Thinking About Learning

I have been blogging with students for 4 or 5 years. I am convinced that it is one of the best instructional tools that we have.  Sadly, it is also probably one of the most under-used. Several years ago I created a little video, “Top 10 Reasons to Blog with Students,” in an effort to promote student blogging. Now that YouTube is unblocked for teachers in my district, I recently added it there.

What are the most important features of a blog engine? A secure environment with options for monitoring student posts and comments is a must. The ability for students to upload a variety of file types is definitely a plus. Edublogs is a great blog engine, and I have used it for my personal professional blog for years. In today’s financial climate, cost is an inevitable issue, which unfortunately eliminates Edublogs Campus for me.

In the beginning I used Blogmeister with my students, which is David Warlick’s wonderful protected learning community for student blogs. After that first year, we decided we wanted our students to have a few more options for customizing. I’ve used 21 Classes in recent years, which is fairly user-friendly. We did encounter some computers locking up when attempting to save, but we haven’t determined if that’s an issue with our network or on their end. ClassPress is a relatively new blog engine that is currently being tested by another TIS friend, and I’m waiting to hear a report on that one.  In the meantime, I created a comparison chart of features:

I’m still exploring and open to suggestions!

Well, we’ve been back in school for several weeks.  Our SMART Boards have all been hung (well, all but one), we now have a telephone in every class, and we have 16 new teachers.  In spite of the hectic nature of school re-opening, I’ve sensed a higher level of enthusiasm this year.  Our new teachers are all excited to be here and are pleased with the wonderful technology resources we have.   Teachers who were actively engaged in technology integration last year have been eager to jump in this year.  I’ve already started 4 classes on student blogs, introduced Open Mind 2 to a 3rd grade class, modeled a lesson on communities with several second grade classes, and I’m getting ready to begin a project with one of our MAC Grant winning teachers.

One of the things that I had to do the first week of school was the formulation of an Instructional Technology Integration Leadership Plan for this year.  Here are my goals:

Goal 1 (Collaboration) To work collaboratively with faculty and staff to plan specific ways technology can be used to enhance the teaching and learning processes.

Strategy 1: Meet at least once every semester with each grade level
for collaborative planning to become aware of their instructional goals and to offer suggestions of ways technology can be used for instruction and assessment.

Strategy 2: Meet monthly with computer lab assistants to assist them in planning meaningful instructional activities for classes who come to computer lab for related arts. In order to foster the development of 21^st Century skills, computer lab activities will incorporate essential technology skills from a school-wide list of grade by grade expectations and will support grade level common units of study.

Strategy 3: Meet weekly with 5^th grade ELA teachers and the literacy coach to participate in weekly lesson planning. This pilot project is an effort to foster a more intensive collaboration with a team of teachers and another coach.

Goal 2 (Training) To provide meaningful professional development based on teacher and grade level needs that will both strengthen instruction and broaden teachers’ technological expertise.

Strategy 1: Conduct monthly staff development sessions with each grade level during a designated planning period. These sessions will be tailored to meet the needs specifically expressed by each team.

Strategy 2: Conduct regular after school optional staff development sessions to improve teachers’ knowledge and comfort level in the use of equipment, software, and Web 2.0 applications and to share technology-enhanced instructional strategies.

Strategy 3: Continue one-on-one training as needed, especially with the 16 new teachers.

Goal 3 (Modeling/Teaming) To increase the level of technology integration in our school by working individually with faculty and staff to model and co-teach technology-enhanced lessons.

Strategy 1: Model or co-teach at least once in every kindergarten and first grade classroom.

Strategy 2: Model or co-teach at least 1 lesson per month in both computer labs.

Strategy 3: Encourage and support teachers in the use of student blogs.

Strategy 4: Encourage teachers in the use of project-based learning through project idea suggestions that address curriculum standards and by team teaching to conduct projects as needed.

I regret that I was out of the blogging loop for the last couple of months.  Finishing up the school year, having a son graduating from high school,  and a daughter planning a wedding, I’ve just had a lot on my plate!  Now it’s nice to have some time to relax and reflect.

