Standard+5

__** Enhancing Core Teaching Skills with Technology ** __

Included on this page are:

 * 1) ===NETS*T Standard 5 ===
 * 2) ===Learning Communities Discussion ===
 * 3) ===Media Literacy Discussion ===
 * 4) ===School Internet Policy Discussion ===
 * 5) ===21st Century Students video link ===
 * 6) ===21st Century Skills ===
 * 7) ===21st Century Learning ===
 * 8) ===Reflections ===
 * 9) ===Future Goals ===

#5. Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership
=== Teachers continuously improve their professional practice, model lifelong learning, and exhibit leadership in their school and professional community by promoting and demonstrating the effective use of digital tools and resources. Teachers: ===


 * participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning
 * exhibit leadership by demonstrating a vision of technology infusion, participating in shared decision making and community building, and developing the leadership and technology skills of others
 * evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning
 * contribute to the effectiveness, vitality, and self-renewal of the teaching profession and of their school and community

===My artifacts demonstrating this standard (What?)===

My Discussion
Even after reading all the possibilities available through Ning and Twitter, I still don’t get what the benefit is of these over a wiki or facebook. Ok, I will admit, I am a member of facebook. I have found it very useful in keeping up to date with my family and friends from high school. We have set up a couple of family reunions through facebook and organized everything from location to menus. Twitter on the other hand seems excessive. It reminds me of teenage girls on the telephone who can’t stop talking. Or the students in class who can’t keep quiet to let someone else have the stage for a change. I don’t need to be interrupted by a ding to tell me that someone just purchased a latte. I will say, that I have expanded my thinking into accepting a wiki as a great possibility in the classroom, but twitter is going too far.

Reply #1
I also think that a classroom wiki is a good learning tool. Facebook and Twitter used educationally may be a good source if used correctly. What I have seen of Facebook and Twitter really doesn't impress me either. I have seen my children use Facebook. They post pictures, make comments about acitvities, friends, etc. It is a social network. The media also has portrayed these sites, especially Twitter, as nothing more than a gossip site. I saw an interview with a 16 year old girl who stopped using Facebook for her safety. Other girls were jealous of her friendships, pictures, etc. and were giving her a hard time at school. Is this worth it? This young lady chose to quit all sites and said she is so happy and content now. Missuse of anyting is not good. I choose to use a wiki to provide information to my students and parents. It's an individual choice to join social sites. Some people can handle it, others........

Reply #2
I agree Laura, it seems to me that some of the sites are repetitive. The same thing, but a different name. I did not like Twitter. I would rather go to specific groups on a Ning or Wiki to post or blog. I did not like the idea of following and searching for people. In addition some of the comments about Twittering were offensive. I did like the ways to jazz up your discussions with Voki.

<span style="color: #ff7400; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Reply #3
<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">I agree Laura... I can't see a huge difference between Twitter and Facebook either and I am not really sure how either of them would be a benefit in the classroom! I have started a wiki page as an extention to my 8th grade research projects and overall it has worked well... Will say however that I did get a little frustrated when adding to the wiki because when I would copy projects the spacing would ALL mess up!!! Does not sit well with someone who is a bit "OCD" about that kind of thing!!!!

<span style="color: #ff7400; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Reply #4
<span style="font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: normal;">I don't think we should bring applications into the classroom for the sake of bringing things into the classroom. I feel that if it's not broke, don't try to fix it. However, this course and others like it should make us open minded enough to realize that there may be better, more efficient ways of teaching and learning.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Module 4 Week 9 Discussion
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Am I a media literacy instructor? YES! I am using media (computer or video phone generated) to instruct my students. I was amazed to find out that as of the 80's, anything that was put down on paper was officially copyrighted without the infamous c in a circle. It is good to hear that we, as educators have a little leniency in using copyrighted material in the class. We can use news stories and other materials in the class without fear of being fined; our students can also site or use as links information found on the internet to support their thesis or hypothesis. No students I know are out to make money on their high school research projects, on the contrary, they simply want to finish the class with a passing grade.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What does tranformative works mean? It means taking an object and adjusting it so that you can view it in a way that works for you. Adapting without changing the important information. I am constantly going into google to search for images to teach vocabulary to my students. Whether we look at the image as presented in the search, open the page related to the image, or download to eliminate distracting information, we are transforming it to suit our needs.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> To teach my students what transformative works means I would take a picture from our last field trip and have them add a caption. Then I would let them play with a photo editing program -- change the colors, lighten the background, erase some of the unwanted lines, crop the photo. When finished they would be asked if the same caption could be applied to the new photo. We transformed the photo, but kept the message the same.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I think (and please correct me if I am wrong) that Austin wants us to obey the copyright law in that we do not copy anything with the C in a circle on it. If it says NO COPYING PERMITTED. They are not looking over our shoulder every minute to be sure we are following it, but it is up to each individual to take on the responsibility. Any information found on the internet is 'fair game'. We site it and acknowledge where we got it.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Social Bookmarking Reflection <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> Using Diigo for the first time was easy to do. I was able to, with the use of the tool bar, bookmark pages as I found them in a google search. I will be able to use the library with my students and co-workers to share websites. During my integration plan, I can use social bookmarking with the students to create a list of websites they can return to since we will be carrying over research to other lessons.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Module 2 Week 5 Summary of Discussion
<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> It was interesting to see everyone's perspective of the same school's filtering policy. Overall I gleaned the following: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We can access the fringes of technology -- pictures, teacher friendly websites. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We are often blocked from accessing sites which would enhance our lessons. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> The school is not only protecting the students from themselves, but also the educators from potential "over protective" parents.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> We may be able to gain access to some of the more popular tech tools by: <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> create a list of sites we wish to have access to. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> approach the administration as a team <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> establish levels of filtering for teachers and students <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> use some of the advanced search tools which guide Yahoo or Google to conduct a "safe search"

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> What ever happens, it seems to me that we are still looking at the educator having more homework in trying to find a through or around the filtering maze.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I first saw this Youtube video at an inservice about 3 years ago. It still holds true and really brings what is happening in the world into focus.

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> I think the best quote from the video is:

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> "We are currently preparing students for jobs and <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> technology that don't yet exist...in order to solve <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> problems we don't even know are problems yet."



<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">[|Framework for 21st Century Learning] <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> This site comes up with a list of skill areas students need to develop in order to be prepared for life in the 21st Century.

===My Reflection on meeting this standard (So What?)=== <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I don't think any teacher can get away with NOT developing self-renewal of their teaching. We are expected to participate in so much revitalization as it is. These artifacts do reflect, though, my attempt to bring my teaching into the 21st Century and share that knowledge with others.

===My Future Learning Goals related to this standard (Now What?)=== <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">I need to work on participating in more global learning communities and be more involved in my school's technology development.