Modular 5

I guess one way to look at my shift in learning is that I was a ‘tuned-in’ learner before I became a ‘networked’ learner.  Previously, I actively sought webinars, conferences, and books to enhance my own professional development path.  I felt I was tuned-in to my needs and direction that I should grow to become a better instructional facilitator.  Growing a PLN allowed me to virtually connect daily if I so desired with people I choose to follow on twitter and people who blog insightful observations.  I got connected to ideas and thinking that generated ideas and thoughts of my own.

The practical side of me absolutely loved the fact that I can have meetings with colleagues across the district by simply logging into a virtual site.  Time saving!  Great sharing!  The human side of me loved the fact that we still had some face-to-face meetings for discussions and learning.  Nurturing!  Engaging!  The organizing side of me valued the fact that I am competently using some great tools that make navigating all this virtual information easier to manage.   Simplifying the paths!

My goal over the next six months is to continue growing my PLN by dedicating time carved out for this purpose.  Truthfully, I don’t think I have a specific goal except to be open to allow the learning to happen.  I’m a curious person.  Learning will happen if I join the space.  I can continue to use twitter and edublogs as pathways.   I would like to participate in some educational chats with others using Tweetdeck.  My diigo storage needs some attention for me to maximize its effectiveness.  Learning was easy in a networked environment….even a bit addicting….once I got past the logistics of setting up the ‘venues’.  So now, I must continue to spend time in these venues.

NewSpaces4Learning was designed to differentiate the content that individuals could obtain on various levels of participation.  I highly respect that all participants were trusted to engage themselves to a self selected level of learning.  It was not a mandate, but a choice.  This professional development was strong with variety of learning environments, materials and modalities.  It was saturated with reflection and interaction.  I think having the format so flexible and fluid was unique and worked fine for the number of people involved.   I could see this spontaneity potentially being an uncomfortable spot for people accustomed to having the syllabus and following it exactly.

Another very powerful piece to my personal learning was using The Technology Integration Matrix (TIM).  It required an honest evaluation of my current practices and gave me descriptions of what I might strive to demonstrate.  The tool was somewhat cumbersome to navigate online, but I will return to it again in six months to reassess.

Will my Newspaces4Learning become my regular stomping grounds?  I think it’s likely!

As I explore jux.com, I am thinking of the ‘poster’ assignments that I used to complete myself in elementary school.  There was time spent planning the space and gathering materials.  There was time spent on getting the lettering just right….and what would happen if you messed up in ink.  Oh NO!  You can’t start the whole poster over again.  There was the task of hauling it to school in the garbage bag for protection.  One had to present in front of the class with a helper holding the poster or maybe it was hung up in the room or hallway without a presentation.  It was a visual way to share learning, but also involved organizational skills.

So, jux.com along with so many other online publishing tools offers a power to students.    Students can quickly and easily prepare a visual representation of their learning. They can share their media immediately with a teacher, partner, class, or the wide world.  Presentation does not have to occur in person, but can be recorded and refined. They will have to plan their projects and use organizational skills to actualize their thoughts.  Their tools will be forgiving allowing them to tweak, revise and edit easily.

I think the time spent on things like lettering in the past, will be spent on thinking about the topic.  Or maybe, the project can be completed in a comparatively shorter amount of time….and more new learning will occur.

Jux think about it!

I found an article that truly resonates with me.  Check it out.

Education Week Teacher: Redefining Instruction With Technology: Five Essential Steps http://bit.ly/z9P50V

It hit home with me because of how Jennie Mageria honestly talks about her failure to use a class set of  ipads effectively.  I could see this happening to many of us as we think that having the access is going to bring on the magic.  It was a supplement to her curriculum and business as usual.

She had a turning point and “focused on two important goals: increased differentiation and robust, efficient assessment.”  I respect her approach to redefining how she used ipads.  She created new teaching methods and students gained richer learning engagements.  Her focus shifted to student creation apps to replace game/practice apps.

I gained so much from reading this brief article.  I want to avoid the technology pitfall and have a reflective approach to technology instruction in my classroom similar to the one described.  I’m so glad I could learn it now.

I’m a bit intrigued by the debates around web tracking and internet privacy rights.  The argument that we are provided with some great resources relatively free due to advertising is countered by the fact that our searches and preferences cost us some privacy.  Can Google’s Data Hoarding Be Good for You?   and  Be Careful, Big Google Is Watching You offer some of the pros and cons for this discussion.

It got me thinking about my teaching.  Isn’t it great when I get to know my students and tailor learning for their preferences, interests, and styles? If I can sneak a connection or link to students’ personal worlds into a lesson, I can keep their attention and engage them.  It’s a path to the content.

