My PLN Web~Reflecting on the Tools' Uses

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Chat Chat Chat on Twitter

Over the past few weeks, I have done 2 Twitter chats.  They were both very absorbing activities.  It requires absolute concentration and there can't be any distractions around or you will miss parts of the conversation.

The first one I chose was #1to1techat.  The organizer asked questions about our school's mission and vision statement and had us discuss how they should relate to technology.  Some questions asked who should be involved with writing these statements as well.  I started following Shawn McCusker (@ShawnMcCusker) through this chat. He is an Ed Tech Teacher Leader.  Here is his blog  http://gowhereyougrow.wordpress.com/ I liked this chat as my first ever, because it was not a hugely popular one and seemed to go slow enough that I still enjoyed it. It was fast paced, but not confusingly so.

My second chat was #edtechchat.  I was more nervous about his chat because of it's popularity.  I was afraid of how fast the posts would go by on the screen.  Well, I was right to be nervous, but got into the swing of it.  The organizer had a guest, Nathan Stevens(@nathan_stevens), whom I follow now, asking the questions. (Nathan's wiki http://teachwithyouripad.wikispaces.com/) It was totally geared toward how LEGO's can be used in the classroom.  This was so informational.  I was surprised at how many digital resources there are for LEGO and how many educational packages LEGO sells.  www.buildwithchrome.com was my favorite.  Google Sketch Up was mentioned as a great 3D tool as well. LEGO also has a movie maker app that looks so fun!  It was an eye opener, because it reminded me that even blocks are OK to use as technology in the classroom.

Both chats were informative.  I enjoyed the LEGO discussion better, because it gave me ideas to use in my classroom right away.  I would have to practice this chatting more often to really feel comfortable with it.  The topics are always different and you never know what your going to get, so I guess I would say I would like to know the topics ahead of time...that would be my job to go and seek that information before it starts though, wouldn't it?

METC Over and Out

Every time I go to METC (this was my 4th year) I feel like the day has flown by!  It's a whirlwind of information and there are so many choices that it is hard to know if I made the right decisions on the sessions to attend.  This year, I would say I learned something new in each session, but because of the MET program and all I have been learning over this year, I learned the least of any year I have gone.  Partly, I think it was my choices of sessions, and I think it is because the MET program is leveling my knowledge with those of the presenters.  I did enjoy volunteering as a facilitator.  I got to meet Chris McGee, the CEO of Connected Learning and the "Tech Guru" in the Webster Groves district.  I follow him on Twitter and now I got to see him present.  It's like knowing a celebrity! Exposure to the technology world outside of that conference and having a PLN is REALLY giving me a distinct advantage over my colleagues.  I can't wait to share things I have learned with them in our Friday morning tech sessions, but for now I will share with whoever will read my post.

METC 2014 (Tuesday attendance)

Keynote: Kevin Honeycutt-Creation is Key

This man is a hero!  He inspires me to be more creative, to build meaningful relationships with kids, and to remember that teaching is such an important role to have. His stories of his own life and teachers who saved him are enough to bring you to tears. I left his keynote feeling better about my career choice and that even my bad days are not as bad as they could be.  Thanks, Kevin, for your inspiring words.

Planning For Project Based Learning
A FH French teacher presented this session and I have met her on our district tech committee.  She was telling about how she front plans her projects, uses lots of rubrics for each component and then just gets out of her students' way.  They made videos that had to have certain types of grammar.  All of it was spoken in French.  She shared that she found a French school to correspond with on epals.com and she used Edmodo for the communication tool between them.  They used Google Earth to build background knowledge of the location of the French School and to form questions they wanted to answer before beginning the project. She pointed out that students should have a larger audience for their publications and there is so much more learning when they know someone is really going to be seeing their work outside if the school walls.  I really want to use this format for my book clubs this quarter.

Flip Your Library!
This was a session I facilitated in.  I was looking for some information on how libraries are being transformed.  This session was also led by 2 FH librarians.  Since I work in FH, I was curious about how our libraries will be used and changed into Learning Commons.  Our own librarian is being asked to collaborate with our grade level to integrate more technology and to help us do more research with our students. I have my library certification and am very interested in obtaining a library position very soon.  I try to attend at least 1 library session every time I go to METC.  The biggest take away from this session is that our fiction sections need to be de-Deweyed.  This librarian pair took every book in the fiction section and classified it by genre instead of putting the books on the shelf by author's last name.  They said it transformed the way students approach the library.  The kids know what genres they like and will keep coming back for more.  They also do something called Speed Booking to share info about popular or new books.

Story Matters Here: The "Write" Way to Teach Digital Storytelling
This session focused on the difference between a digital spectacle and an actual digital story.  The presenter gave tips on how to be sure students have used tone, voice, and have answered a dramatic question. He stressed economy, being that less is more. He showed examples of stories that use only a few still pictures and the content was emotional and hand a point.  There were others that had no apparent main idea and used too many pictures.  So these were more of spectacle. He stressed the importance of writing our a plan before hand and having time to practice the fluency of what they are saying.  These were all great tips to getting quality stories from our students instead of just letting them slap anything together for the sake of using technology.  The last thing he shared was a site called Video Notes.  You can watch a video a student has created and then comment on the exact second that something happens/changes to give feedback.

