Developing a PLN

Developing a Personal Learning Network, and keeping up with it, is important. There are so many resources out there to get lesson plans and projects and endless ideas for creative things to do in the classroom.

For project 11 my group and I signed up for Classroom2.0. This is a website that is kind of like facebook or myspace, but it's for current and future educators to get and share information with one another, mostly about technology in the classroom. This website provides tutorials on using the website. They hold conferences online,about technology in the classroom some live some not. They also advertise they're conferences that you can go to, not virtually. It also has a place where people post videos, some educational to be used in the classroom, and others just for fun. There is a discussion board used for posting questions of inquiring minds or posting dilemas, and getting input back from other users of Classroom2.0. I will continue to follow this and learn more about it so that I can benefit from the rescources it provides

Twitter is another good resource for a PLN. I haven't really gotten into it, but from reading other's blogs I see that it can be very beneficial to a teacher, if you know who to follow.

Also "At the Teacher's Desk" is an excellent source! It is a blog for teachers to share ideas, post work, give advice, inquire for answers. It has a lot of well renowned contributors!

Project 11

For project 11 my group and I signed up for Classroom2.0. This is a website that is kind of like facebook or myspace, but it's for current and future educators to get and share information with one another, mostly about technology in the classroom. This website provides tutorials on using the website. They hold conferences online,about technology in the classroom some live some not. They also advertise they're conferences that you can go to, not virtually. It also has a place where people post videos, some educational to be used in the classroom, and others just for fun. There is a discussion board used for posting questions of inquiring minds or posting dilemas, and getting input back from other users of Classroom2.0. I will continue to follow this and learn more about it so that I can benefit from the rescources it provides

Comments4Kids

I'm not sure if I posted on here for each of the comments4kids assignments, so I wanted to make sure that it was on here for you to see. I really enjoyed the comments4kids assignments. I was really neat to see the work of kids around the nation and world. I liked being able to see what I can do with my classes in the future!

New Classroom Rules by Education Innovation

Ok I had to choose this one because some I agree with, others, I don't. I guess I have old-fashion ideas about the classroom. I do realize that some of these will have to change but I can't say that I agree with texting during class. If the students are allowed to text in class, I'm almost certain it won't always be about the educational topic they are supposed to be texting about. I think this may be the only one I disagree with completely. The others are good ideas for rules. Some I would use as they are but there are a few I would probably tweek just a bit. I don't necessarily like the getting up and moving around whenever they want to. I understand that the students should be able to get up and interact with each other, but I think if we allowed this to go on throughout the day it would be a big distraction. I do understand the technology of the rules, I didn't miss that. This is just my opinion of the rules.
Education Innovation

7 Brilliant things Teachers do with Technology

I decided not to focus on the 7 stupid things because I figure there are probably more than 7 stupid things a teacher ( or anyone ) could do, and no matter how much we talk about it people will still be stupid.

The reason I picked the 7 Brilliant things is because I very much agree with the post. I know I have a lot to learn about technology but I do believe that it can be used to empower students and give them motivation to do what they love to do, to learn! Technology can be used to bring more creativity into the classroom. We can use it to communicate with parents by posting assignments, announcements, and updating them on their child's progress in the classroom. We can use technology to reach people all around the world. I need to embrace technology and encourage (which probably won't take much) my students to embrace it as well.

Please read about the 7 brilliant things teachers do with Technology yourself. And get more information from Educationworld.com

At the Teacher's Desk

As I navigated through this blog, and read the posts, I realized how much I liked it. It seemed to be a very helpful site! It lets teacher's share what they've been doing in their classrooms. It also provides a place for teachers to post ideas. I like the post about forms of communications with parents, twitter, mobile communication, even facebook. I think this site will be very helpful in my career as a teacher!

The Future of Whatever

Wesch kept me interested in the speech, with all of the clips and media that he used. I didn't see the connection with all of it, the books, whatever, and youtube all put together. But I don't blame him for that, I had to read the book "A Brave New World" in a lit class and I didn't really follow it, or understand it.

I do like what I heard about "whatever." There was a lot of truth to what he said. A lot of times it's used to show that one doesn't care about the situation or conversation, or what ever they are in. And it's also used to show that one thinks highly of themselves and feels that they should not have to listen to, pay attention to, care about, or acknowledge something/someone that they don't want to. Hopefully it will evolve to mean "I'll do whatever it takes" to make a difference, change, or impact on the world.

The videos on youtube, I've found that some of them are entertaining, some are educational, some are inspirational, some are just for fun and some are just stupid. I think that the educational, or inspirational ones could be used in the classrooms to help illustrate a lesson.

Why students should post their work.

Students should be able to post their work to a blog or to the web somehow, so that they can express themselves and show how much they are learning and growing. We've seen several groups of students so far. The first I'll talk about is the group of students in a chior from New York. WOW these kids were amazing in their song! I'm sure they don't know how many people have viewed their video and were touch and impressed with their talent. And by having their talent posted on the web, they were invited to sing at Madison Square Garden, what an experience to remember!! Please go view this video!!

The second group I'll talk about is a group at large. It's all the students that we come in contact with by doing Comments4Kids. They post their work and I'm sure they are learning as they post. Their posts are always about something they have learned or a project they're doing or a writing prompt they've been assigned. Posting for these students is a way that they can do their work, see it published, and be proud of what they've done, and hopefully want to work just as hard if not harder in the future.

The last group is really just a representation of a group. It is Kaia and her daddy. Kaia is a representative of the coming generation. Her daddy is doing her a huge favor by experiencing, showing, and teaching her all that he is. She is already steps and steps ahead of others her age. Her daddy has published her work for her and I'm sure she'll want to continue and soon she'll be doing it all by herself. This is the future. I think her daddy is awesome for doing what he does for her.

Publishing students work, gives them something to be proud of and something that they can always go back and look at and think "look what I did!"

ALEX

The Alabama Learning Exchange is a database full of lesson plans of all subjects. It has lesson plans that are already made up to the state's standards and it also has a place for teachers to store any lesson plans for a later use. Teachers can also go on this website and create their own lesson plans and save them in their own learning space. There are plans for many subjects and all grade levels. It also has links for students to use in different subject areas. I think this is a great tool and source to pull from in the classroom. To visit the Alabama Learning Exchange Website Click here.

ACCESS

ACCESS stands for Alabama Connecting Classroom, Educators, and Students Statewide. From what I've read, I understand that ACCESS is website for students to take online classes. It is for grades 9-12. It is for students who want to take regular or advanced classes that aren't offered at their hometown school.

This is good for those students who are ambitious and want to get and stay ahead and will work hard to get there. But it's been my experience that if you don't stay on top of the work in the class you could fall behind. It is definitely a useful and effective tool for those or are dedicated and determined.

To visit the ACCESS site Click Here.