Learning With Visuals

The statistics we were shown this week remind us of the importance of providing information to kids visually.  One of the videos used during the lecture said that 65% of learners are visual learners and that 90% of the information absorbed is taken in through the eyes.  I feel like this year more than others I really see how dependent the kids are on visuals. Their auditory skills are extremely weak, and it seems that if I say it out loud chances are they didn’t catch it . Most of them still don’t catch it the second or third time I say it. I must pair visual with auditory.

Because kids depend on visuals and seem to learn better and faster with them in their lives, it is important that they learn how to visually represent information and data.  I have created an infographic for a course in the past, but I have not created one for my students. I do make anchor charts in the classroom that serve a similar purpose. I notice that when they have to be covered or taken down, the kids turn to look at the spot on the wall where they are used to seeing it. I think it would be powerful to have them create an infographic of their own to help them study, show their thinking and/or show understanding.

I have made it one of my professional goals to use technology to increase student engagement this year.  I am pushing myself to implement a lot of the tools that I am learning about through this program into my classroom, so I see students creating an infographic in the near future!   Along with learning visually, a lot of students learn by doing. I think they will get more out of the experience if they have the expectations for the assignment and they get to jump in and figure out how to do it.  Creating an infographic would give them a chance to show their creative side and also work on problem solving skills.

Guiding Students During Research

The reading and lecture this week gave some great ideas on effective search skills.  One of the sites that came up in the reading was Wikipedia, and I was glad it did. I have always encouraged my students to stay away from it as a resource in the past because anyone can post or alter the information on the pages.  With that being said, typically when my students use Google to find information, Wikipedia is ALWAYS the fist result. I teach middle school children, and sometimes they can be a tad lazy. They just click on the first thing that comes up instead of looking at their options.  In my personal experience I have found that Wikipedia is usually accurate and it has a ton of information. The book did recommend using it as a starting point in the research process, and to check other resources to confirm the information.

I liked the CARS checklist for website evaluation, and I think it would be a useful tool for kids.  I’m worried about my kids being misinformed with Wikipedia when they can stumble up a completely bogus website anywhere (the tree octopus!)  No matter what the site, it would be good for the kids to evaluate it for its credibility, accuracy, reasonableness and support. Whether they are doing researching or buying  a product, kids need to know what a reliable website contains.

Dr. Dell introduced a term this week that I was unfamiliar with but totally understand...Infowhelm.  We are all very familiar with being overwhelmed with teaching, learning, family and all of the things that come with it.  That same overwhelmed feeling happens to our students when they attempt to search for information. Google is great, but sometimes it gives us too many results.  Creating a custom Google search is a great way to let students search for information in a structured way. I also like the idea of using a bookmarking site like Diigo to help kids keep track of helpful sites or provide them a series of options to look at when researching.

We All Teach Literacy

The past few years I have definitely noticed a shift in mindset.  It used to me that science teachers taught science and social studies teachers taught socials studies and so on and so forth.  There has been a big push (at least in my building) for subjects to support each other and plan cross curricular activities. Essentially, math and science team up and support each other and ELA and social studies do the same because naturally, it makes sense.  It is interesting to hear the kids question, “What class are we in?” or “Why are we doing this? This isn’t ELA!” We are definitely taking a step in the right direction, but there is more that can be done.

As we have already talked about in this course, literacy needs to be a focus in all subject areas. I found an article on Edutopia about the importance of literacy in all content areas.  One of the things that stood out to me was one of the sub-headings that read, “Literacy is an every century skill.” Literacy was important in the past, it is still important today, and it will continue to be important in the years to come.  The approach to teaching literacy and the skill set that the students need is what has changed.

I found myself laughing at the Ferris Bueller clip that Dr. Dell posted this week. The clip of Ben Stein’s character lecturing his zombie-like students was great. What made it funny was that it was spot on!  Most of us sat in at least one class like this and we were bored out of our minds. In the lecture, Dr. Dell mentioned how we are making our move from the Industrial Age to the Information Age which means we are stepping away from talking at the students constantly and giving out worksheets galore.  We need to give them a chance to collaborate, research and problem solve.

In ELA, our focus is always on reading, writing, speaking and listening since that is what our standards are all about.  Providing opportunities for students to practice those skills in other content areas is crucial. Just like with everything else, the more they do it the better they become. There are some great tools and resources out there that anyone can use to teach literacy.  Newsela and Tween Tribune were two tools that were mentioned that could be of great use. They cover age appropriate articles from various categories and you can adjust the lexile level in order to differentiate.

