With Web2.0 Comes New Literacies Expectations

Web2.0 is defined as the Read/Write Web. Since we no longer depend on the web as a stream of one-way information that can simply be assimilated and now that anyone can publish on the web we must teach our students to become more critical readers and writers. Students must be able to not only evaluate a website for authenticity now we must further their skills by adding in evaluating the writing on the website for information gathering purposes. Educators must also step up their game in teaching writing skills for publishing purposes. These are the challenges we face now.

We must reach the goals of creating students who can critically read and write. Today I witnessed this in a fourth grade class where two teachers were trying to stretch their students’ writing skills by using an abstract process. I’m not sure how successful it was judging by the discussions that followed at lunch. Teachers and students are baffled at the new writing process we are expected to leap into with the latest Core Curriculum standards. I must point out that having attended several workshops on brain research and how children learn that children are, for the most part, concrete thinkers until the age of 12. At that age of development, children are able to be abstract thinkers. I launched that discussion at lunch today. Two teachers said I had a valid point as they were tutoring children that age who suddenly clicked with more abstract ideas and connections.

So what do we do about this? Of course, we need more research, more professional development, but I think the answers lie in social networking tools. It’s been interesting watching this network evolve. When we first received email, we began connecting with other teachers in the district and those we met at professional development. Now with social networking tools teachers can reach virtually any teacher in the world and exchange ideas and lessons. Those who are involved in developing standards would do well to reach into those networks to see what is happening at the classroom level. Too often our administrators pop in a few times a year. Everyone at every level, including parents, need to be involved in these networks of sharing vital information. In addition, data mining of online programs used currently in schools should be evaluated by everyone involved in the education process. As usual, I think the students will be ahead of everyone in this road to the next generation of Read/Write Web2.0 critical thinkers. We teachers can only hang on and guide them along as we find out how to change content and curriculum to best suit student needs.

More Cool Web 2.0 Tools

After reading Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms by Will Richardson and perusing through the various links listed for me in the Web 2.0 Tools for the Classroom by my professor, Mary Bennett, from Fresno Pacific University, both waxed eloquently of all the web tools we have at our availability in our classrooms. This reminded me of something I saw at an NJAET (New Jersey Association for Educational Technology) conference two years ago and to which I keep returning. It is a web tool that I could use easily with a jigsaw method of teaching whereby the students each take sections of material and share them so they are responsible for teaching each other. Using the jigsaw method makes the students accountable but a great way to share it would be with Fakebook. Students are familiar with the popular social networking site, Facebook, and Fakebook, which is strictly educational, allows the teacher to set up a topic and the students can contribute by networking with each other much the same as creating Facebook profiles. For example, each student could add their authors and book titles for our annual fifth grade Battle of the Books which is a district wide competition. They could use the Fakebook pages they made to for an author/book study to practice for the competition. The only limitation Fakebook has is that they do clear out the information from time to time but if you save the URL, you can always get your information back. I plan on running it by a fifth grade teacher to see what she thinks of this. Being the Technical Coordinator in the building, I thought it might be easy to set this up during one of their regular class periods and could be finished at home or during extra lab times. That way I can reach over 140 students at once. It could be a great resource.

Podcasting for Content Delivery

Podcasting, originally coined because of iPods and broadcasting combined, proved to be a tool I will use again and again. Quickly I realized the greatest application of all for me, as you have not needed an iPod to view (if using video) or hear (if using audio only) for quite some time, is twofold. I have multiple classes of the same grade level. So first of all, due to interruptions such as fire drills, assemblies, and let’s face it, sometimes I forget to tell one group something, etc., it is difficult to deliver content uniformly. Therefore, by simply playing a podcast to the various student groups, I can make sure I deliver the same lesson consistently to a large audience. Secondly, if students are absent, don’t understand or remember a point, they can access the podcast and see it allowing them to receive the content and freeing me to assist the rest of the class instead of teaching a lesson to a small group while the rest of the class works independently. Not an easy feat when you are teaching grades 1-5. Not only could I place the podcast on our shared network drive for students to access, I could put it on my teacher site as well.

