Blogging about Twitter

I will just come out and say it, “I have never been a fan of Twitter!” Well, now that that is out of the way, I will admit that I was a little surprised at some of the information that I was able to pick up from my Twitter page. I did not follow many actual people so I was spared from irrelevant posts such as, “cleaned the kitchen, now onto the bathroom!” This is what least attracted me to this networking site.

I was able to follow organizations such as NEA and US Department of Education. Following these organizations linked me to interesting articles and developing stories in education. Some were useful, while others were not. I was able to find out that teachers can eat free at Applebee’s on Tuesday May 18th. I was also updated on what the president was doing and saying about education. This is important to me as we enter a very critical period of time in education. I will have to give it a little more time to truly see if I pick up useful information from following these organizations.

On a personal level, I was able to follow ESPN.com. I have to admit this was pretty neat getting instant updates on what is going on in the sports world. As a sports fan, I felt pretty informed when it came to the latest and greatest in the sports world. The negative side to following ESPN is that it overwhelmed my Twitter home page. It seemed like every half of an hour there was a new post. This made it difficult to find some of the other people or organizations that I was following unless I actually clicked on their link.


I will give Twitter a coupled more weeks before I decide to abandon it. I hope to find a few more teaching related “tweeters” that provide useful resources and information. I do not know if this will persuade my feelings on Twitter. I think it is important to give a tool a little time before we discount its effectiveness. I do know that I will not use it as a personal tool, but do see that it may be beneficial professionally.

My thoughts on my PLN

My personal learning network has opened my eyes to a variety of technologies and resources that can, and will be implemented into my classroom. Although it started off as being very overwhelming, it has become much easier to organize the more I have utilized some of these tools. In a day in age where new ideas are at our fingertips via the internet, I now recognize the importance of having a well rounded personal learning network. Along with the variety of resources it connects us to; it also connects us to people around the world that share some of the same interests as me.

As I sort through the new technologies and resources that I have added to my personal learning network; the tool I think I will use the most is Delicious. It’s easy to follow and its user friendly tagging features allows me to maximize the internet and personalize it my professional and personal needs. It also networks me with other individual’s with similar interests or professions. It gives me the ability to hold on to tools that I find, and also expands my ability to find the perfect resource for a specific unit. Delicious is set up in a way that connects me to the web in a way that is useful, efficient, and timely.

Using Web 2.0 tools such as, Pbworks, Googledocs, and Wiki have expanded my ability to work on group projects or planning outside of school. They allow me to share documents with colleagues that need editing or additions. I also enjoy the fact that we can create documents and brainstorm ideas from the comfort of our own home. In my busy schedule this really allows me to work on school related documents and brainstorms in a time period that is convenient to me. In addition, I also have already utilized the survey features of Googledocs and websites such as Survey Monkey. These tools have kept me informed and connected with what is going on in the minds of my students.

Another addition to my personal learning network that I have begun to use regularly is Skype. I have been able to connect with friend and family on a more consistent basis. As many of the tools that I have included in my learning network are for professional use, I also included tools that keep me connected on a personal level. Although I have not yet had the chance to use Skype as a professional tool, I look forward to implementing it into my curriculum over the summer. I hope to plan several virtual field trips that take my classroom to places that are unrealistic for us to physically go. I also want to link up with other classes within our school and better yet throughout the world.

With all of these great tools, I have also been introduced to some tools that I do not think I will use much. I do believe that Twitter can be used for professional development and networking; I just don’t feel that it works that well for me. I also feel that it is a little too much information for me and it can be difficult to sort through what is relevant, and what is not. I do enjoy getting updates from organizations such as NEA, but overall I do not see myself using this tool to stay connected with family, friends or other professionals that share interests with me. In a day and age when instant gratification is front and center, Twitter satisfies this need. So as I may check it once and a while for professional updates, I do not foresee an increase in my use of this tool.

