Chapter 10: What It All Means

Here we are at the end of the book.  Let's just run through all of the tools that the books has introduced, as well as the possible use of each in the classroom.  Firstly, Richardson introduces us to all of the possibilities of the new Read/Write Web, as well as the changing Pedagogies and Practices.  This was especially helpful, because it discussed how to incorporate the constantly changing technologies into the classroom.  There is so much out there to be used- we just need to know what's out there and how best to use it. 

He then introduces us to Weblogs, which was a new thought for me.  How can we best incorporate blogs into the classroom?  I must admit that I've enjoyed blogging again!  Of course, one of my favorites chapters was about Wikis- mostly because I use them on a daily basis.  We learned about RSS feeds, which was a new-ish concept for me.  He discusses the Social Web, aka Twitter and social bookmarking sites (Delicious and Diigo)- I'm still trying to wrap my brain about how to best use these in the classroom.

His chapter about Flickr was definitely one of my favorites.  I'm still trying to think about how best to use this in my English classes... but I think it has real potential!  His chapter about Podcasting, Video and Screencasting, and Live Streaming has me planning my lesson re-design assignment and my brain is swimming with the possibilities here.  Of course, the Social Networks chapter had me puzzled- but I intend to check out Ning.  It seems like it could be very useful.

I also enjoyed his discussion of the Big Shifts in education and educational technology.  The Shift that spoke most to me was the one about how teaching is no longer lecture- it's conversation.  That is so very true.  The students need to start taking part in their own education.  I think that using technology in the classroom is a brilliant way to get them doing that.

Chapter 9: Social Networks (Facebook, Ning, Connections, and Communities)

This was an interesting chapter, for sure.  Although I am a big Facebook user, I have never thought about it as a tool for the classroom.  While Richardson makes some good points (and uses some very excellent examples), I still don't see it as a tool that I could use in my classroom.  There is just too much that could go wrong and too much at stake.  Facebook has become a flash point for teachers and I don't think it has a beneficial place in my classroom.

Now Ning seems interesting.  I'll have to check it out.  I've heard of it before, but not in depth.  It seems that it would have a use in the classroom.  In fact, it sounds quite similar to Edmodo.  I started using Edmodo this year and I have come to love it.  I started this year by testing it out in my AP Lit classes.  I give my students a weekly blog assignment and it has worked out very well.  Next year, I definitely see myself rolling it out to all of my classes.  I'll continue playing around with its uses this year.

Chapter 8: Podcasting, Video and Screencasting , and Live Streaming (Multimedia Publishing for the Masses)

So we finally get a chapter about podcasting!  I haven't stopped talking about podcasting throughout my reviews of these chapters.  Well... as we all know (since I haven't stopped talking about it), I used to podcast my lectures for my students.  It was a great tool for those students who wanted more time for note-taking or for those students who weren't in class and needed to catch up.  However, in keeping with my changing educational philosophies, I have gotten away from lecturing.  While it may be the norm in a college class, I don't think it has a place in a high school classroom with so many different learning types and abilities.  So, with those changes, I have really stopped my "talking at the kids" type of lectures and I tend to focus on short bursts of information, followed by short activities that help students process and remember the information.  So there went my podcasts.

However, after reading this chapter, it has re-sparked my interest in doing them... although I would like to think about how to use them with my students.  What could my students broadcast?  My first thoughts about it are centering around a debate-type podcast.  One side records its argument and the other records its.  Then they get played for the class and the class can vote for the group with the most effective argument.  Or it could get put on a wiki and a voting widget could be used.  Still thinking about the possibilities, but there are definitely many!

While video publishing seems like it could be great, my thought is that it would be much more difficult to manage in my English classroom.  Getting equipment and finding time to teach its use would be very difficult.  There's also the problem of editing.  Although there are good possibilities here, I just don't see the practicality. I do use Youtube all the time to show related content videos to my classes.  There are so many wonderful videos that can be used in class.  :)

Now to my favorite part: screencasting!  I have never done any screencasting before last Thursday's class, but I can already tell that it's going to become something I do a lot.  In fact, I've already decided I'm going to incorporate it into my lesson re-design assignment.  There are so many possibilities here- especially with my interactive whiteboard.  I can see doing a poetry explication on the board, while recording it, and then having it play back on my wiki for anyone who missed it (or who wants to see it again).  I can also see students screencasting their own assignments for me to watch.  So many possibilities.

Chapter 7: Fun With Flickr (Creating, Publishing, and Using Images Online)

I have to admit that as I jumped into this chapter, I was very skeptical about how I could possibly ever use Flickr in the classroom.  I'm somewhat familiar with the site, but it's not a favorite of mine.  However, I was amazed at some of the uses for the site in the classroom... the margins of my book are covered in questions, ideas, and comments (most ending with exclamation points!).  I am still trying to come up with a lesson or activity for my classroom, but I am most definitely intrigued!

