Week 4 - Blog Posting #8 -Reflection on Blogging

I love blogging! Even though I wish I did it more often but when I do I really enjoy looking back and reading my writing. Being a teacher and while going through schooling I was told that reflecting on my teaching is one of the best ways to learn from ourselves. I always knew that I would NEVER sit down and grab a journal and reflect on my teaching through writing. Its just not my thing. I was never a journalist and didn’t really like writing. Through using this Web 2.0 tool, blogging, I find it much easier to reflect day-to-day practices and also make those reflections public to people whom can benefit from my writing, like students parents. I get comments from parents all the time thanking me for blogging about our classroom because its like they have an inside view into their child’s classroom. Blogging seem so real because it is uncut writing that is real.

I personally have seen the benefits of using blogging in my classroom, for my class work, and have really wanted to show other teachers that I work with those benefits but I feel that you don’t truly understand blogging until you do it yourself. I wish to encourage them to become bloggers for themselves and possibly for their classroom parents and students.

Knowing the benefits of blogging for me I really would like to encourage more students to begin blogging and for blogging to be an option during times like SSR, Silent sustained reading. I think blogging/writing is just as important!

Resources:

True Benefits of Blogging

http://www.a1technology.com/book/benefits_blogging.htm

Week 4 - Blog Posting #7 -Second Life

I joined the ISTE Second Life group back in month 3 of the program. I found ISTE useful when I was working on our group project of using virtual environments in an educational setting. ISTE provided me with the support to begin encouraging educators that it was ok to use a virtual environment to teach. They also provided encouraging meetings that involved all kinds of teachers around the world, which was great to attend. I enjoyed discussing virtual environments with other like-minded teachers that understood the virtual world and its possibilities.

ISTE offered many useful tools to help understanding virtual environments in an educational setting. I used ISTE for its videos on virtual environments, personal video blogs of other teachers, and as a meeting place for our group to explore a virtual environment, online collaboration, and networking.

Week 3 - Blog Posting #6 -Communities of Practice

In our lives we encounter many communities of practice that engage us as learners, teachers, parents, and other roles we fill in our lives. The community that we communicate with will affect our lives good or bad. We choose to communicate within our communities and they can be very beneficial to us. Participating in a variety of communities broadens our knowledge and extends our powers. Being part of a community you feel like you are a part of a unit and having that support of the unit is a beneficial thing. When I communicate with my community throughout the day I look forward to hearing from them from a recent update I have given then and I also I look forward to hearing about their lives through their updates. I also like it when I can rely on my community to provide an honest opinion in a recent decision or promote my personal business. We rely on our communities of practice to keep our lives in balance. We also rely on our communities for problem solving, gathering information, personal experiences, assets, coordination, developments, and projects. I feel that if we loose our communities or not participate in our communities our lives and choices we make are affected. Even in this program having our community of practice helps us define our identity and discuss problems and solutions. This program would be a pretty boring and difficult if I did not have the support from my classmates.

Sources:

Etienne Wenger

http://www.ewenger.com/theory/

EDUTECH Wiki

http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Community_of_practice

Week 3 - Blog Posting #5 -Social Media

Social media is a wonderful virtual element that bridges the gap between many individuals. When I think of social media I think of networks such as Facebook and Myspace. I have had the opportunity to learn so much about my network of friends on these sites in ways I would have never had through face to face communication. Social networks bring so many walks of life together and bring together so many positive opportunities.

I know my coworkers that I work with on one level but if we were connected through a social network I could get to know them in such a different way. I wish that we as a whole staff would begin blogging about our classrooms and be able to connect with each teacher on a different level. I have tried getting a blogging network going but the issue of time has halted us from starting one. Many teachers feel they don't have enough time to do something like blogging but once we all began I believe we would see the benefits of being a social network. Ill keep trying to encourage them!

On my personal classroom website I felt that a very important element to my site is a comment box. I wanted to give the parents the chance to voice their opinions and suggestions. This way I am able to hear from my audience and learn from them. I enjoy this element of social media.

Just looking at all the varieties of social media out there is amazing! There is so many ways that social media is benefiting all professions in some way or another. The communication that has taken place has increased knowledge everywhere.

