Mark Gura

Book Review: Getting Started With Lego Robotics

2012-02-10T20:41:00.000-08:00

Book Review: Getting Started With Lego Robotics

Title: Getting Started With LEGO Robotics, by Mark Gura. International Society for Technology in Education, 2011.

Description: The field of robotics can be a bit intimidating. Few debate the merits of robotics education—a powerhouse combination of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Yet putting together a lesson that is appropriate for younger students can be a challenge. Getting Started offers K-12 educators practical lessons and insight from experts. Teachers will learn what LEGO Robotics is, what student activities look like, how to begin, how to manage a class, and how robotics relate to standards. Gura concludes by providing first-hand advice and recommendations via more than a dozen interviews with educators, trainers, and even a student.

Getting Started offers K-12 educators practical lessons and insight from experts. Teachers will learn what LEGO Robotics is, what student activities look like, how to begin, how to manage a class, and how robotics relate to standards. Gura concludes by providing first-hand advice and recommendations via more than a dozen interviews with educators, trainers, and even a student.

Bottom Line: Given the popularity of Lego and the undisputed educational benefits of robotics, Getting Started with LEGO Robotics is certainly worth a look. Once you’ve finished reading it, you may find yourself excited about the prospect of planning a new class.

About the Author: Mark Gura has been involved with LEGO Robotics for nearly 20 years. Formerly the director of instructional technology for the New York City Public School System, he is currently a technology expert with Touro College at Fordham University.

How to Purchase: Getting Started With Lego Robotics retails for $22 and is available through Amazon
Article by Jason Tomaszewski, EducationWorld Associate Editor - Education World® - Copyright © 2011 Education World

Read this article in full at its source @ http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/book_reviews/getting_started_with_LEGO_robtoics.shtml

..

Talking Fin Lit PODCAST - Series #3

2012-02-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Announcing the 3rd Series of Talking Fin Lit Podcast

www.talkingfinlit.org
This third series takes Talking Fin Lit into new and more exciting territory. In series 3, I interview many educators whose work in Financial Literacy Education is cutting edge. These include:

1. (Mark di Pippa of) The Centsibles: http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2011/11/14/episode-42-the-centsables-interview-with-mark-dipippa/

2. Selena Shwarzfager (Mississippi Council on Economic Education (MCEE): http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2011/11/14/episode-41/
3. Jennifer Allen (Jump$tart Teacher of the Year): http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2011/11/15/episode-43-banking-business-and-school-stores-paving-the-way/
4. Classroom Inc. Christina Oliver (VP of Implementation) + Phil Firsenbaum (professional development and instructional consultant): http://www.classroominc.org/
5. Elaine King Elaine King - CFP, CDFA - Author "Family & Money Matters": http://www.elainekingcfp.com/
6. Stacey Pehosh (Teacher - R.E. Baker Elementary, Bella Vista, AR - Lesson Author EconEdLink): http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/economic-lesson-search.php?aid=212
7. Karen Holden (Professor Emerita of Public Affairs and Consumer Science University of Wisconsin-Madison)
8. Mickey Ebert (Teacher - Blue Springs, MO / Education Specialist - National Archives - Lesson Author - EconEdLink) http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2012/02/06/ep44-mickey-ebert-finlitcurric/
9. Mike Fladlien (Teacher - Muscatine High School/Muscatine, IA, Lesson Author - EconEdLink)
http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2012/02/06/ep46-mike-fladlien-masterful-finlit-instruc/
10. Mack Lewis (Teacher - Author - Creator of The Checkbook Projecgt)
http://www.talkingfinlit.org/2012/02/06/episode-45-mack-lewis-creator-of-the-checkbook-project/
11. David Anderson (Adjunct professor of Economics at Drew University/Executive Vice President, Working in Support of Education (WISE)
12. Laura Ploss/Secret Millionaires Club ( Chief Operating Officer of By Kids for Kids):
13. Steve Kautz (Teacher & Federal Reserve ChallengeTeam Coach - Waynflete School in Portland Maine)
14. Ditmas Middle School - Brooklyn, NY (Student Journalists/Dr. Rose Reissman):

Developing Technology-Rich Teacher Education Programs: Key Issues / Chapter 8: Learning to Teach in Web 2.0 - Mark Gura

2011-11-16T06:25:00.000-08:00

Chapter 8: Learning to Teach in Web 2.0 by Mark Gura

Soon to be released: "Developing Technology-Rich Teacher Education Programs: Key Issues" (IGI Global). I contributed Chapter 8 "Learning to Teach in Web 2.0"

Developing Technology-Rich Teacher Education Programs: Key Issues

Description

Though technology is expanding at a rate that is alarming to many skilled laborers concerned for the welfare of their industry and jobs, teachers should feel safe in their position; however, teachers who refuse to adapt to technology will be left behind.

Developing Technology-Rich Teacher Education Programs: Key Issues offers professional teacher educators a rare opportunity to harvest the thinking of pioneering colleagues spanning dozens of universities, and to benefit from the creativity, scholarship, hard work, and reflection that led them to the models they describe. Contributors from 32 universities from around the world came together as authors of case studies, methodologies, research, and modeling to produce the work that went into this reference work. The target audience for this book includes faculty, leaders, teacher educators, and administrators within higher institution and every level of education.

New Podcast: 'Literacy Special Interest' - Host, Mark Gura

2011-11-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Proudly announcing an exciting new project, the 'Literacy Special Interest' podcast - please give a listen! Based on lessons learned in co-producing The Teachers Podcast with Dr. Kathy King, I've crafted this one to be vital Professional Information presented in an entertaining, accessible format.

Episode #1 "A Keeping Quilt for Literacy Education - Featuring an exclusive interview with author, Patricia Polacco
Click here to LISTEN >>>>>>> (may take a few seconds to load)
DOWNLOAD: KeepingQuiltLiteracyEd._L.S.I._Episode_1.mp3
Click here for the Podcast Show Notes BLOG >>>>>>>

Literacy Special Interest PODCAST is produced for
the Literacy Special Interest Group of ISTE (International Society of Technology in Education)

Gallery #1 / East Harlem Performing Arts School pix

2011-09-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

To go directly to the Picasa Web Album... click here

From roughly 1985 - 1992, I was the Art Teacher at the East Harlem Performing Arts School (EHPAS), a public school in NYC. Any inner city teaching job is tough, but this one provided me with one of the best experiences of my personal and professional life. My life and career and spirit were enriched immensely by my time there. Several books could be written about the extraordinary students, teachers, and events I observed and participated in... But that's another project for another day.

I am currently in process of digitizing old photos and finally got around to the first batch (of many) from EHPAS. More are on their way. As members of the EHPAS community have recently been actively reconvening virtually through Facebook, I thought I would share these. I’ve always been a photographer and taking pictures was something I did often while at the school. I'd bring a camera in as part of the art project I worked on with my students or to document school accomplishments and events. And, of course, whenever there's a camera in hand in a school, inevitably the kids want to be photographed. I accumulated hundreds while at the school. Admittedly, these are from my own perspective, but they convey much about the reality and culture of the school while I was there. I hope they remind any members of the EHPAS community who care to examine them of good times long gone, but certainly not forgotten.

With affection,
Mark Gura
PS - Gallery #2 / East Harlem Performing Arts School pix (SPIRITS Art Project)

ISTE Author PODCAST - Getting Started with LEGO Robotics - Mark Gura

2011-07-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

ISTE Casts - The trusted voice of Ed Tech

Audio podcasts produced by the International Society for Technology in Education
ISTE Books Author Interview
Episode 28: Mark Gura

click on the link above and then on the podcast icon

Mark Gura, author of Getting Started in LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K–12 Educators, discusses the benefits of LEGO Robotics and provides encouraging insight into starting your own LEGO Robotics program. LEGO Robotics is a hands on, multidisciplinary, collaborative learning experience. Mark Gura provides you with first-hand advice and recommendations so you can have your own robotics program up and running in no time.

My LEGO Robotics BOOK Interview @ The Brick Life: A Mother's Guide to LEGO Sets, Activities, and Storage Solutions

2011-07-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the privilege of doing an interview with Inger of The Brick Life...
"Getting Started with LEGO Robotics – An Interview With Mark Gura
by Inger on July 16, 2011

Getting Started with LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators is a new book from the The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE).

Written by Mark Gura the book was designed to be the “Goto” book for teachers and educators who are interested in incorporating Lego Robotics into their school environments, but don’t know where to start.

Mark was kind enough to answer a few questions about the book for The Brick Life.

Interview With Mark Gura
Brick Life: What is your background with LEGO Robotics?

Mark Gura: As the former Director of The Office of Instructional Technology of New York City public schools, I supervised curriculum and professional development for all teachers in the areas of Science and Technology. LEGO Robotics was an important part of what we supported and encouraged teachers to do with their students.

BL: Why did you decide to write “Getting Started with LEGO Robotics”?

MG: I’ve come across so many people who see LEGO Robotics or hear about it and wonder “Is this something I can do? I don’t have a background in Science or Science Education, what do I need to know? How would I get started? What would I need in order to make this happen with kids?” The book answers all of that and provides all of the ‘next step’ info someone new to doing this with kids will need, as well..."

Read the full interview at its source, The Brick Life
http://www.thebricklife.com/getting-started-with-lego-robotics-an-interview-with-mark-gura/

My Latest Book - Getting Started with LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators

2011-07-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Proudly announcing the release of my latest book, Getting Started with LEGO Robotics: A Guide for K-12 Educators (ISTE - International Society of Technology in Education). The book was featured at the ISTE annual conference (Philadelphia / late June 2011) where I had the opportunity to meet with interested buyers and sign copies for them. This one should make a great difference in the education we provide our young people!

Recapturing Technology for Education voted BEST Book for EdTech Leadership

2011-06-22T02:07:00.000-07:00

Great news! One of my first books, Recapturing Technology for Education, came in as the 'Best Book for EdTech Leadership' by Online College's just released list of books for EdTech Geeks (scroll down to the Leadership category).

Every Kid Should Write and Publish!

2011-05-14T14:53:00.000-07:00

UPDATED VIDEO: "Every Kid Should Write and Publish!"... Authentic Writing/Publishing Projects are the key to improved student writing, motivation, and educational success... all approaches presented in this probing video (below) are made easy to do with a class of kids by using the:
Resource Kit for ePublishing
Writing Skills + Technology Skills = Class Publications

-----------------------and
Integrating Technology into the Writing Process
This research-based 21st century writing resource gets students invested in writing through inquiry-driven, collaborative projects and promotes the use of relevant digital tools to develop standards-based literacy skills.
Developed for Teacher Created Materials by Mark Gura

What If Kids Wrote and Published?

2010-11-29T08:06:00.000-08:00

Video I created... The gist: we have to stop our educational bad habit of making kids do contrived exercises intended to prepare them to write in the (unlikely) event they might ever want to! We MUST change instruction to "fostering" learning by engaging kids in writing and producing real, authentic publications!

Writing instruction can be vastly improved by engaging students in writing and publishing real books and magazine! Education, in turn, will be transformed as students become authentic writers! Video by the creator of the Resource Kit for ePublishing - info @ http://www.resourcekitforepublishing.com/

WORKFLOW OPTIMIZATION IN EDUCATION: Recognizing and Realizing Great Potential - A Strategy Paper from the CENTER for DIGITAL EDUCATION

2010-11-23T07:38:00.000-08:00

Writing this one was a bit of a detour for me. An interesting project about an important slice of practicality in School Technology Use and Infrastructure, I am pleased to have been involved!

