The Trouble with Technology

The trouble with technology is that it is too new sometimes!

Summer Summer Sometime

So, this summer - the summer after my first year teaching - has been mighty interesting so far. Unfortunately, I feel like I have been slacking big time as far as my school work is concern. Maybe its because I do not have too much to do, or maybe its because I am enjoying the city too much.

This week my goal is to really start working on my plans for next year. As far as technology in the classroom is concern, I plan to make a serious effort to infuse technology in to the teaching of many traditional ELA concepts. I want my students to to be comfortable with all new technological advances, yet I cannot focus on teaching the technology. This could present a small challenge. However, if I stop being so lazy I know I can make it work!

This is my major dilemma: how do I fill all this time?? I want to do so many different things that I end up doing nothing! From here on out, I am going to focus on small tasks and get back into the swing of things. I will let you know how it goes.

The End? The Beginning?

Well, it is officially the end of our class, but I believe that it is also the beginning of a new chapter in my attempt to educate young minds. Many people know that we have been working with educators from across the world; I am extremely excited to get my students involved with this collaboration next year. I am thinking quite a bit about "where" we will be. I am curios where will be in our materials, but also where in the world we will be working with other students.

I have been seriously considering the possibility of creating an online learning community in the school. What I mean by this is creating a series of blog, websites, and online social networks that ALL junior teachers will manage. This will help to relate all the subjects that the students are being taught to each other. Its just a thought still; we shall see what happens.

Now what is really on my mind the most: where to go from here? It is important for ALL of us to remember that we can't simply forget everything we have learned during our first two class of Stockton's MAIT program. I can't help but think of Robert Frost's famous words, "Two roads diverged in a wood...And that has made all the difference." Hopefully, our roads will make a difference for our students....

The Importance of Connectivity

I'll start this week off by discussing the major change in my daily life: my move to Philadelphia. Despite the heat, the move went very well. Amy and I got everything in to the new place in just over two days - we felt like that was good time. However, it was not until after we were all moved in that I began to realize the importance of connectivity.

It is no secret that the internet has been an integral part of my life, especially my adult life. Sometimes, I realize now, that I take the ability to connect, create, and work with others through the touch of a button for granted, big time. That was never more apparent to me until this weekend, when Amy and I had NO INTERNET! I had forgotten what it was like to have to wait to talk to friends, get updates, and even get work done. It is amazing how important the role that the internet plays in my daily life, and, it got me thinking about the future. Scary thoughts!

Not only was the lack of the internet an interesting update this week, but I also have made major break throughs with our Siberian contact, Ekat. I heard from her on Monday morning; she is going to evaluate our Digital Stories AND possibly skype with our class on June 17th. This was a major breakthrough as far as I was concerned. It really is amazing how connected the world educators can be. This was an amazing break through for me. I hope am really hoping that we all get to experience working with and talking to educators from Siberia!! I will keep you posted on how it goes!!

One more note about connectivity: this whole idea of Video Conferencing is completely new to me and I could not be more interested in it. I have been researching different tools to maximize the overall outcome of a technologically induced video conference, and the three best tools that I have found so far are skype, tokbox, and oovoo. I suggest you check out all three, they all have different positives and negatives. Well, on second thought, isn't the point of technology to make things easier? Maybe I will post a video comparison of the three for next week.

Until then.... do svidaniya? Peace!

Things are looking bright

Well, this has been quite an interesting couple of days. I have been to a 2 college graduations, witnessed a school wide collaborationeffort, witnessed a perfect game by a Phillie, and have been communicating with people from other countries. Needless to say, it has been very exciting!

However, this blog will not focus on the many different events that I have witnessed this weekend, but rather it will be a reflection on what I believe was the most well planned and coordinated event by an elementary school that I have ever heard for. After what I saw, the future is looking bright.......

The "Eurasian Quest Arts Night" presented by Brigantine Elementary School was this past Thursday, and I was fortunate enough to attend. There each of the hallways in their school were set up as different "countries," and each country had elements of art, music, food, dance, costumes, and more. It was clear that the whole town was involved, and it really showed as you walked through the school. The kids were so excited about all of their hard work finally being displayed for everyone to see, and the parents looked on proudly as their students sung a song in Russian. If you did not get to go this year, I highly suggest you put it on your list for next year.

The one thing that stood out from the entire night was the "Wikipikis" portion of the night. In this portion the students (3rd GRADE STUDENTS) all created their own own "wikipikis" or, in our terms, their own wiki space. Each student was given a username and password, which enabled the teacher to monitor all information put onto the sites, and the kids were given criteria and they completed it. It was amazing! It really got me thinking about next year and the possibility of having my students create websites as an alternative to traditional MLA style writing. If third graders can create wikis with ease, shouldn't my high school students be able to do the same?

ONE LAST NOTE! I am babysitting this whole week for my brother. Check out me and my niece hanging:

Video Killed the Bloggero Star...

This is my update; it is a video blog. Or, as Josh calls it a "vidlog."All thoughts are appreciated!

I hope everyone enjoyed the video. I have to be honest, working with all these colors was cracking me up. This took me three tries to complete!

Go Phils!

Back to the Future

After last week's presentation on the History of Instructional Technology (I was super pumped at our performance; great work Judi, Josh, and Rita!), I have been unable to stop thinking about the future of education! Where is all of this new technology going to take us? Where will we be in 5 years? Where will be next year?

Perhaps the most amazing thing about all of this technology is how fast it has been moving over the past 10-15 years. After doing my research, I realized that the "explosion" of the internet has really been a major contributor to all of these recent developments. The internet, I now realize, is allowing people to get their ideas, theories, and tools out to the masses quicker than ever before. There has never been a time when ideas, good ideas could spread so quickly and I am excited to be apart of it!

One last parting note, recently become re-obsessed with TED Talks. The people who do these talks are the most inspiring and brilliant people from around the world, and if you have not heard any yet, I highly suggest checking out some talks. One small question I have for the people that run TED: why is the education section not a main section on the homepage!?! All of my favorite talks are the ones that have to do with education, and I always find it odd that they are not the most advertised talks of all! This is probably just my prejudice towards education, resulting from the fact that I am an educator. Either way, check it out!

Thatta bout does it. Over-and-Out.

Go Phils!