In reflecting back upon my personal learning network, I would say that the most useful tools that I developed were my blogging site at Blogspot.com, my input at our class wiki - PBWorks and my del.icio.us bookmarks account. I found these to be meaningful and I enjoyed adding to these. I used my Twitter and Voice Threads accounts, but to me it seemed that they both went off in so many different directions as far as what people had to communicate about. My blogging account, PB Works and the delicious bookmarks account I had, narrowed and specified information for me more easily.
I would love to continue using my favorite tools in the near future. I like the idea of being able to post information in my blogging site about what I am feeling, reading about and want to share. It is a professional journal - in a sense! I would continue to use a wiki, like PB Works, because it would offer me the opportunity to stay informed about topics of professional interest to me as an art teacher. Our LMC Coordinator has just established a wiki for the Edgerton School District teachers. It will be fun to read and contribute to it this summer! I would encourage all teachers I work with to check this out (or another professional wiki) so they can see how this type of tool works and benefit from a tool like this to collaborate and communicate from professionally. We have been provided many opportunities, within our school district this year, to learn about and use some of the tools like blogging spots and wikis and how to go about developing them. The instructors for these inservices have taken many library media courses through UW-Whitewater. I feel very fortunate to teach in a district where these are offered!
I really enjoyed the ease with which I could bookmark favorite educational/professional websites using my delicious account. At a glance, I could see how other delicious users "tagged" their favorite websites with identifying words that grabbed my attention. Using delicious, made it quick and easy for me to gather lots of useful information and to provide some of my own.
In summary, I really enjoyed learning how to use the various tools I described! I will definitely benefit professionally by periodically contributing to these and taking from these sites what others have posted. These PLN tools are a wonderful way to communicate and collaborate with other people who have some of the same interests that I do professionally!
Friday, May 14, 2010
In using my Twitter account the past few weeks, I was able to gain some useful information. Two of the groups of people I followed on Twitter were interested in events and art related content that connected to the Walker Art Center and the Smithsonian Art Institute. I was amazed at how following events at these art locations allowed me to connect with lots of other art related subject matter and events throughout the nation! One of the things I gained access to on a professional level were wonderful photographs and information on current exhibits within these art locations. It was also interesting to read other Twitter followers' comments about these events and to see their links about their own artwork and related art subject matter.
I would mostly use Twitter at this time for professional reasons. I feel it would benefit me by allowing me to stay connected and communicate with other "art followers". These types of people were most useful for me to follow. I did follow a person's individual art business, but got somewhat side-tracked in reading numerous personal comments that spun off of that business owner's personal side of life! I feel his Twitter account was more of a business marketing tool also. This link was not useful for me to follow.
I found myself mostly using Twitter to see links, comment on other people's links and respond to and create questions. It allowed me to share my thoughts and, possibly sources, that influence my professional thinking. I could see using Twitter in this way with art teachers in my district and with other teachers following me who would find my linked websites relevant to the subject matter they teach and/or are interested in.
If used by all art teachers Twitter would help facilitate collaboration, allow them to connect with experts, share reflections, allow feedback and idea development and serve as a resource sharing device.
I would mostly use Twitter at this time for professional reasons. I feel it would benefit me by allowing me to stay connected and communicate with other "art followers". These types of people were most useful for me to follow. I did follow a person's individual art business, but got somewhat side-tracked in reading numerous personal comments that spun off of that business owner's personal side of life! I feel his Twitter account was more of a business marketing tool also. This link was not useful for me to follow.
I found myself mostly using Twitter to see links, comment on other people's links and respond to and create questions. It allowed me to share my thoughts and, possibly sources, that influence my professional thinking. I could see using Twitter in this way with art teachers in my district and with other teachers following me who would find my linked websites relevant to the subject matter they teach and/or are interested in.
If used by all art teachers Twitter would help facilitate collaboration, allow them to connect with experts, share reflections, allow feedback and idea development and serve as a resource sharing device.
Friday, May 7, 2010
Delicious Reflection
Being able to continually add relevant bookmarks to my Delicious account has helped me to broaden my website base for this course and to use as a teacher in general. Some websites I would like to save to my own account from other teachers in our course are "A to Z Teacher Stuff For Teachers" and "The Innovative Educator: 100 Video Sites Every Educator Should Bookmark".
My own list of tags has grown because after I visited a website and used it, I was able to add more descriptive words or tags to my account. I am pretty consistent in using about 3-5 tags in my bookmark links. I generally use words like art, educator, teacher, collaborate and network. I usually did not change my mind once I had chosen a word to describe a tag. I was influenced by what other students used as descriptive terms for their tags. Sometimes I used synonyms like teacher for educator and collaborate for sharing.
I would teach tagging to my students by having them use a website and then think of about five words to describe that site and provide links to our class/school website also. I did not bundle tags together but I could do this for example if I had words like "draw" and "paint". These could be grouped as "art". The tags I have used the most often are art and educator. I did not add annotations to my tags, but by doing this it would make my link information more descriptive. I could use Delicious to connect with others in class by visiting a website that they've searched and then email them and discuss points of interest. I found Patricia Schaefer used many of the same tags I did. I would use the network feature of Delicious with someone outside of this class by visiting a certain bookmarked website and then go in and post a comment along with other visitors to that site, if possible.
