I started a class on Web 2.0 about three weeks ago.  Sometimes the VDOE offers classes for TRTs.  I guess they think that they should help us decide the direction that we ought to be going.  I try to take as many as I can because I want to make sure that I am at least keeping pace with what the VDOE has suggested.  The classes have been interesting, but in general they seem to be things I have a pretty good handle on already.  I think the classes are great for learning about what is going on in other school divisions and for networking.  So I will continue to take them as I have the opportunity. 

We are supposed to post to our blogs weekly about the course content, and of course since it’s on my blog, this assignment has fallen to the way side.  So here’s the post that I was supposed to do last week.  Required reading for this week is some older posts from Richardson and Dembo, both of whom I read (when I am reading).  The posts introduce the idea of conjugating the word blog.  Blog (noun), blogging (verb), and what the concepts we are talking about really mean. 

Just to summarize, a blog is the site where you read what has been written and perhaps comment on it.  Blogging on the other hand is the act of reading, reflecting, and writing about what you read.  Which then might be read by someone else who reflects and then writes about what you have written.  The continuing circle becomes what we know as the blogosphere.  Dembo then asks a question:  When we take this practice into the classroom, are we rehashing the same old skills are we teaching something new?    Is the skill set required by students who blog different from what students are required to do in a regular classroom. 

I am pretty sure that this is a new skill set.  Especially if we allow students to choose whose reflections they will read.  I could be said that they might have the same outcomes reading and reflecting on The Diary of Anne Frank, but I beg to differ.  Blogging becomes alive in a very different way then the reading, reflecting, and discussing that goes on in a regular classroom.  Blogging allows the student to choose what direction the discussion will go in.  It requires them to thoroughly think through their thoughts and opinions as they have to be expressed in writing.  Too a student in a class will add to the discussion a partial thought and be unable to fully express it.  Another student adds to their thought in an attempt to assist and then the conversation has may be seeded with thoughts that the student was in no way thinking.  If one of the participants hooks on to that idea there is a fundamental shift in the conversation that may never come back to the partially expressed thought of the first student. A student’s blog is her own.  The conversation never gets away from her and she is able to bring it back to her point and clarify to her audience. 

I really wanted to know why I had stopped blogging, and I realized that my reader is poorly setup and overflowing, so I guess I need to declare bankruptcy and start over.  Then I might be able to read something that I can reflect on…

http://beyond-school.org/2007/12/07/students-20-edublog-pre-launch-help-spread-the-splash/

Students talking about education..I know I want to hear what they have to say…

Do you spend any time talking about proper methods of e-mail? Not quite sure what she meant by this question, but I post about email use over at my work blog: http://ppsblogs.net/ruthokoye

Do you have a facebook or myspace profile? Yes I do.  It’s not really a great profile, so I’m hesitant to share it.  I’m just beginning to look into facebook as my goddaughter has joined and sent me an invitation…

If someone wrote about you, is your name hyperlinkable? (Do you have something they can link to?) Yes.  I have a two blogs. This one and the one from work mentioned above.

Do you know the names of all of your students? I’m really bad with names, and when I was teaching my students were quite aware of my diificulty.  I made up nicknames that I could remember for some and called most “sweetheart”

If your students have computers in the classroom, do your students make ongoing eye contact? When I taught and had computers in the room, my students were using them!  They weren’t looking at me…

Are you unafraid of what would happen if youtube, myspace, and facebook were allowed in your classroom? As a public educator, I do need to worry about student safety, however I would feel better about youtube and myspace being available if students were taught how to appropriately use these materials first.  Teachers at the elementary level (where I teach) should make used of free services to teach students how to use these types of materials before we let them.  www.imbee.com; tappedin.org; and the new ad-free Ning groups would be perfect to teach students how to use these.

Do your students collaboratively create documents? While I am familiar with wikis and googledocs, I’ve not used them with elementary kids at this point

Do you expect your students to complete their reading assignments? Kids never completed their reading assignments when I was teaching.  I never completed them while I was in school.  If we changed a few things like the publishing options, I think that might change.  If kids knew they would be blogging a response to a reading, they might know they can’t fake it.

