The “Sky”pe is the limit! July 31, 2009

 

Things I LOVE about Skype

 

When we first explored Skype in the classroom, I was hooked.  I loved the fact that I could see people while talking to them.  I love being able to visually connect with people, although getting used to being watched while on the phone is difficult.

In the classroom, Skype would be the ultimate tool for connecting with PenPals, ePals, or using it to explore other cultures or peoples around the world.  It would be need to connect with a class of the same age of students across the world and compare and contrast how they live with how my students are living and working and learning.  It’s almost to me like a “Flat Stanley” phenomenon over the internet and much more personal!  I think students would love to use Skype because they love to see themselves on anything, and for others to be able to see them and not just a product of their work would be more applicable to them.  Also, as we have talked about in this class several times, it makes the concept of “audience” real to them.  When they are talking to real people and can see their reactions, it makes it much more important and real to them.

Using Skype has opened up a much larger option for me to think about global or nationwide projects.  I have teacher friends in other parts of the state and in other places around the world.  This would be a great way to set up a relationship for those students to learn about those places.  I have a friend who has taught in Japan and now she is in Egypt.  She teaches middle school children, so they wouldn’t necessarily be learning the same things as my K-2 kids, but it would be neat for them to see my studnets and hear them. 
Our school usually follows the Iditarod in the wintertime, and it would be very pertinent to their studies to be able to contact the people they are following and see them from place to place when they are also tracking their movements online.

What a great tool – in my personal life and as a teacher!  There are so many possibilities!

Quilted Discussions July 29, 2009

HeHeHe …
Threaded discussions are a technology tool that I am somewhat familiar with after using it in my Teacher as Researcher Master’s course with Dr. Koppenhaver.  This is a tool that is insanely useful for teachers and students alike.  It has many advantages and only a couple of disadvantages that I have seen so far in using it as a student in my Master’s courses.

As a student, the advantages to using threaded discussions are great in number.  We, as college students, use these discussions to respond to articles we’ve read, to share ideas, to ask questions and compare notes with other students for help or advice, and post things for the professor to know that we are actively participating in group discussions.  I also found these discussions helpful in my research class for feedback on my project and suggestions on how to make it more efficient or interesting for my students.  In this technology course we are learning to use it in a real classroom setting.  We have read and responded to articles, supplied responses to each other and answered meaningful questions about topics we are interested in.

In a regular classroom setting, threaded discussions would be a great way for students to share their ideas and responses WITHOUT Interruption.  This is the biggest advantage as a student to me.  So many times I have been in class, had a good idea, only to be drowned out by others who want to toot their own horns or look (to the professor) like they are an expert on the subject discussed.  Many times I have found that I am drowned out by this, lose my train of thought, and forget to go back and address my point or concern.  I also have found that the conversation may move too quickly for me to get in a word edgewise, thus, again, losing my thought and it’s never heard.  Who knows, it could be earth-shattering, ground breaking stuff, right? (doubtful. haha)
With threaded discussions, though, I have found several wonderful plus factors: 1) no one is drowned out, we all have a chance to respond and have our thoughts expressed, 2) everyone can “talk” and “listen” at the same time, at their own rate and comfort level, and 3) no one is interrupted and talked over, making the student feel like what they are contributing is worthwhile.  What a positive experience!

