EduBlog Insights

Beginning thoughts:

is an example of a potentially ≥disruptive≈ educational technology tool

because it can fundamentally change the teaching and learning

environment. As Wayne Morren, principal of Floydada High School noted

recently, teaching and learning in the 21^st Century can no longer be a traditional experience of ≥sit and get.

Teachers as well as students must strive to creatively employ

technology tools to access, evaluate, synthesize and communicate

information. Only by engaging in this active process can ≥information≈

from the Internet be translated into knowledge in the minds of

learners. Classroom teachers can leverage the potential of disruptive

technologies like Skype, weblogs, podcasts, or one to one technology

immersion initiatives to increase student motivation to communicate

with authentic audiences, spend more time on assigned tasks, and

develop essential literacy skills needed for vocational and lifetime

success in the twenty-first century. Translated, this means increasing

student achievement, while simultaneously encouraging students as well

as teachers to engage in worthwhile and creative tasks. Twenty-first

This article might be a good one to share with administrators who are unsure about using blogs.

semester beginnings are! Whew! I’ve been doing a lot of technology

workshops for the early ed group. I introduced them to blogs and they

have created one but there’s not enough time to really go over it with

them. At least not in the way I would like. I believe it takes

time to explore all the many possibilities and, more importantly, time

is needed for discussing the concept.  I

really hate this skill a day

mode we are living in in the world of education. I see it here and in

the schools. Aaaaarrrrrg! My dilemma is whether to introduce them to

blogs, knowing I have no time given for follow-up. Should I or

shouldn’t I? The agenda for these students is jam packed and the

professors need every moment for their classes. Then there is no time

for me to meet with the professors to open up the dialogue in a much

better way then just here and there when there are moments we can

catch.. They want to include this but other things

take over. Time is ever the problem, right?

Some students will continue blogging and some won’t but I’ve decided to

go ahead and introduce them to blogs. I’ve been reading their posts and thought

I’d share a few. .

is October 23-25th in San Francisco. I always like following their

conference blogs. Here’s an except from the brief giving an overview:

reading for every parent of every child at Mabry Middle School and

should even be required reading for most of the students, at least in

the 8th grade. Hear! Hear!

connected through our blogs and exchanged a couple of emails but it was

really nice to talk to him about blogging and other aspects of

technology. If you have not taken a look at mabry online

you need to do so. Right at the top there is a link to Under the Hood

of Our Website….  One excerpt from this explanation:

readers can print that gives a flow chart of the organization. I love

how all this is explained for readers. Dr. Tyson is not only educating

his students but the public as well.

Podcast Central features

several podcasts from Dr. Tyson. His explanations are outstanding. He

explains everything they would need to know to understand this

technology. He has podcasts of his open house and challenges to students. The section I really love is  Kid Capacity. Voices from the students are heard. Stephen and Stephanie have

kicked it off and their podcasts are well worth hearing. Dr. Tyson is a

principal who gets it and is putting it in the hands of the students!

Even with all the many good things going on, Dr. Tyson is continually

thinking

ahead to other initiiatives…… a global collaborative, kids writing

their own textbook, and  other ideas to empower students in many

innovative and creative ways. We need more leaders like Dr. Tyson!

Derek Brandow teaches fourth grade in

NYC. His blog had a really nice look to it. He has created a turnstile

click effect that leads to these sections which are blogs -  home

room , fourth graders, parents, and teachers. Cool!  Derek also

jumped right in with commenting to my students at Getting Heard.

Some interesting conversations are going on with parents, he has blogs

ready to be used by students, and lots of interesting ways to help

children learn.

casa del bambino

Observations, ideas, teaching experiences and other thoughts by  a pre-school teacher in Malaysia. Her tagline reads ” Montessori-an at heart. Follow my thots as I journal thru the KL-ian education context”

Word 

This is a Weekly Reader online site. It caught my interest because of

the tagline. “A literary blog chock full of writing tips, book chats,

and whimsical word ramblings brought to you by the editors of READ and

WRITING magazines. It has just started this month so I thought I’d

follow it and see where it leads.

The Open Classroom: Using technology, transparency, and discussion to transform education

I had been reading Tom McHale’s blog for a while and enjoying the

reading and the thinking that came as a result.  Tom had an

class only to discover that last minute scheduling changes were going

to make it necessary to reschedule this group. Too bad! OK,

regroup.  If I’ve learned nothing else I’ve learned flexibilty and

the knack to recover quickly and move on. So blogs for the teacher

cadet class have to wait until next week. Not to be deterred I headed

on down to the Getting Heard

group. I spent a great morning in Ms. Baros’ class. It was really

helpful for me to observe her teach and watch the way the students

interacted.  I’ll post a synopsis for the students on that blog

but I wanted to thank those of you who commented. It meant so much to these guys and to me. These guys were so

much fun to watch as they read their comments. All we got done today on

the blog was replying to the comments. They didn’t have the time they

wanted to say as much as they wanted but they were so eager to write.

It was very serious, a good serious. We decided we’d have to make some

posts later because they had much to say.  I did

chuckle when I heard one of them say to another - (No, I haven’t heard

from any girls yet)

Ahhh, the power of comments. I’ve written about it before but I am seeing it in a whole new light. A post is brewing….

Also, a post is brewing on high school. Lots of thoughts and observations. My head is spinning but what a good spin it is!

I have lots to talk about but time is short today. I just wanted to

point to the newly created class blogs (and a few student blogs!) I

return in the morning to continue the sessions so I hope to blog about

it shortly thereafter.

The English class is a group of “at-risk” students. I think I’m where

no one has blogged before (at least not publically). It is going to be

a challenge. I look forward to it but I am open to any and all

suggestions. If you get a chance, welcome the guys to the world of

blogging. They could use the encouragement and it will knock their

socks off to realize some one is reading what they write.

Here are the class weblogs:

Getting Heard

Teacher Cadets

to open up the discussion with a small group of at-risk students at a

local high school this Friday. I’ll be setting up their blogs and

getting to know them. I plan to tell them that they are the ones whose

voices we need to hear. They can help us learn how to improve the

learning.. We’ll be using

our blogs to write about issues that matter to them. We need their help

on how schools could improve. Tonight I’m working late so I’m thinking

about questions to ask.

thinking. I usually start with questions and many times the questions

lead me in different directions. I probably won’t even get to this on

Friday

but I thought I’d toss these ideas out. I’m open for any input or

suggestions. This is a group who have not always had good experiences

with learning. They could teach us a lot if I can gain their trust. I’m

in a whole new arena and know I have much to learn. I have some great

teachers I’ll be working with who will be my navigators as I start this