The last tool I want to speak of individually is the use of blogging. I have been using blogging in many of my college classes. For this, I see a great positive benefit. However, with millions of blogs out there, it can be difficult to sort through the good ones and the bad ones. I do include some blogs in my PLN and will continue to follow them. I just do not find it as the best way to get information. I will more so look at it as a way to share ideas and hear what others have to say about education and the world in general. I am not sure at this point if I will continue to write in a blog.


As I have reviewed many of the tools that I have grown to love, and others that I have grown to try and understand; I am finding out that many of my colleagues do not utilize any of these tools. I have tried to expand some of these tools to my colleagues and some teachers are just not interested. Over the summer our school district provides many opportunities for professional development. I have put a feeler email out to see if any teachers would like to sit down and share ideas about technology and more specifically some of their favorite resources. This can hopefully start a collaborative effort to stay connected and better utilize some of the great tools the web has to offer. My hope is that this will open some eyes to the vast resources and the great benefit of developing a PLN. I have already shared many documents via Google docs and that has seemed to be catching on as we have several district wide documents being worked on using this tool.

I also have shared the idea of a PLN with my students and some have really jumped aboard, while others have not. If they do not buy into the idea of creating their own, I will still benefit form expanding my curriculum and resources thanks to my PLN. I have already used my network to find great learning tools and handouts. I have found videos tagged in Delicious that I have been able to share. I have given surveys about what the students are interested in to provide myself with feedback needed to better engage them. I have used Polls everywhere to get quick feedback on a book or movie. I have gotten very interesting feedback on presentations via the use of voice threads. As education is changing every day, I am glad to say that I am changing my teaching style and boundaries right along with it.

Web 2.0 in my district

In general our district has been very good about accepting technology and even encouraging its use in the classroom. With the use of tools such as smart boards, moodle, Google docs for sharing, Skype and other web 2.0 tools, I feel pretty comfortable with where are district is at. Just last year they installed big screen projectors in 90% of the classrooms to allow teachers to maximize the use of presentations and smart board activities. Since I came to the district four years ago, I have noticed a large increase in overall technology use in our district.

With all of that positive stuff being said, we still have staff resistance. We have had in-services on the benefit of using technology and also have been introduced to many great resources. I specifically remember being a demonstration on www.polleverywhere.com . Many of you may have heard of this interactive tool that allows participants to take a real-time survey by texting their answers in. While many took this for what it was worth, others used it to rip on encouraging texting in school. This I see as our biggest barrier in using web 2.0 tools in our school.

When I come across new technology that may be beneficial to our school, I often time share it with an administrator, or share a link with the staff by email. Administration and many staff members have been very receptive to these resources and ideas. Many times I just ask the students if they like a tool. As we all know, they will tell us how they feel. If the kids like something I use it as leverage when encouraging others to try, purchase, or implement different technologies in the classroom. I am very happy that our district has been accepting this pattern and can only hope that others jump on board.

Delicious in my words

Delicious is a great organizational tool for someone like myself who tends to struggle with organization. It’s the one stop shop for resources and interesting websites. Even better I can check to see what websites my friends and colleagues are using and “steal” them if I like. Now that I have found Delicious there will be no more forgetting or losing great resources that I have come across (at least that is my hope).

As I look at the tags of my classmates I have found many interesting and useful websites. In the past I may Google certain subjects, and then sift through many websites that are subpar and inaccurate. By using my network, different tag names, and subscriptions I have found great websites such as http://www.teachersfirst.com. This site offers lesson ideas and activities for a wide range of subjects. Just as easy as “stealing this website” I can look at my classmate’s tags and have a more specific approach in collecting my resources.

Tagging websites has made it much easier in sorting through material that is relevant to me. It also makes it easier when trying to find a specific website that I tagged. The fact that a user can use multiple tags is great because many websites are good for more than one reason or idea. The one thing that can get confusing with the tags is using different tag words for the same meaning. For example I may put something in “teaching tools” and later use the tag “teacher resources” for the same type of website. This is not the end of the world, but it can cause a little more work when looking up different bookmarks.

