growing...

Well I have not finished everything for my connected classroom course yet however I feel that the learning that has gone on is absolutely beyond. 

So much, that I get somewhat frustrated, with what certain teachers are focused on at my school, regarding what they feel is meaningful homework.  I have to hold back my comments sometimes, regarding this homework, that is really not connected, to what is culturally relevant, or even meaningful in the students' learning.  

 I cetainly ask myself what is the purpose of the homework and is it MEANINGFUL?  -before I assign any kind of class/home work!

I find myself reassessing all of the projects and homework that I would/have  assign in the past and question myself:  "Am I really giving them something meaningful and connected?", quite often I have to adapt the activity now, so that I am pleased with the learning that is going on, especiallly,  if I have opportunity to introduce any technology.  Actually I introduced a L.Arts project using a program called Comic Life, I don't really know anything about the program, but I know that my students were really interested in it and could not wait to begin to create a comic strip.   Ofcourse they would go through the process of sharing, critical response, reflecting, change and improve, critique again, and reorganize that is essential for this 21st C. learner.

The articles and research that I have done for Al and this course has impacted my teaching in ways that I am really proud of, and I feel that it has improved my teaching as well as  it has change how I view life.

 I say this because the course has added another "filter" to me as a teacher.  I am able to think about what I am teaching and how I am doing it a little differently! -and I love it!  I feel that I am becoming a significantly more effective teacher as this course goes on.

I find myself now almost naturally making this transition to the better teacher these days, I am also motivated to partake in the group activities as I am interested in the learning that is happening in my classroom.  This is huge! 

Thanks to Al Reyner my prof for this, he really pushed us but it was for the best!

I have a project that I have been working on regarding a media gift, I am unsure of the "rubric" that I am being evaluated on, if any, however I am struggling with the media, the message, and the purpose, as I am not sure how this is effecting my teaching or my students, which is usually the goal of any/all of our course assignments. 

This one feels like the "cross I have to bear" like Jesus. 

I must say that every other assignment/project/article was absolutely relevant to my learning and to my class, that this media gift has me baffled, perhaps it is to see our skill to prepare for a wedding-haha!

Power Point Thoughts

Well as I have been struggling through this research based learning project I have been learning quite a bit about preparing to make a presentation using Power Point, I have been reminding myself that the actual PPT is not the presentation,  it is merely the vehicle.

Another problem is that there is so much information regarding the  21st Century Learner that I could continue to research this in an ongoing way.  I ask myself:  "Where do I draw the line?"


Thinking about cloud technology and there is a web presentation called PREEZO, no problem sharing with anyone-appears that you have a free trial for 30 days.  I stumbled across a web discussion regarding Preezo and the presenter liked the idea of being able to share with anyone online, and not able to change the presentation.


Also Keynote from the Apple world which you can control the slides by the use of your ipad or iphone, or itouch.


Back to my learning, I have realized that I just can't go ahead and open up PPT and create a presentation, there is a sequence to follow. First prepare information on paper, somewheres else, then capture the essence into main ideas or focus statements then organize what to say and how you want to represent it on the slide.

WORDLE: a fun activity

WORDLE
My lesson today was a technology lesson, and secondly, a language arts activity.  The good news is that all of my students were able to collaborate together and create group wordles.  This time the website was not blocked for some reason.

I have been sharing my discoveries regarding Wordle with my school's staff and have motivated many teachers to try this, there has been many emails back and forth to me, with questions and comments, about how much fun their students have had creating their Wordle projects.

Self Reflection
I am extremely pleased to have made the decision to share this personal experience with my school staff.  Though not every teacher has tried or will even try to implement technology in their daily teaching practise I am pleased to say that many did try to implement this activity with a positive success. 

Who wins?
Well as I am understanding, more and more, that as I implement technology into daily teaching practise, as well as, communicating my experiences to my colleagues, who in turn make suggestions and critique my work I am able to say that I am a winner as I become a more effective teacher.  Due to this the students then are the real winners. 

This is clearly evident in their willingness to try technology and experience new things in the classroom making learning fun, meaningful and connected to their lives.

SUPERMAN

Where is SUPERMAN?
Still seems to be boiling down to the ever popular problem of funding for school and education.

Well quite a busy chunk of time spent researching this whole Where is Superman video.  Really I enjoyed working through the panel discussion the most. 

-big tasks this week are using wordle, and glogster, both website blocked at school unless using the teacher computer.  Working on these assignment has pulled me away from working on my presentations.
H
ere is the final piece of our collaborative efforts.

http://ryanlutes.glogster.com/Glog-6083/

Wordle:

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2756382/fourguysandacomputer

to make a poster...
 I was able to convert the wordle into a .pdf file and Staples can print that like a poster....if you use a jpeg you will pixelate when you expand your size

Was planning a mini project for my students for Remembrance day however we could not create our own wordles...so I had to invite the students to work off of my teacher desktop,  lost motivation quickly.

After collaboration of glog and primary pad for many hours, it takes longer than face to face collaboration.  Going through the activities of assignments put me through the paces of what students go through.  I am still struggling  with the whole group work approach as it is difficult to assess how each student contributes.

As far as group work, regarding this glogster, I was not really fond of what we finally produced.  Is it because I am not a good group work person? Is it because I did not like the assignment interfering with my time to work on other major projects?  Perhaps.

I did find the experience worthwhile to me in a sense that I mentioned earlier as far as how to assess students using this style of collaborative learning.  In the end this experiment did not work for me as I am going to recieve a mark on something that I did not do-the glog, sure I contributed as much as everyone else, but since I did not put together a glog I can't say that I have experienced the challenges and limitations of the web based program.

What's the point? 
Why do I want to know how to use glogster if I am unable to provide access to it in the classroom with my students.  Would it work if I had access and control? -yes!
Same with wordle!  Love this simple program but again it is blocked for student access as I mentioned earlier, what a frustration.  Could I see myself using wordle on a regular basis?  Definitely, could the students?  Definitely if they had access.  ( well aside from home)