Up 2 Notches

Social Bookmarks: A Pinteresting Conversation!

2012-01-21T06:51:00.021-07:00

A couple months ago a friend asked me if I knew about Pinterest and when I nodded my head "yes" I had thought I knew about Pinterest. She mentioned that she spent over an hour on the site just browsing. I remember thinking "really? an hour? what was so great?" I went home that night and took another look at pinterest and found that I spent not " an hour" but my entire evening looking at different teaching ideas. I had a really hard time logging off. Since then I joined the site and have explored how I would use Pinterest to keep and share those little golden nuggets that I find on the internet. Pinterest is quickly becoming one of my favorite social bookmarking sites.

As a quick review a social bookmark is a tool for organizing and sharing websites (links). Users can access these bookmarks on any computer anywhere, anytime by logging into their account. Once a link is saved in a social bookmarking site, the user adds a tag to the link. A tag is a word or a phrase used to categorize information.

There are many different types of social bookmarks. Diigo has been my favorite for a few years now and Pinterest is certainly becoming another. Here is a quick review of Diigo for those of you that are not familiar with it: (see previous posts for explanations for classroom examples)

Teachers can use Diigo to tag chosen sites from which the users can retrieve information. They find the pre-selected sources by searching the Diigo search engine and then clicking on the tag. This reduces searching time and limits the possibility of getting inaccurate information. Along with tagging, users can highlight, annotate and add sticky notes to sites that they bookmark.

The power of Diigo? In my opinion, Diigo shows the way each user learns, thinks, and develops the knowledge because users can see what information was previously selected, organized, and categorized. It provides students with an opportunity to learn about their own learning and understand the aspects of the information they find relevant. It also helps users become aware of their own criteria when they tag and categorize.

Now onto Pinterest. This interesting "visual" social bookmarking site defines itself as a "virtual pinboard that lets you organize and share all of the beautiful things on the web" (Pinterest Site). (Already it grabs you, doesn't it?)

What is the real beauty in it? The power of the image! Wow! As you go through a page in Pinterest, you scan quickly to see which site might be of interest and it is the image that captivates. All of the sites that have been "pinned" (or bookmarked) are images. Users categorize their "pins" and "tag" their "friends" in the network.

So which is the best: Diigo or Pinterest?

I continue to use Diigo to bookmark "academic" sites and readings and to network with educators that are sharing their "academic" sites. I am using Pinterest to search for great classroom ideas.

Here are some resources for using Diigo:

Diigo Schools and Education Category

Diigo Educators Group (over 2000 members)

Diigo Literacy with ICT Group (over 18,000 member)

Diigo Administrators Group (350 members)

Here are some resources for using Pinterest:

30 Inspiring Pinterest Pins for Teachers

Pinterest Education Category

Pinterest Teaching Category

Pinterest Classroom Ideas Category

I am glad my friend asked me that day if I knew about Pinterest and that I went on that evening to take a second look at it. I have expanded my learning network and have even better ways and tools to bookmark my sites. Thanks Friend!

Learning to Change and Changing to Learn

2011-11-12T22:57:00.004-07:00

Thanks to Keith Tompkins @PEISchools on Twitter for tweeting this video out.

Words Their Way Meets Diigo!

2011-09-15T18:56:00.013-06:00

Have you ever wondered how you could use your netbooks in a center during "Words Their Way?" I know one teacher that did!

(This idea is credited to our Grade 3 teacher Mr. Foote who spent a large portion of his evening thinking about and researching how to use Diigo (social bookmarking tool) in his classroom. He gave me permission to blog about his idea).

Here is what he shared with me:

While one group is finding patterns in words through "making and breaking" words, another group is building word meaning playing pictionary with whiteboards, the third group is doing a variety of sorts, the fourth group could be using netbooks to search for words online in sites like National Geographic for Kids. Not only are they reading the articles, but they can be highlighting and adding words through the powerful collaborative tool called "Diigo."

Considering effective integration and "thematic teaching," if students are learning about animals, for example, they could do a "word hunt" by reading an online article and highlighting the words that they find and even adding them on a sticky note where others can respond/comment on.

Article from National Geographic for Kids: (using Diigo)

Clifford Online: (using Diigo)

You could take it a step further, and have students add a question or a response to the article through the "comment" tool on diigo, or through the sticky note tool.

You could do the same on any virtual site. You would need to consider that diigo works on most webpages, but not in PDF files.

Here are some more examples to get you thinking about the possibilities:

International Public Library for Kids

Owl Kids Online

Time for Kids

National Geographic Explorer

Pop Magazine (Canada's Adventure Magazine for Kids)

So many possibilities! Thank-you Mr. Foote!

Need resources to learn about Diigo?

This should be enough to get you started. Remember you can always google your question.

Why igoogle?

2011-08-24T19:34:00.035-06:00

I recently had the opportunity to use igoogle. I never thought much of it before, but after playing around with it the last couple of days, I think it is pretty great.

Many search engines have "personalized homepage" capabilities where users can customize their page with the local weather, quote of the day, joke of the day and many other types of gadgets. Google's "Personalized Homepage" is now called "igoogle" and it really takes the homepage "up a notch!"

I think one of the best parts of igoogle is that your google reader, calendar and email (and other cool gadgets) are all on one page.

With igoogle you can:

check your mail without going to your inbox
update your blog
check your facebook
add your social bookmarks like delicious
check your twitter account
you can connect with others through the igoogle chat feature
surf the web
Create your OWN theme with thememaker
Simply upload your favorite picture, customize your colors on the page and your igoogle has it's very own, unique theme. (The only downfall to making your own theme, is that you have to add it to igoogle's theme gallery)

Before I use igoogle in the classroom with my students, I need to consider ways to ensure that students will not come across some of the inappropriate themes and gadgets. I wonder if igoogle will be getting a filtering system?

Taking Blogging Up a Notch!

2011-07-23T16:19:00.009-06:00

As we move into another school year, I have been considering new and different ways to engage students in blogging. I came across an article titled, "Hot Blogging: A Framework to Promote Higher Order Thinking," and in this article Zawilinski (2009) described four different types of blogs that are common in elementary classrooms. These include classroom news blogs, mirror blogs, showcase and literature response blogs. Classroom news blogs are used to update parents on what is happening in the classroom. Mirror blogs are a reflective blog, where students reflect on something learned. Showcase blogs are used to showcase student work and teachers will showcase a variety of things including art work. Literature response blogs are used for responding to literature.

Another type of blog that has emerged this year is called quad blogging. With this type of blogging, four blogging classes come together and learn about one another one week at a time. Each week a different blog in the quad is the focus and the other three classes take the time to visit and comment on their blog. Research showed that there are many different types and uses of blogs in the classroom.

Here are some samples of different blogs: (Zawilinski, 2009)

Classroom News Blogs:

Grade 2 Blog: http://2kmand2kj.global2.vic.edu.au/

Mary Castle’s first grade blog: http://michellesmelser.blogspot.com

Mr. Thompson’s second grade classroom blog: http://gcs.infostreamblogs.org/tthompson

Mary Kreul’s 4th grade class: http://mskreul.edublogs.org

Mr. Monson’s grade 5 blog: http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php

blogger_id=59644

Mirror Blogs:

Edublogs Insights: http://anne.teachesme.com

The Miss Rumphius Effect: http://missrumphiuseffect.blogspot.com

Carol Marits’ Grade Four Class: http://classblogmeister.com/

blog.php?blogger_id=119124

Brian Crosby’s 6th Grade Class: http://classblogmeister.com/

blog.php?blogger_id=65078

Grade 1/2/3 Class Blog:

http://openthedoortob4.blogspot.com/

Showcase Blogs:

Have Fun with English! http://fwe2.motime.com

Ms. Cassidy’s Grade One Classroom Blog: http://

classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=1337

Third Grade Blog: http://yollisclassblog.blogspot.com/

Literature Response Blogs:

Mary Kreul’s Class Blog: http://mskreul.edublogs.org/tag/lit-

circles/

Bearup’s Bloggers Fourth Grade: http://classblogmeister.com/

blog.php?blogger_id=128294&l =1225156782

English Corner (sixth grade): http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?

blogger_id=17192

How will you take blogging up a notch this September?

References:

Morris, K. (2011, February 16). Quad Blogging. (Web log comment). Retrieved from http://
primarytech.global2.vic.edu.au/2011/02/16/quad-blogging/

Zawilinski, L. (2009). Hot blogging: A framework for blogging to promote higher order
thinking. Reading Teacher, 62(8). Retrieved from
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.login.ezproxy.library.ualberta.ca/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?
sid=30844dbf-2066-4c02-9f28-037a71f10532%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=109

Who is controlling our information?

2011-05-05T21:58:00.004-06:00

I wrote a post a while ago about google bots called "How Does Google Really Work?" and while researching how it really works I learned about google bots and began to find answers to my new question as to whether or not google bots help make searches more efficient. Some things still did not sit quite right with me, because I keep feeling like these google bots were more like "spy bots" who could tell where I have been and what I am interested in. As I am currently realizing, I was not asking the right question. The question I should have been asking is "Why do google bots seem to make my searches more efficient?

Why, in November when I was house hunting would real estate sites for Rocky appear on my facebook page, and why would advertisements appear about "Bench" clothing stores when I just came back from shopping in Calgary. I have found an answer.

While we believe that "knowledge is power" and that the internet is a "web of resources" I am starting to see that the information that is coming to me on the web is "tailored" based on my interests.

