As I've played with the RSS Reader I've discovered so many interesting things my head is spinning. This could definitely take over your life. This media format must be managed efficiently or it could be dangerous for a lifelong learner like myself. I found that I had to limit my time on the "23 things" on this one or it would have overtaken me.
I did find several interesting feeds but one that jumped out at me was the technology piece. http://www.techlearning.com/article/33120 This site will take you to a short comment about Facebook for educators. Ultimately it refers you to Atomic Learning (http://www.atomiclearning.com/k12/fbwkshp_stu) When I arrived at this site I knew it looked familiar. Atomic Learning is listed in our own districts technology staff development pages. I checked for the "Facebook for Educators" link there but wasn't able to locate it. But, our district does support and offer other learning opportunities in Atomic Learning so I've subscribed to that site so I can keep up with more technology. I'm happy to know our district is on top of things in regards to technology and is keeping up with the times. I'm having a blast learning my way, on my time, at my pace, and the journey of discovery is causing my 23 Things colleagues at school to smile at my frustrations and tell me to slow down, enjoy! I'm just too excited I guess.
Getting back to the Facebook for Educators idea, I find myself subtly challenging teachers I work with to stretch, bend, try and get out of their comfort zone to bring this technology to our children. The biggest hurdle we face is that we older folk who aren't from the digital age don't have our brains wired the way these young people do for all this technology. For that I am jealous but also thankful they are so willing to teach us. I constantly chip away at my own fear of trying new things by just bolting into classrooms with the technology, pulling a tech savvy student aside who has completed their work for the class and just putting the technology in their hands and watching them go with it. It is amazing!!! Who's teaching who? Hmm, lets see, I know the content, the direction, they know the technology, we collaborate and surprise.....we both learn new things and share a bond like no other. This benefits both of our self-esteem. I get excited because I see connections to anything and everything and want to shout out my process and experiences so everyone so they can enjoy them too. My question of the day is again, "Why can't we use Facebook to teach and learn in class?" This goes along with my question in a previous post about using cell phones in class for learning. We are using ActivInspire and the voters, why not utilize technology that motivates they already have in their hands?
I'm happily exhausted with this Thing #5 and need to move on. The connections in my brain are going WILD!!!!!!
You definitely have to "limit" your time when reading your feeds. I am glad you are finding it useful. It is the only way I am able to keep up with this class.
ReplyDeleteI think that allowing cell phones in the classroom could lead to many problems. First, it would be so easy to cheat . All you have to do is text a friend for an answer. Also most phones have video cameras on them. So it would be easy to record something that happens. Which could be good or bad. Can you imagine have a parent conference because of what the parent saw on the video? There are so many issues that could arise from allowing cell phones to be used.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, I have let my students use the calculator function before.