Thing # 6

I have recently been adding and deleting RSS feeds. I am a hands-on learner and love to play around with things so I can figure them out for myself. However, it took me a lot longer than it should have (1.5 hours!!) to finally stop reading blogs and clicking on links (It is addictive!). I enjoyed this experience and found some very interesting articles that I will have to look into more in the future and how I can use some of the things that they talk about in my class.

One post I found very interesting is how to find and use legal images for your blog (http://literacyispriceless.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/finding-and-adding-high-quality-legal-images-to-your-blogs-papers-and-reports/). I have briefly thought about this but not enough to look for information about it. I am considering having a class blog but not sure on the how and what just yet. When I do I will need to read up on this article and others like it to make sure what I am doing is legal. I am sure I will not need a lot of images as most of the images I will have will be of my students.

I also read this article about using songs to learn academic material (http://literacyispriceless.wordpress.com/2009/06/26/rap-hip-hop-vocabulary-history-and-more-word-up/). Last year I taught 3rd grade and bought a Multiplication Rock CD and the students loved it (they would remind me if I forgot). This is actually the same way I learned my multiplication facts. We are to help students learn and be excited about the material and this is one of the ways to do that. We use little jingles to help student remember things so why not even in upper grades?

THING # 5

In this article http://www.techlearning.com/article/24800 I was intrigued by yet another technology “answer” to a current problem in our schools. There is so much out there that can help our students which is exciting and important. However, before jumping into another program we need to make sure to look at it from all angles and see if this will really help our students in the long run. Is the money worth the investment if you will.

Pearson makes great products like Waterford that Mesquite ISD uses with K-2. Their programs are research based and have great success. However, even with great success it can not be entirely the answer we are in need of. The current product is Prevent which essentially identifies at risk students who are in danger of not graduating and “falling through the cracks” which is not meeting “No Child Left Behind.” I have not done much reading or research on this topic but I believe these programs may be just a band-aid and not the “cure” we need to help our students. If they are identified by Prevent it is not too late but in a sense it could be because nothing was done before this point. I believe the answer to helping our students succeed lies much deeper within our society, teachers, and parents. However, that is a debate for a different blog at a different time.

THING #4

Education blog writing can be a very open type of writing but also a very cautious openness. What I mean is you can’t use names unless with permission and have to be careful how you phrase things. Blog reading is fun in that you can follow someone’s thoughts more than you probably would in a normal conversation. You can jump from post to post or “thought” to “thought.” Commenting on blogs adds a new dimension so it is no longer simply a story or a post, it is more of a conversation that can end when the posts stop. By commenting back and forth, the author and the commentator can elaborate and gain a better understanding. Blogging can facilitate learning in that it is like a person on your level explaining something to you or talking about something you already know so you gain a different perspective.