Only the Beginning… Digital Project

This course has taken me on journey that will forever change my ideas and thinking about technology.  I am able to discover new tools to assist with my teachings.  On this road to discovery,  I recognize the importance of expanding my repertoire to enable my teachings reflect the changes in society and in the 21st century learners we are so lucky to teach everyday.  

The students of my community are major factors in what I do and how I do things.   I am from this community, a produce of it and I want the students to be able to have the same opportunities that were available to me.  I want them to be understood and to be understanding.  This is why I chose to make my final project about new/beginning teachers.  I want these teachers to be able to have some background understanding of where the students come from and to be able to connect with the community.  In setting up a mentor ship program, there is the beginnings of the connection to the school and community. 

For my final project, I set up a wikispace.  It is my hope that the new/beginning teachers will explore the wiki to discover what we are about, what we are made of and be interested in working to provide an education that is inclusive of the community.   In creating this wiki, I collaborated with first and second year teachers in our school.  They were instrumental in the pages that were created.  Through this collaboration,  I discovered that I would have to add more information.  It was a painstaking project because it takes time to get things just right.

I included history pages of our community and school as my first pages to give some background to our community.  There are pages which are about the resources we use so the teachers can have the opportunity to become familiar with the instructional aids.  There are pictures, addresses, and contact numbers for services available in the community.  The importing of the pictures was time consuming but beneficial.  Some pages would look different when I formatted them with the edit on, but once saved the layout changed.  Some of this I was able to change by editing again but others I had to leave.  I also included the housing that was available because the teachers expressed this is important to a new/beginning teacher.  I added photos of events that occur at the school to give to show that there are some fun times in teaching. 

I am reminded of the quote by Ghandi, ” Be the change that you want to see.”  I want to see team effort in the teaching of our students.  This wikispace was a team effort because which included other teachers in creating it.  The three of us: Jackie, Brandy and myself are working to open up the image of our community and school.  We are working to open up the learning opportunities of students in our school.  We are working to providing the support needed to teach in a Northern community.  The knowledge and gained skills from the EC&I 831 course have given me the tools to continue to do this.

My weekend!

I have spent the better part of the week working on my final project for the EC & I course I am taking.  It is extremely time consuming but so rewarding in the end.  It was fun trying to add different pages to a wikispace and to try to incorporate as many different tools as I could.  I was able to upload pictures (a lot of waiting for the pictures to complete), add links to different things (such as sites, goggle earth…) and upload you tube videos.  One is on teacher tips and the other is a short animoto which I created.  I just love using the animoto.com site.  It is easier for me to put together a montage of pictures but not I am going to have to purchase some space in order to create longer videos.  This is definitely one tool that I will continue using and I know that the students will enjoy.  It is so easy.  I only wish my life were.  One benefit to being tied to the computer for so long is that I got to strip all of my beds and wash all the blankets.  Ahhhh, the silver lining to this cloud:)))))

March 31 Class

I tend to get a bit overwhelmed when the class gets technical but during the March 31st class I found that I was able to follow a lot easier because I am now familiar with the terminology. If I were to start this all over again, I would definitely start a dictionary page to keep track of all the new terms I encountered and to keep a record of the new tools that I have heard about. So much out there and soon more time to explore even more of the Internet highway. It is exciting as well as scary to be in the midst of so much change. I will check out some of the sites that were mentioned such as the Post a Secret site and the you tube video where the musicians are put together in one musical montage. In order to move forward with my students, I need to explore and connect with the tools available to me on the Internet.

Animoto.com

Well,,,,,,What do you know?????? I did it. I posted a video to my blog. Yahoo!!!!!!!! This is the first one I am making but definitely will not be the last. I know that the students will have fun with this. It is extremely easy (I did it so anyone can.) and the results are great. I hope that others that watch this will try it. You won’t be disappointed.

skating vid

Animoto

Thanks to Leanne, I have been able to try a new tool.  I was reading her blog and saw this listed as something to try.  I had some time (yeah right) and tried it.  I did make a short video and am trying to post it onto my blog.  Hopefully I can.  Another exciting new tool to try with the students.  )))

End of an Era

I spent the evening watching the last episode of ER.  Of course, I cried my eyes out:)))  I watched it off and on for the last 15 years and tonight it just made me realize just how quickly time has passed.  I really liked the backflashes and the memories of the show.  I got to reminise with my friends about the show.  I really enjoyed the evening but now it got me thinking about endings and how things change so quickly. 

This got me thinking about change and how things are ending due to advances in technology.  One thing that was discussed the other night in our EC&I class is the newspaper.  The idea that there are newspaper companies that have had to close.  I enjoy reading the local papers and never thought that would happen.  Being in my bubble of a world, I never would have thought that would have been possible.  One of my parents favorite pass times, and one of my things to do will not be available for my children???  Seems unthinkable,but yet here we are faced with it. 