The Ted Talk below provides insight into how we are merely consumers:

QR Codes in the Classroom

2011-04-30T19:34:00.014-06:00

I came across QR Codes (quick reader codes) a few weeks ago and learned how to use them and have been seeing them everywhere! I blogged about them in "My Digital Footprint is a Barcode" and have recently been researching ways to use them in the classroom. Here are some ways you could use them in your classroom:

1. Print to Audio:

2. Scavenger Hunt in the library

3. Adding QR Codes to an assignment so students can check their answers.

(40 interesting ways to use QR Codes in the classroom)

4. I like the idea of adding a QR code in the back of books which links to a website for more information.

5. Mystery Picture

(http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2011/04/qr-codes-in-classroom.html)

6. Showcasing Student Work (vidcasts)

7. Create a print art project and add animation in a particular spot by adding a QR Code. Here is an example of how advertisers are doing this. "Print Campaigns."

What ideas would you add to this list?

Please include these educational videos in your playlist!

2011-04-09T08:03:00.018-06:00

At Free Tech for Teachers, Richard Byrne has begun creating an educational youtube video playlist. He has listed seven great videos that are worth checking out. I would include these valuable videos to his playlist:

A Vision of K-12 Students Today (different one than Byrne has listed)

The Lost Generation

21st Century New Brunswick

Empowering Young Learners

Who is Depending on Your Dream

The Thrilling Potential of Sixth Sense Technology

Reimagine Learning in the 21st Century

The Power of Mutual Knowledge

Changing Education Paradigms

Sugata Mitra's New Experiment in Self-Teaching

I will add to these as I continue to think about some of my favorites!

My digital footprint is a bar code?

2011-04-02T15:20:00.025-06:00

I heard about people having their own "bar codes" a while ago, but laughed it off. I guess I just didn't know what I didn't know or perhaps was not ready for my own barcode. Today I was surfing around and saw Cybraryman's webpage and noticed a little barcode and underneath the barcode it said "QR Code for this page." I immediately wondered why someone would want their own barcode? Is it even possible to have your own bar code?

So I began to do a little research. First, I went to wikipedia and learned that a QR Code is short for "Quick Response" code (Wikipedia). Wikipedia claims that QR codes were initially used to track vehicles and are now very popular in Japan and South Korea and that it is slowly catching on in the west (Wikipedia). QR Codes store text, URLs, contact information, pretty much anything!

I went to Twitter and searched for #QRCodes and found some more information. Some people are using QR Codes for their resumes, business cards, and even making stickers of their codes to put on their laptops, brochures for conferences, etc.

It was time to try this out and see how I would use it and/or if I would even use it. I tried two code generators, Qurify and Kaywa, mostly because they were the top hits for my google search.

I added my url for this blog:

http://up2notches.blogspot.com/

Then clicked "create."

Here is what I got from Kaywa:

And my code from Qurify:

Strange, they really did look the same. Could this really work? So I grabbed my iphone and downloaded "QR Code Reader" (for free) and scanned my codes and my blog appeared!

I love it! I think I will be adding my QR Code to my blog (for sure) and to my business cards, and I am excited to print some stickers too!

Google is changing the way we read on the web!

2011-03-31T16:41:00.012-06:00

There are now 5 new options for reading/viewing blogs on the web. When you go to a blog, type in "view" at the end of the URL.

EXAMPLE:

You then get options to change the view:

I tried all of them and here is what they look like on my blog:

Mosaic View:

Sidebar View:

Snapshot View:

Flipcard View:

Timeslide View:

I appreciate these options when I am surfing through different blogs because I can scan for information more effectively. I can definitely see using the mosaic view and snapshot view the most when I am deciding whether or not to follow a blog. The timeslide and flipcard view will certainly help me find the main ideas of posts pretty quickly and then I can find the most interesting posts quickly.

Testing, testing...can you hear me?

2011-03-15T19:57:00.008-06:00

I tried "Ustream" yesterday and ran into an audio problem. The video streamed but there was no audio. I google searched to find a solution to the problem and then began to search for other streaming sites and found "Justin.tv" and then "Livestream." Justin.tv was not what I needed for my school site because you could not embed the code (or at least I could not find the place to embed after google searching for that answer) and I wanted something more mainstream. Fortunately, I found "Livestream" which is very similar to "UStream", except the audio works! It is pretty user friendly, was easy to create a channel and super easy finding the code to embed into my blog. If someone asked me which streaming site to use, I would recommend Livestream.

So what did I learn?

A. The audio does not work in Ustream for some odd reason.

and...

B. You can always use google search to find answers however when you can't find an answer, find another tool that does work!! (there are so many out there!)

Ustream it to the world!

2011-03-13T18:13:00.006-06:00

A really cool 2.0 tool that I have been watching for a while is Ustream. Ustream is a place where anyone can broadcast information. You can find broadcasts from NASA, PBS and Rolling Stones, to name a few.

Ustream was launched in 2007 and in 2008 more than 400,000 users were streaming video. You can watch live streamed athletic events, or watch university lectures (Educause, 2008). Tomorrow morning, we are going to try it at our school for our morning announcements.

This is a great opportunity for our school community to tune in to hear what is going on in the school during the week and even see who is being recognized with a "Caught Being Green Award." This will be a trial run, but I am hopeful that it will be engaging for everyone.

2011-02-06T14:53:00.004-07:00

Digital Citizenship is defined as advocating and practicing safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology and exhibiting "a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity'' (ISTE in 2Learn.ca)

Here are 2 videos that help to build media literacy:

The House Hippo

Teenage Affluenza

Cyber-bullying is "the use of information and communication technologies to support deliberate, repeated, and hostile behavior by an individual or group, that is intended to harm others"(wikipedia).

Here are 2 videos about cyber-bullies:

Cyberbullying Prevention:

New and Improved?... Tools for 2011!

2010-12-29T19:39:00.017-07:00

1. Sticky Note it with Lino!

2. Museum Box

3. VuVox

4. Today's Meet

5. Corkboard

6. Tagul

"Popping In" on Possibilities!

2010-12-29T09:02:00.009-07:00

What could the future look like?

The Mactini and Mactini Nano

Is that where we are headed? Or are we headed this way...

MIcrosoft's Vision of the Future:

3D in the classroom

The future is now! Here are two Ted Talks worth watching. Look at the technology that has already been developed. It is called the "Sixth Sense" technology.

Dean Shareski reminds us of the importance of community and the choice of moving beyond the local community into global learning networks. on Tedx Talk

Top Ten from 2010...What would you add to this list?

2010-12-24T12:51:00.036-07:00

Here is a list of 2.0 tools that were awesome in our school in 2010.

1. Imagination Cubed: Draw pictures with friends (anywhere). This is a great tool for anticipatory sets and closures.

2. Tagxedo: It is similar to wordle and imagechef, where you can create a word collage but with tagxedo you can add awesome images to bring more meaning to your collage.

This tagexdo was made to introduce our staff to our school community. Here is a tagexdo of one of our teacher's.

3. Wallwisher: A collaborative way to share thoughts with virtual sticky notes.

Our school community used this wallwisher to share our thoughts on hope after reading the book "Ruby's Hope".

4. Prezi: A presentation tool that uses a map that has multiple layers and interesting ways to layout text, image and video. It is a non-linear way to present information.

This prezi was made to deepen our understanding of the 7 Habits at our school. Grade 3 students then made their own prezi on the habits.

5. Glogster EDU: This is a virtual poster. You can add images, videos and graphics to present information.

This glog was made to introduce our computer club on our school wiki.

6. Domo-Animate: You can create mini movies with domo.

This is made by a Grade One student.

7. Tag Galaxy: You can find lots of great images on tag galaxy.

8. I moved from Delicious to Diigo this past year. I love the collaboration with research, the highlighting and sticky notes.

9. Twitter is definitely a favorite. This is a place where I reflect with my PLN on Web 2.0 and 21st Century Learning.

And one that I just discovered and will begin playing with to see how I will use it in the classroom is:

10. Museum Box: You can showcase images and present information in a unique, multi-layered way.

Look at this museum box on the inner planets:

Click a box and it takes you to a cube with information that a student has added:

Whew! That is a cool tool! I can't wait to try it with my class in the New Year.

What was your favorite 2.0 tool that you used this past year?

How does google really work?

2010-12-03T21:35:00.022-07:00

I heard about googlebots a while ago and began to wonder if they really do help make my searches more efficient.

I went to one of my favourite networks (youtube) to find answers to my wonderings. The video below does a fine job of explaining how the google search engine works. It discusses the "spiders" or google bots, which are sent out and go to websites to collect data. One type of data that they collect include the number of people that visit a site. When you search for something, know that the sites that appear first for you have been ranked by the bots based on how many hits (visits) it has had.

There are certain "tricks" that you can learn to refine your searches and to get more of what you want. It would be important for students to research ways to effectively search and to find tips and tricks for their research assignments. They can use simple tricks discussed below and search for "google + operators" where they will find google cheat sheets and guides to help specify searches. I typed in "google + operators" and came up with some quick, easy tips (and cheats) to refine my searches so that I get what I am searching for.

Here are 5 quick tips to begin efficient searching:

1. By adding "intext" before key words in a search, you get a search for the word in the main body of the text.

2. By adding "inurl" to a search will give you terms within just the url (uniform resource locator-the web address). If you want to see what the website you searched for looked like the last time the bot visited the page, just add the term "cache" before the url in the search.

3. By adding "info:" to the search, you will get just the information on the subject.

4. To find sites that have keywords in the title of a page add "intitle:" or "allintitle"

5. To find links to a particular webpage add "link:" before the url in your search.

Don't forget about the google advanced feature!

Students and teachers can save time and get great information when they know how to find it and understand how it found them!

Happy surfing!

(google image)

How can you engage an audience?

2010-11-29T21:28:00.013-07:00

Holidays are coming! Jib Jab is a great place to send e-cards or make quick movies to engage an audience. Make sure you have the person's permission before taking their picture and using it in a jib jab. Permission from the AMAZING Scout (you may know her from "Air Bud") was granted for the following jib jabs:

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

The AMAZING Scout (Air Buddy) takes some air in this rendition of the 60's Disco dance. She is a very versatile actor.

