Course Reflection

As I reflect on this course, Technology to Enhance Literacy, I can say I really have good thoughts.  This course allowed the MET students to apply some of the tools we have been learning about in previous courses.  With only three classes left, it is all starting to come together.

We created our own digital story as one assignment.  The digital story did take us a few weeks to complete, but we got to see how it would be for students in our classroom to do the same.  It was time consuming, but well worth it.  I can't wait to see how creative students will be in their writing with a digital story.

The infographic was fun to create.  Many students are visual learners.  It will be exciting to watch how they create something visually themselves.

During this course, we were able to have discussions through our blog again.  I always like seeing what my classmates have to share.  I have gained some new tools and ways to enhance literacy through these discussions. I look forward to what I will take away from the next three courses.

Infographic Project

For my MET class, I was required to create an Infographic using the tool of my choice.  I chose to use Glogster EDU.  Check out my Infographic Project on Genres.  I will use this Infographic when introducing my students to what a genre is, genre names, and how students need to read equal amounts of fiction and nonfiction.  I enjoyed creating this Infographic and hope to create more for my students this year.

Digital Story

This week, I published the Digital Story that I have been creating over the last few weeks in a MET class.  During one of our Reading Units in 2nd Grade, I will use this digital story as an example for the students.  They will get to create their own digital story after watching this video.  I learned a lot about digital story creation during this process.  I am excited to see what my students will create. Let me know what you think after viewing my digital story.

Digital Storytelling Process

                                                                                                           

For our blog entry this week, the MET students were asked to respond to one of two questions.  I chose to respond to question number one:  Reflect on the Digital Storytelling Process thus far and how it relates to the Writing Process.  Discuss your highlights and struggles, if any.

    WRITING PROCESS       DIGITAL STORY WRITING PROCESS                                                                                                               

Digital storytelling is a way to tell a story using technology.  Even with the technology, they are still a story and stories have to be planned, researched, and written.  The texts for digital stories are shorter, but students still need to follow the steps of the writing process to create good scripts.  The students will enjoy putting the stories together with the images and music on the computer because they like playing on the computer.  Before they get to this fun part, they have to do the writing.  The visuals are an important part of the digital story, but the thinking and writing is what any story is built on.  The process will help students see themselves as writers, get the writing done, and finish with a strong story (even before they add the visuals). 

For the current course I am taking, I am creating a digital story.   The instructor is having the students follow the writing process for this.  I have created a graphic organizer with my topic and ideas plus a draft with my script.  In the following weeks; I will peer edit with a group in my class, revise on my own, create and publish my digital story for others to view, and reflect.  I am glad the instructor is having us create our own digital story.  We need to understand the process and know how to create one if we are going to expect our students to do so. 

I have decided to do my digital story as an example for my students.  My digital story will be a model for them to use later as they create their own.  Since I work with 2^nd Graders, they will need one on one help as they go through the writing process for the digital story.  I want them to have the basics when creating a digital story for the first time.  They will need to focus on finding their topic, researching their topic, what main things they want to say, and putting the images and words together.   Later on; as they create more digital stories, they can start working on great beginnings and endings.  Since I will have a diverse class this year, I might have them work in groups for this first time.  This would allow them to support each other as they go through the process.  If I did it this way, the group would have to have a season name given to them in advance.  I could have the seasons in a bucket and they could draw one.  My original plan was to have them create their own individual story about their favorite season.  I could even create a class digital story where each student provides an image with their own narration.  I guess my concern is I don’t really know how much support they are going to need with creating their first digital story until I start working with them in August.  I am creating this digital story to go with our first reading unit.  In the end; I want it to be workable for all, enjoyable, and involve learning in the process. 

Do you have any ideas I could use with 2^nd Graders as they create their first digital story?  

Classroom Website

For our MET class this week, the students were asked to respond to one of three different questions.  I chose to respond to question 3. (Many teachers have a classroom website with varying levels of success.  How have you made your classroom website more useful to students, families, and other educators?  What gaps still remain?)

