LightintheWoods

Some twitter folks may of followed bits of this scenario if they had been on twitter at all yesterday. If not, try to follow along. Here is how it started…

In that third tweet, I shouldn’t have used the typical teacher talk to refer to the classroom conversation as a ‘lesson’. For this post I will save you the details about the ‘conversation’/'learning experience’/'time together’, but I suspect bits and pieces will come out as I share my perspective.

Anyway, this tweet triggered a few replies. Through the early evening, we threw a few tweets back and forth. Eventually, I picked up a short conversation with @mindelei (that is the only name I know know her by.) As a brand new teacher, I like following and tweeting with Mindelei, because she is a pre-service teacher and writes well. We shared meaningful discussion and questioning on teaching about the ‘idea of cool’.

I claimed that it is important to discuss ‘cool’ with students. That everyone has their own unique sense of ‘cool’. Referring to the students, I tweeted about coolness as part of one’s ’self’. Everyone is cool in some way. I tweeted about modeling ‘cool’ and that students are shown many examples when we teach about hero’s, share best practices and point out ‘cool’ acts.

I wrote that, too often ‘cool’ equates with ‘popular’ and that is false. Coolness is not about social hierarchy at all. It is about strong values/morals/ethics, neat interests, talents, being real. To me it is about being calm, collected and with ‘it’. Again, this is my perception of the concept, if you don’t agree please share. I know this is not the general perception of cool.

Mindelei and I ended up seeing eye-to-eye, I think, and we concluded that the debate we were having was moot as it was hinging on semantics. I have invited her to follow this blog post to discuss further, if she wants.

Whoohoo, success. Learning is awesome! Thanks for making the connection between us Twitter! That is what these social tools are about.

But wait… it is not over.

I came across another recent follower that had a perspective to share. Unfortunately, he was critical of our discussion and tweeted without the @thekyleguy pre-fix to notify me of his issue with the discussion. I was taken back by these public tweets as they insulted my character and incited some further reflection. After a hike to clear my mind, I decided that blogging this to wider forum would create a learning experience. Bringing this issue to light here, ignites the topic of practicing digital citizenship and courtesy. I will share this followers’ perspective and subsequent questions that I am left with.

(Update: Chad admitted he may of mis-understood the discussion tweets and apologized through direct message this morning. I have accepted his apology but feel as though this scenario raises too many valuable topics that do not get discussed enough.)

I have copied & pasted a screenshot of Chad’s tweets from last night. Start with the tweet at the bottom.

Please, keep in mind these tweets on their own are out of context. We don’t know which which part of the discussion @cbrannon started reading my tweets. I want to learn more from this. We need to discuss further. As a sub, I want to learn about being a ‘real’ teacher. Assist me with these issues so I can carry myself better when I enter the classroom and the staffroom.

Often twitter is described as a large virtual staffroom where teachers from all over the world gather to share resources and talk. The problem here is that these patronizing tweets were shouted without direction to the whole staffroom, rather than being whispered about privately as they would likely be in a real staffroom. I come to the virtual staffroom to reflect upon and to question teaching practice and pedagogy, both my own and that of others whom I learn from.

I welcome criticism and questioning of my idea’s and thoughts, in fact I am always calling for honesty and feedback. Usually, I defend my stance or learn from the questioning perspective. In this instance, I don’t feel as though I need to defend myself against Chad’s tweets because we have determined that he mis-understood the discussion. I am, however, interested in the definition of ‘real’ teacher, the manner with which this issue has been raised, and thoughts on discussing the idea of ‘cool’ with students.

<INSERT THEME MUSIC>

Readers, I now pose the hard questions to you.

Is being ‘cool’ important to students?

Should ‘real’ teachers and students talk about the ‘idea of cool’?

Why hasn’t @cbrannon heard ‘real’ teachers talking about it?

Do you talk to kids about being cool, about bringing out their passions?

Isn’t this opportunity for authentic learning experiences?

Are substitutes, ‘real teachers’?

What is your idea of ‘cool’?

and on a personal note, do I come off as an “expert without experience”?

*You can follow all of my twitter conversations in my archive.

