Blog #8 Week 4 - Reflections on Blogging

See video.

Blog #7 Week 4-2nd Life

2^nd Life

            I enjoy exploring in 2^nd Life, but I feel like it’s way too big of a world for me!  It would be great to know a certain island well and utilize it for a specific purpose in education.  Multiple intelligences are totally utilized when I can create something new and interesting on ISTE.  I wasn’t even aware that I could create until I just started messing around, and encountered an object just sitting there on the grass.  I was curious about it, touched it and picked the option build. Lo and behold, I could create something unique and colorful right there for others to see.  That alone is incentive for me to go back, because I love being creative.  I think in education, our students would be better served if they were directed to a place like ISTE to learn how to manipulate their avatar and try out their creative building ability.

            I joined ISTE, the International Society for Technology in Education.  They have meetings announced on a big board.  I would like to attend one to find out some creative ways to use 2^nd Life.

            Another fun site was KORU-New Zealand:  great scenery and marine life.  I loved going into the ocean and exploring the various sea creatures such as dolphins, whales, sea turtles, fish, Manta-Rays, etc.  In looking for animal life, I explored Aeryglow Wildlife Island also.  I think it’s great to be able to fly right next to a bald eagle’s nest. The Safari Zoo was fun because you can get up close and personal with a giant octopus and get and alligator as a pet. Etopia Eco Village was also fun to explore.  I found a great music circle where I could play all sort of instruments. It would be fun to get a group there to play together.

            That brings up the point of exploring as a group.  I think this is the way to go!  When we explored as a small group in the previous class we had, we were too much of a novice to be able to see much of anything worthwhile.  I think you have to get into it and start at an instructional island, such as ISTE, to get comfortable using the program.  Then, we as students, and our students would be able to see the possibilities much more fully.  I fell like we would have been better served to have to attend a lecture there instead of on Wimba at least one time.  Our professor said they didn’t get good feedback on that, but I feel like I would have enjoyed it more.

            Iowa State University had a great model of Bloom’s taxonomy (the revised version) that you could actually walk up and read the different examples of each step as you went.  The creating block of Bloom’s taxonomy is never so well explored as in 2^nd Life. 

            

Blog #6 Week 3 Communities of Practice

Blog #6 Week 3

Communities of Practice

     In the article posted for this assignment, Communities of Practice, Learning as a Social System by Etienne Wenger, [Published in the "Systems Thinker," June 1998], Ms. Wenger defined this Communities of Practice being groups of people that gather together for something that matters to them.  These are things that they think are important. The people do the “practice,” or action, because they are passionate about it.  Ms. Wenger claims that they are “fundamentally self-organizing systems.”

     The best example I can think of for a Community of Practice is a play in community theatre.  The organization over this is usually a non-profit, who may pay their director and a few other key people, but the cast is comprised of all volunteers.  We prepare, audition, get together, adhere to the director’s rehearsal schedule, memorize, learn, and practice, practice, practice. Then we finally perform.  The resulting production is a living, breathing, work of art that can never be duplicated again.  You create such a great community in that short time that we as drama nuts are always itching for more. It’s great fun! Thus, the next one that rolls around sees another big group willing to audition again.

     If we could get our teaching jobs that fun, with great communities of practice all working together, we would be able to make great strides in education. I think we tend to just stay in our own little world at our own school, perhaps with our grade level team.  Is this because our DNA is wired to function in the past century? What do you other teachers think?

     I see so many different ways I can join with other educators online it is staggering. I joined Tapped in (http://tappedin.org) and quickly found a couple of great sites that I added to my Delicious page. I explored film lessons for my action research project, and found a great resource that lists different cool tools for schools. (http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com) This is great, however, I can’t see a website bringing the personal, sense of belonging to me, that I embrace each time I am in a play.

     I read Will Richardson’s blog today on Weblogg-ed, “Don’t, Don’t, Don’t’ vs. Do, Do, Do.”  He talked about reading a lengthy acceptable use policy that listed all the things you couldn’t do and thought of what would happen in our schools if the students got thi

s list of “Do’s” on the first day of school.

“Do use our network to connect to other students and adults who share your passions with whom you can learn.”

“Do use our network to help your teachers find experts and other teachers from around the world.”

“Do use our network to publish your best work in text and multimedia for a global audience.”

“Do use our network to explore your own creativity and passions, to ask questions and seek answers from other teachers online.”

“Do use our network to download resources that you can use to remix and republish your own learning online.”

“Do use our network to collaborate with others to change the world in meaningful, positive ways.”

Etc. (Add your own below.)

Now, obviously, that would mean that the curriculum would be preparing students to do that all along, But I’m thinking that if I was a student and I read those “dos”  on the first day of school, I’d be itching to get to class.