Two features that I have not used, but will likely use in the future is tag bundles and tag annotations. The bundle is a great way to fix my problem that I stated above. When tags are closely related in purpose or meaning, I can bundle them in keep them all in one place. The annotation can be very useful in reminding us more specifically what a website is all about. How many times have I bookmarked something and later forgotten the purpose of the website? Annotations are the way to go to eliminate this “memory loss” that I so often struggle with.

As with any social networking or bookmarking site it is a great way to meet and share ideas with people that are interested in the same thing as you. Working together to find the best resources out there is an extremely effective way to stay on top of the latest and the greatest. As I looked through many of the different tags of our classmates, I found that many of us teach different classes and have different interests. I have also found that we have used many of the same tags such as technology and teaching resources. Delicious is great because I am able to just pluck any of the websites under these tags and save them to my page. Just recently I found a great math work sheet website that I stole from Norm. Thanks Norm!

I often work under the idea that “less is better” and feel that this may be the case with Delicious. Although it is great to pick through all of the different resources out there, it can also get overwhelming very quickly. Just recently I added Douglas Johnson to my network and was able to take a few bookmarks from him. As I looked further into his page and all 485 tags, I began to slowly mentally shut down. All though the network tool is great, I just want to be careful when adding people to assure that I can still effectively sift through all of the information available.

If I were to use a tool like Delicious in the classroom I would use it to share some resources with my students. If I found a great website on nutritional facts and information, Delicious would allow me to share it with the students. Even better they could pick and choose what they wanted to use from all of my bookmarks and resources.

My experience with these new tools

Sometimes I can get a bit overwhelmed with all of the technology being introduced to me. With that being said, if I can just figure out a way to organize it all, it could make my life easier and more functional as a teacher. I tried three different tools this week: The Survey Monkey, Whyville, and picture and video sharing. I will outline my experience with them in the following paragraphs.

First I visited the world of Survey Monkey. This was a very useful activity as it is a simple and quick way to get feedback from students, staff and parents. I found Survey Monkey to be pretty user friendly but I feel that the Google Docs survey that I created (and have been using) was more user friendly and easier to work with. In general these survey tools are great not only because of the feedback you get, but also how the feedback is organized for you. This makes it much easier to utilize the data that you gather, rather than just stuffing it away into a file cabinet.

I was skeptical about Whyville before I visited the site. My first thoughts were reassured as I played with this tool. I do not doubt that there is educational value with this immersive world website; I just do not enjoy using these and do not think my student population (9-12 alternative school) would enjoy these activities. Although it was fairly easy to navigate through, it was a bit confusing as to where to go and what to do next. Faces kept on popping up in front of mine and it became a little frustrating. With all of that negativity, I do see that there could be educational value in a tool like this. With younger students and more time to play with it, I can see this tool engaging students in an educational activity in a creative and technological way.

Last I chose picture and video sharing. I did choose it because I am addicted to YouTube. No, not just to watch entertaining videos of people making fools of themselves; rather I have found that YouTube has endless information and references on it. I do understand there can be copyright issues with using the videos in class (at least that is what our library tech told me); but if I need quick information about a certain topic, I can find it on YouTube. Also, having students post videos on YouTube for a project has been successful for me in the past. The kids really seem to enjoy making a movie and then posting it for the world to see.

Overall, I have added a few more tools to my tool box by participating in this activity. Now I just need to find a way to better organize all of this information.

