Journal 7: PLN

     My personal learning network is a means to connect with people and resources that will enhance my understanding of education and classroom techniques. By using networking tools like Twitter, Diigo and other digital discussion forums, I have created a virtual web of knowledge that is ever changing and enlightening. My hope is that I will be able to refer to this net to challenge my methods as a future educator and to expand my resources for teaching.

     I have decided to include Twitter in my PLN because it acts as a forum for people to tie-in information about millions of useful topics. I have decided to follow a number of people on twitter because of their potential for sharing information about education that I find personally interesting or useful. One such person was Joan Weber, who values the use of theater in strengthening communication skills and critical thinking; two more resources were the US Dept. of Education and Education Week because they provide updates and news about education; another person was Adam Steiner, who uses a website to share free or low-cost web resources for teachers; a final resource is Office Ed Tech, which advocates the importance of using technology to contribute and improve education.

     To further my introduction into the world of PLN, I participated in an #artsed chat at 9am on April 7, 2011. The topic was “Reflections on Arts Advocacy Day,” which is an annual event that spreads awareness about the importance of the arts and the development of strong public policies and funding for it. Although it was hard for me to spend an hour watching the conversation develop, I enjoyed seeing the wealth of people and resources come together to discuss art education. An element that struck me was use of the word “Advoctweeting.” I think this word stresses the useful nature of twitter in that it can be a vital tool for advocating important topics.

     I have also decided to use Diigo, the social bookmarking site, as a networking tool because it allows me to not only tag and organize useful education sites for people in my network, but also highlight and annotate those webpages. This enables me to have conversations with my peers without leaving the page we are discussing. I used Diigo to create a network with various colleagues who post and update information about educational resources. In return, I am able to tag and post my own ideas and information for them to use. To tie-in my PLN directly, I tagged Twitter, The Educator’s PLN and Scholastic Teacher Share because they are all relevant ways of sharing information with people in my PLN.

     As my Diigo tags allude to, another tool I have decided to include in my PLN is the digital discussion forum, or ning site, called “The Educator’s PLN.” This site is useful because it acts as a social community for sharing conversations, events, news, and videos with other educators. One video I explored was entitled “Digital Footprints – Your New First Impression.” It was surprising to see the percentage of employers that use information from social networking sites to judge potential employees. I am now much more aware of the things that I am posting online, as well as the information that my friends post. You can learn a lot about someone by what they choose to post on their websites.

All About Me Survey

Journal 4: NETS I-V

Schaffhauser, D. (2010, December 1). It's time to trust teachers with the internet:: a conversation with Meg Ormiston. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/12/01/Its-Time-To-Trust-Teachers-with-the-Internet-A-Conversation-with-Meg-Ormiston.aspx?sc_lang=en&Page=1

Summary:

Meg Ormiston advocates the importance of learning to use the Internet responsibly in the classroom. She claims that most schools waste their time focusing on how to restrict inappropriate student or teacher access to sites because the majority of sites can be used to further educate children. Although many schools are forced to limit access due to problems with bandwidth, most are simply afraid of allowing Internet freedom. Meg agrees that certain things, like pornography, need to be blocked. However, limitations on all social networking sites and tools (like YouTube) are unrealistic because they are tools that most kids will be using at home. Therefore, classrooms need to teach responsible computing, rather than telling students not to go to sites that they already check on their phones every few minutes. What’s even more striking is that many students know how to work around filters. Why waste time by blocking sites when they could be used to help the child grow? Meg suggests that districts work to expand the professional development of teachers and administrators to prepare them to supervise, rather than limit, their students computer use.

Question 1: How can a teacher keep supervise all of their students computer use when it is so easy to close and open windows in the blink of an eye?

I don’t think total supervision should be the goal. The whole point of this article was that students need to learn responsible computing. Students have to be able to work alone so that they can experiment with the tools. Granted some supervision is necessary, but trust is an important part of learning.

Question 2: How can teachers prevent inappropriate computing in the classroom when they are busy focusing on an individual?

The best advice is to have a well thought out and prepared lesson plan. If your lesson plan is complex enough to keep students busy for the entire class then students may be less inclined to wander on other sites. Group projects are also a good way for kids to stay focused because one child’s wandering could cost the whole groups’ grade, which would encourage focus.

