Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Day 2 1/2

Playing certainly helps. I am a hands on person and the ability to get in there and muck around helps cement the learning. What also helps supplement this is a specific set of steps that I can always revert to when I get stuck. I have made some notes for myself that I think will help although they are far from complete. If only Borders would call and say that my book is in! I am not one to shelve the resource manual. Personally I like to pull it out and put on my technical reading hat to see if it can get me out of a jam.

In terms of what this means for kids...I can think of a number of ways teachers can use this. It will mean that people need to rethink how they use their time. I would not want people to spend inordinate amounts of time at their computers at home. If it comes to this then I think people will avoid using the technology.

For me personally, I think being able to receive RSS feeds specific to things we are working on would be helpful. Searching the web can be overwhelming. I'd like to get more proficient at finding sites so that I can then share information with others electronically. Maybe eventually I will get to paperless or almost paperless!

7 comments:

  1. Kathy - If all of us started either a class blog or updates that went out on the RSS, that would be a great way for all staff to see what other teachers are doing in the class. That always seems to be an issue every year that all staff want to know what other classes are doing. The reality is if every teacher took 5min each day to update their blog - it would be very easy yet provide much needed updates.

    Steve F

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  2. I like Steve's idea about class blogs. Taking it a little further, possibly making them accessible on a webpage, like homework now is, so that they are easily accessible to students, parents, and other teachers. I think that many would be concerned about time. Finding the time is possible, if you make it possible. For me, it would be about committing to 5-10 minutes in the morning or afternoon to post, and then working from there for the comments, etc. Anything is possible, it is just taking the first step to try it out that so many fear.

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  3. OK, I will say this aloud-the idea of paperless is scary too me. The idea is so new and I am so old that I can't picture myself teaching without the pile of papers in my bag or on my lap. I know how good it will be for the environment, school spending, and my students but...maybe this is how they felt when electricity was invented?

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  4. Wow! All very interesting comments. I agree with Cristin that the idea of paperless is a little scary. One of my favorite things in the whole world is to read with a good hard cover book in my hands. I've been thinking about setting up a class blog for parents this year. Also, I think it would be a good idea to set up a leadership team blog to help keep all teachers updated with the leadership team work and thoughts and to get good input.

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  5. I am glad the class format is working for you, Kathy. Time to dig deeply, practice, and move at your own pace...all seem good to me. Is this a model that might sometimes work in a middle school classroom with kids? Middle schoolers tend to enjoy hands-on learning, too.

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  6. Debbie, I was thinking a leadership team blog would be great, too!

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  7. I agree with much of what was said here, Kathy, so I'll just add that if you would like to borrow my book until yours arrives, feel free!

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