Taking Time for Tech Tools

One of my favorite things to do is to have the chance to get to “play” around with new technology tools that I can start using in my classroom right away.  The only problem is that I feel like I never have the time to get to explore these new tech tools. It always seems like we get introduced to a brand new gadget in a professional development session and get zero time to see how it actually works and how I can incorporate into my class. That is one of the reasons that I like these courses because it forces me to carve out some time to see what is out there.  After looking through the various tools in the reading and the lecture, I see some familiar friends and some fresh new faces. A couple of the tools that I am familiar with and use personally and/or in my classroom are Newsela, Diigo, Google(Classroom, Docs, Slides), and Dropbox(which I don’t use as much thanks to Google Suite). There were a few tools like Glogster and Tween Tribune that I have used in the past as well.

The two new tools that I took some time to get to know are Actively Learn and Epic.  I have a colleague, who has also been my classmate during the MET program, that has talked about using Actively Learn .  I still have so much to learn about this tool, but right now I am super excited! There are a variety of articles, videos and short stories that are aligned to a variety of standards and are of varying DOK levels.  Questions are embedded throughout the article, story or video requiring the students to be active in the reading process. I teach 7th grade ELA, so I typed in one of the novels we will read this year (The Outsiders...my favorite!) Unfortunately, the story is not on actively learn, but it pulled articles, books, dramas, short stories and videos that are related to the Outsiders because they are from the same genre or share a similar theme. How cool! I plan on spending a little more time researching and watching videos to see all of the cool things we can do.

The second tool I chose to spend more time with is Epic. Last week during our video introductions someone (I think it was Krista) mentioned using Epic with her students.  I wanted to take a look, and it appears that it is designed for kids 12 and under. My students are at the ceiling age wise, however I have quite a few students who are significantly below grade level in reading.  This would be a great way to give them access to books on their level considering our middle school library doesn’t have a lot of 3rd and 4th grade level books to put in their hands. I like the idea that I can assign reading and even create quizzes for them.  

I’m excited to give these new tools a try in my classroom!

Literacy in the 21st-Century Classroom

The concept of literacy has changed tremendously when you think about the 21st-century classroom.  In “Technology to Teach Literacy: A Resource for K-8 teachers” the authors discuss how there has been a major shift in paradigms.  They go into detail about the behavioral paradigm where students have a list of language arts skills to achieve and they do so by sitting in their desks, which are placed into neat little rows, while they listen to the sage on the stage give the information to his or her classroom full of sponges, just hoping they soak it all up. Although there are still classrooms that operate in this fashion, I feel like a great majority of teachers have made an attempt to move to the social constructivist paradigm which promotes, “Collaboration, listening, viewing and sharing, locating and storing information.”(pg. 8) 

I see these shifts both as a teacher and as a parent.  When I reflect on my own classroom, I think about how my students are no longer in rows or sections, but sit in pods or tables to elicit collaboration and discussion. They create presentations, submit assignments through Google Classroom, conduct research and give feedback to each other. I see these changes with my own boys as well.  My youngest son is in 2nd grade and inside his folder I found a series of login information for Clever, Prodigy, SeeSaw, and Freckle. As a proud Momma and a teacher, I think it’s pretty cool to login to SeeSaw and hear my 7 year old talk about a book he just read. When I was in second grade, I would have ultimately achieved the same goal by producing a written book report.  However, my son gets to use various Apps on an I-pad to practice those necessary skills that our students need today. The authors of “Literacy 2.0: Reading and Writing in 21st Century Classrooms” remind us that, “Literacy functions remain the same while the tools have changed.”(pg. 6)

References

Anderson, R. S., Grant, M. M., & Speck, B. W. (2008). Technology to teach literacy: A resource for K-8 teachers. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Merrill Prentice Hall.

Frey, N., Fisher, D., & Gonzalez, A. (2010). Literacy 2.0: Reading and writing in 21st century classrooms. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Twitter Chats

                                            photo courtesy of https://darlagdenton.com/2014/01/24/what-the-heck-is-a-twitter-chat/

The whole concept of Twitter chats made me nervous at first.  I decided that to start off, I just wanted to observe.  Edutopia hosted a chat about letter grades, and the topic was something that interested me.  I decided to just hang out and see how everything works.  That was a great experience and introduction to the world of Twitter Chats.  The pace was pretty fast, but thanks to using Tweet Chat, I was able to pause and slow things down as I needed to.  It was also a great way to see the format.