Then, the students in my class are looking at technology and the advances that are happening with everything.  One student showed me their project which was about the ipod.  I didn’t even know that it was around since 2001.  to me it is a new technology.  I was probably still using a walkman or discman ( I hope I am hip to the terms, lol).  Technology is advancing so quickly, items are obsolete within one year.  ( I may be exaggerating a bit).  And then I started reflecting on teaching.  Much of the literature and information is pointing to the fact that if we as educators do not get with the times, we are in danger of become obsolete.  Could that be?  No need for me to be?  That to would have been unthinkable not only last year but even a few months ago.  Then I got to thinking,  what can I do to make sure that I am not going to be obsolete and face the end of an era.  I think that taking a course in technology was a huge, giant step in the right direction.  No matter how much I would like to continue living with my head in the sand, it is no longer reasonable to continue living like that.  I will soon be completed this class and (I hope and pray) my masters course but I will not finished learning.  If anything this course has showed me that my world no longer has to be a bubble.  I can travel even if it is on the internet highway and I am not restricted to nor do I have to face being  the end of an era.

New ideas??????

I had the opportunity to attend a workshop in North Battleford a few weeks ago.  The presenter was Anthony Muhammad.  He does a great presentation on the PLC approach to school improvements.  As well as the RTI modelof intervention.  He has many insightful ideas and it made me think of just how much we are doing in the division in our initiatives to improve the learning and the education of students.  We do need to remember that to be effective educations we have to willing to take risks and move out of our comfort zones to provide the best quality of education for students. 

This is a quote I took out of one of the web pages that is related to a presentation he does. 

“Effective instruction is as fulfilling for educators as it is for students. Sharpen your skills in clear communication, motivational leadership, curriculum development, and standards and assessments. These expert practitioners utilize research-based instructional practices to ensure quality education for all their students. They share their strategies with you through customized professional development.” 

 

He is definitly someone to get in as a presenter.  I enjoyed the presentation but felt that there should have been one more day so he could explain more of the effective practices in dealing with students. 

Response to Intervention

I had the opportunity to attend a meeting for administrators for our school division last week.  The theme of the meeting was intervention.   The focus for learning and the learning community is extending to the way we respond to intervention.  I know that these strategies have been used in our school and this is the divisions way of putting on paper a concept that has been used with a structure to it.  We were introduced to a model called the Pyramid of learning.  It is a 3-tiered approach to programming for students that need additional help.  The emphasis is placed on the students outcomes instead of students deficiencies.  The pyramid that was presented is sectioned into three.  The first being the teacher response, the second being the intervention teachers response and lastly the resource teachers response. 

I know that these are for the students and that is why I have a career and job.  But, I do have concerns with the amount that is placed onto the classroom teacher.  There needs to a balance between what is expected from the teacher and from the others in the partnership.  I as a teacher do go the extra mile for my students, and will work hard to increase their capabilities as learners.  I just want there to be a balance so that we do not overwork teacher more than they already are.

Vioce threads- What a neat idea!!

I feel like a little kid with all of this new technology I am learning about. I was looking at something Alec posted on tweet deck that caught my eye. He had posted about a teacher who used voice thread to help tutor a little boy whose first language was Dene. She used voice thread to read the story. Then I thought how can this be used in our school. With one of the major focuses in our school division being literacy, this could help those who are having difficulty reading. Books can be read together and using voice thread this will help with areas that students are having difficulty with. And if they are posted onto a wiki page or a blog then they can be accessed at home and parents can help with increasing their childs fluency and reading skills. It will take some time to be able to use itand to show other teachers how to use it but in the long run it will help the student to be better readers.

Effects of technology?!?

I recently read an article about technology.  In it referred to the effects that the explosion of technology is having a negative effect on children.  It is titled, Technology is destroying our children,published in the Toronto Sun on Mar.3/08.   It stated that there is an increase in child development and attachment disorders.  This was something I was and am really concerned about.  I know that I can control to some extent what my own children are exposed to but what about others who are not monitored.  It is this very reason I am thankful that I am increase my own knowledge base so that I can add to the students abilities and teach them other useful tools besides the social networks.  I know I will never be as adept with technology as many of my students but I can have some impact on guiding and developing their critical and hopeful creative skills.  I have to remember that ignorance is no longer an option.   In order to enable the youth of today, we need to encouraged to use technology constructively.

One video that I came across on you tube was “Why we need to teach technology in schools”   It relates to what we are experiencing in society and how even if we dig our feet in (as I have been) technology will continue to develop with or without our permission.