Yearn to Learn

To answer the first question – I have not noticed the “CC” logo on any websites.  That is probably because I am visually challenged with all of the terms, abbreviations, scattered information to be found on screen.  i seek just what is relevant for my specific task.  This often requires a “group” effort as I inquire from colleagues how to navigate to just particular information.  I am not too proud.  I also engage my students in the technological adventures that I persist in pursuing.  So, when we go on the internet, it is usually a collaborative effort in the fullest sense of the word.  My students will embrace all of the technology to which I introduce them.  They love to experiment and weave new techniques into their projects.  I work as many of the senses as I can into my lessons, so we are frequent visitors of the web.  I have not shared my own content on the web.  In the past, I have been encouraged to write lessons and projects that I have used fro publication, but I have so far demurred.  My teaching materials are owned by publishers. instructional sites (www.kathyschrock.com), and websties offering free materials to teachers.  I then incorproate my own twist on the lesson.  The MIT site, MITopencourseware.com,  OER Commons, Highlights for highschool.com, were all too advanced for my age students.  Even requesting the primary level did not yield applicable materials.  However, www.PBS.com, www.discoverychannel.com, www.mrdowling.com, all provide age appropriate lessons and activities with no coyright infringement advisories.  Thus, the negatives that I see right now are that more materials need to be available to younger students.

I’m fairly sure there is a Wiki in the future of my classroom  My students are electronics savvy and warm to any project that includes use of the computer.  Wikis are new for me and, contrary to the meaning of the word, are not absorbing quickly into my brain.  But, I am not averse to learning and implementing new strategies.  I visited the Flat Classroom based upon Friedman’s book The World is Flat.  The site delineated how the class used Web 2.0 tools to interact with global partners.  This project won the Edublog Award for the best educational Wiki in 2006.  Students used voiced podcasts to support their learning.  They learned that the internet supports learning beyond the four classroom walls  (http://flatclassroomproject2008.wikispaces.com/).  I also visited Room 15 Wiki at http://community.saugususd.org/dlindsay/page/.  This was a 6th grade class with numerous doable projects.  I am inclined to use blogs and Wiki pages for our annual poetry project.  The audible capability with voice threads augmented by student choices of music will make for an exciting project in what is usually a daunting genre.  The Wiki page Schools in the Past (http://schoolsthen.wikispaces.com/ is a project that I actually conducted several years ago in face-to-face interviews between students in my class and their grandparents on Grandparents’ Day.  The immediacy of responses from granparents about school in their youth was remarkable for students, parents, and grandparents.  Several grades in one classroom, walking to school (no buses or carpools), sharing textbooks, dirt playgrounds, games of “Red Rover” were all news to my students.  The durable aspect of transferring such information to a Wiki page makes it possible to revisit those days in the past.  However, I would not trade the initial interview experience that my students enjoyed. 

One of the fun blogs I chose is about learning to do needlepoint.  When I was pregnant several decades ago I made several needlepoint pillows and framed pictures.  Then, after I had completed my term as a “lady in waiting”, I was too busy to return to the craft.  Now that I am about to become a grandmother, the creative juices are flowing on behalf of my daughter, so I want to revisit the craft.  The Needlepoint for fun Blog will help me to find my way as I talk to beginners and more advanced crafters. 

The RSS or Rich Site Summary allows me to know when new entries appear on my favorite websites.  This new content feeds to the RSS reader so I just check in like picking up a newspaper and turning to my favorite section.  I expect this to be more efficient than my exploratory searches when I Google key words and search that way.  So Poetry 4 Kids is a site that I visited and thought would be helpful when I introduce the study of poetry for scope, aprreciation and writing.  The site Summer Reading from NPR suggested a different format for student book reviews which I found compelling since the student is asked to read three different book reviews on a book and then write a commentary on the one they believe is closest to their own reaction.  I like the opportunity for children to read how others may respond to a particular book and compare that to their response.   

For starters, before I began this course I had NO IDEA of what Web 2.0 meant.  So that definition became an actualization of both the term and the implementation of fully interactive learning and communicating with technology.  I read several blogs that were intriguing in their content.  My first thought was that a good number of the blog contents were the stuff of professional journals.  Where one would usually subscribe to an educational publication, now, one could go on the internet and read for free what other educators are doing, thinking, creating in their classrooms.  I also thought it takes hubris to publish on the internet.  In the past, one’s article for publishing would be previewed and the writer would at least have the satisfaction of knowing that his/her ideas have worth and have passed publication muster.  Blogging presupposes self-confidence in “putting it out there”. That said, I did really like, and hope to incorporate the “Upside-down Pop Quiz” into my repertoire this year.  I found it to be a strong strategy for building successful outcomes for my students who may not read closely or accurately on the first pass.  Additionally, it personalizes, from my point of view, what I want the class to carry away from a particular lesson.  “Spies Like Us” truly alerts us to the 21st century.  Life will never be the same with portable Smart Phones, so all of us have to be vigilant as teachers, parents, and citizens.  “The Ripe Environment” struck me as a writing that would have benefited from editing so that the author’s words would be more accessible to a larger audience.  His writing tended to be esoteric in a way that made it difficult to connect with his concepts.  The 10 prerequisites are more down-to-earth and link more strongly to the ripe environment for learning.  The act of commenting on blogs enables authors to receive immediate feedback and go in to fine tune their writings.  The immediacy of blogging is an advantage for creative minds as well as for seekers of new ideas.  It also speaks to our society’s growing need for immediate gratification: we are not willing to wait even one second for sites to download.  Finally, it is true that blogging can facilitate learning by expanding the audience,  floating new ideas and experiencing endorsements, and prompting timid learners to respond in an anonymous forum.  I read more blogs, but in the interest of brevity, I am stopping here!

While reading the 7 1/2 Habits of Lifelong Learners, it occurred to me that this is a relatively new concept to be promoted.  It was the goal, when I was in school to “finish high school; finish college; finish one’s advanced degree(s)”, and then move on.  As I have advanced in my profession of teaching, I have benefited enormously from Habit # 5: Creating a Learning Toolbox.  I think this has been both the most important and the most resonant for me as a teacher.  However, it has not been easy.  I gathered my tools progressively while my children were young.  Had it not been for a colleague with whom I began my continuing education in Maryland, I would have been defeated from the start.  But she encouraged me with study groups and shared discussions after classes.  My first response would have been to create the obstacle of “…my children are young and I’m too busy with their schedules…”.  But she encouraged me to be resourceful and work around that so she and I could ‘move forward together’.  That camaraderie was HUGE in my toolbox. In addition, the shared experience activated confidence in myself as a learner and enabled me to integrate new ideas and teaching formats into my lessons.  But the paramount gain in my toolbox was that I changed my entire teaching area from French to Special Education.  I have never looked back because my teaching of students with learning disabilites has been, and continues to be, so rewarding.

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