Suffern Middle School in Second Life

Liza Medina concluded a fant astic project today and the kids were set loose for a celebration at teh end of the period. Below are some pics just for fun but check back soon for examples sof student work and the teacher’s reflection!

Liza Medina has designed a project investigating characterization using historical fiction with the central theme of the American Revolution. Students were experimenting today with different looks - and some discovered our colonists outfits!!! Wrong century! Her lesson plan and accounts will folllow but had to get these pics up to brighten your day!

This class was really successful and we will move them to voice next week.

Tuesday and Friday of this week I am spending the day at Suffern High School - working with the 9th graders(who already have accounts from last and some 10th graders (new accounts)in the foreign language classes. Once again, what the momentum to bring the kids in started with a few brave teachers (who succumbed to the pestering pressure of a few good teen avatars!) Kudos especially to Ms. Alessi who teaches Italian. After taking my in-service teacher workshop for SL, she jumped right in developing her curriculum and collaborating with other educators to help develop best practices.

Firesabre, our content creation firm, listened to our ideas for the island and are creating the builds with teacher input including shared photos. Take a look at teh pics to see the rearkable work they do! We have started with basic architecture in the style of the particular cultures each language might represent and along with the kids we will be creating artifacts, holding events and conducting academic exercises. Voice will be enabled on this island but students are only able to “keep their headsets” if they stick to speaking in their language of study. The first exercise the Italian classes will be conducting will take place in the cafe where they will be sordering from a menu and role-playing servers and customers. In addition the kids will be researching differennt regions of Italy in order to identify and recommend cultural artifacts and scearios for the build!

Suffern High School’s Foreign Language teachers have taken the leap and today I facilitated five classes with their entry (for 10th grade) or reentry (for freshman who had previously participated in learning on Ramapo last year when they were in 8th grade) The teacher, Laura Alessi teaches Italian, and has been contributing to the look and feel of the new Language Learning Island with photos and descriptions of the time she spends in Italy.

Let me tell ya - Decka has done it again! Her latest and greatest teaching tool, “POINKEY’S PODS” are transforming learning on Ramapo! Here’s how they work:
Like Decka’s Decks, they are enabled by the facilitator and are used to accommodate discussion, only this time, rather than supporting 5-7 avatars the pods are designed to accommodate 1 to 1 discussion and — here’s the clincher—- they are timed so that after a set amount of minutes the chairs reset themselves into a new pod with a new avatar automatically. Kind of like “speed dating!” LOL!

NEWS ALERT!!!! As I was writing this post (SNOW DAY GUILT—-MUST DO WORK! What happens to arrive in my inbox - but a complete write up of the experience from Gayle Yodowitz -. This has inspired me to rename this post - from “POINKEY’s PODS ROCK” to “RAMAPO TEACHERS ROCK” I will writie more later about the technology - but let’s look at what is really important– THE LEARNING! Here it is (yes - Ramapo teachers are amazing!)

