'Tis That Time of Year

Gratitude, giving, receiving, reflection, and looking forward. These are the themes for this week's Learn and Earn. Below are a a few prompts to get you thinking about technology in terms of these themes. Choose either option 1 or option 2 to write about in this week's post, then also answer the final prompt.


Option 1: Teacher laptops, document cameras, projectors, ActivBoards, and netbook carts--oh, my!
This is our fifth year of life in a system where teachers and students benefit from a dramatic increase in technology tools and access thanks to the passing of two consecutive tech levys. Consider how your teaching and student learning have changed in the past five years in light of  this. What are you most thankful for, or what do you most want to celebrate? Why?

OR

Option 2: Giving and receiving
If you had to share one tip, suggestion, strategy, or tool with your staff regarding technology use in the classroom, what would it be?

Final Prompt: Looking ahead
Describe a goal you have for yourself and/or your students regarding technology use in 2012 and explain why it's important to you.

NOTE: There will be no Learn and Earn next Thursday. We will resume class on January 5, 2011. And, yes, this week's response is not due until then.

Here's to a relaxing and much deserved break. Happy holidays!

Consider the Other Side of Blogging: Posting

By now you've had several weeks of experience using a blog--this one--to learn and share ideas. This is just one way educators are using blogs to facilitate learning. Your role in this endeavor has been to read posts and comment. And, this week I'd like you to consider blogging from the other side--that of the author/content creator/poster. I'm hoping some of you may be wondering a) how you could use a blog or blogging in your role, b) what the benefits are of setting up a classroom blog, or c) how you can improve the classroom blog you already have in place. This week, we'll try to help you consider these questions as you consider the other side of blogging.

Edublogs is a blogging tool designed specifically for educators who are interested in using technology as a tool to communicate with students and parents. Each year they choose the top blogs for several different categories such as best student blog, best class blog, best podcasting, and best teacher blog.

To know more about the benefits of blogging, you should check out Edublog's Ten Ways to Use Blogs to Teach. Technically, this link will lead you to the top reasons to use “Edublogs” to teach, but the ideas are applicable to any blog you may create with any blogging tool. We don't use Edublogs as our blogging tool in our district, but their focus on educational blogs is well worth checking out.

After looking over the suggested ways to use blogs, check out several of the nominations for the top teacher blogs for 2011. Or, peruse a different category of nominees using the dropdown menu from the top of The Edublog Awards Blog.  Then, come back here and tell us what you found that struck your fancy. Please include the link to that blog (or other resource) and explain why it struck you as useful or inspiring.  

A final note: Although the discussion for this class takes place on a blog (which is a great way to use a blog, by the way), the primary focus for this class, ironically, is not blogging; we are merely using this blog to foster discussion and showcase new technologies that may be useful in your classroom. If you currently have or are planning to create a classroom blog, please take a look at these helpful hints, guidelines and other policies available on Sharepoint. In addition, we are eager to meet with you to help you get started, so please don’t hesitate to contact us.

Revisiting the Past

For those of you who have participated in the Learn and Earn in the past, you know that there comes a time when I ask you to purposefully go back and read, then respond to, the comments of your peers. Why? If you are one of the first to post each week, you may miss out on the comments of others. Even if you post after others have, there's a likelihood that you've missed someone's brilliant insight.

So, this week's assignment is to go back read, and comment on at least two people's comments from weeks past. You can navigate to the archived posts along the right-hand side of the blog.

When you're done, please come back here and do a simple post stating whose posts you commented on and the original date of the blog post. For instance, you'd write, "I commented on Judy's comment for the 11/3 post and . . ." This will help me "take attendance" for this week. Thanks and enjoy the conversation. :)

New York Time Learning Network

First of all, I'd like to thank Brett Thompson, a social studies teacher at THS, for reminding me about the resource I'm going to share with you this week. I was in Brett's classroom the other day and he was using a lesson he had found on the New York Times Learning Network. This is a great collection of resources, lessons, activities, and articles gathered in one place for teachers by the New York Times. As you browse around the site, you'll see a blog, lesson plans (categorized by subject area and topic), a collection of Teaching Topics, Word of the Day, etc.

I think this can be a great place to start when looking for something new and current to supplement your curriculum. For instance, I was able to find a couple of things that would help me teach/use Wikipedia with students.

So, this week, I'd like you to start by reading 12 Ways to Use the Learning Network This School Year since it provides a nice overview of the site to newcomers. Then, poke around the site a bit and come back here with and report on one gem you found that will be useful to you or could be useful one of your colleagues.

Google, Memory, Free Range Learning, and The Learn Button

Last week we considered Wikipedia's place in the classroom. Given Wikipedia's vastness AND the incredible amount of information available from other sources, the idea of "information overload" is experienced by each of us and our students almost daily.

Today I stumbled upon this infographic which does a  nice job of summarizing our current information culture and how it affects memory. Take a look. (If you want to see it bigger, just click on the image and it will take you to the original.)

Research and Design by: Online Colleges Site
(Sidenote: I love infographics. Don't know about info graphics? Check out the Cool Infographics blog and I bet you may find one related to your content area.)

So, this infographic does a nice job of capturing the information environment we live in. Yet, what can we do about it?
Dr. Maria Anderson has an idea. Watch her 5-minute talk below, then share one or two ideas that gave you pause to think. How might the way she talks about learning, the Internet, and information impact your work with students?

Why Wikipedia?

Wikipedia. The very word may give you shivers. For many teachers those shivers are based on a sense that the  information it contains is unreliable. For me, I get shivers thinking about how the largest encyclopedia has been written by volunteers, people who care deeply about the topics they monitor and contribute to. I'll admit, when it first showed up several years ago back when I was still in the classroom, I was a skeptic. But today I treat Wikipedia the same way I treated World Book and Britannica 10 years ago. I tell kids, "Wikipedia is a great place to start your research, and a horrible place to end it." (I didn't make that up. I heard a presenter say it at a conference, and it stuck with me.) I think ignoring Wikipedia's relevance does our students and our information culture a disservice. What do you think? After watching the video and taking a look at the resources I've linked to below, come back here and offer us your informed opinion about Wikipedia.


Resources
Common Craft Explanation of Wikipedia
Opinion Piece Begging Us Not to Ban Wikipedia
Wikipedia 101

Make Learning Visual--If They See It, They Can Learn It

This week's post may be review for some of you, but I feel so strongly about the message that I feel it bears repeating: seeing IS learning. These two short screencasts explain why and how to make learning in your classroom more visually engaging in ways that improve student learning.

Part 1: Why?


Part 2: How?


After viewing the screencasts, suggest a way you could apply (or have applied) the learning in own classroom.

(In the screencasts I make reference to Creative Commons licensing. You can learn more about that here: http://10techsecondary.blogspot.com/2010/04/week-9-copy-right-with-creative-commons.html. I also suggest a way students can make digital flashcards for their iPod. More specific directions can be found here: http://tsdsecondarylearnandearn.blogspot.com/2011/03/tech-upgrade-for-flash-cards.html)