Tragedy changes community, it really does! It takes a devastating flood to change everything I thought I knew about my own community. As I have driven around Waterbury over the past few days it has been difficult to make sense of the destruction and devastation. Entire neighborhoods have been impacted while two houses down everything is completely fine. Our Favorite restaurant, my daughter's dance studio and the great auto mechanic on Main St. one of them completley wiped out, the others overwhelmed but trying to get through. I thought our community was immune, so insulated from the troubles facing places like Joplin and Japan.
Tragedy changes community and I am sure that joy will change it too. My personal mission over the past few days has been to bring a little bit of that joy and peace back to my nieghbors. A smile, a sandwich, a shoulder these are the things I have to offer and I do so joyfully. Not immune to their suffering or pretending everything will be fine, but joy in the sunshine and the amazing generosity of all the volunteers and donations that have been literally pouring in. I am joyful for the safety of everyone and in the sense of communal support and care for those in our community who are most in need. So for as long as I can I will do my part to turn tragedy to joy and remain present with my neighbors as we get through this together.
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Top Ten List of things I am going to implement this year from BLC 11
I had an incredible time last week at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston. It was everything I had hoped for and more! The keynote, presenters and events were inspiring, challenging, informative and fun! Although it has been around a long time I decided to take a risk and share my reflections and plans for implementation with a Top Ten List. I hope you will read and comment on my list and share your own plans for the coming school year.
10. Collaborate for a purpose through the examples shared by Kathy Cassidy and Shannon Miller I can see how my first and second grade students can connect and collaborate with other students to extend and deepen their understanding of their community and their place and power in the world.
9. Use technology to move thinking and learning forward For the past several years I have focused on technology as the end goal and have I admit been doing analog teaching with digital tools. Marco Torres in his amazing keynote made an amazing point about really pushing thinking and learning into a digital format.
8. Finish and Sign Peter Reynolds spoke about creativity and the importance of making sure students finish their products and sign them. It seems like a no brainer but too often I run out of time on projects and don't get to this critical point. I will also make a commitment to making sure students have an opportunity to share their projects and receive feedback.
7. Learn from my Students As a teacher letting go and letting my students lead can be a scary and intimidating concept. If I truly want my students to feel empowered and engaged I need to be willing to let go of some of the control and follow their passion and interests.
6. Build My Professional Learning Community I have had my Twitter and Facebook accounts for several years but I have not been using them to build my own professional network. I was so inspired by the presentations by Shannon Miller and Kathy Cassidy to jump in and start connecting.
5. Authenticity This goes back to the idea of purpose, my students deserve a learning experience that is real and intentional. As we complain about not having enough time in the day to do what we feel we should with our students it becomes more and more important to filter everything I do through the screen of what is essential and authentic.
4. Play Time is limited as I stated above however we all need time to play, it should happen in my classroom not just on the playground or the gym, it should happen in the library and the computer lab, I should make time to play and have an ease about technology and digital learning.
3. Visioning With my students!! I used Peter Reynolds wonderful book, The North Star to help my students envision their hopes and dreams for the school year. This will become a cornerstone of my teaching because by asking my students where they want to go I am giving them the powerful message that I care about their visions and dreams.
2. Problem Finders Helping my students and my teaching go from problem solving to problem finding, being open to working through something in an authentic way. Ewan Mcintosh in his keynote spoke of this and more and really opened my mind up to working in my zone of proximal development.
1. Joy I found joy and excitement at BLC11! I need to recreate that feeling for my students and myself every single day!
10. Collaborate for a purpose through the examples shared by Kathy Cassidy and Shannon Miller I can see how my first and second grade students can connect and collaborate with other students to extend and deepen their understanding of their community and their place and power in the world.
9. Use technology to move thinking and learning forward For the past several years I have focused on technology as the end goal and have I admit been doing analog teaching with digital tools. Marco Torres in his amazing keynote made an amazing point about really pushing thinking and learning into a digital format.
8. Finish and Sign Peter Reynolds spoke about creativity and the importance of making sure students finish their products and sign them. It seems like a no brainer but too often I run out of time on projects and don't get to this critical point. I will also make a commitment to making sure students have an opportunity to share their projects and receive feedback.
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| With Peter Reynolds at the Fablevision Reception |
6. Build My Professional Learning Community I have had my Twitter and Facebook accounts for several years but I have not been using them to build my own professional network. I was so inspired by the presentations by Shannon Miller and Kathy Cassidy to jump in and start connecting.