As a teacher, threaded discussions serve a myriad of purposes.  Some overviews: assessment, true measure of whether students are completing assignments or not, true feelings of students, collaborative working between students as they respond to each other, etc. 
For assessment, the actual threads could be analyzed for grammar, depth, sentence structure, spelling errors, etc. (but only if the teacher emphasized and explained these expectations when introducing the threaded discussions to the class.)  Informal assessment could also be completed on these discussions for teachers to learn to redirect their teaching based on the “missed” skills or holes in the threaded discussion.  This is assessment more for the teacher’s good than allotting a grade to the student.
For a true measure of completion of assignments, all a teacher must do is check the number and depth of the thread paths each student submits.  If the student is completing 20-30 threads with no depth, the teacher may choose to redirect and share an example of an acceptable thread with that student.  If a student is completing 1-3 threads of thoughtful depth and clarity and addressing the needs of the discussion, no redirection is needed.  You are going to have both ends of the spectrum with threaded discussions – the point is to assist your students in finding the happy medium for what you expect out of them.
When thinking about students openly sharing about a topic, it is important to help them understand that this threaded discussion board is a safe outlet for sharing their feelings and thoughts on the selected topics.  If there are students who are not participating in the right way, the teacher needs to abruptly stop inappropriate behavior and re-establish the “safe” gateway to the discussion board.
This falls hand in hand with collaborative work in the classroom.  In a classroom with an open, honest, and safe environment, students will feel empowered to share their learning and respond to each other about topics discussed in class and on the board.  When students are leading these discussions, the teacher acts merely as a facilitator and should foster that open and shared learning environment.  Even though we are the instigator of topics and initially teaching the mechanics behind the threaded discussion, ultimately we can step back and the students will learn to talk amongst themselves and collaboration naturally happens.

As a teacher, what a powerful tool for upper grades classrooms, especially at the high and middle school level.  Not only can you assess and read posts from your classroom or home, you can also offer important feedback without having to shuffle through 30+ papers and handwriting each response.  Another way to do feedback in sync with threaded discussions (so the feedback would remain private) would be to institute something like NiceNet into your classes, so you are sending positive feedback to all students who are on the right track and only personalizing those messages to the students who need assistance with a certain skill or post.

One way I thought of that teachers might be able to use this in a younger (primary) classroom would be to have the threaded discussion board open, and hold a discussion aloud.  The teacher would be the facilitator of the computer and the board, and would basically be performing dictation on the topics covered.  For instance, in my kindergarten classroom, I may have a topic open on pumpkins.  I may be holding an open discussion and ask students to name pumpkin facts they have learned in order for us to create a KWL chart for the week’s unit.  My way of completing the threaded discussion would be to create a strand for pumpkins, then type in the student’s name who speaks out.  I would type exactly what they tell me into a response to the pumpkin thread.  The way I would use this to drive instruction would be to assess what information they understood from my teaching and what I need to review.  Also, this is an AWESOME way to see which students are speaking up and which ones you need to call on more.  The overachieving “question-answerers” would be weeded out with this.

What a great tool to institute no matter what grade you teach!  Woohoo!

Social bookmarking … what a great tool! July 28, 2009

Social Bookmarking is a way to access the bookmarks you have saved on your personal or work computer (or both!) so that you are able to access them from any internet-connected computer.  I love this, as there are several places where I have saved bookmarks (my school computer, my laptop, and my husband’s desktop) that I would love to have a central location where they are all located.   I love to research new/good websites for my classroom in the comfort of my own home, but then I have to ultimately email them to myself to remember to save them on my school computer, or lug my laptop to school and make sure I get connected to the wireless server, etc. before I can access them.  Another disadvantage is that my laptop, although connected to wireless at the school, is not connected to the network printers, so if any of the websites have printable sheets or things I need printed out, I still have to transport the site/resource to my school computer before I can print. 

With social bookmarking, I am free to access ALL of my bookmarks on the web without transporting between computers or locations.  This is wonderful for not only teachers, but anyone who uses multiple computers to work or do research.

Another advantage to social bookmarking is the fact that you can “tag” each bookmark for easy retrieval.  For instance, I used tags such as “kindergarten”, “TeacherStuff”, “AppMaster’s”, “CatCoSchools”, etc. to tag my items.  If I click on the tab to the right of the bookmarking website, only those favorites that I have tagged with that particular category come up instead of having to muddle through all of my favorites to find the site(s) I am searching for.  Also, in the tages, I included thematic tags, so a website I have used to research pumpkin facts might be tagged as “kindergarten”, “pumpkins”, and “thematic units.”  This way I am sure to come across that site when I am searching for pumpkin facts websites that I have previously saved.