One Minute Readers with the ipad App
Well, this was another session I facilitated, and was a mistake to go to.  It was an advertisement for One Minute Readers.  I was impressed with the app and what it can do for fluency, however it is very expensive.  Out district already uses AIMSweb for testing fluency and I know they are not going to switch any time soon, unless a lot of us band together to get it changed.  I did learn that there is one book at each level you can download for free. Again, not the best session but at least I know the tool is out there now.

Treat Professional Development like Burger King: Have It Your Way!
I am planning on having a position that is like the presenters some day.  Technology coach, technology integration specialist, etc.  That is why I chose this session.  (And because I wanted to facilitate and meet Chris MCGee). I want to be able to think like a PD expert now while I am still in the classroom.  I don't want to lose what it is like being in the classroom and having to learn a new approach to teaching.  This session was a presentation more for administrators and how to build PLN's.  I didn't learn a lot of new resources.  Chris mentioned Twitter and Feedly, he showed Nings and Twitter chats.  It was a brief MET course in 50 minutes.  My own principal was in this session too, so I know I will be able to talk with him on how to get the teachers in our building to start building their PLN.  Next Friday I am presenting at our tech session before school to show them Feedly.  Baby steps!

Socially Overloaded

During a previous MET course, we were required to create a Google Site for our classroom.  I stumbled across Google+ then, decided to join it, and then didn't really go back to it after that.  So, for our assignment this week I decided to be more engaged with Google+.  I joined several communities related to education, technology and even found a few that are related to students with disabilities. My favorites are Connected Learning, EdTech and Autism Acceptance Digest. What I discovered is Google+ is a very good combination of Twitter because you can follow individuals, and Pinterest, because there are so many posts that share websites, pictures and videos.  My favorite feature is that you can create a community that is based on whatever categories you want to have.  It can be public or private.  I would consider making a community for my students to join.  They could post assignments, ideas after a discussion, or pictures of things that enhance discussions.  Here is a link I found within a link that Dr. Hartman put on our Blackboard page that explains how to set up a community in Google+.  http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2013/05/11-steps-to-create-google-plus.html

The second new social media site I chose is not new to me, but I need to be a bit more organized while using it.  I love Pinterest for lots of reasons, but my biggest reason for even joining was to look for classroom ideas. I tend to just type in a category or subject and scroll through to look for things.  I tried to be more conscientious of who I enjoy seeing pins from.  I tried to follow certain people so their ideas show up in my feed more often now.  I also got the idea from a fellow classmate that I should be adding the blogs I like to my Feedly account. (Thanks, Deb.) One of my favorites is http://www.3rdgradegridiron.com/

With so much information at our fingertips, I think it's important to remember that when we are searching for things to use in our classrooms that we are responsible for knowing what our students need.  Just because the ideas out there worked for one teacher and class, doesn't mean it will work for all students and teachers. The social networking is awesome and CAN save us time, but could also be a complete waste of time if we don't stay focused on what we are trying to find for our students. I get distracted by other links and other posts very often.  I have to keep myself on task or I find I have wasted an hour reading blogs when I should have been creating or fine tuning my lessons for the next few days. 

Networked Classroom or Bust

   
    Twelve years ago, I worked in a small public school district with only one school at every level. In my 3rd year of teaching I decided to move to the middle school and try my hand at teaching only 6th grade math all day. I thought it would be much easier than trying to plan for all the subjects in elementary. Well, I was completely correct in this thinking, but I had many challenges too. I was the ONLY 6th grade math teacher in the entire district. I could collaborate vertically with the other middle school math teachers, the elementary teachers and high school math teachers, but there were no other teachers teaching the same thing as me.

    After reading Chapter 3 this week, I started to wonder, "What would my years in 6th grade math have been like if I had a PLN back then?" I was really feeling a bit jealous of Clarence in the first part of the chapter when he states "I can't imagine closing my door and having to generate all of these ideas on my own." I HAD TO! It was draining and frustrating. As I reflect on those years, it makes me sad to think of how much better of a teacher I could have been if I would have connected to other teachers outside of those 4 walls.

    Enough beating myself up about the past...I am now more resolved about what the future brings. After reading Chapter 3 I have realized that I am already connecting my 3rd graders to the outside of the classroom by beginning to use Edmodo for our read aloud questions. I also am going to start connecting them more to the outside world by publishing their work to websites instead of just on the bulletin board. Our next writing assignment will end with them reading a letter to create a Voki. One we already did was on Biteslide. There are so many more I want to try, but it takes time to introduce them and I don't want to overwhelm them or myself.

    One of my biggest take-aways from this chapter is the line that says "Instead of being the smartest people in the room, we need to be effective connectors for our students, able to sift through all those potential teachers online, find the most relevant ones, and effectively use technologies such as blogs, Skype, or others to bring them to our students."(Richardson & Mancabelli, Kindle location 1545)This is the direction I would like to go next in my journey to having a networked classroom. It will require more intentional planning and parents will need to be included in the shift as well. I am fortunate to have a community of parents who are mostly professionals and who understand the importance of technology in the classroom.

    One issue I was thinking about in being more connected to teachers outside of the building is: how are we going to handle other teachers in our PLC who are unwilling to jump on board? In my 3rd grade PLC, we plan together a lot. There are lots of dates we have to stick to, common assessments to give. If I am taking my class on a different path to learning, what is going to happen to our PLC? Or any PLC for that matter. I don't want to hold back if I feel ready to be networked, but I don't want to feel isolated in my grade level either? I would love to hear your thoughts about how trying to be networked will effect PLC's.