Personal Learning Reflection

In reviewing my Personal Growth Plan, I had fifteen goals which I had hoped to address through my coursework. At this point, it appears that I have met or exceeded all goals outlined in my plan and there are three goals that will be continued. My goals included exploring new technologies, examining my PLN, learning strategies for protecting my students from cyberbullying, exploring ways to use technology to differentiate instruction, evaluating appropriate new technologies for implementation, enhancing parent communication with technology, connecting with my students through technology, developing my own technology projects, expanding my current educational social network, increasing background knowledge of new technologies, begin blogging, use Google Docs with a group, try using a Prezi for a class project, and try other new technologies.



I was able to explore and use new technologies in many different applications throughout the course. For my PLN project, I made my first ZooBurst. I used Prezi in our SIG research presentation. I further used Google Docs, RSS feeds, Twitter, Skype, Blogging, Social Bookmarking, and was introduced to Google Presenter. Next, I was able to develop and further expand my PLN through lab work, collaboration, Twitter, RSS pages, blogging and my ZooBurst application. In terms of addressing cyberbullying, I was able to meet this goal by adding a feed to my RSS page that has ongoing updates about cyberbullying and potential programs for implementation. As far as learning more about differentiated instruction, I was able to accomplish this through my SIG research. Likewise, in terms of evaluating new technologies, I was able to accomplish this through the rubrics shared in the SIG research presentations, antecdotal evidence from my Diigo research, as well as through learning more about the NETS standards, 21st Century skills guidelines and the METS checklist. As far as learning more about enhancing parent communications, I think Twitter, the Google Calender, Skype or Blogging may be avenues to accomplish this task. However, I think this is a goal that will be continued in the next course wherein I learn more about web page design. I also learned more about connecting with students by engaging with technologies they are currently using such as Twitter, Skype, and Blogging. I further accomplished developing my own technology projects by completing my NetVibes page, collaborating on a Prezi, and creating a ZooBurst. While I met part of this goal, I have yet to innovate my own projects using these technologies in the classroom. However, I think I've outlined some good ideas for implementation in my technology plan. Yet, another goal was to expand my current educational social network. This was addressed not only in the PLN project but also in the Twitter, RSS and blogging assignments. Still another goal was to increase my background knowledge of technologies. I accomplished this by participating in this course which included lab work, projects, assignments, and collaborative experiences.



In the beginning I felt each study session started in French a language I do not know at all and then would progress to Spanish a language I know somewhat and finally end in English. This quickly changed as I rapidly gained new background knowledge in this compressed time frame. A final goal was to start a blog and participate in blogging. This goal has been met through many assignments including but not limited to the Creative Commons assignment.



With this being said, I think this course helped me meet and exceed my goals in a compressed time frame. In this way, the course exceeded my expectations. However, given my baseline background knowledge upon starting the course, I don't think I could have grown anymore than I did as the experience was for me like being catapulted out of a different time zone. I further felt my global learner side challenged as I rapidly connected these learning experiences and all other experiences.



In terms of evaluating whether anything in the course limited my growth or learning, I have to say that we learn from all experiences. While I would have preferred more effective communication and more of a collaborative spirit in my SIG group, I don't expect other people to live on my personal timeline or adapt to my personal agenda. While in my personal life, I start tasks early and finish tasks early in group work you need to accommodate other people in order to be collaborative. In collaborating, there is no one way or only one right way of doing things. I think we revised our communication strategies as we went along to try to adapt. However, in a three phase project when there is not a clear vision from the beginning this shows up in the end product. While we were successful in the end, I did feel we could have had a more succinct and cohesive project. For example, my final outline had four major headings and three sub topics each. This would have left me with about 12-15 slides in the presentation. In the end, I had to re-evaluate and re-interpret all of my information as I had many times throughout the three weeks. In ending, if anything limited my learning it was time re-doing work and communicating that could have been spent productively on other project goals. However, the experience did help me learn more about online collaborative learning. I also think we did well considering different time zones and personal obligations which most but unfortunately not all of the group considered.



With this said, I will move on to discuss effective teaching strategies when integrating technology. I think this was first and foremost modeled for us in instructor support. Given the size of the class, the university immediately provided a second instructor for this course. I also experienced effective and timely feedback during this course which I think is imperative to a student's success in any learning environment. To begin with, I feel that the coursework reflected I.S.T.E. standards. Our instructors further facilitated our learning and allowed us to be participants. Likewise, all learning styles were addressed at one time or another throughout the course. The "active" learning style was represented in our SIG work and RSS pages. The "reflective" learning style was addressed through blogging. "Sensing" was addressed in our RSS assignment and our SIG research. "Intuitive" was represented in our readings and specifically in our readings about "learning theories." Likewise, the "visual" learning style was represented in our presentations including Google Presenter and Prezi. It was also represented in our PLN project. Our lab work included visual media and videos. "Verbal" was addressed through our SIG proposal, Twitter, MACUL space, and instructor office hours. Also, "sequential" was addressed through the road map, rubrics, and participation guide. Finally, the "global" was addressed through the technology plan project and the "pitch" we were to create for our SIG group.