I did have a great idea for a colleague.  My department head, Walter Mitchell, is famous with both teachers and students alike for his annual pilgrimage to Walden Pond.  The assignment for the students is to reflect on life while at Walden, taking pictures of their experience their, and then writing the reflection, using pieces of Whitman's writing (and other fitting poetry/prose) to supplement the experience.  I could see a great use of the annotation feature of Flickr for this assignment.  The pictures could be put together in a slideshow and whatever it was in the pictures that played a part in the student's reflection or inspiration could be annotated with the experience or the literature.  The assignment could then be uploaded to a blog, wiki, or other format.  It could also be shared in the class with an interactive whiteboard or LCD projector.

Chapter 6: The Social Web (Learning Together)

This chapter had me scratching my head a lot.  Firstly, it dealt with Twitter.  When I first saw that the chapter would discuss Twitter, I was surprised.  I do not "get" Twitter.  It seems to be a technology that has taken off in the world, yet I don't see the point of it.  I understand the basics, I even have a Twitter account.  I follow and have followers.  But I don't get it.  Facebook makes so much more sense to me.  I guess I don't like the time it takes to check on everyone's latest posts... although I don't know what makes it so different from the time it takes to check on everyone's Facebook posts.  I guess Twitter is one of those things I don't get.

I found the idea of using Twitter in the classroom very odd.  I'm sure my personal feelings about Twitter contributed to that, but I just don't see what the point would be.  I would love to see an actual example of what can be done.  I think that might enlighten me... maybe I'd finally see the point!  :)  I also was curious about Richardson's mention of Edmodo as 'Twitter-esque'.  I don't see it that way, but maybe there is a function that I haven't discovered in my still nascent usage of this classroom technology.

I am also still in the dark about tags.  I'm hoping we will have a chance to go over this in class.  I am curious about both Diigo and Delicious.  I've heard of Delcious before, but I've never checked it out.  I plan to look at both of these sites, but I'd love a tutorial in class.

Chapter 5: RSS (The New Killer App for Educators)

When we first dealt with RSS feeds in class, I was excited, because I was hoping to learn something new about them.  In my past experiences with RSS feeds, I have found them to be cumbersome, aggravating, and difficult to maneuver.  Which is slightly ironic, I know, because that is exactly the opposite of what they are designed to be.  However, I find it annoying to slog through the feeds to see updates.  I suppose it's because I don't enjoy looking through updates in that format.  I am actually that one person who enjoys getting the email to let me know that something has been updated (which is why the Facebook change annoyed me... I need those emails!).

In the classroom, Richardson makes note of uses for the RSS feed.  He mentions that if you are using student blogs, you could easily monitor them all using a RSS feed.  He also mentions Technorati, which I've heard about and plan to investigate more thoroughly.  You can also use RSS feeds to create web pages, search for news about a particular topic, search blogs... so many uses!

Thinking about using RSS feeds in my classroom... I don't know how I would fit them in.  Most of the work in my classes are based on literature and analysis.  Many of the uses for RSS feeds seem to be getting breaking news about topics.  I can see this as a must-use tool for disciplines that do cutting-edge research (science,  history, and world languages mostly), but I'm not sure how I would fit it in to my classroom.   I'm glad to have learned a little more about RSS feeds, though.

Chapter 4: Wikis (Easy Collaboration For All)

At last!  My beloved wikis!  I enjoyed this chapter because it gave me some ideas about how to use wikis for more than just for distributing classroom information and materials.  I am intrigued by the possibilities that Richardson discussed in the later part of the chapter.  He writes about the different uses of wikis in classrooms- some teachers use them as an addendum to the text book, or as a way to prepare for an exam (AP or otherwise).  I plan to explore the wiki sites that he shares in this chapter to see if I can learn more about how other teachers use them in the classroom.  I plan to explore Wikibooks and Flat Classroom.  I also wanted to check out Shelley Paul's wiki for Turn Homeward, Hannalee... but the link is dead.  :(

I also wanted to mention the Wikipedia business mentioned at the beginning of the chapter.  It is the bane of my existence as a teacher because I am constantly cautioning against it.  However, the first place I go when I want more information is definitely Wikipedia.  Maybe there need to be assignments designed that teach students how to properly use Wikipedia.  I think it would be less effective in an English class (unless it was simple research about an author, setting, and/or time period), because we concentrate so much on analysis in our research.  It is an interesting thought, though.  One worth pondering some more... ;)

Chapter 3: Weblogs (Get Started!)

