Using Twitter to Connect

This week I learned how useful twitter can be for educational purposes. We participated in a live interview via Google Hangouts with Toby Brown, a professor at Oklahoma State. He discussed why and how he uses twitter to grow professionally. I learned that twitter chats are a great way to share information and ask other educators questions. By simply hash-tagging during a chat on twitter, you are instantly connected to others.

The twitter chat I observed this week was Elementary Counselors Chat, #escchat. It took place on a Thursday at 7-8 central time. The topic was art therapy. I think this topic was chosen to be discussed because it is a common way to have children discuss their feelings. Rather than talking about things, children can draw what they feel.

It was so interesting to watch the chat live. I had seen some of my followers use hash-tags before but I had never searched a hash-tag and watch the chat happen. To begin, all the teachers all introduced themselves. Then they began answering questions that one person posed. They used letters and numbers to communicate which question they were answering, for example the first question would be labeled: Q1 and would have answers labeled: A1. It was so cool to see teachers communicating back and forth, sharing their lesson ideas, successes, and failures. They offered to help each other with tools that other teachers were not familiar with. I really enjoyed it and I look forward to doing this again. I think the hardest part about the chats is remembering when they happen! Once you have a specific area of teaching that you want to connect with other educators about, it would make participating in these chats much easier.

I follow many of my friends on twitter but before this, followed few educators. I don't personally know very many teachers who use twitter professionally. I decided to put myself out there and follow a few well-known tweeters who I can learn from. Here are the people I decided to follow and why:

• Jamie Fath (@jamiefath) - my instructor for the technology course I am taking this semester. I know she uses twitter well and I look forward to learning from her!
• Toby Brown (tbbrwn) - he is the professor I mentioned earlier in my post that we interviewed on Sunday about twitter. He had a lot of great ideas and participates in the chats on twitter regularly so watching his tweets would be beneficial to become connected to other educators.
• Jerry Blumengarten (@cybraryman1) - Toby recommended we follow him. I am looking forward to learning whatever I can! He also participates in the twitter chats regularly.
• Scott McLeod (mcleod) - I followed him about a year ago. My dad is a friend and colleague of his so I had the opportunity to meet with him him last year. He founded CASTLE, a center whose focus is on school administrators need for technology. I highly recommend following him on twitter and also checking out his blog called Dangerously Irrelevant.
• Jacob Short (mrshort2005) - He is a teacher at Saint Edmond high school, my alma mater. He occasionally participates in the twitter chats and also is a great example of how to incorporate technology into a high school classroom.

There are so many other great tweeters out there, but this will do for now! I look forward to creating authentic connections with people in the future. Similar to my blog post about being a connected educator, we must create relationships, not just internet interactions.

I think the twitter chats are helpful and I will participate in the future. I am connected through social networks already for personal purpose, I might as well follow some educators too and hit two birds with one stone! I know a new and unknown tool can be frightening to use, so here are some tips for teachers new to twitter:

• Follow at least 5 people who are tied to the education field. 
• Watch a twitter live chat. Check out this link to find the times and dates of different topics discussed: Twitter chats
• After you have slowly immersed yourself into the twitter world, tweet at an expert with a question!
• Push yourself even more, participate in a chat!
• Slow is key. Don't overwhelm yourself.

Diversify Your Library

Exposing our students to many cultures is extremely important. We want to ensure that they receive a well-balanced and diverse education. Check out this great article, Picture Imperfect, about why it's important to diversify your classroom library so students are exposed to a different cultures through read alouds and books written by a plethora of authors.

"I want to make sure all children can see themselves in books," she says. "I want children to know their history matters - they matter," says Kelly Starling Lyons, an African-American children's book author.

Monica Brown, a Peruvian-American author of children's books about multiethnic identity, states, "It's important that we have these books in our schools because not every family can afford to own them."

The article provides a list which is a good starting point to add some diversity to your library:

An Inclusive Children's Reading List

• Benjamin and the Word, written by Daniel A. Olivas
• Black is Brown is Tan, written by Arnold Adoff
• The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind: Young Readers Edition, written by William Kamkwamba
• Brick by Brick, written by Charles R. Smith, Jr.
• Courtney's Birthday Party, written by Loretta Long
• Ellen's Broom, written by Kelly Starling Lyons
• The Great Big Book of Families, written by Mary Hoffman
• Kate and the Beanstalk, written by Mary Pope Osborne
• Marisol McDonald Doesn't Match, written by Monica Brown
• Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale, written by John Steptoe
• My Princess Boy, written by Cheryl Kilodavis
• Nappy Hair, written by Carolivia Herron
• Oh the Things Mommies Do! What Could Be Better Than Having Two?, written by Crystal Tompkins
• The Patchwork Path: A Quilt Map to Freedom, written by Bettye Stroud
• The President Looks Like Me & Other Poems, written by Tony Medina

Another point to keep in mind is that every classroom is full of different kids. In addition to this list, try to find books that relate specifically to your kids and their lives. 

I love my career

On Friday, I was able to participate in my first ever professional development. The dork in me was very excited! Sitting in the commons surrounded by the K-12 faculty, I felt like a real teacher.

