Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference '08

I attended the Christa McAuliffe Technology conference this year in Nashua, NH. I have attended for the past four years, and I am amazed at the wonderful guest speakers they arrange each year. This year I was so excited to see David Warlick speak. I follow him on twitter as well as keep up with his blog writings. I am a big fan! This year, I convinced my other two colleagues to come with me on the same day, so they could hear David speak as well. They think I am a bit "geeky" because I am constantly updating them with some new article or blog post that I encountered using my PLN! I have to thank Jeff Utecht for this. Had I never taken his class through PSU, I would have never been fortunate to experience the "new world" that exists "out there" for us educators!

David did not disappoint. I sat, close to the front, so I would be able to hear and see everything! I was actually right in front of the video camera. Yikes, I can hear my giggles! Yet another "geeky" move! Here is what David had to say.. Recorded on UStream.

Live Videos by Ustream

I was reading the Free Technology for Teachers blog by Richard Byrne and I agree, being in the audience, almost next to the person who David was talking back and forth with, regarding wikipedia, I enjoyed his response. (I felt somewhat uncomfortable for that poor person!) It is poo-pooed so much not to use wikipedia in schools, but can't it be a jumping off point? I know I let my students use it as one resource. He reinforces that using any of these tools in school are "basic literacy skills".

What struck me as the most important or informational about David's speech, is how we are teaching our kids (teachers standing up and the learners are sitting down) model. We are the keepers of the knowledge and they are the ones with the empty minds we are trying to fill. Are our classrooms Flat? We need to be preparing our students for a future we know nothing about, yet.. The digital divide! I also like when David said, in order to be considered a "21st century educator, we must be a master learner." He also said, "if I could share anything with all of you as teachers, I would tell you to pay attention to your students and ask them about their experiences outside of the classroom with technology."

Watch the video in it's entirety, it is great! Can't wait to see who's coming next year. I only hope I can attend all three days!

Engage Them!

Today was a wonderful day in my 6th grade computer class. Kids were engaged, having fun, learning, working nicely together, collaborating, discussing, asking questions, and posing for pictures for our local newspaper. Today was the final day to submit our holiday cards as part of the Holiday Card Exchange project we participated in.

I can not even remember how I stumbled upon Jen Wagner's website.. oh yes.. I remember, it was through a twitter event. I think I was not following Jen on twitter, but someone I was following was, so I clicked on her name, looked at her profile, clicked on her web address and the rest was history! Wa La! Instant connection. How very cool and powerful! My PLN has grown (one way is through my diigo groups) and it continues to grow each day I read something on twitter or on someone's blog, because within someone's blog is a link to another blog, and so on and so on. One could get sucked in! Hee - Hee!

So, back to my engaging story. I am loving this project for many reasons and so are my kids. One, it was so easy to participate in. Add an email here and an address there and you are a member of the Holiday Card Group. I have to thank Jen for all of her hard work! I was looking on the site and there are now 339 classrooms participating this year! What an amazing connection! These are connections from all over the world. What 10 or 11 year old would not love opening cards from students all over the world, reading them to the class, looking up the address on google maps, then using the satellite feature on google maps to zoom in to the school location, and then taking that information over to our own map of the United States and pinning up their location? All that is left for us to do, is to finish up with reading our cards. We received 5 cards so far, and are expecting 19 more. I looked in my mailbox before I left today, and there were about 8 more cards waiting for the kids! I have to admit, I was excited to see mail in my box.

So, when I was talking to the reporter today about what is it that makes this project educational, I had to say the collaboration, the engagement, the geography lessons, research, as well as overall techology use. The kids created their own cards for each school we sent them to. They also researched our town, Derry, and included interesting facts, weather and locations associated with Derry and New Hampshire. I also told the reporter, what I really liked was receiving the cards through "snail mail". It seems as though the written letter is somewhat obsolete these days. I hope it does not go away. At 39 years old, (and holding), I always look for my birthday cards from my Dad and wish my Nana and my mom were still alive to drop me a note now and again. It made this project that much more special to see the kids handwriting from the cards we received. How cute it was to see the kindgergarten letter and the 3rd graders writing! That is authentic collaboration.

I hope that what the kids take away from this lesson, is that there are so many different people and places out there in the world. The internet makes it possible to reach everyone near and far. It hopefully helps us to appreciate differences and learn new things that we did not know before today. It helps us to learn that the world can be "flat" as Thomas Friedman says, and my 6th grade kids are able to share in some of that notion.

I want my kids to enjoy this day in their educational life. I don't want them to worry about testing for the moment. I want to see their faces and their excitement on Wednesday when I bring in that pile of cards. I can't wait to go down my roster naming each student who's turn it is to read the card, and place the pin up on our in class map.

This my friends, is what a great day in teaching is all about!

I will take some pictures and add soon. Hopefully I can record a podcast with some of the kids thoughts on the project.

Blogging - A daily habit?

It has been a while since I last blogged here. I am missing blogging, but never seem to have enough time to write a few thoughts. I wonder sometimes if I am worried about what some may think of what I write. Often I wonder if blogging is good for me. I read so many others blogs everyday and they seem so interesting and informative. Can I do the same? Then I think to myself, blogging is something I am doing for myself, not to impress anyone else. Right? So, I will start again and write my thoughts. I have a lot to write about. My class is working on it's first ever outside the classroom collaborative project with 24 other schools - Thanks to Jennifer Wagner and her awesome collaborative projects. My 8th graders are working on their very first wiki in the classroom. I have been busy! I also bought my daughter, who is 12, a OLPC laptop for Christmas, that I can not wait to open! Who doesn't love giving and getting?? I am presenting at our technology conference this week, where I will get to see David Warlick speak !! Life is good! :)

Day at Mall for Mom's & Dad's while Kids go to Apple Camp!

Who wouldn't love a nice stroll around the mall, without kids? Well Apple announced today that they are holding FREE workshops at their stores for kids! Yeah! Looks like it will be a nice quiet summer around here! :) But, you know what happens when you let the kids look around an Apple store.. Can I get an iPhone, touch iPod, new laptop, upgrade the computer we have, new digital camera to use with iPhoto, new digital video camera to use with iMovie.. etc.. and so on and so on! So all you parents out there.. hold strong on the new products and take advantage of the great learning experiences for your children.

Walter Bender leaves OLPC - Reasons

Interesting! Once the word Microsoft was spoken, a lot of controversy started with this project.

According to a NY Times article, Walter Bender left the One Laptop per Child initiative because:

After the article was published May 16, Mr. Bender sent a letter to The Times, taking issue with Mr. Negroponte’s comment and elaborating on his own views: “Mr. Negroponte is wrong when he asserts that I am a free and open-source (FOSS) fundamentalist. I am a learning fundamentalist.”

I talked to Mr. Bender last Friday to discuss his views at more length and give them a broader airing.

“Microsoft stepping in is the symptom, not the disease,” he said in the interview. The issue, in his view, is whether the tools that bring computing to children are “agnostic on learning” or “take a position on learning.”

Mr. Bender is a founder of Sugar Labs. Sugar Labs is an open source software company, that designs free software to encourage collaborative learning.

Emotion Graphing - Cool Lesson

Very cool lesson! I read Tom's twitter message that he had posted a new blog, so I checked it out! I am so glad I did. What a great idea! I am so excited to share this with my math and language arts teachers at my school. I think it will really keep the kids engaged and learn with some technology to boot! So creative.

