RSS – FYI Extreme!! Thing 5

While I scroll through my Google Reader, my head just spins! So much information, I am overwhelmed. I want to read it all but I just can’t. I star the ones I want to go back and take a closer look and clear the rest. I love Google Reader, because it brings everything to me in one place. It is a lot less clicking!

Today on my Google Reader I found… The Importance of Stretching. As I read the post, I had to laugh as I was reminded of the “cold tortilla” theory from my youth. The post talked about the importance of stretching before exercising. Kids need that warm up time before diving into the lesson at hand. Just like the teacher from the article, I like to get to school before everyone gets there so I can get everything set up just the way I like it. (Not that I am OCD or anything!) I am pretty sure there are many students that don’t even think about stretching before coming to school. But is it stretching or warming up?

Have you ever tried to roll a cold tortilla? It just breaks or rips…right? The same things happen to our mussels if you try and stretch them without warning them up! The Cold Tortilla Theory! The brain is a mussel, right? So, the same thing would happen to the brain, it can’t stretch if you don’t warm it up. Got to get the blood pumping! So I don’t disagree with what Patricia is saying in the post, just the title. I want my students to warm-up before class because I want to stretch their brains to new lengths they didn’t think possible.

**A special thanks to the Stretch Gang for ingrained the phrase “Life is a Journey; Not a Destination” and the “Cold Tortilla Theory” in me. **

To Grade a Blog Post? Or Not? Thing 4

Blogging can take many forms in an educational setting with students, but how do we “grade” them? I don’t have a complete answer yet.  At the start of this task I simple started by reading other blogs on grading blogs.  Integrating, Evaluating, and Managing Blogging in the Classroom was the very first blog I read on the topic, which lead me to Lessons from a First-Time Course Blogger.  I found that these blogs really got me thinking about how I was going to grade blogs when I start using them. (And if it were not for this assignment, I don’t know that I would have thought about it before assigning a blog project!! Oops!)

In a class, grades are just par for the course. There has to be a tool to measure what students are learning. A blog is a great way to see how students are comprehending content, but can be a struggle to assign a grade. In science, part of the scientific process is communication. I plan to use a blog in science as a way for students to communicate about labs and other activities. I will want to grade some tasks for content while other I will want them to form an opinion and back it up.  ‘How are you going to this?’ helped me understand a few of the ways a teacher could grade content of a post as well as comments. Most importantly the post helped me realize there is more than one right way to grade blogs, but having clear expectations from the beginning, as in any assignment, will make the blogging process easier for everyone.  

While I don’t know for sure how I am going to grade posts, comments, and other content of a student blog, there is one thing I can’t ignore… GUMS! (Grammar, Usage, Mechanics, and Spelling) I want my students to free write at the start of a blogging assignments, however they MUST look over it be for posting. Just like a student would do before turning something in a traditional classroom. I have always struggled with writing for fear of messing up and looking “stupid.” It takes more than just the Language Arts teachers to teach writing. I feel not expecting students to take GUMS into account before a post is doing them a disservice, there for I am adding it to the rubric.  (Even if I always get unacceptable!)

Below is the rubric I have come up with for a general blog assignment in science asking students to formulate an opinion on a given topic from class.     

Blogging…How has it changed me?

Until fall 2010, I had never really looked at a blog… much less written a blog post.  Not really being a writer I didn’t think that blogging was for me. I guess I was WRONG!!! I really am getting into blogging. I found it helpful to have something to focus on as a starting point. Once I started writing reflections on my grad school experiences, I started to find that I wanted to write about stuff that was happening in the classroom… and now I just can’t stop.

It wasn’t until my latest assignment that I thought about how blogs have changed communication in the 21st century. I hate to admit, but I don’t follow the news or blogs regularly. I know it’s sad, but I have found myself engulfed in my own life too busy  to bother with the rest of the world. ( I promise I am not as selfish as that sounded!) However, since the start of grad school my view of the world around me has started to change.  I now have an RSS which allows me to pull what I want to keep up with. I have found having an RSS brings the news and updates that I care about right to my attention. I was shocked as I read some of the statistics from Sifry's Alerts (http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000493.html) at first. It does make sense seeing as most people would turn to blogs and other websites that are updated by the people around the world instantly. (plus so many people are no longer using traditional television at home anymore!) Heck, I get most of my major news from Facebook, then I go look up what is really going on. 

Thinking about blogging and news I think about the generations of females in my life. What is news to me? What is news to my mom? What is news to my grandmother? We all have different news needs. For example, my grandmother wants to be able to keep up with mine and my brother’s lives from another state as well as her silver sneakers groups and the obituaries. My mother wants to keep up with the latest hiking activity with her tail dames group and anything to do with scouting. Me on the other hand, I want to keep up with friends and any new teaching trend out there! While we all have different “news” needs, most of that information can come from a blog! I had never really thought about people having individual news needs, but we all do and we don’t necessarily get our information from the five o’clock news.

Reading blogs is still reading. I have already admitted that I am not a writer… guess what?... I am not a reader either… but blogging is changing the way I read. I have found from reading blogs I can stay informed and entertained on a number of topics. Still being new to reading blogs, I am enjoying reading what other people are doing in the classroom and how they interpret different topics. 

I am excited to try out blogging with my students. Blogging is changing the way I am learning and I am hoping to change the way my students are learning with blogging.

Design and Development... is it going to Help?

After some crazy snow in Georgia, I am settling in to the new semester.  Two new classes, both with so many exciting topics! I have always been savvy with a computer, but admittedly have never understood what is under the “hood” or in the background of the internet. I manage a teacher website and get frustrated when I can’t get it to look the way I want it look! I am very excited to learn some html code!