Over the course of the past week, I decided to jump in and be a part of the conversation. I participated in two Twitter chats, and I chose to participate in chats that are relevant to my subject area. Both chats were through #2ndaryela. The first chat dealt with utilizing an article of the week while the second chat focused on implementing games and puzzles in the ELA classroom.  I loved the fact that both of the chats were smaller and easy to keep up with.  Brynn Allison (The Literary Maven) has a website where she posts ahead of time what the chats will be about.  I was able to review any articles posted and read the questions, so I could prepare my answers.  Having the questions ahead of time enabled me to fully participate in the discussion.  The fact that the chats lasted a half hour was a bonus.  I hate feeling like I have to be glued to my computer during the evening when it is family time.

The first chat I participated in went smoothly.  However, the second time I ran into a little problem.  I was at home ready to go with my thought out answers.  I sent out my warning tweet that I might be bombarding my followers feeds.  I moved over to Tweet Chat, typed in my hashtag...and the stream wouldn't load.  I frantically kept trying!  I switched to my phone and no luck.  The chat had started and I got overwhelmed.  I couldn't remember the other options to use instead of Tweet Chat, and I didn't feel like I had the time to look it up.  My solution was to type in the hashtag and sift through everything that way.  From time to time I would go to the page of the host, so I could see which question we were actually on.  Even though that was definitely more complicated, I survived.  I still came away with some ideas and I was able to contribute to the conversation.

After participating in both chats, I was able to walk away with some great resources and some new educators to add to my PLN.  All of the participants were extremely helpful and encouraging. They were willing to share ideas and even some resources they had created themselves or found.  I started following the hosts of the chats along with some of the participants.  It is reassuring to see others educators who are similar to you - those who want to create and implement new and engaging ideas, but maybe they aren't sure how to do it. It was nice to actually feel like I contributed and helped in some way.

If you find your self asking the question, "What the heck is a Twitter Chat?" here is a great video to get started.

PLN Reflection

Through this class I have been able to branch out and make connections with other people from the comfort of my living room.  I honestly had no idea of the power of social networking in education. At this point I still have to remind myself to get on Twitter, but every time I do I find something inspiring and helpful.  My experience has been great and I am following great educators and organizations. 

Along with Twitter, Instagram was new to me this semester.  I decided a few weeks ago that I would take some time to get familiar with Instagram and the benefits it brings to education.  Unfortunately, my experience with Instagram has not been great. I have had my account for two weeks, and just this weekend I received an email from Instagram of changes made to my account and suspicious activity.  When I got on my account someone had changed my name and profile picture and had posted an incredibly disgusting and inappropriate video. I have been using social media for years and never really had an issue, but this really bothers me.  I'm thankful that I really didn't get too far into posting pictures and sharing anything because this could have potentially caused me a major problem.

One negative experience doesn't negate the fact that I have grown as an educator over the last few weeks. I will continue to build my PLN, learn and gather new ideas. Will Richardson mentioned that in order to help our students create and effectively use a PLN , we must create our own.  I would definitely say that I am well on my way, and my PLN is stronger now then it was before I took this course.

I found a few videos to share that remind us about the benefits of creating a PLN and why having a PLN is so important.

Social Networking

I have been focused on trying to use Twitter and becoming more comfortable with tweeting and dabbling in the world of Twitter chats.  This week the reading and sources provided turned our attention to the other social networking sites that are out there to help build our PLN.  I already have a Facebook account which I primarily use for my personal use instead of professional, however it is easy for me to understand, having used it since 2005, how you can use it for PD or building your PLN.  I am also very familiar with using Pinterest, so  I wanted to try something new. Hello, Instagram! My friends use it, and some of my previous students always talked about it, but much like Twitter, I didn't really see the purpose.  At this point, I haven't had much time to play on it.  I signed up for an account and have been doing some research about ways that teachers utilize Instagram.

Since Instagram is a picture sharing site, I was thinking that would be perfect for  displaying pictures of a project my students just started working on today.  Each group selected a song that is rich in figurative language, and they are creating posters that show how they can identify figurative language along with imagery, mood, main idea. I also gave them the added task of creating a QR code that is linked to their song. That way when their classmates, teachers or parents are viewing their work they can scan the code and listen to the song.  I decided that I wasn't going to teach them how to do it.  I let them know that there are resources out there and they could do a little research and problem solving.  I teach 6th graders...the panic on some of there faces was priceless.  How dare I ask them to do something, but not take them by the hand and show them step by step how to do it?  After the initial shock wore off, they jumped right in.  I had several kids that wanted to start with that first because they wanted to know how to do it and they saw it as a challenge.  I actually had a student email me this evening to let me know she figured it out and she gave me step by step directions of what she did. 