Retrieved Sept. 20, 2009 at http://weblogg-ed.com/2009/dont-dont-dont-vs-do-do-do/

Blog #5 Week 3 Social Media

Emergent Technologies in a Collaborative Culture

            As digital immigrants, we are wired differently!  I enjoyed the following author’s take on this. Greg Whitby claims that we as teachers have to change our DNA.  In order to keep up with the digital natives and help prepare them for their uncertain future, we have to take great leaps into the unknown.

Changing teacher’s DNA for 21^st century learning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l72UFXqa8ZU&feature=rec-HM-fresh+div

This video is well done and shows the different components that make up a 21^st Century Learner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39Up1f0lmOA&feature=related

            My #4 blog covered social networking quite a bit, so I’m not going to delve into it again, but I did want to post this video from Current.com. My nephew had it on Face Book, and I got quite a kick out of it.  Warning, Twitterpated people will not be pleased! Twouble with Twitters:

http://current.com/items/89891774_twouble-with-twitters.html

            I want to address the use of Google Docs, and RSS feeds.  What a great collaborative tool!  Right now, the fourth grade teachers and I are working on a script for a fourth grade play.  One of the teachers put down her thoughts in a rough draft and read it to the team.  They said, “That’s great!” but it is far from a polished script.  I went into her room to read the document on her computer.  We talked about some different ideas, and I said, “We need to put this on a Google document!”  I helped her step through it, and it’s up there for the whole team to work on and refine! As it happens many times with technology, we couldn’t get it to work right to get me editing privileges yet, but we’ll figure it out!  Then the teachers can help us figure out the dialogue for their part, etc.  What a wonderful tool!

            The other great thing that we need to embrace is the use of RSS feeds.  There is so much information out there on the web that it is mind-boggling.  We search and search and sometimes give up in frustration because there is too much out there.  What I love about RSS feeds is the fact that I can find a great site, and it is always at my beck and call when it exists as a feed.  I open the Internet and those places that I have found are already there, just waiting for me.  We can constantly change these at our will.  If we are working on a certain project, we can make a whole new tab on Net Vibes just for that.  

Blog post #4 Week 2-21st Century Skills and Lifelong Learning

             I was teaching a lesson at my church to a group of young women ages 12-17 and about 5 other adult leaders.  The topic was being wary of negative media influences.  Media can have a huge impact on young people’s lives.  If they are pulled into the bad influences of pornography and sharing explicit photos and dialogue, it can have devastating effects.  When I was teaching, I mentioned the fact that the girls were “Digital Natives” and we adults were “Digital Immigrants.” 

            The adults laughed out loud!  I have been inundated with those terms since I have been in this Masters Program, and they make so much sense to me, that it made me smile that they got such a kick out of it.  I realized that as a general rule, most adults haven’t heard these terms before.  I was grateful to read the original article from 2001.  That is eight years ago!  How do we spread the word to the general public?  I am going to post the article on my Facebook page; I would encourage others to do the same. One page at a time!

            Retrieved Sept 12, 2009 from http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/Prensky - Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants - Part1.pdf

            One of the most important skills that I think we as teachers need to teach is how to use the internet safely, responsibly, and wisely.  I particularly enjoyed the chapter in our text, Web 2.0, that went through the things that we need to teach for online safety and security.  We need to address pornography and online predators to keep children safe.  We need to address copyright issues, being redirected to commercial sites or useless or irrelevant info when searching the Internet. We need to teach ethical behavior online, and get parents involved in knowing how to help their students be smart online.

            An online site made for kids is Net Smartz Kids. Org. Retrieved Sept 13, 2009 from http://www.netsmartzkids.org/indexFL.html.  Kids cannot be redirected to any other sites.  There are games where they learn how to be safe online such as hunting for Potty Mouth Pete.  They learn to defeat him, they should ignore him, turn off the monitor, and tell an adult.  There are tunes they can watch such as “Be Safer Online Rap” which tells them to never give out their information online such as their name, age, or location. There are also many other fun songs. They have videos such as “Beat the Tricks,” about people looking to harm kids can be tricky, online and in real life.  They have games such as “Don’t Open That File,” a computer virus game.  There are many other things available on this site, a great way to help kids learn safety.

            A nice video made with Animoto about Technological savvy teachers is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2j9qw-A0NM&feature=related  retrieved Sept.15, 2009.  It’s a short commentary about how teachers can change the culture of education in the 21^st century through the use of technology and web 2.0 tools.  It’s very important for us as teachers to be learning right along side of our students.  In these fast moving times, we cannot afford to stand still.  How do you keep up on the newest advances teachers?  Let us know, so we can share the knowledge and stay lifelong learners.