I created a classroom website many years ago and didn’t do a lot with it.  I few years back I was introduced to Weebly.  It is a free website generator and easy to use.  Feel free to take a look at my classroom website. 

Over the last year, I have tried to make my website a useful collaborative tool for my students, parents, and community.  An improvement that I made recently was putting a purpose statement on the home page of my website.  Anyone who visits my site now knows why I’ve created it and how it can be used. 

My classroom website is used by students on a daily basis.  On the desk top of every student computer, right in the middle of the screen so it is visual to all, there is an icon for our classroom website.  My website has a page with the student rules.  This includes the rules for the building, the classroom, and when they are using technology.  I have all the links to items they will need each day.  There are links to practice spelling words, practice reading, check AR progress, take AR tests, find the level of a book,  practice math facts, view my team teacher’s website, and play fun games.  I always make it known to the students at the beginning of the year that they can only get on the links listed on my website unless we are doing research and I give permission for other links.  I want all links to be safe and age appropriate.  As I learn a new tool appropriate for students, I add it to the links page.  I use the Smart Board to show where the new link is located in the website and allow students practice on the Smart Board how it is to be used.  During the fourth quarter of the last year, I added Twiducate. It was our own private social network right in the classroom.  Students got to feel like they were tweeting as they answered questions and solved problems.  I plan to start it at the beginning of this year so I can do more with it.  As part of a class assignment during last semester, my class website became my class Ning and I added a discussion forum for my students.  I have not used this yet with students.  This will be a goal for this year. 

There are several items on my website that parents can use.  They are able to view the class schedule and the newsletter that goes home with students weekly.  There is a contact information page for parents.  It contains my plan time, my classroom phone number, and a forum to contact me by email.  I have a link on my link page that displays the common core standards if parents would like to know what we are expected to teach.  I go over my webpage during information night at the beginning of the year plus the site address is in my newsletter weekly; however, I’m not sure how often my parents use it.  This is something I would like to improve. 

I team teach with another 2^nd Grade Teacher.  She teaches Math to both our classes and I teach ELA to both classes.  As I mentioned previously, the link to her website is on the links page of my classroom website.  I want my students to have all her tools available on a daily basis also.  My grade level and I collaborate a lot through grade level meetings, email, and with our Google Drive as we share items; but not so much through our websites.  This is probably the biggest gap that needs to be filled on my website.  I do have plans to add every 2^nd Grade teacher’s website address to my webpage.   I need to add more content areas also.  I believe my website will always be a work in progress and changes will need to be made on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis as I learn new ideas and gain new tools. 

After reading this post and viewing my classroom website, what are some ways I can make it more useful for students, parents, and other educators?  

Incorporating Literacy into Content Areas

I am a 2^nd Grade ELA teacher, so literacy is what I do every day with students.  As a teacher, it is my job to build students’ comprehension, writing skills, and overall skills in communication.   If I do this, I am covering reading, writing, and speaking.  

At the elementary I work at, we use units to teach our reading and writing.  Social Studies and Science has been embedded in these units also.  Using the skills and standards in the units; the ELA teachers in 2nd Grade come up with engaging and effective strategies to get students to think about, read about, write about, and talk about the content we are teaching in the Units. 

For reading, I do a lot of read alouds in my classroom.  It is important to model previewing a text, reading for a purpose, making predictions, making connections, and thinking aloud.  If a teacher is using strategies for prereading, during reading, and after reading often enough in front of the students; these should rub off on the students to do these on their own when reading.  My students have thirty minutes of independent reading each day.  Our school has a great library and I have a large classroom library.  My students have a zone they have to stay in if reading a book they will test on; however, students need choices on book selection if you want to keep them engaged in reading.  I expect my students to read half fiction and half nonfiction.  They have to write the genre of each book they read in their reading log. 

To cover some of the speaking, I use Kagan structures throughout daily lessons.  I will have students talk to each other for one to two minutes about a skill taught.  I can walk around during this time and do a quick informal assessment.  At the end of the two minutes, some will share what they heard.  Listening is important also.  Sometimes, I give some time for students to share what they wrote.  At the beginning of the year they are somewhat hesitant, but love doing this by the end of the year.

