youthspace

Thinking about the Institute as a whole
We are coming together this summer with different ideas, skill levels, and thoughts about what we may gain from spending 12 days together. Paul and Julie want to know what you're hoping to learn more about by tomorrow, next week, and/or July 17th. What do you want to be able to do as a teacher/educator in your classroom in September? What do you want your students to be able to do? What do you want to help your school to be able to do? What do you want to be able to do as a member of a professional learning community?

About communities: the fifteen of us, although we've just met, can now begin thinking of ourselves as a community. There's another teaching/learning community in this building too, composed of another NYC Writing Project summer institute -- and we are linked to them; there's the NYC Writing Project community as a whole, and the National Writing Project community; there are also many learning communities of teachers who are using technology in places far away from each other, but who connect regularly in order to learn from each others' work. One, which you may already know or which you'll find out more about, is called Teachers Teaching Teachers.

So -- we cobble ourselves together bit by bit, becoming this community, developing knowledge about technological tools, their application, and how they can deeply influence what both teaching and learning look like. We are thinking of this three-week period as a beginning; a springboard from which we develop beneficial teaching/learning relationships with each other, perhaps decide to plan together throughout the year or maybe just check in from time to time to see what all of us are doing. We hope to have opportunities throughout the year to see what kind of impact our work this summer has on our individual and collaborative teaching, and on both our school communities and our wider-world education communities.

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Tools
Like a carpenter would assemble and sharpen his or her tools before beginning to build, you will be adding to your toolbox for online communication. Specifically we will introduce or review the following tools and ask you to use them.

//Collaborative Learning Tools// //Multimedia Tools (Easel)// //Social Networking Tools (RSS connecting, telephone)//
 * Gmail or another email that you use "Youth Space." (This will be your email for our work this summer.)
 * Google Docs (expressive writing; collaborative writing and editing; private, shared, or published)
 * Ning [|http://nycwritingproject.ning.com] (collecting, publishing, inviting conversation, building a portfolio)
 * Wikispaces http://youthplans.wikispaces.com
 * Splashup (to create graphics--like an icon or name banner) (Week 1)
 * Hypertextopia (creating links between texts) (Week 1)
 * VoiceThread (multimedia presentation, inviting conversation) (Week 2)
 * flickr (photo storage and sharing) (Week 2)
 * Tumblr (Week 3)
 * Google Reader (reading, organizing information, and listening to podcasts)
 * Twitter (questions, capturing process thinking, back channelling)
 * FriendFeed (aggregating, commenting, discussion, collecting)

Week One: Hypertext story on Hypertextopia.com Week Two: Conversation piece on VoiceThread. Week Three: Tumblr?

Typical Day (Week One)
9:00 - 9:15 Community Meeting in Room 228 9:15 - 9:45 Writing into the day (on our ning); Room 234 10:00 - 11:30 Workshop: Interactive Content, Case Studies, Troubleshooting, Questions, Application/Conversation 11:30 - 12:00 Lunch 12:00 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning)

Week 1 - Exploring Digital Environments for Writing/Communicating
Tools, strategies or concepts we will be discussing this week:
 * Social Networks
 * Discussion Forums
 * Blogs
 * Tagging
 * Linking
 * Generating Writing
 * Peer Response
 * Revising
 * Publishing

Monday, June 30
9:00 - 9:15 Coffee, breakfast and introductions in room 228 9:15 - 9:45 Rm 234: Registering and writing on the Ning: What brings you here? What does the statement above mean to you? What do you think you want? What do you bring? (Julie) http://nycwritingproject.ning.com/ 9:45 - 10:00 Sharing Back/Process 10:00 - 10:15 Break 10:15 - 11:10 Create your own avatar/icon using Splash-Up (Paul) 11:10 - 11:30 Logistics: books, parking, history, etc. 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15- 1:30 Play with Splash-up and Nings; looking at your page, playing with it, setting up your page and writing about your avatars. 1:30 - 1:45 Blogging impressions of the day (or whatever else) on the blog 1:45 - 2:00 Sharing Back/Process

