Final Reflection KWL

KWL

I started this class knowing a little bit about a lot of the topics that were on our list.  I had a Diigo account, followed a blog, used blogging with my students, used Skype, and had used some Web 2.0tools with my students.  We had also just become a Google school so I had a bit of information about some Google tools.

What I wanted to know was how to translate the use of technology into my second grade class.  Many of the ideas, projects, and videos I had seen before were aimed at using technology with older students.  I also wanted to become more fluent with using Google tools. 

There were some tools we talked about specifically in class that I got better at using such as Diigo.  I really hadn’t been using it since making my account but I began adding things throughout this class.  Two weeks ago when our media specialist came to me and said, “Safety Day is next week.  What do you think I should do for internet safety at my station?”  I was able to quickly show her all of the resources I had on the topic through my Diigo account.  I think I’m starting to get the picture.

I was able to use some of the Web 2.0 tools with my second graders.  They loved putting their continents information into an Animoto video.  They practiced reading fluently for days in order make the Podcast.  They wanted it to sound just right, and knowing they would be creating a VoiceThread helped them stay really focused during our field trip to Squam Lake.

I still don’t know everything I need to know about the Google tools our school will be using but that brings me to the biggest thing I learned in this class.  My own learning can be 24/7.  I do not have to wait for the district to schedule a workshop day on Google tools.  There are videos, webinars, and blogs on everything imaginable and it is my responsibility to be self motivated and find out what I need to know.  Adding a reader to my iGoogle page is a constant reminder to keep up on my learning even if it’s just for a few minutes each day.

Week 8- PLN Halfway There

Week 8- Post #1

Halfway There

The article by Miguel Guhlin on the Wes Fryer blog talked about the need to develop your Personal Learning Network in order to keep up with the information that is out there and become a better teacher.  The idea that professional development is out there for the taking 24 hours a day, 7 days a week is both awesome and overwhelming.  You no longer have to wait for BER to send out their list of workshops for this year and hope one you need is in your area.  There are blogs to read, podcasts to hear, and videos to watch on any subject you can imagine any time you are free.

After reading this blog and reading David Warlick’s list of pre-requisites for an online PLN, I think I am halfway there.  Guhlin  listed three tools he felt were necessary for getting started; social bookmarking, which I’ve been using, Twitter which I have an account for but still really haven’t explored enough to see the benefits, and blogging which I have been reading lots of blogs but I haven’t made any comments on any outside of this class.  

David Warlick listed computer savvy and internet savvy as the first two items he felt were needed to begin a PLN which I’m feeling more confident about each day.  His third idea was to redefine your role from teacher to master learner and I hadn’t thought about this yet.  It adds new importance to the tasks of following blogs and watching a webinar when I think of it as becoming a “master learner” to become a better teacher.

Although I felt pretty good about having accomplished or furthered most of the ideas in the articles and videos this week, the one place I really fall down is the writing it down and sharing part.  I have been using Diigo but only to mark my own sites, not to look for others who may have found things I’m looking for.  I have been following the Free Technology For Teachers blog for two years but I haven’t once made a comment or joined a discussion.  

I think the main reason I have not done this is because I can do that part in person.  I am lucky enough to have a grade level colleague who is just as interested in all of this as I am.  She is right across the hall.  When we read things that strike a chord we will send each other the link with a few notes.  The next morning we chat about it.   We talk about things like how does this fit for our kids? How does it work in our building?  How can we make it work? 

I know not every person is lucky enough to have someone right in their building for their PLN and this week’s articles were all about online PLN, but I thought that piece was really missing from the discussions.  Each school has its own unique challenges and when you have two or more people working through all the information out there and thinking about how to make it work for that particular group of students, it’s very powerful and it doesn’t feel so overwhelming.

Week 7 Questions and Projects

Week 7 Post #2 Questions and Projects

I loved watching the Project Based Learning in Hand video by Tony Vincent on two levels.  Seeing how the whole vicepresident project was created using a series of apps was very interesting and thinking about crafting driving questions that produce deep learning really made me rethink some things in my own classroom.  

 Weaving Storyrobe, Comic Touch, Easy Chart, Doddle Buddy, and screen shots from Notes together seamlessly was amazing.  There are so many choices of ways students can create content.  It is both wonderful and overwhelming at the same time.  Picking and choosing which apps to bring into the classroom can be a confusing and daunting task.  How do I introduce enough apps to give second graders that choice of ways to create?

I was really struck by the idea of opening a unit of study with a deep question and allowing that to drive the direction of student learning.  The thought of finding a question that would get at the curriculum but allow students to uncover the topic in a personal way made a lot of sense. 

