#EdCampCT

I was very nervous attending my first #EdCampCT on Friday but like most things I worry about it it was GREAT!  I really had no idea what to expect...Lisa told me that it was going to be fun and laid back and she was right!  I was one of the first people there and thankfully Josh was there early too so I didn't have to sit by myself.  As it got closer to the 9AM start time I was happy to see my classmates from UNH.  Seeing the giant board of sessions empty was overwhelming.  I had planned to present a session about Using One iPad in a K-2 classroom, I wanted to pick a room that wasn't going to have 100 people and was in the afternoon so I would have the morning to see how the sessions ran.  I decided on right after lunch in a room that would have up to 15 people.  After the brief introduction about EdCampCT and the promise of tasty chips at lunch I was off to start the day.

For the first session I worked with three peers helping Ian lead the LED name tag fun.  It was a lot of fun using batteries and lights to add some spice to the usually boring name tags.  Ian said he did this with his son's preschool class and the kids enjoyed it.  I would like to try it with my Kindergartener's when I have some extra adults in my room and feeling brave.  The second session was about using Google sites.  It was geared towards towards high school teachers but I did learn a few things about Google sites that I might use for my classroom website this year.  For my final morning session I joined a session talking about how Technology Educators are used in various districts, buildings, and grade levels.  The presenter used a slideshow creator Kizoa that looked like a lot of fun and not to hard to use.  I'm thinking about using it for my Kindergarten Open House presentation.  Once the morning sessions were complete it was time for lunch.

The lunch had a lot of hype surrounding it and it certainly delivered.  The chips were great and they even had milkshakes!  It was nice to talk to other people from UNH discussing presentations they had seen or be apart of.  After lunch it was time for my Using One iPad session!  There were less than 10 people which I liked and my fantastic classmates, Laurie and Lisa joined in.  As a group we shared various apps that are helpful and usually cheap!  Overall it went well and thanks to my IT&DML classmates for their support.  The final session for the day was discussing an Internet Bill of Rights.  I was looking forward to a lively discussion about what peoples thoughts about the subject are.  People had a lot to say about the subject and it made me realize I'm glad to be a part of the group working on it.  Finally there was an end of the day "Smack Down" were people shared useful apps and there was a raffle!  I didn't win but overall my first #EdCamp was a SUCCESS!  I'm looking forward to attending many more in my future.  Thanks for the opportunity to join in on the FUN!!!

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My Digital Identity

As I look at my PLE I can see that I have a lot of connections. I broke them down into two main groups, my school community and my UNH community. It's very basic and over time I will be adding connections and moving some around. Over time my PLE will grow and evolve, much like my life. Adding and deleting people that can help me grow overtime.  

As I think about my digital identity I have added a lot over the past six weeks, I have started tweeting regularly, I now know what a Google Community is, I have a blog and I have my OWN YouTube channel. The YouTube channel is a big one for me and it has already come in handy. Last week I was on my schools scheduling team and we were talking about our vacations and I was telling another teacher how I had began Geocaching. She was interested in trying it out with her kids so I told her there was a step-by-step tutorial on my YouTube channel. She loved the tutorial and now thinks I am a rockstar with my own YouTube channel! I am looking forward to my growth as an educator and adding to my PLE.

I have already started my growth by looking at my peers blogs and postings.  All I can is "WOW"!  Lisa's is amazing, she has great links and it's so organized!  Mimi has TONS of connections.  Looking at hers make me want to have more connections.  She broke it down by the way she interacts with people, face-to-face, blogging, social media, and IT&DML program.  Cari choose to organize hers by categories, personal, resources, background, and community.  I think that is a unique way to organize her PLE and she has a lot of connections as well.  Overall, when I look at my peers PLEs they all look very different because to there organization,etc. but as I look closer at each one I see a lot of similarities which is encouraging as we are all beginning to build our PLE.  I wonder how different our PLEs will look this time next year!

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Response "Expanding the New Literacies Conversation"

The “Expanding the New Literacies Conversation" states that the “most profound influence on life in the 21st century may turn out to be the Internet” (Leu, et al).  I couldn’t agree with this statement more.  We are all digital citizens and our lives are surrounded by the Internet not just on our computers or at work but also our phones, TVs, and cars.    The article goes on to say that the research community is beginning to see that Internet is not technology but a context to read, write, and communicate (Leu, et al).  We as educators need to figure out what do we do now?  First we need to understand that New Literacies is the bigger digital picture and new literacies are the smaller pieces that are used to see the bigger digital picture.  Once we do that we need to understand that digital literacy has grown to include a variety of options including Social Networking (Facebook, MySpace), wikis, and blogs to name a few.  Second our job as teachers is how to best prepare students to navigate these digital resources.  We also need to realize that these resources affect our teaching as well as the students learning.  Teachers need to be willing to expand their our knowledge and skills to effectively integrate these new digital literacies their classrooms.  As with anything new teachers need to be willing to expand their knowledge and skills, then they will be able to authentically and effectively integrate these new and digital literacies into their classroom.

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Response: "Web 2.0 and Classroom Research: What Path Should We Take Now?"

