Meeting with Troy Hicks

Every time we encounter a new trend, hot topic, or buzz word in education, it's easy to buy in. Things sound practical and necessary. Inevitably educators find these month long flavors of the week evaporate for the next promise, and our initial fervor is gone. 

What struck me about Troy Hick's conversation was that he doesn't advocate for specific gimmicks but rather for a new mentality. Instead of pushing some device, he pushes ways of thinking that inspire educators and, ultimately, children. 

His approach to "giving time to explore and fail" wasn't just a redundant message without a foundation; it was earnest in an effort to let kids experiment, struggle, and sift through new technology. It's a way of thinking that I wouldn't have otherwise considered. 

At times we educators try to teach the operation of the technology, being no stronger than our students...sometimes far below, yet authorities exist in the herd to help. Why not identify students who are well versed in a particular technology and have them tutor others? It's not an admission that we are inadequate-it's an admission that experts exist throughout. 

I'm motivated to adopt this approach in the classroom as away to foster growth, collaboration, and community. #pwp2t

Thursday: Web Texts

An array of useful tools was offered on today's smorgasbord. Morning suggestions included useful tools-some obvious and others less likely. I was struck by the possibilities of classroom MEMEs, not only for the sake of humor but as a teaching tool.  Capturing an effective meme means crafting a manuscript for a select audience, and the writer must take much into consideration when doing so.

Other tools also interested me. Poll Everywhere will be worked into this year's curriculum. I have been searching for an interactive poll through the last two years. This tool will be useful in both the English classroom and science class.  My first poll is already set up for the year; it will be a word cloud asking students to list a PART OF SPEECH.

The afternoon brought some frustration as I struggled to find an effective way to create a screencast.  I began with Jing, but found that the computer I was using was incapable of downloading the software.  This caused me to consider similar possibilities at TEMS.  Of course, I was able to locate a host to broadcast the voicememo, and it was a good obstacle to face in order to help students with issues they may encounter. 

All in all, I feel like I am at a good place with the materials I have been able to produce this far. I'm eager to see some of the innovated ways my classmates intend to use these tools in their classrooms.

Midweek Hump Day

We were visited by Gaetan Pappalardo this morning, a blogging guru, who shared with us ways to make the twitter connection between parent and classroom.  I was struck by his perspective.  Gaetan is both parent and educator and holds a position allowing him to influence both areas.

Gaetan's idea to bring twitter to the classroom was visionary.  I appreciated how he was able to share up to the moment updates with parents and others.  Doing so allowed him to demonstrate the internal message that learning extends beyond the classroom itself.  Tumblr peaked my interest as a way to link the classroom blog to an immediate media device, and I've always shared the idea that parents and students want to know much about the people working with their students.  @GAETANP conveys an enthusiasm for connecting with people that is refreshing.  

As the day (and week) has progressed, I've been more and more comfortable with the assortment of digital ideas being shared.  Some are overwhelming, and others are quite practical. FlipAgram will be used to help students compose works of imagery, perhaps focusing on a theme.  Another idea might be use this to boost classroom connection or even offer real life publication for authors. 

Mostly, I have been eager to continue adding to my list of tools and devices.  A dongle might just be in the future classroom purchases.  

A VIEW OF THE EXTENSIVE RESOURCE LIST AS OF WEDNESDAY

Podcasting and Lit Circles

I'm finding that beyond the classroom I've been operating is a second dimension.  It's not entirely an alternate universe, but rather an enhance present experience. With these two days of 2.0 Writing, new ideas continue to flourish. 

This morning introduced us to the idea of podcasting.  I've wanted to use this form of media before, but hadn't quite figured out what to do with it or where to use it, yet this morning a lightbulb went off.  NPR's segment "This I Believe" is fused into the end of the year-a perfect time to enhance the curriculum with new ways of working.  With this in mind, I plan to use this podcasting as either a way for students to create their own recorded versions of TIB, or perhaps to offer literary criticism and feedback. I haven't quite decide. 

With this Jeremy Hyler reading, I've become very motivated to adapt our lit circle unit.  This I have chosen for the implementation project and am already making moves to overhaul the unit with a digital theme. 

As we encounter new apps or ideas, I find myself inspired to continue exploring.  

Digital Questions for Implementation at TEMS

The following questions are intended to be administrators or school board members in hopes of immersing students in authentic digital writing opportunities:

1-would you support a grant request to purchase tablets or chrome books intended for digital publication?

2-are there current resources that could be used to acquire devices for digital writing?

3-with the upcoming BYOD initiative, how will we be able to avoid roadblocks (firewalls, processing speeds, etc.) which may accompany outdated devices?

4-what guidelines/rule books will we present to students before allowing them to access the wireless network?

5-how will our collection of devices evolve as materials become outdated or old? Will we continue to update devices as they tire? 

Opportunities Abound

The morning began as I had expected-a healthy dose of options to use in our classroom.  What's been most interesting is noticing how enthusiastically we have taken on these possibilities. I hope that our students are able to feel our interest and use that to fuel their digital writing.

Twitter seems to offer the most opportunity for 7th grade English and 8th science. Ideas keep jumping into my mind about the chances to engage with students in more authentic publication that will allow them to communicate in a community of writers- something I have been building over the past two years. Perhaps students can create digital writing pieces to capture a theme and blend that theme through several different modes much like the film from MAPS by Troy Hicks. Capturing their writing piece through a blog, they could then promote it through Twitter and other means of communication.

Along with this, I invision students working to back channel their learning to collaborate and study.  In this way, maybe we could explore the learning process and reflect back on how they learned? Using this platform, students would work together in preparation for upcoming exams.

As we break for lunch, I'm eager to get into the lesson planning time scheduled for this afternoon. 

#PWP2T

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Swim fishy fishy

The trout are looking amazing this week. Especially are little friends named Nemo and Dory. They are striving and swimming great.

-grace



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad