MISD teacher puts global mark on innovative education

Living video game: check. Eight-year-old technology whizzes: check. Global recognition: golden.

That last part -- at least a figurative gold -- is in Slaughter Elementary teacher Joli Barker's reach. She was selected last week as one of 16 educators nationwide to represent the United States at Microsoft's Partners in Learning Global Forum in November.

There will be no opening ceremonies or pedestal pride, but Barker could be named a Microsoft Innovative Educator -- just as fitting a testament to her iConnect project that this year had second-graders creating games that spanned an international interface.

"I get to meet teachers who are at the top of their game around the world," Barker said of the forum. "It's very much like the Olympics for teachers."

That is, teachers who've bought in computer-in-hand to this technologically driven generation. Thousands of educators submitted their respective projects that utilized technology in and out of the classroom, and 100 presented them at the U.S. Partners in Learning Forum a week ago in Redmond, Wash.

In true Olympic fashion, their performances -- project rundowns and displays -- were judged by a distinguished panel, which included superintendents, authors, members of the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Education and the International Society for Technology in Education, and even an elected official from the Arizona House of Representatives.

"These winning educators are catalysts for change and are the best in the nation at embracing technology to inspire and engage students and help transform education in their local communities," said Andrew Ko, general manager of U.S. Partners in Learning. "They all are incredibly passionate and driven to make an impact on each and every student they teach."

Barker's project, a global literary book study that used ePals, Edmodo, Skype and Kodu gaming, earned second place in the national forum's Extended Learning Beyond the Classroom category. She and teacher team Sarah Collins and Jo Spark from Moody were the lone winning Texas educators, and three of the 16 chosen from seven states.

Training for Barker's shining moment started on a plane ride back from last year's forum. Processing all she'd learned of her craft -- technological teaching -- one idea had stuck. Jane McGonigal, game designer and author of "Reality is Broken," prodded teachers to funnel kids' video-game resolve to their schoolroom seats.

She said kids are willing to play for nine straight hours on a level, failing 80 percent of the time but remaining determined to continue, ever-confident they'll eventually beat it. Could they transfer such tenacity to their studies?

"I want that for my kids," Barker said. "I decided to start where I know their level of interest...to change my entire classroom into a living video game."

While most Slaughter students dissected syllabi and class rules the first week of school, Barker's second-graders scanned a gaming instruction manual, much like the pamphlet at the front of their newest XBOX game. Outlined was a controller layout, each button signifying a classroom expectation like "mutual respect," and the manual revealed how answers to end-of-week math and science questions earned level-ups and cheat codes.

Each week was another level on a quest through the second-grade curriculum. The literary level, a study of Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House series, saw Barker's training come to point.

Through ePals, a social network for K-12 students, her class connected with classrooms in seven different countries, each representing the places the stories visited. Students used Edmodo, another secure learning network, to host Q&A sessions, talk about themes and, more simply, learn about each other.

"It became more of a dialogue between global peers," Barker said. "The overall ending result...was more of a cultural exchange than it was about the books."

Then they leveled-up. Mixed groups of students from different countries synced into Microsoft's Kodu game-coding interface to create and share games, in a sense "gaming around the world," Barker said. Social and literary learning came through critical thinking, problem solving and online communication.

"She cut across so many different topics -- collaboration, some of the social media aspects, even teaching them on Kodu," Ko said of Barker. "Students are just aggressively learning; technology is going at the speed of thought, and students are embracing it."

Participating teachers Skyped their analyses of the students' creations and the winners of the classroom competition. Trainers and trainees alike benefited, often equally.

"I never look at any piece of technology and say that's too advanced, because kids these days can put together their computer and take it apart without instructions," said Barker, whose own 14 year old child tutored her in Kodu prior to the project. "They're usually better with technology than adults are, so I try not to underestimate their ability level."

Microsoft realized that potential when they created Partners in Learning nearly a decade ago. Since 2003, the $500 million commitment has reached more than 210 million teachers and students in 119 countries.

The program mission: to showcase 21st century learning through technology, innovation and collaboration, "all the things that would primarily develop an intelligent population and workforce," Ko said.

"We believe that every child has the right to a quality education," he said. "And technology can help."

Teachers have a seemingly limitless Internet of tricks at their disposal. Those who've put such tricks to training -- Barker and educators from 79 other countries -- will see the finish line to their efforts this fall in Prague.

No team, no medal, just technology. For Barker, though, her Olympics are every day at Slaughter Elementary.

And she's already ready for the next event.

"I have a new project in the works that I was inspired to create this past forum," she said. "It should be a game-changer again."

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