Pinterest - A Social Networking Site

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My mind keeps getting blown by all these fantastic resources out there to build a PLN! I know I’m late to the party, but I am in love with Pinterest. Through the years, I have heard friends go on and on about Pinterest, how awesome it is, and that I should try it out. I never really saw the value in it; I really never had the need. Again, this class has opened my eyes! Not only have I quickly become addicted to Twitter, I now have to add Pinterest to that list! I could spend hours getting inspired by other educators with lesson ideas and resources. It is absolutely incredible how much is available to me at my fingertips! Why did I wait so long?!  Pinterest is definitely a social networking site I am going to recommend and encourage my fellow educators to belong to if they don’t already.

First off, there is a tremendous amount of value in learning and engaging with other professionals via social media websites. Solomon and Schrum (2010) state, “The point of communicating with others is to learn, develop, and expand all that we know; to share ideas and information; or just to enjoy social interaction” (p. 79). Social networking sites, like Pinterest, allow teachers to do just that. When I participate in sites like Twitter and Pinterest, I am building on my ability to understand and navigate through tools that my students use, and I am building my knowledge on content in such a way that I can more effectively teach and interact with my students. As mentioned in my previous blogs, there is currently a movement in education that is requiring teachers to prepare students to become productive members of the digital future. Building my PLN in this manner is better equipping me to do just that. I could not imagine trying to embark on this change without the support and resources my fellow educators can offer me.

“Pinterest is rapidly becoming a favorite tool of educators all over the nation, and many have amassed some pretty great collections of edtech-related pins that teachers and students alike can use to explore new ways to learn, share, teach, and grow” (TeachThought, 2012, para. 1). During my exploration of Pinterest, I quickly became a fan. I found it extremely easy to maneuver through and really appreciated how it organized everything. By downloading the extension button to my toolbar, I can virtually pin pages to my boards with the click of a button. LOVE that feature! I’m all about time-saving features, since it's so valuable. Another component I really like is the ability to easily search and follow people that developed boards that I am interested in. I love the idea of people bringing information to me in a nice, neat, little package! Again, another big time-saver! Additionally, I like how I can invite people to follow/collaborate on boards. It’s a great format to collect and share resources with other educators. Not to mention, I absolutely love how nicely I can tie Pinterest and Twitter together. I can use Pinterest to find information and share it on Twitter, thus growing my PLN by sharing with others rather than just keeping it to myself. I also really like how Pinterest bookmarks sites with a picture. That way you can see the activity. If it’s something you’re interested in, you just have to click on it again. It’s that simple! I’m a very visual person and appreciate being able to see a little preview. Another great feature of Pinterest is how it links you to a myriad of resources that come from other websites, such as Teachers Pay Teachers. I like how it brings the resources to me instead of me going out to search and finding them individually. It compiles everything in an easy to navigate and visually appealing manner.

Being a 6th grade ELA teacher, I am always looking for lessons/ideas that will inspire my students to learn. I found Pinterest particularly helpful in aiding my ability to find activities to engage and better teach my gifted students. So many times, I find myself focusing on the students who struggle. Unfortunately, my gifted students get overlooked. This was largely due to the fact that I just didn’t know what to do with them. I know they need to be challenged, but I had no idea how to even begin to tackle that problem. Well, now I do, PINTEREST! All I did was enter a search “gifted student activities for reading and writing” and BOOM! I had a plethora of suggestions on my screen. The following are some of the websites I found during this search. I am so excited about these websites that I have to share these wonderful resources with my fellow educators. Please, check them out!