For writing, students do some kind of writing every day.  There are times they are asked to respond to a prompt.  They have a folder that they keep their writing in.  If they are not responding to a prompt, they are continuing a writing they already started in their folder.  It might be a narrative, informative/explanatory, or opinion writing that they are adding to.  Sometimes, they are starting a new writing.  To make it fun for students, I include informal and formal writing activities. The students research alot of the topics for Social Studies and Science that are included in the units.  I give them prompts to respond to as they learn a topic. The students also write a research paper with assistance on some of these topics.  Some of the topics have included researching one of the seasons and a famous person from the wild west.  

I teach in an inclusion classroom most years.  Within this inclusion class, I have advanced students, IEP students, proficient students, and struggling students.  I set my room up each year into Kagan pods.  Each pod is divided up into the abilities I just mentioned.  A student sitting next to or across from a student does not have the same learning ability as them.  When paired together for a Kagan structure, they can help the other.  I teach a lot of my skills and standards in guided groups.  These groups are divided up into abilities.  I give assignments or read books according to their abilities plus challenge those who need it. 

Here is a  video I found that introduces seven free  technology tools teachers can use in most content areas to embed literacy skills into their instruction.  Some of these tools really engage the students to think at a higher level.  Do you have any new ideas for incorporating literacy into your content area? 

Wiki Project

For class this week, our assignment is to locate, evaluate, and reflect the effectiveness of two wikis.  While looking, I found a Wiki Grading Rubric.  This rubric was created using VictoriaA. Davis’s ideas on an effective wiki.  I used elements from both of these to evaluate the following two wikis. 

Wiki 1:  Mr. Mendell’s 4^th Grade Class Wiki is found at http://mendell.wikispaces.com/Mr.+M%27s+4th+Grade+Wiki.

Wiki 2:  Mrs. Harju’s 2^nd Grade Class Wiki is found at http://harju.wikispaces.com/home. 

Both wikis contain collaborative effort.  Wiki 1 has a page where students can add a virtual sticky note explaining how to make reading more interesting.  There are pages to upload several items like book shares and glogs.  For one page, a group is asked to work together to create a web quest about their trip to Yosemite National Park. Wiki 2 has pages on the wiki for students to upload and present. They can work in groups or pairs to create fairy tales and fables with Puppet Pals. There are several pages in the wiki where students can add digital stories, stories using Storybird, and discussions on their own Kidblog.  Each student has their own page for sharing.  On each student page; there is an introduction video, name glog, and various projects they have created during the year.  I saw student contributions throughout both wikis. 

There is great visual appeal in wiki 2.  Wiki 1 has many graphics, but needs more color and more variety in fonts.  He used the same layout on most pages of the wiki.  The home page of Wiki 2 has a very colorful glog from Glogster EDU.  There is graphics and videos on both wikis.  Wiki 2 is more appealing to the eye.

Wiki 1 and Wiki 2 have a table of contents and headings on each page.  Wiki 1 even contains a table of contents other pages, not just the home page.  Wiki 1 does a great job of explaining what is expected of the students on each page.  Wiki 2 could use more detailed explanations to the students.  Wiki 2’s table of contents is difficult to use and follow.  It took me several tries to locate some things.  Her students are probably pros by now; however, a new visitor might struggle to locate items. 

Both wikis hyperlink sources and give extra information on topics.  Wiki 1 even has a page where students can post links or favorite resources. 

I feel the purpose of both these wikis is for the students to gather information, share information, and collaborate with each other.  Wiki 1 explains what a wiki is on the home page.  Wiki 2 lists the rules and provides a link to the acceptable use policy on the home page.  I would like to find a way to put these in one wiki.  Even though Wiki 2 is more eye catching, I feel the students would get more out of Wiki 1.  This teacher thoroughly explained all assignments and projects. 

I gained some valuable ideas for my own wiki.  What did you learn while researching classroom wikis?  

