When looking back at what i have learned with technology, I have realized that a PLN is a valuable resource in that journey. Having colleagues with whom to share ideas, resources, and the experience has been very helpful. I was at first very nervous about this course with its emphasis on technology tools. I have overcome some of my fears and now have experiences beyond those of many of my colleagues, including our SysOps/LMS. I have experiences to share and fuel for planning for next year. What I have also come to terms with is the realization that this is a process evolving over time. I do not need everything right away but I do need a goal of wher I want to ultimately go.
My PLN included other Spanish teachers and other middle school teachers. I also tried to keep up with blogs and sites from others in the field of education. I watched for new notices regarding resources for teachers working with my age group, my content are and my circumstances. I found information about a new book designed to help 20th century teachers teach to 21st Century learners. I shared it in my blog as reading suggestions. I have been working extensively in my district to establish my position as a leader in my department for my use of technology, differentiation and good curriculum design. What I have I learned through my experiences and through my PLN. I have had an "old-school" PLN throughout my career in the WAFLT organization and have benefitted from the sharing of ideas at our annual conference. Now I have the tools to maintain this as a technologically-savvy PLN.
As a World Language EZducator in smaller school districts, I have often felt isolated as the only one at my level or in my content area. In reaching out to others with similar circumstances we founded a group to overcome that called CAWLN. We have held meetings, created a wiki and enlisted followers. Our group is small but has been a great resource for ideas and support. I look forward to sharing more of what I have learned with them in the future.
For my PLN I found certain technology tools relevant to the classroom, relevant to me and even some less relevant to either. I enjoyed the voicethread activities and look forwrd to integrating that into my curriculum next year. My LMS is also excited to see this piece in use and some of my HS counterparts are looking into it based on my suggestion. I found Delicious to be a powerful tool but think I will switch to Diigo for student use because of some of the safety pieces for my middle schoolers. I like GoogleEarth and how it can be applied to my content area as an in-class field trip. I also like the collaboraticve elelments of mindmapping tools and wikis. Blogging could be a great communication tool for me to students and parents but I orry about the postings others might make so I would probably restrict access to the blog for that. I would also be initially restrictive with students doing any kind of blogging because of concerns with cyberbullying and other misinformative problems that could occur. I think blogs can be powerful and efective communication tools but do worry about some ov my immature and over-dramatic middle school students who don't always make the wisest choices with their words and actions.
For me personally, I think twitter could be could to communicate with friends in other communities but am undecided on its effective use in the classroom. I think it is one that needs to be handled with care so it doesn't become technology for technology sake when it needs to be technology to enhance learning. Again, safety and the level of the students I teach impact my reluctance to use it with my students. Skype and webinars have great professional development applications as well as classroom applications. My concerns with these tools again go back to safety & maturity, accessibility and time constraints. I would love to set up skype opportunities with my classes and students in other places in the world. However, I lack those connections to do so. Even my colleagues in CAWLN who have had these connections have struggled with the distance involved, technological issues and other problems in doing this. That is on my "back burner" as a future part of my PLN.
Overall, I have found my PLN a valuable way to grow as a teacher and develop my teacher toolbox. I have power tools with the 21st Century learner in the technology I will integrate in the future, in segments and manageable pieces. I will continue growing my PLN and am grateful for the opportunity through this class to have made so much growth in so little time. I just might catch up to my students yet!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Twitter Reflection week 8
Following people on twitter has been interesting. Many of the posts seem snippets of thoughts to be shared with others. I find this interesting if you are unable to have a face to face conversation with someone due to geographical separation but am concerned regarding its application as an educational tool. It could be a great device to remind students when work is due or special supplies are needed. I think it could be helpful for people working on a project who have split the task into small parts to maintain communication. It would be great for a travelling salesperson to update the home office on sales transactions. I think it is more useful among adults in the workplace than students in school, but maybe that is my inabiility to look beyond my thought process. I see this as helpful for communication brief notices to students and or parents but do not see how it can be used in my middle school Spanish classroom. I think it could be used with college students since they are plugged in to this anyway. I think our school policy restricting the presence of cell phones and iPods and such in th classroom is part of why I struggle to see this used in my room. I see iot as a newsflash tool and little of what I saw from the people I followed convinced me otherwise. Maybe I am getting stodgy and close-minded but I find this tech tool to be least applicable to my teaching situation.
