1. The blog I chose to follow, after much searching and reading, is Cathy Jo Nelson's Professional Thoughts at http://blog.cathyjonelson.com. She touts her blog as offering "helpful hints, tips, and tricks to teachers and library media specialists who are modeling the integration of technology in an authentic and ethical manner in the name of increasing student engagement." This really appealed to me because I want to spend the remainder of this school year incorporating as much technology as I can in order to make learning more hands-on and interesting for my first grade students. Her blog also addresses the culture of school libraries and librarians and how they are viewed by other staff, parents, board of education members and the community at large. She calls school librarians the "voices for connected learning of a whole new kind." One post really struck a cord with me. It was about change, something I have always found to be a very difficult thing to both accept and implement. She said, "Change can mean struggle. If you are not struggling, you are not learning or adapting." This advice can apply to both me and my students! If I reflect on changes in technology in just the last decade, it is astounding! But yet, this change does not scare me as much as other change has in the past. I wonder why that is? Could it be because I am captivated by technology? Stay tuned...
2. Teddy Bears Go Blogging - what a great article! It gave me an idea that I explain below in number 3. I love the idea of sharing cultures and making it an authentic and interactive experience. We study both China and Kenya in first grade. I thought this is something we could possibly do with students in those countries learning English. It could be a way for the Chinese students to practice English, while also sharing their culture with us. In addition, we could share our culture and compare and contrast the differences in our learning and home environments through photographs and writings. I like that the blog could be kept private and that it had real world audience and purpose. When my students write about their lives, I always get their best writing because they are excited to tell their stories. I also thought it was so exciting that parents and other family and friends could both follow the blog and comment. The audioblogger is a neat option for students who are not strong writers (and since writing is often a struggle for many first graders, this options would most certainly be utilized in my class!) I liked that students could work collaboratively or independently and then just get a teacher approval for post. Putting more control in their hands made for more authentic learning of which they had ownership.
3. The standard I chose as a target focus for this semester is in the ISTE NETS Performance Indicators for Teachers. Under Number 3 (Model Digital-Age Work and Learning), I am choosing to focus on both B (collaborate with students, peers, parents, and community members using digital tools and resources to support student success and innovation) and C (communicate relevant information and ideas effectively to students, parents and peers using a variety of digital-age media and formats). I think these standards go hand in hand. One of the ideas I have is a little like the Teddy Bears Go Blogging Idea. In the past, I have used a newsletter to communicate what we are learning in the classroom. The content is formulated and written by me. But I started to think that this open communication with parents might be better served in a blog, where students can work together to write the content of what we have learned each week, take photographs and even interview classmates. All the material will be posted on our blog each Friday and parents will be free to comment. I am really excited about this idea, but need to run it by my principal to make sure there are no privacy issues. I do know I can make the blog private and only invite certain people to view it and comment so that will be helpful in convincing both administration and parents that this can be a great tool to share information, while getting students and parents involved in an interactive format. I think I can address all learning styles, but haven't yet figured out how I will do that.
P.S. Speaking of technology, it is a good thing I saved a draft of this in Word because as I went to post, I got an error and it all disappeared! Sometimes technology can be frustrating!
P.S. Speaking of technology, it is a good thing I saved a draft of this in Word because as I went to post, I got an error and it all disappeared! Sometimes technology can be frustrating!
