Ready, Set, Blog!

A New Adventure

On May 8th, I began a new adventure in my education by attending my first Adobe Connect class through the University of Northern Iowa toward my Masters in Instructional Technology. The last two weeks have been an awesome, collaborative, and active learning experience. Learn by doing! My classes have provided the opportunity to reflect on myself as an educator and stretch my thinking of what technology in education could be.

Photo taken to represent the word designer.

One of the first assignments was to decide on two words to describe myself, take a photo portraying those words, post them in a Google Presentation, followed by viewing and commenting on fellow cohort's photographs. Coming up with two words to describe yourself and representing those words visually was definitely a challenge. The photographs provided a unique way to introduce ourselves to each other.

After several days of deliberation and consulting family and friends, the words I chose to describe myself as an individual and educator were designer and guide.

Photo taken to represent the word guide.

I chose the word designer, because it represents two different aspects of my life. It describes how I approach the planning and delivery of learning experiences for my students. Design is also fitting due to my first degree and career were in graphic design.

The word guide demonstrates my approach with students. I view myself as a guide on the side, providing tools, support, guidance, and the occasional cheer leading session for my students. The word guide also fits with my technology role in our school. My position is to facilitate and support the integration of technology into the everyday content of the classrooms.

Next year, I want to start our fifth grade students at Prairie Creek with this assignment, or something very similar to it. We have students coming in from four different elementary buildings, so there are many new friends to make. This assignment would provide a great opportunity for students to learn about each other and what they have in common. It would also challenge them to represent themselves and their ideas visually.

Blogging - Learning by Doing

Writing blogs is a new endeavor for me. Over the past few years I have browsed through a variety of blogs ranging from professional, personal interest, and blogs of family members. Occasionally, I would even write a comment. However, I never felt the inclination to actually create one. For the most part, my experience in blogging has been as an observer, not a participant. One conversation in class last week introduced blogging as a community activity where ideas are shared and conversations started. That shed a new light on my blogging experience. So today, I begin to actively engage in the conversation.

This process began by looking through the blogs I had subscribed to in Google Reader. It was interesting to see that all of the blogs I subscribed to were related to either education, technology, or family. So I chose three to focus on this week. The first blog is written by Craig Barnum, our Director of Technology, at College Community School District. His blog TechHawks is about Prairie's Digital Learning Initiative and how 1 to 1 computing will play a role in that initiative. In this blog he provides information to staff, students, parents, and the community about the progress of moving to 1 to 1 computing, problem based learning design, as well as providing general technology tips and instructions. The second blog Free Technology for Teachers is written by Richard Byrne. His blog provides a great resource for using technology in the classroom as well as tutorials. Cool Cat Teacher Blog, written by Vicki Davis is the third blog I focused on this week. Her blog provides resources and ideas for using technology in the classroom.

Each of these blogs are directly related to my interests. They provide information, resources, and tips I can apply in my role as a technology teacher everyday. Now that the conversation has started, I look forward to reading and commenting on blogs, and actively participating in the conversation.

Imagine... 

Imagine if we transferred this type of thinking to the classroom and the possibilities of students reading, commenting, and writing blogs. I wonder, what their first blog post would be about?