Learning 23 Things

I watched Lisa Parisi’s “Oh the Posibilities” form the Kicking It Up A Notch session.  She talked about how to use project base learning in the class room with out mess and chaos.  For the projects to run smoothly she recommends a lot of planning, keeping the project simple, using a preplanned rubric, and keeping the project short.   The children would use a different tool for each project .  (ie voice threads, pod casts, slide shows).  After they’ve mastered or are familiar with the different tools you can implement a project where they can choose the tool(s) they would like to use.

A new idea, for me, was to stop being the expert.  Early on in the project you will notice which children are catching on to the tool the class is using.    These children will then be the expert, or teacher, for this particular tool.

I found Ms. Parisi’s lesson to be relevant and worth while.  After viewing her ideas I would feel very comfortable and interested in applying them in our class room.

This is it, my favorite thing to play with.  I’m going to have to stop and move on, or I’ll never get past Thing 12.

Since we first started 23 things I couldn’t wait to create a slide show with animoto.  I chose to make one with photos from my daughter’s high school graduation.  I couldn’t believe how much fun it was.  I still have a lot to learn on editing, but I was happy to have a finished product to view and share.  Please feel free to take a peak on my sandbox wiki page.

Next I wanted to create a slide show that could be used in the classroom.  In my previous blog I mentioned that first grade does a project on desert animals.  I decided to make a slide show which could be used as an introduction to this lesson.  I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed putting it together:

PHOTO CREDITS:
1. Desert Chipmunk by Wenzday01
2. Arizona Desert Whiptail Lizard by gatespassbear
3. Desert Horses by Jesse Childers
4.  Wild Bobcat by SearchNetMedia
5. Prairie Dogs by George Self
6. Coyote with mustard by justinjohnsen
7. Tarantula Hawk Wasp by kretyen
8. …turkey vulture by kretyen
9. Morongo Basin Morning by Mess of Pottage
10. Tucson, AZ sunset1 by photogirl7

I was not aware of Flickr before our course.  I’m really excited about using it as a resource to help with projects in the classroom.  One of the major projects in first grade is a book about desert animals.  I chose a few desert photos as a way to become more familiar with Flickr.  Below is a picture of wild horses in the Nevada desert.

Desert Horses by Jesse Childers

I am looking forward to exploring Flickr further .  I will use it as a resource and I would like to use it as a tool to organize our classroom photos.

I think Creative Commons is the legal frame for  Web 2.0′s window to the world.  I  appreciate  learning the appropriate way of  using internet materials in the classroom.  It’s exciting to know that there is more work in the Creative Commons realm then I could ever use during my career.   Like most “lifelong” students, I’ve been in the habit of sharing credit for written works.  However, I wasn’t as familiar with how to share credit to pictures or videos.   I have pulled pictures from the Internet with out paying attention to the copyright laws.  Now I will know, not only which pictures I can use, but the best way to use them.

I need to explore a lot further  the potential for remixing and reusing works.   I  need to keep these guidelines at hand (those outlined in our course and those explained in the Code of Best Practicies in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education) when working with Internet materials and continue to apply them.  I must admit, it’s been hard to wrap my brain around the Copyright applications, but I’m determined to master them.

Wikis can be used to help students organize, discover, and learn about any topic they (or their teacher) can think of.  They can be as basic as a list of medical topics,  with links to web sites for each topic, as used in the Code Blue wiki.  This type of wiki is a great place to start when beginning to work on a project. It’s also an easy wiki to develop for first time wiki authors.

Primary Math is another example of a wiki that is a bit more complex then the Code Blue wiki.  It has an index or navigation tool with links to different subjects with in the wiki.  The different math subject are presented with simple descriptions for  grades K-2.  Most of the illustrations are photos, but some are videos.  There are also links to each contributing classrooms blogs.  This is a good example of how a wiki can be used to enhance classroom math problems.  I would have different children “explain” a math concept or problem in a way that would teach other children.

Wikis can also be as complex and  multidimensional as the social studies project in  Go West .  The Go West site has a table of contents, time line, and games.  Each section is filled with photos, artwork, slide shows, maps, charts and written reports/descriptions.  It’s  not only easy to use, it’s entertaining and presented in a way that makes one want to keep exploring.  I would think any student would enjoy contributing to a wiki that is really a work of art.  Each child or group of children can work on a specific topic (ie food, wagons, vegetation).  They can contribute as in depth and as creativly as they want.  They would become “experts” in their topic.  Then, they can explore other students topics, providing feedback and also learning more about the total unit.

I can’t wait to learn more about creating wikis.  I want to learn how to design  navagation tools and perhaps add search engines (as illustrated in Grazing for Digital Natives).  I would like to design a personal wiki. One with all my favorite tools/websites/ideas  organized and linked so that I could use them on a daily basis.

RSS is completely new to me and has become one of my favorite new tools.  I really like the articles that give you tips on resources that can be used in the classroom.  This compliments my choice of choosing habit 5 (Create your on learning tool box) as my favorite habit, back with Thing 1.

Bill Ferris gives a useful example in his blog about Pics4Learning.  This is a great place to find free pictures, which we can use in the classroom, without infringing on copyright laws.