We further learned about effectively integrating technology by being given projects which
made learning meaningful and personal. Also, technology skills were not taught in isolation. Likewise, we learned about TPCK. More importantly, we learned about "tweaking" TPCK to effectively solve problems.



Another important aspect to our learning about technology included the internet. In this example, we used social bookmarking research, blogs, twitter, RSS feeds, Google docs and calender, Flikr, and etc. I think integrating the Internet helped me easily understand the premise behind the "connectivism" model. I think it further helped me evaluate and manage the overwhelming amount of information available on the Internet. In essence, we applied technologies to harness the power of the Internet and its available resources.



While I think all our assignments and projects exemplify good teaching with technology, I feel some assignments were better matched to my own learning style and present goals. For example, I valued blogging because I enjoy learning through reflection. I also valued the RSS page reflection assignment. If I had to choose one, I would say I valued and enjoyed completing the RSS page assignment the best. This example exemplifies teaching with technology because it allowed me to harness the power of the availability of information on the Internet for both personal and professional use. I liked this project because it can grow and change with my career. It also keeps me current in my profession with timely updates. It costs nothing and keeps me connected to parts of my PLN (twitter, Edmodo, and I.S.T.E.). It even has the potential to help me expand my PLN through blogging. Again, I valued all projects and assignments modeled for us because I do not teach to my own learning style in the classroom but teach with my classes learning styles in mind.



As I stated earlier, I feel I have met and even exceeded my goals from my Personal Growth Plan. While I have outlined many new goals in my technology plan including continuing education, I will continue to add new goals. For example, I now have a new goal of adding www.edweb.net/ for further professional development opportunities. I would also like to implement some of the ideas from the SIG presentations. I intend to implement using the interactive whiteboard with the iPad. I also would like to use Glogster, Lit. Google Trips, rubrics for evaluation, and writing in math.





School is cool. Stay in school!

What is your learning style?

To begin with, my first lab assessment indicated that my strengths include but are not limited to Nature and Body Movement. This was verified in the second assessment which indicated that I am a tactile learner. However, I also showed strengths equally in intra-personal and interpersonal learning. I think these are accurate and are reflected in my personal hobbies which include fitness, outdoor activities, cooking and etc. I think this is also shown in my interest in teaching science. I think this is further shown in my need to have time to reflect (intra-personal) on my own learning and I usually do this best through activity (body movement). This is why for most of my educational career, I study in the morning which gives me the rest of the day to absorb, revise, and plan how to integrate new learning. Of course, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I am very close on all indicators. I think this is due to the fact that I have always pushed myself to be a well-rounded individual. I can talk with anyone on any subject and hold my own. This has also helped me connect to my students which I find invaluable. It is my personal belief that this is what makes someone well-educated.

However, I find when I am not connected to nature and activity I struggle with balance, productivity, and learning. This first became obvious to me when my family moved from the suburbs of Chicago to a country lifestyle. This for me was like being released from a cage. Unfortunately, I have repeated this cycle throughout my life moving from the more industrious side of a small city to the more walkable, greener, more cultural side. Feeling burnt out during my undergraduate career and disconnected, I hiked to the top of a bluff and threw my watch off of it.

From the beginning of my educational career starting in first grade, my teacher communicated to my parents my desire to be outside as a negative aspect of who I was as a student. This was a painful experience for me. From this point on, I began the arduous task of teaching myself the discipline to conform to teacher expectations and a continued educational career of auditory and lecture based instruction. On a positive note, it is this discipline which has helped me overcome life's greatest obstacles. I focus on teaching my students discipline within the context of learning and subject matter for this reason.

In high school, I was fortunate to have teachers who were passionate about their subject matter and pushed the current boundaries of teaching by incorporating whole class game competitions (history), hands on labs, and outdoor experiences (biology). It was in my biology labs wherein I saw glimpses of myself as a teacher while assisting other students in class with their lab work. Even my middle school science class had no lab instruction. While common today, these teachers in my mind were progressive for their time. With this being said, I actually excel in auditory lecture based instruction but do not prefer this type of learning. My preferred mode of learning includes a good mix of active, reflective, sensing, intuitive, visual, sequential, and global learning. I am usually most engaged and excited about learning when I am active, reflecting, or making global connections.

In ending, I agree we (teachers) do not have the luxury of teaching to every learning style at all times. However, I do believe that we should seek to accommodate to different learning styles in our instruction. For example, if 65% of the population is visual that is probably something worth addressing in our lesson plans. I also think it is necessary to adjust to different groups. How we taught something to last years class may not work for this years class. In this way, we keep our own teaching of the same content exciting and novel. In other words, we enrich our own experience of teaching.

