You have taught me the power of sharing, how to make learning authentic and engaging, and how I can prepare my students for tomorrow.

I look forward to my continued growth with you! Please click the image below to view my altered version of pecha kucha.

Click here for a printable version.

What a journey!

The major concepts I have learned through ECMP 445 are:

1. Develop a PLN – Twitter and my PLN has taken away the ‘4 walls’ and has allowed me to use open education to the best of my ability. Twitter allows me to grow and learn with many other educators around the world. My network has constantly grown, every day, which means my bank of knowledge and resources are growing every day. Twitter is such a valuable resource! Once you have your PLN you have a variety of resources at your fingertips. These resources will guide you in your professional development. Here is a documentation of my PLN from this course.

2. Capitalize on Open Source Education – There are so many valuable resources out there. These resources can help you as a professional and your students. Through our synchronous sessions I have learned about digital story telling tools, google docs, delicious, second life, smartboards, visual design, digital video, podcasting, and much more! We have had so many experts visit our class and I think you can do this in your classrooms too.

3. Focus on the process, not the product – Through my blog, twitter, and mentorship project I have been able to focus on the process. Learning is not a linear process, it is a cyclical process. By focusing on the process in my own learning I have grown and developed a great deal, so this would play true with my students as well.

Along with my colleague, Sarah Hill, I was able to create a teacher resources for using Twitter in the Classroom. This is a comprehensive resource that explains what twitter is, how to set up a twitter account, how it benefits your PLN, how to use it in the classroom, FAQ, and testimonials. As an undergraduate, I have found Twitter to be such a beneficial resource and I think it can be used to enhance learning in your classroom. One of the barriers I had when making this project was using Jing. I think Jing is an awesome resource, but without Jing Pro, there are some restrictions when trying to upload your file onto the internet.

Overall, this class has been an amazing journey. My philosophy of education has developed a great deal since the beginning of the semester. I have grown so much as an educator and I am looking forward to my continual growth with the help of my PLN.

Twittersheep, with your Twitter login, captures the profiles of all of the Tweople who follow you and then generates a tag-cloud representing the most often used words in those profiles sized by frequency.

It is similar to Wordle and many other applications that formulate tag clouds.

I also thought I would check out who my Twitter BFF’s are. I have been seeing this around in presentations and on blogs. So I thought it would be interesting to see what my social network looked like and who I talked to the most.

I guess the whole purpose of this was to see what my social networks look like right now. I would be interested to see how they will change in the next year. They are fairly small right now, but it is a quality network.

In a mere 4 months I have created a network that helps define who I am as a professional.

So, I was tweeting with David Truss and he mentioned he read my Philosophy of Education, he also shared his with me. As I was reading his post I was inspired to re-write my philosophy of education. He mentioned I should keep my old one to look back on and see the growth, so I have it archived away. While I was putting together my philosophy of education, I looked back through my blog and pulled from different reflections to formulate my final product. So here it is:

Every student should have the opportunity to succeed and achieve their greatest potential. I believe in using various instructional strategies and a variety of settings in order to teach to the whole child. My role as an educator is to know my students and their strengths and challenges so that I can adapt my lessons, so that all students are able to be successful.

Society is changing at such a quick pace, so I need to find out what my students need to learn today, to prepare them for tomorrow. I need to capitalize on those serendipitous moments my students encounter. It is my role as an educator to find out what is important and interesting to my students and incorporate their funds of knowledge into my classroom and lessons.

In order to prepare students for this unknown future, I need to foster interactive engagement, so students experience meaningful learning and intellectual development. My role as an educator is to promote student learning and critical thinking skills.

I believe in using inquiry based learning, where teachers are no longer teaching information, but rather facilitating learning. The teacher is there as a guide, to set up learning experiences for students to ask questions and shape their own learning. Ensuring my classrooms focus on the process, not the product.

I think the classroom should expand beyond the four walls of the classroom. Students are growing up in an open source world and know all about having access to the world and we need to apply this access to the world in our classrooms as well. This can be done by teaching students how to use technology to find information and with the information the ability extract and synthesize it to formulate new meaning.

Classrooms should be considered studios, a comfortable environment where there are few lectures; the students work collaboratively in groups to learn, the students are engaged in their learning, and become independent lifelong learners.

I believe it is important to include daily physical activity into the classroom. Physical activity helps children focus on what they are learning. I want to help my students develop positive daily physical activity habits.

