Wiki, wiki, wiki

Today I had 13 of my students sign up to be apart of the classroom wiki. This was suppose to be a quick thing and then they were to move on to the next part of the assignment. But I forgot how much fun it is to play - adding a picture, chatting with friends via the members page - even though the friends are right next to you. The students who didn't yet have an email address to sign up were disappointed and felt left out.

Learning experience - next time I will make sure to get the district emails earlier so that all the students can sign up at the same time on the same day.
As to having to repeat the instructions 3, 4, 10 times - well kids are kids - even if I outlined it on a sheet or did it step by step I would still have some that do not fully listen:)

Literacies

My field study is about using Wikis as a place to display our work - whatever that work is, have students provide feedback on that work with the hopes that students will be able to take that feedback and become better communicators through it. Wikis are a place to collaborate together; provide feedback on each others work. Work doesn't have to be just writing - it could be video, photos, etc. Multi-literacies. Being able to communicate what one has learned is important - in what ever format that looks like. Literacy is more than just being able to read and write, it goes beyond that in the 21st century. Being able to understand, communicate, interpret, create, identify and compute more than just printed materials.

Myths about Technology

As I read the 5 myths about technology and all the stats I again am left with the question - what about Canada, what are the stats on technology use in our country? Why are we so far behind in publishing information?

As to whether I have those same assumptions listed in the article, "21st-Century Literacies", I really don't. 21-century literacy is not only about technology, the digital divide is not conquered just because schools have computers and internet, you don't need to be an expert to effectively use technology in instruction, and those who use technology in their personal lives don't necessarily use it in the classroom. I find that as I am learning the technology, I am better able to explain it to the students and they are great teachers. I also feel that computers and internet in the schools doesn't mean they are being used, or used well. I find that a lot of teachers use the computers to teach only typing skills or play games - that does not equal closing digital divide. Just some quick thoughts. . . .

Learning Statement Number 2

In these past two weeks we have been very busy, between learning to be part of an online learning community and learning about new online technology. So my second learning statement comes from the latter. I am learning to use, and evaluate emerging technologies. In the fall I hope to add to that learning statement and take those technologies into my practice, but for now I am learning to use them. This learning statement relates to capacity number 3: use, evaluate, and integrate existing and emerging technologies into your practice.

In terms of evidence on learning about new technology, I have added the links to my delicious account, my own reflections on the technology and I have signed up for some of the new technologies like Audio boxes. I have also explored styks.com an animation tool for creating stick figure animation. We have spend time each day on 'tech tapas', sharing with each other websites and tools that we have found. This has been incredibly useful. Most of the sites or tools my fellow colleagues used in their practice, and are sharing what they have found useful. We have also had the opportunity to evaluate education sites that may be useful especially if we are trying to find a colleague to connect to else where in the world. What a world of knowledge out there.

Project Based Learning Sounds good, but . . .

When learning and seeing it in action on the video it sound really good. I just wonder if it would work across the board. Introduction to Project Based Learning article has some very valid arguments for PBL; collaboration, tools and skills, performance-based assessment, authentic learning connected to real world issues. All good. As a elementary school teacher it would work, it is like across-curricular projects. Some of our curriculum lends itself well to this approach. I still worry about the time and the resources and different learning styles. Is this another band-aid approach to the education system - like moving from Phonemic Awareness to Whole Language learning? Is there one solution to upgrading the education system to make learning relevant to the 21st-century? The idea behind PBL is exciting to me as a teacher, I start thinking about what I teach and how I could do this and maybe have done this already, but do I want it to be mandated as the way we will now about teaching - no. And the reality is with the amount of curriculum we are suppose to cover I don’t see how this is possible. The article mentions “. . . making deliberate decisions about topics that you want to teach in depth versus topics that can be simple ‘covered.’” What about those students who need more time on some of those ‘simply covered’ topics - we want to shoot for excellence and mastery do we not?

Curriculum and Technology

“In short, the theory and practice of technology integration need to be inextricably connected to the process and products of curriculum development.” (Rethinking Technology in Schools, Domine, p.99)

You can’t separate them, the process and products of curriculum development and the integration of technology. They need to be linked. Especially in our education system which is curriculum driven. Technology isn’t suppose to be thrown in haphazardly, just to be able to say - “look I am using technology in my classroom!”, but it should be intentional and connected to the process and products of curriculum development.

What this means to me - in a nut shell - plan what I am going to teach first, what are my goals for my students, what do I want them to learn, what knowledge and skills do I want them to gain and then look at where technology can support this process of learning. Though I find that sometimes I get caught up in the ‘toys’, there are some very interesting technology tools out there which are fun to play with and introduce my students to it. But as our professor continually reminds us - Pedagogy first!

The irony of it all

This week in my course work I have been learning about online PLN's. For our portfolio at the end of these two courses we need to create learning statements. One of my learning statements is that I am learning to participate in and appreciate what it means to be part of an online Professional Learning Network (global network community). This relates to program capacity 5: assess, evaluate, use and participate in new media interactions in education. Up until this week I have not seen the value in going online, reading and commenting about what others say about education and technology. Or even putting ideas or questions out there to the education community. Don't get me wrong, what people have to say and put out there online is important there are some interesting opinions and theories out there, but I did not see how it would help me, or why I should spend time searching for them. I also didn't think I could contribute to it or had worth while ideas to share. Though I believe in being a life long learner, I did not see how spending time on the internet reading others opinions was useful. I realize this is very ironic. I am an educator, I tell my students to be open minded about learning, yet I have been very against things like twitter. But as I am 'forced' to try new things in this course and leave my comfort zone, I have been forced to confront my own assumptions once more and my own 'road blocks' to my own learning. We were encouraged to ask an online learning community about technology related to a specific curriculum goal, so I went on to Classroom 2.0 and put out a query, low and behold someone responded and gave me some great ideas. Where does this leave me - needing to re-evaluate my thoughts/assumptions on technology and education and learn to keep an open mind - make my technology box bigger.