Tuesday, March 25, 2014

"Growing Digitally" Personal Online Case Study


It is always critical to examine myself as a learner and a teacher at the same time.  My tendency is to teach others the way that I learn.  This semester has opened my eyes to so very many new ways of teaching and learning.  I have learned that tools such as Twitter, Storify, Evernote, and Google tools can change the way we receive and deliver education.

The data reveals that my participation in certain forms of digital activity has increased this semester.  Here is a quick summary:

Activity                          As of 05/14/13                          As of 3/25/14
Tweets                                  13                                                 209
Twitter Following                   29                                                   78
Twitter Follower G+              13                                                    31
people in circles
Storifys                                    0                                                    11

I have also recreated my digital learning hub and collaborated on a site where teachers can post math performance tasks called NHPS Math Media Hub.  I started the semester using Pocket to "house" articles of interest and have explored, and decided to utilize Evernote Pocket because there are so many functions available.  I have become more proficient at tagging, archiving, and developing my own online "brain" or way of thinking and organizing my thoughts.

This semester I have become more social online than I have ever been before.  The DLMOOC has encouraged me to be a part of a very exciting and powerful deeper learning mindset.  The discussions, tweets, posts, and hangouts have been fantastic.  I feel connected to many people who share a belief in possibilities to transform education.  I have seen so many first hand examples of what deeper learning can mean.  I  realize the significance that videos and Google Hangouts can have on learning and teaching and appreciate them in terms of my own learning style.

As I look toward the future I think about what I want to do to become a proficient blended educator.  I hope to continue to add to my blog as a part of my way of processing or "thinking things out".  I see myself continuing to add to my learning hub as part of my normal routine.  I will continue to work on a professional level to advocate for greater efforts toward digital literacy in my school district. I will continue to develop my professional, social, network.  I will continue to examine the pros and cons of social networking uses in the classroom.  I feel like I am just beginning to understand what the term curating means.  This journey into digital literacy is always exciting to me.  I look forward to continued growth in the near and distant future.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Walking In Someone Else's World

This week in the  #WALKMYWORLD project we were to review someone else's Storify in the project.  I choose 2 people randomly and was amused.  I followed my intuition and continued to a  third person and that is where I discovered Kevin Hodgson.  As I read through his Storify I was intrigued, entertained, in awe of his digital curation. I felt like I was making a new acquaintance.

Here is Kevin Hodges's Storify.  It seems to me that he is a talented guy, who loves his digital explorations, his son, his dog, his poetry and has a good sense of humor.  I wrote to him to share my thoughts and wanted to share a picture of my dog but the file was too large so I will have to post the picture of my Beau here!






Friday, March 14, 2014

My New Look


This week we were to revise and review our Distance Learning Medium.  While I was in the revising mode I decided to also revise my learning hub.  So welcome to my new learning hub Technology For The Veteran Teacher .  As you will discover I have tried to reach those people who may have much classroom experience and little digital experience.

Included on the second page under Digital Tools and Texts is my revised demonstration using
Screencast-o-Matic to pull a specific report on our district data site.  You can also find this demo folded into the Digital Tools and Texts Repository here .

The process of revision is so important.  As I learn more I want to include more in my online identity and resources.  I am realizing that it is also a domino effect in that one revision may lead to another and to another.  I also am becoming familiar with how to utilize the revision history features on Google sites.  The other reflection of importance to me is that for some reason I have felt that projects need to be "perfect" before I share them.  I realize that if I let go of that concept and invite feedback than my opportunities to improve will be greater.  So feel free to view, critique, and share your feedback on my journey to digital literacy.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

#WALKMYWORLD PROJECT

Over the past eight weeks I am one of many people who have Tweeted in a Project entitled Walk My World.  For a complete description of the project see THE #WALKMYWORLD PROJECT


The WalkMyWorld experience provided an opportunity for me to let the world know about a few things that are meaningful to me.  As I named aspects of my daily life I claimed them as part of my identity.  The naming/capturing small pieces of experience and posting them for the world to see is a type of historical archiving.  It allowed people to look at my own private history.  At the same time when I captured and posted to WalkMyWorld I was creating a separate identity from anyone else.  The posts show who I am as an individual separate from others in the world.  To view my journey along the walk click on the link below.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Reflection on My Micro Talk on the National Endowment For The Humanities



Last week I researched the National Endowment For The Humanities and made a brief presentation on the organization.  (Click on the link above to view the presentation) This blog is a reflection on that process.

I began by taking a good amount of time exploring the website.  I had heard of NEH but really did not know much about it.  After a few days of exploring I realized that there is so much that they do I needed to focus on just a few of the programs that I wanted to highlight.  The next decision I made was in reference to how I wanted to present my findings.  Since I have not used the Google presenter I decided to use that to outline my findings.  Next I practiced using the Screencast -O-Matic program to narrate the slide show.  After several "takes" the micro talk was ready for publishing.

It was exciting to get feedback form my colleagues.  Several people went to the site to look into the lesson plans on EDSITEment.  Several  people also commented on how they had plans to share the information with other teachers.  Our professor Laura was able to give some first hand feedback since she had participated in four of the teacher programs.

The experience was positive.  I learned so much form other Micro Talks done by my colleagues.

Saturday, March 8, 2014

Showing What You Know, Assessments for Deeper Learning



This week we explored some "nontraditional" forms of assessing knowledge, specifically deeper knowledge. The two areas I explored were earning digital badges and high school senior year portfolio defense.  Both these topics are reviewed in my Storify entitled Showing What You Know .  

The concept of digital badges has many practical implication for education.  Badges can be earned by teachers as a professional development measure.  Teachers can develop badges which can be earned by other teachers and pre-service teachers.  Students can earn badges as part or all of their class work.  I envision myself learning more about badges in the future in my own lifelong learning process.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Mindsets and Learning Dispositions



If you have not thought much about the power of your attitude and mindset in terms of learning than take a look at some of the ideas presented in my storify entitled Mindsets and Dispositions for Learning .