School is preparation for life. I have the opportunity to guide and create good citizens. I want to foster an environment where my students are learning together and thinking together long term.

Special thanks to my PLN who has helped me develop this into what it is today!

I appreciate your feedback!

The best thing about my support team is that it comes from experts of the topic. I was able to build this ‘network of experts’ through Twitter. I think Twitter is a great application that has helped me build my PLN, but it is not about the application that makes my PLN, it is the people!

Today, on Twitter I came across a post called: Nine great reasons why teachers should use Twitter. When I was reading this post I couldn’t help but think, YES! YES! YES! Twitter has greatly impacted me as a teacher. I have seen so much growth in myself as a professional over the past few months and I have to attribute part of that to my PLN. I have grown so much that when I looked back at my philosophy of teaching I realized, I need to update that!

My PLN consists of so many intelligent, engaging, and innovative people! The people I aspire to be someday. I think the following quote will help you build your PLN:

Remember, your experience on Twitter is only as high quality as the people who you follow and the information you share.

I am following high quality people and I feel privaleged when these high quality people follow me in return. The people you follow and the people that follow you are what make Twitter the great resource that it is.

I know now the importance of filling in your bio of your Twitter account. A lot of educators won’t follow you unless they see you as an asset to their PLN. I have a commitment to my PLN that I will contribute thoughtful, relevant, and interesting information.

The world is a big place, but it seems that we are able to know more about the world and collaborate with so many more people because of technology, in this case, Twitter. I was reading a blog by Jeff Utecht called I don’t like learning alone and I have to admit, I too do not like learning alone. Twitter and my PLN has taken away the ’4 walls’ and has allowed me to use open education to the best of my ability. Twitter allows me to grow and learn with many other educators around the world. My network has constantly grown, every day, which means my bank of knowledge and resources are growing every day.

Twitter is such a valuable resource! Once you have your PLN you have a variety of resources at your fingertips. These resources will guide you in your professional development.

How has Twitter impacted you as an educator or other professional? Please give us a testimonial via Voicethread on our Twitter in the Classroom wikispace!

IT Summit 2009

I am so thankful that my prof Alec Couros invited me to help present and attend the IT Summit on Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24. This experience has helped me develop more as a professional. I only hope that one day I can possible measure up to some of the presenters. I was in awe at some of their presentations and keynotes. Their knowledge, dedication to their students, and innovative ideas were beyond what I expected.

Here is a wordle summary of what I learned from the IT Summit:

Questioning and Critical Thinking by Dr. Jamie McKenzie

Dr. Jamie McKenzie was the first keynote of the IT Summit. He kicked off the conference by talking about Reading Across a Dozen Literacies. I really enjoyed this keynote because I am learning about multi-literacies in other classes, so Dr. McKenzie just helped me to build on my schema.

He said that we need to use reading more broadly. We need to incorporate other literacies into our classrooms such as:

• natural literacy
• artistic literacy
• media literacy
• ethical literacy
• visual literacy
• numerical literacy
• text literacy
• social/cultural literacy
• emotional literacy
• organizational literacy
• environmental literacy
• scientific literacy

Reading and being literate is much more complex than just ‘reading’ and ‘math’. However, when students are struggling these are the things we drill into them. In my ERDG 425 class, it is discussed of then that we need incorporate the other literacies that these struggling students know and are good at in order to build on the literacies they are struggling in.

Good ideas take weeks to formulate and we need to guide our students into building these answers, not just finding them. We want our students to be thinkers. When they find information, we need them to distill this information (extract and synthesize) rather than just scooping and smooshing this information. I can admit that through much of Elementary school career, I was a scooper and smoosher and through the years I have developed the skills of a critical thinker. Our students can do this through comprehending, wandering, pondering, wondering, and considering.

It is so important to foster these literacies in our classrooms because it so important for our students to know how to read things other than just text and math.

Integrating the SMARTboard into what you are already doing by Milissa Gavel

Due to some technical difficulties, the presentation was cut short, but nonetheless it was a great presentation!

When working with technology, expect the unexpected, and plan accordingly!

The key thing that I took away from Milissa’s presentation was that you need to integrate the SMARTboard into what you are already doing. The SMARTboard should not be the only focus in your classroom. You still need to do everything else you are doing, but this will just help enhance student learning and engage them in their tasks.

