OK, here is another one!

I had to add this one too. Educators need to build skills to to keep learning relevant.

I had to add this!

I had to add this video because I think it falls in line with my class reflection. It is the reason why I took this course. It is the reason why I am committed to being a life long learner. The reason I want to continue to learn with my students.

Week #9 Class Reflection

Teaching and Learning in a Networked Classroom is a class that all teachers should take.

Now I know how students feel when they are in a class that is relevant to what is going on in the world. You get excited about learning! A three credit class should be a 45 hour commitment. I can honestly say that I have more than 100 hours of exciting searches, experimenting, problem solving, communicating, collaborating etc. The classroom text was also relevant and current to the trends and issues in technology and education. Relevant information for both inside and outside of the classroom. By relevant, I am actually excited to take the tools and information and integrate them into my curriculum. Not to mention, I am excited to share some of these with other colleagues.

One example of how I am going to utilize the tools in this class is that I spent the better part of last week building an online networked classroom on Wet Paint. Check out the image above. I can apply all the information into the real world. This has empowered and enabled me to post announcements, class outlines, weekly assignments, project ideas, resources etc. I was so excited; I transformed two of my classes into an online Wiki environment. Both my Web Design class and my Media Presentations class will function completely online. I am excited for my students. I am even more excited because I will no longer “HOG” all the space on the school server. When you run classes that utilize technology, you need more space. I would often times experience guilt when I knew my students just submitted their projects. It wouldn't take long before the calls would start coming in. The calls and complaints would occur because there was no more space left on the server. The technology coordinator would kindly ask everyone to delete, or move something. Now, I can now run my class guilt free!

I am also realizing that my blog can be transformed into a very powerful tool to share information and connect to resources. Teachers are always searching for fun activities to add to their classroom. I can transform my blog as a tool for teachers. With Jing, I now can include video tutorials, I love JING! This tool will empower me in so many ways. I can design my own web tutorials, I can add resources to the portfolio process. Instead of showing teachers and students the same thing a thousand times, I can put a video into a blog and students can watch it as many times as they like. Teachers can watch it too! So, when students want a reminder on how to resize images, I can send them to my blog! So many exciting tools!

I am having students create their own blogs and I hope to integrate class reflection activities. Each day I will pose an essential question, quote or something that will require a reflective response. I hope blogging will be a fun way to get students engaged by thinking, reading, typing and learning. I recently came across an article by Jeff Utecht that claimed Wet Paint is making improvements for educators. I have so many exciting ideas for utilizing Wet Paint. Utecht claims that they are even removing ads on the educational wikis. This is something I have to look into. I hope it is not too late; I’ve already converted my classes. I subscribed to his blog to be sure I can stay up to date with the changes! (RSS, Gotta Love IT!!)

Some other things I am grateful for….
GOOGLE DOCS! I am already integrating GOOGLE docs. I have to track seniors and portfolios with five other people. This gives me the opportunity to set up a shared document where we can log in and record a pass/fail comments for the guidance department. This solves so many problems. Oh yea! Check out my Wordle….. I made a poster for my classroom. I created a great sub plan for students to create a wordle of their favorite teacher. Imagine a student handing their favorite Teacher a poster with kind words. That is why I love this class. I believe it is current and relevant to what is going on with the world. I am excited about blogs, wikis, RSS, google docs, audacity etc.

Week #8- Teaching in a Networked World

Teaching in a networked world gives teachers the opportunity to integrate tools and technologies that can make learning more relevant. I am excited to be involved in education when there are so many exciting new challenges. Not just for educators, but for students as well. I believe these times are an example of a paradigm shift between old school and new aged learning. At no time, have I ever considered (or imagined) connecting students all over the world. For the first time, I believe that the classroom can be an environment that is relevant to what is actually going on in the world. The world is demanding 21st Century Skills. I agree with Catherine Hiltz when she states that we are educating students for jobs that no longer exist.

This made me think of a time (years ago), I was an aide in an Algebra class. I remember students being frustrated. So many students asked “why do I have to learn this?” I remember being in turmoil because I couldn’t respond. I really couldn’t see why all students had to learn how to manipulate complicated formulas. Students were introduced to complicated formulas, which only the teacher and maybe one other student in the class would ever really understand. My response would take the focus off of the math and focus on the importance of thinking critically. I thought maybe the manipulation of formulas had nothing to do with the math. I would tell students that it was very important to learn to think critically. Wouldn't it be more relevant to teach students how to manipulat technology to solve problems?