Podcast - Last Class

Here is the link to the podcast of my very last class at Plymouth State University. My teacher was Jeff Utecht and I learned more than I can even write about here! I have made contacts, friends, worked on collaborative projects, learned how to use wiki's, blogs, web 2.0 tools, etc.. You name it, I did it.. all in the short 11 weeks or so we were together. What a great experience. Thank you to Jeff for opening my eyes to a whole new world.

Well..Here's a Twist to 21st Century Learning.. Does it Really Matter?

Interesting points in this revived blog about education today compared to years ago. Just wanted to put it out here. Any thoughts? How will we change this public education system we work for? Who will be the one to "take action"? Does it really matter?

I can answer that it matters to me. I think it matters to a lot of the people who I have come across through my twitter network as well as people I have met through technology conferences. I think it matters to a subgroup of people. Are we strong enough? Can we make change happen? Is it more important than the "test"? Where is the balance?

And then I read my RSS feeds.... Here is a flip side to the story.. we are gaining, we are becoming mainstream, so to speak!

Video - 1:1 initative AWESOME!

Article link with video from 60 minutes

(Thanks Sherry for the video from your blog !)

Charge it with a crank, salad spinner if you run out of battery charge!
Waterproof, heat resistant... Wow!

The video makes great opposing points.. about security, (stolen from a child.. stops working after 24 hours) etc.. What about internet signal? Hidden costs?

There is also some new competition to this program (Intel - classmate, and a computer made in India as well as other companies looking at low cost alternatives).

"Over all goal for the program is for every child in the "world" to have a laptop!" - Nicholas Negroponte

Give 1 to Get 1

Hot off the presses: According to an eSchool News article, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) has revived their program as of May 20th, and has disclosed plans for a second generation of "XO" computers. If you pay $400.00 , you will purchase one laptop for yourself and then you will provide another laptop to a child in a developing country. The original program was trying to offer the computers to each child for $100.00 each. The price right now is estimated\ at $188.00. So far, over 600,000 of them have been sold and 162,000 were purchased through the "give one get one" program. The second round of the "give one to get one" program will begin sometime this summer and anyone can participate.

I think this is a great opportunity to teach children about global issues our world faces today. What would be better than having some type of fundraiser to raise $400.00 for this program. Why not donate both computers? Just something to think about!

Check out this post from the Open Thinking & Digital Pedagogy blog about the 1:1 initiative and how they might be switching the platform over to microsoft windows!

Some people think that laptops for children may not be a good idea. Read this article. What do you think?

Thin Client - Why Not??

Thin Client Video



When watching this video about the thin client produced by HP, I just thought to myself, over and over, why not? Why not have one room to store the "blades" while the "thin client"portion sits on the desks in my room. Just think of all of the free space that would provide for the students. The thin client portion of the computer could be mounted under the desk so the students would not even touch them! All that would need to be housed, would be the screen and a keyboard.

According to a press release from Wyse Technology, announcing Harvard University has gone to the thin client in their Physics department, here are some of the benefits to doing so:

In addition to streamlining their support efforts, the department has also noted the following benefits of deploying thin computing solutions:

* Security – Unlike PCs, thin-clients have no local storage devices so thin clients are not vulnerable to viruses and other malware as long as the servers are protected. Additionally, the data is always safe on the server and compliant with privacy regulations since there is no way to store and remove proprietary information from thin clients.
* Manageability – Thin clients are much easier to deploy, configure, and back up for the simple reason that the software is delivered from – and resides on – the server. So there is very little hands-on legwork required.
* Total Cost of Ownership – The average annual maintenance costs for a PC are four to seven times the acquisition costs, whereas thin clients can save organizations more than $1,000 per seat per year in maintenance costs. This can be as much as a 40 percent savings for most IT departments, according to the IDC whitepaper, Thin Computing ROI: The Untold Story.

I remember seeing a setup of a technology classroom, where the table top opened up to show the display and keyboard. They would pop up out of the table top for the students. They would then lock down when the teacher did not want the students using the computer. What a wonderful set up. Who wouldn't love to lock the computer down some days? "OK Billy, that is enough, you are shut off!", just by flipping down the table top!

I wonder what would make administrators use 50lb. mac's that take up a ton of desk space when they could be running on a linux system, with minimal virus concerns as well as low technical support costs. This system would be great for schools who already have a lot of older computers as well. They can use those old computers and run the new thin client on them, so they do not need to purchase any more hardware. Things never make sense to me when it comes to the "education" world!

Second Life or First Life?

Article in Time Magazine online. This article discusses the second life world and how, as an avatar we are even viewed differently in another realm if we are "ugly" or "pretty". I related to the very beginning of the article when it said that it was hard to make a prettier version of themselves.

Who would think that the avatar would be an extension of the person behind the screen? There was a study mentioned in the article done at Stanford University regarding self perception. "Jeremy Bailenson, head of the lab and an assistant professor of communication at Stanford, studies the way self-perception affects behavior. No surprise that what we think about ourselves affects the confidence with which we approach the world. What is a surprise is that this applies in the virtual world too."

I think that this is true, for the small amount of time I have ventured onto Second Life. I noticed how "pretty" some of the people are. I met some who had beautiful butterfly wings and their makeup was just so. Which started me thinking about my own avatar, and how she was nothing like me. She was goth! She has funny pony tails and weird makeup! I was given some new clothes from the nice people on ISTE island, so at least I looked a little bit "normal."

Hmm.. who would have thought. What I do think about this Second Life is that I do feel a bit strange. I feel like I am "cheating" on my REAL life. It feels sort of "naughty"!! Especially when I met someone who took me to an adult island to "dance" so that I could earn free money!!!

I did not realize that people actually use real money on the game. I read a smaller article to the left of the initial Time article that I posted above, and it says that people make money, real money here. That is very strange.

I am not sure that I would want kids using SecondLife. I guess I do not know enough about it yet, so I am a little conservative.

So, my final thought is .. what is the purpose?? I think I am more a Twitter person. At least I am the real me and I am not hiding behind a cartoon goth avatar.

1:1 - Is it worth it?

I am often curious about how my school would work if all students had their own laptop computer. If we were wireless throughout our building. What would that look like? What would the kids be like with an extension of themselves? Would they treasure the piece of equipment they were lugging around? Would they respect it? Would they work harder because of it? These are all of the things I wonder.

I also wonder how we would handle the purchase of the laptop. I know one thing... The laptops that our school has, the rolling carts, are beat up. They are not taken care of at all. They are missing buttons, keys, and the cords are snapped off, so they are unable to be plugged in for charging.

Perhaps, if the students had to have their parents purchase their own laptop, possibly they would take care of it better? Maybe the school could provide a case to carry it around, but the family would have to pay for it? It makes sense that it would be the student's laptop. So they would understand ownership. Also, for the kids who can not afford the payment, maybe there could be a grant written or a payment plan.

A great blog I found that has been implementing a 1:1 program is Technology In the Middle, which is written by Patrick Woessner . He presents many different ideas as well as the challenges of implementing a 1:1 computer environment at his school for 7, 9 and 10. I wonder why they chose those grades? Hmm?

I really like the four themes the school is implementing. They are:

• Information Management and Research
• Digital Citizenship
• Communication and Collaboration in a Global World
• Creativity, Critical Thinking, and Design

Each one of the items are outlined and explained in the blog. What I really liked about the plan is that they actually have a plan! They are working together with the staff, library as well as the computer teachers to unite!

