Computer Teacher, Teach Thy Self!

last week I had started a post that was inspired by Jeff Utecht’s post on Reflection time.  Reflecting is an essential part of being a successful educator, but I find very often that most teachers (myself included) are often stuck in survival mode and doing just the immediate tasks rather than being proactively broadening their own knowledge.

I know when I get in a rut it is because I am doing a day to day survival, some how I have lost sight of the dreams and goals I had for my classes, I stopped investing and started reacting.  Blogging is one wonderful avenue to reflect and also be proactive about my own development as a teacher.  Before I became pregnant I would come home from work. take a seat on my couch and catch up with all my feeds and start blogging, or get lost in a sea of links and come up for air hours later with a ‘my head is going to explode from all the info’ headache.

I miss those days and I really believe in what Jeff was saying in his post:

Why is it the educators place a high value on the reflective process yet do not give themselves permission to do it during their own working hours? Every educator has prep time. We use that time in a multitude of ways, yet how many of us set time aside just once a week to take 30 minutes or so and reflect.

I have used a number of systems to try and organize my thoughts and time to become more proactive. Again it comes down to consistency in all of them. Since the beginning of the school year I have started employing the flylady system of time and CHAOS managment. I actually find her methods funny and relaxing. The most valuable thing that flylady has done for me is to give me routines.  I have routines for morning, after work in my lab and when I get home.

I am going to add reflection time to my morning routine. I am fortunate enough where I have a Prep first thing in the morning.  If I follow all  my afternoon routines then that morning prep is a nice 40 minute chunk of time I can use to go through my reader and reflect.

I have the new task for an APPR project to get my 8th grade Computer class blogging, one of the biggest problems in working on this development is that I need to blog myself before I can preach the values of blogging.

Thanks for the eye opener Jeff!  

While perusing my feeds I came across a phrase by Lucy Gray from the Infinite Thinking Machine

It’s not about “competing in a global economy” for me…it’s about experiencing all that the world has to offer. I want kids and other adults to realize that there is so much out there to discover and explore.

Lucy was discussing the Global Education Ning network and a meeting that had taken place with other educators around the world. I would love for the blocks in my school to be removed and have my students have access to social networks being used in a constructive manner like Ning.  All students should be exposed to the wealth of information in the Web 2.0 world, especially the students who never travel out of their city/town, or think that worldly exposure only comes to those who are privileged.  I was one of those kids, I am grateful that I am more globally minded now, but I can’t help wondering how my educational experience would have been different if the Web 2.0 tools were available back when I was in school.  (We didn’t even have the Internet then!)When I think about how much my life has changed because of the global mind set of Web 2.0 it is staggering. Everything down to the way I think has changed! For example on the personal subject of vaccinating my son- before I would use google or maybe a meta search engine to find results on vaccine reactions. I would filter through resources and sometimes be satisfied with the results but often I would be left with even more questions than before. Questions I would like to ask a person who has the subjective experience or resources I can use.

Instead I use my Netvibes to keep me up on new search results, where it all neatly gets filed under my ‘Vaccine’ tab.  I use others’ bookmarks in Del.icio.us  and share mine.  Subscribing to blogs is just another way another way I start my research, but I also gain valuable subjective experience.  To round everything out I usually post any comments in my New Moms Yahoo group where all our topics are neatly searchable for future reference.  In many ways using Web 2.0  it is like having a ‘hive’ mind.  (I can’t help the Star Trek reference) I can consume, produce and deliver more information now than I ever could, and none of my information is static, it is ever changing. Having access to people and resources around the world has completely altered my paradigm.  I  find News about the U.S. through other countries to get a varied perspective on the current state of affairs.  Five years ago I doubt I would have even thought about the ‘lens’ that articles and News comes from, blogging has taught me to look deeper.

While trying to get back into the swing of reading thinking and posting I just wanted to bring attention to Kim Cofino’s efforts in the blog Connect Web 2.o.

I inspired by the global connections Kim has made and hope to do the same with my 7-8th graders. The Middle School has given me the opportunity to develop a computer class elective for the 7 and 8th grade. Making connections and increasing the ideal of a global classroom is my end in mind. Now I just need to find the doorway project that will allow me to do this.

Right now my students are using iMovie and creating commercials, some of them are pricless!
Perhaps we can do a movie in “a day in the life of..” or something to illustrate the digital nature of student life.