Techno-Tool

When looking at the different facets on the tools of technology, my focus was on finding a tool that would keep 2^nd Graders engaged while creating and collaborating on line.  I will be working with an ELA inclusion classroom next year.  In this classroom, there will be proficient learners, students with IEPs, and even advanced learners.  I need a tool that students can use for sharing new information learned, building elaboration and fluency skills, working on teamwork skills, peer editing, and sharing their work with the parents or community. 

The Emerging Tool I would like to discuss is the classroom wiki.  I have started using Wikis in Education as my educational wiki.  Wikis allow anyone in the class to participate on the wiki, be involved on the wiki, and even edit the wiki.  Revision is important, so I would like to involve peer editing on the wiki.  Classroom wikis don’t require much technical knowledge which means students can easily be guided by a student in a group or the teacher.  Not only would the wiki meet the needs of allowing students to collaborate, be creative, be involved, share online; it would meet some of the technology standards for Common Core also. 

At the beginning of the year, when introducing the wiki and modeling how to use the wiki, I would just assess the students on participation.  A wiki will probably be a brand new tool for 2^nd Graders.  I would have a rubric showing what I expected.  As the year went along, the students would be responsible for more than participation.  I would access their teamwork along with reading, writing, and spelling skills.  The rubric would change as I changed the expectations for the wiki. 

I can’t wait to use a classroom wiki!  It will be a powerful tool for my students to stay engaged, have online collaboration, and share information!  

Introduction to EDET 573: Technology to Enhance Literacy

I have not blogged for awhile, but must get back into the routine.  I am starting a new course as I continue to pursue my MET degree called EDET 573:  Technology to Enhance Literacy.   I will continue to post and have discussions with fellow classmates.  I enjoyed the discussions on the blogs in a previous class and I am excited about this new class.  I am a 2nd Grade ELA Teacher and have a great passion for reading. Reading is the last thing I do before I close my eyes at the end of a busy day.  Look to the right of this post to view my complete profile.

Literacy has always been reading and writing to me.  After watching the video recommended for Week 1, several people who spoke on the video were not just using the words "reading and writing" when discussing literacy.  In today's world, most do not talk about literacy without involving the words "technology".  While reading this week's lecture, I realized that I shouldn't think of technology as a tool.  I've always referred to it as a tool.  The instructor would like it to be more what we can actually do with it.  I like that she is going to provide tools, but give us choices throughout this course.

My expectations for this course are to gain more ways to make the reading and writing I do with students more interactive.  This would allow students to be more creative.  I would like the students to be more engaged with their reading and writing.  Last year, I experimented with Twiducate and was very happy with it.  I plan to use it again this year.  The students paid more attention to their writing, especially spelling and grammar.  By seeing and reading each other's posts, it gave them the extra nudge to want to do better.  As the teacher reading their posts on Twiducate, I saw the growth in their reading and writing as the year went along.  I'm not ready for my students to be on Twitter yet, but I feel they are ready to blog with my help.   During the last course, I added a discussion board to my website/Ning.  I am excited to introduce this to my students and use this next year.  Click here to see what is new on my class Ning.

Through the last course, we created a Wiki Project, a Ning, and a Digital Story Kit.  I look forward to expanding on those in this course.  How do you use technology in the classroom to keep your students engaged?

Twitter Chat

Last night I completed my first Twitter chat with #2ndchat.  The topic was Looking Back and Planning Ahead.  A 2nd Grade Teacher out of Fort Worth, Texas was the moderator.  She used the Q and A format for the questions.  There were eight questions asked throughout the hour chat.  The questions included discussions on how Twitter has changed us, project ideas that we have come up with this year, how to handle broken pencils, the amount of iPads people now have in their classrooms, the big plans everyone has for the end of the year, what ideas /routines we will keep for next year, something we want to stop or change, and Mother's Day.  As you can tell, there was a lot of discussion in one hour. I felt every question was something that pertained to me as a 2nd Grade Teacher; therefore, I believe I gained valuable ideas.

