Lesson 12 - A time for reflection

I really enjoyed taking this class. I have learned some very interesting new things and reinforced some things that I already know. As a result I would really like to get more teachers involved and excited about technology and how it really can be integrated into the classrooms. I'd like to show them how using these technology as means of using differentiated instruction. Some of their students may flourish using some of these technologies. I am also very passionate about my Wiki. It think it is a very useful tool, easy to integrate into the curriculum and beneficial to our students and future students.
At the beginning of this course, I wasn't so keen on blogging. But, my excitement has grown with 2 comments that were made to my blog by people in education that I didn't even know! Through one of the posts, I have (hopefully) set up collaboration with a classroom in New Zealand. Talk about the global community and interaction with the world! This course has at times stressed how important it is to be global, well, maybe we can start something here. I love being off for the summer, but this year, I am really excited about coming back in September and getting started!!

Lesson 11 - School 2.0

The thing that struck me most about about School 2.0 is how some of it is already happening, especially in our district. Now I know we are a very lucky school district with administrators who are very supportive of emerging technologies. But, not all districts, families, communities are as fortunate as we are. Maybe we are ahead of the game as far as being connected with our students, parents and communities, or we just have "really good people" that get the word out and convince school administrators, parents and the community on how important it is for the future of our students and economy of our communities, state, nation to have all these wonderful learning experiences.
One of the things that kind of bothered me about the map was the shifting of text book dollars to digital. I think it is important to have both. Yes, books and their information can become obsolete. Take for example a history or geography book where governments change and so do boundaries of countries. In the digital format things can be updated so fast and probably at fraction of the cost (considering the cost of text books for a class).
All in all, it will change. We will be looking at this new School 2.0 in the very near future.

Lesson 10 - Another Perspective

As I listened to the Allen November podcast with Dr. Zhao I found myself nodding to myself in affirmation, and smiling a lot. Most of these things Dr. Zhao talked about we have also talked about. How do we get teachers to integrate technology more into their classrooms? Things are getting better, but teachers are still feeling overwhelmed with the thought if they feel they aren't "techy" enough. Also I think they feel that it is just another thing they have to incorporate into the day. Yes, we want the students to be connected to the world, to learn about different cultures and pass on our learning and cultures to the world, but we need reliable sources "out there" to collaborate with. Contacts, (few and far between) seem excited at first, but in the end we just don't seem to be able to "get it together." I like the idea of having the students take on line courses, but.......not everyone is connected at home, or have permission to use the Internet. I know these are all important. I think about how we can accomplish these things all the time. In the end I know that in time, things will change. They always do.

Lesson 9 - School 2.0

Kevin Honeycutt's podcast was inspiring. Using technology with students is something that I am passionate about. After much thought and reflection on his Model T project I've thought about an activity that someone may be interested in doing. Now, not being a classroom teacher, I really have no control, but I could help with the technology aspect. Now, I know this sounds far fetched, and probably would never get off the ground, not this year anyway. There are also a lot of unknowns about this but, my idea is having students collaborate about building a community in Second Life. What should be there (schools, churches, post office, houses etc.)? Build these structures, decide what to teach, who should own what, maybe manufacture something useful for the community. Second Life is new to me. It really intrigues me. I read alot about it on blogs. It is definitely something that I need to learn more about, but in THEORY, this project has potential!

Class Collaboration

We are trying to pair up classrooms through their blogs as a means of collaboration, learning and having fun. Please post your thoughts and if you or anyone you know may be interested. Please leave me a way to contact you.

Reflection 2 - Lesson 8

Wow, both wiki's and the delicious tool are useful. Personally, I like using the wiki. I think it has so many, many applications. As I said in my previous post, I use it to showcase our students work. It is also an educational tool. It helps them read, re-read and edit for information. I feel it is also a tool for differentiated instruction. Not all students learn the same. We have to think of different ways to be able to make them successful in learning. I think Wiki's are a great avenue for some of these students. It amazes me to see how eager our students are to edit their own work and those of their classmates. They want to be the first one to find a mistake. I think they take more pride in their work knowing it will be showcased for the world to see.
I also like delicious. Where ever you go, you can bring up certain websites, podcasts etc. It's an easy way to share these things with a group of people. It's a great tool, but......knowing how much of an impact the Village Wiki has had on student learning....I'll have to go with WIKI's!

