Journal 7: My Personal Learning Network

 NETS-T 5


PLN In my words, it is the collection of all of my networks that I use to learn, and communicate with others. As days go by, my PLN grows. I have social networking sites such as Titter and Face book. Diigo lets me organize information that I find important or want to refer back to. Email is still my main way to communicate with others. A Google doc is a new and easy way to share documents with my classmates. I am sure I am missing some as well! These have already helped me in school. When I become a teacher, I will have saved web pages, and blogs that will help me put together and fun and educational lesson plan. A new addition to my PLN through Diigo is a math website for children called Math Chimp.
 Twitter for me has been difficult to get use to. This new social media is great for finding information for me as a teacher. It will allow me to lean and communicate with teacher through the discussions such as #mathchat, #artsed or and new teacher chat called #ntchat. I have chosen some people to fallow on Twitter, such as Stephanie Banchero. I have chosen this woman because she is a National Education Reporter. I will be able to keep myself fresh and up to date with the current buzz regarding education. Diane Dahl is another one I have chosen. In her introduction she explains herself to be an "enthusiastic 2nd grade teacher". This is how I hope to portray myself as when I become a teacher.  
            I participated in the lrnchat today and wow did it go fast. Pretty much they went back and forth on ways to change the time spent in the class room. One example was having class  for 12 weeks, or 6 months online. There was allot of discussion on learning just for the sake of learning. And that there is a difference in knowledge and learning. They also discussed the pros and cons of slow learning vs fast paced learning. Very interesting to see so many people so passionate about learning. And  also the fact that many are older and are so quick on twitter!
Diigo I think is my favorite new addition to my PLN. This one place allows me to store all that I find important. This is important because with 2 and half years left of school, and with an additional life time of learning, I can bookmark what I find to be interesting, and what to use later. Just today (October 26th) I added seven new sites and blogs to my PLN. One, like I mentioned before is the math site. Currently, the school I volunteer at sends the students to the computers and have them play cool math. I have yet to see ANY addition, subtraction or any math take place. This site have math incorporated with fun. Nikkie Robertson is someone I have added to help me familiarize myself with technology, and how to incorporate it into the classroom. I have chosen to follow Steve Anderson, because I viewed what he has book marked and i feel i gain allot from them.
I joined the Classroom 2.0 forum. This incredible site has all the information a new teacher needs to know about technology and how to use it! I read about the I pad and if it is a good or bad thing to have small children use it as a means of learning, verse physically touching and learning about an object. I myself am trying to balance out the use of technology, with keeping grounded. I think the I pad is a really neat tool, and hope one day I can afford a collection of Apple gadgets. But I think for down time, a computer, T.V or I pad would be ok, but there is no substitution for interaction with a young one!

Journal Number 6

Parr, B. (2011, July 28). Google : the complete guide [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/2011/07/16/google-plus-guide/
I have mixed feelings on the new Google +. I have a hard time with change, I am getting use to discovering new things in this class, that are fun and interesting, But I have a hard time committing to something new, such as twitter because I am just getting familiar with it. As I read the blog, I was confused with how the only way a person could be added, is by being asked. I do not spend a lot of time on the computer either, so to create a circle, or what not, I have a hard enough time calling my friends as it is. I do like being able to choose who gets to see what I post, but even on face book, there are times I would like to say something in regards to work, and know that my lovely boss is on face book too. I need to make a list of cheats to I can use them. I do really like the ‘grab’ option. It is something have come to really like on the Mac computers at school, so being able to do that on my computer will be neat.

D

o I see myself using Google+ as a regular tool to be social?
I don’t think I have an answer for that quite yet. I am experimenting with it right now, and I think as of now that is where it will stay. When I feel caught up with school, and have the time to play, I will so I can learn the ins and outs

Brogan, C. (2011, September 30). Educators- google plus is for you [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.chrisbrogan.com/gpluseducators/

 I like this article better than the first. I feel that instead of throwing a bunch of information at me, it is saying here are some new ways to use Google + with your students. 

Do I see my self using Google + in my class room?

      This makes me look at the site in a different way than before. If I know all of my students have computers, and have the same amount of access time to them, then yes i think this would be a great way to interact with my students outside of the class room. But, I do not want to leave anyone out f they do not have access to a computer.

Journal 4

Basham, J. D., Perry, E., & Meyer, H. (2011). it is in the bag. learning and leading with technology, 24-27. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Store/Product.aspx?ID=222 
NETS-T Number 2

I am just thinking goodness, a digital backpack is going to be expensive… Especially because I do not have any of the things that are being mentioned! I suppose I have noticed that many students themselves have their own I pods, computers, and even I pads now! So I wont have to supply one for every student. Then, handing them over to second graders sounds like trouble to me! I know I need to organize all of the information I am learning in this class as well as the fun sites I am finding, so I can use them when I become a teacher. I completely forgot that doing all of the work through digital means, the ability to switch languages will be easy!