When thinking of how I might use this in my classroom, I may set up a social bookmarking site for the students to access with only the sites they are allowed to visit, such as starfall.com or funbrain.com.  This way I could set up delicious.com as a favorites bookmark on each computer, and they would learn to access this favorites bookmark and all the sites they are able to use are listed there for them.  This would be easier, as mentioned in class, than setting every computer in the lab (or even in my classroom) with the same favorite(s), especially if there are a list of suggested websites you are asking the students to access for a project.  Only saving the one favorite (delicious.com) would save time and not be too cumbersome, especially if several teachers in the school could access the same site and use different logins for their class(es).

I believe that social bookmarking can be beneficial to teachers and other professionals.  I think that students would benefit from learning to use social bookmarking to find sites their teachers have pre-created for them to search.  I also think in the upper grades that these sites would be beneficial to students who are doing research on their own (such as high school or college students.)
VERY NEAT IDEA!

:0)  Just call me a “social” butterfly!

Twitter-ing … or is it Tweet-ing? July 27, 2009

Well, whatever the correct language, twitter.com is an interesting “status update” site.  I am used to Facebook, where the status updates are mixed with instant messaging features, other applications that are sometimes fun to use, and the ability to look at other people’s profiles and learn more detailed information about them.  I also like the ability on FB to upload and share pictures, as this is how I keep up with some of my family that I don’t speak with often.

I do see the use in Twitter to possibly keep up with a group of “close” friends whom you want to know what is going on with, but don’t always have the time to call or keep up more in depth.  Being able to use Twitter, though, counts on the determination of the others you are following to keep up with it.  I have noticed that the same is continuous from FB to Twitter.  People who update often on FB are more likely to update on Twitter, and those that aren’t, don’t.  It all depends on the person.  I have friends who update on FB 10-12 times a day, and those who only update once a week.  It’s all dependent on the person.

When considering using Twitter in the classroom setting, I like Dr. K’s idea of having a specific computer set up for Twitter updates.  This would give you a great idea of what your kids were thinking, feeling and dealing with throughout the day.  If students were able to access the internet at home, Twitter would give you an invaluable resource to use to know what is going on in their home lives, and an idea of how much time they are spending in front of the computer, etc.  You could learn ALOT about your kids!

Twitter is an interesting tool to use personally and educationally.  I think it has advantages and disadvantages, all of which must be weighed before you can decide whether it can work for you or not.

Tweet, Tweet!

Blah, Blah, Blahging :0) (Blogging) July 24, 2009

Blogging is an interesting mechanism.  When reading the article I read in class, the first point was to ask yourself “why are you blogging?”  I began to think about in the past why I have blogged.  I think mostly it was for my own health, to get out frustration or information.  In the back of my mind, I believed I was making a difference because I was writing about the disease my dog has, and wanted to share some good information about her disease when most of what was out there was BAD news.  I made sure to tag and categorize it with the abbreviation for the disease and the full medical name so hopefully if someone would search or Google the name of the disease that my blog would come up.

 

In this class, I am blogging partially because it’s an assignment, and partially to share information and opinions on what I have learned.  I have enjoyed learning about blogging for a reason, not just to “vent.”

 

When thinking about how I might want to institute blogs in the classroom, I like the idea of having kids respond to prompts or pictures on a blog.  Not only is this great technology use for them, it also allows me several ways to assess and redirect teaching to meet their needs.  They feel important because they feel like they are doing something that MATTERS, and I have a valid true assessment of what they are able to create.  For instance, if students are reflecting or responding to a picture we have taken on a field trip, it would be awesome to “assess” their invented spelling or redirect my teaching if I notice all of them are having trouble with -ed endings or blends.  It would be a great tool for me.