Design and development of lesson is a huge part of what I work on to have a successful classroom environment, but have never thought much about it when it comes to my online material. I know that learning more about design and development for the web and multimedia project with defiantly affect me as a teacher. I am just not sure how yet! I am ready to build on what I know to reach a new level as a teacher.

Admittedly, I have a problem… I tend to go overboard.  Some may call it overachieving; I call it just doing my job to the best of my ability. Once I get an idea in my head, it’s really hard to let it go. That being said, I have two fears moving forward with design and development: time and knowledge, knowing once I get into it I won’t be able to back down.   Will I have enough time in my life to really explore, learn, and use new knowledge?  Once I dive in, will have learned what I need to accomplish what I want? Will I have the knowledge to share with others?

Only one way to find out…. Let’s get started!!!

From Information Regurgitation to Knowledge Building Beyond the Classroom

"Keeping up with the Joneses" comes to mind when I think about trying to keep up with technology. Personally, I try keep up with the latest and greatest because I fascinated by technology! There is so much out there, it seems impossible to keep up with it all! As a teacher, I have two options when it comes to technology ignore it or embrace it.

Embracing technology in the classroom is really the only option that I see, but then again I am a part of the generation that grew up as the internet came to life. I was 4 in 1989 when Berners-Lee was developing the Internet. Never being forced to use the internet, it was a natural part of my youth. For example, in the sixth grade, my class was able to follow a group of bicyclist through the Mayan Ruins. As they moved from location to location they updated us with what they were doing and seeing. We were able to email them questions. An amazing experience as we studied the Mayan culture in social studies.  Change is hard, not everyone educating today's students want to change their teaching practices to include technology. However, if we as educators don't embrace technology, we are doing a disservice to our students. Technology is everywhere in the world our students are engaged in outside of the classroom. How as educators can we teach our students to become well rounded adults without teaching them to interact online? How can we teach them to be responsible online citizens if we don't understand the online community ourselves? 

The days of hand written letters are a thing of the past. (Sorry Grandma!) However, staying connected and maintain relationships has never been more important, it's just gone digital. Using Web 2.0 is one way we can connect to our students outside the 4 walls of the classroom. To effectively use the tools at our disposal, we must first understand what it is and how to use it. Not every tool out there is worth using, but understanding what is available is half the battle. You never know, one of the new web 2.0 tools might make a tried and true lesson easier to carry out? Just as electronic mail made staying connected easier (not to mention cheaper!) over traditional "snail" mail.  As teachers, we attempt to build engaging lesson in the classroom, but learning for today's student extends far beyond the classroom. We need to be the trailblazers, teaching our students how to navigate the new read/write web; teaching them to be responsible online citizen capable of positively adding to an ever growing internet. This year I have had the great experience of using the read/write web with students for the first time. As a class, we created a wiki for the periodic table of elements. Amazing!

I am a young teacher. In my few short years in the classroom, I have seen a shift in my own teaching from information regurgitation to knowledge building beyond the classroom. Thanks to web 2.0 for a shift in my teaching, has made better higher order thinkers of both my students and myself. How had that shift occurred?  For example, my fist year teaching I had each student create at baby book for an element of their choosing and now this year students created an interactive online profile of an element where they were responsible for becoming the expert in order to answer probing questions from others outside our classroom. My first year everything was contained within my classroom and now my students and I share it with the world. 

Taking advantage of the connective tissue of the read/write web has also enabled me move from "my" classroom to "our" class. I have naturally moved away from being the "sage on the stage" to co-learners with my students with endless possibilities from the new read/write web.

As the new semester final starts, I am looking forward to exploring deeper in to web 2.0 tools. I have dipped my toes in podcasts and wikis and now I am ready to try blogs, video casting, voice thread, and student social networking. So many new things to try and explore!

The journey continues!

What does Web 2.0 hold for the classroom?

Web 2.0 is a world of tools that can be used in classrooms everywhere, however at RTMS we are just starting to scratch the surface. At RTMS many teachers have a blog. Most teachers, that have a blog, use it to post assignments, worksheets, video, and other content need for class, but students add very little content to the blog. After reading “A Day in the Life of Web 2.0” I wish I taught in that school system! The world we are teaching in now has a need for constant communication between students, teacher, parents and administrators. I hope that teachers will embrace new tools to stream line communication.

As I started grad school, I considered myself computer savvy, however I did not realize how much was out there to use and try out in the classroom. As my academic year began in a new grade level with new standard I had not taught in a while, I struggled to get in the grove of the new year.  One of my first grad school classes touched on web 2.0 tools, it inspired me to dive in and try some stuff out. The first thing I tried was podcasting. It was great having students write scripts and record their voices. Second, we used a wiki to personify the elements of the periodic table. These two projects engaged learners in my classroom and created lasting knowledge of content and technology. 

While text messaging is not a “web 2.0” tool, it is one way these digital learners use to communicate. All of my students have my cell number and are welcome to text me at any time. I love that they can ask me questions when they are working on homework rather than an email that they have to wait on. If I could use Facebook to communicate with students safely… I would! All most all of my students have Facebook, it is a fantastic communication tool.  Students are dialed in to facebook just like so many adults, can’t we use it to communicate?

Today’s 21st century learners digitally connected all the time, but the really question is do they know how to use what they have in their hands? I want to find a way to use a wiki, a blog, and other web 2.0 tools in my classroom. I find that digital projects, activities, and interactions for my middle school students really help students stay engaged in the classroom, but also create lasting memories with my students.