Throughout the semester, I have been building my Personal Learning Network. I have become familiar with Twitter, RSS Feeds, and Teacher Community. The experience has been mind-blowing to say the least. I have made connection with many teachers from around the country, learned some valuable instructional strategies to use in my classroom, and found some interesting ways to incorporate technology into my instruction. I am very exciting to continue expanding my PLN so that I can continue to make connections and improve my teaching skills. Below you will find the tools I have taken away from creating my PLN. Hope you enjoy.
FINAL TWITTER REFLECTION
SKITCH is an annotation tool connected to Evernote that allows teachers to snapshot a website page, photo, writing sample, etc. and pull it up on a smartboard or Evernote. Teachers can annotate, highlight important ideas, and draw directly on the snapshotted page. The page is automatically saved to Evernote and can be uploaded to social media sites, making it easily accessible for the students. Being able to annotate and highlight points on the page will make my lecture a little clearer because it provides a visual to go along with the auditory lesson, which is perfect for visual learners. I automatically thought about the possibility of using this tool for a flipped classroom or during a snow day when I do not want to lose a day in the classroom. I can also use this when I am teaching students how to navigate a website or webpage, or teaching an activity on making inferences and want to start with a photo as a visual.
Even though I am an active participant of social media sites, I have not been able to acclimate myself to the Twitter community. I decided to follow the group New Teachers to Twitter, #nT2t, with an effort to learn how to properly use Twitter and gain the most benefits from it. While following this group, I stumbled across the article, 25 top ways teachers use Twitter in the classroom, where I found five interesting ways I could use Twitter in my classroom: creating a classroom account, stay on top of news, ask questions of experts or others who might have answers, and hold classroom discussions. I really like the idea of asking experts questions because it merges the integration of technology and collaboration, two important facets of today’s society. Twitter is one of the many ways our students communicate with their peers, so why not use it to teach them how to write and communicate in the classroom.
During this week, I connected with a Dr. Hamilton, an educator very familiar with Twitter Chat, who helped me work through problems I was having with Twitter Chat. She told me to continue building my PLN by connecting with people through Twitter. While I have despised Twitter since it was released and even through the semester, I have to admit that it is a great way to connect with thousands of teachers around the world. With all of the resources (blogs, articles, pictures,) tweeted I have ample opportunities to learn how to enhance my teaching skills through the integration of technology and other instructional strategies into my classroom. Moreover, I may create meaningful long-term relationships with experienced teachers who are willing to share lessons and give advice. Finally, I can stay abreast of what is happening in education, technology, and other classrooms so that I can keep my teaching and classroom up to date. I have a newfound appreciation for Twitter because I know that it will assist me in making my instruction and learning meaningful for both my students and myself.
References
(2014, Nov. 21). 25 top ways teachers use twitter in the classroom. Daily Genius.
Retrieved from http://dailygenuis.com/use-twitter-in-the-classroom/
Even though I am an active participant of social media sites, I have not been able to acclimate myself to the Twitter community. I decided to follow the group New Teachers to Twitter, #nT2t, with an effort to learn how to properly use Twitter and gain the most benefits from it. While following this group, I stumbled across the article, 25 top ways teachers use Twitter in the classroom, where I found five interesting ways I could use Twitter in my classroom: creating a classroom account, stay on top of news, ask questions of experts or others who might have answers, and hold classroom discussions. I really like the idea of asking experts questions because it merges the integration of technology and collaboration, two important facets of today’s society. Twitter is one of the many ways our students communicate with their peers, so why not use it to teach them how to write and communicate in the classroom.
During this week, I connected with a Dr. Hamilton, an educator very familiar with Twitter Chat, who helped me work through problems I was having with Twitter Chat. She told me to continue building my PLN by connecting with people through Twitter. While I have despised Twitter since it was released and even through the semester, I have to admit that it is a great way to connect with thousands of teachers around the world. With all of the resources (blogs, articles, pictures,) tweeted I have ample opportunities to learn how to enhance my teaching skills through the integration of technology and other instructional strategies into my classroom. Moreover, I may create meaningful long-term relationships with experienced teachers who are willing to share lessons and give advice. Finally, I can stay abreast of what is happening in education, technology, and other classrooms so that I can keep my teaching and classroom up to date. I have a newfound appreciation for Twitter because I know that it will assist me in making my instruction and learning meaningful for both my students and myself.
References
(2014, Nov. 21). 25 top ways teachers use twitter in the classroom. Daily Genius.
