Enjoying Twitter More Each Day

Just discovered the wonderful world of #gtchat on twitter this week.  It is amazing how connections on this social networking site can not only encourage life long learning but create valuable contacts to support educators in the classroom.  I will definitely be participating in this weekly Friday evening chat at 6PM central time in the future.

I will admit that when I first heard about twitter, I thought it was ridiculous.  I didn't understand how posting in 140 characters or less would lead to anything of value.  I honestly thought it was going to be a site that people would lose interest in.  I am glad that I was wrong!  I have made so many great connections and learned so much valuable information using this site.

For example, I made my first skype in the classroom connection using twitter and my students have enjoyed working with that class several times sharing after dinner speeches and poetry with one another.  I have also found valuable articles that I have used both in professional development discussions and to increase motivation in my classroom activities.  I have discovered new resources like qwikstory.com to use in my classroom. I have even had valuable conversations with my students because of posts they have seen on twitter.

I look forward to continuing to make connections on this site!  Who else will I see there with me?

The New World of Annotating: "Annotexting"

We read a great article(Digigogy: ANNOTEXTING) in our recent teacher meeting about bringing the powerful skills of annotating into the world of our students.  In the past we have taught our students how to annotate by taking notes in the margins of their readings, asking questions, underlining important vocabulary and key words and so on.  But do our students take those skills and transfer them to the real world?

Often times I am afraid the answer is no.  It becomes another assignment handed out by the dreaded English teacher and while our students understand and complete the assignment well during class, the purpose becomes lost.   I am interested in exploring this idea of bringing the skill of annotating to the internet and allowing students to collaborate and provide feedback to one another.  The internet is an increasing part of our everyday lives and it makes sense to teach this skill here and allow it to be another great tool.

Has anyone else tried this strategy or read the article?  I am curious to see who else is doing this and what they have found successful.

So Many Ideas: 1:1 Conference

Wow, you would think that I would feel exhausted after listening to so many great ideas and stories at the 1:1 Conference today in Des Moines, but I am too excited to be!  In addition to listening and learning, it was exciting to present today for the first time.  I know I was more than a little bit nervous before my session started, but I hope it went well for everyone who attended!  You can find links to the resources I discussed in my symbaloo linked up on the side of my blog.

I think my biggest take away from today was to continue to put myself out in the world of the Internet even more and continue finding connections with other educators and professionals.  I have stepped outside of my comfort zone a lot in the past two years as I continue to discover the joys of social media like twitter and the power of video conferencing.  But when I listen to other educators who have a little more experience, I realize there is so much more I can be doing to integrate 21st century skills in my classroom and allow my students to connect with our global society.  Why didn't I think of using twitter to have my students re-tell the story of "Romeo and Juliet"- what an awesome idea and I am totally going to to try it!

It is always scary trying something for the first time, but the rewards are too great to miss out on.  It is worth it to continue to take risks when it comes to social media and have our own learning experiences as teachers.  If we expect our students to continue to grow outside their comfort zones, we must be willing to do it ourselves.

So I am going to keep plugging away and continue to jump in with both feet as I discover new ways of learning.  Anybody ready to collaborate with me?

Change, Change and More Change Please!

I have had a lot of interesting conversations with my students the past couple of weeks and they all revolve around change, or sometimes the lack of change in our culture.  I think it's natural for us to fear it to some extent, I don't always like change myself, but as I grow older, I feel like I would rather embrace change then shy away from it.  But then I start thinking about this and what really concerns me is what changes are we embracing and what are we shying away from in our culture as a whole?

It's funny, because we tend to embrace change when it comes to technology.  In my Speech classes we are currently working on group advertising campaigns and we had a discussion about how much the media has changed in ten years and predicted how it will change in the next ten.  My students laughed when I talked about only having one cell phone for my whole immediate family back when I started high school.  Cell phones were still relatively new, anybody else remember how popular the "Nokia" brand used to be??  We can laugh about how old I appear when I mention that text messaging hadn't been invented yet, but I text now myself.  I teach in a 1:1 environment, several of my students follow me on twitter and now I am blogging.  I learn about technology in my professional development and I am constantly trying to change and adapt to keep up with current trends.  Most of us are not afraid to check out the latest gadget or online tool.

This is all great, but now let's look at the conversations I had with my English students this past week when we studied "The Crucible."  Why is it that we can connect the Salem Witch Trials with McCarthyism and even Columbine and 9/11.  The term 'witch trial' has been used many times after Salem and in each case, it seems history repeated itself.  We don't seem to be changing the way we react to our fears, but instead continue to accuse the unknown with little or no evidence, which is exactly what happened back in Salem.

So what's the point?  Change can be scary, change can be great, but let's remember that it is not enough to change and be "up to date", we have to reflect on our philosophies too.

My First Post!

I have been reluctant to start an official blog over the past couple of years because I am petrified of not having enough interesting points to discuss.  There are so many other great blogs and websites to follow, that I am not sure how well mine can measure up.

However, I have also been looking for a way to tie together all of my different websites and accounts so that students, parents and anyone else in need can have a one spot shop to connect with what I am posting on the web.

Hopefully I will be able to share my own interesting musings along the way to keep you entertained.  If not, I hope this blog will still serve its purpose of unifying all the materials and resources I have gathered and will continue to gather as I continue to trek through our technology age!