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.