I believe with anything, if there is not strong leadership and a plan, things will not work out the way they were originally envisioned.

Another good point written about in Patrick's blog and it was all over the news last week, was the story about Universities banning laptops and internet service in the classrooms. Patrick says it is an educational injustice. I think I agree. Why not engage the student and as the teacher, possibly change the way they are teaching? Embrace the technology. If the lessons were engaging and fresh, the students would not need to turn to myspace and solitaire during the lecture.

Awesome iThought Stream - Will Richardson

What do you think? It is great... I love his ideas!

Am I Unoriginal ???

Just a thought for today. I was thinking... and thinking .... and thinking .. of how to put together my capstone project for the final requirement of my M.Ed. at Plymouth State University. I can't stop thinking actually. Everything I think about, I feel like I have seen before, read about on a blog, or experienced it somewhere on the internet already. Am I unoriginal? Am I incapable of producing something original? I am getting nervous.. T-Minus 2 months and counting until it is due, and I have a million things tagged in my diigo folder, duly noted, capstone... but I am not anywhere! Maybe this will help me .. if I put it down on paper.. or computer ... it will help me to realize that I must begin somewhere! Is it bad to use a bunch of other people's things, pull them together (of course with proper credit), and create a compilation of information to share with my fellow educators? The project is - How to incorporate Web2.0 into the Derry School District. Maybe I might think of something on my own during the process! I know there must be something in here (brain don't fail me now)!!

Today... Why blogging is important.. I can see!

Today was exciting with my 8th graders. They are writing scripts so we can video them on Thursday. We are kicked out of our labs for 9 days while we do the 3rd round of NEWA testing. So, "think outside the box" and teach computers without computers. This was the next best thing I had going for me. 4 video cameras, 4 digital cameras and off we will go. Oh yeah, a few tripods. The kids will be making a short introduction of themselves as well as an overall reflection to add to their completed website. Sort of a video podcast of sorts, but to only keep inside of the classroom. We do not publish our work to the outside world. Yet.. I know, I said yet. I am working on that. 6th and 7th graders will begin their MediaSmarts lessons. We have a new curriculum to integrate media and how it affects children through advertising, violence, and digital enhancements to sell products. All outside of the classroom.

So, of course, I got home and sat right down at the computer to read my emails, and catch up.

I can see......

Here is how it went:
1. Opened up my email and I found out I was added as a friend by Julie Lindsay on ning. I have volunteered to judge one of the groups in the Horizon2008 project.
2. This then prompted me to look for Julie's blog. I found her blog and read today's post : A Day in the Life which then took me to the next place I went.
3. I found Jabiz and his Intrepid Teacher Blog. Which I read his article, Bloggers Must First Be Writers.
4. I got one paragraph into the post and clicked on Leila... Letter to a Young Writer, was the title.
5. I also opened up my google reader, went to the Learning Is Messy Blog, by Brian Crosby, because I watched the video from the K12 Online Conference 2007 that Sherry had put in her blog post. I wanted to see what he had to say today on his blog. I loved what he had to say through his video. That is where I came upon the blog - Ed Tech.. Is it Just Too Cool ... Or Not? I opened a link about the other 12 teachers involved in a project and there I was, at a classroom wiki talking about the Mysteries of Harris Burdick. At the bottom of the wiki, was how to use Ed.Voicethread. So now I know, and I added it to my blog on the front page!

Phew.. reading this again has made me mentally exhausted. No wonder how I can get lost in the computer for hours, although this all took place within about 30 minutes!!

Back to the post that Jabiz wrote. This is why I can see! I would never have read this beautiful post had it not been for blogs, twitter, ning, wiki's, and incredible people willing to share! Can you feel the power??

Reading this post brought me to tears. How beautiful and well said. How true is it for today's youth to want to be heard. Who doesn't want to be heard? I am 39 years old and I constantly ask myself if ANYONE is listening to me? Can't they hear me? Don't they think what I have to say is important? Is anyone there?

This is the reason why the internet and blogs are so important. This is why when writing a good blog, there are lots of links to other places. It is endless. Imagine if we followed links through other people's blogs. Would we ever stop? Where would it end? Infinity?? Or in a newbie blog possibly. One who has not learned the in's and out's of blogging etiquette? (According to Drape's Takes) Hee -Hee! (I am sure I am still considered a newbie here!)

Jabiz's response post to his student is hopeful. It is wonderful. It shows the true power of the web2.0 world. It goes to show that without writing first, there would not even be blogs to read. I did continue on to read the entire post, and I can see how he struggled with blogs in the classroom. The student's I teach, are not passionate about writing. Yet... Some may be, but for the most part, through reading their journals each day, most are not! (Read this tonight, so I thought I would add it.. seems important to place here! From Beyond School Blog about classroom blogging)

The next challenge.. awaken the writing within ..... Oh my.. my work is never done! Yes, I know.. I am a computer teacher..... but I feel compelled to enrich, engage and motivate anyway I can. Everyone must be able to read and write!

Getting kids to "want" to do their work

I was searching the internet tonight to try to locate something to help me with my 8th grade students write their final reflections. I came across the AOL@SCHOOL SITE, which is directly linked into the NEA website. I came across this article: Getting Students to Complete their work.

The article is written by Charlotte Wellen, who teaches at a Glasser Quality High School. The Glasser method is based upon the choice theory. I didn't recognize this was the method used by the educator who I recently took a full day workshop on classroom management, but this is it. The kids have a choice. They have the choice to do the work or not to. They have the choice to pay attention in class or not. They must know that with choices come consequences though. Usually the student's are then left to determine their own consequence or to work with the class at the beginning of a school year to identify classroom consequences for different unwanted classroom behavior.

What is missing so much today in my classroom, is the internal "wanting" to do well for sheer personal satisfaction. The kids want to please us, they want to please their parents, they want to show off and be naughty to please others in the classroom and to look "cool". It is a lot "cooler" to show off and get into trouble rather than behave and do their work. Why is this? Is it sheer rebellion?

I really like the way the teacher talks to her students. She puts the "owness" back on them. I think it will take some practice, but I am working on it, one student at a time.

It is all because we care and want them to succeed! Relationships are very important in the middle years, and hopefully we can foster them.

Any other ideas for classroom management? Especially in the technology classroom. How about for 80 minute blocks of time in a computer lab? Long time for 6&7th graders!

Teaching in a networked world

I can honestly say, I would not want to teach my students any other way than with technology and the Web 2.0 tools I have discovered. (If you can tell by many previous posts) I enjoy using Moodle with my students and would love to venture "outside" of the "walled garden" as some of the online teachers I have met, call it! I want to use wiki's and blogs. I want to use ning and epals to show the kids different cultures that exist beyond their small community. I want to podcast and share the kids voices with others to show them we are really making a lot of progress with 21st century tools. We are collaborating and working well with online learning projects. (PBL - Project Based Learning) All the while we are learning, we are meeting literacy goals, we are working together to accomplish tasks! Wow! Isn't that what we want to teach the youth of today?

What I question at times, is my delivery, my expectations as well as the time I have in my short 12 weeks with my students to create such an atmosphere in the classroom. Where project based learning and teaching is based on such high expectations and organization, which must then be communicated to the students, how is it teachers accomplish these tasks? I guess a lot of this technology is targeted to be used within the core classes. This is what our eportfolio model is based upon here in NH. It is meant to incorporate technology into the core disciplines.