5. Authenticity This goes back to the idea of purpose, my students deserve a learning experience that is real and intentional. As we complain about not having enough time in the day to do what we feel we should with our students it becomes more and more important to filter everything I do through the screen of what is essential and authentic.
4. Play Time is limited as I stated above however we all need time to play, it should happen in my classroom not just on the playground or the gym, it should happen in the library and the computer lab, I should make time to play and have an ease about technology and digital learning.
3. Visioning With my students!! I used Peter Reynolds wonderful book, The North Star to help my students envision their hopes and dreams for the school year. This will become a cornerstone of my teaching because by asking my students where they want to go I am giving them the powerful message that I care about their visions and dreams.
2. Problem Finders Helping my students and my teaching go from problem solving to problem finding, being open to working through something in an authentic way. Ewan Mcintosh in his keynote spoke of this and more and really opened my mind up to working in my zone of proximal development.
1. Joy I found joy and excitement at BLC11! I need to recreate that feeling for my students and myself every single day!
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Time to Face the Future
The future is here and my students need and require a teacher who has the skills, knowledge and attitude necessary to support their learning and growth. As a National Board Certified teacher and with a Master's Degree in Education I suppose I felt secure and confident. I wasn't willing to face my own lack of confidence and beliefs about integrating digital tools and resources with my young students. After viewing the ICT standards from UNESCO which are technological literacy, knowledge deepening and knowledge creation and then the K-2 grade expectations in technology from the Vermont Dept. of Education I realize that I can no longer afford to wait and fall back on the old ways of teaching and integrating technology minimally. It is uncomfortable at times because things change so quickly in the digital world. There is always a new tool or website to investigate, I have felt that there is no way to keep up. However the stakes are high and it is vital that my students have the opportunities that will enable them to participate fully in the digital world of today and the future. So I will push myself to stay current, think creatively and use the examples in the VT tech grade expectations as well as other resources to integrate technology and digital tools naturally and fluently in all areas.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Empowered, Skilled and Engaged Citizens
This session's work on AUP's ( acceptable use policies), equitable access and global connections really engaged me and really helped to bring my work in this course into a familiar perspective. My work with young students is based on helping to support their development in foundational skills and attitudes that will sustain their learning throughout their lives. I hope for nothing less than empowered, skilled and engaged citizens, in their local communities and beyond. AUP's, equitable access and global connections informs my understanding of skilled and confident learners and thinkers.
AUP's and teaching students to interact respectfully and responsibly with digital media and communication are clearly foundational skills that as educators we need to model and provide direct instruction with from an early age. Just as we begin to teach the words "please" and "thank-you" as soon as a child begins to speak, we should be teaching about acceptable use, proper digital etiquette and respect for intellectual property as soon as children begin to use these technologies and tools. The most important aspect of this work with young children is to use kid friendly language and concrete examples to help students understand the purpose and importance of using these skills. In addition as teaches we need to model respectful interactions and respect of technology, both in virtual communication and face-to face interactions.
Equitable access is an important issue for our school community. Not only access to hardware and broadband connections but also to the attitudes and habits students are exposed to around the internet and technology from home. The results from an infromal survey I conductd with my first and second graders a couple of years ago demonstrated that students primarily viewed computers, smartphones and the internet in terms of entertainment, not communication, collaboration or knowledge attainment. I realized that it is very important for me to demonstrate and engage students in the communication, colaborations and learning that happens through the use of these and other technologies. Both to broaden and deepen the experiences they may be having with this technology at home.
Finally, as a former Rotary Youth Exchange student I have always been committed to helping my students understand and gain experiences that take them beyond their local communities. Several years ago I decided to begin using a Service-Learning model to engage students in working on making positive impacts in their local communities. With the advancements in communication and collaboration tools making it more accessible to younger students, I see whole new opportunities for my students to interact and apply their learning with other students from around the world! One goal for next year will be to engage in a project that connects my students with students from another country around a common curricular focus.
AUP's and teaching students to interact respectfully and responsibly with digital media and communication are clearly foundational skills that as educators we need to model and provide direct instruction with from an early age. Just as we begin to teach the words "please" and "thank-you" as soon as a child begins to speak, we should be teaching about acceptable use, proper digital etiquette and respect for intellectual property as soon as children begin to use these technologies and tools. The most important aspect of this work with young children is to use kid friendly language and concrete examples to help students understand the purpose and importance of using these skills. In addition as teaches we need to model respectful interactions and respect of technology, both in virtual communication and face-to face interactions.