• 3 Proven Ways to Differentiate Instruction for the Gifted Learner in a Data-Driven Society
• Teaching Students to Close Read… When you can’t mark the text!
• Gifted and Talented Activity - Postcard Creative Writing Project
• Step In, Step Out: A Strategy for Thinking Deeply About Text
• Rigorous Question Stems for Reading and Writing

In addition to locating those wonderful websites, I also started following a board specifically geared towards teaching gifted students. In it, there are countless ideas and strategies to enhance the education of these students. Specifically, I love the “Dos and Don’ts of Teaching Gifted Students” link that was pinned to this board. It contains great information about teaching gifted students and what to say to them. So often there are a variety of resources available and techniques taught to teach the struggling student, but nothing about what to do with the gifted. Resources like this will change that.

Just earlier today, I was not properly equipped with strategies, techniques, or lessons, and Pinterest has changed that. While I realize this is not the be all, end all to teaching gifted students, it has given me a place to start. I now have ideas that I can begin with this year. One goal this year is to use tools like Twitter and Pinterest to meet the needs of all my students. I don’t want to overlook the gifted anymore. They deserve a quality education, just like all the other students sitting in my room. I now feel confident that I can build on this knowledge and better teach my students using this social networking site.

Pinterest is also easy to use with your students to enhance their learning. You can share a link to your board via your LMS (learning management system) that will allow your students access to resources you find valuable. You can also create a widget and embed it into a tool like Weebly. Students will then have access to the board you created. While my students are too young to have their own Pinterest account, older students (13+) could use it as a way to collect information and demonstrate their understanding of a topic. They could also use it as a means to collect resources and collaborate with other classmates. I envision this working nicely with a group project in which students must work together to achieve a similar goal.

In all my excitement in finding such great resources in ELA, I have already tweeted about some of them. I find myself eager to share the great ideas I find from other educators. What a powerful tool to grow a person’s PLN. It seems silly to me now that I used to be afraid to share. I still get nervous sometimes, but I have gained so much from doing it, that I just can’t see myself quitting. I encourage all educators to not just be “lurkers,” but to put yourself out there and share. You will be surprised how welcoming the virtual world can be and how quickly your database of knowledge and resources will grow. I am astounded at how much I have changed professionally over the past few weeks since joining and participating in social networking sites to grow my PLN. They have forever changed my classroom and the way I teach.

References:

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

T. (2012, September 22). 25 Of The Best Pinterest Boards In Education. Retrieved July 24, 2016, from http://www.teachthought.com/uncategorized/25-of-the-best-pinterest-boards-in-education/

My First Two Twitter Chat Experiences

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The two Twitter chats I participated in were #TEDEdChat and #6thchat. Absolutely loved both chats and highly recommend both of them. It’s truly amazing to see how quick and easy your PLN can grow through these Twitter chats. What started out as a scary, uncomfortable, and hectic experience, quickly turned into something exciting, valuable and addicting! I have become a big believer in using Twitter chats to grow professionally. I only wish I would have started sooner. I can’t wait to see all the information I will learn and gather through this outlet.

I liked how welcoming both mediators made me feel. They both personally welcomed me and liked my tweets. That made me want to continue to participate, knowing my tweets were being read and appreciated. Likewise, the feedback from fellow tweeters was encouraging. I quickly discovered the more I participated, the more I got out of it. I like how #TEDEdChat focused on the teacher’s relationship with his/her students during this chat session. The questions asked really made me think and reflect about what I do and why. It was interesting to see how that compared to other educators. Throughout the session, everyone’s opinion was respected and appreciated. I also received some great ideas on how to get to know my students as individuals.

I absolutely loved #6thchat! It was a great experience connecting with other 6th grade teachers. We focused on setting goals with our students and all that entails. I feel very inspired and rejuvenated after interacting with these teachers. I specifically liked getting the chance to interact with other educators who are in the same boat as I am. Our answers to the questions would spur other conversations in which we were able to connect over. Consequently, I followed several of them so I will have an invaluable resource when I have questions about anything. It’s nice to know that I have a support system of people who are willing to aid in my professional growth. I also liked how eager everyone was to share their thoughts and ideas. It was a very safe and pleasant environment. After a 60 minute chat, I already feel comfortable enough to reach out to these fellow educators! In fact, there's even been some interaction between myself and other tweeters I met since the chat. They really are there to support you! This is quite the opposite of what I thought would happen! There are so many benefits to reap from sharing. I’m so glad I stepped out of my comfort zone!