Chapter 3 was a quick and easy run through how to best use blogs in the classroom and a listing of some possible blogging sites to check out.  I am still wondering what the difference is between what I am doing with my Edmodo site and what Richardson is describing when he discusses classroom blogs.  The Edmodo site allows me to provide security for my students- no one is going to read what they write but me.  There are, of course, positives and negatives to this.  As Richardson writes, blogging provides good practice of "writing for an audience."  The Edmodo site doesn't let my students write for an audience, which can, in some cases, help their writing.  It also gives value to the assignment- it exists in the real world- not just as an assignment for the teacher.  The negative, of course, is the whole online safety issue.  I've seen first-hand how easy it is for (creepy) adults to attempt to contact (who they believe are) students.  That experience has made me wary of allowing any of my students to have a "public" presence.

What I did like in this chapter was the very detailed explanation of how best to introduce students to blogging.  Richardson suggests that teachers themselves create their own blogs, so that they have experience with what they are teaching.  My questions, when reading this, centered around what I would blog about.  Would I blog about my classes?  Interesting classroom discussions?  My own personal pleasure reading?  And who would constitute the audience?  If I made my blog public, who the heck would want to read about my experiences in class?  So many questions!  All of those possibilities seem to me to be content either not worth publishing, or else I would update so infrequently that it would deem the practice useless (or at least unnecessary at best).

My last thought about the chapter has to do with Richardson's claim that "Giving each student a Weblog basically means a paperless classroom."  The idea of this is so very appealing, but I think the reality is a pipe dream.  There are so many essays and papers in the English classroom, and I would find it very difficult, if not impossible, to correct essays/papers that were turned in solely online.  It may be possible, and I may just be psyching myself out here, but the idea of doing corrections on an essay or paper online makes me shudder.  Correcting would take double the time it takes to do now.  If I had a tablet and stylus and could actually write corrections on the paper, I would consider doing that... but for now, let's just keep the paper in the classroom!  :)

Chapter 2: Weblogs (Pedagogy and Practice)

Chapter 2 had several interesting ideas about how to use Weblogs in the classroom.  As I was reading, I was imagining how to best put these into practice, and I have to admit that I'm still skeptical about using Weblogs effectively in the classroom.  Many of the good ideas that Richardson shares in this chapter have been put into practice in my classroom, albeit in a slightly different format.  I am intrigued, however, by the idea of interacting with the presented material and finding/publishing appropriate support and other links online.  I'll continue to think about how best to incorporate that in the classroom.

The idea of the 'class portal' was a good one, and one that I seem to be able to manage on my classroom wiki site.  I find that the wiki provides everything mentioned, and also has the advantage of being secure.  I know how is viewing the information that I've posted.  The idea of the online filing cabinet is also very interesting.  I love the idea of students recording/posting their assignments online- it would make metacognitive reflection so easy and manageable.  The only drawback to this that I see would be correcting.  Personally, I have a hard time correcting anything on the screen.  This would be difficult for me... but I wonder if I could find ways to make it easier?

Chapter 1: The Read/Write Web

Very interesting chapter and a good run-through of the possibilities that are available for use in the classroom.  I have been using a wiki for a few years now and it has worked wonderfully in class.  I am able to upload extra copies of handouts, study guides, assignment sheets, and other class paperwork, which allows my students to be more responsible with their work.  I have also played around with uploading podcasts of my lectures to the wiki, which allowed students who were absent (or who needed more time to take notes) to listen again to the class lectures.  I have found great success using the wiki in the classroom.

This year, I am experimenting with using Edmodo in my AP classes.  I like the ability to post assignments and have students complete the assignments on the site.  The site also has a grading feature, which I can use to grade the assignments.  So far, the assignments have allowed my students to "blog"... which has been a wonderful assignment.  Each week, they need to write a paragraph-length response to the week's work, including a minimum of one simple, one compound, one complex, and one compound-complex sentence.  Each week, I also throw in a "challenge" (usually requesting the use of some kind of literary device- this week's challenge asked the students to use litotes in their blog!).  I find that this gives the students a few opportunities: they are able to write each week, practicing the writing skills that they will need for the AP exam; they are able to process the week's work, giving me an opportunity for formative assessment; and they are able to get practice writing online, which prepares them for what will become a larger part of their classroom experience in college.

In one of the sections of the chapter, Richardson writes about the Toolbox, in which he lists a number of technologies that a teacher can use.  I am familar with all of those technologies, with the exception of the "Social Bookmarking".  He defines it as a way to create a "personal Internet" (10).  This sounds like a very interesting tool and I would like to learn more about it and how to use it in the classroom.  It sounds like it could be used in researching papers, which would be very handy for my students.

First Post

Here we go...