize those objects.
After identifying the differences, students make connections (organize?) by trying to determine what they could have done differently to help the other class better understand what they meant.
Here’s a challenge for you today: How are YOUR videoconferences using research based instructional strategies?
This fall I have three districts who are part of our RUS grant who are having technical difficulties with their videoconferencing. This week I talked to one of the coordinators, who said, “I miss my videoconferencing! When will it be fixed??” She echos the feelings at each of these buildings that are currently not working. They were enjoying having videoconferencing and are now wishing it was working. A couple of them said they are watching the collaborations announcements coming out of CAPspace and so anxious to do some of them!
Here’s the situation in these districts:
Bandwidth
In two of the districts, the bandwidth they have is completely full. One has QoS, but it doesn’t seem to be helping. Both of them are using United Streaming. One district is not willing to turn off streaming during the day, to allow only downloading at night. I tried to convince them to change this policy unsuccessfully. In the other district, we’re still investigating how United Streaming is set up. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to fix the policy there so that streaming/downloading only happens at night.
In one of these districts, two buildings connect through the Polycom V2IU firewall traversal unit. It seems to be more sensitive to bandwidth limitations, and usually won’t connect at all. However, the elementary building is somehow wired differently and they can connect with some freezing here and there. It’s tolerable enough to hear and understand what’s going on. Each building is sharing the two T1s that come to us.
Router? Firewall?
In the other district, they just upgraded from two T1s to Comcast where they have 10+M so the bandwidth isn’t an issue any more. This district was also using a Polycom V2IU for firewall traversal. The two districts with the V2IU were the only ones that we couldn’t get the NAT/port settings to work for videoconferencing on the WatchGuard firewall. Something in the switch to Comcast made the V2IU not work – and we still can’t get VC to work through the WatchGuard. We have a ticket open with our support techs and I’m hopeful that we’ll be able to solve it. This district did 100 VCs last year, so they are pretty anxious that it’s up & running soon.
I think that these situations illustrate how fragile VC can be on a K12 school district network. Wonderful when it works; but challenging to have the technical expertise and funds to appropriately support VC on the network. I’ve been testing with OSU for Megaconference coming up next week, and it always amazes me the high level of technical support and expectations at the university level. I’m hoping that soon we’ll get these issues resolved so my schools can keep using this great resource!
Here’s a story of persistance for you!
Sylvester Elementary’s videoconferencing system isn’t working, but they are in the same town as us. In fact, just across a parking lot and a field. So for one class’ Monster Match today, they loaded up their monsters and donned their jackets for a trip over to videoconference.
One monster was very large, so it rode a wagon on the way over, with two students holding it carefully so it wouldn’t fall over. Over the fields and through the woods, to Grandma’s videoconferencing room, we go!
Whew! Made it through a second day of Monster Match. I had eight classes participating today. I captured monster pair pictures for two of them for you to enjoy. I heard some really careful thoughtful comparison and contrasts today, as well as describing how we might have written a phrase differently to make it clearer for the other class.
6th & 8th Grade Edwardsburg, MI and El Paso, TX
Three Oaks, MI and Fairfield, TX, 1st grade
Great job, everyone! Two more days to go.
