Chapter 2 Pedagoy and Practice

Chapter 2 Pedagogy and Practice – Mary Guerino

          This chapter details some ways that teachers can use this technology in their classroom and gives excellent examples. Viewing Principal Tim Lauer’s site at lewiselementary.org shows how it can be incorporated into a school building. Although, I believe our district is moving to have teachers become more comfortable with new technologies it is hard always to provide the time and the resources for all teachers to be comfortable, it is a daunting task.  

While reading this article, I thought of the first time I had to post on a web site.  It was about seven years ago in a science and technology course.  This was a tool that the professor involved had used with his current college students with success.  Most of the participants were teachers that had not grown up with this technology so this was a first for most of us.  Navigating the shared web site was not easy and I found posting and commenting more difficult then absorbing the information presented in class through commentary and classroom readings. I am hoping that taking this course will help me get more comfortable with using this technology.

I agree with the author that “collaborative learning” has been a buzzword in American education. Teachers would love to work cooperatively more often and share expertise. On line communities maybe the wave of the future where teachers can find a group of people who enjoy sharing.  

Chapter 4

Chapter 4  Wikis – Easy Collaboration for All- Mary Guerino

            First, I was surprised about how Wikipedia.org works.  That it is a collaborative source of information for everyone to view and edit.  A surprising concept for someone who has not grown up in the technology age but has reluctantly accepted that it is here to stay and I better learn how to use it appropriately for myself and students. I do like the author’s philosophy that “everyone together is smarter than anyone alone…and that each entry is the group’s best effort, not any one person’s.” Another thing that I was unaware of was the different uses it can be used for in the world at large. The examples given of how Disney, the city of Rochester and the Star Trek wikis were developed and being used were eye opening.  Getting our students to accept  a “world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than the exception “ is a definite shift from the American dream of yesteryear when we valued the entrepreneur and is ability to develop his concept in a vacuum.

It left me wondering if Gustavo Albin Whitehead,an aviation pioneer, who emigrated from Germany to the US and claims to have flown before the Wright brothers would have been given credit for his contribution and perhaps have helped the initial design of the Wright brothers plane.

      The World is Flat example of how an educational wiki can be developed to encompass a global feature was very interesting.  Most of the other examples for educational purposes involved middle or high –school students.  The question I have for myself is: Can this be used for elementary students and when would it be appropriate? Is there a piece of my curriculum where the children can work collaboratively to create an information wiki that could be shared?

   

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Weblogs Get Started! – Mary Guerino

          Where to start? I thought this chapter gave a lot of practical suggestions for a teacher who is a novice at blogging.  Enlisting parent support and informing parents of the purpose of your blog is important. Also, celebrating children’s work fosters self-esteem, and helps to create a community of learners. Finally, educators using a blog to promote a professional community of learners would be a great way to learn about technologies, ideas, and problem solving techniques to help the teacher in the classroom.

Where to start?  Although I don’t know much about blogging, I did try Kidsblog last year in the classroom with some success. I liked the admonition from this author that the blog could be a spot where you could pose a question for kids to research or think about. I plan on starting my kidsblog in November and will use some thought provoking questions tied to my curriculum to foster some critical thinking.  Recently, the children have been learning about life cycles. In a National Geographic article about butterflies a scientist states that they are investigating how butterflies use the sun to stay warm and researches say that their shinglelike structure could provide clues to help solar technology.  My question to my students might be: Have you ever thought about what other animals might have inspired current scientific discoveries? Where could we go to find out?

Chapter 1 Assignment by Mary

Chapter 1 – The Read/Write Web- Mary Guerino

I enjoyed reading about the evolution of the web and how it has changed over the past fifteen years. The author states how this will make connections for people that was simply not possible a few years ago. The knowledge of how this tool was used during Obama’s campaign shows how powerful it can be as a way of communicating and reaching people. Other examples the author uses are the    videos from Iran and Katrina that made transparent to the world news in real time and how they impact viewers understanding of their world. Journalists, like Dan Gilmor, enlist their readers’ knowledge base to enhance their writing; therefore giving a broader perspective to their reporting. Corporations are using blogging and other web sites to promote their products. I am sure this barely touched the plethora of ways that this tool has impacted every branch of society.

 This Read/Write web promotes a “society of authorship” which at times is “unsettling”.   Our students have many ways they can connect that were not possible a few years back.  As the author states the Read/Write Web holds transformational changes in store for teachers and students of all stripes.  Our responsibility is to show our children how to use these tools effectively, correctly and safely.  In the younger grades maintaining a blog within a classroom might be the way to start.  It would provide a safe and effective way to introduce young children to this tool.