Blog post #3 Media Literacy

I am discovering the world of  social networking.  In lieu of social protest and reformation as in the Middle East, I am thinking that Twitter is mostly for fun here in the good old USA.  However, my eyes have been opened to many more possibilities with blogging, wikis, etc. for me as a student and as a teacher.  A couple of months ago I didn’t even know what Twitter was.  I don’t text much, don’t pay for a texting package, and I figured it was only for cell-phones. For those of you who still feel “Twitterpated” as well, watch this video, “Twitter in plain English.” http://teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=24497&title=Twitter_In_Plain_English

            I was totally enamored with NetVibes.  I was able to customize my home page so every time I log on, I can see updates on any blogs I am interested in, any news headlines I might wish to look at, and any site that will give me a feed.  My guess is that most every site will soon have an RSS feed available.  I liked the fact that I could make tabs to organize whatever I wanted to.  I can have a page with only educational blogs I would like to follow, another with my fellow students, another with my family, etc.  What a useful tool that is always available as long as I’m wired.

            I love being able to see my fellow students’ Delicious bookmarking pages also.  If we share all our knowledge, how much better the outcomes!  It can be exponentially greater.  Just the thoughts of high school students being able to work together to research subjects and write collaboratively on Google Docs makes my head spin.   

            Education is still in the dark ages as far as social networking is concerned.  We seem to be afraid of the possibilities.  “They will cheat!” reverberates through teachers’ minds when they see students’ texting.  “They won’t pay attention!”  I say, “Well, duh…” Kids now a days don’t know how to pay attention to only one thing.  They have for so many years done several things at once, a teacher lecturing will only put them to sleep. I believe we need to rethink the current way we teach and somehow use those skills exploding on the scene. So many social networking spots are blocked at schools, it’s nearly impossible to find a way around it. So how have you teachers done it?  How can I get my district to allow more?

            I loved an article called Transforming Pedagogy through Social Software

Catherine McLoughlin and Mark J. W. Lee. (Retrieved Sept. 8, 2009 from  http://innovateonline.info/index.php?view=article&id=539&action=article).

If we can use Web 2.0 tools in school, those tools will help students work together, share knowledge, and network globally. They will have more motivation to work, and collaborate easily and freely. They will produce and share knowledge, concepts, and ideas for the world. This will prepare our students for their future. We have to enable this to happen in our schools.

            So what do you think?  How can we be the catalyst for change?

Week 1 Blog #2 Learning 2.0 21st Century classrooms

            I agree with many of the videos on 21st century learners.  I think education is way behind in tech issues.  We have become so entrenched in “Thou Shalt Nots,” and filters, we have thrown out the baby with the bath water.  In the text Web 2.0 new tools, new schools, (2007, Solomon & Schrum) the first solutions that I have seen in print were encouraging.  One solution waged was to place Web 2.0 tools on intranets, behind district firewalls.  A Wiki alternative is Socialtext (www.socialtext.com) and TWiki (www.twiki.org). Class Blogmeister (http://classblogmeister.com) is a great manageable blog site for classrooms, and Elgg (www.elgg.org) offers blogging, social networking, and e-portfolios.

            Our district recently unlocked YouTube for schools above elementary.  However, as a teacher, YouTube is unlocked for my use.  This is a step in the right direction. I would like to see more unblocking, but only if it is safe.  I am a firm believer in filters, etc.  I think Flickr is a great resource that I would like to see available in my school.  Students would then have access to beautiful pictures for digital projects.  But if it means we would have to change to Gallery2 (http://gallery.menalto.com) to keep kids safe, I’m all for that.  It is an open source.

            This is a podcast I found that I thought was worth watching: 3 Steps for 21^st Century Learning by Jackie Halaw.

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yCB4i7GJuM&feature=fvw)

Step 1:  Transform your classroom into a creative learning space by letting students talk, build, create, and collaborate.

Step 2 Teach students the skills of competition, cooperation and collaboration.

Step 3 Introduce your students to their global peers and provide the opportunity for them to collaborate.

            I enjoyed this video by Alan November: (http://www.mobilelearninginstitute.org/21stcenturyeducation/films/film-alan-november.html).

            Some of his ideas were note-worthy.  His idea of looking at today’s learner in a different light was exceptional.  They are contributors!  When we can open our classrooms up to make the children responsible to help each other learn, they will be much better served.  I liked the ideas of having someone in the classroom be the researcher, or having a research team that looks for things on the web.  Someone could be taking notes during the day on a google doc that everyone would look at to make sure they are correct.  They could make podcasts explaining the previous week’s learning as a review.  The students would be the writers, directors, actors, perhaps even editors.  If we can open our classrooms to let the children be the teachers too, how much richer their learning would be!

Week 1 Blog #1 Web 2.0 Educational uses for blogging.