LEARNING HOW TO MAP THEIR WAY TO SUCCESS IN SL
Gayle Yodowitz, FACS educator
Darby Wind, SL Avatar on Ramapo Islands
While middle level students are too young to choose a career, it is a great time for them to begin exploring careers. Career planning is a lifelong process, with self-knowledge being the beginning of the journey. The Family and Consumer Science curriculum for 8th graders at Suffern Middle School consists of Career Exploration and Financial Literacy. The career exploration unit addresses three questions: Who am I? Where am I going? and How do I get there? The first question involves many self-assessments taken by students from a variety of sources that help them identify aptitudes and particular aspects of their personality. The assessments generate lists of potential careers. Many students are surprised to see some of the jobs on their list. However, when they compare and contrast their personality characteristics with the responsibilities of the listed jobs, they begin to see that although the jobs may be worlds apart, the types of people geared for each job share similar interests and characteristics. A quote I like to discuss with the students is “Do what you love and love what you do.” and how they have the ability to find a career that makes them happy, successful and financially supports their lifestyle.
At this point, the students select a career they would like to learn more about. This is just some basic research- job responsibilities, advantages, stressors, related jobs and job outlook for the future. We discuss how technology might impact their career in the future. The students also research a college or vocational school that will provide them the education needed for their researched career using an online post secondary search website. Embedded in this search are understandings about admissions expectations, expenses and ways to finance their education. Lastly, I have the students examine the high school curriculum book to become familiar with, not just the required courses for graduation, but also all of the electives available. If students have an interest in engineering, film directing, sports broadcasting, writing or being the next top chef, they should know what electives might be offered that could give them a snapshot of a career in that area. Students also check out the high school activities book to see what clubs or sports they can join.
Okay, so here is where SL comes in! As part of their assessment, students (avatars) play the role of interviewer and interviewee “in world”. Before the interviews take place, students spend the first week in SL developing the following skills: changing their avatar’s appearance (be unique but appropriate- like in the real world), be able to navigate around the islands by flying, walking and TPing, join the Group, make friends, communicate in world (via instant message (no problem Ms. Y!), chat and creating a note card), using the camera to take a snapshot of themselves and uploading it to their profile.
Now, they are ready to be interviewed about what they learned through class activities and research. Students have learned about Costa’s Levels of Questioning and have developed interview questions for all three levels. I have taken their questions and put them on a note card that is sent to the Group to be used during the interviews. While developing these skills in the virtual world, students must work on being good listeners so they can follow directions, use their critical thinking skills to troubleshoot and solve problems and work in a collaborative atmosphere.
Chaser Brody, my SL guru and mentor, offers me the opportunity to use these awesome pods that allow avatars to interview each other in pairs. Every five minutes the pairs automatically swap to new avatars. Being one who thrives on cutting edge opportunities, I accept!

Chaser facilitates Poinky’s Pods with my class of avatars- and they’re off into space to complete their assessment…in their favorite mode of conversation- Instant message style! Before the class ends, students create a new note card (naming it with their class period and real first name); copy and paste the “IM interviews” into the note card and drop it in my inventory. Now, using a rubric, I will grade their work based on two roles- the interviewer and the person being interviewed. As a result of this process, students have had to take what they have learned and share that knowledge with others. They have had to “think on their feet”- not knowing what questions they will be asked, but being able to address each question because they prepared for the interview by creating the questions and practicing interview techniques. Using Costa’s Levels of Questioning challenges students in higher level thinking skills.
As an aside, there were some glitches. The pods in one class initially went up, leaving some avatars without an interview partner. Someone, by accident, stepped on a power cord and turned off an entire row of computers. Two students were off task. However, just like in the real world, we addressed each issue, resolved it, learned from it and moved on.
Wait a minute! Isn’t everything the students accomplished and learned considered transferable skills for the future? You bet they are! A recent survey of business leaders identified the top qualities that employers look for in potential employees are- communication skills, a capacity to learn, critical thinking skills and ability to work with others. Didn’t this project enable students to learn how to map their way to success using 21st century literacy skills? Absolutely! I hope they think of me and Chaser someday when they are in SL being interviewed by a college admissions person or at a global conference representing the company they work for!

(Students will soon be writing their reflection about the career project. Then, they will start their entrepreneur project in SL. I can’t wait- and neither can they!)

Peggy’s note: Reflections will be posted ASAP and photos are coming as soon as we get back into school!

Ramapo Islands was a dream that started as just a “tip of a thought” when my daughter, Meghan, hounded me to enter Second Life to take a look around. After all, she was a Linden Lab Liaison at the time - and she was so excited about this emerging Metaverse. I thought I had no time for a “Second Life” but succumbed, and seeing this new frontier through the eyes of a teacher - I was startled, and intrigued. After a very short time, I became determined to bring my students in world to be a part of it.

However, all of the determination in the universe was not going to make this happen without the support of a visionary administration, a community of believers in world, a solid staff of volunteers, and ultimately, a teacher who said yes. My teachers did say yes. Some said it tentatively; “I don’t understand it, but I believe it is important for my students,” while others were eager and excited; “I don’t care how deep the water is–I know how to swim!”

It was never going to happen without the help of people like Fred Fuchs of Firesabre Consulting who spearheaded the volunteer effort, and Barry Joseph of Global Kids, ushering the way - sharing hope and experience… All of you who wrote, or visited, or spoke to me at a conference and cheered us on — All of you who spread the word, and most importantly all of you who followed soon after - validating the work and extending the horizon. All of you share this award.

