Final class reflections…

So it has now come to the end of the technology class. I am really sad about it! I learned so many new and excitng things from completing this course.  I never knew that there was so much availble in the technological world. I am looking forward to implementing these new ideas (new for me!!) in my classroom. I need to stop using the excuse that here just isnt enough time, I need to find the time and make the effort! I want to develop a online library where each parent tapes/videos themselves reading a story or SKYPEing into the classroom. I want my children to be abkle to blog and moderate a page. I want parents to be able to share in their childs work and be able to take an active role in developing their learning. I think that a lot of people have awesome ideras about how to incorporate these things into teh classroom. I really loved the idea of the joint collaboartion project between Film and business studies. I love how the students get a real insight into what it will actually be like and  how this will add depth and meaning to their learning.

I ahve really learnt a lot from this course I hope that I incorpoaate and continue to develop theses ideas. I want to start straight away next year and ensure that all these ideas are implemented in my classroom.

Our final group project..

I am very excited about our group project!!! We have some ideas which I think could really improve, encourage and enhance the implementaion of ICT and learning in grade one. We have decided to create a blog to replace the monthly classroom newsletter. In thnis project we have decided to include photographs, video footage, skype chats, blog posts and  aparent communication page. We ahve decided that we will allow the blog to be more child centred than most of the  elementry ones availble out there. We want the childrens voice to be clear abnd represented. This way we also feel that the parents will take a more proactive interest in their childs learning. They will be kept up to date with their childes learning and see fiorst hand what they are up to. We decided that we would have  aseperate page for parent communication and include things such as updates, important information, helpful hints etc. This would greatly improve parent teacher links and could enhance the learning taking place in the classroom. 

It would also be a productive more hands on approach to introducing these web 2.0 features into the classroom. The children can see first hand the potential and benefits of technology. They can experiment with them and understand first hand how to use them.

I hope that this takes off and can be implemented in the school. We can include stations in our reading rodeo where children can bloga nd respond to threads. They can also record voice threads and complete site manitenance. By writing on this they are writing for a greater audience and recieving feedback from more people than just their parents and teachers. It helpsd put the power of the internet and technology into perspective!

 

I am really excited to see where this goes…..

Twitter continued…

I have been reading many poeples quotes on twittering and am beginning to come around to the prospect of trying it!! It seems a good way to develop and create a PLN. I am going to set up a twitter account so that I can gain a more productive and deper understanding of what it is actually all about!! Here it goes….

To twitter or to not twitter…

I am still really unsure regarding the benefit of twittering. I understand that if you follow educational professionals it could benefit your own classroom. I guess if they have exciting ideas, new programs or concernns it would be good to follow their thinking. However, I thingk that there are some tedious uses of twitter too. Learning about everybodies movements seems pointless. I would rather have facebook for that kind of exploration.

I think that twitter is another resource that has potential to be useful if you have fellow professionalos on there. However, it could just be another resource taht you spend hours looking through for very little gain…

I am unconvinced…

Pecha Kucha

Although I HATED doing this infront of the class, I can see that there are any advantages of using this type of presentation. Because of the time constraints it forces you to be fully prepared and succint in your presenting. It encourages you to keep the presenatation lively and on task. I like the idea of the photographs for visual stimulants too. It tunes the audience in and creates a deeper more meaningful presentation.

I would use this in my class for introductions to lessons, for plenaries or for parent workshops.

Flat classroom??

Why?

To gain a global perspective.

To collect and share resources.

To get primary sources.

Authentic communication.

Potential danger-potential inaccuracies.

Need to spend class time evaluating comments and findings.

More about students creating things together and less emphasis on what they actually find coudl eb more productive.

What?

SKYPE interviews, drama activities in real time. Plays with classes across the world.

Finding partners to work collaborative with (different schools)

Receive first hand personal experiences-deeper understanding of the subject.

Difficult to find partners who want the same thing as you do from the project.

Where?

Nig

Wikis

SKYPE

Blogs

voice thread-website where you can leave comments with videos and audio.

Gcast

Slide share

google docs

Blogs in the elementry school….

