Social Networking

I just joined this social networking group. http://teachers20.ning.com/. This will be useful to me because I can connect with other teachers to get their view on lessons I am teaching, suggesstions on students, curriculuum or just support from other teachers in general. I find that when two teachers get together they could talk for hours about their students, school and bounce a lot of great ideas off of each other. This group is basically just another way to connect with thousands and thousands of professionals who do what I do. Anything I want to find out about teaching I can do through this site. It's just a really great way to share, think, learn and support people from all over the world who have the same passion...teaching!

Today's Learner

Today's learner is like that paper and pencil game called, "Squares". We have probably all played it together at one time in our childhood. You draw a bunch of dots on a paper and take turns drawing lines between the dots. When you have formed the last line to make a square, you mark your initials in that box and continue until the whole set is all filled with connecting squares. Today's learner is like that game because students and teachers are now focused on social learning. "Our learning today is one of forming networks with each other. Our tools enable that effortlessly and in a way that is very human to us because most of us enjoy dialogue and conversation. We are social beings" (Siemens, G.A., The Impact of Social Media on Learning) Here is the link to watch what he has to say about today's learner-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grI_h88vs3g&feature=PlayList&p=3E43054A8703F57A&index=3 Today children are encouraged to work together and think, bounce ideas off of each other and read and comment on each others written pieces. Each pencil mark on the squares game is one link to one person that they have connected with. Then that line is connected to four other lines and it just continues because students today are socially connected in so many ways. In an article written by G.A. Siemens he continues to point out that, "Formal education no longer comprises the majority of our learning. Learning now occurs in a variety of ways – through communities of practice, personal networks, and through completion of work-related tasks". I think this new way of educating our students is very positive and encouraging. We owe our new educational strategies and techniques to the advances in technology!

I am very happy to begin learning and understanding current technology starting with blogging. It's incredible how fast technology has changed in the last few years. I am relatively young and blogs, wikis, podcasts were never used in my education throughout high school and college. I am glad that I am given the opportunity to get up to date with these advances to better foster the learning experiences of my students :)

Using blogs in the classroom

After reading about the huge array of ways that you can use weblogs in the classroom to assist in learning, there are several that I would love to one day use in my own classrooms. Using weblogs as an online filing cabinet are useful becaused students can post their work for peer and teacher editing. Students can give each other feed back on what they have written and students get to see their progress throughout the year as they become a stronger writer. Its important for students to get feedback from their peers on their ideas and thoughts to make learning even more collaborative. Next, I love the idea that all assignments and resources can be posted to the weblog. Parents can view the easily updatable sight and see what their child should be working on. Students no longer have excuses for not knowing when assignments are due or even what is due. Everything being posted to a weblog also makes the students responsible for checking it daily. It holds them responsible for their learning which is important in the upper grades and transitioning into college when they will be using websites like blackboard.com for their course work. My favorite way to use weblogs in the classroom was to use it as an open communication system to discuss topics that are being studied. I loved the idea in Will Richardson's "Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts" that explained how one classroom created a readers guide to a book they were reading. The author got involved and throught he blog answered questions that the students had and she was able to give insight as to her character development and where her ideas had come from. The author even said that this was interesting for her too to be able to hear ideas about her own work!