Who is going to teach the teachers and prepare them to bring all of this networked world into the classroom? The teachers (most of them, I have encountered) are not concerned with this 21st century tool kit they are being given. They have a lot of other things on their minds right now.

The networked world as I see it, is vast and filled with endless opportunity for teachers (professional development opportunities) as well as for the students. It all depends on how your administration will allow you to utilize all of those tools within the classroom. Hopefully they are open-minded, but that is not always the case. So, little by little we will introduce the tools and hopefully by showing that the students are meeting educational standards, as well as meeting the technology standards. It is sometimes an uphill battle, and others are fortunate. Why must it be difficult? We are in this for the same reason, putting kids first!

Personal Learning Networks

Personal learning networks are easy to create, so I say! But, I am sure they seem scary to the everyday "old fashioned" teacher who is concerned with making sure their students are learning, having authentic experiences and getting ready to "pass the test". Who has the time to invest in such a non-important tool? I say you have to learn .. just start slow! You will thank me.. and everyone else you meet through your PLN.

One of the biggest challenges we face with technology today and teachers, is that they work in their comfort zone. They are comfortable with what they know, and feel REALLY uncomfortable when it comes to the world of the "unknown" .. the dirty word.. "technology"! Even speaking on a live blog regarding "internet safety" last night, live from Princeton University, there was mention of "old vs. new" teachers. See some of the information from the blog:

8:51	NJTechTeacher - Speaker thinks that perhaps new teachers have a better handle, but they really don't since college is teaching the "old way" still

8:51	Dave Powers - I am a brand new teacher

8:51	Kim T - @NJTechTeacher .. what is the old way?

8:51	coolcatteacher - Teachers don't know the difference between "social" networking and using social networks in schools.

8:52	John Peters - @KimT - Yes, I am very fortunate our IT Director is very forward thinking and gives some of us, not everyone the ability to explore emerging technologies. I am just lucky to be one of the few

8:52	coolcatteacher - They said that schools are producing teachers who understand these new tools.

8:52	NJTechTeacher - @dean Yes you can

8:52	Dean Shareski - @Kim T. Teacher is gatekeeper of information....social learning is an add on

8:52	Dave Powers - New teachers pick up technology quickly, but the problem is that everyone doesn't see how web application technology has changed the landscape of the world.

8:52	Kim T - @Dean.. I see.. I am a mom of 3 teens.. maybe that I why I feel it is so important to know about it and teach it to my students!

8:52	coolcatteacher - Dean Shareski is creating fluent teachers -- but many profs aren't and hate blogs and wikis, etc.

8:52	NJTechTeacher - Parent says "yes they're reading and writing online" but not like a novel.

8:53	coolcatteacher - @Dave but they're not taught responsible use of the tools --they aren't being used online. This has been a phenomenally balanced presentation. This has honestly been the best internet safety presentaiton I've ever seen. Period.

8:53	John Peters - Let's don't talk about "Old" teachers. We have some that barely are able to check their email and enter their grades online. Trying to teach them something new is a HUGE challenge.

8:53	NJTechTeacher - @Kim T - The old way - lecture, straight from book, not utilizing social tools, podcasting, etc.

So, there is a discussion on how we are going to get our "OLD" teachers to embrace technology. I think what would help them is to establish a Personal Learning Network. I know it is "Just one more thing to do". I am sure that is what I would hear. If they just tried maybe a quick RSS feed, or a twitter account, they would realize how invaluable the experience could be to their gathering of information for their classes and curriculum.

Isn't it part of the job to always be learning new things and being a self learner?? What better way than to create a PLN??

I have to say without twitter, I would not find half of the information that I have been shown! It is an amazing tool where wonderful people are not afraid to share the latest and greatest information about technology with me.. yes me.. a stranger! I feel like I want to share back and hopefully I can help them in ways too!

Thinking about the RSS feeds, they are a great resource and would be a wonderful tool to set up for your classroom. I also think delicious (here are my accounts) and diigo are great too. While using these bookmarking tools, I have been able to join groups and other people's networks of bookmarking. What a great time saving resource! I can then go into their account and see if they have tagged anything that I am looking for. Hopefully we are working in the same profession so they would have my interests in their account.

I think blogs are wonderful and powerful tools with some great information contained in them, but it is really difficult to read all of them. Check out this great blog I found today explaining the "glue of blogging" by Ewan McIntosh. What amazes me, is this PLN spans our entire world. Real people, sharing real information that we do every day! That is why twitter is so helpful and priceless. In 140 spaces or less, you must get your point out. I do read a lot of blogs through my RSS reader, but I also feel as though, even when I bookmark them, they are lost in cyber world! I never feel completely organized with all of these tools.. and that is what they are for! :) Organization!!!

Another great resource for a personal learning network would be wikis. Such as our learning module for this class! The ultimate personal learning network, where people can collaborate and share with each other on many topics. What a better way to learn than by sharing information. Watch this video about how wiki's work! Very cool! Did we already see something like this? I am on information overload!

If you can surround yourself with great people and add them to your personal learning network, your learning will come to you !!! Thanks for introducing us to this new world Jeff!

Internet Safety - Curriculum for all students?

It has been a few days since I have been on twitter. I am on vacation this week, so I am trying to take a vacation from the online world! Sort of what Jeff did, but on the lighter side! Just cutting back a bit. I did venture on though for a few minutes this evening and came upon CoolCatTeacher - AKA Vicki Davis telling us she was going to be starting a live online blog using CoverItLive. The topic this evening, live from Princeton University, was about internet safety. Click here to revisit the live chat.

Talk about Web2.0 tools!! It was fun to communicate with other technology teachers in a live environment, all the while, during a live presentation presented by Nancy Williard - director of Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use. When reading Nancy's blog, I was surprised to read her post about iSafe.org. I did not realize they were using some outdated material and "scare" tactics. I admit, I use the curriculum from iSafe, and I think some of it is great.

Reading an article from the NY Times on dangers of the internet, it says that the internet is not as "scary" as the media portrays it. According to the author of the article, David Pogue, he states, :“Sure, there are dangers. But they’re hugely overhyped by the media. The tales of pedophiles luring children out of their homes are like plane crashes: they happen extremely rarely, but when they do, they make headlines everywhere. The Internet is just another facet of socialization for the new generation; as always, common sense and a level head are the best safeguards.”

I do know that I use a combination of many resources when it comes to teaching internet safety. Also, in combination with internet safety, I know I must begin teaching "digital citizenship" to all of my students. It is of great importance that the students know how to collaborate with each other using the most respectful techniques possible to them out in "cyber-space".

I also joined Vicki's new grass roots movement for responsible internet safety education. Advocates for Digital Citizenship, Safety and Success.
On this wiki, Vicki is gathering a lot of different information to educate our youth on how to be good "digital citizens". It is a discussion we must have with children using the internet. I agree!