Do you assign papers and grade them after reading EVERY WORD? I learned very quickly that I did not want to read a million papers, so I stopped giving boring assignments like write about…I used lots of options like create a brochure, do an oral report…that way I could really grade things fairly.

Have you ever given assignment and allowed students to create content on the public world wide web? I do now that I am in IT. 

Do you allow students to post content WITHOUT premoderation? I don’t think I could do that.  I teach elementary school.  They are still learning about what is appropriate.

If you allow students to post online, do you subscribe to 100% of their content in your RSS reader? No.  I post their stuff.  So I read it before it goes out there.

Do you comment on your student blogs? Yes, sometimes. 

Is more than 50% of your content relevant “to life?” (Ask your students) I think so.  I use lots of real life examples to get my point across.

Do all of your students open their textbook for your class on a weekly basis? When I taught they did in class.

Do you give reading assignments that include web content? Not usually

Have your students been taught methodologies for assessing the validity of web documents? I try to include that when I am teaching lessons that include research

Do you give students projects where they must manage themselves, multitask, and deliver a comprehensive output that is relevant to your topic? YES!!

Have you changed anything significant about ALL of the courses you are teaching THIS YEAR? Yes.  I’ve added blogging.

Do you care? Of course.

Here’s the video that started it all:

Neither of the administrators in the buildings that I am assigned to would caare about this, but I am showing this to my immediate supervisor.

It is inevitable, that our professional goals sometimes take us to new positions. Kim has gone from principal to assistant superintendent. In her post she talks about having been a good principal and loving her job. She is taking a break from blogging because she doesn’t yet see the place for it in her new position.

The idea of leaving a job you love to follow your professional goal is something that I am struggling with right now. I know that I am having a rough patch right now, but generally speaking – I love my job. My teachers know it, my boss knows it, and the other TRTs in the division know it. But I am finishing a doctoral program in educational leadership. I went into the program for principal certification. Logically, when the dissertation is done, I should be moving on.

I just stumbled on this great job before I could finish. When I applied, I thought this job was meant for me. Who looks for someone with elementary language arts background in a technology field? Language arts folks that I’ve known have always been a little tech shy. Even I just dabbled before I got the position. I just happened to have the right combination of education. Undergrad in computer programming and grad in reading – I used to say this job is a combination of my two great loves.

The question remains – should I move on? Or will I find that I’ve moved on from something that I was really good at like Kim?

Most folks acknowledge that the school division is behind in many ways, but those of us who love working here realize that we’re learning and growing in many areas.  Take our IT department for example.  When I was first hired 5 years ago there was an article in the paper that stated that our IT department was comprised of 3 people.  Now we (yes, I’ve joined the department) have close to 50 and have site based teacher coaches and tech specialists for almost every school.   While we were late coming out of the shoot, we’re making up for it by learning from the mistakes made by other school divisions who were light-years ahead of us and we’re catching up…

Our instructional technology department is really making some noise locally and it’s great to be in a department that is moving and shaking.  That’s why I find it absolutely ironic that our Technology Resource Teachers are in the same position as the folks in Will’s sessions.  Many of them pride themselves in being ahead of the curve in many areas, but when asked to reflect this past spring, most threw a fit.  Many acknowledged that portfolios are acceptable practice in other parts of the nation for a number of different applications. Unfortunately they could not see the application or benefit for themselves.  I was amazed at these professionals that I had come to respect were  putting down a practice that has been researched and widely accepted. Frankly their point of view made the reflection worthless, since you get out of it what you put in.  

So Will, you are not alone.  I too am amazed that teachers think everyone ought to be learning other than themselves.  In fact I have spent an entire month trying to make the whole self reflection professional development thing palatable to a group who ought to know better.  If those who are to be leading our schools in teaching about 21^st century learning refuse to examine the way they themselves learn and apply 21^st century techniques how can they lead the charge?  How can they model for and teach teachers? 

Technorati Tags: Will_Richardson Teacher portfolios ITRT

Trying out a podcast…

 Let’s see if I can make it work…