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

I plan to use these jib jabs to warm up my class tomorrow before we jump into acting! Nothing like "Air Buddy" to inspire others. Thanks Air Buddy.

How do you move through the digital galaxy?

2010-11-06T10:57:00.013-06:00

I recently came across a really cool 2.0 tool called tag galaxy. It is pretty incredible! Check it out:

Step 1: Put in keyword for an image search. I used the word "Alberta."

Step 2: Click search!

Step 3: All images are from flickr.

How would you use this in the classroom??

How can we move anticipatory sets up a notch?

2010-10-31T12:15:00.013-06:00

I recently participated in an engaging workshop by Jim Knight (instructional coach guru). My favorite part of the two day workshop was our conversations on thinking devices which are "provocative objects that teachers can use to prompt dialogue and higher order thinking". They also need to be "complex, concise, humanizing, varied and not lame" (Jim Knight, 2010).

When using thinking devices we need to be aware of the kind of learning we want the students engaged in. Jim Knight talked about two kinds of learning when using thinking devices.

1. Mechanical Learning: Mechanical learning refers to the "learning students experience when the knowledge,skills, and big ideas to be learned in a class are unambiguous, when the outcomes are unmistakable and straight forward, and when there is a right and wrong answer that can be clearly identified" (Jim Knight, 2010).

2. Metaphoric Learning: Metaphorical learning requires higher level thinking and "shares attributes with metaphor; it is by definition ambiguous, and functions indirectly. Metaphorical knowledge has no clear right and wrong outcome" (Jim Knight, 2010).

Jim Knight used a variety of youtube videos for his anticipatory sets and it was really neat to see how each video he showed created a positive climate in the room, which is an important aspect of the thinking device as it needs to be humanizing.

Here some videos he shared:

Playing for Change:

Mechanical Learning: Using google earth, have students identify and plot the places where they recorded the song.
Metaphorical Learning: How can we create change through music?

Retriever:

Metaphorical Learning: How can you persevere?

Maurice Cheeks:

Metaphorical Learning: How can we be leaders?

The Piano

Metaphorical Learning: How can we motivate people by making something more fun?

Here are a few more sites that could prompt great conversations including:

The Slide

The Elevator

The Shopping Carts

Anti Boredom Campaign

The World's Deepest Bin

Bottle Bank Arcade

ImprovEverywhere

Which sites have you come across that we could add to this list?

What is student engagement?

2010-10-05T21:36:00.013-06:00

I recently visited a teacher's classroom and enjoyed watching students being completely engaged in their learning. I could tell they were engaged because they were on task and you could hear students talking about what they were discovering.

Students were answering the question: In what ways do natural resources and the physical geography of a region determine the establishment of communities?

During this Social Studies lesson, students created their own "community walk" through a very cool 2.0 tool. Considering this was the first time students were using this tool, you would expect that the learning would be about the tool, but it was so interesting to watch the students take off and completely engage in the various cities/towns that they were researching. Students researched the towns and cities to discover the region using google images and street view.

Here is the great 2.0 tool called "Community Walk."

Here is an example of a community walk:

Wow! I feel like Waldo!

2010-09-05T21:24:00.009-06:00

I was checking out my twitter network tonight and I noticed this new background on somebody's site. There are tons of faces, even mine!

It is like "Where's Waldo?" Check me out:

After being totally pumped about this new tool, I went to twilk and made my background and it immediately filled my twitter page with my twitter PLN.

This is my twilk background. Is there any CHANCE that you see any other familiar faces?

Try TWILK:

Which blog host is the best?

2010-09-05T09:45:00.013-06:00

Blogger, Wordpress and Edublogger are just a few places where you can create your own blog. If I am modeling blogging for my Grade 5 students and want them to experience the joy of blogging, I wonder which service to use?

Blogger is rated as the best blogging host on a number of sites including "Best Blogging Host." I can see why. You do not have to spend any money to have control over your blog and the layout is very user friendly. You have total control over all of your settings including privacy settings. It is also pretty fun to create a blog here, because of all of the templates and designs that users can use.

Wordpress is similar to blogger and is rated as the third best blogging host site. The themes and designs are very powerful and it is pretty easy to use. The downfall with Wordpress is that you have to download and install it before you can use it. (This is difficult in a school because most schools block downloads to reduce potential viruses).

I was sure that edublogs would be the best place to have my students create their own blog, but after I played around with it I was so disappointed to see that advertisements would pop up in my posts and I was unable to delete them. To me, this is a money making tactic by edublogs because I would have to spend money to upgrade inorder to get rid of the advertisements and have control over the content of my blog. You also have to spend money to have access to the cool templates and designs. Just because a 2.0 tool has "edu" in front of it, doesn't necessarily mean it will be the best for educational purposes.

So which site am I going with? Definitely blogger.

How can we teach 21st Century Literacy skills?

2010-08-28T19:12:00.006-06:00

How can we teach 21st Century literacy skills??? on Prezi

Do you believe?

2010-08-22T21:02:00.005-06:00

In what ways can we help our students build their PLNs?

2010-08-20T13:05:00.008-06:00

As we begin a new school year and move forward into the 21st Century vision, I wonder how we build on what we did last year, and begin to help students identify their PLN?

The picture below is a great starting point and helps us to identify the necessary steps that we need to take with 2.o.

(Networked Student courtesy of Wendy Drexler in Courosa, 2010)

The Networked Teacher

2010-07-23T11:12:00.004-06:00

How is your PLN developing?

Here is an image of the networked teacher, posted by Alec Courosa on Flickr:

Inspiring Video

2010-07-19T13:13:00.000-06:00

D.I. with Web 2.0!

2010-07-18T11:44:00.011-06:00

Here are some of my favorite 2.0 tools (made with tagxedo):

Here is a "Prezi" presentation made by Joseph Alvarado on Differentiating Instruction with Web 2.0.

Here are some more links that I found on google docs which help us think of new ways to differentiate instruction with 2.0:

"The Best of the Best by Edudemic":

What are your favorite 2.0 literacies?

Creating a Curriculum of Peace

2010-07-16T20:37:00.002-06:00

We r connected!

2010-07-11T19:42:00.008-06:00

“We are rising up in an understanding of our world, one that is connected” (Roche, 2010).

I bought an iphone a couple of months ago and most recently tried to update it with my computer and my iphone crashed. It completely stopped working. I use my iphone to connect with my “global community,” 24/7. When I am shopping, having coffee, or on my way to work, I have the capability to google my inquiries, check my twitter and facebook communities and text my friends. My G3 iphone connects me to my world in many ways. What was I going to do without it? It is part of me.

While I was listening to Senator Roche talk about how there is a development of a global conscience and how we need to create a culture of peace, I wondered how the internet has helped us in becoming more connected to the global community. Web 2.0 is pretty powerful. Web 2.0 is the second generation of web development, and it is what the internet is today . There are many Web 2.0 literacies that enable users to collaborate, create and engage with knowledge. The literacies include blogs, glogs, vlogs, podcasts, social bookmarking and social networking. I belong to all kinds of communities online. Is it possible that the communities online can create peace and develop global conscience?

One 2.0 tool that has made the world a little smaller is youtube. Youtube is a place where you can collaborate and share ideas through video. I learned to play the violin through my youtube network. I connected with experts, watched videos and asked lots of questions in this space. Youtube can be even more powerful than that. It can unite millions of total strangers in unique ways. I remember a few years ago, there was a massive pillow fight publicized on youtube. This global

pillow fight is an action thought up by artists Richard Maddalena and Kate Buckley and it has become an annual event (Equanimity, 2007). People from around the world including Israel, Chicago, and Buenos Aires all participate with their fluffy pillows and relive childhood moments that unite people in laughter and fluff!

Then there are social activist platforms that you can easily join to create a better world such as Earth Hour. Earth Hour started in 2007 to protest against climate change. Over 2.2 million people in Australia turned their lights off for an hour. This became a global action and in 2009 over 4000 cities in 88 countries turned off their lights for an hour. This was the largest global climate change initiative and by 2010 over 128 countries joined (Earth Hour, 2010). You can watch the amazing 2010 Earth Hour video at Earth Hour.

People around the world are able to gather around different media to collaborate, discuss and engage in things that matter to them. Even my Grade One class. My Grade One class, in rural Rocky Mountain House, collaborated with their global peers using many 2.0 literacies. They learned different ways that they belong in their world. They skyped with a Grade One classroom in Ontario, made wordles and podcasts for a class in Edmonton, connected through their wiki to create community stories with classrooms around Alberta and they blogged for the world. Every time someone visited their blog, they would use google earth and google to learn about the community. At five and six years old, these students have begun to develop an understanding of the world out there and started to create their global relationships and responsibilities in their world. I certainly agree with Senator Roche when he said that we have an "obligation and opportunity to reach out" and a responsibility (Roche, 2010). How do you reach out?

A real 2.0 gem!

2010-07-07T22:16:00.023-06:00

Is this not the coolest wordle? I thought imagechef was great, until I came across this 2.0 tool last weekend. It is called tagxedo and being a 2.0 tool, it is incredibly easy to use. What I love about it, is that you can upload an image and add the words from any webpage simply by adding the URL (uniform resource locator, or website address). Why did I choose this particular image of Ghandi and a website about Ghandi for this post?