This Twitter chat was very fast paced.  As the hour went on, I began to get better at keeping up. Each time she asked a question, four to five tweets would immediately pop up on the screen.  As I was reading those, four to five more would pop up. It was obvious that some of these people have been doing this for awhile. One participant said she was interested in six chats for the evening.   There was even a student teacher participating.  Kidblog was mentioned several times.  This is something I plan to check out.

As far as what I liked and didn't like, I liked it all.  All of the participants were very friendly.  Every time I tweeted, someone responded back with a positive comment or a great idea.  The moderator did a great job of moving things along.  My only challenge, as I already mentioned above, was how fast paced it was.  I feel this is something that will improve as I do other chats.  When I checked my email later in the night, I had lots of emails with participants who had favorited , mentioned me, or are now following me. This really helped things because I was a little stressed going into the chat.  I didn't know what to expect.  It wasn't so bad after all.  

I feel the moderator had wonderful ideas.  I can learn from her, so I am now following her.  I am glad that I was able to experience this first chat.  I look forward to doing it again.  Check out the #2ndchat wiki for upcoming chats and the topics.

New Collaborative Tool

Since starting this course, I have started using several collaborative tools.  Right now, the ones that I feel the most comfortable using are Twitter, Feedly, Google Drive, and Blogger.  I plan on using these even after this course is complete.  After doing some research, I have one new collaborative tool I am feeling more confident using and I have found a brand new one recently that I am excited to share.    

One collaborative tool that I have been using, but not for long is Twiducate.  This is our own private social networking for the classroom.  I have been creating posts with questions or something that all of us can collaborate and reflect on.  I like that only the students and myself can see the posts and comments.  Something I especially like is I can delete anything that they have posted at any time. As the teacher, I can create the content and tailor it to the needs of my students.  I still have control and students have the freedom to communicate their thoughts and ideas.  I have created a class code which allows them to log into a class network just like they would if it was a social network.  At first, I wanted students to get use to communicating with others, work on using their words, practice typing skills, and writing in complete thoughts.  Some of the more shy students are coming out of their shell and have had some great things to say.  They have learned how to check their work and edit if needed.  If I see a concern, I pull it up on the Smart Board.  This way, I can point out the issue and model how it can be resolved.  My next goal for Twiducate is to allow students to start posting pictures and videos. This is a great tool for teachers and a safe place for students to exchange ideas. Check out this link for more information on Twiducate.  

My newest find is Glogster EDU.  It is a global education platform.  Instead of blogs, you create glogs. A glog is a digital interactive poster that uses text, audio, video, data, drawings, graphics, and images.  You don’t have the hassle of paper, glue, and scissors when you create a glog.  Glogster EDU is very flexible.  The ideas are endless.  You can't use iPads or iPhones to create a glog and it is only free for 30 days.  After the free 30 day version, you can sign up one teacher and 30 students for $39 a year.  Glogs allow students to be creative. Students could work in their Kagan group to create a project.  This way, higher leveled students are working with lower leveled students.  The teacher would have to monitor that each is being responsible for a part of the project.  Right now, my class is learning about time lines.  We studied Abraham Lincoln this week for our Journey to Freedom Unit.  I created a glog to show students another way to create a time line and review President Lincoln.  Take a look at the glog I created.  I am going to try a few more glogs during the rest of the school year and make a decision to whether I want to invest the money on this for next year.  

What new collaborative tools have you tried out lately?  I look forward to hearing all about them.

Social Networking Reflection

Lots of educators are using social networking sites in the classroom.  It is an awesome way to share information and communicate with other teachers and students.  Below, I have named some of the sites that I have started using recently.    

• Facebook-  I have had an account for about a year.  I've been on it as part of the general population, but didn't realize what I could do with it until recently.  I have liked several educational pages and receive posts from them.  I enjoy reading questions and responses from all over the United States.   Right now, I mainly use it for socialization purposes.  If I were to involve my students and parents, I would create a separate account for that.  With a professional account, a teacher could post assignments, dates, and questions.  50 Reasons to Invite Facebook Into Your Classroom   and 99Ways You Should Be Using Facebook in Your Classroom are two links that provide some great ideas on how to use Facebook in your classroom.  