I also believe in providing a variety of types of instruction. In this example, not every lesson is auditory based. In another way, we might begin our instruction with auditory instructions but incorporate visual images and active hands on learning during guided instruction. Most importantly, while some students can accommodate to learning outside of their preferred learning style some students cannot. I do not agree when teachers are resistant to address the learner who needs to have an accommodation to meet their learning style. This is essential to meet the needs of both gifted and learning disabled students. While I feel this is becoming less of the norm, I still feel it is important to note. Currently, I think this is being addressed through a push for differentiated instruction in the classroom.

However, I also feel learners must be pushed to accommodate to different styles of learning. For example, when I first began teaching it was sometimes difficult to get even the best teachers to collaborate for the benefit of the student. This required a lot of communication and relationship building and always resulted in a benefit not only to the student but in the teacher's learning which would later benefit his/her whole class. I agree with the article "Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching" by Susan M. Montgomery and Linda N. Grout, we risk as Kolb stated becoming too homogeneous in our profession. In other words, the teaching profession seems to attract well-motivated and independent individuals. While these are valuable assets especially when teachers are often taxed with limited resources, we also need teachers who can collaborate to the benefit of all our students.

My personal example of accommodating to my students needs include but is not limited to hosting book clubs (I have never attended a book club), baking my first cake (Dr. Seuss cake in my second year of teaching), incorporating craft instruction ( I do not usually enjoy doing crafts), dressing up in costumes ( I enjoy watching theater not participating in it). In this way, teaching has forced me out of my own personal comfort zone many times throughout the years for the benefit of my students. In this way, I have grown not only as a teacher but as a person.



Montgomery, Susan M. & Groat, Linda N. "Student Learning Styles and Their Implications for Teaching" CRLT Occasional Paper #10, 1998, University of Michigan, Center for Research on Learning and Teaching. PDG/Adobe Acrobat

Creative Commons: Incorporating Images Into the Curriculum

"A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words"- anonymous

To begin with, I have and will continue to thoughtfully incorporate visual images into the curriculum. Previously I have incorporated visual images in visual presentations e.g. PowerPoint. With about sixty-five percent of the population learning visually, I will continue to incorporate images into my teaching. I have and will continue to incorporate images that connect my students to concrete real world examples, to help them understand abstract ideas, and to create cross-curricular connections. Further, I have and will use images to address diverse learning styles. I will do this by using images to portray part to whole and whole to part concepts.

I chose the following images as possible resources for teaching in the classroom. To begin with, I chose my personal photo of "wedge art" because it reminded me of teaching about simple machines. I view teaching as an art and science which was shown in the kinetic sculpture video in our last lab. I took the "wedge art" picture as a potential future resource for developing this part of the curriculum. I actually took many pictures on the Western Washington University campus of sculptures which depicted art as science and math. I also liked this photo because it could help learners who are artistic connect to the science. The second personal photo is just for fun but I am sure I might creatively include this someday into my teaching. I actually thought of my students that day and how they were probably all outside enjoying the snow.

I chose the roller coaster picture because I have previously given 4th grade students fish tubing to create there own roller coasters in teaching about kinetic and potential energy. I would use this photo to incorporate into the introduction of this lesson. Next, I chose the down hill skiing photo to visualize the term perpendicular. While the photo is a visual aide, I think a lot of kinesthetic learners could relate to this photo. I think I could find a better photo for this one. Finally, I chose the picture of the grandmother knitting. The speed of her knitting needles are a good example of friction. Also, students who have an interpersonal or intrapersonal learning style might be able to connect with this photo of a family member or friend knitting.

In ending, while these photos speak to the visual learner, I think they also connect to other styles of learning.

Photo Attribution:
Original Image: "Wedge Art"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/70202049@N03/6383795655/
By: D. LeComte
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/
Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial Creative Commons license








Photo Attribution:
Original image: "miniature snowman"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/70202049@N03/6383605897/?edited=1

By: D. LeComte
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike license

Photo Attribution:
Original image: "Me on the Ski slope"
http://www.flickr.com/photos/divedivajade/218466157//
By: Jade Berman

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/deed.en

Released under an Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share-Alike license

Photo Attribution:
Original image: "roller coaster"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kenspix/2685792925/
By: Ken Ratcliff

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

Released under an Attribution license

Photo Attribution:

Original image: "Knitting Woman in Cappadocia"

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidden/2437561936/
By: DavidDennisPhotos.com
Released under an Attribution-Share Alike license

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

PC Maintenance and Security Questions

I have a feeling that some of my friends and acquaintances are really going to enjoy this particular blog. For whatever reason it is human nature to look for weakness or imperfection in people. After ten detailed pages of notes later, it seems I have another bad habit other than my daily can of soda. Not liking to admit faults like anyone else, I have to say that I don't think this particular habit is as bad as other people with the same bad habit(smile here). As an educator, I think I should be given some slack as I feel this particular habit is caused by a lack of education.