Retrieved from http://dailygenuis.com/use-twitter-in-the-classroom/
Really Simple Syndication (RSS)
An article posted on Feedly Reader, “4 Ideas for Motivating Adolescent Male Readers”, discusses ways to motivate male students to read. One of the ideas is to introduce books that male students will enjoy (McKee, 2014). That means getting to know the students and learning what topics are relevant and interesting to them. Another suggestion is to set the students up for reading success through various reading strategies like Newsela, a site that alters the reading difficulty of news articles, and Say Something a technique that requires students to read in pairs, alternating reading, and discussing the text (2014). These scaffolding techniques build confidence in students and encourage them to continue reading. Working with at least 50 struggling readers, majority male, the information from the article is very useful for me. I can urge my colleague to include books in our class that our students will connect to. Moreover, I will change the way I try to motivate all my students to read; I will begin telling them the immediate benefits of reading. Incorporating the Say Something technique in my English class would be advantageous for all students because they know each other and are comfortable working together.
Blendspace is a tool I found on Feedly that is used for flipped classrooms, digital storytelling, and designing collaborative research presentations (2014). Blendspace makes it possible for teachers to flip discussions by making an online post and requiring students to post their reflection. By logging into Google Docs, students can create videos on Youtube and upload them to Blendspace to create digital stories. They can also do voiceovers as they read stories they have written. Finally, Blendspace allows students to invite people to view their research presentations, or share their presentations on a social media site so that they can collaborate on the presentation. I will use Blendspace for digital storytelling and flipping discussion. I like the idea of having students create videos that I can upload anywhere. I also like the idea of students being able to post comments about a topic instead of always having a discussion in class. In my opinion, this is a great tool to promote collaboration, creativity, and the use of technology, three important skills for the 21st century learner. In addition, it allows students to actively participate in an activity on their own time, leaving time in class to get to “meat” of the content.
Feedly Reader is very convenient because it post various resources based on my interests. With articles posted daily, I do not have to do have to use a search engine to find resources I may need immediately. However, I do not see myself using Feedly very often in the future. While there were some helpful articles and resources on my page, I did not find a great extent of information. There were a lot of abstracts or short articles on my page, and they did not provide me with helpful information.
References
(Nov., 2014). Flipping the classroom using blendspace. Retrieved from
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/11/flipping-classroom-using-blendspace.html
McKee, K. (2014). 4 ideas for motivating adolescent male readers. Retrieved from
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/4-ideas-for-motivating-adolescent-male-readers/
Blendspace is a tool I found on Feedly that is used for flipped classrooms, digital storytelling, and designing collaborative research presentations (2014). Blendspace makes it possible for teachers to flip discussions by making an online post and requiring students to post their reflection. By logging into Google Docs, students can create videos on Youtube and upload them to Blendspace to create digital stories. They can also do voiceovers as they read stories they have written. Finally, Blendspace allows students to invite people to view their research presentations, or share their presentations on a social media site so that they can collaborate on the presentation. I will use Blendspace for digital storytelling and flipping discussion. I like the idea of having students create videos that I can upload anywhere. I also like the idea of students being able to post comments about a topic instead of always having a discussion in class. In my opinion, this is a great tool to promote collaboration, creativity, and the use of technology, three important skills for the 21st century learner. In addition, it allows students to actively participate in an activity on their own time, leaving time in class to get to “meat” of the content.
Feedly Reader is very convenient because it post various resources based on my interests. With articles posted daily, I do not have to do have to use a search engine to find resources I may need immediately. However, I do not see myself using Feedly very often in the future. While there were some helpful articles and resources on my page, I did not find a great extent of information. There were a lot of abstracts or short articles on my page, and they did not provide me with helpful information.
References
(Nov., 2014). Flipping the classroom using blendspace. Retrieved from
http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/11/flipping-classroom-using-blendspace.html
McKee, K. (2014). 4 ideas for motivating adolescent male readers. Retrieved from
http://www.teachthought.com/teaching/4-ideas-for-motivating-adolescent-male-readers/
I was invited to the Twitter Chat #sunchat by Dr. Hamilton (an educator I met through #nT2t). This chat takes place every Sunday morning between educators and administrators. The unique thing about #sunchat is that there is no set topic discussed; people tweet whatever is on their mind ranging from questions about instructional strategies and educational policies, ideas on collaborative activities, encouraging posts for new teachers, pictures of students completing activities, and links to articles and blog post. One question I found insightful was how to determine students’ progress outside of the traditional grading process. Many teachers suggested that the only way is to learn students’ academic weaknesses and monitor how those weaknesses improve over the course of the year. They also tweeted that it is important to provide opportunities for students to work on their weaknesses so that they can make improvements. I posed the question about the rigor of the SOL being decreased for special education students. I learned that some states offer students with IEP’s three variation of the standardized assessment based on their disability and needs. More importantly, it was pointed out that my concern is not really with the rigor of the test being decreased, but the types of accommodations being changed so that students have a better chance at being success on the test. Other topics I found insightful were about how to motivate the unmotivated seasoned teacher and
One of the teachers tweeted her blog site where I found her presentation on a great team building exercise she used with her 7th grade class. The Marshmallow challenge requires groups of four or five students to create a free standing structure, with the marshmallow on the top, using only a yard of string and twenty spaghetti noodles in eighteen minutes. The min-lesson required students to record and present the process they used, the effectiveness, challenges they encountered, and any changes they would make if they were to complete the challenge again. I think this is an excellent problem-solving game that promotes collaboration, innovation, and creativity in the classroom. I also came across the link to the article, Your Rubric is a hot mess; Here’s how to fix it, which discusses an alternative rubric to use called the single-point rubric. This rubric is comprised of three columns: the middle being the proficient column (3 or 4 point scale), the left for feedback on items that fell short of the assignment target, and the right for feedback on points that exceeded the assignment.