I am learning about Ghandi in a summer institute and have learned that Ghandi went to school to become a lawyer and went to South Africa to work and while he was there, he faced “blatant racism and discrimination” and began to advocate for civil rights and even became a leader of a political movement against racial discrimination (Burke, 2000). He did not believe in modernization, perhaps because society values “horse power” rather than “man power” (Dharmadhikari, 2003). Independence, autonomy, self sufficiency and self-reliance were characteristics of a society that Ghandi strived for and believed that an education reflects a society’s fundamental assumptions about itself and the individuals which compose it (Burke, 2000). Here, the education of powerful learning experiences is essential, since current experiences will shape future experiences. Dewey stated that the quality of the educational experience has an immediate effect and long term effect since they “promote having desirable future experiences” (Dewey, 1938). (Dewey, 1938).

Bringing this back to my present experiences and inquiring how online communities can impact education and learning, I began to think deeply about communities and the ones that I belong to. Therefore, in understanding our own individual stories, reflecting on them and sharing them, I believe, we can create a world of peace. Can peace be created through online communities?

Communities develop as people develop relationships and have a common vision and purpose (Vanier, 1998). My story of becoming part of communities online started with discussion forums where I would discuss books I was reading. From there I discovered messenger and IRC (internet relay chat) where I would join chat rooms to discuss books in real time. That fascinated me. Then I explored more social networks including the world renowned Facebook. I expanded my social networks and became a part of a community of learners on Twitter, Delicious, Diigo, all spaces where I get to explore, collaborate and discuss. The people that I connect with online, are all part of my personal learning network.

And back to my tagxedo of Ghandi. How did I learn about tagxedo? I found it through Diigo, which is one of my online personal learning networks. The ISTE conference was on the weekend and I was wishing that I was there. So I popped onto to twitter to see what people were saying about the conference. From the sounds of it, the coolest part of this conference is when people share some tools that they use in the classroom. I have to thank my PLN for posting the many tools and for sharing the wiki from the conference through the social bookmarking site, diigo. Here is ISTE 2010 unplugged, where you can "attend," even though it was last weekend!

Inquiring into myself as a curriculum maker of community

2010-07-04T13:21:00.039-06:00

"Persistent questioning and healthy inquisitiveness are the first requisite of learning of any kind" (Ghandi).

I have begun my final master's course this evening. It is a pretty intriguing course titled, "Building Peaceful Communities." Throughout this course, we are inquiring into how we are curriculum makers of community.

For our first meeting, we were asked to bring an artifact that represents who we are. I chose a few special artifacts that I think represents me and is reflective of where I am from and where I am going.

First, is my mini sculpture of Rodin's, "The Thinker," who is meditating. I love this sculpture. It reminds me that when learning anything, we need to be reflective. Through deep reflection comes growth. In front of "The Thinker," I placed an open hand.

I found the hand a few months ago and when I first saw it, I instantly thought of community and being part of a community. To me, the open hand is symbolic of opportunity, peace, openness and connectedness. Both sculptures, "The Thinker" and the open hand, did not seem enough to tell my story. So I added a couple more artifacts to share who I am.

Resting in the palm of the hand are five rocks which represent my past and present. I collected these rocks when I lived up North in an isolated community and went to town about once a month. I looked forward to buying a special rock each time I went. When looking closely, the rocks each contain a word: peace, hope, joy, faith and belief. Rocks seemed very fitting to me because in my teaching journey, I have now returned back home to the town of Rocky. I would like to find a rock with the word "blessed" on it.

As I looked at my rocks in the hand, it still did not seem complete to me. Something that I carry with me is a little heart that was given to me many years ago, which to me, symbolizes my love for teaching and the heart of the child.

Since this is my final course, I needed one more artifact representing my journey through my masters program. My focus for my masters has been on 21st Century literacies and I have been working to understand the digital world, since our student are growing up in a digital landscape. So, for my final artifact, I chose my iphone because it is symbolic of my portable connection to my global community. I am able to connect in an instant to the 3G anytime, anywhere.

As I consider the gems that I hold in my hand when I go out into the world each day, I wonder how these beliefs shape community?

What is Legitimate Knowledge?

2010-06-30T20:10:00.004-06:00

For my most recent course, I collaborated with another Grade One teacher and inquired about legitimate knowledge in the 21st Century classroom. We wondered how we could create a space where students can collaborate to explore knowledge that is legitimate to them. We developed a wiki to explore this question. You can visit our wiki here: EDEL 595

What are we learning by blogging?

2010-05-31T19:11:00.005-06:00

We have been exploring a number of 2.0 tools including blogger and kidblogs. Blogger is a lot of fun for the Grade Ones. They love writing "for the world." They have learned the basics to online safety and are on their way to being responsible digital citizens. They know that they can "be their responsible selves, without telling the world about themselves."

(Blogger is super easy to set up for the class. Just have an email ready, (or a class account on gmail) and the students will quickly learn how to log into blogger, how to post, publish and edit. )

We have also been trying "kidblogs" where the teacher sets up an account for their class and easily adds students and guests. Here students share their expertise on something and other students and guests leave comments. You can easily moderate the comments and include other classes as guests. Students have a login name and a password to get onto the class blog.

In teaching digital citizenship, we found some valuable resources online (k-6) and thanks to the Great Kim "Webkinz," everyone can access these resources on "OURPLT."

How can you engage your students to learn the essentials of digital citizenship?

Digital Storytelling by Grade 1

2010-04-08T18:56:00.001-06:00

DomoNation.com: What is the diference between frogs and toads? by iambeamer

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It's free and fun!

Digital Storytelling by Grade 1

2010-04-08T18:55:00.000-06:00

DomoNation.com: The Life cycle of frogs by iambeamer

Like it? Create your own at DomoNation.com. It's free and fun!

Web 2.0 in the Grade 1 Classroom

2010-04-02T12:10:00.002-06:00

Easy Quiz Maker with Photopeach

2010-03-20T19:20:00.003-06:00

Need a simple, easy and engaging tool?

Photopeach is the answer!

Just sign up to this great 2.0 tool, and create new show then upload images. Choose "create quiz" and put your questions and answers in. Add some music and your presentation is ready to go! Here is an example of one that could be used in Grade One Social Studies.

Digital Exit Slips

2010-03-06T21:43:00.011-07:00

I have to say that it is because of DIIGO, Twitter and my blog networks, that I find some pretty neat 2.0 tools. I have found that since I have been extending my networks, I save time because the popular teaching tools spread pretty fast.

For example, I found wallwisher tonight because I went to DIIGO to see what my networks were finding, (and I saw wallwisher) and then twitter (where I saw wallwisher) and can you guess what I found when I went to my favorite blogs? Yes! I found wallwisher, so i thought I should probably play around with it, since it seemed to be popular on all 3 of my networking sites.

What is wallwisher?

Wallwisher is an "Internet application that allows people to express their thoughts on a common topic easily" (wallwisher).

How could it be used in the classroom?

Here is a great resource:

I recently used it like an exit slip. For example, in Math students posted why they love Math:

We are also using it to collaborate with other communities to an answer the question: "What makes your community special?"

Wallwisher seems pretty great for three reasons:

1. You don't have to sign in or register to post a comment

2. It is collaborative

3. It is a quick way to reflect and collaborate with others

4. You can moderate comments on your wall with the "idiot fixer." (yes, that is the technical term the wallwisher people use.) When you set up your wall, you just click a little button to approve all posts.

Try it with this wall on 21st century learning. You just have to click "post a sticky."

Good-bye Wordle, Hello Imagechef!

2010-02-14T17:59:00.029-07:00

Have you ever planned a great lesson and then due to some unforeseen circumstance it became a living nightmare?

This happened to me most recently when I was presenting Web 2.0 tools to my class at the University. I decided to begin with a word cloud and wanted everyone to type as many words as they could about technology. However, when everyone went to the site, they saw word clouds with profanities on the homepage. I was appalled and realized that I could not control the content on wordle, because it was updated in real time by its users all over the world.

Here is an example of the home page on wordle.net:

If you are going to use wordle for a lesson, you have very little control over what your students are going to see on this site . It seems a bit risky to use wordle in the classroom because of the possible inappropriate content.

Boy, was I was excited to read Shelly Terrell's blog, "Teacher Reboot Camp," on word cloud tools, as I was able to create great word clouds and because they are very student friendly. In her blog, Terrell provided tips and tricks for 12 word cloud resources. My favorites so far, include Word it Out, Tagul and imagechef.

Word it Out is comparable to wordle, but it has couple different features that gives you more control of your word cloud. Here is one with my delicious tags:

Word it Out seemed much better than wordle, because you could easily save images and play around with the words more. Next is a word cloud created at Tagul. The neat part of this word cloud, is that when you click on a word, it takes you to a link. Here are my delicious tags made into a word cloud at Tagul:

I would have to say that my favorite word cloud creator so far is found at imagechef. I love the shapes feature of this tool. Shapes include people, stars, hearts, happy faces and many more. Again, using my delicious tags, this wordle was created:

I also made one for the Grade One blog that my students read each day.

Hopefully, they will be excited to make their own word cloud for our 100th day of school on Wednesday!

Glogging in Grade 1

2010-02-04T23:46:00.007-07:00

I have been trying to find an effective way to teach students in Grade One about glogster, the virtual poster. I decided to integrate it into social studies where we learn about different communities. Before we begin our virtual trip across Alberta, we needed to define some terms and begin to understand what rural and urban communities look like. To help students understand these concepts, we created a glog on glogster and categorized pictures based on whether they would belong in a rural or urban community. We had valuable discussions including how paved roads could be in both types of communities. Students had their own poster paper and made their own "glog" with pictures to demonstrate their learning.

Here is our class glog on communities:

Tweetin' on Twitter

2010-01-31T19:12:00.015-07:00

If you are not on Twitter yet, you are missing out on one of the coolest social networking tools that can enhance your professional development!

The biggest challenge in Twitter is finding the time to build your network. I feel like I have been throwing a huge net out into a wide open space and am just beginning to settle on some great catches!

