Huggins Happenings

Creative Commons was something I never knew existed.  I have seen the little “c” marks on products I have purchased before, but honestly didn’t know what all of the “rights” were.  The videos on Creative Commons make so much sense.  As an artist, I love to create work that is inspired by what I have seen others do, but am always nervous about which parts are considered “inspiration” and which are considered “copying”.  My mind is much clearer now.  As a teacher, and an artist, I can just look for the symbol and know excatly what my rights are with regards to sharing, changing, or duplicating.  For my current 3rd graders, I think this will impact them more as they get older and have to do research on the internet.  For myself as an educator, I look forward to using documents, videos, etc., in a more creative way in my classroom. 

Well, now I’m on to the part I’ve been waiting for all along!  I’m thrilled to have to opportunity to create, maintain, and share a wikipage.  I have a small web-based business and have designed and managed my own website for years, but wasn’t sure how I could transfer that style of website into something that would be useful in my classroom.  I was looking for something a bit more interactive, but not much.  After browsing several sites, I got a few ideas of what I’m looking for, but also what I’m not.  On the initial list, there weren’t many early elementary wikis to view, but they gave me enough information to get going on this post.

Going into this wiki project, my intention is to make my wiki mostly informative.  I want it to be a place that the parents of my students can go to when they need information about project assigments, upcoming tests, special dates, etc.  The wiki titled “Go West” ( http://gowest.wikispaces.com/) showed me how I can also use this site as a place for students to “show off” their knowledge of a particular subject.  We have a wonderful computer lab and I would like to use it at the end of our social studies units as a “wrap up” activity.  It’s also a great assessment tool for me.  Kubler Reading (http://kublerreading.wikispaces.com/) was also of interest to me.  Our third graders participate in literature circles like the ones on this site and I found it interesting that they extended the literature discussions onto the internet.  During our literature circles, it is impossible for me to be in each group for the entire duration of the discussion.  Using the wiki page as a tool for the students to write what was discussed in the groups not only allows me to assess each group, but allows the students to see what the other groups may have done differently.

All in all, I think that I’ll walk away with a few ideas from these wikis.  Our school science teacher uses her wiki and blog for her students to write and respond to each other.  I don’t think I’ll go that far because time management is an issue for me right now.  I hope that, in the future, I have the opportunity to make my wiki as interactive as possible.

Well, I’m feeling it now – that overwhelming feeling of being behind.  Obviously I signed up for this course, in part, because I needed to get PLU credits. However, after being out of the classroom for 8 years, this course was of great interest to me.  I wanted to see how education had evolved in response to advances in technology in the classroom.  I have been excited to learn about the Smartboard and am anxious to arrive at the part of this course that helps me design a wikipage for my classroom.  What has been overwhelming to me is the amount of information I’ve had to absorb through blog posts.  I feel that the readers have been a huge help to me as far as organizing the data that is constantly changing, but I hope that, in the future, I’ll have the time to return to these sites and use the information that is out there, just beyond my fingertips.  While completing Thing 7a, I subscribed to the BrainPop feeds.  I use this site in my classroom to introduce concepts to the children before conducting my lessons.  I had no idea there were feeds on the site- of course, until a month ago, I had no idea what a feed even was.  Today, I came across an article about a tool called “Activexpression”. http://www.google.com/reader/view/?tab=my#stream/feed%2Fhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.brainpop.com%2Feducators%2Fblog%2F%3Ffeed%3Drss2  This article sparked my interest because I had taken a course earlier in the year on our new Senteo system.  My children use the Senteo in Science and I am hoping to integrate it more into my room.  As it becomes a more popular classroom tool, and as the children become more advanced in their typing skills, I’ll be anxious to see how this similar system can be used in my classroom.  I’ve found that anything that I can put in their hands, other than a pencil, gets them more engaged in the learning process.  I can’t wait to see what other technological tools are out there for use in my classroom.