Shorter online version at:
http://www.convergemag.com/paper/HP-Workflow-Optimization-in-Education.html

Full version is available at: http://media.convergemag.com/documents/CDE10+STRATEGY+HP_Workflow_V.PDF

Resource Kit for ePublishing now ready for the world's classrooms!

2010-09-01T15:14:00.000-07:00

After 35 years experience in the field of Education (18 years as a classroom teacher - 5 as staff developer - 7 as citywide Director of Instructional Technology... and 5 as a university-level professor of Education) I am proud to announce the publication of my Resource Kit for ePublishing!

___Resource Kit for ePublishing

Students develop writing skills as they collaboratively produce professional looking publications. The Resource Kit for ePublishing contains everything needed to guide students through the experience of writing and publishing professional looking books or magazines. The kit’s continuum of high motivation writing activities culminate in the production of a class publication. Along the way, students experience everything from identifying a topic of interest, to writing skillfully about it, and finally designing their own ‘e Publications.’ Other than common word processing software that school computers already have, as well as access to the web, no other resources are required. The Kit may be used across grade levels and is particularly appropriate for upper elementary and middle school classes.

Writing is a skill set that represents an important gateway to success in: reading and other literacy competencies, learning across the curriculum - subjects like science and social studies require writing continually, test taking, and the world of work. It is universally regarded as a key skill in thinking and problem solving. Writing, however, remains an area that eludes a great many students. Traditional writing “exercises” often have little positive impact on this area of learning. The Resource Kit for ePublishing, however, uses Publishing, the culminating phase of The Writing Process, as an entry point to offer high motivation, relevant activities that result in the production of class publications that all will be proud to share with peers, parents, the school community… and beyond.
The kit illustrates many easy and appropriate ways to upload a class publication to the web. These 'eBooks' and 'eZines' are easy to open and read on any computer and can be presented to parents and audiences by sharing their links, putting them on disc, emailing them, or placing them in a class or school blog or website.

The kit also shows a variety of ways to produce a class book or magazine in hard copy.

With the kit, teachers easily guide students in the creation of eBooks and eZines that are easy to open and read on any computer and can be distributed by email, by easy upload to a class or school website or blog, or to one of the many free, media sharing resources on the web.

The kit contains:
• 60 activities for students (upper elementary through middle
school and beyond) 20 Beginner – 20 Intermediate –
and 20 Challenging Level activities. Each activity is supported
by 4 items: a) Lesson Plan, b) Student Project Card
(explains the project), c) Student’s Planning Sheet, and
d) Rubric and Assessment Sheet
• A Classroom Management & References resource book with
Background research and information, Curriculum Matrices,
Classroom Management and Assessment instructions.
• 100 “How-To” Cards for Macintosh users and 100 “How-To” Cards
for Windows users.

The ePublishing Kit will inspire today’s students to learn a challenging set of skills that all must acquire in order to succeed in and beyond school. These include traditional writing skills, technology skills (especially those that support writing) and 21st Century Literacy Skills. The challenge in teaching writing effectively has been compounded in recent years by the emergence of communications technologies, resulting in the need to learn new skills along with traditional ones. As a result, educators have a bigger job than ever in ensuring student success. The kit is a resource to support teachers and learners in meeting this challenge.

@ $299.99 the Resource Kit for ePublishing is a low cost way to introduce an innovative approach to teaching Writing while Integrating Technology into the classroom - Available from the publisher, Teacher Created Materials:
http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/estore/product/12034
Visit the publisher’s website for purchasing details

A very special student!

2010-07-14T15:12:00.000-07:00

Back in 1990... I was teaching Fine Arts at the East Harlem Performing Arts School. Seems like a million years ago. I met so many truly wonderful people there. Some as colleagues, but so many as students. It is a very great pleasure when I reconnect with one of them. After a long gap in our relationship, Laala Matias, a bubbling full-of-life, sparkling spirit with a scary-smart mind reconnected with me through facebook. As some added icing on the cake she just shared with me this photo taken of the 2 of us back in the day... that day was 20 years ago and the picture was taken in my classroom - She, 13ish - Me, 41 (I think).

I think it's remarkable how kindred spirits separated by background and age manage to find each other. It certainly pleases me to know this one!

(Caption from Laala's own facebook page)
"In 7th grade with art teacher/visionary, Mark Gura. This was at the height of my Hippie phase."

PS - I just came across this (related) article:
"On Facebook, Telling Teachers How Much They Meant" http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/14/nyregion/14facebook.html?_r=1
But, hey, the appreciation cuts both ways!

Customized Education

2010-05-20T06:33:00.000-07:00

My article in Government Technology magazine
http://digitalmag.govtech.com/GT/GT_Mag_Apr10.pdf

CUSTOMIZED EDUCATION: Program focused on preparing the future work force builds educational success in New York’s South Bronx one student at a time.
Often described as “urban blight” or a “toxic environment,” the Hunts Point neighborhood in New York City’s Bronx has its share of positive stories. One such example is the GreenFab educational program at Bronx Guild High School, which is designed to foster 21st-century skills in at-risk youth and prepare them for work force readiness in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-related fields — primarily “green collar” jobs.

GreenFab evolved as a response to inner city students’ need for instruction that connects with them. The program draws on students’ environmental and economic conditions and problems as raw material from which to create an instructional program — and the staff doesn’t see the school as a technical or job-training institution. “We’re a college prep school that uses real-world experiences to improve academics,” said Bronx Guild High School Co-Director Jeff Palladino. GreenFab impacts kids because it exposes them to STEM subjects through real-world issues, he said. “They help our kids connect academic subject matter to real-life applications, experiment and create things, and solve problems that directly impact them, especially environmental justice issues.”

Work Force Preparation
The program provides numerous opportunities that can be customized to individual needs. Some students are interested in creative technology, and some are interested in environmental work, Palladino said. GreenFab originally was designed as an after-school internship, but Bronx Guild students are in class three days a week and participate in the program two days a week. “We want them to fi nd their passions and run with them,” he said. “For instance, one of my seniors hopes to follow his passion for technology and create robots that will assist people with disabilities, people like returning war veterans who have lost limbs. He wants to get into the biomedical fi eld through this interest.”

Laura Allen, president of Vision Education and Media, a provider of after-school technology workshops that heads up the GreenFab program, said she is struck by Bronx Guild High School’s knowledge of what students need — and that the school’s students aren’t on the same footing as typical middle-class kids.“Bronx Guild really tries, in innovative ways, to piece together a high
school experience that can get these kids well on the road to being productive citizens,”she said.
Bronx Guild High School has an articulated vision of learning through meaningful work, and work force preparation is a major thrust at the school.

Students participate in off-campus internships, which may represent the most meaningful portion of their educational experience. Roughly 80 Bronx Guild students participate in GreenFab internships each year. The student interns report to GreenFab for a special curriculum that includes applied science, engineering and environmental studies with a focus on understanding the urban environment, said Corbett Beder, senior director of research and development at Vision Education and Media..."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT ITS SOURCE (scroll to page 42): http://digitalmag.govtech.com/GT/GT_Mag_Apr10.pdf

The Best Way to Get Teachers to Make Use of the Internet

2010-05-19T17:28:00.000-07:00

Hawker Brownlow, an affiliate of Corwin (SAGE), the publisher of my recent book "Teaching with Author Websites" has uploaded an excerpt in downloadable pdf format. This file includes the bulk of my introduction in which I explain why I am in such awe of this approach to teacher technology integration. Using the wonderful digital resources that the authors of popular print books make available through their enticing and engaging websites is simply the best reason I've come across so far to get teachers inspired by technology!

Over a very long career as a staff developer and then director of technology professional development for the New York City school system, I was involved in efforts that resulted in many, many thousands of teachers adopting Internet-based resources and practices. Among the countless approaches I've seen to getting teachers to make good use of the web, this one is the one that will stick!

Please take a look: http://www.hbe.com.au/PUBLIC/HBEItemImages/pdf/CO5555.pdf

IN Conversation with Educational Leaders about 21st Century Learning

2010-05-13T04:26:00.000-07:00

My interviews with:
- Denise Sontag, Director - Reading First Initiative, NYC Public Schools
- Nancy Hester, Associate Superintendent (Ret) - Durham Schools, NC
- Linda Eller, Professional Development Coordinator - Memphis City Schools, Tennessee
- Mark Howard, Educational Technology Specialist - Palm Beach County Schools, Florida
- Christina Efird, PD Technology Specialist - Charlotte Mecklenburg Schools, NC
In my role as Journalist for the Center for Digital Education, I was engaged to conduct some very enlightening interviews for HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT's learnexchange online resource. This turned out to be a very worthwhile project. The podcasts that resulted from these phone interviews give great insight into the role and worth of focused technology use in some of our nation's largest school districts. Links to the videos/podcast below>>>

Listen to interview with Denise Sontag (click here)

Listen to interview with Nancy Hester (click here)

Listen to interview with Linda Eller (click here)

Listen to the interview with Mark Howard (click here)

Listen to the interview with Christina Efird (click here)

See all of the above and more at the original site>>>>

We The Students PODCAST

2010-05-02T08:03:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was invited by my colleague, Dr. Rose Reissman, to lend support to the Ditmas (middle school) Law Studies program by recording their project "We The Students" and posting it on the web as a podcast (audio post). Helping a community of students and teachers to produce and disseminate content of this richness is a great pleasure. The kids and teachers in this program, by the way, are wonderful!!!

I had painted a picture of how to organize student activities in order to produce a culminating product/performance as a vital podcast in the book I wrote with Kathy King titled "Podcasting for Teachers." It was far more inspiring and enlightening to actually do it for real, though!

The podcast and its blog can be accessed by clicking this link >>> We The Students Podcast Please give it a listen!

MARK GURA’S ARTICLES IN CONVERGE MAGAZINE

2010-03-19T21:24:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite platforms for airing and sharing ideas, discoveries, and opinions has been Converge Magazine. Over the years it's been a privilege to contribute to Converge. Here are some of the articles of mine they've run:

- Bridge Over Technology Waters (scroll to page 18)
New generation of student laptops could bridge digital divide in schools.

- Kazakhstan: Where Science Meets Education (scroll to page 14)
The country is on course to be one of the top 50 developed nations in the world.

- Across the Rubicon – (scroll to page 22)
Exclusive Interview with Jordan’s Minister of Education
- Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto (scroll to page 18)
Lego robotics storm a school district in Brooklyn.

- Let Them Have Tech (scroll to page 26)
Social networking for educators —classroom resources and professional
development are reasons to log on.

- Sweet Home Alabama (scroll to page 20)
Alabama students have open access to learning tools statewide.

