Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Day 2: Wow!

I am so impressed with this class of learners. Today you worked individually and collaborately, learning about RSS feeds, then took right off setting up your Google readers and finding feeds of interest. Great job. I am glad that the class methodology is working for you. Remember that the class page will be around for a long time...as will Steve and I....as you begin to integrate some new technology tools into your content areas.
Your blog postings and comments reflect your thinking on bigger issues involving technology and the read/write web, too. How do we sift through all the mountain (or muck, as Sandy calls it!) of information to find what is most valid and valuable? My sense is that the more we play in the muck, the less mucky it will be and the more able we will be to recognize what is reliable.
And how do we help our students become better critical thinkers so that they, too, can find information that is current, reliable, and authoritative? We do this by each addressing this whenever we take kids to the web. We go over keywords, website evaluation techniques, etc. We repeat and repeat, so they hear it in all their classes and it starts to stick.
And how do we balance our lives so we get enough sleep but still stay somewhat current in this evolving field? I think collaboration is key here. We share links that are useful, projects that work well with our students, success stories and failures. We each do some of the heavy mucking. I have observed that you are all great collaborators.
Here's to a great Day 3! Remember that we are front-loading this class, so are going through many tools this week. Once school starts, we will have a week between classes and hopefully you won't feel the information overload most of you expressed.

10 comments:

  1. I just want you to know, Connie, that I found out about your new post from my Google Reader update on my igoogle page that I created after class today. Oh my -- is this actually sinking in?!?! It's all so exciting and it's thanks to the model that you and Steve are using which allows time for us to research, experiment, and practice. This is why we love teaching and learning! Thank you!!

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  2. Now that we know Andee is the show off, I too, am amazed at how much I've learned in just two days. It works so much better then doing it in bits and pieces throughout the year. Can't wait to see what the next 2 days (and rest of course) brings.

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  3. My head has been full of possible ideas to use the new technology I am learning in this class. I will have to figure out how to balance all of this with the demands of the READ 180 program. I think I can!

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  4. The format is working for me. I did not make the igoogle account on my own - way to go Andee! After learning about delicous I was actually able to tell my husband something he was unfamiliar with and he is a computer trainer :)

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  5. Day 2 was great. I am already thinking of ways this will work in my classroom. I am also excited about sharing ideas with other teachers. I feel pretty comfortable with everything we have done so far, but I think the key is using it again and again while it is new so that I don't forget it. Thanks for lots of good stuff and TIME to work with it.

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  6. The more we do it the more comfortable we will become with the technology and the better we will get at it. Wow, sounds like life!
    My big thing now is trying to put it all together into something useful and valuable to my classroom. I'm sure that that collaborative thing is the way to go.
    BTW, thanks to both of you for such a great job - as usual!

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  7. I actually looked online last night and I saw updates on my Google Reader as well. I
    actually was online at the same time this blog post was being posted, and thought about responding then, when my mind was a little fresher :)

    The reader was completely new for me, as was Delicious. So I decided to play around a little last night, to get a little more familiar.

    The class set up has been useful for me, as I like like going at my own pace. I also like the collaboration I am seeing! It's great to be able to ask others for help, and learn those little tidbits you might have missed in your explorations.

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  8. Connie's comment brings me back to the value of stepping outside our individual classrooms and sharing what we are doing. As I look towards planning future staff meetings with the leadership team, I continue to fall back on "How do we get people to share what they are doing?"

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  9. Another productive day yesterday. As previously commented, to be productive with these tools we have to become discerning consumers, passing as much of that as possible along to our students. For me, visiting google reader and finding 1000 unread items will be decidedly de-motivating. I plan to proceed with caution.

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  10. I am getting a great deal from our class interactions. Questions from classmates help clarify my understanding, and Connie and Steve's instruction and coaching keep me on track. The reading provides a good foundation from which to start they day's work. This is a very valuable experience and the practical applications are coming into focus.

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