As I explored the Facebook application, I felt that it was going to be quite useful in many ways. But it has come to my attention that many students may not be able to access it through the school system until it is approved with the school and having this social site unblocked. I am exploring Ning, something that Vicki (2009) suggested for “educational networking”. I want to be able to understand it and seems like it will be like Facebook. I have thought about the “tagging” that Vicki (2009) mentioned in the DVD. Perhaps this will help solve some of the challenges that I may have in the future. As for the first goal of creating authentic lessons for my students, I feel that I have come to the conclusion that creating these lessons, maybe two time a year will not be too overwhelming. Trying to make every lesson authentic all at once in a year is quite tiring, and I do not want to be burned out in trying to make great lesson plans. I am still connected to my former colleagues and mentors to receive ideas of creating authentic lesson plans. We collaborate together and receive a better product then I expected. Because this is online collaboration, the collaborating part is slow since we all have teaching jobs and creating out our lesson plans since we are all on different levels of mathematics.
I would love to continue working on the authentic lesson plans even after I have graduated from this program since it takes time to create a well-thought-out lesson plan. Doing a few a year will be more effective and will accumulate more over the years to become a better teacher. As for the social networking, I would like to explore Ning more and perhaps, the school will be more willing to unblock this site since it is for educational collaboration.
I feel that I have not met my goals completely until a few years later for creating authentic lesson plans. As for the social networking, I feel Ning is like Facebook, thus I will be able to pick up on it and its uses in a few short uses. I would like to work on legal matters for the internet such as copy rights and what can be used in the classroom, and what can I print and how many. I enjoy knowing all the laws since I want my students to have respect for other people’s property, thus I need to demonstrate this by following the rules of the internet.
I believe I just need to spend more time exploring and reflecting on what I can do with my new knowledge once it has been explored. Finding faculty or connect with other teachers, then communicating with them about internet use for the curriculum will be most helpful so I can teach my content, still meeting the standards, and exposing our students to new technology they will need in their future.
Reference:Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
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I have also felt overwelmed when it comes to implementing my GAME plan in the time constrants of this class. I feel it will also take me many years to make my classroom more authentic.
ReplyDeleteFacebook is half of the time blocked at school and the other half of the time it is not blocked. This makes it hard to use because I can not go through and unblock the filter for all of my students. This would be putting me at risk, because not only does it unblock the desired website, but every website.
Jennifer, creating a well thought out lesson plan can be very time consuming. However, once it is created, it can be easily modified in the future. You won't have to start from scratch again. For me, I have spent countless hours creating lessons using the SMART Notebook software. Though it took hours and almost feeling burnt out, I feel like it was worthwhile. Creating interactive lessons help engage students during the classtime. For next year, now I have those lessons ready to go. Also, you can search online for pre-made lessons. You'll most likely have to modify them, but at least you're not starting from scratch.
ReplyDeleteYou mentioned that Facebook is blocked at your school. Do you have access to Ning at your school? It's good that you're exploring other options.
Accessing facebook at school is a very real problem within our district as well. We have a very sensitive firewall throughout our district and even some educational sites are not approved by our tech-guy. It is very frustrating trying to implement technology throughout a classroom or curriculum and having to go through so many hoops.
ReplyDeleteJennifer,
ReplyDeleteI can think of so many options for using Facebook in a language classroom; however, I do not have access to social networking in my school. I have tried very hard to obtain the permits but; unfortunately, I have not been successful. We will continue with efforts to get our message across to both instructional leaders and network administrators so that all parties involved understand which sites are important for our students.
Miriam
Jennifer,
ReplyDeleteI have some websites for copyright laws. They are http://www.halldavidson.net/ and http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/copyright.html I hope you find them useful.
I have to agree with you on the planning of authentic lessons. They are more time consuming, but well worth the time spent. Pursuing our Master's Degree make extra time a bit difficult to find; therefore, your plan to do a few this year is a realistic approach. Next year you will have more time and knowledge to make the additional adjustments to your curriculum.
Good luck with Ning. Our school district isn't very open to networking of any sort outside of ANGEL, our learning management system. It would be valuable for the students to be able to collaborate with a wider and more diverse audience though.
Kim