TLA TAL Digital Citizenship

One thing that comes to mind thinking about users not having been taught how to make appropriate decisions is the prevalence of very young children with their own Facebook pages. A lot of decision-making has to occur when deciding what is appropriate to post for others to see, forever. Important decisions are made about who to “friend,” as well. I have a 6 year old cousin with a Facebook account. He knows that his parents had to lie about his age to set up the account. That message alone concerns me. I am also uncomfortable with the sexually suggestive posts that he has access to through adult friends of his parents. They aren't directing the comments to him but he can read them. That kind of humor is not necessary in a young child's life. Even with Skype, my daughter, Lin, received a message from a complete stranger requesting to be added to Lin's contact list because she “sounds like fun.” The only information available would have been Lin's first name and the state in which she lives. Creepy! Fortunately, as we had discussed, Lin brought her laptop straight to me when the message arrived. That discussion and preparation is the key, in my mind. Kids are going to use technology, we need to teach them to make good decisions for their safety. I have, as a parent chosen which social networking my children are ready for and educated them about their safe use of these sites. I push myself to open more as they become ready to handle more. Quite honestly, I don't think I have enough technology skill to ban my teen from sites. He is way more skilled than I am. I worked to set good values and good decision making in my son. Now, I need to allow him to make decisions.

Digital Use contracts employed by some districts may help. I had a cool link but it has been eaten by my overuse of the highlight and delete functions. Hopefully, the contracts would spur family discussions. It is really important to get parents and kids talking about how the kids use social media. This is not easy (talking to a teenager does not seem to be easy regardless of the topic, in my experience.) However, it is necessary. http://www.webmd.com/parenting/news/20110328/social-networking-may-affect-kids-health (http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/KidPledge1.pdf http://www.digitalcitizenship.net/uploads/ParentContract.pdf)

Classroom discussions about digital bullying are important as well as discussions about what types of digital footprints they want to establish for themselves.(http://www.northern-iowan.org/digital-bullying-a-growing-concern-among-students-1.237391)

Social networking with some controls may be a good starting place for younger kids to get the hang of things. (http://coreadvtech.com/student-safe-email -041011http://skidekids.com/ http://www.lilsugar.com/Best-Social-Networks-Kids-15191030 )

Digital communication has affected communication in the world. Change is not necessarily a bad thing. http://www.ehow.com/about_6609852_digital-technology-affect-communication_.html It has positives and negatives. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/110806203538.htm We need to work take advantage of the advantages. And...talk to kids about the disadvantages. http://www.onguardonline.gov/topics/social-networking-sites.aspx Banning kids os so not the answer! This principal is asking for something that would cause strife and not solve the problems.

http://www.allfacebook.com/principal-asks-parents-to-ban-social-networking-to-prevent-cyber-bullying-2010-04

I love the comment “Learners must be taught how to learn in a digital society. In other words, learners must be taught to learn anything, anytime, anywhere.” The ability to learn anything, anytime, anywhere is so much more valuable random sets of facts memorized for tests! Also, “As new technologies emerge, learners need to learn how to use that technology quickly and appropriately.” New technologies are intimidating to many teachers. Many educators, raised without current technologies, will need to step out of their comfort zones in order to meet students' needs.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/education/02iht-educSide.html

http://magazine.jhu.edu/2011/05/teaching-and-learning-in-the-digital-age/

TLA TAL systemic improvement

This (http://screencast.com/t/uHgYPjN7) is the moodle access for district.

This (http://screencast.com/t/qjymQE1jbVCf) is the irritating message that I get when I try to get to my moodle today.  So, just take my word for it, my moodle is cool.  I don't have a classroom so it is designed for teachers to use.  It has links and descriptions of websites and activities that can be used by the teachers.  At this point, it is all related to literacy but I hope to expand into math this year.

My daughter's fifth grade teacher has a moodle which is used to inform parents of classroom activities.  He hopes this year to include online assignments, as well.