- South Bronx 'GreenFab' Customizes Education
A special STEM Career Education program

- 360 Degree Learning
The New Electric Company is more than a TV show
- Late for Class (Winter 2006)
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/55466029/Late-For-Class

Articles the Appeared in Other Publications: - From the magazine EdTech - Focus on Higher Ed The Value of Campus Podcasting
Before podcasting can become an important teaching and learning resource, IT managers will need to inform, proselytize and offer support to instructors http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/article/2006/10/tech-trends

(older) http://www.edtechmagazine.com/higher/may-june-2006/tech-trends-8.html

At work on The Teachers Podcast

2010-02-26T06:57:00.000-08:00

I just re-discovered this photo of me with colleague, Olivia, on my lap. I was hard at work reviewing materials for TTP right before recording an episode. I was sitting across from my podccasting parner, Dr. Kathy King, who snapped the picture. FYI - Kathy and I started The Teachers Podcast (orignal title was Podcast for Teachers) in August of 2005. Since then it has been downloaded more than 6 million times and been written about in too many articles to count. TTP is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential education podcasts since the medium was introduced. Please check it out @: http://teacherspodcast.org/

My Article "South Bronx 'GreenFab' Customizes Education" in CONVERGE Magazine

2010-02-23T12:24:00.000-08:00

Often described with terms like “urban blight” and “toxic environment,” the Hunts Point neighborhood in New York’s Bronx does, in fact, have its share of determination and positive impact. One such example is the GreenFab educational program at Bronx Guild High School, which is designed to foster 21st-century skills in at-risk youth and prepare them for work force readiness in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM)-related fields, and primarily green collar jobs.

GreenFab evolved as a response to inner city students’ educational need for instruction that connects with them. The program draws on students’ environmental and economic conditions and problems as raw material from which to create an instructional program — and the staff doesn’t see the school as a technical or a job-training institution. “We’re a college prep school that uses real-world experiences to improve academics,” said Co-Director Jeff Palladino, adding that GreenFab impacts the kids because it exposes them to STEM subjects through real people who are actually doing the work. “They help our kids connect academic subject matter to real-life applications, experiment and create things, and solve problems that directly impact them, especially environmental justice issues.”

Work Force Preparation
Some students are interested in creative technology, and some are interested in the environmental work, Palladino said, but the program provides numerous opportunities that can be customized to individual needs.

'We want them to find their passions and run with them,” he said. “For instance, one of my seniors hopes to follow his passion for technology and create robots that will assist people with disabilities, people like returning war veterans who have lost limbs. He wants to get into the biomedical field through this interest.'

Laura Allen, president of Vision Education and Media, which heads up the GreenFab program, said she is struck by Bronx Guild High School’s knowledge of what its students need — and that its students aren’t on the same footing as typical middle-class kids. “Bronx Guild really tries, in innovative ways, to piece together a high school experience that can get these kids well on the road to being productive citizens,” she said.
Bronx Guild High School has a well articulated vision of learning through meaningful work, and work force preparation is a major thrust at the school..."

Read the FULL ARTICLE at its source:
http://www.convergemag.com/workforce/South-Bronx-GreenFab-Customizes-Education.html

Read or Download as PDF below...

South Bronx ‘GreenFab’ Customizes Education

Podcasting for Teachers Gets Glowing Book Review!

2010-02-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

Podcasting for Teachers, by Kathleen P. King and Mark Gura
Reviewed by Steven W. Schmidt
Podcasting for Teachers, by Kathleen P. King and Mark Gura, Charlotte, NC: IAP –
Information Age Publishing, 2007, 288 pages, $45.99 (paperback).

“The phenomenon of podcasting has grown popular in a very short period of time. In their book Podcasting for Teachers (2007), authors Kathleen P. King and Mark Gura chart the rise in podcasting popularity “from the first introduction in June, 2005 when people were saying ‘podwhating?’to July 2006 when the trend reached 9 million podcast listeners in the United States”(p. 36). This statistic alone is enough to pique one’s interest in the concept of podcasting, and this book provides answers and information in the form of text, diagrams, figures, graphics, flowcharts, and other useful tools. Websites and details about existing podcasts, some developed by the authors, are featured as well. Podcasting for Teachers consists of 16 chapters divided into three sections. The first section presents basic information on podcasting. The second section delves into detail on podcast development, and the third section discusses the use of podcasts in education…”

Read the full article at its source: http://education.fiu.edu/newhorizons/journals/New%20Horizons%20in%20AEHRD%2023(4)%20issue.pdf

Purchase the book and book information:
http://www.amazon.com/Podcasting-Teachers-Technology-Revolutionize-Teaching/dp/1607520230/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1265822990&sr=1-1

Recapturing Technology for Education Makes the Top 10 List of EdTech Books!!!

2009-12-21T23:29:00.000-08:00

My book made it to the #4 spot on the list. Receiving this honor is a great way to finish up the decade!

From: edtech tools http://edtechtools.wordpress.com/2009/
Hotlist: Top 10 Edtech Books of the Decade
In Hotlist on December 16, 2009 at 5:31 pm

"4 Recapturing Technology for Education: Keeping Tomorrow in Today’s Classroom by Mark Gura and Bernard Percy (ScarecrowEducation, 2005). From the former head of technology for New York City Schools (Gura) and the editor in chief of an award-winning education magazine (Percy) comes an interesting and lighthearted look at instructional technology mixed with catchy quotes, formative phrases, and hard-won experience. It’s at once serious and lighthearted, filled with great stories and actionable advice. Amazon "

SAVE THE WORLD - USE BAMBOO UMBRELLA: Sorting out This Year's Trip to Thailand

2009-11-28T03:49:00.000-08:00

Larger version @ https://picasaweb.google.com/markgura/Thailand09?authkey=Gv1sRgCKTNs9_ylMeo_gE#slideshow/5408746707145940370

Two decades ago, in preparation for my first trip to Asia, my mentors at the Asia Society advised that the jumble of impressions I was about to experience would best be understood by pondering how Asians embraced the new, preserved the old, and balanced the two. I think this approach stood me in good stead yet again on my recent 2 week bus tour of Thailand (my 6th Asian trip). Now, as the intense jetlag of my 30+ hour trip home gradually wears off, the challenge of really understanding what I saw, did, tasted, and experienced looms large. Fortunately, sorting through and organizing the hundreds of photos I took helps immensely. Suffice it to say that the slideshow I’ve come up with here is just one of many possible distillations of this complex string of experiences.

By the way, this trip was the latest of the yearly voyages of world and personal discovery I take with my brother, Abbey. A family tradition we started 11 years ago when our mom died.

One has to put a little effort into understanding Thailand. Chore #1 is to be vigilant not to impose preconceived ideas on what you are actually looking at, especially when confronted with things presented by Thais who hope to give tourists what they want to see. True, you are sure to encounter some of the expected clichés, scads and scads of orange clad monks, for instance. These are very much for real, a true part of the daily life of the country. Others things, though, like the hill tribe women garbed in traditional costume who hawk cheap T-shirts and purses in packed marketplaces are far more problematic. Like many Thais who understandably just want to earn a living selling chachkas, they offer up a little contrived, local color in the form of their dazzling outfits in order to attract the attention of prospective purchasers. Or are the ladies you happen to come across in the night bazaar some of the few transplanted hill tribers who actually still dress this way? Without background and context it’s impossible to figure out what’s going on, especially with the busy commerce and party atmosphere unfolding all around you. Somewhere between their innocent eagerness to please, and our fervor to see things that square with old Discovery Channel documentaries stored in the recesses of the brain, there forms a gap. But then again, perhaps that gap IS the real contemporary Thailand. Who’s to say?

What tastes! At the Ban Chiang restaurant in Bangkok, Abbey and I started dinner with those other worldly salads the Thais prepare with local fruits. Ours had ripe pomelo sections and julienned strips of green papaya and mango. Next came curries made with rich, rich coconut milk, prawns, raw ginger, and generous applications of hot red pepper. Delicious! I jumped in and devoured what Thailand had to offer. And thankfully, deep drafts of Chang beer worked as well to cool the tongue afterward as they did to make the heat and humidity of the evening pleasant. A few days later on the bus though, I was not so eager for traditional Thai comestibles. Our tour guide, Jeff (his anglicized name), walked the aisle offering us the traditional snacks of roasted cockroaches, bamboo worms, and crickets. A native of a northern farming village, Jeff popped these into his mouth with pleasure. We, however, all passed. Jeff was great at adding these little touches to the tour. Those insect snacks, by the way, were in fact authentic and sold to locals for pennies in great quantities up and down the highway. The more substantial grilled paddy rat, too, was in season and offered at countless roadside stands we passed as we drove many miles through the countryside.

One of the stops on our meandering road trip was Kanchanaburi. Here we walked across the bridge on the River Kwai before checking in to the 4 star Pung-waan riverside resort. The air was thick with perfume emitted by a jasmine-like flowering tree that grew absolutely everywhere...mmmmmmm! We also visited, Ayuttaya (Thailand’s first capitol and site of important temple ruins), Sukhothai (more ruins, these in the Khmer style of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat), and the towns of Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. Side trips included a border crossing into Burma to see a lifestyle that our guide explained was much the way Thailand's was 75 years ago. Also, we spent a day at the Maesa Elephant camp where we rode elephants through the jungle… how cool was that?

Somewhere outside of Chiang Mai, our final destination, we stopped to shop at a large factory that makes traditional umbrellas. These are fashioned from bamboo wood, bamboo strands, and bamboo paper. All these components and the finished product are handmade the traditional, green, low-tech way. Outside, a large sign exhorted “SAVE THE WORLD – USE BAMBOO UMBRELLA.” This, for me, summed up much about Thailand, a country that eagerly welcomes the outside world and what it has to offer, but that also values, preserves, and celebrates its past and traditions.

The umbrella factory is but one example of preserved technology that fully expresses the living nature of classic Thai art, craft, and reverence for nature. Furthermore, it shows how Thais fully understand their place in the world and its current state. Not only were they offering unique, quality products, utilitarian and artful at the same time, but they understood and advertised their vast ecological superiority to the crappy, nylon and plastic versions sold throughout the West that pollute the environment and make everything a little bit cheaper and tackier. These umbrella entrepreneurs are no eco-trendoids, though. They are sophisticated business people who will accept your credit card for a purchase in a heartbeat. Down the road you’ll find KFC, Burger King, and more that the Thais have picked and chosen from the west as they continue in their wonderful way of crafting today’s Thailand as a blend of the old with the new.

What results is a confident, self assured nation of people who, if not the world's richest, are by no means poor. The good manners, joie de vivre, and purposefulness that they pursue their lives with I found to be both humbling and inspiring.

The new ELECTRIC COMPANY

2009-08-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

My article in Converge Magazine - Summer '09 on the new Electric Company series (Sesame Workshop / PBS). In visiting The Electric Company's offices and interviewing the education staff I thought I'd produce a cute article about something of interest. What I discovered, though, is the perfect model for producing and delivering education to masses of youngsters hungry for literacy learning! Read on...

360 Learning.electric Company <click here and below to increase size and for more view options

Also, CLICK HERE to see the Converge BLOG version of this article

How cool is it that I get to hang out with world class educators like (the real) Oscar the Grouch?

Proudly Announcing a New Book! TEACHING with AUTHOR WEB SITES

2009-08-24T09:45:00.000-07:00

A good portion of our planet's literacy teaching efforts is fueled with individual fiction and non-fiction works by authors who cater to young audiences. It is no secret that some of these works rival, in quality and impact, the great works of adult authors. What isn't well known, though, is that many young peoples' authors have produced websites to accompany their print books. These websites are rich repositories of content that, along with the books, provide a complete literacy experience. This content is free and easy to access, and best of all will motivate youngsters to read, read, read! TEACHING with AUTHOR WEB SITES reveals this wealth of material and how to use it to teachers, parents, and all who seek resources and approaches to ensure a next generation of strong and passionate readers...