Equitable access is an important issue for our school community. Not only access to hardware and broadband connections but also to the attitudes and habits students are exposed to around the internet and technology from home. The results from an infromal survey I conductd with my first and second graders a couple of years ago demonstrated that students primarily viewed computers, smartphones and the internet in terms of entertainment, not communication, collaboration or knowledge attainment. I realized that it is very important for me to demonstrate and engage students in the communication, colaborations and learning that happens through the use of these and other technologies. Both to broaden and deepen the experiences they may be having with this technology at home.
Finally, as a former Rotary Youth Exchange student I have always been committed to helping my students understand and gain experiences that take them beyond their local communities. Several years ago I decided to begin using a Service-Learning model to engage students in working on making positive impacts in their local communities. With the advancements in communication and collaboration tools making it more accessible to younger students, I see whole new opportunities for my students to interact and apply their learning with other students from around the world! One goal for next year will be to engage in a project that connects my students with students from another country around a common curricular focus.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Communication and Collaboration
The topic for this session, communication and collaboration, felt like a home coming. I was coming back to an idea that has been the key concept of my integration and use of technology with my students for the past several years.Although I feel comfortable I know there is still so much to explore and with the rate of innovation and change there will always be something new to try out!
A few years ago, at the beginning of the school year I asked my students to complete a very short survey on how they use technology and how they see their parents using technology at home. Not surprisingly for first and secomd grade students the majority of students responded that they used technology for playing games and watching movies. In response to the second question many students also stated that their parents used technology for gaming and entertainment. A few students mentioned information gathering or communication. I realized that I needed to show and provide opportunities for students to use technology and digital tools to communicate. I wanted my students to see that the whole world was open to them through the use of web 2.0 tools. That year students completed a digital slide show that represented their learning on a science topic and complete a web quest during our life cycles unit. I felt that although all of my goals around communication had not been met good progress had been made by both my students and myself.
This year my goal around digital communication included an idea for a lesson sequence that would include a Skype experience with students in Brazil. Our school was going to be doing a month long cultural study of Brazil and I realized this would be a wonderful opportunity for my students to communicate with students in another country and on another continent. Unfortunately this expereince did not happen. I learned a lot about how much time it actually takes to create this kind of interaction and will try again next year.
I am also thinking more about the collaboration piece of this session. Communication and collaboration are two sides of the same coin. I have learned so much about how to use web 2.0 tools to communicate with my colleagues and I feel I have done a good job so far helping my students see the opportnunities for communication. Collaboration has come slower and I am still not sure exactly what it should look like for my first and second grade students. Perhaps having a specific purpose for communicating with students in another school or country would be a beginning step. I also think about Service Learning as an avenue that might meaningfully support digital collaboration expereinces for
my students. I am looking forward to trying again with these tools and more next year, and the year after that and the year after that..........
A few years ago, at the beginning of the school year I asked my students to complete a very short survey on how they use technology and how they see their parents using technology at home. Not surprisingly for first and secomd grade students the majority of students responded that they used technology for playing games and watching movies. In response to the second question many students also stated that their parents used technology for gaming and entertainment. A few students mentioned information gathering or communication. I realized that I needed to show and provide opportunities for students to use technology and digital tools to communicate. I wanted my students to see that the whole world was open to them through the use of web 2.0 tools. That year students completed a digital slide show that represented their learning on a science topic and complete a web quest during our life cycles unit. I felt that although all of my goals around communication had not been met good progress had been made by both my students and myself.
This year my goal around digital communication included an idea for a lesson sequence that would include a Skype experience with students in Brazil. Our school was going to be doing a month long cultural study of Brazil and I realized this would be a wonderful opportunity for my students to communicate with students in another country and on another continent. Unfortunately this expereince did not happen. I learned a lot about how much time it actually takes to create this kind of interaction and will try again next year.
I am also thinking more about the collaboration piece of this session. Communication and collaboration are two sides of the same coin. I have learned so much about how to use web 2.0 tools to communicate with my colleagues and I feel I have done a good job so far helping my students see the opportnunities for communication. Collaboration has come slower and I am still not sure exactly what it should look like for my first and second grade students. Perhaps having a specific purpose for communicating with students in another school or country would be a beginning step. I also think about Service Learning as an avenue that might meaningfully support digital collaboration expereinces for
my students. I am looking forward to trying again with these tools and more next year, and the year after that and the year after that..........
