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.