Please click here to DOWNLOAD the Book Flyer

FREE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PODCAST: Please be sure to listen to the podcast I produced for this book... great insights into how Teaching with Author Websites will increase student learning and make teaching and learning literacy a joy! Click the arrow to start listening...

and more info here...

Back from Sicily

2009-05-31T04:37:00.001-07:00

The lava fields of Mount Aetna were just one of the smokin' places I visited while in Sicily recently. Now it's time to go on a diet and get back to work!

Our guided tour took us all the way from Palermo to Naxos, through their surrounding areas and to points of interest in between (i.e. Mondello, Cefalu, Agrigento, Villa Armerina, Siracusa, Ortygia, Toarmina, etc.)

Here's the slide show and some reflections on the experience...
Click on the image to access the gallery directly (enlarge, download, etc.)

It was great to move away from my usual travel itineraries: sightseeing in Asia in search of the exotic, elbow rubbing with local culture in Latin America, and the quest for the perfect beach throughout the Caribbean. Great to get back to serious touring in Europe.

SOME THINGS I DISCOVERED IN SICILY
· Never mind all that Godfather rot, Sicily is a magnificent ‘country’ with a highly evolved culture, really nice, upbeat people, a landscape to die for, a history to rival that of any other place and a relaxed, healthy vibe.

· Sicilians seem to eat a pasta dish at every evening meal. This makes sense because while inexpensive, pasta prepared with imagination and affection can be delicious in a great variety of forms. And it is so satisfying that the small meat dish that follows seems more than adequate. Satisfaction through accomodation and moderation - what a concept! It seems to me that I understood pasta for the first time on this trip. The sequence of the meal in which it is served, the portion size and the way it is presented, the variety one is eating at the moment (when it is a given that a meal, every meal, will include pasta)... all this defines pasta beyond mere food stuff as experience. By the way, I didn’t see many fat Sicilians while in Sicily traveling with Americans who might learn something from the Sicilian approach to food.

· (still thinking about the food) Pistachio is a popular flavor in Sicily. I remember it fondly from my boyhood. I had a wonderful Pistachio gelato cone in Taormina for about $2. 10 minutes of taste bliss under a hot Sicilian sun! Now when was the last time you had real pistachio ice cream?

· The delicious (although not pretentious – fussy – or even marginally expensive) Nero d’Avola wine is ever present at dinner tables throughout Sicily. It is grown within miles of where it is consumed by people who enjoy it matter of factly. Wine and food represent an unquestioned coupling in Sicily. And thus it apparently has been for millenia. Wonderful to note, too, that there doesn’t seem to be any association between wine consumed at meals and intoxication. I didn’t see any inebriated Sicilians during my travels there.

· Sicilians drive tiny automobiles that they deftly shoehorn into tiny parking spaces on their narrow streets. Interestingly, when there are no tiny parking spaces available they create their own by angling their little cars into free form spaces on sidewalk corners or other unused bits and pieces of real estate. No one seems to get upset by this or even notice it much, the police included. And of course, many Sicilians drive motor scooters that get even better mileage and involve even less difficulty in locating a parking space. Despite all the obligatory chatter from my companions about the 'crazy' drivers, I didn’t hear much honking or see anything in Sicily even remotely resembling poor driving manners or road rage.

- I was well aware before the trip that Sicily has been an important crossroads of civilization, that it has been conquered and settled by the Greeks, Phoenicians, Saracens, Romans, and Normans. I mistakenly thought, though, that it was just a fertile outpost, a profitable and strategic backwater. But I learned that this isn’t so. For many of these developers, Sicily was the site of some of their most important accomplishments. The Greek Temple of Olympian Zeus in Agrigento, for instance, was the largest Doric temple ever constructed, and Siracusa's Greek theatre one of the finest and largest of its kind, anywhere. Siracusa itself was one of the most important Greek city states and was once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all." The cathedral of Monreale, too, (just outside Palermo) is such an important example of classic Christian architecture that its construction, particularly its gilded mosaics, rivals that of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and Basilica San Marco in Venice. As I stood in each of these amazing sites, truly, I was humbled as I discovered my understanding of things was so poorly informed. We don’t often speak about it as such, but travel is a mode of education – a powerful one!

· Our guide, Pina, took us on a great drive up Mount Aetna, one of the world’s largest and most active volcanoes. About half way up there’s a very popular tourist destination replete with restaurant and gift shop. The shop gives free samples of Fuoco di Aetna which translates as Fire of Aetna, a locally produced, high octane liquor. It is probably best to sample this popular souvenir after clambering up and through the lava field, something we all did and enjoyed immensely. The lava, as you are climbing up one cinder cone after another, is somewhat slippery, but the views of this other worldly landscape are wonderful.

Down the road is a ski area. Yes, there’s snow on Aetna. It is fascinating to watch people ride further up the volcano on the chair lift while way up top on the peak, the mountain actually gives off some geothermal smoke and steam.

One night from the front steps of my hotel a group of us looked up into the Sicilian night sky to see several orange dots winking at us. These were bits of fresh lava bubbling and gurgling away somewhere up above us on slopes that were otherwise not visible in the dark. As we continued our trip, visiting Taormina, Naxos, Siracusa and a raft of other little Sicilian towns located in the shadow of the mighty Mount Aetna, I was impressed by how the apparently happy and productive residents went on about their lives. They seem to be fully aware that a potentially unforgiving hand of fate looms above them continually, but choose to get on with those parts of life they can control and appreciate anyway. I think there’s wisdom in that.

Art and Technology Education WEBINAR a Success!

2009-04-25T03:23:00.000-07:00

It was a great privilege to share the ideas in my book with colleagues from around the world. The archived WEBINAR is available from ISTE as a recording. Go to: www.iste.org/webinars

Book by Gura and King Considered Top STEM Resource for Teachers

2008-12-22T15:22:00.000-08:00

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>click here for information about this book

From the Berkshire STEM Pipeline website a glowing review of Classroom Robotics

(click on the link below for the full text of the review)

Have you ever wanted more information about a particular subject? Were you able to find what you needed written in a book? Well, let me tell you that I just happened to pick a book titled, "Classroom Robotics Case Stories of 21st Century Instruction for Millennial Students", edited by Mark Gura and Kathleen P. King, as a last resort when I couldn't obtain one of my first three choices (always the case when you are looking for information on any topic, right?). I was in for a wonderful treat, which I hadn't expected, since I was still feeling quite glum at not getting one of my top picks on the subject of classroom robotics. My interest level in robotics increased when I attended a seminar at MCLA this fall, hence one of the reasons for my search for more on the topic. This book turned out to be just what I was looking for to help me understand many facets about classroom robotics which I had been intrigued with for some time. As the title suggested, I was expecting to read stories from teachers who had incorporated robotics in their classrooms. It was even more than just teachers' experiences! This was the wonderful treat! I had wanted to learn how to start robotics either in the classroom or as an after school program. Where did I start? How did I know which materials to choose? How does robotics fit into the fifth grade curriculum? I had so many questions- many of which were answered by reading this book. This book provided the best tool I could have hoped for as one of its main purposes was to reach out to people like myself just starting to explore the idea of classroom robotics... (for full text click link below)
Classroom Robotics: Case Stories of 21st Century Instruction for Millennial Students
edited by Mark Gura and Kathleen P. King
reviewed by Paul Duhon, Lee Elementary School

>>>>>>>>>>>>> also

Berkshire STEM Pipeline Resource Page: http://www.mcla.edu/pipeline/bp/newfile.php

>>>>>>>>>>>>> and

Berkshire STEM Pipeline Network website: http://www.mcla.edu/pipeline/

Back from this year's Mind Journey to Southeast Asia

2008-11-24T06:25:00.000-08:00

Since our mom passed away 10 years ago, my brother Abbey and I have taken a major trip together every year. These family excursions become a time to celebrate our ever maturing relationship as siblings, reflect on our family history, and to just kick loose, raise a little hell, and get our eyes opened a little further about the varieties and meanings of life on our wonderful planet. This year we chose a tour of Southeast Asia from 10/26 - 11/9 '08
ITINERARY: Vietnam: Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon)...with China Beach and Cu Chi Tunnels thrown in Cambodia: Phnom Penh with a day at the Killing Fields and Siem Riep (Angkor Wat) with a cruise on Tonle Sap (lake) and visit to a tradtiional floating village to round things out. Thailand: Bangkok

Slide Show
I managed to pare the roughly 2,000 stills I took down to the 220 or so I've included here.

Click this link to view the slide show with much larger images: http://picasaweb.google.com/markgura/MarkAbbeySoutheastAsia08?authkey=6tGf5bz4_v8#slideshow

or click directly on the image to view the show in Picasa Web Albums where you can view at your own pace, examine individual pictures, or download a picture.

And here's the link to blog entry and slide show of last year's trip to China:
http://markgura.blogspot.com/2007_12_01_archive.html

Teaching's Opportunties for High Adventure

2008-10-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

As the New York City representative to Impact II's Education Summit at Snowbird, Utah (199?)I met colleagues from around the USA and got in a little mountain climbing before solving the problems of the world's schools.

Retired from teaching now, I think back about my 31 years with the NYC public school system (the first 18 of which I spent in the classroom as a teacher) and realize that my experiences traveling to exotic locations throughout the world, doing amazing and inspiring things, and meeting astounding people, THROUGH MY TEACHING JOB, were both an expression of my need to have teaching be an exciting career and an affirmation that it truly can and must be so.

I published my very first article ever, on this theme (Teaching’s Opportunities for High Adventure) in the New York State Department of Education’s “Possibilities Catalog” in roughly 1992. The article that follows is an unpublished and expanded version I wrote a couple of years later, primarily to inspire teachers I worked with in my new role as Staff Developer.

I believe very strongly that as the current culture of education continues to degrade the profession of teaching further and further, the possibilities I describe through relating my own experiences in this article are more relevant and necessary than ever. Teachers must have the opportunity to shape their careers to be interesting, exciting, and satisfying. Please read on…

High Adventure

I have a professional hero. He’s a teacher who has inspired me to keep my job fresh and interesting. However unorthodox my role model may seem, he has served me better than any other I can imagine.

Since the first time I saw him in the movies I’ve idolized Professor Jones - Indiana Jones, that is, professor of Archeology. “Indie” not only commands total respect from his adoring students but goes to great lengths to prepare his lessons. He does this by excavating jungle temples, exploring the ruins of ancient civilizations, and traveling the world. Now that’s my idea of a teachers’ life.

Of course, I always wanted to be like my hero. I wondered, however, is this the stuff of pure fantasy or could I somehow transform my career from one of classroom drudgery to that of high adventure. I knew I had to try.

My opportunity came one day when it was least expected. This was nine years ago. While teaching a ninth grade art class during that peculiar last period before a desperately awaited Christmas vacation, a student monitor brought in a printed notice from the Asia Society. I read it to myself and then in a dreamlike state boldly announced to my class “This is a contest for a student teacher/team… the winners will go to India. I’m going to win it with one of you. Please think about this over the vacation and whichever one of you is going to be my partner, please let me know when we get back.” As soon as school started again, Kevin, a strapping fifteen year old from the South Bronx, informed me that he was available to work with me on our entry everyday at lunch and after school.

