Thursday, August 27, 2009

Thing 23

My first feeling is apprehension. I am very confident when it's just me and this computer and your tutorials, but when put in front of a class to run on my own, I am not so sure what I know and what I don't. I at least have learned about many free "things" out there to enhance my instruction and my personal life.

As I started this class, I almost felt that taking it was a waste of time, since my district restricts downloading, and many of the sites that I have learned to use this summer. However, not only did you provide rational for these sites, which I will share with my tech department; you also showed ways around some of the restrictions(Keepvid, etc.). It was also helpful to read other's issues about restrictions in school districts. Sometimes, I feel like my district is the only one that is such a controling environment. At least now, I can share how beneficial these sites/things are and try to be proactive instead of just saying what the heck and using old ways.

The tools I know that I will use and share with other teachers are RSS, Delicious, blogging, Flikr, Slideshow, and wikis. These are tools that can be pretty seamless because they are already using some of the skills in other applications, that may not be a user friendly.

I would like to improve the media services using several of these to provide PD to staff and to provide support services to students. I think setting up a blog to learn about specific books and genres using podcasts and slideshows will certainly get their attention and focus on some "shelf sleepers".

I will introduce Google Docs to several of my committees, so we can save face to face time and yet accomplish all we need to do. I am also thinking of developing online classes for training next summer and will use video/podcasting to support my courses.

We are instituting several classes that focus on writing in the content areas, and I will be sharing wikis and blogs with those teachers and the writing trainer, to try and integrate technology within these courses.

My timeline is to focus on introducing one tool to staff and students each month. This may be as simple as subscribing to fees or just a website for presentations. I will lay out a calendar in Google and share it with the staff so they can pick and choose the tool that may work for them.

I have really enjoyed the format and content of this course. Sometimes I would have like a little more feed back on my blog, but with the size of the class and the timeline, I understand that wasn't always possible. I am hoping this blog will stay up for a while so I can gather some of the information that others have provided. The opportunity to explore and practice is a terrific format and one that I will try to use with my staff through my pd. Thank you!!!! You have taught and old dog many new tricks, and I enjoyed it!

1 comment:

  1. Congratulations on completing the course. You've done a very good job and your blog is interesting and informative.

    I know the restriction issue is a frustrating one. You are definitely not alone. One of the nice outcomes of this course is that it prompts educators to begin having the discussions with administrators about the importance of opening up these tools for teaching and learning.

    I'm glad you found tools you will use and share with others.

    Very well done... and all the best for the coming school year!

    ReplyDelete