Assignment: Read first 2 chapters of the book by Wednesday

Tuesday, July 1
9:00 - 9:15 Coffee/agenda in room 228 9:15 - 9:45 Rm 234: Blogging/Writing into the Day; Sharing Back/Process 9:45 - 11:30 Hypertextopia Workshop: making boxes/memory chain, taking a break, writing in boxes (Paul) 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15- 1:30 Play with Hypertextopia, Ning, Splash-up, Blog; by Thursday everyone should have a Hypertextopia story to share 1:30 - 1:45 Blogging impressions of the day (or whatever else) on the blog 1:45 - 2:00 Sharing Back/Process

Wednesday, July 2
9:00 - 9:15 Coffee/agenda in room 228 9:15 - 9:45 Rm 234: Blogging/Writing into the Day; Sharing Back/Process 9:45 - 10:15 Paul and Julie will "fishbowl" with Hypertextopia
 * key "how-to's" for setting up your boxes for a reader
 * suggestion: reader should not have to scroll
 * adding "shards"
 * adding images

10:15 - 11:30 Work with a partner (Joann/Aileen; Sonali/Mat; Wendy/Julie M.; Beth/Julia; Eduardo/Margaret)

1) Take time to carefully read each other's texts. 2) Your partner will: 3) As the writer, do you want to get rid of that theme? Do you want to extend it? How do you want your reader to see this piece of writing?
 * With your Partner:**
 * point to one part that he/she feels is strong for any reason, and why it stands out
 * point to another part that raises questions for him/her -- again for any reason -- something that raises questions is not necessarily a bad thing -- it may mean something intriguing, something that makes him/her want to read further.
 * identify groups of boxes in your work - is the piece falling into themes? Can categories be made?

11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15- 1:30 Playtime -- images with Hypertextopia, Ning, Splash-up, Blog; //by Thursday everyone should have a Hypertextopia story to share// 1:30 - 2:00 Book discussion: First two chapters

Thursday, July 3
9:00 - 9:15 Coffee/agenda in room 228 9:15 - 9:45 Rm 234: Blogging/Writing into the Day; Sharing Back/Process 9:45 - 11:30 Finishing Hypertextopia/open time - Write a blog post inviting people to read your hypertextopia story including a link to it. Some responding 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15- 1:00 Responding continues 1:00 - 1:30 Beyond Hypertextopia: What does this mean? How does this add to conventional literacies? What do youths need to know now that we didn't? 1:30 - 1:45 Blogging impressions of the week (or whatever else) on the blog 1:45 - 2:00 Sharing Back/Process

Bring or upload images.

Typical Day (Week Two)
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Book Talk 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning); Room 236 10:00 - 11:30 Workshop: Interactive Content, Case Studies, Troubleshooting, Questions, Application/Conversation 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning)

Week 2 - Creating Online, Multimedia Conversations
Tools, strategies or concepts we will be discussing this week:
 * Microblogging (twitter)
 * Tagging
 * Blogging
 * Linking
 * Using Images to Generate Writing (guidelines)
 * Group conversations around images, docs, and videos
 * Composing with Images
 * Visual Literacy
 * Professional networks

Monday, July 7
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Book Talk / Professional Networks 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning); Room 236 10:00 - 11:30 Twitter Workshop: Interactive Content, Case Studies, Troubleshooting, Questions, Application/Conversation 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 [|VoiceThread] Play: Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning)

Tuesday, July 8
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Book Talk - Point to something that you like in the first few chapters... and that you would like more details about. 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning... and linked out to twitter); Room 236 10:00 - 10:30 Generating narratives about images 10:30 - 11:30 Continue with VoiceThread and/or writing. 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play (VoiceThreads completed by Wednesday afternoon) 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning and Twitter. See http://twitterfeed.com )
 * Search http://summize.com for VoiceThread or other topic.
 * Check out this wiki: http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com

Wednesday, July 9
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Book Talk about //Reinventing Project-Based Learning// 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning and linked in twitter); Blog about something you've read. 10:00 - 11:10 Workshop: Finish VoiceThread project 11:10 - 11:30 Twitter talk 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Finish VoiceThread and explore... 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning and Twitter. See http://twitterfeed.com )
 * Search http://summize.com for VoiceThread or other topic.
 * Check out this wiki: http://voicethread4education.wikispaces.com
 * Online sources in //Reinventing Project-Based Learning//
 * Teachers Teaching Teachers tonight... skype... etc.