I tried using Audacity for an audio podcast. It's great because there is no time limit and you can cut and edit a music track with it. You can easily edit any mistakes you make during the recording. Since I am teaching computer applications, I felt my students may need both audio and visual. You do need to consider the audience when deciding how best to deliver a podcast. In the past I had played around with Jing but never used it much. I like it because you can share it as a Screencast link, where you can get a free account. The two are used in tandem. Once you make your video using Jing, you can click 'share' and it will build as a link that is stored on Screencast. They allow you to capture what is on your desktop as an image or a video and add your voice to it. Jing does have the option of saving your podcast as an .swf file, but not every student has a device for viewing that file type especially if they were using a device of their own choosing, which my district allows. There is a time limit of 5 minutes and you can not edit out any mistakes, only start anew. This product is made by TechSmith and you might be able to apply for a grant for a product they make called Camtasia. You can add introductions, music, edit mistakes, and you can save in a format viewable on all devices as well as have untimed limitations. If less than ten minutes long, you can upload your Camtasia podcast to YouTube as another option for viewing.

Since my district is migrating towards becoming a Google Educational Domain, I try to explore as many Google apps as possible. Recently I came across Gone Google Story Builder and thought it would be fun to share a podcast for both students and colleagues. Story Builder allows students to correct each other’s work in real time but the fun part for them besides writing with a classmate is to add music that is built into the app. 

I hope you will try Audacity, Jing for audio or video podcasting and Gone Google StoryBuilder for writing. They are not only fun to use but fairly easy. There are many videos and even podcasts available on the internet for all of these products to assist you with their use. Here is my sample video on how to use Gone Google Story Builder. You will find mistakes, but that is one of the charms of podcasting. NETS-S 1, 2, 4, and 5.

Photo Sharing as a Classroom Tool

There are plenty of photo sharing sites out there. In this post, I will summarize three products, Picasa, Shutterfly, and Flickr, according to ease of use and my experience with them and how to apply photo sharing in the classroom. An advantage to all photo sharing sites is that you do not have to store photos on your computer, taking up large quantities of file space.

I have used Picasa for years; however, recently I have run into some issues that make it difficult. For example, it used to be easy to create a folder or album and upload your photos to it. Now I find duplication errors and sometimes the photos end up in another album. It is easy to share and maintain your privacy using Picasa. It has a feature that lets you email a link to your album to your friends and family and you can set your privacy so that only persons with the link can view it. Another great feature is the built-in editor. You can remove red eye, change the tint, sharpen features, and add effects among the many tools offered. Then you can save the changes in your album. If you as a teacher want to share photos as a penpal project, this would be perfect as the privacy settings allow you to be flexible. NETS-S standard 2 would apply here as students use digital media to communicate at a distance. Fifth grade on up would be able to use this tool.

Shutterfly not only allows you to store photos and share but I like their feature for creating hard covered books using your photos and your text. Of course, now many photo sharing sites have jumped on the bandwagon with this feature and you can even find hard bound book services discounted at some online at sites such as Costco, if you have a membership. Our family celebrated our parents’ 60th anniversary with a huge surprise party at a casino. We asked the guests to share their photos and my husband and I selected the best shots and created a hard bound book as a keepsake. Creating a class book for a special occasion such as a graduation year would not only allow students to have a voice in their yearbook, but would help them construct meaning as well as develop a lasting memory of sharing through photos and text.  NETS-S standards 1, 4, 6.

Until this week, I had only poked around on Flickr. From time to time a colleague would share something that was done on Flickr and I put it on my ‘some day I’ll try it’ list after just seeing the opening screen. I have a Yahoo email account, the parent company of Flickr, so it was easy to set up an account. I found the tools straightforward and in no time I was photostreaming some pictures I took last fall of our dog and a deer in our yard who connected for about a ten minute period. I ended up using that sequence of still shots to teach third grade students how to write a digital story using PhotoStory 3, a free download, from Microsoft. In my previous post, I shared my photos on Blogger along with part of the video. My original video is around 4 minutes. If you post a video on Flickr there is a 90 second limit, thus cutting off the ending of my video. Blogger allowed me to post a bit longer video, 2 minutes and 3 seconds. Still it is enough to give you the feel of how you could use such a tool in the classroom. Not only adding your voice to your blog but your photos as well lends a creative depth that allows many students the freedom to express themselves on any topic with multiple ways to share. Flickr’s ease of use could bring its value down to the third grade. Posting short videos such as an advertisement for a show on a battle in history using Flickr could make history come alive for students. Of course, you can also change your privacy settings on Flickr to suit your needs if student faces were involved in the video. NETS-S 1, 2, 3, 4, 6.