I never thought that I would actually "Tweet"

I have to admit, I promised myself I would never do the “Twitter” thing. Now that I have joined, I do see some of the positive benefit. It is a great way to follow the latest in areas that I am interested in. I can follow ESPN if I want to know the latest in the sports world. I can follow a celebrity if I want to know their next move. I can also keep tabs on my cousin in Washington just by following him on Twitter. Professionally I can follow educational organizations such as NEA or the US Department of Education. This is a good way to keep tabs on what is going on in the Education world nationally. I also found a great research Tweeter (if that’s what you call it) called Teacher Created. This is just another great place to find teacher resources in abundance.
As a coach I can see Twitter as a great place to keep parents and the community in the loop. It could be used to announce schedule changes, rain outs, or game results. Instead of making numerous phone calls, you could simply make one easy post. The problem I see in this is that there are many people that will not get a Twitter account. So maybe Twitter could be used as an additional informational resource. Many of the things I have mentioned above could be used for a class also. I see it working even better for a college course. Besides being used as an announcement tool, it could be used to implement an actual lesson. It could be used as a scavenger hunt, or even a word association activity. Whatever the use might be, Twitter does have its ups and downs.
With all of those benefits I still miss the day when people could go about their business without letting everybody else know about it. Professionally and educationally, I can see many benefits of using Twitter. It is another tool to reach out to students, parents, the community and the educational world. If Twitter becomes a place where you let everyone know that, “I just ate chicken with gravy and vegetables…yummy” than I can do without it.

Tech in the classroom

Working with students in my alternative school has raised many challenges when it comes to using technology in the classroom. Just recently I have started projects that involve students making short films and posting them on youtube. This has been a collaborative project with the media education teacher at our high school, but the kids have been very engaged in this project. While the topic must be research based, the format and style is wide open to the students.

The students have done some of their videos on their personal time and we collaborate in the classroom to share ideas and give constant feedback to how their projects are going. I have yet to find a website to use which they can post there unfinished project. This would allow me to give more constant feedback, but our current format seems to work pretty good.

I feel the students have enjoyed this project because it gives them freedom. I have always said when kids don’t know that they are being taught; they learn the best. It has also been great for them to learn how to get more consistent feedback and in return make adjustments and changes to their projects. Since learning new technologies of the course of the last 5 weeks, I will be implementing a new web 2.0 technology into this project next year to improve the overall collaboration.

What students need to know about the internet

As I was talking to a friend last week, she was sharing her frustrations about her daughter’s use of social networking sites such as Facebook. I was shocked; not at the fact of what this young lady was writing, but the fact that she had a Facebook account at all. This 9 year old young lady was fully indulged in all that Facebook has to offer which includes: reading others (often older peoples) random and often inappropriate posts, seeing pictures that a 9 year old maybe should not see, and also posting things without the understanding of the enormity and permanence of the internet. This was a warning sign to me that we must begin to address things such as internet adequate, internet responsibility, and internet credibility early on in a student’s academic career.

In Alan November's article "4 Thing That Every Student Should Learn...But Not Every School Is Teaching," he brings up a huge red flag in our academic and education system. We must begin to address internet issues with our students. I have read several of my younger cousin’s posts on their social networking accounts and I do not think they truly understand that, I CAN SEE WHAT THEY ARE WRITING. Either that or they are just being irresponsible and lacking empathy and respect. I do believe parents play a large role in monitoring what their son or daughter is doing on the internet, but using an education setting is a great way to reach a large population of students.

I have taught internet safety in my health class for the past 3 years. It seems to open eyes, but overall the kids seem unimpressed. Am I getting to them to late in the 10th grade, or does more time need to be spent. I am looking at revising curriculum and would like to use more real life examples. Next year I want to stress the permanence of the internet as well as the enormity. I want to stress that their specific friend network is not a safe haven for random outburst and inappropriate pictures and comments.

My thoughts on Delicious and Diigo

I have just began using delicious (username is jsoule05 if you want to check it out). So far, it has been great. This is the ultimate PLN tool and quite frankly what I have been looking for for organizing all of my resources and links. I love the tagging feature and the ability to put links into many different categories. It is also great that I can steal from other users. That was a huge emphasis in my undergrad; "steal as many ideas and resources as you can". Delicious in some ways allows me to sit back and let others do the research while I just pick in choose what I like and dislike.

With all of that nice stuff being said, I still wish there was a little more freedom in customization of the page with Delicious. I cannot quite put my finger on it, but it can be overwhelming with all of the new information and tools that I have access to. I am still trying to figure out the best way to maximize the use of this new tool.