I don't believe anyone in my school uses anything with student information attached.  I have seen grades posted with student numbers as opposed to social security numbers or names.
E2020 classes, skype, virtual fieldtrips, and many other online learning opportunities are used by some.  We have only touched the tip of the iceberg but we are moving in the right direction.

TLA TAL Critical Evaluation

I worry about students believing everything they read online.  I can remember proofreading a paper my nephew had written in high school.  He had some obviously inaccurate "facts."  When I pointed that out, he insisted that he'd found them online and they were correct.  Gee, big surprise, his teacher didn't think so either.
Our new technology teacher is fabulous!  I say a lot of growth last year in my daughter's ability to search for information.  I will share this evaluation document with her but it would need some serious tweaking to make it easy enough for elementary age students to use.  I think it was too involved for high school students to be willing to bother with, too.
As an adult, it was easy to recognize that the Martin Luther King, Jr. site was very biased.  I'm afraid that teenagers don't have enough world experience to realize that themselves, though.  Also, as an adult, it was easy to realize rennet is not a small animal.  However, there may be a host of teens who've given up cheese to save the little critters.
I frequently receive emails from my grandmother or well-intentioned friends that I respond to with a link to an article on snopes.com explaining that it is an urban myth.  Educated adults are falling for those things!  It is imperative that we arm our children with the means to critically evaluate the information they access online.

TLA TAL Information Gathering and Staying Informed

http://screencast.com/t/OXfBWcaqCMy

RSS feeds are something I'd heard about but wasn't really sure what it meant or how to get it.  I really like having the educational news stream right onto my igoogle page.  This makes it so much easier to keep up with current events.  I will be able to share the information with the staff at my school as it pertains to each person or grade level.  I will also be able to share information with the school improvement team as I find ideas that may benefit our school.

http://screencast.com/t/jZkZHMjCEL

Google alerts could be cool this year.  Quite honestly, Saranac Schools are not generally heating up the news wires.  However, there was an occasion last year in which a couple of teachers saw a news piece about one of our teachers that others were later unable to find.  I like the idea that I will automatically be alerted when we are in the news.  So far, no alerts have come.  We have discussed, as a staff, the benefits of getting positive stories about our district out there.  I am going to make it a goal for the year to have at least 2 postitive news pieces that I am responsible for.

IES What Works Clearinghouse

This was very interesting. I was happy to see Accelerated Reader as a plus. It is a program we use at our school that I have mixed feelings about. For some kids, it works well. I was not surprised by the low rating for Read Naturally. We did a one year pilot that was horrible. Reading Recovery was rated quite highly. That was unfortunately one of the cuts our district made a few years ago. We piloted Leveled Literacy Intervention (LLI) last year and I had hoped to see a rating on that but it isn't there. We had good success in our district and will be expanding LLI this year.  

TLA TAL What works and what doesn't Hattie Research

Hattie research:

My initial read-through of these results was stressful. I noticed that feedback was number one and thought about feedback as teacher's promptly grading papers. Once I read the information underneath, and realized the feedback is much deeper than that, it made sense. I was similarly struck at the bottom of the list by individualization. Again, reading the comments clarified things. I think this study could be dangerous in the wrong hands. If someone just had the labels without the extra information, it could be interpreted quite differently. I felt that if individualizing things is ineffective, I've been steering things the wrong way. However, I believe I just have a different meaning for the word individualize than the author does. To me, it meant allowing differences (e.g. multiple means of …) if it is instead interpreted as a completely individualized course of study more like the old SRA, that is non-interactive, I can see why it is in the red zone. Direct instruction doesn't necessarily sound like old, traditional teaching to me. It sounds like Lucy Calkins. Say what you want students to learn, model, allow for guided practice, allow for individual practice.

TLA TAL UDL Reflection

UDL needs to provide muliple means of representation, multiple means of expression, and multiple means of engagement.