In Delhi, India with my 9th grade student Kevin (1988 or thereabouts)

We worked like crazy for ten weeks and won! Our adventures were many and included trips to: the Taj Mahal in Agra; Rishikesh, a holy city on the Ganges; and Jaipur, the pink city of the Rajastani desert. We lived with Indian families, rode elephants, and were interviewed by local TV and newspapers. We taught and studied at an Indian school, visited theaters, museums, and temples and made so many friends. It was a fantasy comes true.

The energy and materials gotten from this trip transformed my teaching for a long time to come and got me started on the quest for more teaching related adventures. My career was forever changed.

Hanging out with Purepucha Indian kids in remote Mexico. They didn't speak any English and I didn't speak any Purepucha...but we connected!

A few years later I found myself one July morning measuring the façade of an exquisite conquest vintage church in the remote Mexican village of Angahuan. At lunchtime, while I reviewed my field notes with my legs dangling over the edge of a cliff, I munched a sandwich and looked out across the lava field of the volcano, Paracutin. Poking up through the dried lava was the steeple of another church, marking the spot where a village was swallowed up by the 1948 eruption.

This adventure was made available to me by Earthwatch, an organization that is dedicated to pairing interested laymen with scientists doing field research. For the privilege of two weeks of long days of hard work and the Spartan life of a professional field researcher, many amateur scientists pay as much as they would for a luxury vacation. Earthwatch however, invites teachers to apply for full fellowships, and so I spent two glorious weeks with archeologists from the University of Texas jeeping into the back country of Michoacan State to study and catalog Mexico’s heritage of unspoiled 16th Century architecture before progress destroys it forever.

Here I am with Dr. Jerome Hall, maritime archaeologist on Isla Cabrita, Dominican Republic. That's a 16th C. Dutch clay smoking pipe in 'Jeronomo's" hand, one that we pulled from a shipwreck a hundred yard's away from this field lab where we archived and preserved artifacts for the Monte Cristi Shipwreck Expedition.

A few of the other adventures that teaching has brought me over the years include studying Spanish and living with a local family in Costa Rica, painting sets used on stage at Lincoln Center for the National Dance Academy, traipsing with a class through the catacombs of The Cathedral of St. John the Divine to watch a sculptor at work on a giant statue for the cloister, and living on an uninhabited tropical island, helping underwater archaeologists with the excavation of a 16th Century shipwreck.

In the city of Nara while on my Keizai Koho Center Fellowship to Japan

Most recently I spent three weeks traveling through Japan with a large group of like minded educators as guests of Japanese Industrialists. We toured the country, inspected industrial plants, took baths in hot springs, visited Shinto temples, and observed classes at Japanese schools.

Presenting a panel of The Gorgeous Mosaic Project to teachers at Nishinodai Elementary School

At the farewell banquet I shared cocktails and observations about education and life with Akio Morita, President of SONY. Right now I’m deciding whether to apply for a study of Caribbean language in Belize, and archeological dig on the Mediterranean coast of Israel, or a tour of Korea.

I enjoyed the company of Morita-San even more than the fine Sushi and Cocktails

No, teachers don’t have to settle for fantasies. Opportunities for real adventure are available to all those colleagues of Professor Jones who are willing to seek them out. I believe that to do so is important too, for in our day and age with so much working against the classroom teacher, burnout is a prospect that looms ever present. Teachers must find ways to make their job exciting. Most importantly, unless teaching is an adventure for the teacher, learning will certainly never be one for the student.

Mark Gura
Project Director,
Division of Instruction and Professional Development
Board of Education – City of New York

Below are some sources to contact for information about travel oriented fellowships for educators:

Earthwatch
680 Mount Auburn Street
P.O. Box 403
Watertown, Mass. O2272-9924

Fulbright hays Seminars Abroad
U. S. Department of Education
Office of Post Secondary Education
Center for International Education
Washington, D.C. 20202-5332

Kezai Koho Center Fellowships
17 Eagle Rock Road
Mill Valley, CA 94941

Note: the above data has not been updated since this article was written

Old Photo of Mark and Abbey Found

2008-09-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

A few years back in Playa del Carmen, Mexico (ca. 2002). I was still Director of The Office of Instructional Technology (New York City Board of Education) then and really needed some serious R & R to deal with the stress. Snorkeling the Caribbean during the day and Margaritas at night in the company of my younger brother, Abbey, did the trick:)

I wonder if that great open air bar, Panchos, that we spent time at is still there? I know that Corto Maltes, which was then one of the few remaining palapa roof, bungalow style places to stay ("The Last of the Old Playa" was proudly stated on the sign at the entrance) has since been 'upscaled' to a fancy condo or something-er-other... sigh!

PLATO and Gura on Credit Recovery

2008-06-12T05:27:00.000-07:00

http://www.plato.com/

PLATO is a company I've appreciated for a long time. As an outcome of some research and writing I've been working on that focuses on the use of PLATO "solutions" for (high school) credit recovery, I was invited to be interviewed on their monthly podcast. I think a good discussion resulted...follow the links below to listen!

Podcasts This month, we discuss credit recovery with Mark Gura.

EPISODE #9: Credit Recovery with Mark GuraIn this month's edition in our podcast series, Andy Frost, PLATO Learning's Director of Product Management, and Mark Gura, co-producer of The Teacher's Podcast, discuss educational credit recovery. http://www.plato.com/Research-and-Resources/Podcasts.aspx

The Mystery of the Pipe Wreck: an Ed Tech "ah ha"

2008-04-17T07:02:00.000-07:00

Click on the image to access this Picasa galery directly,
get alternate viewing modes (i.e. larger), or to download.

While going through some old disks recently, I came across the article below. It really should have been published a decade back, but that was when "publishing" was totally dependent on the whims and levels of understanding of publishers. Now, however, Web 2.0 tools like scribd.com allow those with something to say to make certain things of importance get the 'space' they deserve.
For a full page view go to:
http://www.scribd.com/word/full/2563785?access_key=key-1xdhs4xl0ccp345fg48m

Click the square icon in the far right hand corner of the frame below to get an easy to ready view of the article>>>

Internet Filtering Reveals the Low Priority Our Schools Give 21st Century Learning

2008-04-04T06:28:00.000-07:00

Internet Filtering Reveals the Low Priority Our Schools Give 21st Century Learning

Under the Federal eRate funding program (see:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-rate) BILLIONS of dollars were spent bringing the Internet into our nation’s classrooms. A very significant broad band infrastructure was established as a result. However, as is illustrated by the following quote, a massive funding scheme like this can not change the attitudes of educational bureacracies entrenched in pre-digital communications era thinking.

“An evaluation of E-Rate in California by Goolsbee and Guryan showed a 68% increase in classroom connectivity per teacher but could not identify any impact on student achievement” (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-rate )

While back in the 90’s getting teachers to understand and use
"The_Information_Superhighway" was an uphill struggle - since then older teachers have retired, younger more tech savvy teachers have entered the field, and technology has become far more user friendly and ubiquitous. The majority of today’s teachers are interested in using Web-based resources, but hit the brick wall of Internet Filtering, a largely unchallenged, bureaucratic, legacy disincentive that in many ways has the effect of robbing today’s students of the type of education worthy of their attention.

There is much discussion among educators who wish to press forward about how to deal with filtering and ‘work with’ the bureacracy that holds the power of the filter. All this is laudable, illustrating that the committed, unflappable educator is still alive and well in some appreciable numbers in our classrooms. Thank heavens!

However, I assert that beyond discussions of the need for filters and methods (mostly quite challenging) for dealing with them, the fact that our students and teachers have been led to a digital oasis (web-based resources) in the outmoded text-book defined desert of our schools and are not being permitted to drink and quench their thirst for learning, is a measure of how the ‘educational powers that be’ still do not fully comprehend, honor, and value the teaching and learning practices steeped in the changes of intellectual process that have been irreversably brought about by the advent of digital communications technologies.

Recently, I came across a very interesting and revealing podcast discussion among a group of teachers about understanding and dealing with school Internet filters. While I appreciate the responsible and non-confrontational tack tacken, I was moved to spend a little time weighing in on this issue, as I believe they deserve better, much better than they are being shown by their school district administrations. The underlying reason for this is that what they want to do – use the Internet in their classrooms – is not afforded the respect (let alone awe) that is should be shown!

Here is a link to the podcast and below that the text of the comment I posted on the accompanying blog.

Mark

From: Teachers Teaching Teachers podcast
Locating the Tyranny of Filtering - TTT95 - 03.12.08

My Posted Comment: http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=162#comments

Mark Gura Says: March 25th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

Dear Teachers Teaching Teachers:

I listened to “Locating the Tyranny of Filtering” with great interest and I would very much like to offer the following observations.

First however, I want to say that I think Teachers Teaching Teachers is a highly significant effort. It is one of the first really solid examples of a trend I know is coming, something I call Technology Empowered School Reform from the Bottom Up.

I was a middle school teacher myself for 18 years, subsequently opting for central district administration as a platform from which to make my contribution during the final third of my career with the New York City Department of Education. I eventually held the position of Director, Office of Instructional Technology there.

I continue to work on impacting the state of education and its future, but as a retiree I can no longer do so as a practicing teacher. Consequently, Teachers Teaching Teachers is something I appreciate greatly. The perspective of those who have significant classroom experience and who continue to teach is an essential element of the movement to improve education. This episode is a good example.

I think you posed the theme of this episode deftly. You are correct, the issue is not so much “Is there filtering tyranny?” as “Can we collaboratively identify the location of that tyranny?” I was heartened as you worked your way through the conversation to dispel the notion that there is some evil, top down, monolithic effort afoot to impose filtering on hapless teachers. Furthermore, I met Olgierd several times while with the department and I believe him to be knowledgeable of and sympathetic to teachers and enthusiastic about enlightened approaches to education. In fact, I think the current administration, largely populated by non-educators, is very fortunate to have him there to ‘keep it real.’

I believe I have a reasonably good perspective on the filtering issue as I was onboard when the first filtering system was put in place as a requirement of the federal eRate program, the funds from which paid for a good deal of the school system’s telecommunications networking infrastructure. *Later, I frequently responded to pleas from the trenches for help as teachers early on realized the disempowering effects ‘the filter’ had on their efforts to provide relevant instruction for their students.

I would describe the situation in terms of de facto tyranny instead of de jure tyranny. While there may be no Wizard of Oz-like man behind the curtain thwarting students and teachers from accessing web resources purely as a misguided exercise of power, the effect may be the same. In fact, dealing with unintended tyranny in this case may be more insidious than having to take a Dr. Evil head on, because one becomes involved in an elusive fight in which it is hard to find an antagonist, let alone defeat him.

One thing I can tell you from direct experience though, is that an administration, even of a vast system like New York City’s, can indeed figure out how to make things happen if it sees them as important and wants to do so. While there may be a system in place to cope with filtering, it does not appear there is much of an effort made to let the rank and file know about it, let alone how to make the most of it.

With some regularity I am privileged to meet with classroom teachers who work for the New York City school system. This most often happens when I am invited to be a guest speaker in one of the many graduate education courses offered at universities in the city. I speak to these teachers about how they can tap technology to provide a better educational experience for their students. However, I very frequently meet resistance to my thoroughly grounded, in fact widely published, assertions and suggestions. To my surprise, most often this is not based on conflicting understandings of pedagogy, but of the practicalities involved in using computers and the Internet. The single greatest ‘yeah but’ I hear has to do with ‘The Filter.’