In my personal life it wouold be a great tool to share snippets of my day with people I am geograpjhically distanced from and miss having conversations with face to face. I think it is a great social tool for that reason. I found people I followed for that purpose far more interesting and relevant than others I followed.
In my personal life it wouold be a great tool to share snippets of my day with people I am geograpjhically distanced from and miss having conversations with face to face. I think it is a great social tool for that reason. I found people I followed for that purpose far more interesting and relevant than others I followed.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Convincing administrators about Web 2.0 in the classroom
I am extremely fortunate in having a building and a district that embraces technology in the classroom. Our administration reserves the right to question our use of technology (ensuring we are using it as the best resource not as the cool thing the kids will like). We do not have extensive struggles with implementing lesson plans and curriculum with technology components. If we can justify the educational purpose and the cost, if there is one, is reasonable, we are often able to get their support and access to the resources needed for such implementation. I jsut met with my building's LMS to discuss the support and availability of technology in my classroom for nedxt year. Not only was she ready to help and support, she encouraged me to pursue a few additional technology pieces. I have not met recently with my building principal on these thoughts but am fairly confident that she can be convinced of the pedagogical sense of this technology and will lend her support as well.
Delicious Reflection
One of the first things I thought when looking at the delicious website was that someone had a strange sense of humor in naming the site. I had a hard time surpressing a giggle when I would mention my Delicious websites. In using it with this class and exploring the tool more, I have come to realize that that what makes this so delicious is the powerful effect it can have on student learning.
Through the tagging system, students can organize and access the sites they find helpful without all the unnceessary pop-ups, ads, shopping and product pitches with a standard search-engine. With Delicious these tagged sites are available with any computer not limited to a specific computer or one connected to a specific server. The flexibility is a key feature because it accomodates the mobility of our students. They truly can access it from at any time.
When looking at the sites found by the class I did find a few which I will add to my own list. I tended towards those that assisted with technology and curriculum integration, my age level and my content area. I found that many of us had similar tags which helped in the sharing process.
I did make some changes in my tagging as time went on. I typically used the same tags, working different sites into the existing tags. I did add new tags as new topics became part of my information gathering. I tried to use multiple tags so I could access the information even if I didn't bookmark it or couldn't remember how I got to a particular page. I know I need to get in the habit of tagging and saving pages the first time I consider them interesting so I don't lose them. I did find myself often using the recommended tags when they coincided with my tags but I did not follow only the recommended tags for any sites. I think thsi is good because this is my thought process organizing my sites and no body thinks exactly like me (My husband can vouch for that, as can my children and my students). To easily be able to return to saved sites, tey need to be organized and tagged in a way that makes sense according to my twisted little brain.
Since I am going to be implementing Diigo accounts with my Spanish I students next fall, I have been thinking about how I will teach them about tagging. I will have access and moderator privileges so I can manage the information when needed but it is better to teach them to properly manage their account on their own. For the same reasons I did not merely accept the tags of all others all the time, my students will need to be able to tag their own contributions. I think the best methods, in my \discussion on this with my Library Media Specialist, would be to walk through and demo what we can do and then have them complete a training exercise similar to a webquest but using the social bookmarking tool.
I did not purposefully bundle tags together but I did explora how to use that feature in this program. It would be helpfult o have similar categories of sites connected loosely similar to the "related links" that come inherently on cedrtain websites. This could help a student review information from a whole semester just before exam time, or a class could organize the many facets of the story surrounding Picasso's Guernica such as the basque history, ETA and other separatist groups, etc. They could separate grammar practice sites like Quia.com from the the culture sites we will have like those dealing with our imaginary shopping trip to El Corte Ingles in Valencia, Spain. Tag clouds and tag bundling help students see what they have already associated and how others see those same resources. This is very helpful in collaborative work when you must learn to share brain power in order to be successful.
I started using Annotations and found that I needed more time to get a list of sites organized if they were to all have annotations. The annotations are helpful in communicating with others what makes a particular site so helpful and noteworthy. Without this detail, it would be easy to dismiss sites others bookmark and tag if the tags and site content don't seem connected. Annotations allow us to clear thos misunderstandings which enhances cooperation and collaboration.