I was inspired by this blog by Anne Collier, which was written in response to Andrew Keen’s Cult of the Amateur. I am part way through this book and felt as though it was time for a brief rant. In his book, Andrew argues that all of the with the millions of people using the social web we are creating a plethora of poor content. Further, he persuades readers by claiming that mediocre pieces distract from the important research and creations that professional organizations create. While this is true to some degree, it doesn’t out whiegh the benefits we reap from this new age of media.

In response to the cloud of gloom that Mr. Keen blows over the idea of online creation and participation, I offer these reasons of why I see web 2.0 tools to be an integral part of education as we continue to live our days on this planet. I believe that these tools provide both the teacher and student with new opportunities that rarely existed in schools as recently as 3 years ago. These web 2.0 tools open the vault that is active student directed participatory learning. Users are encouraged to participate, to produce for an audience, to collaborate with peers and experts in virtual spaces. Often like minded folk share highlights of successful pedagogies and practice. Teachers are using web 2.0 tools to empower and engage students in these new skills. It must be understood that in order to do this successfully they must be willing slowly adopt tools into their personal tool belt in a methodical and reflective process. It must be understood that these tools are not going to go away until a new media invention makes them irrelevant.

Good teachers will realize will promote these tools in classes because they provide another reason to reinforce fundamental life lessons of etiquette, morals, values and privacy. By having dialog about these concepts with regards to the tools, students are given opportunity to reflect upon and evaluate their real life morals and values. In our role as as the grand sage we strive to mold learners to practice self assessment to continually strive to produce quality examples of their learning.

In some ways, I agree with Mr. Keen, that their is much rubbish floating around this WWW. It is time we began to investigate how these tools can be used not only by our students but by society. In the past I mentioned that I don’t hold the crystal ball, but I don’t see social media evaporating soon. My complaint is that Mr. Keen does not offer suggestions to improve the social web. Nor does he aptly recognize the positive contributions of amateur participation to society in terms of learning, discovery and collaboration. As the world shrinks we need to adapt.  Let us talk about how we are going to do that.

With any writing, the writer needs a purpose. One could write to persuade, to entertain or to inform. I find that each of these are the purposes that drive my writing. I use this blog as a space to reflect on own practice, to share tools/resources, and connect ideas that I read. I consider my audience, which I assume is mostly other connected teachers. What will they want to read about? I select tidbits of information or teaching resources to write about that interest me. Sometimes, I blog about something that I feel needs more coverage, more publicity, and other times I focus on a certain tool and how it can be used to shift classroom learning.

Personal blogging is only one part of my online activity. I am more active micro-blogging and conversing via Twitter. As I participate in/with online communities of teachers I am led to find the best models of current practices. A week doesn’t pass that I am not sitting in on a live seminar with other like minded individuals. Through other blogs, I am connected to new ideas, new teachers, new philosophy, new issues. Twitter and RSS pull my community together. I build online relationships, and discover folks with common interests. As in real life, one can not be buds with everyone, and although I follow many, my circle of major influences tightens. It is through twitter & RSS, that I strike up or follow many rich discussions that drive my philosophy and thinking about teaching and learning.

I guess I am embarrassed at the lack of technology integration within my classroom. I have been saying that we are going to start blogging for about 4 weeks, hasn’t happened. Last week my students finally email addresses but we haven’t had time to introduce them. Planning, time constraint and my status as an intern have made me hesitant to rush the blogging. It will come, it will grow.

Here is a quick reflection of some of things that we have been doing:

Math PODS - We are supplementing 25 year old Houghton-Mifflin Texts with time where we break into groups and visit a variety of stations. These include computer activities, manipulative tasks and problem solving.

Social Studies - Canada: A World Player Task Card Unit - For this task card unit students are learning about Canada’s global role and our relationship with the world. Students complete tasks by conducting research of a variety of resources, but on paper and through cyber text.

Wakamow Valley Field Study - In order to enhance our study of eco-systems we visited to one in our own backyard. We focused the introduction of our classroom study on the importance of Water to the world. With a focus on how it sustains all life. While examining the eco-system we kept track of animal signs - manure, tracks, feathers, shells. We examined the lack of life in the Moose Jaw River. We returned to the classroom to learn about Food Webs and the interdependent balance of all things. It was a great learning experience for all of us.