What do bad habits have to do with PC Maintenance and Security? Well, to begin with, I have had the habit of treating my personal computer like a piece of furniture. Honestly, I thought I was taking good care of it. I haven't been dropping it, throwing it, or letting it get dusty and I even clean the screen. Also, my last computer had a lot of crumbs in the keyboard. Being more judicious this time around, I even purchased a keyboard protector for when I'm multi-tasking (this means when I am eating cereal and checking e-mail at the same time). In admittance, I tend to treat all mechanical objects this way. Even after taking auto-mechanics in high school, I still turn up the volume on my radio if my vehicle has any funny sounds! I even take this further by not telling my very mechanical husband about it because I just don't like to deal with it!

However, as I said ten detailed pages of notes later and thanks to Atomic Learning I have come to the realization that my computer is not a piece of furniture simply to be dusted. Initially, I was a felt a little embarrassed by this. A "neat" freak by nature, this new information was like finding out that other people don't spring clean their house or wash windows etc. So now I'd like to share some tips and surprising information about PC Maintenance and Security that I have been learning about through my lab work.

The first video tutorial I chose to view was on "securing Internet Explorer." I chose this tutorial because I currently use Internet Explorer. I also am using FireFox because of current coursework so it was surprising for me to learn that some functions won't work or will work differently if I did a complete switch from FireFox from Internet Explorer and vise verse. The primary purpose of this tutorial was to assist me in disabling, enabling or prompting certain functions under certain tabs. For example, under the security tab at the custom level I was given recommendations on these features. One tip which I gained that I would like to share is about the Advanced tab. The most important changes are made in this tab to avoid having "drive by" installations without me knowing about this. In this tab, it is necessary to uncheck "enable on stall in demand explorer" and "enable on stall in demand (other)."

The second video tutorial I chose to view fell under the "Introduction" section of Atomic Learning. The specific tutorial I viewed here was "Explaining typical problems found on many PC's." I chose this tutorial because I felt I needed an overview to help me better understand the other tutorials. The typical problems which were mentioned included disorganization, malware, spam, loss of privacy, intrusions from the outside world and lack of security. As you can probably guess from my introduction, the surprising part of this tutorial was the problem of disorganization. This video also assisted in briefing me on what I could do about each of these issues. One thing I would like to share from this video is that most of what you can do about these problems is available for free or involves simple common sense and monthly maintenance.
In other words, you can get free anti-virus, firewalls, clean up utilities.

The third video tutorial I chose to watch fell under the "Clean Up and Speed Up Your PC" category in Atomic Learning. Here I viewed a video on "uninstalling unwanted applications."
Not totally uninformed, I knew I had "baggage" on my computer or desktop that I wanted to "dump." In six easy steps, I was guided in how to get rid of programs I was no longer using. What I wanted to share about this that while this seems easy to go to the control panel and uninstall programs, I hadn't been doing this. I was surprised to find out that this was just the first step in computer clean up.

The fourth video tutorial I chose to view is found under the "Organizing Your Computer" category in Atomic Learning. In this category, I chose to view a tutorial on "Installing Roboform." While I have previously been able to manage my passwords, coursework has introduced me to a lot of new resources that require me to manage even more passwords.
In this tutorial, I learned about organizing and generating passwords. There are two important things about Roboform I would like to share. To begin with, it is important that your "master password" is set or anyone you share your computer with can log into any accounts you have online. Another important note about Roboform is that it works with Internet Explorer and FireFox. One surprising piece of information that I learned was that Roboform can "read" when Internet Explorer is saving passwords and auto completes. In other words, they work in conjunction with each other. Another surprising piece of information was that Roboform logs off for you after 120 minutes and that this can be adjusted.

The fifth video tutorial I chose to view in Atomic Learning also was found in the "Organizing your Computer." The tutorial I viewed here was about "managing your passwords with Roboform." The first feature I learned about was using the tab bar feature to create a "1-click" setup for frequent visits to certain sites. I was surprised me here was the ease of use and set up.
The second feature I learned about was "identity editor." The third feature I learned about was the "generate tab." One thing I would like to share about Roboform is that it is good for remembering passwords or even assisting you in generating secure passwords.

The final video tutorial I chose to watch in Atomic Learning was found under the "Introduction" category. This video was about "showing the results of bad security and careless computing."
I chose this video to "scare" myself into better PC Maintenance and Security habits. This tutorial was primarily about problems found on unprotected computers. I was surprised to find out that between "100 to 5,000 spyware components can be found on one system with no security." These include viruses, worms, Tojan Horses, Key loggers, Phishing Scams, Browse High Jackers, and Auto Dialers. While this tutorial made recommendations for prevention that I have mentioned earlier in this blog, I wanted to share that unlike other protective measures anti-virus and anti-spyware protection needs to be kept updated. I was also surprised to find that Microsoft does some of this updating automatically. Most importantly, I was briefed on the results of careless computing. These included a "slow as molasses" computer, tons of pop up ads, loss of Internet connection, error messages, disorganization, and tons of spam. I was surprised that careless computing resulted in pop up ads.

