New blog inspired!!!!

Imagine my surprise when I opened twitter this morning (tweetdeck actually), and saw this message from a teacher that, as far as I know, I have never actually met:

@mwedwards You have inspired me to blog with my class! http://room6kindkids.blogspot.com/ Having fun and learning! (from @teach1quilt2)

From reading her profile on twitter, I know she is a Nationally Board Certified 1st grade teacher from Montana who enjoys quilting, reading, as well as spending time with family and friends. I am not really sure what I have done to inspire her to blog with her class, but I am glad that I did what I did. I do have links to the class blogs that I kept with students in 1st, 2nd,3rd grade as well as AG students posted on my blog. I have shared blogging resources (since I bookmark just about everything I can find on blogs and link most of it to the pageflakes I created on blogs). Maybe it was just making stuff available and showing what I had done that inspired her . . .

I saw great results with the students I worked with using blogs. At first writing a comment to a blog post (assignment or idea) took some getting used to, but students were soon begging to be able to type on the blog. I enjoyed coming up with creative prompts and Problem-based Learning (PBL) activities to get them started. This year I am not in a classroom working with students, and in some ways, I miss the student engagement with the blogs that I got last year. I found it much easier to come up with things for them to write about than finding things for me to blog about :)

Added later: After I saw where I inspired a blog, I went to look at it. Yay! It's a great looking blog. I tweeted about the blog on twitter, added myself as a follower, and added a comment about looking forward to seeing more on the blog. Tonight, I got another message from this lady (Kathy Sather): "Rm 6 cheered when we saw you were following us! :) More to come."

Image from: http://www.flickr.com/photos/barnett/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Tools don't make the Teacher

Tonight's twitter edchat was concerning the interactive nature of interactive white boards. Comments kept appearing about how it is the teacher that makes the difference not the tool or piece of piece of equipment. I remember someone commenting that mud can be interactive if in the hands of a good teacher. Teachers need to have the training and support to make the best instructional decisions on how to use interactive white boards or anything (technology-related or not) in the classroom. Teachers also need to have the freedom to make decisions about what will or will not work best in their individual classroom for learning to be facilitated. Yes, administration can "require" that technology be used, but it is really up to the teacher to use it effectively at the right times to promote student learning. There are lots of things that technology allows a teacher to do in his or her classroom, but there are also lots of good things a good teacher can do without using technology. Technology, like any tool used in the classroom, should be used with the ultimate goal of enhancing student learning.

Twitter as a Treasure Chest

I have found lots of new things (blogs mainly) to read and to add to my google reader using Twitter tonight. Two of the blog posts I read tonight talk about the importance of twitter to a PLN (especially concerning #edchat). I could not agree more! I have learned so much and been "granted access" to so many great ideas and resources by participating in Twitter. Notice that I said PARTICIPATING and not just reading. Even though I am not sure that I directly did anything that lead me to find new blogs for me to follow tonight, I do feel like that by interacting and feeling like "part of a group" I am exposed to more options. I like to see what people retweet and then go check out the person they retweeted to see what I might be able to gain by making that connection (that sounds a bit selfish, but . . . ).
Here are the ones I found tonight to add to my list of things to read . . .

• The Pursuit of Technology Integration Happiness
• What's New in the World?
• How to Teach a Novel

Here is one I found a few days ago that I think deserves to be here too:

• Teacher Reboot Camp

When I decided to write this post (a few minutes ago), I wasn't really sure what title to give it. But as soon as I started working it, the comparison of Twitter and a Treasure Chest popped right to my mind :) I really see Twitter as a Treasure Chest since it contains lot of valuable information/resources and . . . you never know what you might find . . .

It is all about making CONNECTIONS

When students make a connections with the books they read, their understanding, comprehension, and recall of the information increases.

Normally when I think of students make connections with stories, I focus on either a connection with the author or relating something that has happened to them to something that happens in the story (event). A teacher may be able to help students make connections with the author using blogs, websites, or even skype. Students could do some type of writing or art activity to express personal connections to stories possibly using a blog or something like webspiration.

Reading Kristin's Blog: Blogging with Afghanistan got me thinking about another type of connection that teachers can help provide for students using technology tools . . . a connection to the setting. A little background to her blog: In the past, her class read a story and posted discussion on a blog. The story was set in Afghanistan. A person who lives in Afghanistan read her blog and contacted her. He became her "friend" and offered to help out when she did the story the next year. . . it is all about making connections

A teacher could build background knowledge about the setting of a story by having students research general information about the area online, maybe look at pictures, or take a Google Earth trip. Those students would know a little more about the setting than before, but imagine how that level of knowledge would change if students could "talk" to someone actually in that area and ask questions not only about the geography/landforms but also about the culture.
The experiences of these students has the potential to greatly influence their understanding of the story.

Think about all the technology tools we have available to make it possible to make these connections to enhance student learning: skype, blogs, wikis, videos, pictures, voicethread, twitter . . .

So you don't have a friend or connection in the area of study or setting of the book . . . chances are that posting on Twitter could prove to be beneficial . . . chances are somebody knows somebody who knows somebody . . . it is all about making connections.

Global Studies involves learning so much more by making connections rather than just reading or research from a book or online.

Great post

Essential Tools for the Connected Teacher: Part 3

• "Every teacher is an expert. Twitter allows everyone to share what they know."
• Info about twitter, nings, skype, and google wave that include videos and details
  

A Tweet about me! :)

Yesterday, this was posted as a tweet on twitter about me :) by web20classroom (S. Anderson http://web20classroom.blogspot.com/)

A fabulous educator who is an example of the what we need in Instructional Technologists in our schools...@mwedwards #TeacherTuesday