Back from maternity leave I am in my labs once again looking for ways to increase use of web 2.0 tools in my classroom! I have a nice change this year, I am teaching 3 sections of middle school as well as my usual high school. I have to say the change is refreshing, the younger ones are already using iMovie to make brief commercials and later we will do an integration project.

 Funny,  I started to have readers and get excited with my blogging and then life happened,  I found myself with very little time to read (blogs).  Now I am four + months pregnant and find myself considering the impact that Web 2.0 technologies will have on my child’s education.  One blog I read today reaffirmed my belief that technology can help the process of education for those with Learning Disabilities.   Vicki Davis takes on a personal note when she blogs about her son’s essay:

So, today, I will share with you today the power of what happens when you accommodate and use technology to help children. And to challenge you to realize that gifted children have LD too. We all have learning differences. These learning differences must be understood and accommodated!

I have learned so much about thinking and processing by blogging alone, I can’t even begin to describe how computer technology has helped me with my own learning disablilities.  If you have not done so already you should take a moment to read this young man’s impressive essay on character. Most importantly consider where he would be right now if his mother (Vicki) had not fought for the use of adaptive technology.  Next, think of all the students you know who suffer from  low self esteem and will not take risks like entering their essay in a contest because they are afraid of looking dumb.

Why Character Counts

Honesty, perseverance, and responsibility are character traits that the community, the business world, and the whole world need more. There are many definitions for honesty. Not lying, cheating, nor stealing are examples of honesty. Being fair and upright are also part of being honest. If all the people in the world were honest, there would be no fighting, no wars, no crimes, and no lying. Give other people credit, don’t take more than your fair share, and don’t lie are only some of the many things honesty can teach us.

Perseverance, not giving up when times are hard, is another part of having good character. Never, ever stop until the job is done. It is like when my grandma tells me the story of the frog and the butter churn. He fell in and had to keep kicking until there was enough butter to stand on so he could jump out. He almost quit and drowned, but no, he kept on kicking, and he lived. If the world had perseverance, there would be no divorce, no suicide, and no quitters.

Responsibility is accepting the blame for our own actions…not blaming others for our own faults. We are all human, and we all have flaws, but we need to still take responsibility for our mistakes.

When I think of these three traits, I think of my Poppa who is a farmer. Poppa is honest, and when he tells people something, they believe him because he has never lied to them before. He perseveres as a farmer when it doesn’t rain or when there is too much rain. He never quits, and people around the world know he’s a great farmer. Poppa has to be responsible to make sure he properly disposes of waste on the farm like the dead chickens so that the environment stays safe. I use him as my living example of good character and someone who is honest, perseveres, and is responsible.

Bravo! You are my hero!

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Blogging /learning is changing me and given me the opportunity to help others. Today was day #2 for my “The Web 2.0 Educator” course. I had to chuckle to myself when my students gave me that dazed “my head is going to explode” glare. That feeling is a friend of mine, I have it quite often as I read the blogs of Will Richardson and David Warlick to name just a couple. Infact, David Warlick’s recent post in regards to blogging/learning really touched a note with me. I think I have mentioned before that I had long hoped for a career where I would be able to learn for a living. I feel like that has taken place in some small measure.

It’s about learning. Will Richardson is a learner, and he learns through his blog. Everyone he interacts with, who reads his blog, who blogs about his blog, who comments on what he’s written — is a potential teacher for him …and they come to his blog because they believe that he is a potential teachers for them.

The sense of accomplishment I felt when reading my class blogs was truly heart warming. Some of them got it on their first try! I didn’t get “it” (how to post) for a while after reading feeds and commenting. Here are two of them only one day after learning about Web 2.0 and setting up their blogs:

the video clip “Did you Know?” really opened my eyes to globalization and where we stand in comparison to the rest of the world. It’s kind of scary. I almost feel as if time is taking off without us and its so hard to catch up. We’re so advanced, yet other countries are so far ahead of us! I’m afraid that I won’t keep up with the fast pace shifting that’s occuring and won’t be as technology savvy as I’d like to think I am now. -Karen

When I take time to reflect on my job and the general state of education, I am troubled by the fact that we discourage our students from fully utilizing their technology knowledge. Most schools have strict policies regarding things like cell phones, IPods, and electronic devices. Is this the right attitude that school districts should have? Karl Fisch’s “What if?” presentation really hits this point home.-Jesse

Congratulations to the teachers who are taking risks and signed up for this class, and thank you to all the bloggers that I read and who have helped me. It is because of you all that I know anything to pass on to these excited educators.

image 1-http://headrush.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/schoolboy_1.jpg

This is one of those days where you have not blogged in a while and it seems the blogo-verse is against you because every time I go to ”publish” I loose my post! Darn!