Journal 2: NETS II - IV

Ferguson, H. (2010). Join the flock!. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

Miller, S.M. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Leading and Learning With Technology, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

Summary:

The first article focuses on informing the reader about how to navigate a new Twitter account. Ferguson uses the idea of a Personal Learning Network, or virtual community based on collaboration and communication about education, to frame her discussion. Although she seems enthusiastic about the uses of Twitter, her article did mention that Twitter takes time and commitment. Some people even have too much information for just one account. This is where I see a flaw in Twitter. The knowledge it can link you to is great, but the scope of all those links adds up fast and can be overwhelming. The second article does a better job of convincing the reader that Twitter is a useful tool in connecting with others. Something I liked about Miller is that she talked more about how to make the best of your Twitter experience through organization, rather than how to expose yourself to the world of Twitter like Ferguson discussed.

Question 1: Will I ever use Twitter in my classroom? How?

Honestly, I don’t think I would ever use Twitter in my classroom because I do not like the format/clarity of the actual “tweets,” the way it quickly turns into an overwhelming almost spam like queue of thoughts and the amount of time each child must spend checking for new “tweets.” If I did use it, it would probably only be to post links for my students.

Question 2: Can twitter be a useful resource in expanding knowledge about the world?

As the articles suggest, Twitter has more uses than it seems to at first. I think it is a great way to connect with people you would not have had the opportunity to talk with outside of the Twitter zone. I also think it is a wonderful way to share a mountain of knowledge about virtually any topic in a quick an easy way. The downside is: that mountain of knowledge seems to be an endlessly overwhelming climb.

Journal 1: NETS I - V

Light, D. (2011). Do web 2.0 right. Learning and Leading with Technology, 38(5), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/February-2011-Do-Web-20-Right.sflb.ashx

Summary:

This article discuss how to use technology to engage students in their writing using tools such as blogs and wikis. David Light and his colleagues traveled throughout the country interviewing teachers about their success in incorporating these tools into their classrooms. Wikis were not found to be a common tool in classrooms. Blogs, on the other hand, served as a useful way for teachers to create discussion forums that facilitated conversations with their students and parents. The research on blogs argues that daily use of these sites were more effective in learning than for just special projects. Light wrote that both individual and classroom blogs are a good way for teachers to have conversations outside of class with their students and allow kids to post and reflect on their thoughts and computer findings. The classroom blog seemed to generate more interest in that it created discussions between students, as well as teachers. Both, however, highlighted certain students insecurities about sharing their work. Light went on to discuss the nature of this fear and suggested that teachers carefully consider the audience by limiting the viewer access to students, teachers and parents alone. The last part of the article talked about teacher responsibility in enforcing appropriate behavior on these sites. I was somewhat disheartened after reading this because none of Light’s solutions to the student’s insecurities seemed to address the problems fully.

Question 1: How could I prevent cyber-bullying or other peer-related issues from arising if a classroom blog is used?

If I used a class related blog in my class, I could post a list of requirements for student comments to help student generate constructive responses. I could also inform students that both their parents and I would be reading all of their comments and taking any necessary actions to prevent misuse. One option could be suggesting that students post a compliment about their peer’s post as well as something constructive.

Question 2: How could I encourage shy children to share their thoughts?

I could try to create a comfortable virtual atmosphere by avoiding topics that could create personal issues. I could also have the kids work together in creating the blog or have the class as a whole determine how the blogs should work so that every child has ownership of it.

Technology Self-Assessment: School 2.0

NETS III, IV, V

This is an assessment that I took online to determine my understanding of the NETS requirements before participating in a technology class.

I choose to investigate the NETS-T Module: Promote and Model Digital Citizenship and Responsibility because I feel that teaching students about cyber safety and how to use digital tools properly is the most valuable safety precaution that a teacher can take in the modern technological world. I followed a link that talked about teaching every student in the digital age, which led me to an online book that discussed new media in relation to brain and learning development for diverse learners. The chapter I focused on talked about impact of high standards and increased learner diversity on universal learning. It went on to discuss how modern communication technology can be used to reach out to every type of learner. Although this was not a new topic for me, I loved how the discussion tied in the Multiple Intelligences theory because it highlights the importance of looking at education as a multifaceted science. No child’s brain develops the same way as another and, therefore, it is foolish to expect that every child be held to the same type of standard. The individual, not the majority, should define standards. As such, the importance of developing new teaching methods and technological resources has become more apparent in recent years. Through these new tools, education is being transformed into an interconnected world of learning in which every child is able to glean information from others.