My first year as a technology integration specialist was wonderful!  I was a little apprehensive about starting in a new school after teaching in my previous school for 14 years, but I was very warmly received.  My teachers were very welcoming to me, and they were receptive to what I had to offer in the realm of technology.  I was impressed that they were so open to trying something new.  One of my greatest impacts this year was with blogging.  In December I started with a couple of fifth grade classes, and by February, over 220 of the students in my school had their own blogs.  Students loved it and would ask me in the halls in the morning, “Are we coming to blog today?”  Teachers loved it as a way for students to reflect on their learning.  It was definitely a win-win scenario!

My other area of positive impact this year was  project-based learning.   Podcasting,  Photo Story, and research using Open Mind were some of the most engaging learning activities.  The last month of school, I had a second grade students who each researched an animal and wrote digital stories about their animals based on the book, Diary of a Worm.  They navigated through our school’s social bookmarking site, Diigo,  to locate information to research, wrote and edited text, located copyright permissible images, created a PowerPoint, converted it to JPEGS, created a Photo Story with it, and narrated it.  These second graders learned and used technology skills that many teachers don’t possess.  I was very impressed with what they accomplished.  It was so much fun to work with them, because every new thing that I showed them received a “WOW” reaction.   They were so motivated and enthusiastic!  I don’t think Disney World would measure much higher on their “WOW” meters.  They were sponges soaking it all in and loving every minute of it.  I can’t wait to see what these kids will accomplish next year as third graders!

In thinking about next year, I want to continue with the blogging and projects.  Some other goals I have are to get my teachers more involved with using Diigo and to focus more on using Web 2.0 tools for assessment.  Another emphasis will be to raise awareness with my teachers about copyright issues related to the Internet, fair use, and Creative Commons.  I also want to be a catalyst for greater collaboration among teachers.

I had a fabulous year! This job change was the right thing at the right time in my life.  I have made new friends and learned so much.  I’m already excited about next year…the journey continues!

Last night was PTO Literacy night. Teachers from each grade were conducting sessions on different aspects of balanced literacy. I had been asked to share some online literacy activities that parents could access at home. After a little thought, I decided to take the opportunity to do a little educating about the changing definition of literacy. I went back and revisited David Warlick’s awesome Redefining Literacy presentation and also read “The New Literacies” from District Administration. I also found some great TeacherTube videos on Internet safety from Mike King. Ultimately I ended up doing a brief overview of digital literacy, cyber safety, the value of blogging and social bookmarking. We had a small parent turnout, but my sessions went well…20 minutes of exposure to digital literacy and 20 minutes to explore the literacy games bookmarked on our school Diigo page. Very basic stuff, but I think it was just what my audience needed.

In the midst of my personal PD in preparing for Literacy Night, I came across a really cool global writing project. I first heard it mentioned on twitter!

Curriculum Connections:
Literacy: 1001 Tales is a global writing project. Students work online together to tell stories, edit, and improve their writing skills. I would love to get a class involved with this!

My school is in the midst of a blogging revolution!  It all began with one 5th grade teacher who was willing to try something new, (thanks, Emily!) and now it’s the latest craze.  The students in all six 5th grade classes, four 4th grade classes, and even one 3rd grade class have their own blogs.  That’s over 220 blogs in our school!  The goal is to blog at least once a week.  The students love it because it’s fun.  They stop me in the hall in the mornings to ask if today is their day to blog.  Teachers love it because it motivates their students to write, it ties directly into their curriculum, it builds literacy, it improves technology skills, and it provides a great way for students to reflect and share what they’ve learned.

I’ve put together a wiki with some good blogging resources that I hope will be useful.

Curriculum Connection:

All subject areas: Digital books are a great way to express learning.  I have used PhotoStory 3 to do make digital books in the past, but I discovered a really awesome digital class book created by some 5th grade students in Georgia with KeeBoo software.  Check this out: Our ABC Book on Blogging .