Hi, My Name is Christy and I’ve Participated in a PLN for 8 Months

Information Junkie

Many bloggers post about the joy of reading other blogs, and jumping from link to link…practically swimming in new ideas and information.  (Will Richardson describes it as a dance, and Steve Dembo reminds us to Link it Up!)  To be honest, I often feel what I like to call RSS two-way guilt  (I may or may not be the first person to use that term, but I’m surely not the first person to feel it.)  When my Reader has 100+ posts, I feel guilty that I’ve neglected my ever generous, always stimulating PLN.  After 2+ hours catching up, I feel guilty when my non-educator husband calls from the living room, “Are you still blogging?”  (He doesn’t differentiate between PLN activities..everything is “blogging” to him, mostly to yank my chain. I can’t imagine what you folks with kids do.)  Would some basic time management help?  Of course, but there are only so many hours in the day.  I have Twitter, Nings, wikis, and emails to stay on top of!  Did I mention I’m also a full-time technology AND gifted/talented teacher?   But, alas, I cannot stop…

Believe Me, I’m Not Complaining!

Discovering this “new world” of information 8 months ago is the BEST professional thing that could have happened to me.  (I have Lisa Thumann to thank for a great Web 2.0 workshop at Rutgers University.)  I was lucky enough to attend the Google Teacher Academy in NYC this past November. (Here is my application video) I met amazing people who have the same (and different)goals and ideas as I do.   I’ve encouraged my district administrators to continually add “Web 2.0″, for lack of a better term, to each technology meeting agenda.   Today, I pitched the idea of using Google Apps. for Educators with our teachers and students.  I made this simple presentation, and it sparked a forward-moving conversation.

Go Team!

My Free Master’s Program

I completed my Master’s degree in Educational Technology in 2005.  I’m very proud of that degree, but feel…well…sad, when I think about the hours I spent in musty campus computer labs creating projects that proved my knowledge of Flash (a car driving across the screen) or my superb PowerPoint abilities (creating a Jeopardy game).  In three years, I have never felt the need to recreate either of those activities.  Participating in my PLN, even if my activity is limited at times, is a free, incredibly engaging opportunity to stretch and grow.  I feel the ups and downs that all life-long learners feel:  discomfort and hesitation with the new material leading to confidence and pride with the things I’ve mastered.  I feel like the student from the YouTube video Networked Student by Wendy Dexler.   The last bit of the video describes the role of a teacher as someone who guides, supports and encourages rather than acts as the “sage on the stage”.  Somewhat ironically, I think it reinforces the need for f2f learning environments as well.  I’m very interested in learning and sharing with my peers in my PLN, but nothing beats seeing the excitement on a fellow educator’s face when they say, “My students LOVED this… it was so cool.”

This I Believe

Thank you to Lisa Thumann for including me in this intellectual game of tag.  Following the lead of Barry Bachenheimer, Lisa listed some key beliefs of her educational philosophy.  With a belly full of delicious banana pancakes (thank you Fiance’), I’m going to attempt the same:

I believe:

• learning should be student centered.  Educators know this, but we’re often confined by curriculum, administration or simple lack of time.
• educators, just like everyone else, need to be inspired by their leaders, and supported in their quest to achieve professional excellence.  This is not achieved by limiting professional development.
• a school building should be the original “educational network” (thanks to Vicki Davis for the term).  Many of us communicate, share and collaborate online, while in our own schools teachers are reluctant to open their doors and their lesson plans in order to foster a community of learners. 
• although Education is the business of learning, growing and changing, our society/politicians have not allowed Education to learn, grow or change as much as is needed to keep up with the 21st Century world.
• there is hope.  There are many educators who love helping children learn about their world.  In my opinion, that’s half the battle.

Ann Oro and Dan Callahan …..TAG, YOU’RE IT!

We The People

“The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions that I wish it to be always kept alive.” 
-quote by Thomas Jefferson

Buckle your seat belt, Mr. Jefferson.  Maybe it’s because I watched every episode of the HBO miniseries John Adams that I want to believe that our government exists to help our children, not bury our educators and administrators in mounds of paperwork and time-wasting mandates.  I realize my last post was a rally cry for change.   I still believe in the cause and the “Make Noise, Make Change” motto.  However, I’ve had so many “Are you kidding me?” moments this week after hearing about various state and federal laws and requirements concerning education, that I had to share a few:

Forget “Girls chase the Boys”

• The State of New Jersey mandates that each student shall receive 2.5 hours of supervised Physical/Health education per week.  Our students receive 1 hour of Physical Education and have 2 hours of scheduled recess time.  Our principal has been told that recess does not count if the children are able to play freely.  The minutes only count if it is a structured (by a certified teacher) play time.  He also mentioned something about a 50 page Physical/Health Education survey that needed to be completed by EVERY school and turned into the state electronically….about gym class.  I’m all for kids keeping physically fit and learning about healthy living habits.  But… Are you kidding me?