Any suggestions or information welcomed! :)

Blogging, Writing, Literacy

It is no surprise one of the goals of our district is literacy. We are encouraged to improve upon writing in each of our classes regardless of the content. I try to encourage writing in my technology classroom with the use of journals and forums(blog type exercises). There are a few rules I try to encourage in their writing. They must capitalize the first letter of every sentence, capitalize their I's and write in complete sentences. It is still difficult for the student's to adhere to the few rules I have laid out. All too often, even with all of the verbal warnings, I see shorthand writing, abbreviations as well as lower case i's throughout their writing. With the moodle program we use, they have a whole WYSIWYG full of emoticons, which I say are fine to use, if they could just complete the sentences!

According to the CNN article BTW, teen writing may cause teachers to :( "It's nothing to LOL about: Despite the best efforts to keep school writing assignments formal, two-thirds of teens admit in a survey that emoticons and other informal styles have crept in." :) The article then goes on to say,"The Pew Internet and American Life Project, in a study released Thursday, also found that teens who keep blogs or use social-networking sites such as Facebook or News Corp.'s MySpace have a greater tendency to slip nonstandard elements into assignments."

I agree with the article that it is a "teachable" moment for the students and I also make sure to let them know with the grade they receive as well as my immediate feedback that the grammar they chose to use in their journals is not one: proper and two: they did not follow directions. I am not sure if they care or not, but I am trying to keep the English Language alive. It says further in the article that the language is always changing, and possibly the shorthand IM language may begin to creep in as part of the formal style. Although students use blogging and wiki's at home, they are still resorting to conventional hand writing for most of the school writing they do. Not all classrooms or homes have computers and I am sure teachers do not require typed work.

In conclusion, the article states: "Teens who keep blogs are more likely to engage in personal writing. They also tend to believe that writing will prove crucial to their eventual success in life."

I hope we can encourage our youth to want to write and we value blogging as a viable literacy tool in our schools. Take a look at this blog which discusses student writing success. People are talking!

Look at JOTT, and how you can use a simple cellphone as a recorder and then you can print out into text... Very cool! :) There are endless possibilities for ALL learners here.

Listen to NPR and Text-Messaging Shorthand Invades Schools

It's Not always about fun and games! Or is it?

What has happened to our kids? What is going on in the United States? Does this happen outside of the US? It doesn't seem so, according to the information we see on Did You Know 2.0. It is not all about fun and games. School is not a circus where the kids are waiting for the pink elephant and the clowns to come out into the center of the ring. Why is it so difficult to instruct our youth? What is it that makes going to school so miserable? It is not all fun and GAMES!

Yes, learning must be engaging, but there has to be a time where instruction is instruction. Well, I am sure you are wondering why the strong feelings? Today for example, I need to teach the students spreadsheets. There are certain things the kids need to know about spreadsheets that are part of the curriculum, that must be taught. I worked on the lesson for a good couple of hours, found a pretty cool site that explained the spreadsheet terminology better than I think I could.. so I think! And I made an online sheet for them to answer some questions and give definitions. They are using their prior word processing skills along with online tools to figure out what the spreadsheet thing is all about. In the past, I have given them each a screen shot of the spreadsheet screen and had them take notes, while I talked in front of the LCD projector. BORING BORING BORING.. So, thinking of the kids, and thinking how they like to use the computer, I created some online learning.

You would think it would be a little more engaging, but NO. It was BORING... so I heard. I don't get it.. How do I answer this question.. I don't understand all of this.. and so on and so on and so on... Some didn't bother to even do it. They decided to just sit there and talk to one another. So, when I noticed their apathy, I gave them a deadline to print out what ever they completed prior to them leaving class for the day. Ahhhh accountability. Boy, did some of them get to work.. others still didn't care. How can they not care? This is technology! This is their future, isn't it?

So, where have I gone wrong. On some days, learning can not be put into an online game. It can not be repackaged into some crazy lesson. Sometimes, you have to sit down, be quiet, listen to the teacher, and just do it. Boy do I sound like a Nike commercial! Just do it...!!

When they get to college (hopefully they do), the teachers are not going to care or even tell them to take notes, show up to class, study for the tests, or even to pay attention. (I know because I used to sit in the halls of UNH and goof off all during my Physics class.. The teacher didn't even know I existed! There were 300 of us! By the By.. not such a good grade in that class!) Talk about accountability.

What are we teaching our kids today? They need to learn that learning is not always a video game, it is not an instant gratification process and yes, sorry, it is sometimes boring. They have to just learn things because they may need to know them for the future. I don't know how to explain to the kids that all that I learned in high school and even college really has nothing to do with anything I do now. It was just a bunch of preparation on how to learn... how to think! Yes, just think! But, that is difficult for our kids for some reason, and I really can't figure out why? Why is it hard for the kids to think on their own, have a voice and an opinion? Figure something out and for goodness sakes.. read the directions? Is that too much to ask .. please read the directions! That is rule number one in my class. Should it have to be written out and posted?

I think I am so upset because I know I have a lot to offer and some days, all that I have and all that I do, is wasted upon them. They don't even realize it, and I know this is the steep slope we all travel, especially at the middle school level.

I always listen to our principal tell us if we can just reach one, we have done our job. Why can't I reach all 300 of them that I teach in a year? Some do not want to listen and some I can not make a break through with. I know I can't save them all or reach them all, but that is my challenge. I am not giving up. I will be back at it again with a refresher and yes, maybe a game to reinforce what the kids learned today. If anything? We will see!

Phew.. I feel better! Anyone have any help for a crazy teacher? :)

Cyberbullying - Neat Site

Stories of Us is a website with information related to cyberbullying in schools. It has two excellent videos that show students in many differently bullying situations. This is a great starter video to begin the talks with your students about how there are many, many, many different situations where students are bullied. The kids might not even see some of these situations as bullying. There are also a few clips using technology to hurt other kids. One takes a picture and then posts it on her social networking page. Another student puts her cell phone on speaker and lets other girls listen in on the conversation. What a great way to discuss bullying and the effects it has on the person being bullied. It is a great way to begin the cyberbullying and digital citizenship conversation with your kids. It is one of the most important conversations you can have with your students. The more they hear it, hopefully the more responsible they become. They must understand that the information they put out on the internet is a "digital footprint" of themselves, and may never go away. It is our responsibility to educate them and their parents on how to make good, smart choices when dealing with the technology they all seem to have available to them.

Step by Step - Can I build a web 2.0 classroom?

Step by Step - Building a Web 2.0 Classroom - Drew Murphy

A must watch! This video podcast is wonderful and really goes to show teachers that it is fun to use technology in the classroom... and the kids love it. If you can do 10 things that are outlined in the video, you will be well on your way to creating a web 2.0 class.

There are some simple things that I would have never thought of! The skills are simple and should be taught to the students first in order for them to begin their Web 2.0 journey.

In order to create a simple online research project, there are a few Web 2.0 skills the students must be taught and learn:

- Apply, Explore and Participate
(Web 2.0 tools to know - tab, bookmark, sign up - for youtube, other sharing sites)
- Apply, Deconstruct and Reconstruct
(Web 2.0 tools to know - cut and paste, emphasize text/align, images)
- Apply, Create and Connect
(Web 2.o tools to know - link, slideshow, embed)

Drew uses characters in his day to day online web based classroom. He makes learning fun and unexpected. The kids are collaborating and working together to share their knowledge and opinions on the other students work.

He compares making paper projects in the classroom and displaying them on the walls of the classroom. The students can walk up to them, make some comments out loud to each other and then the comments are lost forever.

