Haley’s Blog

I am so glad that I took this class. I have learned a tremendous amount of information that will help improve my teaching, and my life. I realize now the importance of staying current with new technology because it will only make my life easier as I get older and as new things come out. I always wondered how people stay so current on all of these new things, now I have an abundant of resources for this purpose. I feel like I now have a good handle of back up research and knowledge so I can give parents, other teachers, and administrators concrete reasons for why I am doing these things in my classroom.

It is true that our students are changing drastically and they are different learners. Teachers and students are only going to grow further apart if we do not try harder to keep up with them. I am eager to share what I have learned with my school and be a person who can help anyone who would like to learn these things because I am invested in this movement to improve teaching with technology.

My Website and Blog Project
What?
My project is to make a website and blog using weebly.com to use in my classroom.

Why?
I chose this as my project because it is the first thing I can see myself implementing in my classroom. I am envisioning the website to be used for class news, updates, homework, activity postings, etc. I am thinking that the blog will be the place where students can work together and give each other feedback. I would have student work on this site and discussion topics. We would talk about web etiquette and how to write a meaningful comment. When I first start, I plan to do the posting of topics/work and my students will be in charge of posting comments on the blog. I will also have them involved in planning the “headline story” on the website and what we want to include as classroom news. I did a newspaper with my class last year, and I am envisioning a class page where students write and post articles. As the year goes on, or maybe just as I get more comfortable, I would like to include students in more of the details of making the website and have them post things and learn how to directly put their work into the site. I have to think more about how I will manage this. It may start as simple as having different small groups meet with me and we input everything and make it how we want it together. I could also have students decide on a discussion topic or something they found (an article, video, podcast) that they would like to share with the class on our blog. Students could then comment about the topic.

I also view this website as a way for parents to be more involved in the classroom. Especially those who have rigid work schedules and cannot get away to come to school or attend a field trip. I know I have had many parents with this problem in the past.

I have many ideas, I just want to start slow and manageable so that it is a success. I want to be careful not to try too many things at once but to start slow and do it right.

How?
I am using weebly.com to make this website. I found it really easy to use and a lot of it is just click and drag. I can easily make more pages and add more blogs to my site. We have a laptop cart for students in fourth and fifth grade to share so I am hoping to use our computer time each week as well as separate “sign out” time to work on learning what a blog is, how to navigate it, and finally as a time to put work into electronic formats so it can be posted and start commenting. I also will give students time to explore the web for interesting news and things we can add to our blog for discussion. I hope they will learn to always be “on the look-out” for interesting things to add to the blog.

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I decided to make my classroom website and blog. It is going well, I just need to think more about all the things I can set up on it ahead of time. I kind of just did a model and what I put on it at first will be beginning of the year stuff and it will need to be frequently updated. I definitely think this is something that will benefit my students and as the year goes on they can become more and more involved in the creation.

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I am having a little trouble choosing one thing for a project because I have so many thoughts and ideas popping into my head with each new thing I learn. One thing I know for sure and feel the most confident about doing right away this year, is to have a class blog. I am just thinking about the details as to how I would start it out, what I would use for categories in the beginning, all the things I could do with it that I can’t even think of right now, and the way I will introduce it to parents. I want it to be a place for communication with parents and also a place for students to communicate with each other and share work. I want to be able to relay the importance and the reasoning in the beginning of the year. I also am thinking about those students who have no computer or support. I am thinking of the management of all of these little factors in my head.

I also am interested in the Best Buy grant as a way to bring more options to my students. I would love to have more permanent computers in my classroom ( I have one but the students have access to laptops from a cart we have to sign out).  The podcast idea also sounds intriguing.

I am a little scattered right now and hope to narrow myself Thursday. I would like to do some research on other teacher’s class blogs like the one we saw in class. There must be other examples to look at.

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The article, Listen to the Natives, was so thought provoking! I came away from reading that article wanting to do something. I wish that every teacher and administrator in my district would read these articles that we are reading. Before I took this class, I am sorry to say, I had no idea the magnitude of the culture and the research that surrounded this movement for more 21st century classrooms.

“As we educators stick our heads up and get the lay of the 21st century land, we would be wise to remember this: If we don’t stop and listen to the kids we serve, value their opinions, and make major changes on the basis of the valid suggestions they offer, we will be left in the 21st century with school buildings to administer—but with students who are physically or mentally somewhere else. ”

This author was very strong in his opinions but I think that it is what is needed for people to realize the importance of this change. It scares me to think that we could spend the entire 21st century teaching only the “old way” and not stretching kids to their fullest potential and preparing them for the future ahead of them.

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This “The New Face of Learning” article really opened my eyes to the potential for change that is available to us. As teachers, we need to get on board and make this happen for kids and for the future. I thought it was so telling when Richardson talked about what the future would be like if we made either the choice to embrace technology or to hide from it:

“How, as educators and learners, did we respond? Did we embrace the potentials of a connected, collaborative world and put our creative imaginations to work to reenvision our classrooms? Did we use these new tools to develop passionate, fearless, lifelong learners? Did we ourselves become those learners?

Or did we cling to old ideas, old models, and old habits and drift more fully into irrelevance in our students’ eyes?”

This article really made me realize the huge choice in front of us.

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After I read this article I learned what a splogger is! I had never heard of that. I also never thought about the fact that people could simply comment on other blogs just to get more people to come to theirs, but that you can do that in a good way. Make sure you have something meaningful to add to the conversation and explain yourself! I think it is so important to have web etiquette. I think that often kids say things they would never say in person on the internet. It is much easier to type something mean and then forget about it. It is so important for them to realize that they have really put that comment in writing and there is no taking it back. If I do blogs with my students I would definitely preface it with a conversation about guidelines and manners as far as blogging.

This article also confirmed what I have been learning about “blogging/technology is not the enemy”. You just have to be informed and smart about how you use all this new technology and take advantage of it!!

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This is a photo I took in photo booth. I love that program; I want a Mac!

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After reading this article about keeping up with technology driven students, I feel more knowledgable and convinced about the need for technology in the classroom. I always knew it was important to integrate technology, but when you really explore the reasons and the potential for students you become much more invested in making it happen. It is something that is needed to engage today’s students. I never really thought much about how their brains actually work differently because they are so familiar with using technology and multitasking in their real life. I think it is so important to meet them where they are and use the same technologies that they are using because they will become much more excited and invested in their learning.

This article also made me think about how much I need to learn to keep up with today’s students and I am only 24! I can already see myself slipping behind if I don’t make the decision to keep myself updated. When I graduated I considered myself knowledgeable in technology but I see how fast things are changing. I do see a huge difference in this awareness just from the students who were in middle school for the laptop initiative and those like myself, who missed it. I think just that has made a big difference

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I visited this blog and read about a nine year old who used some software called SCRATCH. The description says, “Scratch is designed to help young people (ages 8 and up) develop 21st century learning skills. According to the official Scratch website: Scratch is a new programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art — and share your creations on the web.”

This program sounded like something that would definitely intrigue my students. A teacher posted a comment and said that she shared this with 4th and 5th graders in an after school care program. It sounded like a really exciting program.

What I also thought was cool, was that the nine year old who tried this actually posted a podcast on the blog for others to watch and see what he thought about the program. The teacher actually showed this podcast to her students so they could see a real kid their age talking about his experience. I also want to add that the father was the one who managed this blog and was there with the child every step of the way.

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