When I was recently researching for the highly enjoyable presenations that we had to do I discovered many excitng things on the web. I googled Blogs in the elementry school and came across many examples of Grade one blogs. They were really impressive to see and had lots of data and involvement from the children. One good example was a class in Canada had linked up with a clas inAlabama and through the skype the two classes took part in a drama activity!! Really impressive considering the fact that they are in completely different countries. Another blog I saw really had the children involved and excited. They were commenting on the principals log, giving advice to other teachers and helping each other study. http://itc.blogs.com/thewriteweblog/2004/11/who_says_elemen.html Check it out!

 

I feel bad that I havent been incorporating all these exciting and stimulating concepts in my classroom. I think that I have been doing my kids an injustice and really need to rectify this ASAP. There are so many excellent ideas out there and I am excited to use these in the classsroom. I would also like to see how Steve does pod casting with his class!! Awesome experience for them!

Beginning to get excited…

I am incredibly bad when it comes to understanding and using technology and would usually opt to not use it unless it was absoloutely necessary!!

Since doing this course I understand how web 2.0 can be used to enhance both the quality of the lessons and the quality of the childrens education. Things like SKYPE are simple and easy to incorporate in  a grade one classrooom. As we work in an international school we have  a wide access to many different nationalities and cultures. We can link our classroom with different experts around the globe and educate the whole child.

Things like blogging I am still struggling with and am not sure really how to incorporate this into a grade one classroom. They have great difficulty in typing and spelling and I currently believe that it may be too advanced. I am looking for poeple to prove me wrong however and show me how I can incorporate this into my class!!!

SKYPE discussion with Clay Burrell

SKYPE discussion with Clay Burrell. Clay believes that using blogging in the classroom is much more interactive than doing it on paper. People can access the blog and create class links with the outside world. Scientists can share information and can grow as people share ideas.  It can however, take a few posts before people begin to notice your blog and therefore can take a while to really take off. By linking to a post on someone elses blog, they can then track this and reply. Links can then be made across the web with experts in specific fields. TV is the new gin-as a distraction from the mundane and extremes of everyday life. Clay believes that it is more productive to interact on blogs than watching TV. Experiences in the classroom- New tools new uses. Do not let it become a way of doing old homework. Network for learning-freedom to create and pursue their own blogs throughout the whole summer. Students loved it and it became a huge success. Students enjoy it as they feel it is an opportunity to write about things taht they are actually interested in. ESL students-commented that now they know and understand why writers write. They get to be another person and through blogging turn into producers too. All posts are linked so its liike an ‘ANT FARM”. Students have to incorporate others opinions and needs into each others comments. This was used for writing to learn. Students can correspond and communicate with students in other classes. Can conference and share work ideas across the grade. Could link to a greater consistency across the grade. Lowest that Clay has done is 9th grade-has never completed a blog with younger students. Seen teachers complete blogs with 4th and 5th graders.
Pitfalls?-Reading students homework on line can be undeseriable. It needs to be engaging-can not be te same a s written tasks typed up. Rewriting text books and give lectures on the chapter they rewrote- children completely involved and included in the sessions.Future is limited if you do not know at least the basic things available on line. Develops the students public speaking skills. Becareful whos blog you link as it can be traced!!   Creating cross curricular links with blogging- easy to do in the ES classroom. Needs to be clearly thought out and ensured that it is beneficial to the students learning. Good for ESL as you acn embed images and videos so they have greater access to the terminology necessary and can understand more concepts. Some students who struggle with writing can be a fantastic public speaker. Can demonstrate comedy and insight in a way that may have nver been possible through writing. Impact on assessment?/Differentiating assessment-no current ideas from Clay but I feel that it is an area that needs to be explored. Could really benefit some students. Thanks Clay!!

Powerpoint hell….

I think I understand how to make a powerpoint and the things that i find interesting but i am very nervous about presenting it! I am not sure how this whole 20 slides each being 10 secs will work and I think that when I present the speed of my chat will be much much faster tahn when I first rehearse it.

The topic itself cause also be quiet interesting as I need to choose a topic that I am passionate about and that is realted to the classroom. This seems like an excellent opportunity to develop a powerpoint that could be used in the classroom for the children this time.  I guess we shall see how it goes….