It used to be in these situations that I would quickly point out that there are ways to cope with the filter, that by contacting the right people and asking the right questions, the filter need not represent a brick wall stop to the type of activities they want to do with their students. I get quite a bit of push back to this though currently, by teachers who assert that they have called, or their supervisor has called to have something unblocked by the filter and that they’ve received one type of ’NO’ or another. I, of course, have no way of testing the veracity of these claims, but I will say that I’ve heard it so often, with such tenacity and vehemence, that what is clear to me is that the filter does represent, by reputation if not in fact, a very serious disincentive for teachers to do what by now they really know they must do, involve use of the Internet in their teaching.

Unfortunately, the current administration has demonstrated repeatedly that speaking up and bucking the system may result in disciplinary action. And so, making a big noise for the benefit of the kids is a phenomenon that has waned just as the integration of Web 2.0 resources in the classroom has become more and more necessary.

Many have pointed out that the school system is currently experiencing a revolving door personnel turnover that spins faster than ever before. One facet of this is that teachers hear that the Internet won’t work in their classroom, won’t give them access to much of what they want, and consequently many no longer even try to use it with their classes. That this is due to a filter, let alone that there are ways to cope with it, is often not even part of their understanding of the situation. What is true for them is that the web is not part of the classroom equation, contributing to frustration on the part of teachers and boredom for students, and ultimately abandonment of the school system by a very high percentage of teachers and principals.

The only way to overcome this in terms of promoting the use of the incredibly rich body of web-based resources these professionals might use, would be a serious outreach effort. The school system must continually and diligently inform new teachers, those who’ve replaced colleagues who may have known about coping with filtering previously, that they can prevail in this. My inference from speaking earnestly with many in-service teachers is that no significant such effort is taking place.

I find that much of your advice to teachers in this episode was sound. Yes, get to know the man who runs your filter! Yes, be courageous in standing up for the web-based instruction you believe in! And yes, organizing holds promise! These are positive, non adversarial approaches and represent due diligence that should be the first line of action. Yet, in the end, once organized there is likely to be conflict. Not over the issue of “will you (Mr. Filter Man) please help me?”, but in forcing the administration to concede that overcoming the filter’s discouraging effects on its own teaching force involves acknowledging the high importance of using the web in teaching and learning. By evaluating actions instead of rhetoric, an honest assessment would lead one to conclude that this hasn’t happened yet.

From my perspective, the fact that we still have this problem is part and parcel of the real issue, the lack of comprehension by the upper echelon of the administration that there are legitimate… no, make that mission critical reasons, for teachers and students to be working online and that ENSURING that there is a clear path for them to do so is important!

We must all continue to work hard to make sure that they come to understand and acknowledge this very important point!

Thanks again for this highly informative and important podcast episode!

Your Colleague,

Mark Gura

*Below is the text of a message I sent to the (NYC Board of Ed.) C.I.O. in July of 2000. I don't recall ever getting a response. Has this situation gotten better or worse?
(iGear was the original name of the school system's Internet Filter and D.I.I.T. the acronym for Division of Information and Instructional Technology)

How I (We) Became a Writer(s)

2008-03-29T04:51:00.000-07:00

From Joel Heffner's Great Website "How We Became Writers" , my page...

"When I was a kid in school I always wanted to be a writer. I wasn’t a good student though. I was one of those well behaved, shy kids who just couldn’t find anything of interest in what the teacher set before me. I ended up drawing in my notebook instead of doing the assignments and reading books under the desk to ward off the terrible boredom of what the rest of the class was doing.

As a result of all this I ended up with extraordinarily high scores on the standardized reading tests, well developed abilities as an artist, and great desire to be a published author, although without the skills and discipline needed to ever pull that off. This last point was a great source of frustration to me. I also managed to just squeak through high school and get into college where I studied art and avoided the academic life as much as was humanly possible.

As the philosopher once said “what you resist… persists!’ and after graduation from college I entered a very unfavorable job market, and with little to offer. The only job paying a livable salary that I could land for myself was as an art teacher in public school. Irony!

I found the stuff that went on in the school where I taught in East Harlem to be so astounding. You just couldn’t make this kind of thing up. I continually wanted to write about it. Unfortunately, I had never learned to outline, revise, polish, all those things needed to render a good idea into a finished, publishable piece. It looked to me like writing would be a dream forever deferred.

Fast forward to my 10th year or so as a teacher. My wife, who was also a teacher, although a high school literacy instructor in a good school, came home one day and declared, “Every other staff member at my school has taken advantage of the Apple for the Teacher promotion and bought a Macintosh computer to use at home. We are going to buy one too!”

At the time I was no fan of computers, thought the price wanted for the MAC was outrageously high, and still labored under the misapprehension that husbands could win domestic arguments. The kicker was that when Maria and I finally got our new digital centerpiece home, she turned to me and said, “This looks much harder to learn than I thought, Mark. Why don’t YOU learn how to use it and teach me?”

Like a dutiful spouse I did just that. Along the way I became fascinated with word processing and how it could support an untrained, undisciplined writer like me in producing the kind of polished piece someone might actually publish. The wheels in my head continued to spin.

A short while later, Margo Jones, a colleague who had been listening to me belly aching about wanting to write for some time informed me that the New York State Department of Education had put out a call for educators to write short articles to inspire peers. These would be published in an important publication they would call their Educational Possibilities Catalog. Margot’s clear implication was that I should write a piece for it and shut up about wanting to write already!

I ran my ideas and voice through the word processor: outlining, drafting, revising, and re-revising, the way only a computer could coax me to do. Then I sent out my first submission. Over the next couple of months I received an acceptance letter, a few updates, and then one day on my doorstep in a big, brown package was the finished book with my article inside. I tore the wrapper off, checked the index, and flew through the pages to see a boyhood dream come true resting on the kitchen countertop. I was a PUBLISHED AUTHOR!

Now, 40 odd magazine articles later, 3 years of weekly contributions to a major daily newspaper, and books number 5 and 6 due out over the next few months, I consider my ability to write to be my most cherished possession. I write more and more every day as writing becomes less and less something I do and more and more who I am. By the way, I continue to write about education which never disappoints me in producing great subjects to wrestle with.

Mark Gura
http://www.markgura.blogspot.com/
http://www.tomorrowsclassroomstoday.com/

Free Guide to Student Digital Video Making FOUND!

2008-03-23T03:59:00.000-07:00

I accidentally found an old friend while web surfing today. This 36 page - downloadable (PDF) teachers guide to student digital video projects was produced by the department I ran back in the day, the Office of Instructional Technology (OIT) - New York City Board of Education.

This was offeredFREE to the many thousands of teachers who used it to good effect over the years. I am glad to see that someone still has it running on a server somewhere!!! This was done at a period of time when producing curriculum, teaching guides, and content for students was something we took on regularly as part of the job. Ah, those WERE the days... At any rate, here it is... Easy to understand, rock solid approaches to guiding students in the production of digital video projects. Authentic, relevant activities for 21st Century students. I hope this one stays up for a long time to come.
Apparently you can still download it from:
http://www.evc.org/pdf/Hands_On_Guide.pdf

OR, if the above is not working go to:
http://web.archive.org/web/20020122022715/www.nycenet.edu/oit/video.htm

HANDS-ON: A GUIDE TO USING VIDEO AND MULTIMEDIA PRODUCTION IN PROJECT-BASED WORK.

Podcasting for Teachers

2008-03-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

From Converge Online:
http://www.convergemag.com/story.php?catid=422&storyid=106727
Podcasting for Teachers Creates Anytime, Anywhere Teacher Conferences
Digital Media is Answer for Teacher Time Crunch
By Jeana Graham
March 12, 2008

...It's a common conundrum in K-12 schools, says Mark Gura, a consulting advisor for Fordham University as well as an educator for 35 years. As technology advances at a near-dizzying pace, sporadic conferences become more and more inadequate. But more regular meetings require more time away from the classroom ? time that teachers don't have. "Podcasting is really a great answer to that because it's what we call time-shifting. People can make more time in their lives. What used to be down time can now be filled with good stuff," Gura says.

Gura, also a senior fellow for the Center for Digital Education, and Dr. Kathy King, a professor of adult education for Fordham University, started "The Teacher's Podcast" to help solve this problem. Originally produced under the name Podcasting for Teachers, it's now well past 3 million downloads and on its 105th episode since 2005. The two have also written a book about their experiences, Podcasting for Teachers: Using a New Technology to Revolutionize Teaching and Learning. Gura says that podcasting may not replace conferences, but if planned carefully, should free up conferences so more ground can be covered. He says a level of synergy can be obtained between the two.

Podcasting might be a bit intimidating to the individual educator with limited resources. But Lee Baber, one of the creators of "Teachers Teaching Teachers," (TTT) says that it is not an "insolvable problem." TTT, a part of the EdTechTalk family, launched in early 2006 with the help of the WorldBridges network. WorldBridges is a community focused on "homegrown webcasting." The TTT site saw nearly 120,000 visitors between September 2007 and November 2007, with almost 38,000 of them being new users.

Baber says a unique aspect of TTT is that it is live with teachers having online chat capabilities during the recording. This enables anyone to come and ask questions during the show. She describes it as a continuous conversation. "It's like a faculty meeting that doesn't end ? and there's no leader," Baber says. The podcast is later posted to the site to be downloaded. "I think what it is, is a whole lot of people trying to share their individual versions of expertise and all collectively, you know, we feel like we have a whole lot of strength in numbers."

Gura says it's crucial to remember the importance of planning to produce a quality podcast. "A good podcast is conceived as a podcast," he says, meaning that simply recording a conference will not produce the desired result. Background noise, raising of hands that the listener cannot hear and unexpected happenings are all things that can detract from the podcast experience.

Baber says the secrets to success are community and networks. For TTT, that help came from the Webcast Academy, part of the WorldBridges network. She says having someone to reach out to when problems arise is of the utmost importance. "It was a very hard learning curve, but it was easy to do because we had people to support us, to be our mentors and to help us get through that problem solving. We could always fall back on people that knew how to do it."

The technology may be taxing and the planning may be tedious, but both Gura and Baber would agree that the benefits outweigh the costs. Baber points to the valuable information and connections she has gleaned from her experiences. She says during one podcast, Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, a technology and education consultant and adjunct instructor in the School of Education at The College of William and Mary, shared ideas from the K-12 Online Conference 2007. Since that time, Baber uses the conference for professional development on a daily basis.

For Gura, podcasting for professional development is not only a handy tool to have, it's a catalyst for great change. "I firmly believe that this is really part of a revolution for education, when teachers can get their PD in this kind of free or inexpensive, casual format. This is really important stuff we're working on. I've been an educator for 35 years. Trust me; this will make a difference in the end.

"It will be the collective groan heard 'round K-12 classrooms everywhere. Those glorious few days off for students ? also known as teachers' conferences ? might soon be a rare occurrence.Podcasting ? creating digital media files that can be listened to on demand by way of portable media devices ? was a buzzword in 2004 and has been increasing in popularity ever since. However, technology-adept teachers are just beginning to scratch the surface of its potentially huge implications for education.It's a common conundrum in K-12 schools, says Mark Gura, a consulting advisor for Fordham University as well as an educator for 35 years. As technology advances at a near-dizzying pace, sporadic conferences become more and more inadequate. But more regular meetings require more time away from the classroom ? time that teachers don't have. "Podcasting is really a great answer to that because it's what we call time-shifting. People can make more time in their lives. What used to be down time can now be filled with good stuff," Gura says.