The network, follow and shared tags would be effective ways to extend one sphere of professional development to encompass teachers of the same content area outside your building, district or even state. This would be helpful in sharing ideas for collaboration on presentations at the state conference and workshop or to connect with colleague using the same textbook but in other districts. I found I had many tags and interests with those at my grade level and content area as well as those who had similar technology reluctances.
As already stated, I intend to use Diigo (has a nice Spanish connotation though that is mere coincidence) with my students next school year. I look forward to being able to share with them consistent and organized websites in a format that they can access from any computer rather than the restrictions already identified which Delicious, Diigo and similar programs supercede. My students will be able to collaborate at an unprecedented level. I think it would even be helpful in communicating with other Spanish I students in my building anm.d my district. Ideally, they could even communicate outside of our district, perhaps share ideas about Velasquez's Las Meninas with the Prado museam's scholar program. The information and technology possibilities are endless.
Through the tagging system, students can organize and access the sites they find helpful without all the unnceessary pop-ups, ads, shopping and product pitches with a standard search-engine. With Delicious these tagged sites are available with any computer not limited to a specific computer or one connected to a specific server. The flexibility is a key feature because it accomodates the mobility of our students. They truly can access it from at any time.
When looking at the sites found by the class I did find a few which I will add to my own list. I tended towards those that assisted with technology and curriculum integration, my age level and my content area. I found that many of us had similar tags which helped in the sharing process.
I did make some changes in my tagging as time went on. I typically used the same tags, working different sites into the existing tags. I did add new tags as new topics became part of my information gathering. I tried to use multiple tags so I could access the information even if I didn't bookmark it or couldn't remember how I got to a particular page. I know I need to get in the habit of tagging and saving pages the first time I consider them interesting so I don't lose them. I did find myself often using the recommended tags when they coincided with my tags but I did not follow only the recommended tags for any sites. I think thsi is good because this is my thought process organizing my sites and no body thinks exactly like me (My husband can vouch for that, as can my children and my students). To easily be able to return to saved sites, tey need to be organized and tagged in a way that makes sense according to my twisted little brain.
Since I am going to be implementing Diigo accounts with my Spanish I students next fall, I have been thinking about how I will teach them about tagging. I will have access and moderator privileges so I can manage the information when needed but it is better to teach them to properly manage their account on their own. For the same reasons I did not merely accept the tags of all others all the time, my students will need to be able to tag their own contributions. I think the best methods, in my \discussion on this with my Library Media Specialist, would be to walk through and demo what we can do and then have them complete a training exercise similar to a webquest but using the social bookmarking tool.
I did not purposefully bundle tags together but I did explora how to use that feature in this program. It would be helpfult o have similar categories of sites connected loosely similar to the "related links" that come inherently on cedrtain websites. This could help a student review information from a whole semester just before exam time, or a class could organize the many facets of the story surrounding Picasso's Guernica such as the basque history, ETA and other separatist groups, etc. They could separate grammar practice sites like Quia.com from the the culture sites we will have like those dealing with our imaginary shopping trip to El Corte Ingles in Valencia, Spain. Tag clouds and tag bundling help students see what they have already associated and how others see those same resources. This is very helpful in collaborative work when you must learn to share brain power in order to be successful.
I started using Annotations and found that I needed more time to get a list of sites organized if they were to all have annotations. The annotations are helpful in communicating with others what makes a particular site so helpful and noteworthy. Without this detail, it would be easy to dismiss sites others bookmark and tag if the tags and site content don't seem connected. Annotations allow us to clear thos misunderstandings which enhances cooperation and collaboration.
The network, follow and shared tags would be effective ways to extend one sphere of professional development to encompass teachers of the same content area outside your building, district or even state. This would be helpful in sharing ideas for collaboration on presentations at the state conference and workshop or to connect with colleague using the same textbook but in other districts. I found I had many tags and interests with those at my grade level and content area as well as those who had similar technology reluctances.
As already stated, I intend to use Diigo (has a nice Spanish connotation though that is mere coincidence) with my students next school year. I look forward to being able to share with them consistent and organized websites in a format that they can access from any computer rather than the restrictions already identified which Delicious, Diigo and similar programs supercede. My students will be able to collaborate at an unprecedented level. I think it would even be helpful in communicating with other Spanish I students in my building anm.d my district. Ideally, they could even communicate outside of our district, perhaps share ideas about Velasquez's Las Meninas with the Prado museam's scholar program. The information and technology possibilities are endless.
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