Resources:

Optimizing Public Relations with Social Media

http://www.vocus.com/wp/socialmediawp.pdf

Mahalo.com

http://www.mahalo.com/social-media

Week 2 - Blog Posting #4 -21st Century Skills & Lifelong Learning

Undoubtedly stated learning is taking place in a whole different way in the 21st century. Whether learning takes place through personal learning networks, through connectivism, literacies, or other educational settings, learning has taken a back road journey on a major interstate. Us, digital natives, have grown up with technology in our back pocket and that way of life is only becoming more prevalent in all walks of life! Classrooms are no longer full of chalkboards, pencils, and paper but full of diverse ways for learners to engage all students. I believe that in the 21^st century we are engaging learners more so than ever before. If the teacher is a lifelong learner and has kept that positive attitude that BuyGitomer talks about in his Life Long Learning video, more students are headed toward success. As an educator it is critical for us to keep being life long learners for the benefit of our students. When we quit learning ourselves, our student’s engagement declines. How could we possibly motivate students when our motivation is null? You cant.
This 21^st century only motivates me to continue being a life long learner, for the benefit of my students. The day I look at my “job” as a regular M-F 8-4 job is the day I quit. I am no longer an asset to the students of the 21^st century. To me it seems that 21^st century learners are so much more involved, engaged, and interactive with their education. The shift of teaching has taken place into questioning rather than telling. When I have my student helping out other students I always say “teachers don’t tell, they teach” Through teaching we engage problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, communication skills, and knowledge skills which allow students to become successful life long learners.

Sources:

A Vision of Students Today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o

BuyGitomer (2008, April 2008) Life Long Learning [Video File]. Video posted to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh6yd6wfCgU

Week 2 - Blog Posting #3 - Media Literacy

"In the 20th century, literacy meant the ability to read, write and present cogent arguments on paper. In the 21st century, literacy is going to extend well beyond that and into what could be termed, a language of screens." (Barish, 2002)”

This quote really hit home to me and probably does for many other teachers out there also. A while back I was digging though my old papers from school that my Mom had kept. I found a story I had written in 2^nd grade that turned out to be an Honorable Mention in our Young authors contest. Now mind you, I was in 2^nd grade only 18 short years ago. I was SHOCKED at the writing I had produced then and what was actually looked at as good writing, a Young Authors Honorable Mention at that. I shared my writing with my 2nd grade students and asked them what I would think if they turned something into me that was this poorly written. They just giggled, didn’t say much so they didn’t hurt my 2^nd grade writer feelings. What Im getting at is the expectations of these 21^st century children are astounding. Honestly as a 2^nd grade teacher and comparing material to my 2^nd grade, Im actually teaching 4^th grade material. School, expectations, and skills have all gotten higher and harder. The 11 skills that Henry Jerkins mentioned are just examples of how we 21^st educators are expecting more out of our students. But I believe these expectations are easier to succumb because of the use of technology today.

When reading an article about schools upgrading their curriculum standards, The Michigan Association of School Administrators (MASA), has taken an initiative to change their standards to better prepare their students for the 21^st century. Such changes are using technology in new ways, offering more computer usage in courses, integrating instruction, and doing more together like participating in distance learning. This is just one of examples of how education is changing to prepare kids for the future.

Sources:

http://www.michiganedusource.org/gomasa/Resources/ContinConv/21CenturyLearners.htm

Education World-Technology Standards K-12- http://www.education-world.com/standards/national/technology/k_12.shtml

Week 1 - Blog Posting #2 - Learning 2.0

I am a huge advocate of digital learners and my classroom learning environment reflects that. I have had such a great time learning all the different ways I can use technology in my classroom. It excited me so much that I want to share this information with other teachers but find that many of them don’t have much time to listen or learn new programs that their student are begging to use. It’s just much easier to do the same old thing rather than learn how to do something new. When you walk into my classroom you will find 5 student computers, 3 student digital cameras, 2 CD players, ipod touch, my MacBookPro, an Elmo (document projector), Smart board (promethium board), voice recognition software for students to "write" stories, and its the only classroom in the building with wireless access (installed by me). Sure I have had to learn a lot to be able to use all this technology but when I have kids begging at my door to be in my classroom because of the way we use technology to learn, its all worth the time and effort. Parents are very receptive to their students using technology and know how much they like it. When Open House was going on at our school I informed all the parents in my classroom of the use of technology and they were so excited to have their child in my classroom. Having support from the parents makes it a much easier task also.

Now I just wish it was as easy to motivate other teachers. But on the other hand I too understand their unwillingness to learn new technology. In the last few months, beginning this program, I have had to learn many new programs and web 2.0 sites. This has been a little overwhelming. The major reward after you learn these programs is the ability to use them in your classroom. I have found that it is much easier to show a product from these programs than to just tell about one. That gets people more motivated to use new programs.

Sources:

Go2Web2.0

http://go2web20.net/

Education World

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/