So, why should I mind if my computer does this for me, too?  It’s been happening for awhile with my shopping on amazon.  It makes suggestions based on my previous purchases and not even things I’ve actually bought….even stuff that I put into my ‘shopping cart’ and decided not to buy.  Intriguing!

I predict jobs will be out there for computer geek/psychology majors who can write the instructions that will allow all this collected and archived data to be more and more intuitive in the future.  I wonder when my computer will say to me, “If you liked reading -, may I suggest – because….”  I can only hope that it will lead me to interesting and wondrous ideas and won’t just keep me winding around the same ol’ stuff.  Keep stretching me like I want my students to stretch their own thinking.

One thing I really treasure about my current teaching situation is that I get to work with a group of students over threeyears time.  They start in 4^th grade and stay with me until 6^th grade for advanced math instruction.  It allows me to observe changes in their learning and understanding.   I’m always looking for that moment when the learning that I am facilitating becomes ‘owned’ by them.  That precious point when a student communicates that he or she ‘gets it’ and starts driving the direction of the learning.  I also see students begin to own their skills in mathematics over time.  Skills that once seemed so hard and laborious to complete have shifted to become automatic and natural.  These skills actually become embedded into more complex learning that the students are trying.  The students own them because they have a confidence with using them.

I noticed my own shift occurring with twitter this week when I was talking with my sister who lives in Houston.  Now that I am set up and using this tool, I can understand it and steer my direction with it.  I’m not perfectly using it and certainly do not completely understand all the advanced ways yet.   But, I own the basics enough to share with someone else.  My user skills that seemed so confusing in the beginning are becoming ordinary practice.  It has taken me about 3 months to evolve to this point.

So hooray, I’m seeing progress.

I found this article helpful: How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live – TIME http://ti.me/z9b7si

I agree that the rules of engagement can be dramatically changed by using twitter.  I AM NOW A PART OF WIDER AUDIENCE and can follow my interests easily.  Twitter is a pointing device that allows me to look at what others have found interesting on the web.  It would take me much longer to weed through much of the material on my own without having someone I ‘follow’ lead me to it.  No longer do I think that twitter is just a social tool.  Twitter is a tool that is reshaping my professional community.

At the Start~Just a smidge over two decades ago, I left my university empowered with pedagogical theory to begin a career in teaching elementary children. My personal learning network (PLN) became the experienced teachers who had lunch at the same time. A supportive group with their own view of  ’what works’. It was not until I attended my first ‘workshop’ that I experienced true professional growth. My thoughts were, “Now this is something I CAN REALLY USE in my classroom. Why didn’t they teach us this in college.” It sent me reeling. The hook was set, and I realized that my professional growth path was up to me. I would be the one to navigate the waves of current professional development offerings.  Although the impact on my teaching abilities were significant and meaningful, the number of workshops I could attend was limited by school budgets and my own income.  Furthermore, the connections with other professionals was ‘ network du jour’, short lived usually for the duration of the workshop.

In a few years, I extended my learning network to include membership to professional organizations such as NCTM and ASCD.  The journals were helpful in broadening my teaching perspectives and deepening my pedagogical understanding.  The biggest shift in this stage occurred when I attended my first national conference.  It was wonderful to connect with educators from all over our country and share strategies.  I came back to the classroom recharged.  But, my ‘networking’ existed only in the time frame of the conference.  My 2oth century PLN involved isolated experiences.  I was still bound to bring all the new knowledge back to my classroom and share with a few very close professional colleagues.

The Hybrid~About seven years ago, I enrolled in a Zoo Expeditions class that combined face-t0-face meetings with online conversations.  This opportunity allowed me to grow professionally with others not in my building or district, but in my region.  The boundaries of my PLN changed slightly by extending a little bit farther.  I was encouraged to try online webinars in topics that interested me and steered myself in directions of professional growth that I needed.  I was amazed at how powerful these online sessions were in teaching me. Webinars were a  free  way to connect and eliminated the boundary of  ’cost’ to participate.

Different Conference~In October 2011, my eyes were opened to a new way of connecting during a conference session. The audience was invited to participate with mobile devices.  No question went unanswered. Interaction was promoted to a new level.   Sharing among the experts and attendees was open. I left with the feeling that I wanted to be a part of this kind of learning more often.  It felt different.

NewSpaces4Learning~Currently, I am enrolled in a course to explore PLN’s and dive into developing my own.  I’m learning twitter, tweetdeck, symbaloo, diigo, and blogs concurrently.  Already I feel that more boundaries are being lifted by using these tools.  I am connecting with people that would not have been possible in the 20th century.  It’s the same as my earlier years regarding the fact that it takes a willingness to step out into the uncomfortable waters.  I am excited.  It’s the same, but different.