Wiki's - Lesson 6

I love working with Wiki's. I have created one for the Village Elementary and have had much success. The kids are so excited to see their work and actually try to make their work better by re-reading and editing and looking at their classmates work for mistakes. I like the idea that it is a collaborative effort by all. As I've shown other teachers and students the work we have put on, they are coming up with ideas on how they can contribute and how it will help their students for the following year. It's not just a one time deal, it's on going. Students looking at the Village Wiki next year for information can still edit what is on there. I'm sure not every shred of information has been collected on a specific topic. One of our "requirements" is having the students site their sources. We are not getting into MLA, or Chicago type of site sourcing, but we are trying to get them into the habit of giving credit to the website, person, author, book etc. that they are getting the information from. This also helps them to take a look at the source and see if it is really a reliable one or not. We have a variety of different software program entries which really helps the teachers (ones that aren't "techy") to really explore different ways to help their students present the information that is being collected. I like to think of this as Differentiated Instruction.

Wiki's can be used in so many different ways. Like blogs everyone can contribute and comments can be made. I like the fact that students can use this as another way to showcase their work. Like Terri said so often they do the research, it's graded, they bring it home and maybe it's put on the refrigerator for a while. This way it stays, it serves a purpose (other students can use it) and it can be shared with others (grandparents, aunts, uncles etc). I'm really excited about The Village Wiki and so are the students and teachers that have contributed!

Video Resources for Students

After reviewing the video sites, I have come to some conclusions. First, I liked NextVista. I liked the idea that videos can be made by teachers and students, be submitted and shared. But, there wasn't much there yet to explore. I, like Terri, LOVED Teacher Tube. Did you know that you can make a poster in EXCEL? I love learning new things that Excel is used for other than formula's. I also found an excellent video on blogging. It is by Rachel Boyd from New Zealand and it is called Why Let our Students Blog . Teacher Tube is definitely a site I'd like to explore more of.

As far as YouTube is concerned, I have never been on it until now. I don't think it is very educationally sound. After talking with my 17 year old son about it he concurs. I asked him if he would go to YouTube for anything educational and he said, "no, not really." The only thing he would look for there would be something about sports or just "funny videos." I feel this is a site that students would get off track and "into the weeds." I did see some news clips, but, I don't think it is worth the risk.

I liked Clip Blast much more than You Tube. The site was more appealing visually to me. I like that they have their categories set up alphabetically. I would probably let students use this site. They also have a safe search feature. This is another site that I need to explore more of. Again, I showed it to my son, and he wonder's if he can get on this site at school. No doubt, there is objectional subject matter on this site as well, but...I think the categories explicitly say that.

Another Reason Why to Blog

I found this video on Teacher Tube. I think it sums up all the reasons why it's a good idea for your students to blog! It was made by Rachel Boyd from New Zealand. I'd love to be a part of any correspondance with her class in New Zealand. Image all the possiblities, the curiosity and the questions that our students would have. Here's the link to get you pumped-up!
Why Let our Students Blog?

Classroom Blogging

Being on the outside looking in, I can see how blogging can affect student learning. Blogging gives students an audience. They will be excited about writing for a purpose. When they get feedback, they only want to respond with more. When they know that a wider audience will be reading their posts, they want to make it more interesting, they think before choosing their words. They can even leave their own opinions anonymously on a certain topic and not feel they have to conform with the majority. I have seen a great way to use a blog. Many classrooms want to correspond with different classrooms in their state, nation, or even internationally. This gives them a way to do that without having an e-mail address to write back and forth to. It is almost real time (owner of the blog will be able to see what is written before it is posted, in most cases). I think this is a great way to correspond with other students around the world.

Welcome to Denise's Moodle Blog. I will be using this blog to correspond with my classmates and teacher during the course of the summer and will hopefully be able to post some interesting content regarding the use of Technology as teaching tool.