I popped onto Twitter this morning to see what kinds of things the techie teachers were chatting about and I found that most of them were at an "educon" conference, which is an education conference (about technology, though they advocate it is not about technology). I started to see tweets about the conference and quickly realized that during the conference sessions, people were tweeting their thoughts. Though I was not at the conference, I became an active participant, as I shared my thoughts and opinions about learning and technology, through Twitter. It was really interesting to see what they were learning about at this conference and to be able to participate from my house.

The second best thing about joining the educon chat, was that I made some great networks! Once you start networking with people that have similar interests, then there is alot of potential for shared learning and shared knowledge. It was great day for tweeting!

Image from google

What is your PLN?

2010-01-16T12:38:00.022-07:00

What is a Personal Learning Network?

This youtube clip of Will Richardson helps educators begin to understand the shift that is happening in education and the need for teachers to begin creating their own Personal Learning Networks (PLN). A Personal Learning Network "involves an individual’s topic oriented goal, a set of practices or techniques aimed at attracting or organizing a variety of relevant content sources, selected for their value, to help the owner accomplish a professional goal or personal interest" (Warlick, 2007). Once we understand how we create a PLN and how they function, we can educate our students in this digital literacy, so they can effectively create their personal learning networks.

To understand how I have created my learning space, I began to define where and how I do most of my learning.

I started with a wisemap to map out my learning networks. As I was going through the process of creating this map, I found that I really needed to pay attention each day, to see where I went when I wanted to talk about ideas and who I went to when trying to understand new things. I am just beginning this process of defining my PLN and so far have two main networks based on what I want to learn.

One of my networks is my masters program at the University of Alberta, and though there is an online learning component including discussion boards, I know that I will be expanding this network pretty fast through twitter and blogs.

My other interest is in 21st Century Learning. I have lots of networks that I use to learn about this exciting time in education. From tech-blogs to edubloggers to twitter, I am constantly learning from Warlick, Jukes, Richardson, and Valenza, and many more people that I have never met, including the edublogger, Byrne, from FreeTech4Teachers. This author tweets as well as blogs, so I very easily learn from this person. His knowledge is very accessible!

To learn more about creating your own PLN you can visit Byrne's document titled "How to Build a Personal Learning Network," where four major social networking tools, inclusing Twitter, are identified and you can go through the steps of building your network.

What is your PLN?

Toodles to 2009...

2009-12-29T17:18:00.026-07:00

In his blog "2¢ Worth" David Warlick asks the question:

"Will we, as a larger defining education community, come to accept social learning techniques and integrate them, or will we continue to fear and block these opportunities?" (Warlick, 2009)

As we look back on 2009 and begin to make resolutions for 2010, we need to think hard about the world that our children live in. Here are snapshots of the past year, through the digital lens and social learning.

This youtube video reviews 2009 through the digital lens.

The Year of 2009 in Technology:

The Top Ten Most Important tweets in 2009. This is from the
buzzmarketing daily site.

This is a mash-up of the Top 25 Billboard Hits in 2009.

The coolest part of all of this is where I found the links to this information. Can you guess?

Twitter for teachers?

2009-12-13T06:26:00.005-07:00

"How can you squander even one more day not taking advantage of the greatest shifts of our generation? " (Godin in Larkin).

This video provides a quick snapshot of how some people use twitter. Twitter is a quick way to connect with others. I have been wondering how twitter can help me do my job better and in search of this answer, I have begun to play around with twitter and have even sent out a few tweets. (a tweet is a message to the world...well, your following) I began building my network by finding teachers who are already twittering and then I added their network of people to my own. I am slowly adding more people to my network and will hopefully have enough people in my network to start collaborating and sharing teaching resources. Well, I am off to tweet....toodles!

Where do we begin?

2009-11-22T09:09:00.010-07:00

After watching this video last Fall, I felt fear. I did not know where to start my online learning journey, but felt it was essential to start getting connected. Here are a few ways that I started to connect with the world outside my physical space.

3 Tools to Begin to Connect (with the world)

1. Delicious

Delicious is a social bookmarking site. Social bookmarking is a way for you to SHARE, organize, search and manage bookmarks of web resources (Wikipedia). I personally LOVE delicious because I can access my bookmarks anywhere, anytime and on any computer. I bookmark sites at home and then have them for when I go to work. I also can see other people's bookmarks, which saves me time and gives me a lot more information than if I searched for sites by myself.

2. Youtube/Teachertube

Yes, Youtube is number 2 for me. Whenever I want to learn something, that is the first place I go. For example, I wanted to learn to play a couple songs on the violin last summer, so I went to youtube. I used "expert village" to help me learn to play "twinkle, twinkle." Fun stuff! I also love youtube for the classroom. I love to use short clips from youtube to capture my students attention.

3. Blogs

A blog "is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video" (Wikipedia). I use blogs to stay on top of what is new out there in the digital world. I would recommend that you find a few blogs that interest you and enjoy! Definitely look for blogs that are updated frequently, so you stay on the cutting edge of what is going on in the web! ;)

My favorites are:

Free Technology for Teachers: This site is so cool! You need to bookmark this one for sure!

2¢ Worth David Warlick is an edublogger (writes about technology and education) and poses interesting questions that challenge my thinking.

Web-blogged Will Richardson is an edublogger who also writes about teaching!

Eide-Neorolearnng Blog This one is a just a personal interest as I am fascinated by the brain.

Mary Castle's First Grade Blog (I am trying to blog this year with my class, so I followed this teacher for over a year)

I recommend that you fiddle around a little bit with these applications and see where it takes you and who you meet!

Will Richardson Inspires Again!

2009-11-21T16:18:00.024-07:00

I played around with twitter a few months ago when Ashton Kutcher challenged Larry King to a twitter popularity contest. I did not do too much else with twitter because I felt that my facebook social network was enough for me to keep up with. However, after listening to Will Richardson, a top edublogger and author of "Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts", at the Leading and Learning Conference in Red Deer today, I realized I needed to give tweeting another try. Richardson contends that Twitter provides "passion-based learners" a way to connect with each other. He inspired me once before to start reading blogs and then to blog and I am back in the swing of things as I begin tweeting.

Mr. Richardson talked about social networks, and how, as educators, we need to start teaching digital learners in our classrooms about their presence online and how they can connect with others outside their physical space to learn. He mentioned the new literacy, which is the "literacy of learning" online. Indeed, there are lots of ways to connect with others who have similar interests and passions. From groups of municylcists (yes, they really do exist!) sharing daring adventures on youtube and various forums, to individuals seeking answers to questions on youtube, twitter and facebook, there are lots of ways to connect.

Here is a video that Mr. Richardson showed to illustrate how powerful social networks can be as we learn to connect with others online.

After watching this video of a 12 year old boy searching out an answer to his question, you realize that this is no longer about technology, it is about culture. Digital natives are growing up in a digital world and the reality is that the internet is a way of life.

What networks do you connect with to learn outside your physical space?

A Vision of the Future: Learning in the 21st Century

2009-04-04T11:20:00.040-06:00

My vision of the future, for learning in the 21st Century, evolved as a result of EDES 501 and EDES 545. In EDES 501 my eyes were opened to all the collaborative web 2.0 tools available to engage students in learning. I had so much fun learning about new technologies for learning, that I couldn't resist taking EDES 545.

This course began with an engaging reading of Joyce Valenza's powerful and thought provoking Manifesto and from there we delved into the Schoolwide Library Issue, where we explored current research and ideas of the emerging Library 2.0. This course challenged some of my preconceived notions as we discussed and debated many topics and issues including:

1. Teaching Digital Natives
2. Filtering
3. The Digital Divide
4. Intellectual Freedom
5. Privacy
6. Technology Integration
7. Technology Professional Development

As I began to form my vision of the future, I decided to take pictures of different parts of the school and pictures of students using technology. As I took pictures of students engaged in their learning, I heard a voice whisper:

They are the future and the future is now.

What would learning in the future look like to me? I started looking at where we are and exploring possibilities based on what I have learned in this course and EDES 501. I added quotes from the readings, especially from Valenza's inspiring Manifesto. I felt these quotes summarized my vision of what teaching and learning with technology could and should look like.

What will you do to transform your classroom for learning in the 21st Century?

Professional Development for 21st Century Learning

2009-03-29T22:12:00.019-06:00

I recently joined a staff, at an elementary school, in my new town, as the Grade One teacher. Over the last two months, I have been participating in their professional development activities and we recently had a workshop on a new technology that I have never used or even seen. We learned about the "Smart Table" which is a new product that Smart Technologies designed. During the PD session we learned what it can do and how it can transform learning in the classroom. After the session, I asked when we will get it in our classroom and felt excited to have my students use it.

For me, professional development in the areas of technology and web 2.0 is very effective in encouraging me to integrate technology into my practice. I personally love technology and find it very beneficial for students. I am an easy sell.

What about those teachers that never grew up with technology or don't seem to want to try the new tools that are out there? How do we get them to buy into using technology in their practice?

In the article, "A Professional Development Menu," Kimberely Ketterer discusses ways to motivate teachers to integrate technology into their classrooms. She contends that the digital divide between skilled and unskilled teachers is ever present and that without professional development on technology, the digital divide becomes even more pronounced (Ketterer, 2008). I feel ready to use it, but am also very comfortable with technology. The professional development offered this evening, certainly made me more excited to start using it, but I wonder if anyone feels hesitant to use it?

How do you learn technology best?

