East Middle School Computer Club

Week 4 Discussion – Initial Post

During a spring Wikispace project my students worked on called the Far and Away Project I interviewed several students about their internet usage both at home and at school. There were ten students involved in the project, most were 7^th graders. One thing that was surprising to me at that time was the ease with which certain students could bypass our district’s proxy server. In fact, students were able to login to their web mail accounts and check their email whenever they wished. This was pretty amazing to me since all forms of web mail including msn, yahoo, and gmail are all blocked in our district. I had always heard they could get past the blocker if they wanted to, but had never seen it done until I worked with kids on the Wiki Project. This made me think that many students have more access at school than many of our teachers since most of our teachers simply give up when the big yellow screen with a stop sign in the middle pops up. Dr. Thornburg’s analogy of digital immigrants and digital natives is very appropriate in my school. If certain teachers at my school can’t figure something out, many, including me, will ask students how something works. I consider asking a student how to do something an effective method of losing my teacherly voice.

Another thing I learned through those informal interviews is the power that social networks possess for students. It still boggles my mind that some students who, to me, seemed to be the most scattered I had, could keep track of over four hundred global friends on their MySpace account. The most innovative teachers have already begun taking advantage of the power social learning has for students with wikis and educational blogs. I think something even more powerful that is currently developing in various educational arenas is the use of MUVE’s in education. Global Kids and Quest Atlantis are both excellent examples of programs that utilize Social Learning in a contextual framework.

In the coming school year, I will provide my students with more opportunities for group activities and projects. One way I will accomplish this goal is by having a classroom wiki. I also plan to begin utilizing Quest Atlantis in my practice. To be a more effective teacher, I need to begin taking advantage of middle school aged children’s natural social nature .

On a personal Note:

We said goodbye to our beloved Sloopy last weekend by taking her ashes on one final camp trip and could not resist taking a look at some other pups at the dog pound…Buster is our new dog’s name

This week’s topic is an interesting one for me. I have always struggled with tracking student’s work and progress. I am becoming far more organized with online things than I have been with hard copies in paper. For me it is easier and less messy to track things utilizing web resources. I will often joke with my students; my desk could be compared to a black hole. Don’t put anything close to it or it will be sucked in and taken to another dimension. Our goal for this week’s discussion is to identify and describe an idea to utilize new technology to break our paper-trained mindset.

My idea deals with both the storing of student information and records and the way in which students complete work. I teach a class called Math lab for students who struggle in Mathematics. Previously, students in my class utilized folders to track their work which were cumbersome and very often lost by the student. To replace those folders, I plan to keep a classroom wiki next year where each student I have will maintain their own page. You can create a free space at Wikispaces if you are a K-12 educator . They are trying to give away 100,000 free wikispaces to teachers. They are Plus Plan wikis so they are ad free. I plan to have students reflect upon their learning at least one time each week…If possible every day during the end of each class period. Each student’s wiki page will serve as a place where others can comment on their reflection and on any work they complete in it. Evaluation and commenting on the work of peers will be encouraged.I have recently been reading the work of Konrad Glogowski on the effectiveness of classroom blogging. My classroom wikis will be similar to the blogs he discusses in his work. In fact, I just finished attending a workshop led by Dr. Glogowski this morning on Ustream Television and in Second Life where he presented his ideas. The fact that I can watch a presentation in San Antonio, discuss it with educators in Australia, all from the comfort of my own kitchen is indicative of how much our world is changing…has changed.

I have just begun my final class towards gaining a master’s degree in integrating technology in the classroom. I believe educational blogs are a valuable tool that teachers can use to communicate their ideas to students, colleagues, and parents depending on the objectives you place on your blog. Therefore, for my final class, I plan to place each week’s discussion assignment in my blog, which will ensure that I begin blogging on a consistent basis. This weeks discussion concerns the importance of dealing with an ever-changing world, something we must teach our students to do.

One important change that has occurred for me in my practice recently involves my belief that educational blogs like the one I have started maintaining at http://teacherman79.wordpress.com/ and like the ones maintained by the teachers I have placed on a list in my blog provide an excellent forum for professional development. Through my journey to find Tek Zeno in our last class, I have met several cutting edge educators recently who have been maintaining educational blogs for a significant amount of time. Each of my new colleagues have told me of the value their blogs have in helping them develop as professional educators. I began reading their blogs on a consistent basis and realized what a valuable tool they can be. I decided that I should start a blog myself because of the value I saw in them, so I did. Blogs are very similar to the discussions we have each week in our classes at Walden university, and to me provide the same types of opportunities for learning, only they are free, just a little time-consuming at first.

Blogging has already made me a better teacher. I am more mindful of my beliefs with regards to technology in the classroom and also better equipped to defend my beliefs if the need arises. I believe there is a certain amount of resistance to the use of emerging technologies in the classroom. Maintaining a blog will better equip me to deal with that resistance if and when it occurs. And what is good for the teachers is good for the kids – see this link to find out about utilizing blogs in your classroom. Blogging encourages students to reflect about the work they are doing and also comment on the work that their peers are working on.  I plan to begin having my students begin a reflective process like this in the fall by having each class maintain a wiki in which they will periodically reflect upon classroom activity.  Any feedback you have for me would be greatly appreciated.