I love the idea that curriculum should accommodate all kinds of learners from the beginning, not just providing a change for one child as an afterthought. I think less kids would “slip through the cracks” if they truly had multiple means of representation, engagement, and expression. Some of them spend their whole school career with someone trying to stuff their little round peg into a square hole. Maybe its the hole that needs changing.

I think the idea of beginning with the end in mind is huge. If teachers are really focusing their lessons and assignments on the things they really want students to learn, their lessons will end up stronger. Sometimes, teachers get sidetracked and continually reviewing what you are planning to do in your lesson with the stated end goals of your curriculum could really help with that. Also, thinking right from the beginning about what will be difficult for students and how to support them will make a big difference.

As a parent, I'm excited about the inclusion of all learners through UDL. One of my children is a very tactile learner. Standing in front of him and lecturing is just as effective as closing your eyes and clicking your ruby slippers. He simply doesn't learn well that way. One of my children needs extra processing time. A traditional classroom model of teacher asks, student raises hand and answers within a second isn't going to work for her. If 2 out of 2 of my kids need something just a bit different than the traditional, I suspect almost all children do. Teaching for an imaginary average child is not acceptable.

One of the You Tube videos I viewed was UDL Guidelines in Practice Grade 5 Language Arts . The lesson included references to resources the students had at their fingertips and were invited to use, it was pretty brief, it connected the day's work with previous worth, and it provided a focused goal to students. I think, too often, students can't figure out the connections between the things done at school. It is important for teachers to provide them. I really like that the kids have resources and are expected to use them. That will benefit them in the future, as well.

TLA TAL Research and Resources

It's hard to remember life without the convenience of internet. Now, when I want to learn about something, I just pop online and have numerous resources available. One of the biggest challenges in education is teaching students how to access the specific information they are seeking and teaching them to filter the information available for accuracy. I'm really pleased with the technology education at my elementary school. My daughter, in 4^th grade last year, really learned how to refine her searches. It is a very useful skill.

I'm pretty excited about this resource. http://www.toolsforeducators.com/ I need to make a couple of games for the “make-and-take” portion of my family game night next week. This website may really save me some time. I'm also intrigued by the comic strip dialogue maker.

I'm pretty pleased with this resource, too. http://www.grantwrangler.com/ I'm always seeking another grant source.

http://nces.ed.gov/ This one sounds interesting, as well. I do a lot of educational research. I can always use another resource. http://scholar.google.com/ This will help with research and locating articles for the other teachers to read, too.  

TAL TLA Delicious

http://screencast.com/t/U1FJ3t8p

I love having a Delicious account.  I find it really convenient having access to all of my favorite sites no matter where I am.  I also find it handy having access to my teaching partner's Delicious account.  We are often working on projects together and need to utilize the same resources.  I haven't shared my Delicious with my coworkers because I think my moodle is an easier way for most teachers to access the sites.

TLA TAL Collaboration Tools Assignment

What are my experiences using Google Docs?

I first used Google Docs last summer as part of the common core curriculum projects.

I was the facilitator of a very small team. We used Google Docs to work on the standards before they were moved to Curriculum Crafter.

At school this year, a couple of us demonstrated Google Docs at a staff meeting, having several groups of teachers contribute to one, common document. We then used a Google Doc to track pot luck contributions for our Christmas party. When I scheduled grade level meetings this year, I would first check my boss's Google Calendar to choose a date that would be convenient for her. This summer I am part of a common core curriculum camp at Saranac Schools. Again, we are using Google Docs so that our work can be more easily and efficiently accessed by all. Finally, I am currently hosting a book study for a group of Saranac teachers. Because it was so difficult to find a common time to meet over the summer, we are all posting our thoughts on a Google Doc. It is working really well!

Do I think Google Docs could be a good replacement to other things for the work that students do in learning?