With all this being said, these tutorials were just the beginning of my learning about PC Maintenance and Security. I plan on using this lab as a resource for future learning in this area. I have lots to learn about really taking care of my computer. Here's to happy computers everywhere!

RSS Page Reflection

To begin with, my RSS page has been a wonderful learning experience. I added the following four feeds to my netvibes page: LD online daily news, Reading Today Daily, Edmodo- safe social networking, and School Climate Blog. I later added Eduwonk,twitter, a Scholatic feed, and the School Library Journal feed.

I chose to add LD online daily news because this was one of my areas of concentration in teacher education and also because it continues to be relevant in the classroom. I chose Reading Today because regardless of what subject area you work in reading ability influences education. Even in teaching science, I have had to adjust to different reading abilities and have used students interest in science to improve their reading ability. I then chose to add Edmodo because Edmodo influenced me in becoming interested in exploring technology and education. I also chose Edmodo because it is a safe social networking site I can use in the classroom regardless of what I am teaching. Finally, I chose School Climate Blog. I chose this feed because of the ongoing issues with bullying in our schools. I have strong connections to this because I worked at a school where a student was beaten off the school grounds and after school hours. Even so, the connection between these students initiated during school hours. I would also like to say this was an affluent school so no myths are perpetuated by my comment.

Later, I added Eduwonk because some of my feeds showed less activity and hence limited my new learning and ability to interact online. On November 8th, I added the online feed from scholastic. I added this feed because I subscribe to Instructor magazine. Also, on November 8th, I added twitter. The educational forums I have been visiting on twitter are helping me stay current in my profession. I also added twitter to try to keep my professional development resources all in one place. While our school libraries are evolving because of technology, I added the School Library Journal feed because this has always been a valuable resource to me as a teacher.

So far, I think all of the feeds that are currently on my RSS page are going to continue to be a good resource for professional development. LD online daily news will help keep me current in an endorsement area I am not currently using. For example, on October 27th there were links about special education and Title 1 cuts, parent and teacher cooperation, and an article about an Atlanta school breaking rules to meet standards. The budget cuts and link to parent-teacher article in particular were relevant to me. Not currently working with at-risk, I would not otherwise be aware of the cuts. Also, the parent-teacher link led me to a website I was unaware of called ADDitude Living Well with Attention Deficit. This article about parent-teacher cooperation is relevant to anyone in the teaching profession. This is definitely an article I would have sent or posted for teachers in my school. In fact, I printed it out and filed it as a resource.

On November 3rd, my LD online daily news provided me with news about ADHD drugs and heart risks. While I don't advise parents on medical issues, it is important to me to stay connected to the same information that a parent would find relevant. On the same day, there was also article about a non-profit company called BookShare which incorporates e-book technology using computerized voices. This was of interest to me because of my experience of working for the learning lab in college. In addition to tutoring students during the year, over the breaks I often put books on tape for other students at my college. This was time consuming and challenging to complete this task so that the student could have this audio-text at the same time that other students purchased their textbook! Once again, this information is valuable to anyone teaching. I was excited about this new technology which publishes books at the same time as the non-tech version. Thus, I was excited to see a technology innovation that provided equal access for all students. The article also mentioned that three million dollars is being funded for the program through the Federal Education Department. On the same day, I also learned about Barrington Stoke, a publishing company whose focus is for reluctant and struggling readers. This was also of interest to me as I like to build up a database of high interest books for reluctant readers.

On November 5th, there was an article published by LA times about Dyslexia and Intelligence. I was able to blog about this article. The comment I made was in agreement with another blogger. Essentially, we both stated that the information in the article was not new information. On November 10th, this feed provided me with new research on Dyslexia and IQ. This included the addition of MRI tests which showed less activity in the left hemisphere of the brain. After giving a brief overview of the news available to me through this feed, I think it is a good resource for professional development. The information I was exposed to over the tracking period from this feed included a wide range of topics. In just a few weeks, I read articles about health, book publishers, new e-technology, parent involvement, budget cuts and etc. I like the broad overview this feed provides me as well as the frequent activity of the feed.

Another feed that I've been following is my Edmodo feed. I think this a great feed for professional development because it keeps me connected to other educators from around the world. It is also a safe soical networking tool I can use with students. It further links me to endless resources for my classroom. For example, on October 28th, I learned about a three day global webcast featuring the polar bear migration near Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. How awesome! On November 1st, I was linked to details about registering my class for this event. Further, On November 4th, I was informed of new Edmodo features including quiz enhancements and the addition of the Greek language. I was able to blog about these features. My comments praised Edmodo for continuing to broaden our social network by breaking down language barriers. I made an additional request to continue this by adding Asian languages. I also praised the addition of a new quiz feature that allows teachers to have weighted questions on a quiz.