When I first began my “crusade”, shamelessly soliciting your help and your talent and energy, I used the worn out adage, “It takes a village.” I am a dreamer - a visionary if you will–but first and foremost, I am a teacher. So perhaps the old adage is still true, and those who object to its overuse may perhaps digest its latest incarnation a bit more easily. With that, I respectfully submit, “It takes a Metaverse.”

Kevin Jarrett passed along this great tool for putting together a quick video –This one is to get some of the 8th grade kids interested in the Tech Club! ANIMOTO is an awesome tool! Perfect for ‘puter phobics!

A picture says a thousand words?

Is that an inappropriate sentiment for a blog ?!?!!?

Thanks to all who are with me along the way.

What an exciting time to be an educator! VOTE HERE!

Ok OK - I know - Thirty lashes with a flexi prim for my lapse in blogging! So much going on - and very interesting comparisons to make. Remember - I promised the truth and the whole truth so here we go:

A new approach for our Library Media class. This is a ten week class that teaches the research process and is product oriented as the kids use the TV studio and iMovie to complete a visual presentation of their research. Catherine Conley, the teacher, developed the curriculum and is an outstanding educator (National Board certified) She is also a very organized and structured teacher and has learned how to get an incredible amount of learning into 10 short weeks. For this reason, it was especially crucial that her students truly transferred their learning into the virtual world in an authentic manner and one that would not require “extra” time added to the unit—To learn the research process the kids are asked to explore a topic that supports the science curriculum. This semester they chose catastrohic events.

The list was narrowed down to: volcanoes, floods, global warming, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, and tsunamis. In order to conduct their research they are taught note-taking and source validation, proper citation etc. Mrs. Conley chose to conduct her final week in Second Life. The kids have already created a movie - complete with soundtrack, voice-over and effects. They are now asked to engage in debate to convince the class that their catastrophic event is the most worthy of receiving government funding. Here’s what we did:
Rather than giving the kids the normal day or two to become acclimated, we had them rez directly onto the Science Island right near the Weather Center (FireSabre has built an incredible volcano and a simulated earthquake!) The students were directed in a very structured, step by step manner exactly what to do and how to:
1. upload a photo
2. attach a note-card to it with the research they had already conducted in bulleted points
3. add scripts to deliver note-card
4. place their “exhibit” in the weather center museum.

They then had a day to use Decka’s pods to hold discussions and select the most important issues pertaining to the catastrophic event that they were going to defend as the most deserving of funding. Most kids grasped things pretty quickly and stayed on task - there were therefore, mostly identical generic avatars and purple shirts abounded! The discussions were less focused than other experiences we have had in the past, (samples below) and the final conclusion was that there is no one “right” answer. Each of the disasters caused different problems: some intense damage to property, some loss of lives, some financial and others environmentally damaging the earth itself—

So - here’s the deal —-Initially I was very opposed to having the kids start the project without first getting a chance to alter their appearance and explore - to learn to chat and IM and exchange friendship - to explore their inventory and start to build simple things - in other words, to PLAY! I felt that a major aspect of our past successes was the degree of investment that the kids felt, and that the level of participation and discourse was contingent upon the extent of identification they had with their own avatar.

I was wrong.

True, there didn’t seem to be an especially deep level of discourse,but perhaps this was because the topic being discussed was not a personal one (such as in the Body Image Unit) and perhaps it was because these kids are not as invested in the topic or were fully saturated after 10 weeks of working with it.

But = here’s the reality - In 5 days these kids accomplished so much I could barely beieve it! I had assumed that without really investing some time in avatar and identity they would not be as likely to participate but the one thing that Mrs. Conley did say is that overall participation improved dramatically.
Next time we try this she wants to eliminate the museum exhibit portion and focus instead on debate and rhetoric. We will have Poinkey’s Pods on Ramapo by then and they should facilitate great discussion. We’ll see - (I know you are all dying to know what Poinkey’s Pods are , but all I will tell you for now is that Decka designed them!) Here are some examples –good and bad of the chat logs of discussions and some pics of the Weather Center Museum: