I had the unique experience this weekend to hear a speaker discuss the importance of 21st century skills in the classroom. I have to admit that after reading Presentation Zen I have evaluated PowerPoint presentations based on what we read. This speaker reminded me of Reynolds, and his presentation seemed to include quite a few principles that we studied. At the end of the conference, I introduced myself to the speaker, and it occurred to me that I was speaking to the author of our current book. Will Richardson did a great job sharing his thoughts concerning technology in the 21st century classroom, and he emphasized what he wants schools to teach his children. I was impressed with how down to earth Richardson was, and I reflected on the conference during my 120 mile drive home.
I was excited to read the first three chapters of Richardson's book, because I felt that by meeting him, I had a better understanding about his viewpoints. Suffice to say, his writings did not disappoint. Richardson has a comfortable writing style, and although he is a proponent of web tools in the classroom, he doesn't beat people over the head with his ideas
One of the ideas that I like is the implementation of blogs in the classroom. Richardson gives helpful hints on how to get started with that process, and also addresses pitfalls that can occur. I have been working with the LMC director at my school, and I will be using a blog for at least one of my classes during the second semester. My school district only allows the use of EduBlogs, and now the school wants to pilot a program where the blog is hosted on our server. I am one of the participants of this plan, and I think that the experiment will be rewarding. Blogs are intriguing because they can allow for a global audience. Perhaps students will take ownership in their work if they know that anyone can view their work, including parents. I also like the ability to address some of the dangers concerning posting online, and the controls that can be set by an administrator. I am currently researching and getting feedback concerning how best to create my blog under the guidelines of the school district.
RSS feeds is another interesting topic for this week, and I am sure we will be learning more about them throughout the class. My year has gotten significantly more busy, so it will be important to be efficient with my time. By using RSS feeds for my personal and professional life, I will hopefully be able to save time because: the information comes to me, and I can read the information in one spot. Recently, I spoke to my students about Google Alerts, and there seemed to be some interest in further investigating all that it had to offer. Students can similarly use RSS feeds to have relevant information sent to them without spending significant time trying to separate the wheat from the chaff by using Internet searches.
Overall, I am excited to immerse myself into this class, and that is probably due to the success I had in the last class. We are starting to get to the meat of the issues concerning the use of technology in the classroom. It is essential to make educated decision concerning students using blogs to post information. Have student information on the web cannot be taken lightly with an attitude of do now apologize later. Although my role might change by allowing students to interact with the world online, it is paramount that I keep them safe. The students in my classroom are my kids, and I will protect them in the same way that I protect my kids at home. We must have honest discussions about technology in the classroom, and be willing to address our concerns, as well as the impact it will have on our children.
I agree that RSS feeds with be great for both teachers and students. One thing that I think is overshadowed is the fact that a limited number of people know and use RSS feeds. I think it would be a good idea for you and I as educators to introduce the RSS feeds to our students. I'm sure through this class we will have plenty of opportunity to use and I believe that it will be great for our students to learn from us. One of the best things I see about the RSS feeds is that it is definetly useable in all curricular areas. I don't see this happening with all the new types of technologies available to educators.
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that your school has guidelines for using blogs. Does this mean there has been a communicated interest from staff to implement blogging in the classroom? I would also like to know more about hosting a blog from a server. I assume the idea that only those who have access to the server will have access to the blog tool. Is this something that will be done with existing software? I can see the possibility of doing this with the email software we use in our district. It's an intriguing possibility to a solution to keeping students 'safe'.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about having a conversation about student privacy issues. The school district of Waukesha has banned teacher participation in online social networks such as face book and twitter and blogs. Students are currently learning how to interact in these environment on there own, with very little guidance. Wouldn't it be beneficial to give students experience in using these tools productively?
ReplyDeleteI think you are spot on about your assessment of blogging in the classroom and about your need to openly discuss the technology and keep your students safe. This is my biggest fear with this portion. It seems so unlikely that someone would find one of my students this way, but in the off chance that it could happen, I refuse to allow it to have any chance. I couldn't live with myself if I felt that I contributed to putting one of my students at harm. Keep us posted on how your implementation of this all goes as I would be very interested in seeing your successes as well as your hangups and learn from them.
ReplyDeleteIt was so nice to meet you on Friday. Could you tell how bummed I was that I was sitting in a 4 hour long staff meeting, when Will Richardson was speaking in my building? Because I was unable to attend, I was wondering if you could highlight one thing from his presentation that really stuck with you? Did I miss an awesome presentation? Was he a good presenter?
ReplyDeleteErika,
ReplyDeleteThe one thing that stuck out the most concerning Richardson's presentation was that when it comes to discussing 21st century skills in the classroom, teachers should have uncomfortable conversations. That is to say, nothing will get accomplished if everyone agrees with each other. We must be prepared to handle some "push back" from others during the discussions, and separate the issues from any perceived personal attacks. Learning should be messy was the overall theme of the talk. :)