Are your keyboards QWERTY?

• As the technology teacher in my school, I am required each year to answer a technology survey for the state of New Jersey.  It has improved over time, but basically asks the same questions each year.  I just don’t believe they’re asking the right questions.  My district really does put effort into improving technology, we’re just not there yet…but if you go by this survey, we look GREAT!  The survey is mostly yes/no questions:  “Do you need to use a bridging service or portal to connect outside of your district to do a video conference?”  Our answer:  No.  (They’ll never know we don’t conduct video conferences because they never asked.)  The majority of the survey wants information on where the computers are located in the building and who is using them…very few questions about how the computers are being used.  Really, are you kidding me?

NCLB Reading First, or Second, or Third…

• Thanks for Chris Lehmann’s post on Practial Theory, which covers the broken literacy program Reading First.  Praised by Secretary Spellings herself, “If ever a program was rooted in research and science and fact, this is it.”  Turns out, it was determined by the Department of Education that reading test scores of students using the program did not improve.  Six billion dollars have been spent on Reading First.  Are you kidding me?

 

Undercover School Voucher:   S-1607

• The email came this morning from my district’s NJEA representative concerning bill S-1607:  “Basically, it provides corporations the right to contribute money that would create a “scholarship” fund for students in Camden, Elizabeth, Lakewood, Orange, Paterson, Trenton, and Newark.  These contributions (about $360 million) would be drained from the State Treasury because the corporations would receive a dollar for dollar tax credit on their state taxes.”   This is from the same state government that wants to end teacher pensions because they’re out of money.  Are you kidding me?

Lastly, a new blogger complaining rather than posting her journey towards educational networking and expansion?  Are you kidding me?    

 

 

Hello World? No kidding…

I’m sure it’s not difficult to tell that this is my first blog post.  Call me wildly daring or dangerously stupid, I just learned about the depths of Web 2.0 about a week and a half ago.   Now, it’s not like I had been living under a rock.  Obviously, I had heard about blogs, wikis, Facebooks, YouTube…etc.  But honestly, the “world” had taught me two things about Web 2.0 tools:  1) they are “toys” that college kids played with and 2) they are the perfect unlocked door for predators to waltz right through and do who knows what to my innocent and Internet-naive elementary students.  As far as I was concerned, I needed no part of Web 2.0.

Then something almost magical happened.  I signed up for a workshop at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, NJ.  Lisa Thumann was offering ed. tech workshops and I signed up for one that sounded interesting… (wait for it) “Project-Based Learning”.   Sure, I saw the workshop, “Web 2.0″, but wikis and blogs were blocked in my district for students and teachers alike.  Why would I go to that workshop?  Well, the technology gods had something special in mind for me.  There was a scheduling conflict and I was “forced” to choose the Web 2.0 workshop…and guess what?  I loved it.  Thanks to Lisa, I’m on Twitter, have an active iGoogle Reader and was exposed to many tools that I can’t wait to use with my students.

But wait… wikis, blogs are blocked in my school!!  My IT team and administrators haven’t yet seen the light.  Can I do it?  Is it possible to show them that these tools can change the way our students and teachers learn/communicate/live?  After immersing myself in this “brand new world” I realized my elementary students were NOT Internet-naive.  Each year, we discuss Internet safety and the threat of predators.  Many of them have email/IM services that they use at home.  I’ve always been a supporter of supervised computer use with students… so what’s stopping my district?

Lack of knowlege:  it was stopping me too, a week and a half ago.   My plan for this blog is to share the steps I take with my students and our administrators.   First, my fifth grade students are learning about Web 2.0 by reading ed. tech blogs.  (If they are blocked, I print them out at home so the kids can read them.)  Then, they will use the Persuasive Writing Tools on readwritethink.com to map out a persuasive essay arguing for or against the use of Web 2.0 tools in school.  (I’ll send the final drafts to our administration…sneaky, I know)  Next, I’m working on a project with my GT students.  I’d like their final presentation to be a VoiceThread.  I’ll see how my principal feels about allowing comments!

Thanks for reading.  I hope that if you’re on the same journey as me (or have been through it already) that you’ll take a minute to respond to my posts. I’d appreciate any comments, suggestions or advice you might have!