I do not have as much experience with Diigo, but it seems like there may be a little more freedom in organization. Especially with tools such as the highlighting feature. My problem is, I have already gotten started with Delicious. I can become overwhelmed if I try to create to many new tools. So, my thought for now is that I will stick with Delicious. any pointer about how to organize my network as far as subscribing to specific tags would be greatly appreciated.

Wiki VS Blog (sounds like childrens cartoon!)

I found finding Wikis much more difficult to find when trying to locate them on the web (if you have any tips, please let me know). The biggest different I found in wikis and blogs is that wikis are more interactive. They can be edited and changed by anybody that has the access to them. Blogs are more one sided. A blog itself cannot be edited by anybody, only commented on. I feel I will be more likely to use blogs when I want to read about different trends, ideas and opinions. I will be more likely to use a wiki when I am collaborating within my school, or am looking for very specific information such as a definition or description of something.
I do understand that there are different uses for both of these technologies. However for now, this is how I feel best served by these tools.

Wikis, Googledocs an More>>>

In the past 2 years I have used Google docs on a few occasions. It has been a great tool for sharing and editing of student contracts, idea sharing, and creating lists for brainstorming. My experience has been positive, but very minimal. This week I have learned how to create different forms and surveys. I have already implemented this into my classroom by getting student feedback on different educational topics. I find these tools very useful and easy to use once you get the hang of it. The feedback is very easy to follow and formats are great for presentations. I will continue to use my newly found expansion of the Google docs.

Wikis and Google Docs are a great way of collaboration. Teachers can maintain a “work in progress” and continue to brainstorm from, the office, home or even on vacation. I have and will use wikis for my professional development in many ways. Sharing information is the first thing that comes to mind. This can be done with a group at your school; or it can be done on a much wider scale in sharing more general ideas. Secondly using them for research to find out what is going on in the world. What are the resent trends? I can also add some ideas that have been working for me. Lastly they can be used to brainstorm very similar to the way we have in our Technology for Collaboration class. It is just another tool to contribute to our teaching and professional development.

I have found some of the following Wikis very useful for me and my teaching:

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Articles+and+Resources – This wiki has many tutorials, articles, podcasts and discussions. This is good general starting point for teachers.

http://learninginmaineresources.wikispaces.com/Alternative+Education – This wiki is full of links to lessons, websites and ideas in alternative education.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Main_Page - this wiki is a collection of textbooks and materials that cover all corners of the educational spectrum.

All of this technology is very new to me. It can be confusing, but also very empowering to find all of this information at my professional fingertips. I will continue to explore and share more as I find

21st Century Skills

The definition “Being prepared for the real world” is being rewritten every couple of years. As I think back to my final year of high school, we rarely used the internet. That was just 10 years ago. Preparing student with 21st Century Skills is a task that requires more than tests and written assignments. Student must be prepared to utilize their critical thinking and working skills in many different ways. As technology continues to change, the way and materials that we teach must change as well.

To give our student an advantage in truly being prepared with 21st Century Skills, we must provide them with the knowledge to utilize different technologies. For example, the use of PBwiki is a great way to have a discussion with students as a homework assignment. This not only engages them in the use of technological skills, but it promotes critical thinking in which will be published for all to see. This is a great way to introduce them to a competitive world in which they must be able to utilize tools such as; critical thinking, proper grammar, informed opinions, and researched based discussions.

As technology continues to change, we must give our student an advantage. We must provide them with tools to feel comfortable engaging in critical thinking. Who knows where technology will go next, but be assured that it will be an advantage to be able to effectively use it.

RSS Feeds.....There GREEEAAAT!

Ok, that title may be a bit cheesy, but let’s face it, RSS feeds make it a whole lot easier to follow the latest in greatest when it comes to technology. I started this class extremely overwhelmed with the amount of links, new technology, and information that was being thrown at me. My new RSS feeds have lowered my blood pressure and brought me back to my comfort zone.