This video is great, as the author stated there are one or two places where he may need to smooth out the XML vs HTML with the use of CSS. I didn’t even know the similar XML effect was possible with HTML, in any instance until I saw the video, and read some of the comments. I am sure many people of Web 2.0 have seen and probably commented on this already on this video. One important thing about this for me is how he models the interaction of Web 2.0.

This is the 2nd draft, and I plan on doing one more final draft. Please leave comments on what could be changed or improved, or what needs to be excluded or included. Subscribe if you want to be notified when the revision is released.

Thanks to Jesse Lubinsky from Irvington School District in NY for sending me this link! Way to network Jesse!

I have often wondered what would happen if my school stopped using filters. What would happened if edublogs, del.icio.us, and various other web 2.o standards were not blocked? What would happen if we taught students the educational value of cell phones and MySpace?

More often than not talk of MySpace, chatting/IMing and blogging are synonymous with social subversion.  I was one of the proponents who openly believed that that blocking all this content was the proper way a school should deal with these concerns.

Reading Chris Lehman and Christopher Sessums today challenged me to think on how educational belief systems (mine included),  need to change in regards to the use of technology.  Since I began blogging I realize the misuse of technology is unavoidable, kids are kids.  As Chris Lehman discusses when kids are empowered they, they use that power.  Sometimes, especially in the instance that Chris was discussing; they will challenge authority and press buttons.

    We had some students use the laptops and instant messaging in really inappropriate ways. It was upsetting teachers and students alike, and we saw a creeping loss of a sense of safety. So what did we do? We talked about it as a community on our moodle site. The student forums were suddenly filled with conversations about what was going on, what screen names to beware of, how to block someone in iChat, and (I’m not kidding) discussion by students about how poorly this reflected on our community.

Reading the above was truly inspiring and gives a beautiful mental image of the Science Leadership Academy and how the building runs.  In this instance Chris was faced with the possibility of ceasing IMing completely, he chose however to continue the empowerment of his students and to elicit student response.  In the end, the students were upset and did not support or encourage this behavior either.  Chris could have thrown out the baby (a use of technology) with the bath water (poor behavior), but instead he chose to yet empower his students more.

The tactic of open discussion and using students to address the technology concerns of the school community is provides intrinsic motivation for appropriate behavior rather than just the traditional response of yanking the technology away.  In all honesty I think we all know that when we yank it away, the kids show their ingenuity by circumventing nearly all those efforts and regaining access themselves .

    “There is no panacea in education and every great idea has a dark side, so what are the worst consequences of your best ideas?” It’s important to do for two reasons — one because I think that many educational institutions become reactionary too often, throwing the baby out with the bathwater when an unforeseen consequence of a really good idea comes along.

Remember the saying “Fear is the path to dark side”?  If we allow our fears of what could happen stop us from seizing the opportunities before us then we will never really grow.

The “baby” is the opportunity that comes from access to technology in schools. The bathwater is all the nasty little by-products of good ideas that always occur, because where there are humans learning there are mistakes.  People (especially teens) push limitations and challenge authority. If we expect it, and deal with it as a part of the learning process (like Chris Lehman) we stand the chance of learning in the most profound lessons, the ones we learn through adversity.

In order to make this world a more humane and safer place, we need to realize how interdependent we are and be responsible for one another. We do not need to be religious or spiritual to appreciate this reality and act accordingly.

What would happen if we allow these bumps to be learning experiences?  What would happen if teachers asked their students for help, or trusted them to have an active part in thei educational community? There is much talk of the shifts in education; one shift that I believe is happening is that students are becoming efficient inter-learners (and inter-educators). I learn from my Computer Applications students every week.  They have gone so far as to say “Ms. Cronk, if you want to understand what we are talking about; check this site out.”  Every time they bring me a resource I use it, just as I hope they do with the information I give them.   Granted, some of the resources my students share with me are funny, but they still help me understand them on another level.