Gura, also a senior fellow for the Center for Digital Education, and Dr. Kathy King, a professor of adult education for Fordham University, started "The Teacher's Podcast" to help solve this problem. Originally produced under the name Podcasting for Teachers, it's now well past 3 million downloads and on its 105th episode since 2005. The two have also written a book about their experiences, Podcasting for Teachers: Using a New Technology to Revolutionize Teaching and Learning. Gura says that podcasting may not replace conferences, but if planned carefully, should free up conferences so more ground can be covered. He says a level of synergy can be obtained between the two.

Podcasting might be a bit intimidating to the individual educator with limited resources. But Lee Baber, one of the creators of "Teachers Teaching Teachers," (TTT) says that it is not an "insolvable problem." TTT, a part of the EdTechTalk family, launched in early 2006 with the help of the WorldBridges network. WorldBridges is a community focused on "homegrown webcasting." The TTT site saw nearly 120,000 visitors between September 2007 and November 2007, with almost 38,000 of them being new users.

Baber says a unique aspect of TTT is that it is live with teachers having online chat capabilities during the recording. This enables anyone to come and ask questions during the show.

She describes it as a continuous conversation. "It's like a faculty meeting that doesn't end ? and there's no leader," Baber says. The podcast is later posted to the site to be downloaded. "I think what it is, is a whole lot of people trying to share their individual versions of expertise and all collectively, you know, we feel like we have a whole lot of strength in numbers."

Gura says it's crucial to remember the importance of planning to produce a quality podcast. "A good podcast is conceived as a podcast," he says, meaning that simply recording a conference will not produce the desired result. Background noise, raising of hands that the listener cannot hear and unexpected happenings are all things that can detract from the podcast experience.

Baber says the secrets to success are community and networks. For TTT, that help came from the Webcast Academy, part of the WorldBridges network. She says having someone to reach out to when problems arise is of the utmost importance. "It was a very hard learning curve, but it was easy to do because we had people to support us, to be our mentors and to help us get through that problem solving. We could always fall back on people that knew how to do it."

The technology may be taxing and the planning may be tedious, but both Gura and Baber would agree that the benefits outweigh the costs. Baber points to the valuable information and connections she has gleaned from her experiences. She says during one podcast, Sheryl Nusbaum-Beach, a technology and education consultant and adjunct instructor in the School of Education at The College of William and Mary, shared ideas from the K-12 Online Conference 2007. Since that time, Baber uses the conference for professional development on a daily basis.

For Gura, podcasting for professional development is not only a handy tool to have, it's a catalyst for great change. "I firmly believe that this is really part of a revolution for education, when teachers can get their PD in this kind of free or inexpensive, casual format. This is really important stuff we're working on. I've been an educator for 35 years. Trust me; this will make a difference in the end."

Resources:
edtechtalk.com/teachersteachingteachers

www.infoagepub.com/products/content/p45f87061c70e9.php
(where Gura's book is located)

http://www.worldbridges.com/www.webcastacademy.net/
http://www.teacherspodcast.org/

Published in the Special Issue 2007 of Converge

Podcasting for Teachers (the book)

2008-03-22T12:11:00.000-07:00

Podcasting for Teachers
Using a New Technology to Revolutionize Teaching and Learning
Kathleen P. King, Fordham University
Mark Gura, Fordham University
2007. A volume in the series:
Emerging Technologies for Evolving Learners.
Series Editor(s): Kathleen P. King, Fordham University and
Mark Gura, Fordham University

ORDER Direct from Authorsmailto:AuthorsTransformationed@gmail.com

10% discount paperback copies and signed if requested

ORDER FROM PUB by phone(704)-752-9125

Notable Achievements of Podcasting for Teachers·
The first book published on podcasting and education· Reveals how to use podcasting across content areas· Easy to read and oriented to teacher needs· Adopted as a textbook at teacher education colleges within 6 months of publication· Written by experienced podcasters and producers (5 series, over 160 hrs of podcasting)· Already adopted by 150 libraries around the world

Podcasting for Teachers is the first volume of a new series from Dr. Kathleen P. King and Mark Gura- Emerging Technologies for Evolving Learners and is based on their successful educational technology podcast, The Teachers’ Podcast and Podcast for Teachers, Techpod (sm). Their podcast work has reached over 3.25 million people as of 11/07 and branched into virtual seminars, publications, and additional innovations.

This book introduces and explains this important new technology from the perspective of educators. It also provides new insights into the ways that technology can provide solutions to instructional needs that have not been sufficiently addressed until now. Not only does it provide concrete explanations, examples, models, and details about methods and resources that are not currently illustrated in other publications, but it also reveals a new rationale for the use of technology in education.

Directors of curriculum and instruction, faculty development, as well as faculty, classroom teachers, administrators, and instructional supervisors across the core curriculum and in the area of Instructional Technology; and teacher educators and other college faculty will find this book a valuable resource. Readers may use the book as part of their own efforts to expand their teaching or staff development practice. It can also be an important resource for Education courses in content instruction and Instructional Technology and serve as a valuable reference for educators interested in educational applications of technology.

CONTENTS: Acknowledgments. About the Authors. Preface.PART I. A Revolution in Our Pockets. From the Front Lines: Drafting New Technologies to Revolutionize Education. What’s this Podcasting Revolution All About? From Pop Culture to Killer Application for Education.PART II. Podcasting 'How To' Basics: THE PFT Model of Podcasting. Podcasting Cost/Benefit Decisions. Demystifying Podcast “Tech Talk”. Talking to the World: Podcast Format Possibilities. The World is Listening: Finding and Keeping Your Podcast Audience.

Part III Becoming a Podcasting Educator. The Educator’s Learning Curve in Podcasting Mastery. How to Create Podcasts as Teaching Resources. How to Set Up the Classroom for Podcasting. Who’s Using Podcasting Technology in Education? How to Plan Podcasting-based Activities for Students. Curricular Connections: Podcasting for Teaching and Learning. Podcasting for Professional Development. Beyond Coursecasting: Using Podcasting to Expand Learning Experiences.

Nice to be quoted by the Governor :) !

2008-01-15T12:42:00.000-08:00

SWEET Home Alabama written @ my desk in Teaneck, New Jersey

Last year I wrote an article for Converge on Alabama's virtual high school initiative (download the aritcle @ http://www.convergemag.com/story.php?catid=231&storyid=105998 )

It was nice to be quoted by Governor Bob Riley in his January 1, 2008 memo online. I guess my words and thoughts resonated.

The program was featured in the national education magazine Converge last year, which proclaimed that
“Alabama has taken aim and hit the bull’s eye with ACCESS.”

“Unlike virtual school initiatives that attempt to replace or supplant brick and mortar schools, ACCESS builds on the state’s existing real world education system, enhancing, enriching and taking it to places never previously imagined,” the article states.

Governor Riley was so enthusiastic about that article he recently sent copies of it to every legislator and encouraged them to see ACCESS in action by visiting one of the schools.
“This is a program that’s working. It expands learning opportunities to kids all across Alabama and improves the quality of education in this state. I want to make sure all legislators understand just how critical it is to fully fund ACCESS,” Governor Riley said. “Just like this article said, ‘success stories with this much impact and significance are rare.’ We’ve got to expand ACCESS so more of our students have the opportunity to benefit from this success story.”

Read the memo at its source: http://www.governorpress.alabama.gov/pr/pr-2008-01-01-01-access-video.asp

ALSO: See news coverage citing my article: http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080113/OPINION01/801130301/1012/OPINION

Gura Brothers' Trip to China November '07

2007-12-02T03:52:00.000-08:00

To view individually, at your own pace - for larger versions and/or with captions @http://picasaweb.google.com/markgura/MarkSChinaTour07?authkey=SQG39dfPuMk

Almost a decade back, when our mom passed away, my brother Abbey and I entered into an agreement to travel together at least once a year. Since then we’ve been to Mexico, Belize, Curacao, Prague, Puerto Rico and other spots where our eyes open to new sights and possibilities and we get to spend quality time together sharing them and making sense out of our family history and life in general.

A couple of years ago we mutually selected a trip to Singapore, Bangkok, and Hong Kong which was pretty great. Abbey’s eyes took on that same glow they got when he discovered sailing, an indication of enthusiasm bordering on love. And so, when he pushed for the escorted tour to China we recently completed, I realized that resisting this would be like attempting to deny a force of nature. This was fortunate as it was a very good experience, indeed.

18 days is a fair amount of travel. However, China is thousands of miles across with a culture and history of intense human activity that stretches back thousands of years. It has a population of over a Billion and roughly one in every 6 people alive on the planet today is Chinese… Consequently, whatever you see in these photos at best represents the momentary apprehension of a single facet of a very, very complex reality. There's nothing to be done about that realization other than keep it present in your mind as you inevitably try to figure out what you are experiencing and what it means and do so carrying much preconceived China ‘baggage’ into and out of the experience. Understanding China is hard work and this was a 'pleasure cruise' we were on, not a serious investigation. Still, I think we saw the real China, or part of it, and sorting through my photos and putting them together in an ‘album’ helped digest the experience and make some sense of it.

Our itinerary was as follows: Beijing, Xian, Chongqing (Chung King), Shanghai, Guilin, Guangjou and Hong Kong... And lots of little suburbs and lesser known towns and hamlets in between.

Our list of featured “sights” included (and there were so many I really won’t recall all of them):
· The Temple of Heaven (Beijing) http://www.china.org.cn/english/kuaixun/75120.htm
· Tiananmen Square http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square
· The Forbidden City http://www.chinahighlights.com/beijing/attraction/forbidden-city.htm
· The Great Wall http://www.crystalinks.com/chinawall.html
· The Terra Cotta Warriors (Xian) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shaanxi/xian/terra_cotta_army/
· Ming Tombs http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Dynasty_Tombs
· Xian City Wall (last intact example of what was once a way of life and survival, or so our guide explained) http://www.orientaltravel.com/province/city/area/Xian_City_Wall.htm
· Panda Zoo (Chongqing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chongqing )
· General Stillwell’s World War II HQ
· 3 Day Yangtze River Cruise including “The Dam” and 3 Gorges (sorry, don’t remember the name of the individual gorges. And by the way, one could spend months just exploring these gorges and their historic sites… :(
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangtze_River
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges
· http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Gorges_Dam
· The Bund/Pudong Waterfront (Shanghai)
http://wikitravel.org/en/Shanghai/Bund + http://english.pudong.gov.cn/index.jsp
· Reed Flute Cave (Guilin) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/guangxi/guilin/flute.htm
· Li River Cruise through Karst Country http://www.tylersterritory.com/travel/china/guilin/li/li-03.html
· Dr. Sun Yat Sen Memorial – Chen Family Temple/Academy – 2 Buddhist Temples (Guanjou) http://www.china-travel-tour-guide.com/attractions/sun-yat-sen-memorial-hall.shtml
· Victoria Peak, Aberdeen Harbor, Stanly Waterfront, etc. Hong Kong http://www.lonelyplanet.com/maps/asia/china/hong-kong/

And of course many restaurants, a Tang Dynasty ‘show’, a GREAT acrobat show in Shanghai - a jade, a silk, a carpet, a laquerware, and other ‘factories’ where tourists are encouraged to purchase high priced items created especially for them to purchase :) :) :) and endless fleeting vignettes of PEOPLE on the streets and alleyways, their bicycles and cars, in shops and stores, in front of housing projects, farms, sidewalks, views of billboards, hillsides, bus stops, … all of which gave an impression/understanding of China that will remain burned into the wet matter of my grateful and thoroughly impressed brain for a good time to come!