During this evening's workshop on the smart table, I asked the teacher I was standing with how she has been enjoying her smartboard and if she has tried using "Making Words" with it yet. She said she didn't know how and I ended up suggesting that we work together to build a lesson that she could use with her students. Last week, I mentioned the 2.0 tool, "animoto," to another teacher who I knew is trying new ways to integrate technology. Before the students arrived I showed him how easy it is to use and by recess he came and discussed some challenges that he was finding with it and then after school he came with a huge smile to tell me he made a slideshow with it. As I reflected on both instances, I realized that perhaps, in a way, for those two situations, and perhaps more in the future, I am like the "knowledge broker," that is described in Plair's article titled, "Revamping Professional Development for Technology Integration and Fluency" (Plair, 2008). On the same note, I will be reaching out to the teachers who have used the smart table and other technologies like "Senteneo" in their classroom and I will be learning from them as well, and they will become the "knowledge brokers" to me.

Keeping this in mind, when supporting teachers in infusing technology into their curriculum, it is important to be aware of the different kinds of mentoring roles that teachers may need in order to be successful with technology integration. In "Coach, Nurture, and Nudge," Ketterer effectively states that some teachers prefer coaches to learn how to integrate technology and have made the shift in teaching traditionally to teaching with technology, whereas some teachers need nurturing in order to integrate technology. These learners have made the shift from the traditional classroom, but are not confident in using their new skill. They need a nurturing partner teacher who will help them develop and model lessons There are also those learners that need to be nudged and tend to be teachers who are safe in their comfort zone, and know that they have been successful doing what they have always done, and are hesitant to step out of their comfort zone. These teachers need to be "gently pushed, prodded and cajoled" into learning how to integrate technology (Ketterer, 2008). Knowing these three different learners that Ketterer describes and having an understanding of the digital divide, helps me to find new ways to motivate and encourage others.

In what ways can technology leaders inspire teachers to use technology in their lessons?

Camillo Gagliolo explores this question in her article titled, "Help Teachers Mentor One Another" (Gagliolo, 2008). She identifies two ways that technology leaders can help teachers continue to learn and implement technology. One way this can be achieved is through building a professional learning community with a focus on student learning. Here teachers collaborate, give feedback and reflect o individual and community improvements. In my school, the primary teachers meet once a week at lunch hour to discuss what is happening in the classrooms. This professional learning community is a great place to discuss integrating technology and finding solutions to some of the challenges that are faced when using technology in the classroom. This PLC can also focus on a number of strategies including, sharing best practices, peer coaching and lesson study (Harris, 2008). Another way that technology leaders can help teachers to learn and implement technology is by helping teachers establish a cadre of mentor teachers. Gagliolo effectively contends that "powerful learning when teachers teach each other in a peer-peer network (Gagliolo, 2008). Here, teachers can observe each others' classrooms, provide feedback, personal ongoing technical and pedagogical support and, of course, celebrate successes by sharing at a staff meeting or co-present at a local conference together (Gagliolo, 2008). These can be powerful strategies to help teachers successfully integrate technology.

I look forward to sharing how I have been using technology in my classroom and how I am continuously learning new ways to reach and teach 21st century learners. Perhaps I will continue to blog my learning, as I strive to take my PD growth up 2 notches.

Not just small steps but leaps and bounds!

2009-03-17T17:15:00.031-06:00

I was observing a Grade One Math lesson this morning, where the teacher has been trying new ways to integrate technology. The teacher had the class sing, "The Bubblegum Song," which is about spending money on bubblegum, and then she had the students sit on the carpet to learn about money as they interacted with the smartboard. All students were engaged as they learned each story about the picture on the Canadian coins, listened to the sound of a loon, saw a picture of the Canadian mint in Manitoba and then matched coins with their proper value and bought items from a simulated online store. At the end of the smartboard lesson, students had their own set of coins to explore and made number stories, complete with pictures. This was a great lesson and made me wonder if:

"The use and integration of educational technology has improved teaching and learning?"

I do think that the use and integration of educational technology can improve teaching and help all learners, when integrated effectively. Integrating technology into lessons, gives students the opportunity to achieve the learning outcomes in a variety of ways.

We know from Gardener's theory of multiple intelligences that students learn in different ways and that there are eight different potential pathways to learning (Brualdi, 1998). If you already take a multiple intelligences approach to teaching and use a variety of strategies to reach all learners, then it is easy to see that integrating technology can become a great addition to any lesson plan. In the article, "Why do teachers not practice what they believe regarding technology," Chen argues that for teachers to embrace technology in the classroom, they need to believe that technology use will not disturb higher level goals, rather can help achieve higher level goals more effectively and that teachers will have adequate ability and sufficient resources to use technology (Chen, 2008). Using the smartboard effectively, for example, can provide students with a visual, auditory and hands on approach to learning, whereas using a powerpoint presentation for a lecture is not any different than using an overhead.

Just as with any lesson, it takes more than including multiple intelligences to make the lesson effective, as the learning needs to be meaningful. In the article, "Meaningful Technology Integration in Early Learning Environments," Weng et al, contend that when integrating technology there needs to be a constructivist framework and curriculum that emphasizes learner centered exploration and active meaning making (Weng et al, 2008). They state that the choice of technology should be based on how well the tools serve classroom learning, teaching needs and student needs (Weng et al, 2008). So teacher's perceptions of pedagogical beliefs play a big role of the integration of technology. In "A Study of Teacher Perceptions of Instructional Technology Integration," Gorder noted that four pedagogical principles that were practiced in classrooms where technology was integrated. They include active learning, mediation, collaboration and interactivity (Jaffee in Gorder, 2008). While there are easy ways to integrate technology into your day as Linda Star highlights in "Education World," including accessing the online weather channel, including URL's into your monthly calendar and providing a URL with a daily quote, there are other more meaningful ways to integrating technology into your classroom. (Starr, 2002). There are numerous web 2.0 tools like blogs, digital storytelling, podcasts, youtube and other online sites with simulations, virtual field trips and discussion sites like Skype, that can make learning come alive in your classroom.

For me, having a smartboard in the classroom and easy access to computers gives me the opportunity to add interesting strategies and tools to my lessons. All learners are benefiting from using the technology for their learning and while we may be taking small steps to implementing technology effectively, the learning for students certainly jumps from small steps to making leaps and bounds!

"Developing Responsible Cybercitizens"

2009-03-15T20:19:00.018-06:00

Have you ever googled your name to see what hits you get?

After watching the google videos on privacy, I decided to see what happened when I googled my name. Guess what I found? Yes, there was Danielle Spencer everywhere! Thank goodness for Russell Crowe's beautiful wife, Danielle Spencer, because links about that Danielle Spencer filled page 1 and 2, however, by page 3 there I was! My facebook account with my picture and this blog "Up 2 Notches" were right there, in plain view. I wondered if it was because of the "cookies" and "cache" in my temporary folders, as the google videos explained? I had to figure this out. So I went onto my husband's computer and googled away. There I was again! I was "googleable." It left me feeling......exposed.

As an educator, I am always aware of my professional conduct and have considered my professionalism online, so it was easy for me to agree with Doug Johnson's tips for educators in"Lighting Lamps." He reminds educators to use extreme caution when engaging in blogging or other forms of Internet communication (Johnson, 2008). His tips include "write assuming your boss is reading," and "gripe globally, praise locally" (Johnson, 2008). For me, my facebook account is for social networking, my ning is to share teaching ideas and my blogs are used to share ideas and explore the realities of the digital world, and one reality is that when you are online, you are in the public realm.

How do we teach students that the internet is a public place and to be careful with giving out private information? How do we develop responsible cybercitizens?

While the Canadian government's document titled, "Children's Online Privacy" shows steps in beginning to set expectations and standards by "urging" industry to "adopt the highest possible standard of privacy possible," and "wishes" to work with "data protection regulators from other countries to ensure that children have access to an online environment that is safe and respects an individuals privacy," we need to begin educating students on privacy.

Perhaps one way is by modeling that privacy is respected and important. One example used in "Social Studies Vision: Consider This," is to teach students to keep passwords private. The authors of this article also noted that lessons on what is private information is important, especially for elementary students (Berson et al, 2004). I also wondered, after reading "The Ebb and Flow of Library Privacy," and from the discussions on the discussion board, about keeping library records confidential, if that would be another good way to model privacy.

Teachers can integrate teaching responsible cybercitizenship in the classroom and can use some online websites that engage students and teach them cyberskills. In the article, An Analysis of Electronic Media to Prepare Children for Safe and Ethical Practices in Digital Environments, by Berson and Desai, recommend these websites for practicing making responsible decisions online: Brainpop, ikeepsafe.org, Media Awareness Network, iSafe, Netsmartz, and Hectors World (Berson et al, 200 8). After going to each, I highly recommend Hector's World, as it tells students right at the beginning when they enter a nickname, to "remember only to enter a nickname." Then once you enter a nickname, they clearly state that they will not be keeping any information or asking for details.

This leads from privacy of personal information into the "Digital Dossier," which is the "accumulation of personal data collected as people use digital technology" (Di Gennaro, 2008). In Born Digital, Palfrey and Gasser, state that protecting the privacy of young people with respect to their digital identity is a great challenge, because there are many "economic incentives" at play (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008). However, we can teach students that information about them is tracked digitally and teach them how information on them is collected and how they are leaving a "digital footprint" behind.

In Lighting Lamps, Johnson tells teachers to "write assuming your boss is reading" and "gripe globally, praise locally," and as teachers we need to teach our student cybercitizens to "write assuming your parents and the world is reading" (because they can and probably are) and "think globally and act cybersafely."

Just curious, have you googled your name yet?

"How do your students respect intellectual property?"

2009-02-22T19:42:00.028-07:00

For this week's blog, I decided to ask my colleagues the question:

"How do your students respect intellectual property?"