• Google+-   I was introduced to Google+ at the beginning of this course.  What I like so far about Google+ is the circles.  I can categorize my personal friends and the classmates that I am taking courses with.  Facebook lumps everyone together, but Google+ allows one to separate others into groups. With the circles, I can separate my social from my personal life.  Our instructor for this course has plans to introduce us to Google+ Hangouts. The Hangouts sound a lot  like Skype, but can involve more people at a time during the audio or video conversation.  I am excited to try this out.  How to use Google+ Hangouts for Teaching is a wiki that gives step by step instructions on how to use Google+ Hangouts in the classroom.  

• Twitter-  This is another account that I've just created since starting this course.  Twitter is a great place to ask questions and gain valuable resources to use in the classroom.  It is instant and to the point.  The links that I have seen so far, have given me many valuable resources.  Using the TweetDeck app on my desktop has been very useful.  TweetDeck is a great, self-updating way to keep everything organized, especially the hashtags.  For the classroom, Twitter is an awesome way to send reminders and announcements.  Teachers can create a list that is specific to a class for students to follow.  This makes it easier to find other students.  

• Twiducate- Since I teach 2nd Grade, I have not allowed my students to use Twitter in the classroom yet.  However; Twiducate has allowed me to kind of gradually build up to Twitter later on. It is our own private classroom social network.  Twiducate offers privacy and peer-to-peer connections. Teachers can post assignments, send messages, and write reflections with just the students in their own classroom.  You can even add other teachers and their students as you feel more comfortable in doing so.  If you aren't ready for Twitter in the classroom yet, check out Twiducate.  

• Pinterest- As with Facebook, I have had a Pinterest account for about a year now.  When I feel I can no longer be creative in a certain area of the classroom, I turn to Pinterest.  With Pinterest, I gain great ideas.  I like that you are able to display student work.  37 Ways Teachers Can Use Pinterest in the Classroom gives suggestions for using Pinterest in the classroom.  This Pinterest link provides several suggestions for working with diverse students.  Take a look.  You just might want to pin a few of them.  

Social networking sites are very valuable to teachers.  We must take advantage of the students' social media savvy and work it into the classroom curriculum.  What social networking sites have you started using recently? 

Networked Classroom Reflection

                                    

When I hear "networked classroom", I automatically think of students being engaged through the use of technological tools that are connected to a technological device used by a teacher.  I picture enriched learning taking place with the use of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, Google, wikis, web pages, etc. After looking over the required reading for this week and doing research, below are the advantages and disadvantages that stood out to me.  

Advantages:

• Written interactions, collaboration, and discussion that is direct, immediate and responsive
• Learning being enhanced due to the meaningful communication
• Writing coming alive with real authors in action who are able to inform, persuade, entertain, develop social relationships, and formulate ideas
• Teacher modeling good writing and the writing process through the exchange of conversations
• Teacher working as the facilitator and collaborator instead of lecturer or discussion leader, but still keeping it teacher directed
• Students speaking and writing who might not normally participate because they felt threatened and can now feel like they are just talking to a friend

Disadvantages:

• Lack of technology or support 
• Lack of time because of a busy curriculum 
• Managing might be overwhelming
• Students might get off task, so could be a distraction
• Teachers could lose some of the control they had before
• Not as much face-to-face communication
• Keeping students safe especially from cyberbullying

From everything I've read, the advantages seem to outweigh the disadvantages.  Networking your classroom would have to be done very slowly.  It would be important to use one tool at a time for a while so both the students and you could get well acquainted with the chosen tool. During the MET courses so far, my classmates and I have created several tools, a web page, a wiki, a blog, and started tweeting.  Twitter could be used to write a story tweet by tweet.  Wikis would be good for reflections or discussions as the class did research.  Each student could have their own page.  Blogs would be a good place to post answers to questions or problems,  There are endless possibilities.  

