Thing 23 The Journey Continues

Whew, what a journey so far...

I've been very fortunate to work in a district that sends me to two major conferences every year, MAME and MACUL. Also, I attend the REMC meetings every month for professional development. I am not a new convert. I have more than a passing acquaintance with Web 2.0 tools. However, that is not the same thing as spending ten intensive weeks learning more about and experimenting with the tools myself. I spent so much time looking at this and that, my head was spinning! Some of the tasks were easy and fun, some were complicated and took a lot to get the hang of how they work. Good experience all around.

I feel much more confident in being the "go to person." I am excited about the possibilities of collaborating with classroom teachers and know just who I will approach with suggestions for implementing the new technologies. Ideally, it would be great to present at staff meetings, but based on experience, I know this is not the way to go. Much better to use the one to one approach.

Several staff from my middle school have taken the course and some great things are happening. To my knowledge, no one from my high school has participated; I will certainly promote the class. I also agree with the comments from several others that a class should be developed for administrators. They not only face different challenges, they are the ones who can push the rest of us to acquire new skills. I can't wait for the day we move beyond the nineteenth century education model across the board!

Thing 21 and Thing 22 Wikis

I've been thinking about wikis for quite some time and have been unable to think of ways to personally implement the tool. I've discussed it with a colleague I'm mentoring and we decided a blog would work better for her purposes. Part of our discussion centered on the fact that it's hard to edit (read "criticize") one's peers as she has been asked to do in her grad classes, although we have no problem correcting students' work! By the same token, it's been my experience when I ask students for constructive criticism, all I get are positive comments which is not really helpful. I stress we can all do better to no avail.

I very much enjoyed looking at so many wikis; my head is spinning with ideas. I especially examined the Educational Wikis site and took note of a number of great one's which I plan to share with specific teachers or departments. Just directing them to the list is too much to ask. One suggestion I would have is to organize the page differently. Alphabetical is always good (although titles are not always descriptive) and abstracts are essential but I think it would be useful to sort by discipline and grade level, as well.

There were a couple of school web sites in a wiki format. I'm not sure this is the best format for that purpose. They seemed "messy" and unorganized to me. I prefer a more polished look.

The hurdles I foresee center around participation and time. When participation is voluntary, as it would be for me as I don't have students assigned to me, the wiki won't be successful. When there is accountability, the possibilities are limitless! I see my role as a mentor. Just today, the counseling department chair asked my advice about using a wiki for designing a powerpoint. I heartily agreed this would be the perfect tool. That department is really moving along in using technology and now web 2.0, as well! Last year they just asked me do it for them. The time issue is always a hurdle, time to explore and time to create. I seem to have more success at the middle school level where the teachers are more adventuresome and don't seem so rigid about the pacing guides.

I plan on promoting wikis and I'm looking forward to collaborating with a teacher on one in the very near future.

My Wiki
I've created a blog for my library CrestwoodHighSchoolLibrary. It's just a beginning, but I see a future with several pages and lots and lots of stuff related to independent reading. the headings include Purchase Suggestions, Reading Suggestion Portals, Book Related Podcasts, Author Sites, and Events. After I spruce it up a bit, I plan on having a link on my home page.

Obviously blogs and wikis have difference, but I'm not sure if one is better than the other for a specific purpose. I think it probably depends on personal preference for the task at hand. I tried using a blog with my book club with little success. I think the wiki might work better because I don't have any preconceived expectations. If students care to contribute, fine.

Thing 20 Subscribe to Podcasts

The Educational Podcast Network is as organized as can be under the circumstances. An effort has been made to group by grade level and subject area. Unfortunately, there aren't any abstracts, just a list of titles and names. I settled on the Information Skills category because this is my field and it had fewer listings. I clicked on "How to Sell your Car" by Eric Sotus because my husband sells cars. A menu opened stating "Tips on selling your car: a monthly podcast to help people with buying, selling and fixing their cars and trucks. Episode 1 - Selling Your Car The podcast was dated 11/12/07 and created at 4:03am. There were no other episodes listed. It was a legitimate podcast (I was leery) from Chicagolandauto.com I did not see a link to the podcast on the website. Could be a brilliant idea in the middle of the night that didn't fly.

Podcast Alley, on the other hand works much better. I picked a genre (education)and was provided with a list of titles. This is where the difference is apparent. When I clicked on "Grammar Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing," an abstract appeared. The ability to subscribe, vote or get more details is right there. "More details" provided episode titles. You can also comment, vote (it seems important but why?) or link to the website.

I don't have an iphone or an ipod. I don't even listen to NPR in the car. This isn't something I will be using, but it is really cool. If I wanted to subscribe to a podcast, I would use the itunes site which is very nicely organized.

Thing 19 Podcasting

Student produced podcasts, Radio WillowWeb, what a fabulous resource and model for our staff of how to intergrate 21st century skills into the curriculum.

I listened to #21 Endangered Animals, Everywhere which fits right in with a fifth grade research project we are beginning this week.

While searching for other excellent examples, I found the Education Podcast Network which also listed Radio WillowWeb at the top of the elementary list. The problem with this site is there are no abstracts, just a list of sites which lead to a list of dates of podcasts. The same holds true for Education Podcast.com. And I thought the WOW TV guide sucks!

My conclusion is this is an engaging way to assess learning and also with the ability to replay, to reinforce learning. However, searching for appropriate podcasts to use in your teaching would take an inordinate amount of time.

Thing 18 Slideshare

I asked our webmaster to upload a slideshow of Reading Month activities on our school website. She first uploaded it to Photostory because everyone doesn't own PowerPoint and Photostory is a free download. Valid point. I'm guessing uploading to Slideshare would take care of this, but that would not be an option in our district; even though technically speaking our website is accessible by anyone, we can assume we have a very limited audience. Even so, we have to check that we have permission for every recognizable student that appears in a photo. Posting student pictures on Slideshare with it's vast audience is not permitted. However, posting presentations would be acceptable. I'm impressed with the option to immediately e-mail the presentation to some one else.

Kids Need Reading Stamina

View more presentations from Anne Robinson.

Thing 17 Productivity Tools

Remember the Milk is great for those who have one of those "new fangled phones", but that's not me. I already use and share my Google calendar; that's how we all know where I am. I frequently have to check myself! LibraryThing requires way too much of a commitment. Knowtes will be great for students, I'll have to share with staff, particularly with the science department that's eating my ink budget with all the power points being printed for study guides. Trailfire looks like a more complicated Delicious. I don't need more complicated.

I tried Bubbl.us and was thrilled.This tool is fabulous. I've been using Inspiration, but there's always the issue of licensing and loading software. Now I have access to mind-mapping anywhere, anytime. Cool! I do have to say it wasn't totally intuitive, so I tried to find directions on Common Craft. I ended up at Tech-bites.com, which was new to me and works just as well. So I learned two new things today. Life is good!

Thing 16 Google Docs

I use Google Docs frequently and suggest and teach it as a solution for group projects for my students. (This is how I found out they don't use e-mail, but communicate via Facebook,etc.) Creating an e-mail account is not a problem in our district, thank goodness. I don't have much occasion to use spreadsheets and didn't see the normal "save" button that you see when using a word document. I located "save" under file. I see there's an auto save on this page. I don't know how to set this up. Is it available all the time?

Even if our students had personal files (which I've been begging for for years), Google Docs would still be necessary to do group work. the next step might be a wiki which I have not yet attempted with students.