The superintendent is retiring at the end of this year and I heard his touching 'thank you' to all of the staff. It was so powerful to hear him say how much he has enjoyed his time because of all the teachers. The school is such a community and it was wonderful to feel a part of that.

We received instructions on how to map out the curriculum for the year with a program called Curriculum Mapping. We then broke into grade level teams and began working! I worked with the 1st grade team, which consists of 4 female teachers of all different experience levels. They had already mapped out their math for the year, so we began with literacy. Literacy is broken into 6 categories:

• Foundational Skills
• Informational Skills
• Writing
• Speaking and Listening
• Literature
• Language/Grammar

Mapping out the whole year is a very daunting task. For a few minutes we all just sat and wondered, "Where do we begin?" Once we got into a groove it was a much easier task to tackle. The teachers had a document which aligned all of the Iowa Core Standards to their curriculum, Basal Reading Program. Rather than having to type all of this information into the program, I helped them discover how to upload files. Once we knew how, we scanned the pages that applied to each category in the program and uploaded them as PDFs.

Once all the standards were aligned with the curriculum, we added in the teaching strategies that they use to teach each category. Many of the teaching strategies apply to more than one of the categories. Some of the strategies they brainstormed are:

• Word sorts
• White boards
• Sight words
• Reader's Theatre
• Modeling
• Think aloud
• Story maps
• Venn diagrams
• Whole group discussion
• Think, pair, share

It was very rewarding for me to sit in on this process. I saw a team of teachers work collaboratively together to finish a project. They supported each other and all contributed. I will be a new and unexperienced teacher in a little over a year and it is very scary to think about walking into an empty classroom and preparing to teach a group of kiddos. It was comforting to know that maps like the one we worked on are available for teachers to help them know where to begin with teaching. The team of teachers also discussed how much your team will help you as a first year teacher. I feel much better about the idea of being a new teacher, it's going to be here before I know it!

Overall, I am very thankful for this experience. I look forward to growing professionally in the future!

A Connected Teacher

Being able to be a team player, work collaboratively, and communicate with colleagues are crucial characteristics of great teachers. This week I did a little research on being a "connected educator". For those of you that are not familiar with this term, it simply means a teacher who is connected through technology tools with other teachers. For example, not just 'following' other educators on twitter, but tweeting back and forth, creating relationships, and carrying on conversations. Here is a great visual that Dr. Alec Couros created which illustrates this idea.

[Retrieved from http://dmlcentral.net/blog/howard-rheingold/professor-alec-couros-connected-teacher]

Through my research, I found that a lot of people are talking about Connected Educators online. There is a Connected Educators project, a month dedicated to Connected Educators, books for sale on the topic, the information was overwhelming! I found a site with ten tips for becoming a Connected Educator. It is a great starting point, I recommend checking it out!

Benefits of being a Connected Educator:

• You can learn from other teachers' mistakes and successes.
• You can use resources created by other teachers and share your own to save time.
• You can create relationships with teachers all over the world which will last much longer than any tool.

Am I connected? Not nearly as much as I should be. Sure, I blog, tweet, post and buy things on Teachers Pay Teachers, search sites for lessons created by other teachers, follow blogs and educators on twitter. All of those things I'm doing are great, but I have not taken the next step to create a flow of communication back and forth. I plan to challenge myself to do so. This is what I will do to become connected:

• I will comment on other's blogs when I see an idea I like.
• I will participate in EdTech tweet conversations using hashtags.
• I will contact teachers to question them about lessons they've created or done that I find online.
• I will create relationships with teachers I do not know or have not met yet.

"The tools come and go, but the relationships endure." - Dr. Alec Couros.

I challenge you to step out of your comfort zone and create deep connections with other educators!

Technology Standards

In my technology class, we took an assessment through the AEA. It tested my knowledge on the technology standards for teachers. The standard I tested highest on was standard #2 and I tested lowest on standard #5. Most of the questions I missed were due to misinterpretation or misunderstanding by myself. I also missed questions that dealt with laws about technology in schools and professional development because those are two things I do not have much experience in.

There are some similarities between the technology standards for teachers and the technology standards for students. They are both focused on making the teacher and student the best at using technology; whether that be in their teaching or in their classroom.

In addition to the similarities, there are many differences. The standards for teachers are more focused on the planning, modeling, and promoting. As teachers, it is our job to create a classroom environment that promotes twenty-first century learning skills and model for our students how to use tools to help them succeed. The student standards are all things we want students to be able to do throughout or after projects and assignments that their teachers assign. These standards are the skills we want students to have in order to be a twenty-first century learner.

I think these are very appropriate expectations for students and teachers when it comes to technology because they are doable, and they are necessary to succeed in our world today. New jobs and new tools are constantly being created and it prepare our students for the real world we must teach them how to be life-long learners and how to use technological tools. I think the standards are appropriate expectations for teachers because it is an expectation already for us to model for our students, so modeling technology is another way we can teach them.