I could use a bookmarking product like this in my art classes so students could pool their art-related websites to use as a resource for the entire class. I am convinced that the Edgerton School District would use a bookmarking device like Delicious. Especially for middle and high school students this tool, with LMC Coordinator monitoring, would serve as a nice web resource base for art students. It would be a nice way for students to share and collaborate on interesting art websites that they come upon. The art teachers in our district would also find this type of tool beneficial!
My own list of tags has grown because after I visited a website and used it, I was able to add more descriptive words or tags to my account. I am pretty consistent in using about 3-5 tags in my bookmark links. I generally use words like art, educator, teacher, collaborate and network. I usually did not change my mind once I had chosen a word to describe a tag. I was influenced by what other students used as descriptive terms for their tags. Sometimes I used synonyms like teacher for educator and collaborate for sharing.
I would teach tagging to my students by having them use a website and then think of about five words to describe that site and provide links to our class/school website also. I did not bundle tags together but I could do this for example if I had words like "draw" and "paint". These could be grouped as "art". The tags I have used the most often are art and educator. I did not add annotations to my tags, but by doing this it would make my link information more descriptive. I could use Delicious to connect with others in class by visiting a website that they've searched and then email them and discuss points of interest. I found Patricia Schaefer used many of the same tags I did. I would use the network feature of Delicious with someone outside of this class by visiting a certain bookmarked website and then go in and post a comment along with other visitors to that site, if possible.
I could use a bookmarking product like this in my art classes so students could pool their art-related websites to use as a resource for the entire class. I am convinced that the Edgerton School District would use a bookmarking device like Delicious. Especially for middle and high school students this tool, with LMC Coordinator monitoring, would serve as a nice web resource base for art students. It would be a nice way for students to share and collaborate on interesting art websites that they come upon. The art teachers in our district would also find this type of tool beneficial!
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Twitter for Work and Play!!
In exploring the many uses of Twitter, I realized I would probably use this tool more for play than as an art teacher. I could see where teachers could definitely use Twitter academically for reading and writing assignments in regards to developing vocabulary. I could use this tool this way also, while having my students develop their art vocabulary.
Using Twitter to communicate with parents would be nice too! So many of my students' parents email me periodically. I know most of them have home email accounts, so by using their computers, I could reach them with an online Art Newsletter using Twitter. I could post short (140 character) updates on what is going on in my classroom and around the school that is art related!
I could also use Twitter as a device to allow my students to gather information for art history reports. I have my 5th graders do an art history report each year. They would be able to do research quickly using other students information and by tweeting their own. This would be a nice collaborative/communication tool for my students to use. In using Twitter, students could gather data by applying the use of this digital tool. Then they could evaluate and use this information which supports the 21st Century skill of Information Literacy.
On a personal level, I would love to play around using Twitter to communicate with other adults in regards to professional and personal interests! It is also really neat to post a message about what you are doing at the moment - if you choose to! (:
Using Twitter to communicate with parents would be nice too! So many of my students' parents email me periodically. I know most of them have home email accounts, so by using their computers, I could reach them with an online Art Newsletter using Twitter. I could post short (140 character) updates on what is going on in my classroom and around the school that is art related!
I could also use Twitter as a device to allow my students to gather information for art history reports. I have my 5th graders do an art history report each year. They would be able to do research quickly using other students information and by tweeting their own. This would be a nice collaborative/communication tool for my students to use. In using Twitter, students could gather data by applying the use of this digital tool. Then they could evaluate and use this information which supports the 21st Century skill of Information Literacy.
On a personal level, I would love to play around using Twitter to communicate with other adults in regards to professional and personal interests! It is also really neat to post a message about what you are doing at the moment - if you choose to! (:
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Useful Web 2.0 Tools!
I checked out some useful Web 2.0 Tools that classmates from our UW-Whitewater course researched and provided links to. Three that I found very interesting were: Collaborative Drawing Tools, GoogleEarth and Polling and Quizzing Tools. I tried each of the activities that these tools provided and I wanted to share with my followers what I discovered!
While trying out the Collaborative Drawing Tool called ImaginationCubed, I found I could use this tool with my art students to do freehand drawing and my kids could express their thoughts via pictures. While teaching art, this tool would help my students get ideas flowing for sketches. I discovered, while doing the suggested activity listed under this wiki, that kids could also do a "group" drawing project. Art products can be edited form various computers. I tried out the neat drawing applications of this tool and realized that it would be a nice collaborative way for my students to invite friends and classmates, via email, to join in on a group drawing.!
Another interesting Web 2.0 Tool that I learned about was called GoogleEarth. This would be a nice tool to help younger students learn their address and to become familiar with their surroundings in relation to where they are located compared to friends, neighbors and their school. Science teachers at my school could use this to teach students about the moon and planets. In art, this would be an awesome tool to help kids see buildings etc. from an aerial perspective and as 3-d forms. After downloading GoogleEarth 5, I saw some really beautiful 3-d images of buildings, maps and landscapes. GoogleEarth5 would serve as an image resource for my art students!