Thursday, July 10
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Book Talk about //Reinventing Project-Based Learning// 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning and linked in twitter); Blog about something you've read. 10:00 - 11:30 Workshop: Respond //in// each other's VoiceThreads 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Begin to play with Curriculum/School projects based on //Reinventing Project-Based Learning// 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning)
 * Hypertextopia
 * VoiceThread
 * What else do you want to know? (Google Docs, RSS, tumblr...)

Week 3 - Doing Online Research
When we, Julie and Paul, started planning the third week of our work together, we reminded ourselves of one of our primary goals for this Institute. We want you to feel comfortable in joining a group or groups of teachers who are using some of the same tools that we've been playing with together this summer: And, as always, there's never enough time. Google apps, social bookmarking with del.icio.us... there's more. Instead of trying to throw in the kitchen sink this week, we thought we would introduce the three tools that might be most important in helping you to stay connected and to continue learning with us in the fall.
 * social networks http://youthvoices.netwikis http://youthwiki.wikispaces.com
 * twitter http://twitter.com and twitter-like networks http:youthtwitter.com
 * VoiceThread http://ttt.ed.voicethread.com
 * Hypertextopia http://hypertextopia.com
 * Skype http://skype.com to be able to participate on "Teachers Teaching Teachers" on Wed. nights http://edtechtalk.com

On Monday morning we will invite you to use Google Reader, tumblr, and a Wikispaces site to build your own personal learning network. We want you to use these tools tools as a "scrapbook" to pull together ideas for classroom work and/or personal projects. There are many other tools, resources and project ideas in Reinventing Project-Based Learning that you might want to use as well. We will be brainstorming what else we might want to learn together, developing explorations that are connected to each other. We want to work both with looking at new tools, but more importantly, thinking about how those tools serve larger purposes, like "how do I create community in my school?" or "how do I become a better poetry teacher?" or "How can I help kids learn to speak/listen/read/write about topics they really care about, and how does that fit into my curriculum?" or "Which is more important,

Typical Day (Week Three)
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Curriculum Talk 9:30 - 9:50 Blog responding and posting (on our ning, on Twitter, and on tumblr); Room 236 10:00 - 11:30 Workshop: Interactive Content, Case Studies, Troubleshooting, Questions, Application/Conversation 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning, Twitter, tumblr and wiki)

Week 3 - Doing Online Research
Tools, strategies or concepts we will be discussing this week:
 * Questions
 * Microblogging (tumblr)
 * Tagging and Keywords
 * Blogging
 * RSS
 * Aggregators
 * Wikis
 * Collaborative writing
 * Professional networks

Monday, July 14
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Curriculum Talk 9:30 - 9:50 Responding to each other's blog posts Room 236 Introduction to tumblr, 10 Self / 10 World Questions (with 3 keywords for each question) 10:00 - 11:30 Workshop: Using Google Reader 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning, Twitter, tumblr and wiki)

Tuesday, July 15
9:00 - 9:30 Community Meeting in Room 228 with Curriculum/Tech Tools/Frustration Talk -- potluck sign-up? 9:30 - 10:00 Responding to each other's blog posts, Room 236 10:00 - 10:45 Workshop: Writing to find what we want to explore. Using our 10 Self /10 World Questions, find a keyword, phrase or question that draws you, one that you'd like to explore. Or find one that's just going to serve as a jumping-off point. We'll write using a "looping" process (Julie will guide us). As we write, let's bear in mind that we may find another hidden or lurking keyword, phrase or question that feels even more urgent than the one we started with -- and that any moment, we can change the focus of our writing and thinking to reflect this. We're going to post this on our Ning discussion board, and then figure out how we may want to bring this to Tumblr, using all the different modalities possible in the software. 10:45 - 11:30 Playing with our writing, and how the ideas might be explored in Google Reader and expressed in Tumblr 11:30 - 12:15 Lunch 12:15 - 1:30 Individual and Small Group Projects, Work Time, Designing Projects, Exploration, Play 1:30 - 2:00 Online Reflection and Connection (on our Ning, Twitter, tumblr and wiki)