W

hat tools can I bring in as a teacher to introduce technology? The knowledge I have gained for my technology class will give me a very nice head start. I have a new fun way to introduce topics by using prezi. I have found out about Google Docs that can allow my students to share work. I will be able to create a fun newsletter to inform my parents what we will be doing in class every month as well. I have endless possibilities that I am excited to explore.

W

hat piece of technology do you not have, that you would like to add to your digital backpack? I just heard about a school in Ramona that provides all of the students an I pad to use while in class. I think that would be neat to add to my backpack. If each student has one, I can put what I want on it, have him or her read, and watch what I want. I think that would be neat.

 

Journal Number 3

 NETS-T #4

Morehouse, J. (2011). Students dig up dirt to learn about internet safety. Learning connections, 34-35. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading.aspx

I think this is such a great way to get students aware of the dangers of the Internet. I know when I was younger I did not understand that there are people out there that can hurt you.  This activity the students have a chance to do something fun, as well as get to know the teacher. It gets deeper to where they have to find a person and make a presentation about them. It is like a trick for the children to say yes this is bad! Then have them realize o this can happen to me.  It paints the picture clearly to show how easy it is to get ones information simply by going online and goggling a name. I am so impressed with all of the information that is out there. I think I will use this to get the point across to my sister, who thinks it is ok to tell everyone we are leaving out of town for the week!

I

 S this activity appropriate for the grade I want to teach?

 Absolutely! This is something I want to introduce to my class at the beginning of the year. Social media has become the way to communicate.

H

ow much can I find out about myself? Well I have a MySpace page still, and when hat is looked at it give my age, town, and full name. Then I have records form school sports that link me to my high school.

Technology Self-Assessment: School 2.0

Rock Our World - An International Collaboration

I chose NETS-T 1 This site is so neat. Through the Internet they make music all around the world. It just surprises me I guess that we don't do stuff like that here. I have never heard of video chatting with another country, let alone making a song with other countries. It shows that we as a country are wrapped up in our students here and don't show how important diversity is. Then to see who they are affiliated with, NASA, come one all we did was go on a field trip to the simulator. They get to work with stars like will smith too! They even have one of those really big touch screen computer thingies! I’m trying to put my thoughts on paper about this site and I am having difficulties. ROW does everything that (to me) is not allowed per say in class now days. The music art they make videos. They even have family night and the very end of the project they are doing. I am going to find out how to twitter this! They have different issues they discus, right now it is on heath and satiability, so they are always coming up with new ideas. I am book marking this on diigo!!

Journal # 2

Ferguson,Hadley. (2010). Join the flock.Learning and leading, 37(8), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/learn/publications/learning-and-leading/issues/Join_the_Flock.aspx    

    Summary-I was, as like the author of "the flock" afraid to venture off into the world of technology. It wasn't until this class that I have now make and posed on a blog, created a twitter account and tweeted, but have learned new ways to make education easier for my students and me. In this article it showed that exploring new territory is an okay thing to do, and that I will survive. I knew that I have to be more active in my tweets to keep my twitter account active, and that is something I will get use to with time. 

How can I make sure I keep my account active other that being in class? Seeing that I have new great friends in this class I can start using twitter as my form of communication with them. I will make a point to try new things like posting links. I can wait to add new people to my following till I can understand titter a tad bit more. After I get use to everything I already have seen a few things (people) I do want to follow (as of today actually). I wasn't sure how it all worked so I opt out to click that follow button. I hope soon that I will be where the author is and be technically advanced.

McClintock Miller, S. (2010). Enhance your twitter experience. Learning & Leading with Technology, 3. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Libraries/Leading_and_Learning_Docs/June_July_2010_Join_the_Flock.sflb.ashx

It just freaks me out a little when I read about how it is daily obligation to be a part of twitter. Now every day that I am at school I am on the computer but other than that I do not have the time for it. So in saying that I can start off making it a 3 times a week project to get connected. It also makes me feel better that it is not something that I will right off the bat understand, for it took her some time to get where she is today.

Will I be able to intergrade twitter with my students one day.?

I hope so. I plan on starting on teaching 2^nd grade, so depending where the world is when I become a teacher I may be able to assign homework. I know how it feels not to have a computer at home so I will have to do a mini survey to discover if my students have an at home computer.