I had many discussions on what intellectual property is and shared ideas on ways to teach students about respecting intellectual property and following the "fair use" principle. In order to begin discussions with other teachers, I knew that I needed a clear definition of what intellectual property is. I knew this because last week, I wasn't even too sure what it entailed. Using Wikipedia, I found that intellectual property is the "legal property rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law" (Wikipedia). It is also defined as the "fruit of one's intellect" by Rebecca Butler in "Borrowing Media from Around the World" and she notes that there are many different categories of intellectual property including copyright, patent, trademarks, trade secrets and brand names (Butler, 2005).

I have used many sources including non-copyrighted and copyrighted material for many lessons. For instance, I have used National Geographic magazines and various websites for students to add pictures to their Science and Social Studies projects in Grade One. I have used images and animations that I have found online to add to my wikis, webpages and projects. When considering using these sources, I decided that it is fine to use what I need to since it benefits my student's learning and I respected those sites that asked for permission to use images by emailing them. However, I began to wonder last week, as we were discussing respecting intellectual property in our course, if I should have even used the National Geographic magazine and sports magazines for our recent collage projects.

What should I have done?

It seems to me that if we continue to use basic common sense, we'll be okay to use what we need to, in order to meet our outcomes and teach our children. According to the "Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Education," there are three basic rules to follow if you are unsure whether you can use somebody else's material online or in print.

3 Rules to Follow when teaching children about respecting intellectual property:

1. Will there be excessive economic harm to the owner of the material?

2. Are you acting reasonably and in good faith with the material?

3. Will using the material promote the advancement of knowledge?

Even though I follow those three basic rules, it is our job as teachers and teacher-librarians to teach students about plagiarism. The reality is that there are new norms of information sharing appearing (Code of Best Practices in Fair Use and Media Literacy Education). It is so easy to download songs from file sharing sites like limewire and to download a podcast from a website.

In "Passport to Digital Citizenship", Mike Ribble provides a "four stage framework" for teaching digital citizenship, which would work in Grade 1 to Grade 12 for teaching media literacy. This framework is a great model for teachers to use when teaching students how to be a responsible citizen on the internet. The four steps are awareness, guided practice, modeling and demonstration and feedback and analysis.

1. Awareness: Are your students aware of the copyright laws? Are your colleagues aware of the need to teach students about respecting intellectual property? Do they allow students to add music and images to their presentation projects? Do they discuss fair use and purposes of using other people's work? As I have said before, we need to use common sense when using other people's work. It is considerate and respectful to contact the person before using an image for a webpage or wiki, and there are sites that let you know whether you can use their property or not.

2. Guided Practice: When is it a good opportunity for students to practice respecting other people's work? How do you discuss fair use? I believe that it is the "teachable moment" that makes a lasting impression on the students. I keep my ears and eyes open for those moments throughout the day.

3. Modeling and Demonstration: When building a webpage, powerpoint presentation or designing a lesson, are you modeling proper and fair use of information? As teachers we need to be aware of how we are respecting other people's property as we are models for our students.

4. Reflect and Analysis: How do we find time to discuss using technology appropriately with other teachers and with our students? It is a constant challenge for teachers to find time to eat a sandwich let alone discuss appropriate use of information on the Internet, so what can we do? I have recently learned (being new on staff) that the primary teacher's get together for lunch on Monday's to discuss different things that relate to the primary grades. I think this is a great opportunity to bring in some technology discussions, including how we can teach our students about intellectual property and respecting other people's work. Our students also need time to discuss this and should be a natural part of a lesson during discussions of using different kinds of information for projects.

For me, the best part of the discussions with other teacher's this week, was how they teach their students that their work is valued and should be treated fairly. In the primary grades, I found that many teachers use the vocabulary "fair use," and "copyrighted" when using images or text from the internet and print materials for projects in the classroom. In Grade One, we often discuss the authors and illustrators, and I often use the vocabulary that the students are also authors and illustrators when they complete certain projects, in hopes that they will begin to understand that their work belongs to them and needs to be respected. I am going to continue to consider other ways to teach primary students about respecting intellectual property and will follow the guidelines that I have learned and continue to learn.

The Digital Divide: How relevant is it?

2009-02-08T09:19:00.043-07:00

"It is dangerously destabilizing to have half the world on the cutting edge of technology while the other half struggles on the bare edge of survival." Bill Clinton

It is definitely unsettling to consider that 1 in 2 Americans are online while 1 in 250 Africans has internet access and that the United States and Canada have more internet users than Asia, Africa, and Latin America combined (Bridges.org). It is even more unsettling to learn that we don't need to do a comparison between continents to see a divide. We can look within our own communities and schools to discover a digital divide.

What is the digital divide?

The digital divide is defined as "the gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographic areas at different socio-economic levels with regard to both their opportunities to access information and communication technology (ICTs) and to their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities" (OECD in Looker and Thiessen, 2003). The divide also affects members of minority ethnic or language groups, and those in more rural and remote regions (Looker and Thiessen, 2003). In other words, the digital divide is the division between those who have access to information and communication technologies and are using it effectively, and those who do not (Bridges.org).

How is the digital divide a relevant issue for teachers today?

When I compare two schools that I have recently taught in, a rural community school and an urban school, there are some clear divisions with information and communication technology within each school. In the rural school, while I had five computers in my classroom, a smartboard, access to a computer lab in the afternoons, and a "supernet" connection, the divisions technology specialist would come once in a while to fix glitches in the network and on different computers. There was also little support from a technology specialist for integrating technology. To update computer skills, teachers can take an online course or travel for a minimum of five hours to attend a workshop where the teacher has to use a lot of their own money to attend. The digital divide is seen within this rural school. In fact, rural schools are less likely than urban ones to have a well trained specialist, feed from teaching responsibilities, to coordinate ICT in the school. They are also less likely to have different types of technical training (Looker and Thiessen, 2003).

On the other hand, in the urban school, we have a teacher-librarian who seems to be constantly updating the library, a technology specialist within the division that I have seen twice already (I started work last Monday), who answers questions about technology integration, classrooms have mobile smartboards (which come with their own set of challenges), and one computer lab to share in the afternoons. There is high speed internet, but it is difficult to get into the lab more than once a week and it is difficult to get through a lesson without tripping over the smartboard cord at least three times and having to reorient the board each time. Access to professional development is much easier where I am currently located because the various school divisions around the city offer a variety of technology workshops in the evenings throughout the year.

While we had supernet in the rural school and high speed internet access in the urban one, the challenges of integrating technology effectively, especially with Web 2.0 tools, still remain. The article, "Web 2.0 in Schools: Our Digital Divide is Showing," discusses a model describing the four levels of influence that take the form of the digital divide in schools. The four levels in the model are:

1. Access - Does your school network crash? Do you have access to high speed internet? Do all students have access to a computer? How about at home?
There are times when our network crashes and part of the lesson was using the internet. Not all students in my classes have computers at home. Computer use at the school is their only opportunity to use the computer.

2. Skill - What skill level would you rate yourself at for integrating technology into your lessons? How will you continue to update your knowledge and skills? What skill level do your students come in with? Keep in mind that research shows that families with low level of parental education, and those from rural areas are less likely to have computer access at home (Looker and Thiessen, 2003). I find that I am continuously developing my technology skills and my knowledge to integrate technology with my units. It is a constant challenge for me.

3. Policy - Does your school have an acceptable use policy? Do the filters work effectively? Our school is currently developing an acceptable use policy. The filters are pretty tight. it is difficult to deliver lessons that i planned at home, because many sites are blocked. Can you believe the podcasting site is blocked?

4. Motivation - Are you motivated to learn more about technology? Are you motivated to integrate technology? Since you are currently reading this, you must be somewhat motivated, but how about your colleagues? How can you motivate them? I am motivated to learn about technology and love to gain new ideas and understanding of integrating it in the classroom. I think it is a challenge to get others on board to use technology in their classrooms, especially since I am a classroom teacher, not a teacher librarian. But I am certainly willing to try to motivate and share my ideas.

Did any of this sound familiar to you?

While reflecting on the questions that came to me while looking at the model, I wondered what some possible solutions are to bridge the gap of the digital divide in schools. I came up with a few solutions:

1. Since having a computer at home increases the likelihood that students will graduate from high school, then we need to think of ways to give students more opportunities to use the computer. Can a school fundraise to have laptops to sign out to students? Can schools and companies recycle their old computers by somehow giving their computers to those students in need?

2. Can professional development for teachers in rural areas be done online through certain sites or even through video conferencing?

3. Can teachers support and motivate each other during PLC's or other times throughout the school year?

4. Can schools celebrate what different classes are doing and showcase the use of technology in hopes of inspiring others?

Is the digital divide closing?

In "Unveiling the Digital Divide ," George Sciadas claims that "in an overall sense, the digital divide is closing" since from year to year more people are using the internet and the comparison is not so much between the haves and have nots, but rather between the "haves", "have more" and "have less" groups (Sciadas, 2002). As long as we maintain the "Standards for the 21st Century Learner," and a vision for schools and libraries, I believe that we are well on our way to bridging the gap.

Filters? To teach or not to teach, that is the question.

2009-01-30T20:12:00.016-07:00

“To not teach technology use responsibly is neglecting the charge of universal education.” Don Knezek

The Problem:

Filters are supposed to be protecting school networks from malware and hackers, while also stopping access to inappropriate or offensive content. Those who believe that filters are protecting users are preventing those users from deciding for themselves which information they would or would not like to access (Ryan, 2003). For example, filters are being used to keep a tight control over usage of certain applications like instant messaging, youtube, facebook and many sites that someone out there has deemed "dangerous." With filtering software, you don't know which sites are blocked or rated, you know some, but not all pre-programmed stoplists of words, phrases, sites, and topics deemed objectionable and these products are not created by educators (Schrader, 1999).

Other than filtering blatantly obvious sites that parents and educators would not want their children to come across, I think it is up to parents and teachers to teach students how to be responsible on the internet. It is the teachers job to preview sites before a lesson, the same as previewing videos before letting students watch them in class, and when students are on the internet, it is our job to supervise and to make sure students are able to be critical of information that they come across.