            I have enjoyed reading the text, web 2.0 new tools, new schools, by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum.  I feel like they are totally in the zone when it comes to how we might apply web 2.0 applications in education.  Blogging is an effective tool for formative assessment, and helps students see a real application for writing, but also importantly, for editing.

            I taught second grade in the past few years, and a student at that young age felt like he or she was being punished when I as the teacher tried to make them see their errors, so they would rework their writing and make it better.  They were ok with the “sloppy copy” and then the final published work, but if I expected them to do more than just a little editing for clarity, conventions, or word choice, they felt totally frustrated.  Just to have word processing programs available to them for writing erases much of this problem.  The laborious task of writing by hand clearly and legibly at age eight is often a major accomplishment.  However, keyboarding at that age is rather difficult also. 

            Our computer specialist at my school is drilling them at length for proper keyboarding skills.  When they reach third grade in our district, they go from 30 minutes a week in the computer lab to 90 minutes a week to work hard on proper keyboarding.  She has no time in her curriculum to add the fun things I would like to, such as gaming, blogging, and movie making. 

            A couple of years ago, she made available in our computer lab, at my request, a site on virtual beading.  (Virtual bead loom: http://csdt.rpi.edu/na/loom/ index.html). I had taken an arts workshop that taught us to bead and how to tie it into our math curriculum.  Native American beading uses four fold symmetry, and the use of two axes on the creating web program teaches students the Cartesian coordinate system.  This is a great tie in with math standards.  The school purchased beads, all of the second grade classes made some beading with the art teacher, and I thought it was a great thing for the school.  However, the beads sit unused since, and I don’t think any of the upper-grade teachers ever used the site.

            My point in using this story as an illustration is that many times we find something that could bring technology into education in a real and engaging way, but after the first go around, it is tucked away, and not used again.  What is to be done about this?  I really feel like using web 2.0 tools would make a difference in education.  If students could work collaboratively on projects, and talk about what they are learning on blogs, I think the learning would naturally continue from year to year.  It is not the content of the project that would be the important thing as much as the actual learning process of collaboration and recording their thoughts.  As students have an opportunity to read each other’s writing and improve their own, they find a genuine real world reason for writing.

            I was impressed with Blogmeister’s (http://classblogmeister.com)education-friendly blogging site.  This quote by David Warlick, the site’s creator, was in web 2.0 new tools, new schools:

Blogmeister is explicitly designed with teachers and students in mind, where the teacher can evaluate, comment on, and finally publish students’ blog articles in a controlled environment.

           

            I went on the site and browsed for a while.  One downside was that something came up blocked on my Internet provider: “Dancing Letters.”  The first grade class had read Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, and had evidently created something from that idea.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t see what that was.  I like this idea much more than a website because I could give assignments for students to post on the blog for certain areas of study.  I would like to look into this further, because I also want to be able to post podcasts that students in my tech/film club might make. I might be better served looking into Elgg (www.elgg.org).  This has the capability of posting podcasts, and other features.

References

Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. (2007). Web 2.0: new tools, new schools.  International Society for Technology in Education. Eugene, Oregon. p 63.

Moral disintegration

You know one thing that is a real problem in online learning, is porn.  That is why school districts are so reluctant to open their minds to more open collaboration and social networks.  Not only has the Internet made porn readily available to anyone and almost everyone who wants to find it, it has created a new generation of people willing and able to bare everything to anyone!  Sexting on teenager’s phones seems like fun and totally harmless to them. 

The moral disintegration that has seeped into our world has made a prolific problem of sexual addicts who go to porn for self-gratification.  This not only harms them individually, it hurts and breaks up family relationships, causes some to be sexual predators, and can totally ruin people’s self-esteem and life. 

I am all for great filters, and have a pretty good one at my house.  Sure, it causes problems when I can’t pull up a picture of a rainbow for a project, but it is so totally worth it to me to have the blocks in place.  So, I can understand schools’ hesitation to relax their blocking standards. Unfortunately there is always opposition in all things; the good always comes with the bad.

What do you think?  Is it ever going to be possible to get social networking sites unblocked in our schools? What suggestions do you have to solve the problem?

Get some DRAMA into your life!

Hey, bloggers, welcome to my site I've created to connect with the world. I am hoping my fellow classmates in my master's program at Full Sail University will join me, as well as my students, former and present, and their parents. I love teaching the arts! How many of you have good memories of programs or plays that you were involved in during your grade school (or higher) years?

It is my contention that those memories are some of the most lasting, and happy ones that we cherish. Whether or not you consider yourself and actor/actress or singer, you probably felt like a movie star in those special programs that your family came and watched. It's such a great self-esteem builder. :) Tell me about your experiences! Former students, what do you remember about a production you did with me?