Reflecting on my own educational experience, I tried to relate to what students were learning. I remember clearly feeling that what we were expecting students to know and be able to do, was irrelevant to what is going on in the world. I could not relate and connect the two. So, what does this mean when we think of education? What are we training students for? For me, creating a networked classroom gives students the opportunity to be prepared for both worlds. I believe connecting students to the outside world makes learning more appropriate. While learning content, students can learn new technologies that will help them function in post secondary planning. This provides an opportunity to take old school practices into the real world and make learning more relavant.

Positive Student Profiles

Relevant learning is not complete without a lesson on creating a positive student profile. We spend a great deal of class time creating a positive student profile for their digital portfolio. What makes a profile positive? What makes a profile negative? How can an online profile impact a student? We also cover learning to target an audience. Students need to understand who their audience is. They may think they are communicating with peers in a fun social network. It is important for students to realize that they may be communicating with potential employers and college admissions board. They might also be communicating with a phsychopath. We discuss the positive and negative aspects of an online communication. We discuss the illusions behind private settings. We discuss how schools, colleges, parents and potential employees utilize this information to make decisions about each other.

Students actually write thier "positive student profile". Their first edit includes crossing out negative information, views, opinions and images of self etc. It often amazes me that most students are confident mentioning their pitfalls, weaknesses and personality flaws. They actually have a more difficult time accentuating the positive. We practice this. Their second edit requires them to make two positive statements for every one negative. I believe this helps students recognize the many audiences their profiles address. They need to work actively in creating a profile that pleases the right audiences. Or, they otherwise attract a dangerous audience that will demand more. They have to be careful not to attract the wrong audience.

Using NING & JING as Classroom Tools

Week #7- Project Based Learning, Individualized Instruction & Assessments

My Web Design class is a Project Based Learning environment. I completed the curriculum for Special Education and would consider myself to be very in tuned to the fact that students learn in different ways. Teaching Strategies I, II and III taught me to integrate technology in creative ways to meet the needs of students that find learning difficult. Because of this, I believe Web 2.0 gives a wide variety of options that help teachers be creative with the delivery of instruction. Students can also demonstrate proficiency in creative ways. Learning Styles of the Next Generation describes a world of multi tasking. How do we learn to teach these students effectively? I used to believe that Inclusion of all students in one classroom was impossible. Not only is it possible, advances in technology make it possible for a teacher to take a back seat and facilitate learning by giving students the tools they need to take charge of and document experiencs in their own way.

Technology provides me the tools to give students a wide variety of options to meet their needs. I run everything out of a network server. What I like about project based learning is that you can provide students with a rubric and they know before they begin what the expectations are. They are required to do self assessments during the learning process. I believe this relieves anxiety about what students should know and be able to do. You can align rubrics with standards and add your own expectations at the same time. Although I do believe in some standards based learning, I do not believe the standards change as quickly as they need to. Keeping up with the times and what is going on in the world has to be a priority to people that decides what our students need to know. So, teachers need to be given some leeway to make decisions, add tools and make learning current and relevant. There are great resources out there to help build personalized rubrics Rubistar and Teachnology are two great ways to utilize technology and enhanced assessments. A proper assessment that is relevent only if provides and outlines clear vision of what you want students neet know and be able to do. More importantly it should define how will know they will be able to do it?

Assessments & Data Driven Decisions

Performance pathways is an amazing tool for teachers. I took a one week intensive class that taught us how to access NECAP and NWEA test results and use the data to improve learning. You can access student scores, target the individual questions and determine how and why students struggle. The question assessment will give you verbs that help determine where students may have difficulty learning in your classroom. For instance if you are requiring students to analyze something in your lesson and this is a trouble area, you can provide them additional samples, tools and revised units to help them through something that you have predetermined would be difficult. Blooms Taxonomy is a great resource to help determine what higher order thinking skills are required in your lesson plans and activities. I found six students struggled with reading and writing and are scheduled to take Web Design in the fall. I attached the way I broke down the data, analyzed their difficulties and plan to adapt my lessons to meet the needs of the individual.

Creating individualized instruction is possible with technological advances. Howard Gardner has spent the better part of his career teaching and learning how to address different people with different talents and skills. He refers to this as Learning Styles. Gardner is a multiple award winning Professor of Psychology Harvard and has degrees from “twenty-two colleges and universities, including institutions in Ireland, Italy, Isreal and Chili”( http://pzweb.harvard.edu/PIs/HG.htm). I agree with Gardner’s theories about the fact that everyone is intelligent and has their own way of recieving information that helps them understand and comprehend information. Project Zero studies to understand thinking, learning and creativity. Level the playing field and understand different people, from different places have different knowledge. More time should be spent teaching students how to learn as opposed to memorizing facts that will never be used.