There were substantial conversations being held via the tweets, and many helpful resources and tools shared between professionals. The character limitation did not bother me; in fact it helped the conversations go smoother. People were forced to make concise points, and as a result I was able to follow the conversations a lot easier than if I had to read paragraphs. In addition, abbreviations were made such as Ts for teachers and Ss for students. I have to say that Twitter Chat changed my views about Twitter because I was able to make great connections with other educators, discuss some legitimate concerns, and find some valuable resources that I can utilize in the future.
References
Gonzales, J. (2014, Oct 9). Your rubric is a hot mess; Here’s how to fix it. Retrieved from
http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2014/10/single-point-rubric.html
Nackel, S. (2014, Mar 18). The marshmallow challenge, a great team building exercise. Retrieved
from http://7thgrademathteacherextraordinaire.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-marshmallow-
challenge-great-team.html?m=1
One of the teachers tweeted her blog site where I found her presentation on a great team building exercise she used with her 7th grade class. The Marshmallow challenge requires groups of four or five students to create a free standing structure, with the marshmallow on the top, using only a yard of string and twenty spaghetti noodles in eighteen minutes. The min-lesson required students to record and present the process they used, the effectiveness, challenges they encountered, and any changes they would make if they were to complete the challenge again. I think this is an excellent problem-solving game that promotes collaboration, innovation, and creativity in the classroom. I also came across the link to the article, Your Rubric is a hot mess; Here’s how to fix it, which discusses an alternative rubric to use called the single-point rubric. This rubric is comprised of three columns: the middle being the proficient column (3 or 4 point scale), the left for feedback on items that fell short of the assignment target, and the right for feedback on points that exceeded the assignment.
There were substantial conversations being held via the tweets, and many helpful resources and tools shared between professionals. The character limitation did not bother me; in fact it helped the conversations go smoother. People were forced to make concise points, and as a result I was able to follow the conversations a lot easier than if I had to read paragraphs. In addition, abbreviations were made such as Ts for teachers and Ss for students. I have to say that Twitter Chat changed my views about Twitter because I was able to make great connections with other educators, discuss some legitimate concerns, and find some valuable resources that I can utilize in the future.
References
Gonzales, J. (2014, Oct 9). Your rubric is a hot mess; Here’s how to fix it. Retrieved from
http://www.brilliant-insane.com/2014/10/single-point-rubric.html
Nackel, S. (2014, Mar 18). The marshmallow challenge, a great team building exercise. Retrieved
from http://7thgrademathteacherextraordinaire.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-marshmallow-
challenge-great-team.html?m=1
TEACHER COMMUNITY
For my choice I decided to join Classroom Web 2.0 and watch an archived Webinar. The Webinar, "Technology Integration in Jr. High School", featured three teachers from Cactus Canyon Jr. High to explain how they integrate technology in their classroom. Being a technology school, the teachers are expected to incorporate 21st century technology tools and strategies into their instruction in order to teach students how to effectively communicate with teachers and their peers in and outside the classroom. The teachers have expanded on those requirements, and created meaningful lessons using technology and collaboration, to teach students the material.
One great example, was from an 8th grade Science teacher who had students apply Physics concepts (law of motion, action and reaction, etc.) in a real-life situation: a bicycle and car accident scene. She and her school connected with the City Department Chair and made it so that members of the Police and Fire Department could come out and taught students about what they do at an accident scene, how they measure skid marks to determine the speed a car was traveling, and how they interview the people involved and witnesses. The students then worked in groups to create a police report of the mock accident scene including: what happened, who was at fault, and witness interviews. For the final product they had to create a video on bike safety, were judged on it, and the winner got to work with the Fire Department to create a PSA. I enjoyed this activity because it got members of the community involved and it allowed the students to see that the concepts they learn in school are and can be used in everyday life. More importantly, the teacher incorporated a situation that students were familiar with. I really liked how she made the final video project a competition because it motivated students to collaborate and demonstrate what they learned in an innovative and creative way. This activity can be easily adapted to the English curriculum to teach students how to properly organize and execute a debate with the help of lawyers.
