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 We do not publish our work to the outside world.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!

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.