I took some 1,050 photos (give or take a few) and spent quite a few hours editing and selecting the group down to the 145 presented here. These aren’t necessarily the best or most arty of the lot, but they do work together to help me relate what I experienced. I hope you enjoy looking at them as I hope they raise questions for you about China and perhaps spur you to take your own trip. I hope to get back there myself!

Mark

PS – I’ve embedded some links in the above for those who might like to get a bit of background info about any of the many names and places attached to them I’ve mentioned.

PSS – You can go directly to the Picasa Web Album (from which this slide show is taken) @ http://picasaweb.google.com/markgura/MarkSChinaTour07?authkey=SQG39dfPuMk This will enable you to download any pics you may want and view it as you like (i.e. with or without captions, slide show speed, individual photos, etc.)

The Powers That Be Have Been Informed - Our Young People Continue to Wait for a 21st C. Education Worthy of Their Attention

2006-11-05T10:58:00.000-08:00

My Testimony to the City Council
(New York City, that is).

In June of '06 an Oversight Hearing on Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology was convened. While the record will reveal that representatives of the Dept. of Ed. responded to questions about 'how' the equipment in city classrooms is being used to impact learning by talking about the numbers of computers purchased, installed, and maintained instead, I presented a sensible take on the current situation - one in which an educational program not truly worthy of 21st Century youngsters persists. Here is the testimony I submitted:

Testimony of Mark Gura

Meeting of the Committee on Technology in Government:
Oversight Hearing on Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology

June 17, 2006

My Professional Background:
* 31 years of service to New York City Public Schools – now retired.
1. 18 years as a middle school classroom teacher in East Harlem
2. 13 years of experience in instructional supervision
3. Held the position of Director, Office of Instructional Technology (under the direct supervision of the Deputy Chancellor for Instruction) 1996 – 2003.
* Author “Recapturing Technology for Education: Keeping Tomorrow in Today’s Classrooms” and many articles in popular magazines on the theme of Instructional Technology
* Currently: Senior Fellow – Center for Digital Education and Director of OUTREACH, Regional Educational Technology Center (Fordham University)

I. Effective ways to define the correct path and determine the progress of NYC Schools -
Over the past few years through my association with the Center for Digital Education and as an education journalist, I’ve had the opportunity to exchange important ideas about Educational Technology with many of the prime decision makers of the nation’s largest and most influential school districts. Consequently, I have come to see that many of these districts have successful classroom technology programs and that the components of these programs vary from district to district. In effect, this combined body of program components forms an important body of practice.

Suggestion to the Committee: In assessing NYC’s efforts in Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology, its program can be best understood by comparing it to the above referenced body of practice, which was developed in large measure by large urban school districts operating in much the same circumstances as New York City.

Useful questions to pose would be:

* What types of program components and resources have other systems developed, acquired, and provided?

* How many of the preferred program items adopted by the extended community of school districts has our local system adopted? And to what extent and of what quality?

Following is a brief list of examples of essential resources provided by school districts to promote the use of technology in their classrooms:

1. Online and Interactive Curriculum/Teaching Guides involving the use of technology in core curriculum areas (Chicago Public Schools provides a “Standards Based Internet Resource Guide” that provides resources & activities for Language Arts – Math – Science – Social Studies aligned to the standards for which students are held accountable.)

2. Online Instructional Content (Miami Dade schools provide an online content portal with Literacy, Math and other content free to all students. This can be accessed anywhere, school or home, 24/7)

3. Parent Portals: (robust, highly interactive websites that make it easy for parents to stay continually informed about school programs, contact teachers, and get more involved in their youngsters’ learning. are springing up across the US. I recently authored an article entitled Power to the Parents for Ed Tech focus on k-12 magazine, June/July 2006, that details the efforts of numerous school systems in this area.)

4. Online Professional Development (on June 21 the State Dept of Ed in Arkansas announced the launch of “IDEAS Internet-Delivered Education for Arkansas Schools” an online PD portal for all teachers including the use of technology… a few years back NYC public schools had its own online PD portal with 10 courses highlighting technology that was made available to all teachers)

II.The Important Indicators of Improved Classroom Instruction are Related to Technology Use and Not to the Quantities of Technology Resources Provided. -

In April ’06 the NY Post reported NYC schools having 296,011 working computers. Earlier, in October of ’03, the Post quoted the chancellor as saying that technology is “one of the most underutilized assets in terms of the future of educating our children.” This was in the same article entitled “Schools striking up the bandwidth” that announced a DOE plan to increase bandwidth by 300 percent.
If the above were reported correctly, 296,000 thousand working computers would give the NYC system a computer to student ration (the standard measure in this type of program) of better than 4 to 1. This is an enviable ratio for any large urban system.

However, in addressing the committee’s mission to determine NYC’s progress in Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology these figures reveal only capacity, and not progress or achievement. A technology program really ought to be measured by how (the types of instructional practice in use), how well, and the extent to which such resources are put into instructional use.

Suggestion to the Committee: A separate hearing to analyze the pedagogical application of the system’s extant technology equipment and infrastructure should be held.
Furthermore, a mechanism by which can be understood the types and extent of technology-supported teaching and learning are being made to happen in NYC classrooms (on an ongoing basis) should be called for. Until such a mechanism is developed and in place, reports on numbers of computers and thresholds of Internet access will remain a minor part of an unclear picture about the state of classroom technology use, and of minimal value.

III.At the conclusion of the ’06 School Year, Instructional Technology ought to be a mainstream educational resource. -
In understanding the efficacy of a school system’s Instructional Technology program it is most effective to consider the common, day in - day out use of technology in classrooms. It is crucial to look at what is the experience of the vast majority of students, rather than a few anecdotal examples of model technology use that illustrate what is possible. Such anecdotes can be found on the web in the tens of thousands signifying that we have moved beyond this type of measure into an era in which technology should be a fully integrated facet of the general, overall instructional program.

Technology should not be seen as an add-on, or an extra, or an elective, or a special program. While a small part of its scope is its role as a curriculum area, its truest dimension is as a resource, a tool and enabler across the curriculum, positively impacting every aspect of teaching and learning.

Suggestion to the Committee: in today’s technology dominated intellectual environment an appropriate measure of success in Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology, would assess how closely the current program reaches the goal of having all students frequently and continually benefit from the use technology in many or most of their classes.

The majority of expert educators in the fields of Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies call for the inclusion of technology as an important part of the teaching and learning in those subject areas. For instance, the National Council of Teachers of English website on early literacy states “Young children readily learn key understandings about literacy-print conventions, vocabulary, story structure, and literacy… through… traditional storybook reading, as well as (other) forms of literacy like media, and technology.”For full text see: http://www.ncte.org/collections/earlyliteracy - The International Reading Association’s webpage entitled Integrating Literacy and Technology in the Curriculum states: “The Internet and other forms of information and communication technology (ICT) are redefining the nature of literacy. To become fully literate in today’s world, students must become proficient in the new literacies of ICT. Therefore, literacy educators have a responsibility to integrate these technologies into their literacy curricula.” - Also, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics website on principles for school mathematics states “Technology is essential in teaching and learning mathematics; it influences the mathematics that is taught and enhances students' learning.”

Furthermore, a new body of essential 21st Century skills has come into being since the advent of personal computing and digital technology. These skills represent a crucial body of learning for today’s students if they are to graduate as effective citizens and participants in the economy. 21st C skills are not solely technology skills, but involve the ways that learning, knowing, communicating, and solving problems have changed through the application of technology. They must be learned through the continual and ongoing use of technology.

Recently, the state of Michigan made taking an online course a requirement for graduation from high school. The purpose for this is that learning to work, collaborate, and learn in a virtual environment (a collection of 21st C skills) is now critical for those entering the world beyond school.

Furthermore, the use of technology will make the school experience more relevant for youngsters growing up in the current intellectual environment, fostering greater engagement and motivation and likely resulting in improved attendance and graduation rates.

IV.Better Defined PrioritiesIn discussions about integrating technology for instruction into the overall instructional program, one often hears about priorities. There is a very unfortunate mis-understanding among many of our nation’s educational decision makers that one can either have students involved in learning “technology” or they can learn literacy, math, science, etc.

I count myself among the very large number of highly experienced educational experts who believe that nothing could be further from the truth. The technology dominated age in which we are living and working has established firmly the concepts of multi-tasking and multi-purposing. With proper instructional design, students may learn core curriculum content (i.e. Language Arts, Math, Science) and technology and 21st C literacy skills at simultaneously in the same set of activities.

Furthermore, many believe that through the appropriate use of technology they will learn it better. There is a great deal of research available to support this. One good source is CARET (Center for Applied Research for Educational Technology) an ISTE resource.

Observation to Committee: Many other American school districts have made the use of technology a significant part of the daily educational experience of students. An analysis of how these districts accomplished this while operating under much the same conditions as NYC might be informed and facilitated easily through interviewing some of the many experts in establishing such programs around the country.

V. Better Defining Roles and Responsibilities One key factor in giving technology the importance it should have in our schools is a shift in roles and responsibilities. Continued reliance on “Instructional Technologists” will not suffice to change the current instructional landscape in terms of technology use. Administrators, curriculum experts, supervisors, coaches, etc. within the subject areas must be charged with shouldering this responsibility. Technology can not be pushed into subject area cultures from the outside. It has to be embraced and pulled into them from within, and the leaders of these fields must assume a major role in making this happen.

Recommendation to the Committee: A report on how instruction in NYC classrooms is specifically designed to take advantage of the important benefits that technology can offer will shed light on the committee’s theme of this meeting: Improving Classroom Instruction Through the Use of Technology. Such a report will be most revealing if it is prepared for the committee by central instructional staff whose purview involves guiding very large numbers of teachers in instruction in the areas of Language Arts, Math, Science, and Social Studies. The report ought to include explanations of curriculum, instructional resources (i.e. software), and pedagogical practices, as well as professional development and accountability measures. The scope of the report ought to reflect the extent these elements affect the total number of teachers currently in classrooms.

VI.Tapping existing technology to solve some of the problems of making use of technology in our classrooms.
In many cases the solution to providing items like professional development to very large numbers of teachers is the technology itself. In addition to the previously mentioned content and professional development portals and online conferencing and group work applications (all of which currently provide other school systems cost effective solutions) I have been involved in a program at Fordham University called Podcast for Teachers (PFT) which can serve as an important model. PFT is a weekly 30+ minute presentation of important Educational Technology practices and resources (primarily K – 12), many of which are free. In the 10 months Fordham has provided this resource (also free) through the web, it has been downloaded by educators around the world more than 150,000 times. This resource is available to all teachers everywhere (www.podcastforteachers.org). However, in addition to the value of its content, PFT provides a model of how any school system can produce professional development very efficiently and disseminate it on a near no-cost basis. Fordham’s Regional Educational Technology Center is available for guidance, training and assistance in beginning such a program specifically tailored for NYC teachers.

2006-10-26T04:58:00.000-07:00

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