On November 8th, I was able to register for a webinar on the 16th about using Edmodo to connect with peers and students. The focus is also going to be about managing what technology you have in your classroom and will be relevant to any teacher even if they have only one computer. On November 11th, Edmodo made provided links to connect your students' learning to Veterans Day in the areas of history and language arts. On the same day, Edmodo announced that they had received a technology and learning of excellence award.I found the information on this feed to encompass site features, curriculum expansion opportunities for students, and ongoing professional development for teachers. I like the level of activity on this feed and plan on keeping it.

A third feed that I added and have been following is Reading Today Daily. I think this is a good feed to follow for professional development since reading impacts all education. I also chose this particular reading feed because it is connected to the International Reading Association. In other words, being connected to I.R.A. is like being connected to I.S.T.E. On October 27th, I read an article about celebrating and supporting teachers as a key to solving worldwide illiteracy. In addition, there was an article about students using a web 2.0 tool called Voice Thread. This was a good introduction about incorporating this web 2.0 tool into the classroom. On October 28th, there was a featured blog about creating lifelong learners. On this day I attempted to comment on the article by linking to discuss on Engage. However, I found that I needed to sign up with the I.R.A. and chose not to at this time.

On November 4th, I read about the Nation's Report Card: Reading 2011. What I learned from this article is that there has been some improvement but not across the board. I also learned that scores were higher for White, Black, and Hispanic students in 2011 than in 2009. Further, changes were not significant for other ethnic groups. Reading Today Online also made me aware of an award that is given by I.R.A. to teachers who are innovative in connecting reading and technology. During the tracking period of this feed, I learned about a broad range of topics. These topics ranged from new technology tools and awards to updates on national reading scores as well as blogs about engaging learners.
At this time, I plan on keeping this feed.

Yet another feed I followed was a school climate blog. I feel this is a good feed to follow for professional development because bullying is an ongoing issue in our schools. Also, as teachers we work with people not machines. We cannot help our students learn without addressing their barriers to learning. One thing that I liked about establishing my RSS page was that I could view past posts which took place prior to my connection to this feed. In this case, I was able to read about a post written in September. This post was interesting to me because I did not realize one out of ten students drop out of school because of bullying. On November 3rd, this feed posted an article about BullyBust! and an addition to this program called Upstander Alliance. This information is useful to everyone in the teaching community. In ending, I did attempt to blog on this site but it would not submit my post because I was not viewing words above the box. Over the tracking period, I found this feed to show less activity. However, I feel the topic is an important one. I plan on keeping this feed and potentially using it as a resource to start a special interest committee at my school.

The "On Our Minds Scholastic..." feed continues to show regular activity. This was a feed I added on November 8th. So far, I have seen a broad range of topics just like I do in my Instructor magazine. There have been posts on books for boys, open discussions about school uniforms and whether students and teachers should be friends on Facebook. Since some of my feeds have more focused topics, I like that this feed encompasses a wide range of topics. At this time, I plan on keeping this feed.

Finally, I also followed the feeds we were asked to add to our RSS page. On October 28th, I read an interesting article from my NCTE feed. I read about a teacher who had previously thought of teaching as a way to connect students to work realized that the purpose of education is to understand our own life circumstances and too live more fully. This was very moving to me since I have always lived to learn not learned to be able to live and many people in my life path have not understood this about me. While I believe in teaching rigor and discipline, our lives are meaningless with out a passion for learning. Last year, I visited a huge aquarium and when I walked out of that place I was on a natural "high." On a daily basis, I notice many people around me who seem so lifeless. I don't teach "passion" but I believe it is infectious and something I have been successful in passing on to my students. This article reinforced for me to stay the course that has always worked for me as a teacher regardless of student age, student background or subject matter.

On October 29th, I read an article titled, "Are you a facebook bully?" from my educational technology feed. This was an interesting article wherein the writer talks about otherwise upstanding citizens/relatives she knows bullying people online. My I.S.T.E. feed led me to an article about iPads on November 3rd. I am currently working with an iPad so this appeared to be relevant to me. The article discussed whether it was necessary for a classroom to have thirty iPads. I was able to post a comment to this article. In my comment, I discussed the power of even one iPad in the classroom. Of course, as a teacher I truly feel the more resources available to me the better. Still, I commented on the necessity of managing the one iPad to maximize its potential for all students. I also discussed how this is what I did when I started out teaching with only one computer in the classroom. When I submitted this post, the site informed me that they would review my submission prior to posting. Over the tracking period some of these fields were more active then others. However, I plan on keeping all the required feeds.

In particular, I.S.T.E. is a feed I would have chosen even if it had not been required. I am also appreciative of being guided toward the Technology and Learning feed. On November 10th, I was able to respond to an article on my NPR Education feed. This article was about the GI bill not being enough to support veterans transition back into civilian educational opportunities. While I am not a veteran, I am aware of an online college which gives credit for military experience and focuses on the needs of veterans. For this reason, I responded and stated that I hoped my message would get to the veteran who is trying to go back to school.