A board is just a tool; we need to use other tools in our classroom such as, SMART Senteo, digital cameras, laptops, projectors, etc. Using something like the Senteo Clicker will give students who don’t normally speak up in class a voice. These also work as a form of assessment because it will save the information/data put into it. Since a SMARTboard is an interactive whiteboard, we should try to include as many students up at the board as possible. She suggested having about 5 people up at the board and the rest of the students working on the same sheet at their desks. She taught us many little tips and tricks that will help use the SMARTboard to best of its ability. If you have a SMARTboard you need to have it in the classroom to harness the interactiveness of it. She gave us some resources such as smarttech.com a place that has lessons, classroom solutions, and educator resources. Discussion at the board is a great thing! Having students work together to solve problems is such a strong teaching strategy. This is how we create life long learners.

Networked Learners: Understanding How Openness will Transform Learning by Alec Couros

The idea of ‘openness’ is slowly starting to break through in educational communities. Over the years, we have seen the surfacing of open source software, open content, and open publishing. This has greatly affected the educational community because it has given teachers access to new tools and content. Alec discussed the larger transformative philosophies that are set to transform our educational system. He talked about the emerging concept of open teaching, and how it can assist in the facilitation and development of learning experiences that are social, collaborative, and meaningful.

He then asked me and Sarah Hill to share some of the experiences we have had through our ECMP 455 class and how open source teaching and learning has influenced us. As I have said in many of my previous posts, this class has truly prepared me for my upcoming career as a facilitator of learning (teacher). The reason I say this is because I am now a critical thinker of open source learning. I have seen it work for me and many of my other classmates. The fact that we have had experts come in to talk to us about a variety of innovative tools has made me think, I can do this in my classroom. The concept of a classroom being 4 walls is no longer restricting my students to knowing just the information I pass along to them.

I have also had the opportunity to build a PLN. Through my PLN I am able to connect with a variety of professionals on a daily basis to learn and share resources, thoughts and ideas. I guess it is kind of like having a professional development course that is always there. Every day I learn something new from my PLN and this would not be available without the concept of open source learning.

Telling the New Story… Live by Dean Shareski, Cathy Kassidy, Clarence Fisher, Darren Kuropatwa

Although I had seen this presentation in my ECMP 455 class on the Wednesday, I was very lucky to have the chance to view it again, especially live! The above educators and professionals are who I aspire to be like someday. Over the years they have developed their classrooms into transformative classrooms. I was in awe as I was sitting and listening to them share their journeys and insights into the new story of teaching and learning. The key thing I got out of their presentation is that it doesn’t happen overnight and there is no set instructions that you can follow to have a classroom like theirs. You need to find what works for you and your students.

You can visit their professional blogs at:

Dean Shareski: http://ideasandthoughts.org

Clarence Fisher: http://remoteaccess.typepad.com

Darren Kuropatwa: http://adifference.blogspot.com/

Kathy Cassidy: http://primarypreoccupation.wordpress.com/

If you would like to see a recorded session, please click here.

Be Kind Rewind – Clarence Fisher

Listening to Clarence Fisher speak was very motivating! He is such an innovator and is so dedicated to teaching to his students. He posed the question: “Society is changing so how can classrooms/education change to keep up with it? Are kids different today?”

Kids are different today and classrooms and education need to change in order to engage our students in their learning and help guide them into becoming life long learners. It is our role as educators to find out what is important and interesting to our students and incorporate their funds of knowledge into your classroom and lessons. Students are growing up in an open source world and know all about having access to the world. So why is that as educators we often take that away from them and restrict them to the 4 walls of the classroom? Our society has changed! It is not that the technology is changing our society, but the way we learn is changing, technology is just the enabler. We shouldn’t ask our students to power down when they enter our classrooms. Learning is about connecting and collaborating. Since the tools we use today will likely be different in 5 years we shouldn’t focus on teaching technology, but rather how to find information and how to formulate answers. The tools we use aren’t the destination, they’re the vehicle. Students socialize and learn through their social networks and likely will use there social networks as adults as well (just look at us and our PLN’s). We need to teach kids how to use these networks in a responsible and safe manner. By restricting them access we aren’t teaching them anything. We are alienating our kids, we need to give them the skills to survive!

So now what? How do we support the chance of society in our classrooms?
1. Classrooms should be considered studios. It is OK for kids to work in different ways. We should critique and give feedback in open ways because other kids can learn from that.

2. The Teacher should be looked at as a Network Administrator. We need to connect students with knowledge and help them navigate through to the information you know they need.

