TED Talks are always interesting, but here’s a collection for teachers… check these out and at least a few of them will inspire you to think about learning in different ways.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2009/12/10-ted-talks-for-teachers-to-watch.html

This year has still a good week left in it, but it’s at that time that I begin to think about the 50 weeks that precede this time to consider what I’ve learned.

I’ve taught myself that my career should be far less about one of the things I love — the technology — and more about learning. It’s a theme that keeps hitting me in the face, day to day, either through personal experience, what I read from my colleagues the edubloggers via Twitter, or else it is the theme of some persuasive speaker who may have the fortune of standing before me at a conference or professional gathering.

Luckily, I have no fear of learning, so this is not bad news. But, when I look back not over the past weeks but the last day, I spent so much of it focused on tools rather than teaching. You’ll notice earlier I didn’t say teaching, but instead said learning. You might almost think of these concepts like the three blobs in a Venn diagram showing the TPACK theory.

I’m not saying we ignore teaching, because both teaching and learning are critical areas of focus for educators. But you can learn without a coach, a teacher, or even the warmth of another person on a given day. Learning is so much more than the short period of time a student sits in your classroom.

So let me just cut to it: I worked today on a “presentation” on Google Goodies. It doesn’t sound deep or particularly innovative, but I’m not ashamed, either. I’d been hacking away at it for days, but only managed to get 3 slides into it until today. The bottom line is,

• these “goodies” are cool tools,
• I know our teachers aren’t even aware they exist, or,
• they aren’t using them.

So, first, I had to deal with the fact that the tools existed, weren’t being used, and then as I began thinking about the tools, the inevitable question comes: Will adopting these tools allow students to learn any better than they already do?

I’m not stupid; I knew there was potential there before I started. But I before I could really get in there, and make something that someone could learn from, I needed to face the music: how would these tools “make a difference?” Let me have a few more words to detail what I eventually ended up putting into the presentation:

• Reader
• News Timeline
• FastFlip
• Search Options
• Moderator
• Squared, Docs
• City Tours, Maps
• Wave
• Sites
• Calendars

Most of the content would be of interest for personal reasons to elementary folks, and hopefully in addition, for student use at the secondary level. So, Google has a little tackle box of interesting tools. What about learning?

Trying to cover education applications of each tool would be paramount to writing a(nother) book, and that wasn’t something I was prepared to do. In fact, such an undertaking would be out-dated by the time I finished. But does that mean we should just give up and not move forward?

No. I’m better off showing my colleagues how to apply good instruction using any tools they have available or have ready access to.

I think teaching is important. I’ve said that before. But let’s focus on learning. How might these Google tools help us learn? I ended up using my time today to produce a “teaser” for teachers. Some teachers will have enough information by watching the video to be enticed to learn more and perhaps try these tools out. One of our assistant principals already identified a use for Google Wave.

For others, I hope I pique their interest enough to entice them to come to a session where they can learn more about these tools. And some may never bat an eye at these tools. It’s not personally insulting, it’s simply the reality that a) everyone has their own learning habits, and b) many folks already do a good enough job at teaching that “rocking the boat” with new tools or approaches isn’t on their radar.

So today was rather retrospective. As I forced myself to look at each of these tools independently and how they might get used in school, I held fast to a few of those things this year that I’d learned about…

1) Creating something is an incredibly educational experience, whether it’s a robot, a piece of art, or an extended conversation you have with another person through blog comments. 2) The tools and their capabilities are ever changing and for the most part, improving. From Craftsman wrenches to Web 2.0 tools. 3) We learn by attempting solutions to problems.

Simple stuff that I doubt you, reading this, would disagree with. I learned a great deal, creating my own Keynote template for this project, considering how to use the presentation, how best to organize the information, considering how much information was appropriate to share, making the presentation into a narrated video, and publishing the beast to the Web to share it.

The important part of the experience wasn’t then, the tools. It was the delivery and even above that, the comfortably challenging struggle in creating something that would raise awareness, convey facts, and hopefully weather more than one application. Questions of delivery were ultimately about pedagogy.

So, let me take one more stab at those “goodies” and tell you what I think you (or your students) could learn from them:

• Reader – you can of course skip this product entirely; but “technology” ought to make our lives easier, and save us time. This can be a critical tool for chomping through more content more quickly.
• News Timeline – do you value what’s taking place in the world around you? Anything that wraps some order around diverse content can make it easier to manage, consider, and utilize.
• FastFlip – I can’t say I’ve actively used this. But it reminded me of visiting the Newseum in Washington, D.C., and seeing all of the newspapers outside, front pages from around the world. That was an incredible experience. Perspective, bias, creativity, value… visually arranged… and here it is, for the Web.
• Search Options – sometimes just typing in what you want isn’t enough. Knowing how to access what you need or think you need is nearly critical in terms of a skill we require to be successful.
• Moderator – potential for brainstorming, a creativity engine.
• Squared, Docs – Once you being using these tools, the benefits present themselves. Dozens of projects where kids even more flexibility towards expressing ideas and observations.
• City Tours, Maps – Someone asked me earlier today: “How far is it from your house to…” With Maps, I knew right away. We can see the world around us from a laptop or a cell phone. Having your fingertips around the globe is powerful stuff.
• Wave – simply cutting edge. When you see others talk about Wave, you realize this really is the future of communication. I’m not sure it’s here yet, but the concepts are exciting to engage.
• Sites – so many teachers want something like this – a “home” on the Web for their classes. This will be a critical tool if we move towards a 1:1 initiative in the next 10 years.
• Calendars – time management, plain and simple. Take the burden off yourself of remembering when and where. Calendars are the way I do my job, and I know innovative calendaring should be among the skills we share with students. Oh, and because more than anything else, teachers want a class calendar to share with students.

