Thing 23

I certainly have gained some knowledge and have found some phenomenal resources to support my belief that students do not learn like they did when I started teaching 36 years ago. This program has supported the fact that the traditional way of teaching is not going to motivate the students of today. We need to adapt to “our users” in order to be successful in our chosen profession and to improve student leaning..

My education of Web 2.0 tools will continue through attending conferences, taking workshops, and through my own explorations. What I’m hoping is that this program will spike the enthusiasm of my peers so that they are willing to collaborate with me on integrating some of these tools into their classes. (Ready, Kim, Magie, Carol, Cindy, and Vita?) I have tried to comment on other participant’s blogs to let them know I am excited, willing and able to help them integrate all these tools into their teaching. I hope to be given opportunities to share my ideas at grade level and COP meetings and to provide some staff development offerings. Finally, I plan on continuing my Diigo and Delicious postings so that I can share my “finds” with others. I have even created a class on Diigo so that I can give these unique logins to students to use. This will allow them access to my resources anywhere they have an Internet connection.

One of my big take aways is the Web 2.0's concept of providing Web services and "moving away from place." I think, for our students and schools, this idea of your applications and data living on the Web, available where you are and on all types of devices, is powerful. In our schools, there are students who do not have a computer at home but use their friend’s, the school library’s, or the public library's computers. Applications distributed over the Web allow them access to the same software and storage of their data at any computer, no matter where it’s located. Another big realization for me is that the tools that our students will be using in the future are going to change drastically. I don’t believe we will continue to be using pens and spiral notebooks but rather cell phones, IPODS, IPADS, and devices like Livescribe. And I’m sure many that aren’t not even invented yet. A little disappointment for me is that I probably will not still be in education when this becomes a reality but maybe my grandchildren will teach old grandma a thing or two.

This program has also underscored my belief that we need to collaborate in all that we do. We can no longer keep our lesson plans in our locked file cabinet and only take them out when we plan to use them. Time is too short for educators to work in isolation and students are too sophisticated. I love to work with others on developing and implementing projects. The best lessons for me have been when I’ve collaborated with a media specialist, the Explore teacher, the computer teacher, and a classroom teacher/ s. Each of us has taken a component and worked with the students on getting the project steps completed. Then the students put all the pieces together into a well planned, thought out product. One of the best things about this method is that it exemplifies time management. One person cannot do it all.

In the Words of Mission Impossible – Your assignment, should you choose to accept it" is to take education truly into the 21st century. Technically it is the 21st century, but our schools are not there, and our challenge now is to reinvent schools for the 21st century for the sake of our students. It will not be an easy task to incorporate all these new “things” we learned plus many others we didn’t play with or those that aren’t even “invented” yet and still focus on assessments and standardized tests. However, we must accept the mission if students are going to succeed in the world of today and tomorrow.

Thank you Joan and Maureen for providing me the opportunity to accept the Mission!

Thing 22

I created this wiki a while back as I was trying to become familiar with different choices . I created this one so that students could react to a book they read. I found this choice to be a little confusing but want to persevere. I will need to "play" some more to see if it is a viable option for use with students.

Best School Year Ever Wiki

I think wikis are great. They allow me to share resources with others including parents and allow for sharing and collaborating among students and staff. The biggest issue for most web 2.0 tools is security, access, and respect of all contributors for each other's work. Each contributor needs to be able to critique and edit without being cruel or vandalizing other's entries.

A blog (a contraction of the term "web log") is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of opinions, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Postings are usually presented in reverse-chronological order. A blog is best described as an online journal. It is usually created by one person who shares his/her thoughts and opinions on a consistent basis. It also lets other people comment on the opinions of the author. Some blogs have a specific purpose. For example, superintendents will often blog about their school districts or aspects of education. The possibilities, like with most web 2.0 tools, are endless.

A wiki is a website that allows the easy creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) text editor. People are invited to be contributors and editors to these pages. Opinions, comments and resources can be shared as well as photos and videos.

To sum it up... a blog is where you really want to present your opinions and thoughts as we have all done on the ones we created for this project. A wiki is where you want to have lots of people collaborating on given topics, sharing resources and posing questions.