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!