Like most fields of work, making connections for extended learning is vital for growth and development. In the last year, I have mady many links to the digital world for use in my classroom. This being my second year of teaching in a regular education setting, I found that my students were bored ( I should have known this already) with the "get your textbooks out and open to page 34" kind of teaching. As a digital native, it has been much easier for me to pull the technology tools into my classroom. My students are involved in active, hands on learning that involve completing multiple tasks at a time. They must activate prior knowledge and make necessary connections with what they already know and what they are doing. Some days prove much more difficult than others, but students of the 21 century are different learners than myself and the teachers who tend to stick to the old ways.
In my mindmap, I inlcuded areas that I use to enhance instruction. These are areas that I visit and refer to often so that I say informed with the latest news, assessment data, and teaching ideas. Voicethread offers ways for digital storytelling. The blog sites that I listed were created by teachers who are experienced at technology integration. Classroom 2.0 is a vast public space filled with people who experience life just as I do on a day to day basis.
Though I did not mention it in my mindmap, I must say that one of the best resources for teachers are the people who are we are working with. My colleagues are an invaluable library of knowledge for me. Living and working in small school district has many benefits. Any questions that may arise are only an email answer away. Whether it be coming from someone in my building, administrator, central office personnel or former co-workers, help is but a click away.
I feel that my connections are exactly what George Siemens described in his video. While many people are still not as "connected" as other, it is up to us who are to postively promote all that is out there, how to find it and perhaps most important: how to use it effectively.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Sites
Blog Sites #1
First of all I should start by saying that I am a rookie when it comes to blogging. I used Class Chatter for a short time with my 6th grade students, but that was at the end of the year when a former Technology Integration Specialist tuned me in. Class Chatter is a free learning management system that has attributes similar to our own system at Walden. Even with this slight experience, I was totally unaware of the blogging world. It is massive! A quote that I will take away from this experience comes from Cathy Moore's blog:"To create elearning that changes real-world behavior, we have to first identify what people need to do, and only then decide if there’s anything that they need to know." This statement is applicable to the youngest of students. Why are we spending countless minutes teaching instead of having students take more action?
Lightning in a Bottle
I chose this site because of it's connection to the education world and the changes that are occuring in it. The creator, Conn McQuinn provides insight on topics such as book studies, tech standards and his personal experiences with technology and education.
Instructional Design and Development is ran by the IDD department at Depaul University. Throughout the blog, several people provide articles and insight on many topics. Primarily the goal of the site is to provide information for enhancing instruction through the use of technology. I found the articles Teaching Frustrations: Why Don’t Students Follow My (Clearly-Labeled, Logically Organized, and Bold/Highlighted/Flashing) Instructions? by Sarah Brown and Story-Telling Tools—Beyond PowerPoint by Melissa Koenig useful to me as a classroom teacher. Koenig explores the CogDogRoo, an online resource for digital storytelling. I have posted a link to this site and some others that I think will aid elementary teachers in designing lessons for their students that are empowering.
Blog Site #3
The last site I am including is an article on Internet Time titled How People Learn. I found this post to be an honest review of learner capabilities and teaching strategies of the 21st century. At times, the author provides an in your face look at education like in the "why schools suck" section."Knowledge is constructed, not transferred. It's built out of known chunks. It's always linked to the situation, thus 'situated.' Skills and knowledge do not exist outside of context. Everything is connected, in mental, physical, or social space." Peter Senge, Schools That Learn
First of all I should start by saying that I am a rookie when it comes to blogging. I used Class Chatter for a short time with my 6th grade students, but that was at the end of the year when a former Technology Integration Specialist tuned me in. Class Chatter is a free learning management system that has attributes similar to our own system at Walden. Even with this slight experience, I was totally unaware of the blogging world. It is massive! A quote that I will take away from this experience comes from Cathy Moore's blog:"To create elearning that changes real-world behavior, we have to first identify what people need to do, and only then decide if there’s anything that they need to know." This statement is applicable to the youngest of students. Why are we spending countless minutes teaching instead of having students take more action?
Lightning in a Bottle
I chose this site because of it's connection to the education world and the changes that are occuring in it. The creator, Conn McQuinn provides insight on topics such as book studies, tech standards and his personal experiences with technology and education.
Instructional Design and Development is ran by the IDD department at Depaul University. Throughout the blog, several people provide articles and insight on many topics. Primarily the goal of the site is to provide information for enhancing instruction through the use of technology. I found the articles Teaching Frustrations: Why Don’t Students Follow My (Clearly-Labeled, Logically Organized, and Bold/Highlighted/Flashing) Instructions? by Sarah Brown and Story-Telling Tools—Beyond PowerPoint by Melissa Koenig useful to me as a classroom teacher. Koenig explores the CogDogRoo, an online resource for digital storytelling. I have posted a link to this site and some others that I think will aid elementary teachers in designing lessons for their students that are empowering.
Blog Site #3
The last site I am including is an article on Internet Time titled How People Learn. I found this post to be an honest review of learner capabilities and teaching strategies of the 21st century. At times, the author provides an in your face look at education like in the "why schools suck" section."Knowledge is constructed, not transferred. It's built out of known chunks. It's always linked to the situation, thus 'situated.' Skills and knowledge do not exist outside of context. Everything is connected, in mental, physical, or social space." Peter Senge, Schools That Learn
Sunday, January 10, 2010
All About Me
Hello all! My name is Amanda Turner. I live in the very rural coal fields of southern West Virginia. I have a 3 year old, headstrong daughter, Molly and a wonderfully patient husband Josh. This is my 5th year as an elementary school teacher. I have held my current position in the 4th grade @ Wharton Elementary for the last two years. Wharton is a small school of about 125 students Pre-K thru 5th grade and no wireless internet connections! I look forward to getting to know everyone in class this session!
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