I am taken by the amazing amount of visual images available to us via Creative Commons! The possiblilities are endless….As a first grade teacher, I am continually looking for ways to enhance my teaching. Children are “hooked” by images. They communicate with pictures of their own and they learn more than we think through photographs. Recently I have begun showing my 7 year olds photos as I begin a unit of study. We talk about what they “know” and what they “think they know.” Then as the course of study continues, we make two lists, “Facts” and “Misconceptions.” As we go along, we move information from one category to the other. Beginning with photographs is a wonderful way to begin learning because humans learn best by doing and next by seeing. When I allow class time for children to look through nonfiction, they are more aware of photographs as a source of information.
Thing 8 – Wiki Pages
I love Wikis! My daughter uses a wiki page to collaborate with her fellow architecture students. She and I had a lively discussion about the differences between a wiki and a blog. Great fun. Each time I sit to accomplish a “thing task” I am side tracked by searching and reading. (I think this is no accident!) I enjoyed the Oregon Trail wiki done by the third graders at Woodward. I would love to know how the teacher led the students to this point. I will share this with my school’s third grade teachers. I have set up a wiki to use in my classroom. I want the first grade children to share their class books and do book reviews. I think this is one way I can become comfortable with using a wiki and then expand how I utilize this tool. I hope to use a wiki for my fast finishers to create virtual field trips. What a great way to challenge my students!
Thing 7a – Experiencing RSS
I have had technical difficulties with adding to my blog. Since I work on this course from home, it took me some time to figure out the trouble. My last entry was a few minutes ago, even though I have been reading my reader for a while. (I had a reader before I started this course.) My favorite site has been one that sends me current articles about teaching reading. I forwarded one certain article to my colleagues about encouraging boys to read. The article was from a publication in New Jersey. I enjoy being sent the latest research and being able to scan through the list of articles to see which ones might apply to my current teaching situation. I sent this particular article to my colleagues because we have boys who are reluctant readers and the article points out that many boys need to be allowed to read via the internet in order to log reading hours. We have children exactly like this in our school. Sending this article to fellow teachers enables me to collaborate quickly and easily. We can then communicate with students, with teachers and with parents to better serve our children. Wow! This RSS thing sure beats the old system for sharing articles - photo copy something, add several names and then hope the “pass along” tag doesn’t fall off before the article finds the bottom of a pile on someone’s desk! I know my reader is a valuable tool. This is one example of how I have used the idea, I look forward to much more information to come my way via the computer!
Thing 5 – RSS
I found many articles of interest and sites to add to my Reader. In fact, there are so many, many truly amazing thoughts and ideas available through my computer that I find it difficult to remain task oriented. I am a parent of a teen and two twenty-somethings and I am beginning to understand how different learning is for them. While magazines, newspapers and books are wonderful things, they are finite. I am aware that the internet and services like Google Reader are infinite on a moment by moment basis. Information is literally a click away. I have subscribed to several articles about creativity and how to foster that. One interesting site that was recommended in our reading discusses the difference between art and creativity. Fascinating! I found a school in Australia and subscribed to their site. Hopefully, my class will become e- pals with these boys and girls. I have also subscribed to Jennifer Edenfield’s blogsite. Someone said that you’ll come across a site that will resonate with you and hers does. I too struggle with technology for young children. I am interested in encouraging creativity and open ended learning. I want the computer to be more than a place to play math games when you’ve finished your tasks for the day. I tried to be methodical in my subscriptions. Some sites were practical, some philosophical and some were inspirational to my teaching. The sites I’ve subscribed to will certainly give me food for thought. Now, if I can find some extra hours in may day…..I’ll be all set!
Thoughts on Web 2.0 in the 21st Century – Thing #2 & #4
I am struck by the variety of blogs offered for the viewing. Anne Davis provides a wonderful list of why we as educators need to be mindful of the power of the new literacies appropriate to our time. It occurs to me that when I was a child the thought of people walking around with computers on their wristwatches was the stuff that made Dick Tracy famous in the comic strips. Today, people are surrounded with miniature computers that connect them to information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. (I am sure people still read the comic strips, but after my paradigm shift of the day, I worry that that media is not long for our world.) I also read about a teacher who encourages his third graders to do their SSR on the Web. Yesterday’s paradigm shift (Thing #2) taught me that today’s student spends many, many hours of “screen” time compared to very few hours of “book” time. It certainly makes me think about my first graders and preparing them to be literate in the future. By far, my favorite blog visit was to Sir Ken Robinson’s site “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” ( I hope you will indulge me and view his video.) He is a humorous, master story-teller who makes several thought provoking points about the general aim of education. Are we “educating people out of their creativity” as he says? Food for thought!
