Call me childish, or dorky, but I still giggle on the inside a bit when I hear that people are Tweeting things. It's just a silly sounding phrase. I do have to say that I am becoming slowly more addicted to this new PLN idea as the days pass. I have the Twitter app on my phone, so it's easy to just take a few minutes to scroll through and look at a few articles here and there that people have shared. I have decided to use my account for professional use only. I have Facebook for the personal side of my life. I am following lots of other educators, educational blogs and magazines, and technology related sites. Mostly I think that in this beginning phase, I will be more of a retweeter than a tweeter. I am looking mostly for ideas of how to incorporate technology into my lessons.
One of the 4th grade teachers in my building is using Twitter as a communication tool between his class and the parents of his students. He Tweets reminders to them and updates on assignments. He also has his account set up to post his Tweets to his classroom Facebook page. I decided this is an ultimate goal I have for my own class. By the end of the quarter I am going to try very hard to have this all set up. He did tell me that there are more parents checking their Facebook page than there are following him on Twitter though. Still, I want to get this going SOON! You can find me on Twitter @MrsAMolitor.
Lastly, here are some people I follow on Twitter that I LOVED as presenters at the past few METC conferences. They are all GENIUSES! Kevin is the keynote this year at METC! I can't wait to see him again.
Rushton Hurley
Tammy Worcester
Kevin Honeycutt
Adam Bellow
Peter Buffett
Sunday, January 26, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
PLN Chapters 1 & 2 Reflection
I really enjoyed the Introduction and Chapter 1 of the PLN book. Chapter 2 felt more like a users manual and had some good information, but I was more or less skimming that chapter. I feel like I have a good handle on all of those websites, thanks to all of the MET courses I have taken so far. The main problem I have, now that I have joined some learning networks and marked sites I really want to remember is actually being able to find the time to go back to them and read the great things other educators are posting and sharing. At the end of chapter 2 Richardson talks about effective collaboration. I am more of a reader, when I can find some time, at this point in my PLN participation. I am not much of a responder or creator at this point. There is so much information to absorb and my attention is often pulled in several directions when I am reading posts. I am not a very focused participant yet in the PLN's I have joined.
Back to chapter 1 though...I had some really frustrating thoughts at times in this chapter, some revelations, and overall a feeling of hope that these changes will come soon, because as Richardson says at the end, "For our kids' sake, we don't have much choice." That's where the frustration comes in for me. We don't have a choice and there have been years of preparation and talk about the 21st Century skills we hear about constantly and yet the standardized tests haven't gone away, the one-size-fits-all curriculum is still being written and revised to stay that way. It's creeping up on 2 decades since it changed to the 21st century!! So some questions that started in my head after reading the section when Richardson describes Wiley's six shifts that support connection and network building. How can I start doing some things in my classroom to make sure I am making lessons "decidedly connected and personal" and use "creation, not consumption"? That will take lots of time to plan, I know. I need a strong network of teachers on my PLC to help too. I will definitely have to make more time for accessing all the great sources I have in my PLNs as well. I really like this website for Problem Based Learning ideas. http://bie.org/ I think that is one direction I would like to head with my classroom. I completely agree with #2 (Classrooms are more engaging) on the National Institute of Health's list. PBL is a great start for creating personal networking in a classroom.
Back to chapter 1 though...I had some really frustrating thoughts at times in this chapter, some revelations, and overall a feeling of hope that these changes will come soon, because as Richardson says at the end, "For our kids' sake, we don't have much choice." That's where the frustration comes in for me. We don't have a choice and there have been years of preparation and talk about the 21st Century skills we hear about constantly and yet the standardized tests haven't gone away, the one-size-fits-all curriculum is still being written and revised to stay that way. It's creeping up on 2 decades since it changed to the 21st century!! So some questions that started in my head after reading the section when Richardson describes Wiley's six shifts that support connection and network building. How can I start doing some things in my classroom to make sure I am making lessons "decidedly connected and personal" and use "creation, not consumption"? That will take lots of time to plan, I know. I need a strong network of teachers on my PLC to help too. I will definitely have to make more time for accessing all the great sources I have in my PLNs as well. I really like this website for Problem Based Learning ideas. http://bie.org/ I think that is one direction I would like to head with my classroom. I completely agree with #2 (Classrooms are more engaging) on the National Institute of Health's list. PBL is a great start for creating personal networking in a classroom.
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