I Want to "Be a Contributor!"

I want to be a contributor in support of using technology for teaching and learning.

This class has changed my entire view of technology and teaching. I will be rethinking all of my daily rituals of teaching to try and add some type of technology. As I have mentioned since the beginning of the course, I have been planning to implement a Seeing America theme for the upcoming school year. This course could not have come at a better time. I think using a wikki will be especially useful to students. By connecting with people all over America, a wikki will allow for all parties to contribute to the collected information. The most ironic thing is that I did not know what a wikki was before this course and I swore I would never need one.

I would also like to involve the parents to use technology as well by having families do at home projects. I know it is possible that some families may not have access, but it could be good exposure for students and parents alike, and create opportunities for family time together. I was thinking possibly having my students connect with family or friends who are out of town using a specified technological tool. Please feel free to add comments with any other ideas.



Lori,
Thank you for all of the hard work you must have done to create this class for us. I have enjoyed it very much. You have done an outstanding job teaching us about tools that are at our fingertips yet we were not utilizing. Well done!

Technology is More than Just Computers

I was extremely motivated after watching the YouTube clip Some More Food for Thought (Is that actually the title?) It sent a powerful message to me, as a teacher and a parent. It makes perfect sense to utilize the vehicles our students are using daily as educational tools for learning. I have always felt as though I was a cutting edge teacher because I am constantly looking for better ways to teach children using authentic tasks that engage and immerse students. I can't believe it has not occurred to me before this video that computers are not the only technology we can and should be using. A new door has been opened for me.

The interview with Dr. Yong Zhao was interesting as well. I respected his opinions, especially when he talked about children's "need of genuine work" and "being a contributor". He has valuable insight into the change of education as we know it. Maybe the Michigan high schools that he mentioned should have the teachers required to get online learning experiences along with the graduating students. If teachers are not using these technologies personally, it would be impossible for them to use in their teaching.

School 2.0

It was a bit overwhelmed as I read through the School 2.0 sketch. It involves many of the educational roles that are functioning in a educational community that I don't think about on a daily basis. It gave me a good perspective on all of the wheels that are turning to make schools work.

With that said, like the interconnectedness of the sketch. It certainly is powerful to streamline systems and to increase communications between all parties. My concern is taking the "people" out of education, and the world, for that matter. I do not see a social aspect to this sketch. How can one learn a language (identified on the The Horizontal Technology Layers under Language Learning) without personally speaking to real people. By removing real people we lose social skill development which, for many students, is just as important as learning the curriculum.

I would like to see people working with groups of people, in the real world, using technology first hand for real life jobs. I would not promote isolating people from interacting personally from each other. I don't want to enter the Matrix. (Love that movie, by the way!)

Kevin Honeycutt's 21st Century Skills

I connected with Kevin Honeycutt's podcast because it is the same philosophy of teaching children to read and write. I use this quote to explain my beliefs to parents of the students that I teach: "To learn to swim, one must swim. To learn to skate, one must skate. To learn to walk, one must walk. To learn to read, one must read. To learn to write, one must write." In order for students to be prepared for a job force dependent on technology, we must immerse them in using technology. His podcast opened my eyes to this. Even our youngest students should be experiencing a world filled with technology. As the planner and facilitator, I would like some support on what are some current, real-life applications of technology that would be appropriate for young children. Through this course I have learned that blogs, wikis and on-demand videos and are good starting points. I am open to hearing about other technologies as well.

I think my "Seeing America" theme has the potential of connecting groups of people using a wikki. Students in Hilton can work on creating information about a state, and connect with a class from that area. Those local students will be able add their first hand information to Hilton students using pictures, video or text. The wiki could lead to the creation of a travel brochure or other real life application of the information as a culminating activity.

Any other ideas, please submit them to me. I need all the help that I can get!!
Thanks

Reflection 2 - Del.icio.us IS Delicious

Wow! I have been using del.icio.us everyday. I am using it to keep all of the resources that I find as I am researching my Seeing America theme. It finally hit me as I was writing yet another web address down on yet another scrap piece of paper that all I had to do was hit the tag button. What a great idea this social bookmarking is!
I was thinking that I can create a class del.icio.us account for websites that I would like the children to be able to access independently, such as educational games, informational sites, blogs or wikkis of other people we are connecting with.
I am telling all of my friends about it as well. By visiting other friend's pages I am finding even more great sites. I am really enjoying this one!!

First Blogs, Now Wikis!

I understand the literal difference between a blog and a wiki, but it is not real life for me yet. When would you use a blog instead of a wiki? A wiki seems to be a blog, but it is interactive for the user. Any feedback would be much appreciated.

I am glad that I never created a classroom web page, now that I have learned about Wikis. It adds another demension home/school communication. There are always questions that you are asked by several people. Now you can provide your response to everyone at one time. I love the idea Terri shared about the teacher who puts his newletter on his blog as a podcast. How easy for teachers to share and parents to hear. What should we do about those without a computer?

I love the Village Wiki. The fact that the students are learning, creating and publishing for a real audience that exists outside of the classroom means that we have a real opportunity to create authentic learning for students. Motivation and good work habits are built into the process. This is very powerful.

In terms of my Traveling Across America project, I am thinking that a wiki would allow students to connect with people in other parts of the country and work together to create acurate information about each place.

Exploring Four Video Sharing Sites

I found Wesley Fryer's podcast to be very intriguing. The creators of VISTA were thoughtful of the needs of the teachers and the students. I appreciate that the video clips are reviewed before they can be accessed. The amount of material available is certainly small right now.

Teacher Tube had more of a selection available. I was pleased that I could see other teachers illustrate lessons and teaching strategies through this . Staff development is just a click away. I think Teacher Tube is a bit more difficult to navigate through.

You Tube and Clip Blast are too cumbersome for me. Too much of the material is not useful and timeconsuming to wade through. I also would not feel comfortable having children exposed to a site that could potentially allow them to see footage of subject matter that is inappropriate for a young viewing audience.

As I think about my theme of "Traveling Across America" for next year, VISTA and Teacher Tube could provide my students with an upclose and personal view of different places and different people that they may otherwise not have the opportunity to experience. It also would allow for them to create a video sharing their community with others, as they make personal choices on what makes their community unique. The fact that students can create video to demonstrate their learning is a powerful tool. I am questioning why the Global Views' Collection on VISTA is noted as being "made by and for teenagers". Is this a requirement?