If the same project is created and captured in an online environment, the collaboration and commenting can be captured online. In a community online project, the project is on display, it is ready for peer commenting, ready for elaboration and ready for collaboration. What I found most interesting about the online learning project, was the project could always be changed and made better. The creator could take comments from their peers and make changes to fix or improve their work.

Although the format was a little quirky, I really enjoyed this web blog. I think it is an excellent base to begin students with. I would incorporate online responsibility along with the basic skills outlined.

Kids teaching the teachers???

Watch podcast by clicking here.. You can choose iTunes to watch and listen to podcast. This is a podcast from the K12 online Conference from 2007. This conference was totally held online and you can attend from the comfort of your own home! No planes, trains or automobiles required, just an internet connection, and some good speakers! :)

A must see for all teachers who complain that they are not getting enough technology professional development. This is a wonderful podcast explaining that teachers who were surveyed, did receive enough training, but were very uncomfortable to bring it back into the classroom and experiment with what they had learned.

I would love to show part of this video to my the teachers at my school. I think if they were using their students more, they would feel more comfortable when teaching with the technology in the classroom. The video showed the students consulting with teachers and explaining what technology options they knew about and how they could use them within the class during lessons.

The teachers in the video were open to having the students teach them the technology. They were thrilled to listen to the children and were more happy with the kids teaching them collaboratively rather than the adult technology trainers they had previously worked with in professional development lessons.

I know I hear a lot of the time that technology is not a priority right now with teachers because they are trying to save their jobs and help the students pass the "TEST". If they are working in a school in need of improvement, how can technology help to bring up the test scores?? If the teachers had heard of the constructivism theory of working together, giving the students more choice and working in groups to construct an outcome, they might consider changing their minds when it comes to technology and improving test scores.

(11:55 on podcast)
The Attributes of a Constructivist classroom mentioned in the podcast are as follows:
Collaborative, Actively Student Centered, Choice, Democratic, Reflective and Risk Taking.

(14:05 professional development paradigm shift)
From secret to open, from shame to celebrate mistakes, from individual to collaborative, etc..

(15:32 GenYES video)
This is the video that I would like to share with my staff. It shows how students are working with teachers in over 40 states throughout the country.

If we (teachers) can embrace technology in the classroom and then feel comfortable enough to admit we do not know everything, we can begin to learn with the kids. They can start teaching us and the other kids in our classes. This would really shift the power and hopefully give the kids the feeling they can do anything they set their minds to... even pass the TEST!

wiki explaining podcast
Creator of podcast - Sylvia Martinez

Best Teaching Practices - Are there any?

I came upon this blog about Best Teaching practices. by James Sigler who I already follow on Twitter. This started me thinking about my teaching practices and how I am a constant "self doubter" when it comes to classroom management. It is noted in some of my observations and I am a constant critic of myself when it comes to the class management piece of my job. No one ever tells you what it is going to be like. There is no training that can really prepare you for the classroom from you know where! It is that miserable combination of students who feed off of each other, who yell across the room, who get out of their chair without asking, who shout out when they should be quiet, you know the ones right?? Well, I am taking my lack of classroom management and going to a training Tuesday on how to deal with difficult students and their behavior. Secretly, I am hoping it helps me with my own children who are 16, 13 and 11! Two for the price of one.

So, when I read the above blog post, I think I do a lot of the tasks mentioned, but I try to be a little laid back in the classroom style that I run. I think that computers should be fun, hands on, interactive, and cooperative. It should be a place where you are not just figuring out how to change margins on a word processing document, but why you might want to change the margins so you can conserve paper and print on one page. I want the kids to figure it out or ask each other for help.

I think I am pretty good at coming up with the projects, which I think are what the kids would like, but I am not so sure they all are of the "higher" order thinking that is mentioned in the new Blooms Taxonomy. I aspire to work towards making all of my lessons based upon Understanding by Design principles, which all touch upon a part of Blooms, but I just have never had the time to convert them all over to that high quality! Plus link them all to the standards for ICT as well as any GLE standards for the school goals.

I am hard on myself, I know that. I think being a computer teacher (or part of the Unified Arts department) is another issue in itself. Sometimes the kids and possibly, I am not pointing any fingers, but the core teachers even look at us as less. We are the right brain teachers who are trying to help our students be creative, think outside of the box. I am reading Daniel Pink- A Whole New Mind right now. Hopefully this will shed some light on the creativity reasoning.

I think I like teaching students. I am pretty sure I enjoy middle schoolers. I like them, I know that, because I keep going back. The discipline is difficult though, and I know I am not a follow througher.. if that is such a phrase! I will keep you posted after my seminar to see if I can find some help. I would hate to have to change jobs again in my life, since I am almost 40 now! :) I wish I knew exactly what I want to be when I grow up.

Podcasting

Note to self and anyone else who may be reading this, about podcasting.... Check your equipment before you start whatever it is you are doing. Why you ask? No, I am not trying to stream from China! Just a simple video. I am the master of video. This week, I presented a really super (Well I think so, because I made it! :) ) slide show about Moodle and how it can be used in the 1 computer class as well as for many other reasons... for our Tech Week Fair. I decided, hey.. wouldn't this be a wonderful opportunity to create my very first podcast (video podcast none the less!) for this class. So, I took one of our video cameras, the tripod, the plugs..etc. and schlepped them up the stairs to the computer lab I was presenting in. I had the video camera all set up perfectly, just on me and the screen. Well, on goes the video camera.. yeah! I am excited to share this video with you.. well boo hoo.. The video contained 4- 1 inch lines all across the screen and the voice would not come through to the iMovie program when I tried to download it. Arrggggg... who knew the video camera is broken.. this must have been from last year.. I can't even get the sound to come through so I could save it that way...

So lesson learned.. Always check your equipment first.

Any how, I am excited to use my 8th grade class as the test group for the pod casting I am going to start working on. Each student is required to write a reflection for their web pages that they create. If they are working on their math web page, the reflection would be about when the student was in elementary school, think back to a teacher or a favorite project you had in math. What was special about it? Why do they remember this project. Then they do the same reflection for the middle school years. Also, the students have a final overall reflection page to their website. This reflection is to make the students think about their overall education so far in their lives, as well as the person they have become. Where do they see themselves at Pinkerton and beyond? What is important to them educationally and personally. Then they write this. So far, I have been having them create a PDF version and then linking it in to their HTML hand coded web page. So, now, I want them to record it as a pod cast and we are going to embed them into their page. HOW EXCITING! :) I think so anyway. Let's see the kids reactions and then I will confirm for you !

So, a few open questions:
1) How do you eliminate background noise when recording?
2) When you say a microphone panel, is this something where all microphones are connected together to record at the same time?
3) How much space does a podcast really consume on a server for example? Just the small size of the shrunken MP3 file once it is exported out of garage band into iTunes right?? Small? Of course video would be bigger, but if you saved as quicktime and webstreaming size, it is pretty tiny..

Again, people are in the "old fashioned" mind set with personal beliefs running things.. so I am going to go with the advice and go for it,.. ask for forgiveness later! Wish me luck! :)

Some podcasting sites I thought would be helpful:
Podcasting 101
Video Podcasting - CNET
iTunes Podcast Site


Oh, by the way, I love iTunes podcasts, you can find awesome yoga and meditations there to put on your iPod to listen to..Don't drive and listen though! They don't mix! :)

Also, there is everything you can think of under the iTunes podcasting sections.. The education site is wonderful on iTunes..podcasting. Now, my next thing is to look at audacity even though I have garageband.. I wonder if audacity is easier to use?