Heading into this experience blindly was a little nerve-racking at the beginning. I didn’t know what to think or expect. I really thought I wouldn’t have much to contribute and would just sit back, observe and just meet the “minimum” requirements of this assignment. Boy, was I wrong; I quickly found myself eager to participate! I thought the content discussed in both chats were appropriate and useful. Just connecting with other teachers and establishing a good comfort level in this new adventure was satisfying to me. Both topics were very relevant and easy to respond to. I felt like I had information to add for both #TEDEdChat and #6thchat. I was able to gain meaningful information and establish relevant conversations within both chats.

I found just starting/joining the chat the most stressful and challenging. I felt pressured (self inflicted) to not make any mistakes. I wanted to ensure that I said the right things, had the right hashtags, used the correct format when responding and sounded intelligent with no typos. There were so many directions to follow, and the live feed was quickly growing! I did find using TweetChat helpful in slowing the process down, but I still didn't want to get too far behind the discussion. Once I got the hang of it (about 5-10 minutes later), it was smooth sailing! I was able to relax and participate comfortably. The hour flew by both times! The second chat was much easier, and I look forward to the next one.

I think participating in more Twitter chats will improve this whole experience. To me, it comes down to comfort level. The more comfortable I am, the more willing I am to share and participate. I am very excited about this aspect of my PLN. I was just sharing today at a PD I was at with my co-teacher how valuable Twitter is as a resource for a plethora of information. In fact, she followed me and got inspired to use Twitter for more than just a social outlet. I also invited her to connect with a future #6thchat. I am so excited to see the impact Twitter will have on my teaching this year.

Networked Classrooms

Again, I am overwhelmed with the amount of information from our textbook on networked classrooms as well as the idea and shift to becoming one! Thinking about it as a whole is a little too much, but dissecting it into baby steps and looking at it as one step at a time is a lot more manageable. It is quite clear this is the future of education. For many schools, it’s the present. However, the school district I teach in, we are just at the very beginnings of integrating technology and all the teachers are at different levels. Implementing a networked classroom is something that does not happen overnight, but it is something that must begin with the teacher. By becoming a networked learner myself, I will be better equipped to aid my students in their learning.

Richardson and Mancabelli (2011) state, “Our role becomes one of helping students organize their own learning and navigate the complexities of finding and connecting their own nodes of learning in way that serve them well” (p. 61). This is a big adjustment to my understanding of the role of the educator where the teacher is the expert/leader in the room. I always thought it was my job to put out the information and lead my students to the knowledge I wanted them to know. The idea of a networked classroom challenges this notion. “Instead of the teacher ‘teaching’ and the students ‘learning,’ teachers and students become co-learners as well as co-teachers in the process” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 61).

There are some obvious advantages to having a networked classroom. The most important one to me is that I will be equipping my students with the 21st century skills and type of learning they will be expected to know when they are in the real world. The ability for students to control their learning is invaluable. “The emphasis is more on developing the skills to become lifelong, self-directed learners than on content” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 63).  Also, the idea that they can connect with others outside of their own little world is essential in becoming a literate member of the digital community. Since virtually everything is a “click” away, students must be able communicate effectively with people globally. We can’t expect them to be able to do it naturally. Students must be exposed to it in the classroom and taught how to interact appropriately. In doing so, they will also be able to have access to multiple teachers/experts other than myself, to aid in their learning. They are also more likely to have the opportunity to experience and work on real-world problems that are more meaningful to them. Finally, “Learning in networked spaces requires participating, not simply consuming passively, so students are continually engaged in a process of reading, writing, and interacting with other students and teachers and testing ideas” (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 63). A networked classroom would provide them with these opportunities and consequently make their learning more individualized and meaningful.