Well, I guess I didn’t think far enough into this class to realize that students were being taught the same class that we were.  After reading the feed http://students2oh.org/2008/10/07/where-have-all-the-students-20-gone/#comment-1364, I felt a little sad that these students are basically learning these skills, then moving on.  All the while, we are still playing “catch up” by trying to integrate these new technologies into our classrooms in order to engage these very students who are already on to the next latest, greatest thing.  I do, however, feel that blogging is an important tool.  It helps us connect, sympathize and even empathize with others across continents, but at the rate the number of blogs is growing, I’m not sure how relavent it will be in the future.  If the blogging world gets too big, it will be impossible to manage – kind of like government!

I enjoyed this chance to read others blogs.  To tell you the truth, I had absolutely NO idea what a blog was until I started this class.  I had heard about blogs, but just imagined it as this overwhelming new technology that I would never understand.  When I read the blog by Patrick, http://itc.blogs.com/patrick/2005/02/5th_grade.html, the fifth grader, who was struggling just to stay in school, it made me realize how smart kids really are these days.  Even those who are struggling are able to keep up with the pace of technology.  In order to reach these types of students, it’s important that I learn these things in order to connect with them.  It was so encouraging how others used Patrick’s blog to write encouraging comments to him.  I wonder how he feels after reading these comments? 

The other blog I enjoyed was written by Joyce Valenza  http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/130020413.html.  She talked about how she got her students to create more interesting powerpoint presentations.  I enjoyed this because I was able to relate to her comments on her 10 year rut in teaching.  When making my smartboard presentations for my class, I tend to fall back on the same old thing, simply because it’s comfortable.  Learning to change my thinking to engage my students is a challenge, but one I’m excited about.

Question 1:

Which habits may be most challenging for you?

I feel that Habit 7, teach/mentor others will be the most challenging for me.  I guess it really goes back to Habit 4, having confidence in yourself  that makes Habit 7 difficult for me.  I feel that I know a decent amount about technology and am excited about learning more, but as I get older and young, new teachers come into our school, I feel that they will me much more equipped to teach about technology in the classroom than me.

Question 2:

Which habit will be the easiest or resonate the most for you?

Habit 6, use technology to your advantage is the habit that excites me most.  I was so excited to get a SmartBoard in my classroom and have had so much fun exploring all of the things I can do with it.  I love having the internet at my fingertips.  There are so many wonderful websites with great ideas from other teachers.  I plan on organizing and using many of these ideas in my classroom.

Question 3:

Which habit do you think will be the most important?

The most important, and most challenging habit for me will be Habit 2, accept responsibility for your own learning.  I sure all teacher feel the same pressure that I do – too much to do and not enough hours in the day to do it.  This course is both exciting and important for me, but finding the time to do it and putting it as a priority in my day is difficult.  In the end, I know it will make my day more efficient and make me a better, more current teacher.

As I watched the Web 2.0 video, I was captivated.  When I was in college, one of my roommates had a word processor with one of those printers that printed papers with the strips of holes on the side that you had to tear off.  We thought we were so cool and so lucky that we didn’t have to go somewhere to type up our papers.  I have a hard time wrapping my head around how fast technology is changing now.  I’ve been out of college for 13 years and now I feel like I’m so “uncool”.  My kids can run circles around me.  My daughter taught herself how to use her ipod in about 5 minutes when she was only 7 year old.  Part of me is so excited about this new age of technology and all of the benefits is offers, but it’s scary as well.  As a mom, I want to protect my children from all of the strange people in this world, but when I see how much more my kids know about technology than me, it feels like a losing battle.  As a teacher, however, I’m thrilled to be able to take advantages of all of the tools at my fingertips and use them in my classroom.  This is my first year back to teaching since having children over 8 years ago and everything has changed.  My hope is to continue my pursuit as a lifelong learner of technology so that it can have a positive impact on my teaching and my family.