My overall experience in tracking changes was a good one. I am a visual learner so to have one RSS page for my professional growth was wonderful! My RSS page allowed me to harness the power of technology that was previously overwhelming to me. My RSS page provided me with a wealth of resources more efficiently and with less cost than subscribing to multiple teaching journals. In the same way, I am able to get the same information and social networking that I would if I attended a conference which would require expensive travel and valuable time away from my students. It also provided me with news both national and global. In just a few weeks, I was tied to information about a British book publisher, polar bear migration in Canada, and national news regarding an increase in reduced lunches.

I will continue to value and manage my RSS page once this project is complete because it is my responsibility as a professional to stay current on issues in my profession. These issues may range from news about medical issues tied to ADHD medications or I.R.A.'s reading technology award. Irregardless of my current position, I also have a professional responsibility to disseminate relevant information to my colleagues. I am not a lone teacher in one classroom. I am part of a professional community. I think it's becoming harder for teachers to not recognize this with the evolution of social networking.

In other words, instead of checking individual sites or weeding through my favorites list, I was able to put everything I wanted in one custom page for professional growth and personal networking. Developing my RSS page was like creating a custom newspaper delivered to me daily through my computer access. I could efficiently look at this page and see if there were any updates on any of the feeds. During the tracking period, I very quickly became aware of which feeds were more active. In the future, I will probably add additional feeds. I will be able to manage my current and additional feeds by creating monthly, weekly, and daily tabs. In this way, I will be be able to put less active but relevant feeds into monthly of weekly tabs to better manage my time.

Most importantly, this will allow me to "grow" my RSS page, increase productivity, and increase my personal network. The power of the technology behind the RSS page will also allow me to discontinue feeds which become stagnant or become no longer relevant to my career. I also plan to look for feeds that can connect me to local and state educational news. At this time, I was able to find a state teacher blog through Teacher Portal. Unfortunately, there was not a feed available to this page. I further plan to add twitter (added November 8th) to my RSS page and eventually become involved with tweet deck. Eventually, I plan to add Diigo or Delicious to my RSS page. It appears that this is possible. In other words, as my career or role in education changes over time my RSS page will change as well.

In ending, I will use the content from my feeds to collaborate with colleagues not just locally but globally. I will also use the content to stay current on issues in education and improve my teaching skills. Likewise, I will use the content to improve my instruction and to connect my students globally through events like the polar bear migration. My feeds will provide me with information that will allow me to expand the walls of the classroom. In this way, I will be able to increase student motivation and engagement. Further, my feeds will keep me informed of issues that are relevant to my parents and students. This information will allow for better communication and understanding. I need to stay informed about the barriers to my student's learning in order to be an effective teacher. Still another capability of the RSS page is that it allows me to first view the topic, then open up to a brief caption, and then finally view the full text. I love this feature! This will allow for an efficient use of my time. In other words, I will have more time for students and actual teaching.

Finally, I will not only be able to use the capabilities of my RSS page to manage my professional life on my public page but also manage my personal life. I think RSS pages are such a wonderful tool that I told my husband I was going to help him create one over the break. In fact, I would put this on "my favorite things list of the year." In other words, if I could set up an RSS page for every professional who has an impact on my life I would. It's free!

GTD- The Getting Things Done Challenge

It was both easy and challenging for me to go through the getting things done challenge. First it was easy because I have been using a similar process since I can remember. On the other hand, it was challenging to critique where I could improve the process. Still, I did find that I was able to "tweak" my current process. I refer to the process as a challenge because I was forced to challenge my current way of doing things.

To begin with, I considered changing my current process of writing things down with a paper and pencil to possibly using Stixy.com or the sticky notes on my computer as my primary collection box. However, I don't visually see these unless I am on my computer. In fact, I've already tried using the post it system on my laptop to maintain lists. This also doesn't work because I am very kinesthetic. Maybe someone can develop an online augmented reality sticky note program.

Also, I like to keep separate in boxes to maintain our home and my life. As mentioned in the 5 Phases of Mastering Workflow article by David Allen, I do try to limit my collection boxes. Typically, I have one at work, one for myself, and a shared one with my husband. Now that I am taking this class, I have added one for school. This may seem like too many collection points, but I have never had a problem with time conflicts or getting things done. In general, most people usually notice and comment on my productivity.

In fact, when I knew I was going to be taking classes from home, I knew we would need to set up a room in our house that was my own office. This worked out great because we previously lacked a guest room and we were able to create a multi-functional space. In this way, I accomplished two goals in one project. I love to be creative and was able to get two things done with one project. Now that's getting things done!