When I first watched the video, we were getting ready to start an animal unit and then go to the Squam Lakes Science Center.  It seemed like the perfect time to give this a try.  The question I posed to my students is what animal would you bring to Squam Lake and how would you design the perfect enclosure for that animal?  The animal they choose had to be able to thrive in the environment at Squam Lake. 

The students were a bit more focused the day of the field trip because they had a task at the Science Center.  It was research for their project.  We used Rubistar to build a rubric together and they are now working on finding an animal suited to our climate and terrain but is not already at the Science Center.  They are automatically learning vocabulary and concepts like nocturnal, omnivore, colony, temperate forest, etc. just by looking for an animal.  Designing an enclosure that allows the animal to thrive and designing the learning activities visitors will see outside of the enclosure will require them to apply what they know in a creative way.  It will be interesting to see what they come up with. 

Hooking the question our curriculum and talking through the requirements using the rubric gave me the confidence that I was still “teaching” what needed to be taught even though they were uncovering it in different places and ways.  I wish this was a unit that I had given pre and post tests in years past so I could compare the learning from the two different teaching methods.

Week 7 Post #1 Feed Your Passion

Feed Your Passion

 

While I watched the Passion-based Learning in Action video featuring Brian Crosby one thing kept coming to mind, teachers need to feed their own passion.  Passion is like a living thing that requires food, air, and exercise to stay healthy and grow.  

When teachers don’t feed their own passions by taking that summer writing class, joining that book club or hiking club, traveling to the places they want to see, their own interest begins to wither.  Sharing their passions with others gets it out in the open where it can breathe and be stretched.  It is so easy to get bogged down in the mundane of our work that we lose the excitement.  Test prep, study skills, paperwork, meetings, although important should not be the end all, be all of our days with our students.  

Feeding our own passions reminds us how learning can be fun and deep and lasting.  It reminds us that is what we should be bringing into our own classrooms.  

Knowing your curriculum and your students well, allows you the flexibility to remix things and do things in different ways to feed their passions.  It helps you to keep high expectations for their learning and keep it joyful.  So as the summer approaches find that thing that will reignite your passion and set aside a little time for it.  It will make you a better teacher in September.

Earth Day Podcast

This is a reader's theater for Earth Day. I did it with two reading groups from my class.  We use reader's theaters to work on fluency and expression.  This one also relates to our science curriculum as it pertains to Earth Day.  It was too long for Audioboo so I had to download Audacity and figure that out.  I think I would like to take if further for the kids, maybe putting it into VoiceThread or Animoto so we can add images and then post it on our class blog.  If anyone had any other ideas I would appreciate them.


Earth Day Podcast

Week 5 Post #2- True Confessions

Week 5 Post #2

True Confessions of a Teacher- Dr. Mazur Video

 

I love how Dr. Mazur started this video talking about confessing.  He went on to confess all of the mistakes he made early on in teaching.  He also talked about how he ignored some of the signs that it wasn’t working and followed the “how it had always been done” model.  I think this is the greatest benefit elementary school teachers get from summer vacation.  It gives that time to step back and say, “What worked and what needs to be changed?”  I find being reflective in the middle of things very difficult.  Vacations give me that time to rethink things.

He also brought up one of my favorite topics, data.  We have been an RTI school for several years.  We have been working on what data to collect, how often to collect it, and how to use it.  He quoted the former president of the Carnegie Foundation as saying, “The plural of anecdotes is not data.”  

 It made me think back to our Child Study meetings a few years ago when we had a few scores to bring to the meeting but it was mostly anecdotes.  Now we come to the meetings with dates, scores, interventions tried, and results.  Anecdotes still come into play but in a much smaller way.

I can’t imagine trying to make a class of 200 more interactive, but Dr. Mazur tackled this issue with questioning and peer interaction.  Explaining something to someone helps you cement your own understanding.  It also shows you really understand the material.  That is why we have open response questions on the NECAP that ask students to explain their thinking.  These are also the questions students find the most difficult.  They cannot simply recite information, they must know it on a deeper level. 

A few years ago I started using the Jigsaw method for some lessons.  Students are broken into groups.  Each person in the group becomes an “expert” on part of the material.  Students from the various groups work together on common material to learn the subject and then go back to their original group to teach the material to the rest of the group.  It forces the students to be actively engaged in the learning.  It does require more planning, more class time, and more varied materials than the standard lecture type lessons, but it is worth it.

Confessions are good.  It means you have thought about something and admitted there is a problem.  Once you have confessed it you feel more obligated to do something to change it.  A supportive PLC is the perfect place to this.  You can get the support and the accountability needed to make some changes.  I just don’t want my confessions posted to You Tube.