Oh, yeah! I think it is huge that a student could work on a document at school, at home, or elsewhere without needing to carry the document back and forth on a flash drive. This could put an end to forgetting homework. I think it could be great that multiple students could work on a shared document in multiple places. That is so much more efficient than everyone doing their part and assembling it at the end. It could lead to much more cohesive work. Using a Google Calendar could really make things nice, too. Project due dates and meeting times could be on a student's calendar. Currently, our school provides assignment books to all students K-8. I think using Google Calendar would fit better with the kids' current world.

What big pictures uses do I see for using Google Docs in my teaching and learning practice?

One use for Google Docs that I envision is as a storage area for ideas from people across the country. I am preparing a presentation about parent involvement that includes descriptions of multiple parent and family nights I've held. My vision is that if the document were stored online so that others could add their ideas and experiences, it would really expand everyone's toolbox of ideas. Additionally, it opens the possibilities of collaborators to include students from all over the state, country, or even world.

Another idea I've heard about is a teacher that puts her outline for lessons on a Google Doc. The students each save their own copy and take their notes on the already started page. It saves them some work, saves trees, and makes it so that students can always access their notes.

TLA TAL Vision Statement Assignment

Wow! If I had a magic wand and could turn schools into what I think they should be, what would I do? I'm not sure I know enough about the possibilities with technology to answer this question the best way.

Who would be teaching? This is an area that could use improvement in our current school system. The only people teaching in an ideal system would be teachers who are capable of adapting quickly to the myriad needs of students. When I first started teaching, a retired teacher told me the first year is hard but every year after that, I would be able to just follow the same lesson plans and use the same dittos. She wouldn't be teaching in my school! I would want teachers that could inspire and truly respect students. Teachers would embrace the movement to be the “guide on the side” rather than the “sage on the stage.” They would facilitate students in their quest for knowledge without stifling the purposeful birdwalks those quests may take. Teachers wouldn't all need to be in the same physical space as their students, either. A chemist in Nevada could host a virtual class for students from Georgia, Mississippi, and Ohio. This would open a whole new world of possibilities for students. Kids, with common interests, from schools all over the world, could work together solving problems without needing to be in a room together.

What would the students be learning? Students would be learning to research, filter the information, collaborate, and create. They would not spend year after year memorizing the states and capitals! Rather than learning things that “have real-world applications,” school would be part of the real world. Assessments would be based on performance. Pairs or groups of students would collaborate to research, design, create, etc. Each child would be assessed on his/her performance and understanding. Assessment would reflect a child's ability to access and use knowledge rather than just memorize isolated facts.

Where are the kids? When are they there? What are they doing? Hmmm. This is tricky. I have trouble conceiving of a different arrangement than the one I know. I think there would need to be a lot of flexibility. Some students would be at the school longer, receiving intensive support as needed. Others would be at school less time because the extra support would not be needed. The school itself would be designed differently to allow many gathering places for students to work, alone and in groups. Some students would attend some classes from home. Some students would work from home part of the time. There would be wireless technology access at school without ridiculous filtering. I know enough about technology to realize that I don't even know what is available to incorporate. If students were given more power in their learning, I suspect new technologies would be produced rapidly as they determined how to meet their own needs and developed the technologies themselves and in partnership with businesses.

Certainly there would be enough computers, tablets, smart phones, etc. to allow all students to access available information resources.

My own son absolutely hates school. His real life happens at home. This child who struggles continually at school, started receiving calls from other students in 5^th grade asking for his help with online things. This child, unable to pass a traditional algebra class, has a Paypal account so that people can pay him to use his server. I don't even know what that means. I do know that school lacks relevance for him. He is certainly capable of learning. He would be much more comfortable and successful in a school which honors his technology abilities. This is his world. This is the world school for which school should be preparing him.

TLA TAL Getting Started

What do I hope to learn through the Teacher as Learner course?
I hope to get more skilled at using or even understanding the possibilities for using technology beyond my limited scope of understanding.  I hope to learn how to  connect with other educators and learn from/with them.  I hope to learn how to avoid things like the mysteriously disappearing blog.  I thought I created this blog a couple of days ago.  However, today, I was told the blog didn't exist and the name was still available.