Tonight I sat down with my friend and colleague, Paul Bazin. Recently I have been pushing Paul to embrace the web 2.0 world and since September he has taken some great strides. Already he manages a blog, We have set sail to learn, within his classroom. We have chatted about bringing our classes together through blogging and perhaps online blog mentorship in some capacity.

As Paul helped me learn how to use my MacBook more efficiently, I helped him become more familiar with his blog, introduced him to twitter, del.icio.us, a variety of links and Google Reader. It was such a good learning experience for me to take some time to walk a colleague through these tools. It helped that Paul was keen to learn and had started his own web 2.0 exploration prior to our visit. This is how change happens, impact one teacher at a time if you have to. Slowly more will come to see the benefits that result from technology implementation.

On a side note: I have only ever tackled photo editing once before. Today our discussion at the Digital Internship Seminar pushed me to try out picnik and phixr. My verdict, they do the same thing but picnik seems more friendly.

School started on August 30th. First couple days were very introductory with my Gr. 5/6 split, we got to know each other and the procedures of the class. Then by Monday, our class had been switched to a straight Grade 6 and our class population only decreased by one. Now there are only 18 little darlings under my guidance. I am excited because I don’t have any experience with the grade 6 curriculum so this gives me a chance to expand upon my K-5 elementary University program. If anybody has any tips on middle years activities or resources lead me to them please.

I have been a little nervous about where and how I was going to implement tech tools. But slowly it is happening. I set up the class blog and have used it to link the students to math games and endangered species information throughout the week but hadn’t really explained what it was or how we are going to use it. On Friday, I finally got our schools sole projector set up in the computer lab and introduced the class to Thinking Exploring Learning. They were the best behaved they had been all week, they ate it up. They, not I, can wait to get started. It was my intent to familiarize them with the blog through commenting and eventually take some time for them to create their own blog. This is all fine and dandy, until I realized that half of them don’t have email addresses yet and they are required for commenting on this blog. Little bump in the road. Their homework for the weekend was to try to set up an account, so far only two students have emailed me their address.  I think we will have to take some time to do set up email this week.

On the positive, my co-operating teacher really thinks that this blogging idea is great. This is a relief for me because it would be difficult for me to implement this tool if I didn’t have her in my corner. We both saw a difference with the class in the computer lab, they were so into it.  I am convinced that the use of this tool will reinforce the key learnings that we have over the semester.  They want to be on the computers, they recognize the computer as a valuable tool.

I am so new it is hard to totally visualize my future classes. There is a game of foosball jostling within my cranium. Weighing pro’s and con’s of different approaches and ideas and tools.

Going into my internship (Aug-Dec) I have been thinking about how to start. How am I going to infuse web 2.0 tools and technology into my students learning? Throughout this course we have been shown a lot and introduced to wide array of individuals. I’ve built a network of like minded individuals, classmates, new acquaintances and mostly folks I have never met. My interaction within my network of educators will continue to introduce new ideas, philosophies and guide my thinking. This network has became my base, it stabilizes me and focuses my ramblings. It will continue to guide continued learning and development. My participation is the greatest professional development course I have ever taken.

I am now conscious of my own digital citizenship. By developing my students awareness of their own digital citizenship, their real citizenship will be positively influenced. Our world is revolving around technology with little chance of slowing, our students need to be exposed to it. It is important that students understand that their online self is a direct reflection of them self and they have to be responsible for their own web use and safety. With digital citizeship an underlying theme of everything we do online, students will learn to identify and compare poor examples.

I intend to reach curricular goals, objectives and outcomes through the inclusion of technology. Technology use will just be part of my teaching, not just some special 40 minutes where we play games. I will be able to open the window to the world for my students. I will show them different places, how to analyze the world at a higher level, we will write for audiences that reach far and wide. I want to ensure that learning is meaningful, relevant and happens throughout students lives, not just in the classroom. Technology will aid my ability to do this.

I look forward to working through the future challenges of the ‘digital divide’, policy making, digital citizenship and whatever else is slung our way. I am going to commit myself to my students and their learning. I will learn when to guide and when to step back to let their brains pump. There will be stumbling blocks and I will get lots wrong, but I will reflect and strive for improvement. Technology will be part of my personal teaching arsenal of strengths, along with my appreciation of the natural world, my enthusiasm for learning.