Reflection

A reflection... (may be a little bit all over the place!)

I am in awe of these technology educators that I have come across on twitter and in my web 2.0 journey. Where do they find the time? I have been reading all about the Personal Learning Network and Jeff Utecht's blog was great! I still wonder, where do these educator's get the time to update their wiki's, twitter with each other, blog, attend conference's, globally connect, and still engage their students using technology. Where do they find the time with all of the other pressing issues in Education today that we are faced with?

In the new NEA magazine that came in the mail today, I was reading a really interesting article about why teachers are leaving the profession. Why teachers leave? Why are they leaving you ask? Well, let's see?? They do not have support, they are not valued by administration, they feel pressure to do well and help the kids pass the "test", they do not make enough money to pay their rent, educators should be seen and not heard (why not work together?), and my biggest issue, this is your classroom, you deal with the kids and discipline. Not to say my administration does not deal with discipline, that is not the case, but it is a silent, unwritten rule, that you would look weak if you were always sending students to the office.

I am disappointed to have lost one colleague last year and now another this year to the above issues. I am sticking it out to see if things will change and education will get better. I have a family to feed and can't or don't want to go back to the private sector. I know that I can make a difference even if it is within my 4 classroom walls, so I will continue to work in my new web 2.0 tools as much as I can. I will hope for change and still work with my peers to develop it.

I will begin by showing this video at our May staff meeting and explain to the staff how I first saw the video on teachertube, then I was poking around twitter and came upon the creator's blog, and from there I figured out that it was he (Darren Draper) who created this amazingly neat video that I wanted to share with my entire staff! Here is the website that I also will share with staff from the school that he teaches at.

I have to admit, I haven't even touched my RSS feeds, I check my emails now and again, bombard my two other computer teachers with links to great websites and ideas, and sit with twitter on so I do not miss any good links to things, so I guess I am finding some time, but at the expense of what? I have to find that balance or this will consume me! I have to finish my capstone project, but all of this web 2.0 stuff is swirling around, and how will I put together something cohesive to show my school district that using web 2.0 tools in my classroom will somehow be beneficial to our students??

I am sure I will manage. I always seem to. I now have a nice network to help me achieve this goal, and I am so happy to have taken this course. How fitting it is my last one before I graduate! :) Me with a Master's degree. Who would have thought!

Wiki's In Education

I have been looking at all different types of Web 2.0 tools in the past few weeks. I think the idea of using wiki's in education can be a great tool, although, I worry about abuse by students. (Erasing work, changing answers and pages, etc...) I know I am sounding a little paranoid, but I know my kids..in my classes.. and I wonder if they can be responsible. (I know it comes with good teaching and preteaching the proper etiquette) I only have 12 weeks with them, and once they finally get the jist of what I am trying to accomplish in the classroom, it is time for them to move out.

I did sit in on a wonderful webinar on edtechtalk two weeks ago that was about students from the horizon2008 project. This horizon2008 project is set up on a wiki. It was wonderful to talk to the students on the chat feature as well as to listen to them through iTunes and the live channel to hear the talk. The webinar was wonderful and gave me some more reason to try a wiki in my classroom. The students were from the Baccalaureate School for Global Education (BSGE), New York City, and Madeline Brownstone is their teacher. She is working with another co-teacher to work on this project with her students. The students are excited about collaborating on this project with students from all over the country, as you can see on the website. The students were so well versed and looking forward to working with the other students as well. They will be using ning, a social networking system to connect with the other students involved in the project. They first use ning to just get to know each other and then comes the collaborating!

I would like to use one of the wiki's that are password protected like our wetpaint and I also logged onto the free wiki Jeff gave us. I am concerned a little bit about using the wiki with my students because I am not sure how the district would feel about it. I think if we keep the kids names out of it and no pictures, it should be fine.

While learning about wiki's and preparing for my final capstone project at Plymouth for my MEd., I have gathered up a bunch of articles and blogs to try to support the theory that using a wiki in the classroom would promote literacy and further develop my technology curriculum.

Here are a few I found so far to help with my cause:
Research proving Wiki's are more efficient than email: http://tinyurl.com/4d8jxk
Wiki Collaboration leads to happiness: http://tinyurl.com/3dzn24
Eduwikis: http://eduwikius.wikispaces.com/
Wiki Educator: http://www.wikieducator.org/Main_Page

Wiki's seem to be a great way to create a beautiful web page, that can be used to collaborate with others. All of the people I find on Twitter seem to house their web blogs or websites on a wiki. I will give it a go, and update this page to let you know how it goes. Right now we use Moodle in the classroom, but it is not "open" to the world. It is contained. My dream is to collaborate with others from all over the world with a wiki and my students! Let's see if dreams come true.

Media Sharing

Well, let me tell you how much teacher tube has come in handy for me in the classroom within the past few weeks. I have shared the Did you know video with my 8th graders. I explained to them how the world is becoming flat, and we are having wonderful conversations!

I also showed some internet safety video's to my 6th and 7th graders and also used information I found on the TechWarrior's blog. I would not have discovered this blog without twitter!!

Our school blocks the use of YouTube. There is so much stuff out there on it, that is is difficult to allow the kids the freedom with it. I have to say I feel much better that it is blocked in some ways, so I do not have to keep telling them to get off of it when they are sneaking around on the internet behind my back! Our district is very strict with the use of the internet. I can understand why, but in other ways, it does hold us back.

I enjoy podcasts, vocal or with video. It is an amazing tool that allows anyone access to the most interesting information for FREE! I have found many meditations on iTunes podcasting as well as educational information.

The newest thing to come out of the podcasting world is the iTunes U. You can find it by opening up iTunes and then going to the music store. Once at the music store, you have to click on the iTunes U section. You will then find all different Universities with many interesting lectures and information. This is where I found the Thomas Friedman information. MIT has one.

Also on iTunes is the podcasting section. Once there, there are so many different genres of information for you to discover. The education podcast is great, and hopefully someday I can have some of my classes out there sharing away! My favorite school I have learned about is the Mabry school. Read and become inspired! I know I am.

Social Bookmarking

I have to say I have been using delicious
for a long time now. I have 753 sites saved to my account right now as I type this blog!!! Yikes.. I guess you can say I have a problem. I love to "web mine". I save everything. I have absolutely no method to my madness and my tags are all over the place. I tried one day for about 2 hours to organize all of my tags, but the process is long and tedious. Feel free to take a look around my delicious account. I would love to share and become part of your social bookmarking sites. I just found a great organizing blog piece when I looked over the delicious network page. I have Jeff and Royce Robertson listed in my network right now. It is a blog about not letting your PLN (Personal Learning Network) get the best of you on 2cents worth.

I use my delicious account a lot in the classroom. I can open it up on the LCD projector and find the site I was working on that night before, because I posted it to my delicious account.

I know another computer teacher I work with uses delicious with her students. She give s them her account and they are sent there to look up different websites. This helps to prevent web surfing in her classroom. It is almost like a web field trip!

I just signed up for diigo today, just to take a look. Not sure if I want to give up my delicious account, but I think the highlighting of the website is a cool idea. Yet something else to factor into my daily computer surfing rituals!

Which one is better?? Diigo or Delicious? Anyone else use something different?