In the reading this week there was a chart of digital skills that come from using digital tools. The cognitive skills really stuck out to me:multitasking, logical thinking, problem solving, and trial and error learning. These are some of the skills that it seems my students have been lacking.  It was nice to see them utilizing these skills when given the task of figuring how to create a QR code for their song.

Slowly but surely my PLN is starting to build.  I'm encouraged to keep finding information about using social networking sites to connect with other educators and find great ideas to bring into the classroom.  Here are a few extra resources I found about using Instagram.

7 Ways Innovative Teachers can use Instagram

Implementing a Networked Classroom

This week it was nice to see some examples of networked classrooms in action.  I have to be honest, just the mention of S.E Hinton’s novel “The Outsiders” got my attention. That is one of my favorite novels, and  I have used it over the years to teach a variety of skills.  I was excited to see the ways that other teachers approach teaching with novels and how they not only incorporate technology, but had the students communicating and working with others outside of the classroom. Shannon Miller, one of the teachers that was spotlighted, said that, “...a lot of people find it overwhelming and wonder how to make time for it, but you just have to find your own groove with how you use it and when you do, the connections add so much to your life.” Right now, I am definitely one of those people she is talking about.  This all sounds very positive and beneficial for teachers and students,  but it is very overwhelming to me and a little bit scary. Heck, I’m still struggling to figure out what I should Tweet about multiple times a week.  Change is hard and being pushed out of your comfort zone is harder. I know I’m not by myself with being overwhelmed by the thought of this.  I just need to remind myself that I need to make changes to work toward this...I don’t need to do everything all at once.

The benefits of having a networked classroom were very clear and make total sense, but I also found comfort in the fact that the authors acknowledged that there are challenges to this process.  Sometimes it seems when someone is trying to convince you that an idea or concept is important and worthy of your time, they forget to mention that there are some obstacles along the way. One of my big concerns was about curriculum and assessment.  I’m not one that thinks standardized testing needs to be the end all be all, but ultimately I am responsible for teaching my students certain concepts.  I’m still not exactly sure how that looks in the networked classroom.

Our kids want real life experiences, and they want to learn about things that

will benefit them when they are adults and on their own.  I have had middle school students
ask me why they need to learn figurative language in my class and why they need to know
who won what war in their socials studies class.They said,  “Can’t you teach me how to do
my taxes or balance a checkbook? I’m actually going to need to know how to do that when
I’m older?” I get it. I totally understand where they are coming from. With this networked classroom approach, students are more in control of their learning and they are participating and communicating in real world ways.  I see the benefits, but I’m still overwhelmed by the process...baby steps!

Here are a view resources that I found on implementing networked classrooms.

To Tweet or not to Tweet?

It’s actually not even a question at all for me anymore. The overwhelming response is that as a teacher you should be tweeting and using Twitter often.  Before coming into this class, Twitter was something I decided that I didn’t need.  It seemed pointless to me. I have Facebook, and I am able to keep up with family and friends that way.  I didn’t need another way to tell anyone that I was going to the movies or watching my favorite show. When you throw in the fact that I only get 140 characters to convey my message, I just didn't see the purpose.

I was surprised to learn during the introduction videos that some of my classmates used Twitter for PD.  How do you even get PD from Twitter?   As I have said before Twitter is a foreign land for me.  I knew about it, but I never had much of an interest in attempting to use it.  For someone, like myself, that has no real knowledge about the inner workings of Twitter, I just want to say that I love the setup of the book “Web 2.0 how-to for educators.”  I love that it is divided up into who, what, when, where, why and how sections and everything is very straightforward and not overwhelming.  The section that I really needed to focus on was the “why”.  Once I was able to understand that, all of the other pieces should just naturally fall into place.  The authors explained that essentially Twitter is a place where educators can connect, share information and viewpoints, and get advice.  In my building, we meet in content areas which is our PLC (Professional Learning Community). I love the chance to meet with my PLC and have face to face discussions and bounce ideas off of my colleagues. Certain buildings may not have the time set aside or some teachers may not have a partner that teaches their same subject in their building. I personally think of the art teacher, FACS teacher and industrial technology teacher in my building who have no one to talk to about their subject.  They are pretty much on their own. When you have a PLN and you have access to them non stop via Twitter, you have a constant stream of support, advice and encouragement. Educators don’t need to feel that they are alone.