The Journalism teacher used technology to have his students create a school news blog. What was fascinating about this is the ownership and collaboration amongst the students. It is a student-run blog, so returning students from the previous year come in andbecome editors. They guide the new students through the writing-process and help them develop storiese to post on the blog. This allows him to dedicate more time to writing conferences and one-on-one instruction time with other students. Throughout the year the students post stories to the blog site, Cougar News, where parents, teachers, students, and administration, can view what the students are blogging about. I like this idea for several reasons, the first being the promotion of collaboration. Students are learning to work together for a common goal and final product, which is what society is expecting our students to be able to do in this 21st century. The second reason is the amount of extra time the teacher is given to work with other students. The one-on-one instruction he is able to devote to students can not only improve their writing skills, but it can allow the teacher to assess his instruction and see if there is something he needs to reteach. Finally, I like the fact that he is using a familiar tool to have students demonstrate and improve their writing skills.
I must admit that I am not fond of Classroom Web 2.0. While I did learn some useful strategies and lessons, I did not feel that this site was very user friendly. I was confused when trying to navigate through the homepage, especially since the majority of the post were in Spanish. I also found the homepage to be a little too busy for me with the video posts, recent activity, and all the links at the top of the page. For some reason it was not easy for me to navigate and by the time I did get the navigation of the site down, I was no longer interested. I think that if I had had a better experience with it, Classroom Web 2.0 would have been very beneficial. I think that it is important to add teacher communities to my PLN because, just like all the other resources, I can learn how to make my instruction meaningful and innovative. I also think it is important to connect with teachers around the world to have a sense of togetherness. I hate feeling like I am the only teacher in the world struggling to make learning fun and relevant. Communities help to eliminate. I enjoyed what I learned from the Webinar, but I think I will look into another teacher community in the future.
Check out the Webinar: http://live.classroom20.com/archive-and-resources/technology-integration-in-jr-high-school
One great example, was from an 8th grade Science teacher who had students apply Physics concepts (law of motion, action and reaction, etc.) in a real-life situation: a bicycle and car accident scene. She and her school connected with the City Department Chair and made it so that members of the Police and Fire Department could come out and taught students about what they do at an accident scene, how they measure skid marks to determine the speed a car was traveling, and how they interview the people involved and witnesses. The students then worked in groups to create a police report of the mock accident scene including: what happened, who was at fault, and witness interviews. For the final product they had to create a video on bike safety, were judged on it, and the winner got to work with the Fire Department to create a PSA. I enjoyed this activity because it got members of the community involved and it allowed the students to see that the concepts they learn in school are and can be used in everyday life. More importantly, the teacher incorporated a situation that students were familiar with. I really liked how she made the final video project a competition because it motivated students to collaborate and demonstrate what they learned in an innovative and creative way. This activity can be easily adapted to the English curriculum to teach students how to properly organize and execute a debate with the help of lawyers.
The Journalism teacher used technology to have his students create a school news blog. What was fascinating about this is the ownership and collaboration amongst the students. It is a student-run blog, so returning students from the previous year come in andbecome editors. They guide the new students through the writing-process and help them develop storiese to post on the blog. This allows him to dedicate more time to writing conferences and one-on-one instruction time with other students. Throughout the year the students post stories to the blog site, Cougar News, where parents, teachers, students, and administration, can view what the students are blogging about. I like this idea for several reasons, the first being the promotion of collaboration. Students are learning to work together for a common goal and final product, which is what society is expecting our students to be able to do in this 21st century. The second reason is the amount of extra time the teacher is given to work with other students. The one-on-one instruction he is able to devote to students can not only improve their writing skills, but it can allow the teacher to assess his instruction and see if there is something he needs to reteach. Finally, I like the fact that he is using a familiar tool to have students demonstrate and improve their writing skills.
I must admit that I am not fond of Classroom Web 2.0. While I did learn some useful strategies and lessons, I did not feel that this site was very user friendly. I was confused when trying to navigate through the homepage, especially since the majority of the post were in Spanish. I also found the homepage to be a little too busy for me with the video posts, recent activity, and all the links at the top of the page. For some reason it was not easy for me to navigate and by the time I did get the navigation of the site down, I was no longer interested. I think that if I had had a better experience with it, Classroom Web 2.0 would have been very beneficial. I think that it is important to add teacher communities to my PLN because, just like all the other resources, I can learn how to make my instruction meaningful and innovative. I also think it is important to connect with teachers around the world to have a sense of togetherness. I hate feeling like I am the only teacher in the world struggling to make learning fun and relevant. Communities help to eliminate. I enjoyed what I learned from the Webinar, but I think I will look into another teacher community in the future.
Check out the Webinar: http://live.classroom20.com/archive-and-resources/technology-integration-in-jr-high-school