Unleashing Potential With Emerging Technologies

How would you respond to the following?

"The thing is, my reading and writing doesn't happen here. Anywhere I'd really like to write is blocked, or the stuff teachers ask us to do is so much the same thing again and again that it really isn't writing" (p214).

Talking about his blog - "...this is writing that has a very engaged audience. I write as much for getting my ideas out as I do to see the comments and responses of those who are listening and reacting. In school, writing is about handing something in. Here, it's about having something to say" (p215).

Kajder - "Emergent technology use requires time spent deeply considering the instructional value added by new tools and time spent crafting instruction that puts content and instructional goals ahead of teaching technology" (p216).

Let's take an in-depth look at the following technologies and evaluate how we could incorporate them into our own classrooms. Afterwards, we will add comments to this post, indicating our thoughts about these technologies and realistic goals for ourselves.

1. A Class Blog
2. Podcasting
3. Wikis
4. Book Trailers

Examples:
Elizabeth Boeser - blog and wikis http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/indschool/tj/teachers/boeser.html
Holdingford Elementary - podcasts http://web.mac.com/husker2/elmedia/Links.html
Greg Spanier - podcasts http://www.rocori.k12.mn.us/~spanierg/


Final thought from Kajder - "There's no denying it. We're past the point where we can keep doing old things with old tools, or old things with new tools. Students simply won't allow it. No matter how savvy they might be, they are all looking to us to push them, to stretch their thinking, and to teach them to use the tools of the truly literate in a rapidly changing world" (p229).

Adolescent Literacy - Turning Promise into Practice

Adolescent learners. What do we know about them? Which method of literacy instruction is best suited for them? How do we incorporate technology into our teaching routines? What are your ideas?

Thing 18 - YouTube & Other Online Video

I am jumping around a bit on the last few Things. I have only used YouTube a few times. I searched for spoofs on some Classics for an English teacher last year. The kids thought it was a ton of fun. I have also found some useful videos for both home and school use.

I can imagine that this site can soak up many hours while searching for funny things to watch. I used a couple different search terms, and found both home videos as well as portions of TV shows and movies. I'm not certain how people can publish home videos with copyrighted songs on them. I wonder if anyone has ever gotten in trouble for this.

This was a rather entertaining Thing, and although I did spend a bunch of time on it, it was nice to play a bit, instead of just try to figure everything out, like on many of the Things. Plus, I didn't have to create an account and think up another username and password. Thanks!

Thing 14 - LibraryThing

I like the idea of LibraryThing and have been looking for just this kind of tool. I have an English teacher who has a list of book recommendations for her students. We want to be able to list these books, and give the kids the ability to write comments about the books. LibraryThing seems to do just that, but I don't want so much clutter... I just want a simple site that allows only my students access. Any ideas?

Thing 11 - Tagging and Del.icio.us

I tagged all of my blog posts, and found it very convenient in Blogger, because as soon as I started typing, a list popped up of tags I have already used. This didn't happen in Delicious. I played around a bit and looked at other people's bookmarks. I found some very useful bookmarks and added them to my account. I think this would be very helpful to the high school kids that are doing research papers. I need to spend more time figuring out if there is a way to share bookmarks without having each student create a Delicious account.

It seems to me, that there must be some way that I can keep all of my accounts in one place... instead of creating ALL these accounts in each location. I am on my second page of usernames and passwords in my notebook. I can't imagine trying to remember all of them!

Thing 9 - Online Collaboration Tools

I have played with Google Docs for awhile, and am not sure if I prefer that, or Zoho writer. I like the idea of having teachers edit student documents right online using the comment tool. I will introduce this to the English teachers to see if they are willing to try it out. I opened two accounts, so I could see if the chatting feature worked, but didn't have much luck. I could see both of my "identities'" comments on one account, but not on the other. I'm not sure if that could be because I was on one computer. I will try to work on this with another staff member to see if we can get it to work.

The one concern that I have, is the seemingly easy ability to have someone else write your document for you. Not sure how to address this. Of course, kids can cheat any number of ways - not on the internet, so maybe my concern is unfounded.

I would like to see students using one of these programs for their papers, instead of using a word processing program at home, emailing it to themselves, and then printing it at school, since I have to unblock their email site each time they want to get their documents.

Thing 7 - Web 2.0 Communication Tools

In the library, I use email to communicate to all of the staff, as a group. If I have new books, or if there is something of interest media, or technology, -wise that I want everyone to know. The problem is that not all staff use email. Even at this point in time!

We don't have staff meeting too often, and email has been the most timely form of communication for me. However, I still prefer to make contact with people in person. For example, if a teacher is doing a project on a certain topic, and I know we have a few really good books/reference materials/website that would be beneficial to him/her, I might stop them on their way through (or track them down) and actually show them the book/other material and tell them, or show them, a bit about it. In that way, they actually "get" the info. Sometimes when I am in a hurry, I skim emails from people and then "push the info into the back folder in my brain" until I find time to digest it. Of course, many times, I never get back to it. :(

I do use email many times each day to keep in contact with friends and family. Otherwise my long distance bill would be sky high. That, and it is very convenient to write a quick note and they can read it when they have time. I have used IM, but not very often. I like using, but time can go quickly and before you know it, it is hours later! I do not text message. IT takes too much time!

I have done a few phone/web conferences. The most recent being training from Follett. I like the fact that I can see what the trainer is doing, but still feel a little "distanced" and less likely to ask questions. I guess I still like face-to-face communication.

Thing 4 - Photosharing and Editing

Flickr could be a wonderful way to keep backups of your photos, or sharing them with others. It is quite easy to upload the files. I think I should have created new accounts on Google and Yahoo though - for all of these Things.

I'm not sure I trust putting anything too personal on the account, though. Yes, I can imagine that this site would be wonderful to share pics of a new baby, etc., with family and friends. But how do we REALLY know if someone else doesn't have access to our account? The Flickr server has to know our password, or it wouldn't let us in. What if someone hacks into their server? Or someone captures our password online? OK... I sound like a Conspiracy Therorist... I just have a bit of trouble with all of the privacy that we are throwing to the wind in the name of "social networking". When thieves can swipe a card into a gas pump, and learn private data about the person who just paid by credit card, it scares me. Identity theft is a big issue right now, and yet, we think nothing of posting personal information online.

I do think it would be a good way for teachers to post pictures for teaching topics - especially as creative writing prompts. So, I guess I like Flickr for educational uses, but don't know if I would use it personally. I just really don't want to give up my 35 mm film camera, and kodak paper! Which is why my Flickr pic comes from my computer camera. I don't own a digital camera (yet).

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds... I can see that they would be extremely useful for people who keep up to date on many different sites. It would also be great for students who are doing research on specific topics. They could find good sites and then sign up for the RSS to keep updated on new research. I don't usually spend much time online, therefore I subscribed to a few of the recommended blogs/feeds, as I have no favorite sites.I do read the SCTimes, but I didn't see an RSS feed, unless Ihave to go into a specific category, and then only get updates on that space... I need to work on this a bit more to understand it. I can see that all this info could become overwhelming and/or addicting. Personally, I think these tools can encourage sitting in front of the computer instead of doing something active. I know this tool is supposed to be time saving.... so I am going to give it a go!