Why would we need provincial ministries to create web filtering standards for schools?

When I read "Patrolling Web 2.0, " I realized that it is the educators that need to make the decisions for our students, not the information specialists like Losinski, the author of this article. He claims that web 2.0 has "little or no value to education," and that social networking sites like MySpace and facebook are "sheer trouble," and these sites should be blocked. We don't need a policy or web standards to dictate where each and every individual can and cannot go when online.

We teach a curriculum that clearly strives to:

reflect the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes that Alberta students need to be well-prepared for future learning and the world of work

anticipate and plan for the needs of the future by considering the changes and developments in society, such as trends in employment, globalization, advances in technology and stewardship of the environment

provide learners with attitudes, skills and knowledge that will enable them to become engaged, active, informed and responsible citizens

The curriculum is designed to prepare students for the future, including lifelong learning and the world of work and as teachers we need to make sure students have the knowledge, skills and attributes to be successful (Alberta Learning). Therefore, we need to create critical thinkers and students who can evalute content. When students have free computer time in our school they know which sites, we as a school, have deemed acceptable. We value a safe and caring school, so students know that if they play on mini-clips, they cannot choose any games with weapons or violence. There are always those students that will test boundaries and there needs to be consequences. Whether they wear an offensive t-shirt to school or go to an offensive site, there are consequences in place. Our school doesn't need a policy to tell us where students can and cannot go when they are online. If students get lost by clicking an advertisement and it takes them deep into the net, they know how to get back "home" safely. They also know how to tell a teacher when something isn't right. They have learned to solve problems when on the internet and how to be responsible students.

The Solution:

The solution is pretty simple. We need more professional development so teachers can develop techniques for educating their students about responsible internet use (Villano, 2008). When teachers have the opportunity to try web 2.0 tools such as nings, facebook, and flikr, then they have the chance to see its educational benefits and teachable moments. They would quickly learn the digital culture that students are living in and would see how social networking can actually empower teens and be used as a learning tool on how to be smart and safe when using technology (Abram, 2007). Also, when teachers go surfing for information and come across questionable material, they learn how it happens and can teach students how to search safely and how to critique different sites. We don't need to censor and hide information, we need to teach responsibility and thinking skills. As Will Richardson says, "the only way to get teachers and students to master the web, is to let them use it" (Richardson, 2008).

21/21 Vision

2009-01-08T20:21:00.010-07:00

"Here is where people,

one frequently finds,

lowers their voices

and raises their minds (R.Armour)."

Can you remember being in elementary school, and going to the library once a week to listen to a story from the librarian and then having the opportunity look at lots of books? You knew where to find the fiction and non-fiction books and learned all about the Dewey decimal system. When you had research projects, you knew where to find the encyclopedias, (which were very heavy, with super small print), and other references that fit the topic. The library was so much fun. It is now 20 years later and as a teacher, I still take my students to the library at least once a week, and when we do research projects the students know where the non-fiction books are found. They look forward to a special story read to them, by the librarian. After 20 years, the library seems them same.

What could and should a school library, in the 21st Century, look like?

The 21st Century library or Library 2.0, as it is often referred to, "aims at making the library space (both virtual and physical) more interactive, collaborative and encourages user participation and feedback in the development and maintenance of library services" (Wikipedia). Wikipedia points the reader in the direction of Laura Cohen's Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto, which was posted in 2006. She highlights how the information culture is changing fast and that libraries need to respond positively and to be an active participant and enjoy the positive change (Cohen, 2006). Cohen's statements reflect the need for change. Joyce Valenza's "Modest Manifesto," (posted on a Wiki, and in MP3 format, a 21st Century librarian's approach), provides a much more up to date and very comprehensive vision, reflecting the need for change and the ways to accomplish that. In her statements, she describes new ways to promote reading, and includes links like playaways, and while she states that librarians should use new technology tools for learning, she includes possible tools to use, like ipods to teach reading (Valenza, 2009). She provides a powerful vision of the teacher-librarian that and makes striking statements that reflect the potential of the librarian as a key leader in schools. After I read and reread the manifesto, and explored the School Libraries Worldwide site, a few statements from Valenza's manifesto kept speaking to me throughout the readings.

"Libraries must be everywhere and librarians must teach everywhere."

The phrase from Valenza's manifesto that "libraries must be everywhere and librarians must teach everywhere," created a great image in my mind of a person with a red cape flying from classroom to classroom with a laptop in hand (Valenza, 2009). Though I know Valenza means to have a presence and teach virtually, like the library she created online and physically, within the school. As I read through Valenza and Cohen's manifestos, I imagined the 21st century library and classroom. I realized that as a result of the course I took last term, I am starting to use more 2.0 tools in the classroom, including voicethreads and wikis and other 2.0 tools, but I still have a long way to go to turn my classroom into more of a 2.0 classroom. I have included digital books like tumblebooks books to my collection of resources in the classroom and will start to use ipods as a learning tool in centers. I am not a librarian, but sharing the information I am learning and trying to encourage other teachers to try web 2.0 tools, seems essential to me.

"Evaluate, to triangulate information in all media formats"

and "make solid, careful informed decisions."

I wondered what kinds of collections and to what extent we use media formats, with her statement, "evaluate, to triangulate information in all media formats" and "make solid, careful informed decisions" (Valenza, 2009). Considering that with new and emerging literacies, students need to interact, create and participate in their learning and they need to gain an understanding that the Internet is a collection of resources from different providers and be able to critically evaluate information (Asselin and Doiron, 2008). Teachers and librarians can teach students how to search and how to locate the information they are looking for. While searching skills are important there seems to be a movement towards categorizing the information shared online. We see this with social bookmarking sites like Delicious, and the library thing, where the users tag the information so others can find it. Something that I found interesting is the concept of "Open Access." Rick Kopak suggests that a resource like "open access" would give students access to credible and up to date journals (Kopak, 2008). This seems to be another way to begin categorizing the abundant information online. Teaching students to evaluate, categorize and make careful informed decisions is another role of the teacher-librarian.

"Embrace the multi-model, media rich learning environments ."

The 21st century librarian embraces the "multi-model, media rich learning environments" and understands that "exploration and freedom are key to engaging students in virtual environments to promote independent learning" (Valenza, 2009). The challenge is to use the media tools to enrich learning in meaningful and compelling ways (Todd, 2008). To get more people on board, teacher-librarians could use the tools to interact with their colleagues and use certain tools for professional development. Teacher- librarians can use web 2.0 tools like blogger, flickr and wikis, which bring rich media together to interact with peers and globally (Naslund and Guistini, 2008). We also need to consider other virtual environments like those that we see with gaming. Gaming can influence learning as gamers use their imagination, need to problem solve and learn about leadership, competition, teamwork and collaboration (Sanford, 2008). The virtual reality game Second Life can be used to teach various skills like design, query and the evaluation information retrieval systems (Kemp and Haycok, 2008). However, do the video games such as Warcraft, Warhammer, and Guild Wars fit into the curriculum and school values? Are there other video games that would fit the curriculum? I think there is potential for Civilization and Sim City to be great extensions to learning about economic growth in Grade 9 Social Studies. Perhaps, Second Life would be a learning tool to experience what it was like to live in Renaissance Europe, which is a unit in Grade 8 Social Studies. While we embrace virtual environments and virtual learning, whether we use web 2.0 tools or virtual reality games, we also need to embrace our school vision and ensure that what we teach is within the curriculum.

The changes during the 21st Century calls for teachers and teacher-librarians to guide students to learn from a variety of sources of information, and to learn how to construct meaning in technology-charged, information-rich environments (Kuhlthau, 2007). Using Valenza's vision as a place to understand the new roles of the librarian helps us to define what we could be doing and where we should be headed. In Valenza's words, teacher-librarians "represent our brand as a 21st century information professional” (Valenza, 2009)

Up 2 Notches

Social Bookmarks: A Pinteresting Conversation!

Learning to Change and Changing to Learn

Words Their Way Meets Diigo!

Why igoogle?

Taking Blogging Up a Notch!

Who is controlling our information?

QR Codes in the Classroom

Please include these educational videos in your playlist!

My digital footprint is a bar code?

Google is changing the way we read on the web!

Testing, testing...can you hear me?

Ustream it to the world!

New and Improved?... Tools for 2011!

"Popping In" on Possibilities!

Top Ten from 2010...What would you add to this list?

How does google really work?

How can you engage an audience?

How do you move through the digital galaxy?

How can we move anticipatory sets up a notch?

What is student engagement?

Wow! I feel like Waldo!

Which blog host is the best?

How can we teach 21st Century Literacy skills?

Do you believe?

In what ways can we help our students build their PLNs?

The Networked Teacher

Inspiring Video

D.I. with Web 2.0!

Creating a Curriculum of Peace

We r connected!

A real 2.0 gem!

Inquiring into myself as a curriculum maker of community

What is Legitimate Knowledge?

What are we learning by blogging?

Top 5 Slideshows

Digital Storytelling by Grade 1

Digital Storytelling by Grade 1

Web 2.0 in the Grade 1 Classroom

Easy Quiz Maker with Photopeach

Digital Exit Slips

Good-bye Wordle, Hello Imagechef!

Glogging in Grade 1

Tweetin' on Twitter

What is your PLN?

Toodles to 2009...

Twitter for teachers?

Where do we begin?

Will Richardson Inspires Again!

A Vision of the Future: Learning in the 21st Century

Professional Development for 21st Century Learning

Not just small steps but leaps and bounds!

"Developing Responsible Cybercitizens"

"How do your students respect intellectual property?"

The Digital Divide: How relevant is it?

Filters? To teach or not to teach, that is the question.

21/21 Vision