The pros are that you are saving your bookmarks to a website program and they can be accessed from anywhere anytime.. I am not sure of any cons, unless their server ever goes down and I lose everything.. I shutter to think that will ever happen.. now I am going to find a way to export those babies!

I hope you all use one of these services. It is one of my favorite web 2.0 tools yet.

RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds seem like a novel idea, although I find it difficult right now to wade through the waters, so to speak. There are so many that I have subscribed to, that it seems impossible to scan them all through for new updates. I am enjoying keeping the sites in one place, and I am sure the updates are a great thing, but who has the time? I see how they can be useful for education if working on a project, and keeping track of updates. I also see how the updates of information would be useful for us to keep track of who has updated their blogs.

RSS is very cool, and Alan November spoke of these RSS feeds at last year's Christa McAuliffe(you can watch the 2007 presenters talks - Will Richardson was one speaker at the 2007 conference), as the information that comes to you and you do not have to do anything! I think that is AWESOME, and I do plan on figuring it out when I can sort through it all and make sense of it. I have starred some items, I am not sure what I am doing with them. I also tried to start organizing the RSS feeds into folders so there is some method to my madness! Not so sure about that!

I have a lot of them, I can tell you that right now.. thousands of updates and I am letting them grow by the minute, without doing anything!

Once I can get my head around them, I am sure they are going to be another part of my daily ritual. I can say Twitter is becoming more of a daily ritual too..

Connectivism

When reading George Siemens' book on connectivism,
I found it very interesting and a concept I would not think about if I was not in this class. It seems to make a lot of sense to me, that we work in a fast paced society that rely on networks of individuals to complete knowledge. I wonder if it is true for all people in our society though. Would connectivism be applicable to those individuals who are not technologically savvy? Would those same people network? Would they utilize many people to accomplish a task or research information in a way other than using technology?

On page six of Siemens book, I found it interesting that Knowing Knowledge was broken out into two different audiences. One was the educators and the other was the business world. He continues to say, "A business executive needs to understand the characteristics of knowledge that impact creating effective teams to achieve corporate strategy. An educator needs to understand the new context of knowledge in order to prepare learners for a life of learning and working with knowledge. Simply put, life is learning. If we interact with people, ideas, or concepts, (in a classroom or corporate boardroom), knowing and learning are our constant companions."

I do agree we can't keep up with the amount of information we are bombarded with on a daily basis. The media is attacking us everywhere we look with information. Television, Computers, radio, text messages, etc. We receive messages over and over through the media. It is instant. There are video blogs, pictures sent over cell phones, and our world is becoming an instantaneous mecca of knowledge and information.

It is so true how our education systems are "stuck" in the old method of attaining knowledge. They want to fill the kids brains with information and then have them spit the knowledge back out on a "test". That is not what it is like with the new technology we offer the students of today. The kids can be responsible for their own learning if they were allowed to participate in web conferences with someone like a chemist or doctor and where they were allowed to prepare questions to ask over a Skype type line. They kids would learn more if they were constructing their own learning environment using a wiki or a blog. They would have "ownership".

Working together students and adults can accomplish more. There are a lot of people who know some things. When put together, and share all of the little bits of what they know, it turns into something bigger. Working together as a network, they will remember more of the information because they were part of creating it. I think this is where we want to be in our educational system, but we are stuck. It is scary to make changes. It is scary to allow the kids to have more control and let the "teacher" become the facilitator and not the end all be all in the classroom. If this was the case, what would we test? How would we test the knowledge gained?

I think with the 21st century technology that we are trying to add to our schools, this process is beginning, but it is a ways away. I think we are headed in a direction of working in this connectivism process, but it is difficult to convey this thinking process to some.

I liked the quote on page 32, "Know where" and "know who" are more important today than knowing what and how. An information rich world requires the ability to first determine what is important and then how to stay connected and information as information changes. What is so neat, is that the kids of today are doing this and they do not even realize it. They know to look things up on the computer, share the information they found with each other over a social networking site, and then accomplish their task of sharing music, homework, etc.

I agree that we can accomplish a lot more learning if we work together.

Blogging.. What??

What do I think of blogging? What is it? Well, I am not exactly sure what blogging is completely, but I do know it is a conversation starter. It is a spark. I enjoy reading people's blogs because it motivates me to think about things that I may not have thought about before in a new and exciting way. Or, it may even educate me on things I have never thought about before. It is a tool that can be used by anyone with a computer and a few moments to set one up. A blog is great for educators, because it can share ideas and thoughts.

As a blogger, I can communicate feelings, frustrations, happy times, confusion, plain old crazy thoughts on something, and there just might be someone out there in "cyber-world" that might relate to what I was saying or feeling. It can be used in schools for students to communicate thoughts and encourage literacy. Some studies have shown that literacy in schools has improved through blogging. Here is another blog that was interesting about using them in the school setting.

I guess I think of a blog as a huge white board that is a place to communicate with others for support. I would like to think that people care out there in never never land. (g2g.. be right back! son has baseball batting cages!) I am back!

I think blogging would be a lot of fun in the classroom with my students. I do use it now through Moodle and it is called a Forum. I give the kids a topic like .. should cell phones be allowed in school? And they must write complete sentences explaining their position. Then they are required to go back and comment on three other people's posts. It is fun, although teaching proper blogging etiquette is difficult. They want to talk about what is for lunch that day or who likes who! I am having difficulty finding much on line by the way of blogging etiquette that I can share with the kids and that is trustworthy.. any ideas?

I guess the other thought I have is that it is difficult to keep up with all of the blogs out there and keep up with my own blog. I think it is something you have to train yourself to do, but it can be really rewarding. It is like a personal journal that can be looked at later on and can be reflected upon. It shows growth and experience.

I do think a blog has to have a purpose. I think if it was all over the place in thought, people may not read it.. They may become irritated and not want to communicate with the blogger. Just my thoughts.. who knows!

My favorite blogs I have encountered so far while using the google RSS are:

http://nlcommunities.com/communities/alannovember/default.aspx
http://davidwarlick.com/2cents/
http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/
http://www.techlearning.com/blog/
http://www.utechtips.com/
http://weblogg-ed.com/
http://successfulteaching.blogspot.com/
http://people.uis.edu/rschr1/et/blogger.html
http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/mahlness/2008/03/tomorrow-tomorrow.html

First Thoughts (post 2)

Where do I begin. I have to say I am a little overwhelmed with all of this new information! I am not sure how to schedule the time to read the blogs, and participate in other blogs as well as keep my own blog. I am not sure about this Twitter.. but I will figure it out! I am really excited to read the books and learn more about how to bring in the wiki's and other web 2.0 items into my school. The issue I see is how to get things published to the "world" so to speak! In the preface of the Blog, Wiki book, it mentions how it is somewhat of a challenge to convince people to allow the kids to put their work out for everyone to see! I am going to keep working on it and hopefully things might change.

I feel like I am spinning around like a top.. excited.. but not knowing what to focus on first! This technology world we live in is changing so quickly and I am a technology teacher. I do not know nearly enough about all of the technology available to me! I did read a good thing on one of the educational blogs.. and it was to slow down and try to learn just one new thing a week!

I look forward to this class and working together with other people. I love to share!!! As long as everyone is a good "sharer" !! :) Enthusiasm is contagious!


If someone could share their organizational secrets with me, that would help me a lot! I want to learn a lot.. but right now! Who wants to be patient?