As a future teacher, I can work to ensure that other teachers have a deep understanding of these standards by sharing with them what I have learned. With the background I have with technology, I may be one of the more tech-savvy teachers at my future job and I will gladly teach the skills and tools I have learned. I think it is important to share with others because that is how we grow and become better teachers.

ISTE has created profiles for grade bands. It provides ideas for grade-level appropriate lessons tha meet the student standards. I chose PreK-2nd. Here are three quick lesson snippets that could meet standard #1: Creativity and Innovation:

1. Students will create their own original story using the iPad app Toontastic. Students will create a rough draft on paper and then create their digital story using their own illustrations and voice over their plot.
2. Students will pick an issue that effects their life in some way (recycling, playground safety, littering, etc.) and create a Public Service Announcement using VoiceThread to educate their audience about the problem. They will work with a partner to accomplish this task.
3. Students will create an Acrostic poem using Pic Collage about themselves. They will use adjectives to describe themselves and add pictures or illustrations to tell the class about who they are.

Technology Comes Last

Now you may be thinking, "What's up with that title?" "This is a technology blog, what is she talking about!?" We are always looking to experts to back our decisions in teaching. Harris and Hofer have 5 steps to planning a lesson and I have studied those steps in my technology class. The steps have choosing the technological tool last. I agree with their steps and think it's a good basis to ensure that you are teaching a lesson with a learning purpose in mind for your students. Read on to learn more about it!

Here is a short summary of their 5 steps:

1. Determine the lesson's purpose
2. Make pedagogical decisions - they have 8 continua to help guide you
3. Select activity types
4. Select the appropriate assessment
5. Choose the right technological tool

[Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B0iefVzmSlbtXzFWYUd3bGxiWHM/edit]

As you can see in the steps above, the technology piece of the lesson doesn't have a role until the very end. The reason I think this is a beneficial way to teach is because it doesn't allow the technology to take center stage. Let's face it, technology is exciting and fun to use, but we need to remember that our students' learning is our main goal and how we reach that goal is the important piece; not what technological tool we want to use. Once the learning goal is stated and we know what we want our students to learn, then we can begin brainstorming ideas of how to reach that goal. Harris and Hofer have a list of different activity types for varying learning goals. 

Harris and Hofer's idea of thinking of the technology last is a point I have made in previous blog posts. Not only when it comes to technology, but any lesson, we need to pinpoint the learning goal before we decide the activity students will do. This is not how I have planned in the past, but through observation and learning in my classes this semester, I have come to understand that this is the best way to plan in order to ensure the learning goal is met. 

To every argument, there are two sides. Here is a pro/con list to planning the technological tool last:

Overall, I would say this is a good process to adopt, or at least consider, when creating lessons. Remember, this doesn't just apply to technology lessons, but rather your teaching as a whole. It is always good practice to think about your goal and what you want your students to learn before anything else.

Live and Learn

As teachers, we plan. We plan units, lessons, days, weeks, and even the whole year at a glance. You can plan all you want, but unless you can tell the future, you will never know how your students will react to a lesson. A lesson never happens exactly how you imagine it; good or bad. That is why we have to be flexible and learn from our mistakes.

This semester I have to do a 24 hour classroom experience for one of my technology classes. I am so excited to teach some lessons and learn from my cooperating teacher. I created a lesson using the app called Toontastic and taught it last week to a group of 2nd graders. I was so excited!

[Retrieved from: http://cdn-images.launchpadtoys.com/lpt/toontastic/promo-page/lead-screen/4.jpg]

It did not go as planned, to say the least. I was really disappointed at first, but then I realized that i had learned so much. I knew what to fix next time to make it a perfect lesson. Toontastic is an iPad app that allows students to create their own settings, characters, and storyline; and then voice over to create a digital story. I would highly recommend creating a story yourself using the app before teaching this lesson. It is very user friendly and talks you through the steps!

[Retrieved from http://teachertechguy.edublogs.org/2012/03/27/toontastic/]

I would recommend spreading a lesson like this out over at least a week; unfortunately I couldn't do that since I do not have my own classroom yet. Here's a breakdown of the lesson outline:

1. Discuss as a class what it means to "think in your head."
2. Ask students to close their eyes and think of their favorite story.
3. Ask them:
         What happens?
         Who is in the story?
         What do they do?
         How does it end?
4. Discuss the parts of a story and make a list on a board/poster. In the app, they use specific terms which you may need to teach your students (set-up, conflict, climax, challenge, resolution)
5. Show your students an example story that you create on the draft forms.
6. Build a story using Toontastic with them so they can see how it works.

A rough draft is key for the students to really plan out their stories and not just play with the app. I created a draft packet for the students. Check out my store on Teachers Pay Teachers to find the rough draft packet! It is a simple format for students to use to map out their story.

Try it out, your students will be very engaged and excited to use their creativity!

This tool can be found in the App Store on the iPads. They also have a website which provides support, resources, and FAQ concerning the tool. It is available only on iPads, iPhones, or iPods. Another classroom idea to use this app would be to have your students recreate a story line they have read. They can then discuss the similarities and differences between their version and the original version.