I will be a facilitator, a soundboard, a mediator , a mentor, an editor, a leader, a planner, molder, a guide, a learner. I will provide my students with opportunities to think, to reason, to explore, to learn.

Interning will give me an opportunity to focus on the inclusion of technology within learning experiences. I am lucky to be starting my career with these and new tools, rather then trying to make the transition down the road. Not exactly sure what is going to happen in a year when I get my own class but I will be ready to dirty. I feel like I will be able to make the learning real. My students will be connected and exposed to high levels of thought and expertise, more than I could ever offer them alone. When I look in the crystal ball, I see myself with a little more experience and know how, maybe with some battle wounds but definitely with a smile on my face.

Photo Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/16152133@N00/455286001 - This fellow has some amazing photo’s

Yesterday was a good day, I am no longer writing for my personal audience but for stranger’s and new friends. Recognition happened twice yesterday.

First, it was awesome to be introduced on the stuff nobody told us (a project by Christian Long and Damien Bariexca) blog yesterday. Though stuff nobody told us is still in it’s infancy, it has very relevant posts for new teachers or those that need a refresher. Their blog is looking for new teachers in their first 1-3 years to comment and encourage further development and dialog. So check it out.

Then later in the day, Clarence Fisher, an established blogger and all star teacher whom I have been following and idolizing, referenced me in his post on twitter in the classroom. That floored me,I was grinning ear to ear all night.

This feels like a huge accomplishment. All of a sudden, my writing and thoughts are being appreciated by many. My network is growing. I feel the sense of pride and ownership that my students will feel when their work is published and recognized.

Thanks everyone, I know this will happen more in the future and I won’t write about each instance, but right now I am just an amateur in a big world and this was extremely meaningful to me.

I have been out of touch for about 9 or 10 days, no internet, no computer. Just relaxing and reflecting in a quiet campground called Englishmans Creek on Lake Koocanusa south of Fernie. It was good to get away, I always enjoy my time away from my regular paced lifestyle but this time I found myself wanting to get back. I couldn’t put my finger on it until a couple days ago, but while camping my mind kept wandering back to all of this web 2.0 mumbo jumbo that my brain has focused on for the past couple months. I have a lot of questions about the how’s and whys that are involved with the implementation of the tools I am learning about. I find that the more I contemplate these questions, the more technology’s place in my teaching philosophy is cemented. With time and experience I will flesh this philosophy and the answers to these questions out further.

As I get back to my online life I am finding a full aggregrator, a couple podcasts and a handful of interesting collaborative wiki’s I will be trying to contribute to over the coming week. My interest in this is the answer to my hunger to return.

In May and June of this year I took EADM 310 and EPYS 322 (Special Needs). I proposed to my instructors that I was getting into this tech stuff, and it would be a great experience to experiment with wiki’s. Was I ever right!

For anyone familiar with Ed Pysc 322, the project involves creating your own resource binder with various strategies, management techniques, and visual strategies for special needs students. Check it out here. Peers were handing 3 inch binders that they were claiming they would never look at again. Think of the trees! The resource I created will be useful in my teaching and act as a great starting point for when I do encounter a student with a special need that I want to research further. The prof was so interested in this method that she is going to suggest that the next class collaborates in creating a similar wiki rather than binders.

In the Ed Admin class, I chose the topic of educational cyber policy. I found all relevant information to be online and realized that the wiki was the best method to deliver the research I had in mind. Check it out here. This method allowed me not to link to direct references but also deliver video and related news on the subject that was at time less than a week old.

One of the key aspects that I missed out on in the process of creating these wiki’s was the collaboration, so I invite each of you to join my wiki spaces and contribute as you see fit.

This where I plug wikispaces.com. Easy to use, and ad free wiki space for educational use. How could you beat that? I should also add that without this video, this project would of been far more intimidating.

This blog by Vicki, does a good job of summarizing some of the points Will Richardson presents on wikis in his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms.

I can not wait to use wiki’s in my classroom. The ease of use is phenomenal and it connects students directly with their peers for collaboration and meaningful learning. If anybody has any suggestions, or questions on wiki’s please leave me a note.