Beetlebug97's photostream

Beetlebug97's photostream on Flickr.

Check out this true story that unfolded on my lawn last fall when the acorns were dropping.

Social Bookmarking

Originally, I checked out two products, Diigo and Delicious. Actually I had seen both at a workshop some years before and so I resurrected my accounts with the ever popular 'forgot password' button. Wow! They had both changed quite a bit and I had only set up the accounts, never used them. I decided that since I teach elementary students, I needed the simplest one to use. That would be Delicious. For example, I teach every student in the school computer applications and internet safety and use. I could set up tags by grade level and/or topic. I could give the students the URL and the rights to add to the content as well depending on the age group. It could also be possible they would have to show me the site they found on a particular topic and ask permission to add it. It’s a great way to share resources by topic for their collaborative projects. Evaluating my sites, adding and creating their own for such a project on say, internet safety, would meet NETS-S 2-6.

As frequently happens on the web, things change. Not always for the better. I have learned using anything on the web requires patience. After working for an evening exploring a Delicious account I set up to try my hand at social bookmarking, and another two evenings trying to add it as a gadget on my Blogger page, I found that Delicious disabled this feature owing to increased spam incidences. My next step was to notify my professor that my assignment was on the fence and to ask for suggestions as well as to contact the Delicious support staff. Both have been very amicable. I thought perhaps that I could add it as a link, but in doing so Blogger says the link gadget is broken. As I write, the Delicious support staff is trying to see what they can work out for me.  So far no one can fix the problem so you won’t see a gadget for it on the right just yet.

But what do I think of Social Bookmarking? Well, I’m a slow convert. Having both a science and education background where taxonomy is king in both areas, it’s hard for me to think about being less formal and using whatever taxonomy comes to mind to organize my bookmarks. I have never had a problem organizing my bookmarked folders and the Chrome browser lets me use my bookmarks at home and work. Using a less formal method of organizing bookmarks called ‘folksonomy’, a term used by Will Richardson in his book, “Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classroom," means that anyone can give multiple tag names to any website so that it can be found under multiple tags in case you forget exactly what you used. Social bookmarking sites take it a step further by allowing you to share who else has tagged the site and they can see yours. You can also see how many people have tagged that site. You may find other like-minded individuals who are searching the same topics as you and so you can follow them and vice versa to the benefit of expanding your searches. Now this is just what science and education majors do: they share their results and ideas. So in that sense, I’m on board. Tags anyone?

RSS: The Need for Feeds

Setting up RSS feeds that are relevant for your classroom or personal needs are relatively simple in Google Reader.  You can quickly create feed folders to keep your topics organized. It is also easy to add those folders as a gadget to your blog or wherever you would like that content to show up. Please feel free to browse mine on the right entitled "Children and Technology Feed Subscriptions."

Since the district in which I teach  is migrating towards becoming a Google Educational Domain, I want to experience using as many Google Apps as possible. In addition, being the Technical Coordinator for my building, I feel compelled to research as many tools as possible and relay them to our classroom teachers so they can find which ones are relevant for their classrooms as well as be able to provide support for them and their students. I also teach all the computer classes for grades 1-5 and need to find lessons and tools to apply to those classes as well. Therefore I used Google Reader as my feed tool of choice.