All students learn in different ways.  Technology gives them choices for taking in the information, making sense of information, and expressing what they learn, no matter their ability level.  Students can be grouped with  students they can learn from.  Technology is great for visual learners.  It also allows students to work at their own pace.  Here is a link that can help with the English-language learners.  

When it comes to the idea of a "networked classroom", you might love it or hate it.  You might even embrace or abandon it.  As educators in the 21st Century Classroom, we have to do what is best for students.  If we can pull off a networked classroom, we are doing what is best for students.  If you still are struggling with this idea, here is a link that might help you.  The Teacher's Guide to a Networked Classroom gives you five methods and many tools to use with students when creating a networked classroom.  

Do you teach in a networked classroom?  If so, please share how it is going for you.  I would love to hear about it.                                                                                                                                                      

                     

Twitter for Educators Reflection

Since starting this Masters in Educational Technology, I have heard tons about Twitter.  Through research, I am finding that it can be another PLN for educators.  Social media is an excellent tool for educating our students.  I just created both my Twitter and TweetDeck account yesterday.  Earlier this evening, I just completed my first tweet.  I found two links that are for those just getting started like my self.  They are  50+ Ways to Use Twitter in Your Classroom  and  100 Ways to Use Twitter in Education, By Degree of Difficulty.  I just saw on Twitter this evening through a friend's tweet, that this is a great tool to teach visual literacy in the 21st Century Classroom. Anything involving literacy excites me since I am an ELA Teacher.  I had to be what my husband calls a "stalker" on Facebook for awhile and it looks like I am going to be one on Twitter until I can see how it all works.  Thanks in advance to my fellow classmates for their patience as I start this next journey.  Below are examples that I found of how Twitter could benefit an educator in an ELA classroom.  

• Free information 
• Short conversations 24/7
• A way to connect with other teachers
• Collaborate on education chats
• Find tools, strategies, and resources
• Communicate with parents or students
• Research and find answers 
• Send out reminders to students or parents
• Allow students to give feed back on a book or video
• Allow students to answer questions or have discussions
• Give students who don't really say much in class, a way to communicate because some will say more on line
• Have students tweet sentences to build vocabulary, improve writing, and punctuation which would make students accountable for grammar

There are tons more than what I mentioned and I am not quite sure which direction I will go with these in my 2nd Grade ELA classroom.  This might be a good topic to bring up with my students.  We are starting a Service Learning Project for our new Tiger's Den at the elementary.  Some valuable tweeting might happen in the future with this project.  

Next week, we will start a Twitter chat assignment in this course.  My next goal is to figure out hashtags. A link that I found that could be helpful is The Complete Guide to Twitter Hashtags for Education.  

What are you doing with Twitter in your classroom?  I would love to hear your ideas.  

@BonnieJohn6

Personal Learning Networks Reflection

I have learned that I need a support system that allows me to follow, collaborate, share, and communicate with others.  All educators need some type of learning network. A Personal Learning Network (PLN) can be this for the educator.  Most teachers want to learn more and get better at what they do.  PLNs are the way to go.  I like that you have choices.  You can choose who you want to interact with and when you want to participate.  If you are just getting started, you need to check out Dr. Mark Wager's article Personal Learning Networks for Educators:  10 Tips.  YouTube has a great video, Personal Learning Networks for Educators , that will educate you on what a PLN is and how they can be used in the classroom.  

An educator can go two different directions when creating PLNs.  The two choices are Information Aggregation and Social Media.  I have went down both paths so far.  For the Social Media side, I have been using a Facebook account.  I mainly use this to connect with family and friends.  We have a Twitter project to create in this course, so I will soon be tweeting. Currently, I am leaning more toward the Information Aggregation side.  I've created my first blog this week.  It is amazing how many ideas I have seen on other people's blogs.  I have had a website for years, but need to use it better as a PLN.  Since starting this Master's degree, Diigo has become a favorite social bookmarking tool.  I have bookmarked many valuable resources.  

My biggest challenge is listening and offering help to others instead of taking great ideas.  My goal is to start with the PLNs I have and build on those.  I look forward to learning from others, making a connection with others, and sharing ideas.