Also, thinking about blogging as a classroom teacher, I would love to post newletters, monthly calendars, homework calendars, etc. for parents to be able to access so I am not constantly taking phone calls or printing extra copies when parents “lose” their copies.  The only issues or problems I see with the blog would be for parents or students who did not have internet access at home, or parents/students who are not English-speaking or reading.  In any situation, whether printed, pencil and paper or computer-based, these are issues we run into frequently.  I do believe that next year I will create a class blog and invite parents to follow if they are able.

Defining Literacy and Technology July 24, 2009

Literacy is such a broad term, and up until starting my Master’s degree I had an extremely broad definition of literacy.  I used to think it was just reading and writing. Period.  Today, as I sit halfway through this program, I realize that literacy not only relates to language arts subject matter, but to life in general.  There are a myriad of definitions for literacy, including, but not limited to, reading, writing, technology, common sense, communication, and any speciailized area of life.  To excel or be competent at any job, assignment or goal, you must be “literate” about the concept or subject you are studying/working on. 

 

The jump between literacy and technology comes easily when thinking about advancements over time.

 

  Technology itself is not definied simply as computers, or software, or things that are “plugged in,” but as my husband put it, “the integration of tools to create a better lifestyle.”  Even in his simple words, there stands a blast of information.  Tools can stand for anything: forks, remote controls, clocks, space shuttles, MRI machines, wheels, weapons, computers, telephones, shower heads, etc.  In a few words, what I used in class today to define technology, and what best makes sense to me is “anything created to make life or jobs simpler and more efficient.”  I thought it was funny when Dr. K overheard my definition and asked me if my husband was a tool: did he make my life simpler and more efficient?  HAHA

 

Overall, I believe both of these definitions could shift and change with the rise and fall of the tide.  They are ever-changing and adapting to “new” inventions or re-inventions/betterment of existing technologies.  The questions posed in class today about “new literacies” really made sense to me – are they really ”new” or are we re-inventing and upgrading things that have been in existence for years in different shapes and forms!???

All About Me July 23, 2009

 

My name is Ashley Wright and I am a teacher at Claremont Elementary School in Catawba County, N.C.  I have taught Kindergarten for two years, and next year I will be embarking on a new journey teaching struggling first and second grade readers, as well as implementing RTI at our school.  It will be an interesting year!

 

After 6 long years, on May 19, 2007 I married my husband and moved here to Hickory, N.C. to be with him.  I am married with no children (yet!) and a dog who is our child, Lily.  I am originally from Charlotte, N.C. (born and raised).  I attended a Christian school my entire life, until college.  I completed my undergraduate work at Appalachian State University, Gaston College, Central Piedmont Community College, and finally graduated from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in December, 2006, with a degree in Elementary Education.  I was hired at Claremont on August 1, 2007 and have worked there both years.  I love my school and the people and children that I work with.

 

I am now obtaining my Master’s degree from Appalachian State University in Reading Education, and have completed 8 courses.  I have gleaned so much useful and valuable information from this program and have been able to make a seamless connection with literacy issues in my classroom.  My goal is to bring my knowledge and experience back into my classroom to better my students’ learning abilities and enhance their opportunities for reading.

 

Working with kindergarten students has been an eye-opening experience for me regarding beginning literacy and reading.  It has been important in my two years in kindergarten to realize that students learn at their own pace, and the teacher MUST reach down to their level and work to ensure they are getting what they need.  To expect students to reach expectations that are unrealistic when dealing with literacy and learning is unacceptable practice for any teacher.  Students deserve a teacher who will stand up for them, reach them at their level, and make certain that they are making growth and excelling.  This translates well into grades higher than kindergarten.  When I envision next year with first grade and second grade struggling readers, I understand that even though the pressures are on me to keep up with the curriculum these students are to be exposed to, that in reality, this IS the reason they are behind.  It is on my shoulders to stand up for what I know is right and teach them the only way I know how – What is best for them at their level!

 

I am very excited to begin this class and learn more technology-enhanced ways to excite and interest my students, giving them an integrated way to complete and learn from previously “boring” paper-and-pencil activities.  I am sure my experience and opportunity will extend to my classroom and enhance their lives, which is important for any child to experience.