How does an RSS feed tie into all of this? Because it is an elementary setting, most likely the fourth and fifth grade students and teachers would benefit from using them. Teachers could add a feed gadget to their websites with resources for both students and parents alike by topic making it easy for them to keep track of updates. Those teachers electing to set up class blogs or individual student blogs can easily follow posts as students add them via subscribing to the students' feed. Being paperless has been one goal of our district for a long time. We no longer send home fliers but rather communicate through blast emails and our websites: district, school, and teacher sites.We no longer send report cards home but use an online gradebook with a parent/student portal. Now teachers can easily read student work on their blog sites and comment on their posts as well as preview them before being published thus adding to our goal of becoming paperless.

NETS-S standards 1, 2, 3, and 4 can be easily applied to using RSS feeds: 1. Students can construct knowledge by combining what they learn on a topic from different feeds. 2. Today it is important to network with others and to know how to do so efficiently and effectively. RSS allows students to communicate and work collaboratively. 3. Students can apply research and information fluency via gathering and evaluating knowledge gleaned from their feeds. 4. Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate materials from their feeds. 

Thinking of the possibilities using this tool is making me hungry...I think I need some feeds.

Wikis for the Classroom

There was so much information to digest about wikis and how best to use them in the classroom that  I had trouble beginning one. Resources I used included the internet and the book by Will Richardson, Blogs, Wikis, Podcast, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms to help me decide. From use as a teacher or school website to virtual tours to students creating their own study guides to be used from year to year, it seems there was no end of ideas for using wikis. After viewing many websites such as SmartTeaching.org for an article on 50 Ways to Use Wikis For a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom my mind boggled at the possibilities. I decided to start my first wiki as a website and will gradually let it evolve. Usually I have students make PowerPoint slides to contribute to making a class study guide, but perhaps this will be my next direction with the wiki I created. Having visited several free educational wikis, I settled upon using Wikispaces because it allows for easy classroom management, which I will explore down the road when I add my first users. For now my district expects every teacher to maintain their website weekly, if not daily. This year we began migration towards becoming a Google Educational Domain which, you guessed it, will require learning all about their apps including making a website. I'm not sure it would be valuable to maintain two separate teacher pages as far as my time is concerned. I'm thinking this will push me into taking that next step and use a wiki more frequently for a variety of uses. The collaborative approach to projects such as making a study guide not only fulfills local, state, and national (NETS-S 1-6) requirements in technology but the ease of use of Wikispaces will allow me to check on who is successfully contributing to a project while making the students accountable for their learning. Now that we will be able to use GoogleDocs for the same collaborative reasons, I wonder which one will survive in my repertoire?

You are welcome to browse my teacher page wiki, TechnoTiger. Find out how I chose the name and check out the virtual tour assignment I created for my grade 4 class.

One More Time

Here I am. Revisiting blogging for the fourth time. As a teacher of young students, I do try to bring in the latest and greatest ideas into the computer class. But, and it's a big but, I can't seem to love blogging or even like blogging. Back in the early 2000s when I first heard of it, I looked it up on the internet. I wasn't interested in connecting by writing with total strangers. I am thin-skinned and easily intimidated by others who are ready to pounce on any mistakes or opinions I may have on a topic. So I dropped it.

Then along came a principal to my building who received her doctorate in educational technology. She created a blog through November Learning where all teachers were required to blog about a professional development workshop or course we took. Out of the 60 or so teachers, everyone posted as required but only one teacher consistently made comments. After that principal left for greener pastures all was forgotten.

Enter round three. My third experience was with our new website at school. It allows for blogging on a teacher page but initially we were expressly forbidden to use it as we did not have an AUP (acceptable use policy) in place nor did my administrators know how to handle one until two years ago. A fifth grade teacher was allowed to use it and report on it. She found she had no way to make the students accountable as parents would object to their students using a home computer/device. Since we don't have enough lab time available for her to have the students blog, it lost its momentum.

Round four. Take a course and maybe I'll learn the value of blogging and how to introduce it into a classroom. Since I have six fifth grades to teach I elected to only use one class and start small. I have two very enthusiastic teachers who co-teach this class and love to try new things. We will use either science or social studies as the main topic and when we have the final lesson put together, I shall blog about it further. For now, we will begin teaching the students about blogging through a webquest from QuestGarden entitled, "Blogging: It's Elementary." My fingers are crossed.