The World Wide Web aka the Internet has grown exponentially over the last twenty years.  The Greenhow, et al article explains that educational researchers originally thought that the Internet, Web 1.0 could be used an educational resource in the classroom to read and then write about.  Instead what has happened is Web 2.0 has emerged; users are now able to participate, collaborate, and distribute information online (Lankshear & Knobel).  Instead of just finding information users are Web 2.0 participants that are able to create and share information through various platforms (wikis, blogs, PLNs, etc.).

As teachers we need to adjust our teaching and learning as well.  Web 2.0 requires participation not only by students but also by the teacher.  Students need to learn that not all information on the Internet is true; they need to learn how to critically research.  Teachers need to teach students how to find reliable sources, rather than just believing any information able on the Internet.  All learners need to understand what it means to be a digital citizen and how to create an online identity and that once you put something on the internet it is on there FOREVER.   I think the most important part of this “new” digital age is everyone is learning.  Teachers can be students and students can be teachers to their peers as well as their teacher.  The willingness of all participants to be open to learning is what will bring us possibly to Web 3.0.

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EdCampCT- One iPad Classroom

Some guidelines, ideas, and "how-to's" of how to best incorporate one iPad into K-2 classrooms.  Looking forward to learning and sharing @EdCampCT #itdml
A sneak peek of 

"The One iPad Classroom K-3"

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Networked Learning Project Complete!

Five weeks ago I received one of my first assignments for ED 7714, learn something that I have always wanted to learn to do.  As a teacher I am usually the one teaching and my students are the ones learning, now I had to be the student.  The first challenge was figuring out what I wanted to learn.  I first thought of learning piano because I thought that would be fun and I heard that many years ago playing the piano was something required of a Kindergarten teacher.  Then I realized that I didn’t have piano so I had to think a little smaller maybe the guitar.  The next challenge was finding someone who would let me borrow one for the next few weeks.  I was lucky enough to borrow a six string acoustic guitar from a friend.  Then the real challenge and learning began, how to play the guitar.  I viewed videos of “how-to’s” on YouTube, visited various websites, used my new found Personal Learning Network (PLN)- Google Communities on Playing Guitar and then I began to “play” the guitar.

As I have said in previous posts I am not a musical person at all!  I love music and going to concerts to listen to music not play it.   Let me tell you, it’s tough.  Trying to figure out where your fingers go, holding the guitar the right way and then trying to play actual music is tough!

My original learning goal was, learn how to play the guitar.  I wasn’t specific about playing an entire song because I didn’t want to overwhelm myself.  Just a basic understanding of playing the guitar; I thought “It can’t be too bad to learn to play a song”…I was wrong.

I first learned about the parts of the guitars and the history of the guitar, this was important background knowledge to have since I knew nothing about the guitar.  Next I discovered on YouTube a lot of the songs were too difficult for me to learn.  I wasn’t looking to play a seven minute song I just wanted a short nursery rhyme type song.  So I then I found Kids Guitar Zone and found it easy to follow and broke guitar playing into manageable chunks.  I was finally off on my guitar-playing journey!

My last post about playing guitar showed me playing “Mary Has a Little Lamb”, it wasn’t the best rendition but it was certainly to the correct tune.  I learned I needed to hold the strings down harder to get the best tune and to play a little faster.  I was concentrating so much on holding down the strings that my song was a choppy but not awful.  I found it easier to learn guitar using “Guitar Tabs” rather than notes because I don’t ANYTHING about musical notes and the tabs showed me frets to play on the string.  Things got a little bit better after that. 

Image Courtesy: Lesson 2 E “Mary Had a Little Lamb” on 1 string www.kidsguitarzone.com

So when I came time for me to pick my final song to share my newly acquired skill I picked the beginning of a song that I can use my thumb to hold down the strings which makes it a little easier for me and song that I could find “guitar tabs”.

YouTube Smoke on the Water Unplugged

Image Courtesy: Lesson 2 A “Smoke on the Water” on 1 string                                         www.kidsguitarzone.com

I think I will continue to learn how to play the guitar.  It would be great to be able to play songs for my students during our morning meeting.  I incorporate a lot of music into my teaching and actually playing it for my students would be exciting for them and for me.  I will continue to use Kids Guitar Zone website and YouTube channel because they have a lot of songs that I can use in my classroom and are very basic in their teaching which is what I need.  Overtime I hope to learn an entire song and then maybe I can finally go on tour…”Kindergarten Teacher Unplugged”…it’s going to be a huge hit!!

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My Personal Learning Environment- Week #5- ED7714

The Sloep and Heerlen (2012) article broke down what Learning Networks (LN) really are and how they can be used.  After reading the article I am now able to see more clearly the difference between Learning Networks and my own Personal Learning Network.  Learning Networks are more of an enrichment of formal learning and they are strictly online.  I thought it was interesting that they mentioned that “Europe cannot afford to stop educating in youth once they reach adulthood” (Sloep and Heerlen, 2012) that means education is life long, it goes beyond formal schooling.  As a teacher I thought about CEU’s that are required to keep my Connecticut teachers certificate.  Each year I am expected to participate in some form of professional development, my continued learning goes beyond my formal education.  Some of my professional development is completed in face-to-face meetings but more and more I am participating in an online environment.  I am beginning to create and curate my own digital identity I need remember that it will change over time to be a true network.  Below you find my beginning stages of my connections in my Personal Learning Environment (PLE) using Coogle.  Much like my other work this summer it is only the beginning and I know it will continue to grow over time especially in this program!

My PLE using Coogle

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