I loved the section that contained the different ways teachers can use Twitter.  Now that
the “why” makes sense to me...let me hear those ideas! There were ideas for a variety of
subjects, but I wanted some more ideas of how to incorporate Twitter into an English classroom.
I found some good ideas at Red Pen Confessions. The only problem for me is that a lot of the ideas are geared towards high school where students are old enough to sign up for their own for various social media accounts.  I did see an idea about using Today’s Meet for classroom collaboration, ideas and advice which could offer a solution for younger kids to be able to practice and share their ideas in a safe environment.

Now that I understand why Twitter is a powerful tool for educators, I just have to put myself
out there.  I jumped into the Twittersphere yesterday by signing up for my account.  You can
find me on Twitter and follow me at @loweteacher. There is a lot to take in and learn, but I am
encouraged to find great educators to add to my PLN.

Here are a few resources that I found helpful when trying to learn more about Twitter and how to
use it as an educator.

http://www.schrockguide.net/twitter-for-teachers.html
http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/

Both of these pages have a ton of information, but I saw them as a one-stop shop for all things
Twitter.

Personal Learning Networks reflection: Introduction, Ch. 1 & Ch. 2

I currently  have one Master’s class under my belt, and a topic of discussion last
semester was Professional Learning Networks.  I figured that the world of Personal
Learning Networks couldn’t  be too far off, and for lack of better terms, there is
definitely a “connection” between the two.

I am pleasantly surprised with the “Personal Learning Network”  book at this point.
Throughout the introduction and the first few chapters I found myself laughing, nodding
and agreeing with what was being said.  The two scenarios with the newspaper and
Blockbuster made total sense, and I love how they started the book off with a scenario
about a non-educator, so readers are able to see that Personal Learning Networks are
not just something that teachers would benefit from.

One of the lines in the book that spoke to me was when the authors said, “Overcoming
the traditional view of education is the hardest part.” That seems so silly, but so very true
at the same time. I’m just thinking of people that I work with that are set in their ways, doing
what they have always done and the comments I have seen online about “this is the way we
were taught and we turned out fine.” Yes, they are fine.  However, the world is very different
now, and it continues to change. It makes total sense to adjust what we are doing.  It does
seem daunting and it would have to be a total transformation for sure.  The author’s mentioned
the seven common traits  of schools using networks:

- Students are better prepared for life and work in the 21st century
- Classrooms are more engaging
- Students are responsible for their own learning
- Instruction is more individualized
- Adults become better at their jobs and build problem-solving capacity
- Students are safer
- Schools save time and money

Everything on this list is exactly what teachers, administrators, parents, students and
community members would want. There doesn’t seem to be a downside to switching our
thinking, but if it was that easy, we would have made the changes years ago.

The idea that students belong to their own Personal Learning Networks and they are
essentially in the driver’s seat of their education is both exciting and scary.  As I was reading,
I thought to myself, “I’m not sure how some of my students would handle this.” We all know
that kids are naturally curious creatures, but I have some serious concerns with students
choosing what they learn so to speak and staying on task. They said that this process
can work in any school with technology and an internet connection, but I would like
some more information on how this works exactly.  In theory, it all sounds great, but
I want to know how it would work in MY classroom.  I think I have to be patient because
the next chapter is about implementing  personal learning networks in the classroom.

In the second chapter about becoming a networked learner it was nice to see some
“familiar faces” in the form of Twitter, Facebook, Diigo, Blogger and Google Reader
(now Feedly.)  Although I’m not super familiar with Twitter and Feedly, I am starting to
dabble in Blogger, I’ve been on Facebook for over a decade ,and I created my own Diigo
account last semester and never looked back.  I have a lot to learn and experiment with,
but it is nice to know that I already utilize great resources that make me a network learner.  
I found it very helpful that the author’s had some instruction and pointers about how to jump
in and get started with each resource. After looking at the course syllabus and upcoming
assignments,  I know that I will gain more familiarity with  Twitter and Feedly, and I will
continue to grow as a learner. At the end of the chapter, I found comfort in this
reminder: “And remember, it’s not a race; no one is grading you, and everyone will travel
a different path.”

After I finished the reading, I did a little looking around the web and found a few resources
that might be helpful to others starting the journey to create a personal learning network.

https://www.edutopia.org/blogs/tag/personal-learning-network

https://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-1-what-the-heck-is-a-pln/