The idea of school is preparation for life vs. school is life is important. We have the opportunity to guide and create good citizens. We want kids learning together and thinking together long term. We should allow our students to bring their PODs (personally owned devices) to school, for example, laptops, Ipods, etc. We don’t get mad at them went they bring pencils. We are responsible to teach kids in a way that is meaningful to them. Technology will not transform your classroom but it will make it more authentic and engaging. We should provide more opportunities to reach more students and for them to make connections.

Literacy and Learning for the 21st Century by David Warlick

This keynote presentation was so inspiring! I have looked at Warlick’s work before the conference, but I didn’t put 2 and 2 together. You can view the handouts here. Warlick redefined literacy to what it means for the 21st century. We are spending way too much time teaching how to use paper, when we should be teaching them digital literacy. It is our duties as educators to prepare our students for their future. Yet, we are preparing our students for a future we can’t clearly describe. Society is changing at such a quick pace, so we need to to find out what our students need to learn today, to prepare them for tomorrow. The best thing we can teach our kids is how to teach themselves! We can do this by helping them be literate in multi-literacies. Students should be willing, able and encouraged to ask questions. It is through their questioning that they learn and formulate new answers. Our students should be investigators. We have the potential to gain more information; however, we need to know what to read. To do this we need to expose what is true in the text:  find the information, critically evaluate, organize, and apply. Math is no longer just mathematical equations. All information is made out of numbers and these numbers tell a story.

Contemporary literacy has 4 E’s:

1. Exposing what is true.

2. Employing information.

3. Expressing ideas compellingly.

4. Ethical use of information.

The world is the curriculum! It is changing everyday!

Enhancing Student – Teacher Collaboration using GoogleDocs by Rob Wall

Google Docs is a set of online applications used for creating, editing and sharing documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Teachers can use it to enhance student learning by facilitating interaction with and between students. Rob showed us how he and his colleagues used  Google Docs in face-to-face and online courses, ideas for ways to use Google Docs in the classroom and a rapid tour of the Google Docs applications.

Google Apps can enhance the whole environment of the classroom and take learning outside of the 4 walls of the classroom. You can use Google Docs in so many ways in your classroom. Most of these uses help the teacher and the learner to focus more on the process of the learning than the product. This can be done through Writer’s Workshop, Group Work, Homework accessible anywhere with internet connection, etc. He taught us how you can make comments on student work and how everything is documented so you can see who is doing the work. You can also use the forms option as a non-threatening pre-assessment tool and way to gather information. What an engaging and accurate way of seeing where your students are at in their learning. The neat thing is that Google has made it so user-friendly that it takes the ‘thinking’ part out of it for the teachers. After someone has completed the form it is automatically posted to a spreadsheet. What a time saver!

Micro-Blogging in the Classroom by Eldon Germann

Look at communication use in the different generations, what do they use? Written letter? Talk? Phone? Email? Instant Messaging? The generations to come are not communicating the way that we are used to nor the way we were taught. This is creating a generation who is not held accountable for their communication skills. Using a backchatter in your classroom that is assessed, allows us an opportunity to help develop the student’s proper digital communication etiquette, respect, responsibility and safety. Eldon showed us how he used the teacher-student designed backchatter, Edmodo, as an assessed communication device. He discussed how through this tool he was able to make students accountable for their digital communication. It was also a tool that helped to re-organize digital assignments, assessment and evaluation.

The tool he showed us this through was Edmodo. It allows you to use the same features as Twitter, which you use with your PLN, but it allows you to create a PLN with your classroom. It is a private micro-blogging platform that teachers and students can use to send notes, links, files, alerts, assignments, and events to each other.

The biggest thing I took from this session is that by using backchatter or micro-blogging you are enhancing collaboration and communication in your classroom. No longer is the teacher the only holder of knowledge. Students can now work together towards an answer.

1. Does the fact that one student sees the nature of online learning less social than the other simply a personality issue or is there something about the experience?
2. How do we get support? How do you get help in other course?
3. How do we balance the guided, structure nature of our current schools with the potential need and desire to create life long, independent learners?

I found this conversation very interesting as I have thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this online class. Before taking this class I was a bit weary because I had never taken an online class before. I am a very personable person and enjoy F2F interaction. Thus, I thought I wouldn’t like this class because this interaction would be missing. However, this was totally opposite. I have developed some of my best professional relationships through this course. Plus it is not restricted to just the 20 people taking my class. I have been able to gain relationships with many other professionals through the world.

1. Does the fact that one student sees the nature of online learning less social than the other simply a personality issue or is there something about the experience?