The last Web 2.0 Tool that I checked out that some of the students in my class researched was called Polling and Quizzing Tools. This would be a nice tool for teachers to use to gather information about what curriculum is being taught within their grade level/content area and/or to compare one school district with another. Online polls and surveys would be useful in art class with my upper-elementary students to get feedback from them on what they learned from various lessons throughout the school year. In trying out "Survey Monkey", I realized that I could get very valuable information from my students about my art lessons and teaching that they might not be willing to share with me verbally, in person!
While trying out the Collaborative Drawing Tool called ImaginationCubed, I found I could use this tool with my art students to do freehand drawing and my kids could express their thoughts via pictures. While teaching art, this tool would help my students get ideas flowing for sketches. I discovered, while doing the suggested activity listed under this wiki, that kids could also do a "group" drawing project. Art products can be edited form various computers. I tried out the neat drawing applications of this tool and realized that it would be a nice collaborative way for my students to invite friends and classmates, via email, to join in on a group drawing.!
Another interesting Web 2.0 Tool that I learned about was called GoogleEarth. This would be a nice tool to help younger students learn their address and to become familiar with their surroundings in relation to where they are located compared to friends, neighbors and their school. Science teachers at my school could use this to teach students about the moon and planets. In art, this would be an awesome tool to help kids see buildings etc. from an aerial perspective and as 3-d forms. After downloading GoogleEarth 5, I saw some really beautiful 3-d images of buildings, maps and landscapes. GoogleEarth5 would serve as an image resource for my art students!
The last Web 2.0 Tool that I checked out that some of the students in my class researched was called Polling and Quizzing Tools. This would be a nice tool for teachers to use to gather information about what curriculum is being taught within their grade level/content area and/or to compare one school district with another. Online polls and surveys would be useful in art class with my upper-elementary students to get feedback from them on what they learned from various lessons throughout the school year. In trying out "Survey Monkey", I realized that I could get very valuable information from my students about my art lessons and teaching that they might not be willing to share with me verbally, in person!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
David Warlick's Reading
David Warlick's Technology Transformed Learning Environments describes five aspects of a personalized learning environment. He discusses them saying that learning should be fueled by questions. While learning, students should be propelled to ask themselves questions as they encounter barriers while gathering information. They need to solve these questions while gathering the information. While learning, students should also be prompted to engage in conversation. As students formulate and ask questions, they are engaging in conversation. The learning situation should also be responsive to the learners' actions. A students' decisions, actions and conclusions are responded to. The learning experience that a student has should compell the student to make a personal investment in a project so that it contributes to the learners' identity. The learner should also be able to safely make mistakes while learning.
Ultimately David Warlick says it is not how much a student learns; but what he/she does with that knowledge that is really important. Students will need to be responsible to their peers , audiences and communities for what they have learned.
One use of technology in my setting that works well, is when students use search engines for gathering information. It fits with Warlick's ideas about learning because it makes students compare and contrast lots of information. The students need to be critical thinkers and decide what is the most important information to be used. In deciding what information is most important, students will be provoked to ask questions about what they encounter online and to then engage in conversation with their peers and teachers about it.
Ultimately David Warlick says it is not how much a student learns; but what he/she does with that knowledge that is really important. Students will need to be responsible to their peers , audiences and communities for what they have learned.
One use of technology in my setting that works well, is when students use search engines for gathering information. It fits with Warlick's ideas about learning because it makes students compare and contrast lots of information. The students need to be critical thinkers and decide what is the most important information to be used. In deciding what information is most important, students will be provoked to ask questions about what they encounter online and to then engage in conversation with their peers and teachers about it.
Alan November's Article
I agree with Alan November that it is important for students to develop Global empathy - the ability to understand and respect different points of view. Also, students need to be sensitive to the needs of people from other countries. According to November, kids also need to learn the social and ethical responsibility of working on the web. I agree with this. Especially at the upper elementary grade levels and beyond, students learn about internet safety and the dangers of inappropriate online behavior prior to lessons. Our school's technology program has blocks that prevent students from getting into "bad" sites most of the time. Students should also be taught about the permanence of information that is posted online. We do stress this to students at our school district. I also agree with November and I would teach my students that they need to develop the skills to find, develop and be critical of information they find online.
Technology makes it easy for students to learn about the current social and political conditions of other nations online via email and web conferencing. One thing I would work on in the next school year to achieve this, would be to encourage students to "tear apart information" they find on the web. I would teach them to seek out lots of information from many sources to compare and contrast what various people have posted.
Technology makes it easy for students to learn about the current social and political conditions of other nations online via email and web conferencing. One thing I would work on in the next school year to achieve this, would be to encourage students to "tear apart information" they find on the web. I would teach them to seek out lots of information from many sources to compare and contrast what various people have posted.
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