By  Marisa

I have found one blog site for parapros that I like a lot.  It is from the the National Resource Center for Paraprofessionals and is called The Para Place.  I would be interested to see if any one else has found blogs that are specific to paraprofessionals.

First off I  enjoyed reading so many of the blogs and snippets of information that the feeds brought to my reader.  Everything is interesting and I’m curious to see it all.   I’m also getting back into the real world after a wonderful two weeks in California.  I did visit a tiny library up in the mountains, to borrow their computer.  It was only open for 4 hours, two days a week.  It was definitely a relaxing vacation.  So now I need to jump on the wagon and catch up.

Many years ago I was a medical librarian.  The blog by Doug Johnson, The essential question?, seemed the perfect choice to reflect on.  He threw out the question that since everything is available via  the internet in the classroom, do we still need librarys and librarians?  The primary content of the blog was from the  comments from readers.  Most of these were in support of libraries.  Sadly, some were from librarians who were asked to leave their libraries.

A couple of ideas and comments stood out.  The library is the place where all the different facts and lessons are pulled together and explored further.  Students use libraries exponentially more as they get older.  The librarian is the expert on research and guiding students in the information world.  The library supports both the students and the staff.  School library are always busy.

Since beginning Web 2.0 there have been a few times that I started remembering my library days.   I started a medical library in the mid 80′s.  I had a dumb, acoustic terminal with thermal paper for online PubMed searches.  Eventually we had a “real” computer in the library, but it was only for my use.  The patrons had to use a card catalog and make all literature/research requests through me.  Just before writing my first blog I found the website for my old library: http://www.oconnorhospital.org/yourhealth/library/Pages/AboutUs.aspx What a difference, there is now an online catalog, online information request forms and many links to medical information within and outside the hospital, including podcasts.  I hope that if I had stayed as the librarian there  I would have been as successful keeping current with technology.

Each step of our way through Web 2.0 I am  encouraged.  I can learn and apply this new technology.  I will learn all that I can, and keep learning.  I’m very excited to get back on course.

There are few things that really stand out to me in the world of blogging.  I wonder if  they stand out because blogging is so new to me.  I will definitely have to revisit my first three blogs ever, when I’ve written my 20th and hopefully my 100th.

While reading the different blogs in our examples, I felt as if I was participating in many different conversations.  Even though  I wasn’t commenting.  The unusual part of these conversations is they can last as long as the comments keep coming.  Not only do they go on, into the future, but with the many links to other peoples ideas and different explanations, they go sideways, backwards, up and down.  (well I go up and down when I decide to go to a link that I skipped when I first started reading)  Other types of reading are definitely not so fluid, or personable.  What is very similar is the draw of the topic.  A blog is not very interesting to read if it’s not an interesting or useful topic.

While writing these first blogs, I feel as if I’m actually talking to someone.  It’s so different then writing a report or an essay. I think most students would thrive on this type of writing.  Most children enjoy talking about them selves and their views on what they experience.  They will be motivated to write, read, and learn more about their topics.  They will also be curious to read the comments written to them.  What really cements this type of learning is the ability to bring in other media.  I was very impressed with Laura’s video in Twenty-FIve Days to Make a Difference.

Another factor about the comments is their ability to have me look at the conversation from a different view point.  Nothing is really black and white when it comes to blogging.  I still do not find it easy to think about writing a blog.  It is especially not easy to think about writing a comment.  Hopefully it will become a lot easier for me before I get to my 20th blog.

Steve Hargadon‘s and David Warlick‘s blogs reinforce a few points of why Web 2.0 matters.  If teachers and students don’t utilize what is available they will fall far behind the social/educational environment of our current world.  It is our job as teachers to guide students in using 2.0.  Not only to teach them about what they can do, but how to use these tools appropriately. That most important ” thing” I can do is participate.  The more I see, the more I do, the more I will be able to share these tools with others.

In the classroom wiki’s, animation, blogs, and podcasts create a  multidimensional learning environment.  The students and the teachers learn from each other, other students in their  school, and from students around the world.  Skills that some students struggle with using paper and pencil will flourish with their ability to use a key board and microphone.

When I first looked at the 7 1/2 Habits of Highly Effective Lifelong Learners I chose habit 5, Create your own Learning Tool Box, as my most important habit. Now that I’ve been browsing , viewing, and reviewing all the different tips for writing a blog, I’ve realized that I didn’t have a clear picture of how I use, or don’t use the different habits introduced to us.

Creating a tool box is the easiest thing for me to do. In my previous life (ie about 5 careers ago : ) I was a medical librarian. I thrived on researching, learning about different topics, and organizing materials. I like to know where I can find and answer, and I like to be able to share the answers with others. The other side of the coin is I can spend more time exploring and procrastinate the actual doing.

This leads me to the most challenging habit, Habit 4, and that is confidently applying what I learn. I would not have thought I would be so nervous about blogging. I will grasp the truth of this habit, and know that I will become more competent and effective the more I actually blog!.

I’d like to conclude this first blog talking about what is the most important habit for me. This would be Habit 6, using technology to “my” advantage. I want to feel so comfortable with what we’re learning that I will go to these tools as easily as I go to a dictionary. My hope is that I will truly make this a lifelong habit, and be able to model it to others.