An Office Break

As I sit here thinking about the past four months and reflecting on this class, I am reminded of how much we’ve done and how far I’ve come.  Of all people, I was definitely the one that needed to take a class on using the World Wide Web as an educational resource.  Leaving the classroom in 2003 and returning in 2009 left me feeling out of touch with all the changes and advances in technology.  I have learned so much this semester and have increased my confidence.  Friends and family are always asking me how things are going and if I’m enjoying my new job.  The truthful answer is yes; I’m enjoying my job, but look forward to getting this first year behind me.  As you all know, starting from scratch can be exhausting and time-consuming.  Fortunately for me, I have been able to use everything that we’ve done in class in my own classes.  I had not spent much time working with blogs, wikis, web pages, rss feeds, or social bookmarking.  All of these things are listed in my school’s technology curriculum.  Because of this class, I have a better understanding of these concepts and have passed this on to my students. 

Being the only technology teacher at my school has made me realize how much I miss having others in my department to collaborate with.  Taking these on-line classes and being able to share ideas and projects does help to fill this void.  Hopefully, we will be taking more classes together and will continue to get to know one anther.  Thank you, Matthew, for being a great instructor and for providing us with tools and resources that we can take with us.  You were quick to respond to all of my e-mail questions and I thank you again for that.  I hope all of you have a wonderful holiday season.

 I thought I posted this during the Thanksgiving holidays, but just realized I did not.  oops!

Final Project:

Our school district started using Moodle this year.  Some teachers have spent a great deal of time using this program, but most of us are still trying to figure out how this tool best fits into our curriculums.  For part of my final project, I would like to work  on my Moodle page and have Matthew come in as a guest to view what I have done.  I also would like to continue to work on my wikispaces pages.  Several teachers have told me that they like using wikis in wikispaces rather than the wiki module in Moodle.

Part of my curriculum is to have my students create an interactive digital product using programming logic.  Because most programming languages are difficult to grasp, I was thrilled to find a new programming language called Scratch.  Scratch is a graphical programming language that makes it easy for students to create interactive stories, games and animations.  I will be introducing this to my students soon and look forward to seeing what they will be able to create.  The scratch website is http://scratch.mit.edu.

In the future, I hope to be able to use the Flat Classroom Project:  http://www.flatclassroomproject.org.  Vick Davis is a teacher and IT director at Westwood Schools in Camilla, GA (not far from me) and co-founded this project.  It is designed to bring together students from around the world using Web 2.0 tools such as Wikispaces and Ning.  From what I have read, students are grouped with 5 other student members, each from a different school and usually a different country. They socialize and learn about each other on the flatclassroom ning, where they can post images, videos, blog posts and enter into discussion topics. 

Zoomerang is a web tool that allows you to conduct online surveys.  When completing a unit on internet safety and cyberbullying, I wanted to find out more about my students online practices.  I created a survey asking questions about filters, social networking, gaming, parental involvement, etc.  The results of the survey were informative to me and I was able to get a clearer understanding of what my students are doing online and how much time is spent.

Part of my curriculum is to use digital tools to publish curriculum-related content.  This includes introducing Web page authoring software.  Because it is my choice to decide on the software to use, I have tried to find something that is easy, free, fun, and would create great-looking webpages.  I was excited to find that Weebly, a popular web creation site, has released a new education version called Weebly for Education.  Teachers are able to create their own websites and also bulk create student accounts for student blogging or websites.  The student sites have privacy controls, can be managed by the teacher, and do not require email setup.  Weebly sites are ad free and have free domain hosting if you have your own URL.  Check out their website at http://education.weebly.com to find out more.  I have not introduced Weebly to my classes yet, put plan to before the end of the year.  I’m still trying to decide what I want my students to put on their webpages.  Any suggestions?

I knew that going back to work this year was going to be challenging.  I tried to stay up-to-date with technology and trends while I stayed at home, but my two children were quick to master the skill of needing me and preventing me from accomplishing anything.  I’m now making up for those years and spend most of my time studying, reading, and planning for work and school.  Although my brain is tired, I love what I’m learning and what I’m teaching.  After reading the blog post assignment, I began to think a lot about “What is literacy in a connected world?”  Spending a great deal of time online, I will admit that these past months have been rather eye-opening for me.  Whether it’s a website, a blog, Facebook, Twitter, or Wiki, people have a lot on their minds and are spending a good bit of time putting it out there.  We are a connected world and while most people have interesting/informative things to say, many do not.  Like we’ve learned from November’s book, both students and educators must become Web literate which means knowing how to find information and deciphering whether or not it’s valid.  Slowly but surely, I feel that I am doing a better job finding the information that I need.  The resources that we’ve learned from this class are also helping me to stay better organized.

My name is Jennifer Watson and I live in Birmingham, AL.    I teach Computer Applications & Computer Essentials at Mountain Brook Junior High.  This is my first year back in the classroom after taking a few years off to be home with my children.  I have an 8 year old son and a 6 year old daughter.  They keep my husband and I busy with all the typical things that kids do . . . football, baseball, gymnastics, dancing.  The start to my school year has been great, but with the constant changes in technolgy, I’m working hard to stay up-to-date!”  My students are using Moodle, Wiki’s, Clickers, Voice Threads, Interwrite Pads, Blogs, etc.  It’s a feeling of excitment and exhaustion all mixed together!  Which is why I choose the title of my blog . . . An Office Break.  In a year from now it will mean . . . take a break from the office and share information on my blog, but currently it means . . . I could use a break from Office 2007!   The preparation of lesson plans, tests, handouts and everything else a returning “first year” teacher has to do is time consuming.  There’s no time to slow down so I’ll keep pressing on!  I’m looking forward to this class and getting to know each of you better!

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