Web 2.0 Tools

This past week, I spent my first two days in the Year 1 Cohort B 21st Century Learning Institute at Grant Wood AEA.  I am excited to find I am exactly where I need to be to help myself integrate technology skills and tools into what I am teaching this year. 

These first two days, we learned about image tools:  Picasa, Wallwisher, the AEA Online resources, and Photo Peach.  We also talked about how we will create our own ePortfolio in Google Sites to archive the work we will do with our students and fellow staff.  I am really glad I applied and was accepted to this cohort group because I really need reasons to get myself to take more risks and incorporate more technology tools into both my math and English curricula.  I find that if I am not "required" to do something new, I am really nervous and sometimes downright scared to try and use what is new.

I plan to use Wallwisher with my "bell ringer" activities in math class.  I also wonder if a person can't use it with the Daily Oral Language sentences in English 10.  Kids could type their corrected sentences into the sticky note and then post it to the wall.  I wonder if most sentences fall within the 160 character limit?

I can see using Picasa and Photo Peach with video storytelling lessons.  Kids are able to upload 30 photos in Photo Peach and can put captions on each photo.  Specifically, Photo Peach limits a user (in the free version) to 30 slides.  One can insert black slides for words between photos, too.  Picasa is a little more difficult to use, I think.  One has to download it to your computer.  It doesn't exist totally in the clouds like Photo Peach does.  That is one reason I may not use it as much with my students.  I wonder if there is enough space on a jump drive to hold Picasa plus photos. 

I definitely will have students make use of the AEA Online resources a lot more than I have in the past.  I think back now on how little I've used these resources and I feel ashamed.  I know that the images and clip art will really be useful in kids' presentations.  In addition, I am excited to see how we can use the research tools in English 10.

I plan to use our school's Google Apps for Education a lot more with all my classes.  Last year, I had only my English 10 students use the Google Docs feature.  This year, students will create and maintain their own ePortfolio, will use Google Reader to mine the Internet for articles related to their favorite topics, and will use Blogger to write about what they are reading through Google Reader.  I notice right now that Google Reader and Blogger are not available through my school account.  I will contact our technology people and get at least Reader and Blogger added as options for kids.  I am really excited to use these resources.

With the donated laptops I acquired for the district over the summer, we will not be able to save much on the hard drives.  I'm trying to treat these computers like Chrome books, where the computer is run strictly to use tools (like Google Docs) that have remote storage for student (and teacher) work.

Good Questions Increase Rigor

This spring and summer I have read about educating students in the 21st century.  In my next few blog posts, I plan to review the books I've read and share important insights I've gleaned from each book.

Teaching Digital Natives:  Partnering for Real Learning by Marc Prensky is a book from which I have learned that asking good questions is one of the most important things a teacher can do.  Prensky asserts the verbs important for learning do not change (or change very little) over time.(46)  Verbs are the skills students should know. Nouns are the tools we use to learn, practice, and use the skills. (6) First, as teachers, we need to determine what (the verbs) we want our students to know and be able to do.  Then, we can select the appropriate web 2.0 tool (the nouns) that students can use to meet the desired learning goal.  Or, better yet, as Prensky vehemently states, let students select the appropriate web 2.0 tool to use. 

Increasing student motivation is also an important duty for teachers.  Scholars and writers have research that suggests it takes 10,000 hours (or 10 years according to some researchers) to become an expert at anything.  One way a teacher can increase student motivation to do quality work is to tap into each student's passion.  Students today demand choice, differentiation, personalization, and individualization.  Prensky says,"That better way [to increase motivation] is to motivate each student to learn through his or her passions.  Passion drives people to learn (and perform) far beyond their, and our, expectations.  And whatever is learned through the motivation of passion is rarely if ever forgotten." (4)

Finally, Prensky suggests that teachers should partner with students for real learning to occur.  A couple chapters of the book are on the roles teachers and students must fill in this partnering arrangement.  The biggest lesson I've learned from these suggestions is that the teacher must avoid doing things for the student that the student can do for him or herself, especially with the use of technology.

As I work to develop my blended courses this year, Prensky's words will continue to guide me.  I have been working really hard on writing good questions based on Bloom's taxonomy (the updated version) these past two weeks.  In this effort, I am finding that I better understand what I want my students to learn.  In many ways, I feel like I am a first-year teacher all over again because the composition of the questions has forced me to re-think and re-vision my curriculum.  One of my classmates in my Online Course Design class (ollie2) mentioned that when her school's staff focused on writing SMART goals for learning objectives, student engagement greatly increased.  Students better understood what teachers wanted them to do and they did it. 

My hope is that better questions, partnering with my students, and tapping into students' passions will increase my students' engagement as well.

My First Step

During the 2011-2012 school year, I am going to be teaching algebra 1 and English 10 in a blended classroom format.  One of the things I want my students to do is create and maintain a personal blog.  Since my students will be blogging, I thought I should start blogging myself.  I intend to use this blog as my reflection space for this endeavor.

I heard 2010 National Teacher of the Year Sarah Brown-Wessling  speak at the Iowa Mentoring and Induction Institute last night.  I took a couple things from her speech.  First, teachers must make deliberate choices in terms of what is taught and how it is taught.  Brown-Wessling also talked about having a growth versus fixed mind set.  Teachers, as well as students, continue to grow.  Teachers, as well as students, need to feel free to make mistakes.  I thought these words were good ones on which to start my journey.  Deliberate practice.  Focus on growth.  Failure is never final.