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Web 2.0 tools for 1-2 students
As I was reading and viewing the information for this week's focus on creativity, collaboration and graphic organizers I found myself reflecting on the excitement and enthusiasm my daughter used to have for websites such as Webkins and Club Penguin. She is thirteen now and she would cringe if I mentioned it in front of her, she does occasionally still visit and play the games on Club Penguin.
So what is is about these websites and others in this genre that attract kids and keep them coming back?
Is it possible to create a educational experience for my students using constructed comments, structured interactions and of course a childlike and creative environment?
For my 1-2 students, I believe blogging and collaboration tools that older students use are beyond their capabilities. In first grade many students are just learning to read and write. Using structured comments and of course lots of audio support could make it easier for my young students to communicate electronically. Another tool that would be wonderful would be a speech to text option. I am not a programmer so to try to create this environment myself would be a stretch indeed. Fablevision seems to be a company with a wonderfully creative and childlike vision. I appreciate their focus on literacy and the arts.
So my next question is to what purpose would I want my 1-2 students engaging in experiences like the ones mentioned above?
If the answer is to create more collaboration and creativity than shouldn't I be providing those experiences in the classroom? I am still a little foggy on why these tools are important for K-2 students. I can see how engaging students beyond the school day would be a practical and purposeful application for web 2.0 tools. This is an area that I do want to investigate further. I definitely need to continue to broaden my understanding of what electronic collaboration and creativity will look like and sound like for my students in the future.
So what is is about these websites and others in this genre that attract kids and keep them coming back?
Is it possible to create a educational experience for my students using constructed comments, structured interactions and of course a childlike and creative environment?
For my 1-2 students, I believe blogging and collaboration tools that older students use are beyond their capabilities. In first grade many students are just learning to read and write. Using structured comments and of course lots of audio support could make it easier for my young students to communicate electronically. Another tool that would be wonderful would be a speech to text option. I am not a programmer so to try to create this environment myself would be a stretch indeed. Fablevision seems to be a company with a wonderfully creative and childlike vision. I appreciate their focus on literacy and the arts.
So my next question is to what purpose would I want my 1-2 students engaging in experiences like the ones mentioned above?
If the answer is to create more collaboration and creativity than shouldn't I be providing those experiences in the classroom? I am still a little foggy on why these tools are important for K-2 students. I can see how engaging students beyond the school day would be a practical and purposeful application for web 2.0 tools. This is an area that I do want to investigate further. I definitely need to continue to broaden my understanding of what electronic collaboration and creativity will look like and sound like for my students in the future.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Digital portfolios and Assessment
This week we dipped our toes into a deep and profound sea. Please excuse my horrible metaphor but just having returned from the Carribean my thoughts are a bit mixed up in the tropics.
Assessment and student portfolios is a topic that would merit a year long study all on its own. It gets to the very heart about what we truly believe as educators.
What consitutes learning? Who is in charge of deciding? How do we measure? How often? How much power should students have in their own learning? What are grades? What do they mean? How do we document learning? For what purpose? I could go on and on.......
At this moment I can be sure of a few things. I believe the more I include students in the process of assessment and evaluation the more engaged they will be in their own learning. Setting learning goals and being an active member by reflecting on their own progress towards their goals is not only a valid use of instructional time but will reap benefits beyond the classroom walls. The point of school is learning and I need to keep this priority at the forefront of my thoughts as I plan instructional experiences for my students. Portfolios are a key to documenting learning and progress towards goals. Digital portfolios are a bit of a stretch for my first and second graders at this point but there may come a time when that changes.
Assessment and student portfolios is a topic that would merit a year long study all on its own. It gets to the very heart about what we truly believe as educators.
What consitutes learning? Who is in charge of deciding? How do we measure? How often? How much power should students have in their own learning? What are grades? What do they mean? How do we document learning? For what purpose? I could go on and on.......
At this moment I can be sure of a few things. I believe the more I include students in the process of assessment and evaluation the more engaged they will be in their own learning. Setting learning goals and being an active member by reflecting on their own progress towards their goals is not only a valid use of instructional time but will reap benefits beyond the classroom walls. The point of school is learning and I need to keep this priority at the forefront of my thoughts as I plan instructional experiences for my students. Portfolios are a key to documenting learning and progress towards goals. Digital portfolios are a bit of a stretch for my first and second graders at this point but there may come a time when that changes.
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