I don’t think this is just a personality issue because at the beginning of this course I would have considered my personality to not match the format of the course. However, I engaged in the class thoroughly. I took any opportunity that I could as a learning experience. These experiences have helped me develop a great deal as a professional as I have gained further insight about topics, I have built a network of professionals who are available and willing ready to help me, and I have been able to explore topics on my own and use critical thinking skills instead of the ‘stuffing model’ of other classes.

“Teachers and learners become information artisans, mining for information raw materials, remixing and re-networking what they find, and then communicating their new and valuable information products for re-mining.” — Warlick

2. How do we get support? How do you get help in other course?

I have found that with this course I have had the most access to support. The best thing about my support team is that it comes from experts of the topic. I was able to build this ‘network of experts’ through Twitter. I think Twitter is a great application that has helped me build my PLN, but it is not about the application that makes my PLN, it is the people! I have found with other courses I have to wait for answers, but with this course I am able to connect with people when I need help and I am able to help others when they need help.

3. How do we balance the guided, structure nature of our current schools with the potential need and desire to create life long, independent learners?

I think inquiry based learning is the way to go. It will feel uncomfortable for learners, educators, parents, etc for a while; however, the benefits of it are much more than a traditional based classroom. We need to facilitate and guide our students in their learning. I have encountered this model a few times through this semester and I have felt the most growth from those classes. I have actually for the first time in a while been able to truthfully  focus on the process, not the product. I had always said that this is important, as in education it was drilled into our heads (in a traditional classroom), but I never knew what it meant or felt like. This semester and this class has helped me a great deal to focus on the process and in the end the product does turn out much better. I do think it is important to have structure in our classrooms; however, the use of a dynamic curriculum is so important. We need to capitalize on those serendipitous moments our students encounter.

Studio teaching is an approach to teaching that can be used to replace the standard lecture approach. It is based on sound pedagogical principles, is very flexible, is popular with students, and leads to superior learning in most instances. (http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/studio/what.html)

Tonight in our ECMP 455 class we were lucky enough to have the “Dream Team” (@glassbeed @kathycassidy @darrenkuropatwa) come and talk to us about their classrooms. They told us about the beginning, how the light bulb went off, their classrooms, and learning from each other, and finding a balance. Clarence Fischer introduced me to the Hive, his classroom. We saw a video of his classroom and this classroom exemplifies the idea of studio teaching. When I was watching the video I thought this can’t be a classroom, but it was. This classroom looked like a comfortable environment where I would like to go each day. A relaxing environment that fosters inquiry based learning versus the traditional based classroom. He talked about it being a more comfortable environment where there are few lectures, the students work collaboratively in groups to learn, the students are engaged in their learning, and become independent lifelong learners.

In this type of classroom the:

Class activities build on each other, providing a dynamic and integrated learning environment that emphasizes personal intellectual development as well as content learning. (http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/studio/what.html)

Is this a Good Pedagogy? This idea at first seemed a little surreal to me because I have never seen or experienced anything like this. So, I did some research on this to see some other views on this classroom.

• Many studies have shown that interactive engagement is a key to meaningful learning and intellectual development.
• Active learning, including cooperative learning and group activities, is the most efficient way to promote student learning, and especially to develop higher order thinking skills.
• While actively engaged, students develop good habits of the mind and the skills needed to be successful lifelong learners.
• Many studies support the notion that “less is more,” meaning that exposing students to less information — but covering it in more depth — can lead to better learning.
• Studio classrooms are ideal for helping students think about their learning and develop better lifelong learning skills.

This class was extremely inspiring! I am very excited to try the studio classroom in my future classroom. I would consider this online session a “life changing one.” I never thought I could learn so much and be so motivated to do something in 1 hour! I want to create a dynamic and connected classroom, and I will!

If you would like to learn more about the Studio Classroom, click here.

I think a lot of times in the classroom students are just watching technology and not engaged in actually using the technology. We need to allow them to explore with technology and integrate it into their everyday work so that they become life long learners with technology. We don’t know what is going to be created 30 years from now. This means that we as teachers have to continually be learning. We need to keep up-to-date with technology and not be afraid of taking risks. We should be open to learning alongside students and allow our students to take risks and take risks with them!

We should integrate technology into our class that will help benefit our students in the future. We should use technology within curriculum areas to improve learning in whatever way is appropriate.

How can we do this? I think I am learning a starting point through my ECMP 455 class!