Professionally RSS feeds allow me to follow specific blogs that I like. It allows me to organize materials in a way that can be beneficial to me. It has redefined the term “collaboration” as I have become connected to many people just from a couple of click of the mouse. Networking has become a big part of professionalism, and RSS feeds only contribute to effective networking. Not only can I use RSS feeds for my benefit, but I can share this information or new information to many people just by collaboration on the web. I consider myself moderately unorganized, but this new technology has been of great use and benefit to becoming more organized with technology.

Blogs in Our Schools

Blogs have many beneficial uses in our schools. They can be used in the classroom, with athletic groups, with clubs, and for school announcements. The possibilities are endless as education is always looking for ways to expand and become more efficient. If we can use another tool to increase student, parent, and community engagement, it is only going to benefit the school community.

Blogs are a great way to get information out, and instantly. If a school has an announcement or idea, the use of blogs would be an effective way to not only get the message out, but also get feedback on a topic. The community can remain updated, while the school can get a pulse on the community. Schools can utilize a blog to quickly get a message out to parents. This could become an effective give and take relationship between schools and the parents.

The use of blogs in the classroom is a great way to keep students updated. It is also effective in having them create blogs in which they implement their critical thinking skills on certain topics or subjects. It creates a connection outside of the classroom that is accessible around the clock. We must be careful as teachers to monitor blog usage. To make sure that it is remaining clean, safe and productive for all parties involved

Blogging as a Teaching Tool

"We cannot fight the technology." I find myself saying this in the teacher's lounge as SOME teachers complain about the kids and their dependence on technology these days. I do agree that using technology to replace personal socialization in general is a dangerous trend; however, if we can use technology in our classroom to improve student engagement, I am all for it.



As I am new to blogging myself, I find myself excited to learn in more detail about how to implement the use of blogs in the classroom. With social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter taking up a lot of a teenagers home life; why not get on-line with them. It not only gives a forum for discussion outside of the classroom, but it enters a world that many students have become comfortable with using.



A teacher could use blogging in a variety of different ways. They could use it to post readings and have students comment on the readings. It could be used to allow students to develop their own blogs on a guided topic, or something that they are interested in. Whatever it might be it is just another tool that we should embrace as teachers and use to our advantage to better engage students in education.

Blogs and Professional Development

As we move forward and become a more progressive educational world it has become extremely important to become connected. Blogging is a great way to share ideas, collaborate and explore what is happening in the world of education (or whatever area you are interested in). I look forward to finding new tools and ideas that will contribute to my resources as a teacher and professional. I have found the following blogs that I will follow to contribute to my professional development:

http://www.thisweekineducation.com/

This blog provides many links to news stories involving others in the teaching profession. It also discusses hot topics such as: education and politics, NCLB, teacher lay-offs, reform, etc. It keeps in tune to the latest news and politics in our profession.

www.assortedstuff.com/top101

This blog site links teachers to interactive websites, information, and learning tools that can be used right in the classroom.

http://janeknight.typepad.com/

This is another great blog site to give teachers e-learning tips, links and ideas. This site not only gives teachers links to help them in the classroom, but also as a professional. Great for building e-learning resources.

http://www.freetech4teachers.com/

This blog is full of free tech tips as well as free technology resources that are available to teachers.

While looking at the different blogs I found myself intrigued by the blogs that provided resources and for teaching and technology. I always get excited when I learn something new that I can implement in the classroom, or utilize with my students. Using these blogs will contribute to my professional development, as well as my student's development.

What do I want out of my Tech Course

As we see a world that becomes more dependent on the use of technology it become important for a teacher to integrate these skills into their curriculum and classroom. I am hoping that this course gives new ideas and tools that will contribute to my knowledge and teaching. Often time teachers shy away from the technology, even deeming it inappropriate for students to use (web profile pages, cell phone, etc.). I believe we can use it to our advantage and my hope is that this class updates me on these trends and ideas.