So I can’t say for sure that learning using these tools over what we had available 5 years ago will make a huge impact. They seem, however, to be refinements (in news, in writing, in “spreadsheeting”, etc.) which could make good applications even easier or quicker. Plus, if they inspire discussion of more constructive ways of teaching, then we’re on to something.

One of my experiences today as I was working on this was reading the criticism of Dr. Gary Stager via Twitter about the whole notion of a “Google Teacher Academy.” I many times find his negativity off-putting (no more so than his own self-promotion), but I also find his critical eye enlightening (and occasionally amusing). Brian (@podpirate) I thought had a really good volley with Stager. Stager’s right to criticize the tools and the entity encouraging you to use them. But that Google Koolaid is sweet. For me the tools are powerful. But learning about them (even the ones in beta) are worth it, I feel, for a very basic reason: engaging these tools gets you thinking about what’s next, using them can test your notions about good teaching, and the experience expands your toolkit for learning opportunity.

Finally, I have to give some thanks to the other educators who came to share their passion for these tools earlier this month at the 2009 Google Teacher Academy in Washington, D.C. They overwhelmed us with tools, and we rarely talked about teaching. But that’s okay. We’re all teachers. So here’s my advice for each of you as we think about 2010. There will be cool new tools. But how might they help us learn? Let’s find out.

Ultimately, with my Google Goodies I’m not successful if teachers immediately begin using all of them starting in on the first week of January. That would be interesting, for sure. But the success comes from teachers creating, experiencing and challenging themselves with these tools. When they find better ways to learn (despite the tools) for their students, it’s a win.

Tomorrow morning I’m delivering a short presentation for the Region 1 superintendents group focused on 21st century skills in Chesterfield. I’ll be sharing how our district is focused on 21st century skills.

One of the things I’ll be talking about is a train model which I’ve used more than once, because the metaphor of a train really can be applied in a number of ways to education, professional development, and of course, 21st century skills.

My fellow colleagues in other places (i.e. in Virginia but especially beyond) have opined their distrust and dissatisfaction with this term: twenty-first century skills. I can’t say it’s a perfect term, but then again, I didn’t invent it and I don’t routinely inject it into the consciousness of educators.

The problem is, the term (read also: tool, technology, software application, hardware implementation) that was new two years ago for one group of educators may very well be stale in the lexicon of this same group today. One example I’d use is laptops for teachers. We rolled out laptops in 2001-2002 for teachers to take home. Today, there are districts still planning to do the same in SY 2010-2011. These memes are like rolling waves. I don’t think it’s fair to cringe one’s nose at last year’s term (or last year’s recognition of innovation) when we’re all riding different trains.

One instance of my train model is the engine, passenger car, and caboose. Each represent, respectively, the innovators, the majority, and the laggards in terms of the adoption of innovation. The question is: where do we focus our attention? Those pulling the train, or those adding “extra weight” at the end?

Some organizations spend their time so focused on getting the caboose to help make the train move. We focus on trying to get those teachers “up to speed” on adopting some of the district’s initiatives with technology.

The real focus is not on the tools (or at least it shouldn’t be). It should be on quality teaching and learning. And if we really believe the emphasis always with professional development should be on improving the experience of teaching & learning, then we ought to focus on those who bring innovative change into the classrooms we populate each day with students.

Focus on the engine, on your innovators and cutting-edge idea-makers.

This week I felt spoiled having the opportunity to meet a great group of educators from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and some 19 other states at the 2009 Washington, D.C. Google Teacher Academy. Not only did I learn more about some of Google’s amazing Web 2.0 tools available to the education community, but I also was inspired by the excitement of putting innovative pedagogy into play. If my normal excitement level at your average conference were a “5,” this day and a half experience was a “10.” The buzzword didn’t get used (e.g. twenty-first century skills), but it might have been silly.

As you read this blog going forward, please know that when I write twenty-first century skills I’m talking about the inclusion of best-in-class learning experiences with best-in-class tools. While collaboration, teaching others, and global insight have always been skill-sets worthy of practice, when they are combined with modern tools like online video chat, video production, and the publication of ideas for a world audience, that’s when we really have twenty-first century skills.

I’m learning a lot at the Google Teacher Academy here in Washington, D.C. Wow – first-class professional development and learning. Incredible educators and they’ve filled my head with great ideas. Bea Cantor and I are now Goochland’s first two Google Certified Teachers.