Later, after I collect these ideas and to do items on lists, I then process what to do with each item. Do I handle it right away, defer the item, or delegate to my husband's list (at home)? In the processing stage, I also do a task analysis of any large projects breaking them done into smaller tasks. After processing the information, I then organize and start to "build" my weekly schedule and long term calender year schedule. The most challenging part of the "waiting for list" is that my husband's schedule is all over the board and we have to organize a shared year in our lives into six months. Lately, we have been compacting a year into four months. This is challenging! However, this is minimized because he is very organized and efficiently takes care of this when he is home and I am good at planning ahead.

Next, I typically review each list daily and cross off items as I complete them. At the end of the "work session," I evaluate and add anything that was not completed to the next day's list. Also, I typically keep my "to do" list at seven items. In other words, my process is very similar to the one described in the 5 Phases of Mastering Workflow by David Allen.

When going through the steps, I found that I was more cognizant of why I used my current process and it allowed me to re-evaluate what I was doing. For example, in the "do" step I am not good about monitoring how much energy I have for the day or how much energy I have left. I typically just push through. In this way, I found the process very helpful and I will integrate this into my current process. Another aspect I would like to work on is to spend more time on the "focus" step.

Honestly, I plan on continuing my previous process but will "tweak" some things based on my new learning. As I mentioned, the biggest change will be in monitoring my energy level in the "do" step. Finally, I feel this project was worthwhile and will benefit my health!

Allen, David. 5 Phases of Mastering Workflow. GTD Tools. 2006.

Enjoying the View: Social Networking

I like to visualize ideas so I'm including a photo representation of my current participation in social networking. I'm enjoying the view. In observation, I see a lot of people around me that I know and don't know participating in social networking. It's interesting to me. I wonder about the person walking in front of me so engaged in this other world that they don't even realize I'm there. Do I really feel it is some mysterious other world? Not really, I don't feel intimidated by it. It's not the shy kid at the party or the player waiting to get in the game. Actually, this is an arena that a shy person could excel in and a level playing field for all really. This is my impression. While I love the competition of a football game or any other competitive sport, I also love teamwork. In other words, I love to collaborate. Isn't social networking about collaboration? Isn't that what other educational professionals are doing when they engage in social networking professionally?

Actually, the above description is my impression prior to this past summer. This past summer, Edmodo found me or I found Edmodo. I signed up. I attended some conferences and I engaged with other educators from around the world. It was wonderful! Social networking through Edmodo allowed me to be back in the game from our rural home. At one conference, educators were sharing how they were using web 2.0 tools. I took notes. I went online and played with these tools. For a creative and visual person, all this new learning and technology sparked an interest. This interest led me to look for classes in educational technology. Now I am taking my first educational technology class. This all happened because of social networking.

Professionally, I plan on staying engaged with Edmodo and using it with my students in the future. It is a social networking tool that is helping me stay current on what's going on in education and engage with some pretty creative educators. I think engaging in other social networking opportunities will expand my knowledge base and help keep me stay current on what is relevant in education. This will increase the efficiency of my work flow. Prior to this time, I wasted a lot of time searching online for new ideas and current information. This was not a good system for managing my workflow.

Outside of the world of technology, I would describe myself as very organized both in my personal and professional life. Other people who know me would agree. When it came to managing new technology and using it to make my life more efficient, I felt frustrated. Organized people or people who are good at managing workflow don't waste time with tools that don't contribute to efficiency in our lives. However, we do recognize when there is potential in using a tool. What had happened from the start of my career wherein I had used every available technology as a resource up until now? Not through choice, I had been sidelined. I wanted to get back in the game. I decided the fastest way to do so was through social networking. Again, a willingness to use ever availabe resource and the most effiecient path.

Personally, I think social networking can keep me better connected to people in my life. I noticed on Linked In that my brother and a teacher that I met at a conference were there waiting to connect. My weakness in managing my work flow has been to use the extra time I have created through efficiency to try to pack more into my life. I now monitor and allow for down time in my personal life and this has benefited my professional life.

I think my peers use social networking both professionally and personally. I think this benefits and adds quality to their lives. I think this is true for students as well. I think it opens up a larger world that is not restricted by geography. However, I worry about the impact of students being less active and participating less in other hobbies. Perhaps this is my limited view, maybe they are more engaged because of this social networking. Still, it is unsafe to be lost in this world while driving a car. I worry about cyber-bullying but bullying exists outside of this "other world" also. In ending, social networking is broadening my view. I no longer feel as though I'm viewing the world from a small plane, but rather jet setting around the world! It's exciting!

Traditional Web Pages and Blogs: What's the Difference?

Isn't a blog really just a specialized web page? In my opinion, there are some differences between traditional web pages and blogs. To begin with, I view blogs as an online dialogue. Traditional web pages tend to be more static in nature. Further, when visiting a web page, one might expect to purchase something. On the other hand, when I visit a blog I expect to see ongoing posts and comments by various people. Blogs also seem to have the unique feature of being able to archive past posts. In ending, one of my favorite web page's is linked to a blog. In other words, while there remains some gray area about the differences between blogs and traditional web pages, they are obviously not the same.