As good as the above ideas that I mentioned sound, there are some drawbacks to this type of classroom. For example, this type of classroom takes a commitment and understanding from all people involved, teachers, students, parents, and administrators. Networked classrooms are quite different than what most people involved in education are used to and can be a hard pill to swallow. Change can be hard, especially if it’s not understood.  There also has to be a lot of preparation. You can’t just snap your fingers and have a smoothly running networked classroom. Additionally, as I learned in my last course, teaching digital citizenship is a must. Students must be taught proper netiquette and know their rights and responsibilities as digital users. This takes time and must be reinforced and practiced often. We can not assume that students know what it right and what is wrong in the digital world. It takes time to prepare them, but it is essential. If not, it can quite easily become a negative factor in a networked classroom. One of the most obvious and important negative factors for me is how this type of learning aligns with the type of assessment my students will be taking. While the skills of the future are changing with the implementation of Web 2.0 tools, the education system is behind. We, students and teachers, are still judged by how well we perform on these assessments, both at the state and district level. I worry that I will not be preparing my students for these tests and therefore, they will not score well. Potentially, this could have a negative impact on my career at this point. I believe at this stage, in my current district, a good balance is what is needed. Blending traditional learning/expectations with a networked classroom/21st century skills is what will be the most beneficial for my students and myself.

After beginning my personal learning network just a few short weeks ago, I have already learned a tremendous amount information and changed my way of thinking quite a bit. This journey started out out scary and very much out of my comfort zone. Now, it has surprisingly turned into an experience in which I have enjoyed the connections I have made thus far. I am also impressed with the amount of resources/knowledge I have been exposed to. I realize that this new way of teaching and thinking is very doable in small steps and will only lead to greater things. A good way to begin is to take what we are already doing well, and re-envisioning it (Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p. 81). I have always been one that likes to change things up a bit each year. (Although, I have to say I like little leaps and not gigantic jumps!) This chapter on implementing a networked classroom has inspired me to try new things. I am looking forward to changing up my classroom this year and beginning the first stages of a networked classroom.

To ease into becoming a networked classroom, I will open up my line of communication with both parents and students. At the end of the school year, I began to set up my classroom webpage. I foresee myself using the features of this webpage to blog, communicate, and update my students and parents. I also am interested in exploring more of what Skype has to offer. I envision myself using this to communicate with parents when an in person conference is needed, but not possible. I also will be willing to use Skype or Google Hangouts to collaborate with my students and my students to collaborate with others. When reading a lit set, I would like to connect with other classrooms to share in a book discussion. Furthermore, I plan to maintain and use my Twitter account and resources. Twitter has already exceeded my expectations as a useful and valuable educational tool. Also, I could see how networked classrooms could make meeting the needs of diverse learners a lot easier. Simply having access to the myriad of tools that allow students to individualize their learning to meet their particular needs is a huge bonus. In addition, the ability to connect with other teachers that have students with similar needs can have a significant impact on my ability to meet their needs. We could collaborate and share resources with each other. Likewise, students could connect and establish a relationship with others that they can relate to. This could have a positive impact on their attitude and willingness to learn and try new things. Sometimes, I have seen my sped students, gifted students, or ELL students feel like they don’t quite fit in. A networked classroom would maybe give them a sense of belonging and inclusion. That’s where my thoughts are now. I could go crazy thinking of more, but I have to remember to take small steps to keep it manageable.

I found a resource by Wendy Drexler from the University of Florida on this topic. It’s a little wordy, but nonetheless has some useful information about networked classrooms. I particularly liked the pictures and explanation it gave for what a networked teacher and student looks like (see below).

The advice given at the end of the chapter is a great reminder for me and one I will have to reference when I’m feeling overwhelmed.

Remember:

• it starts with me.
• to start small.
• that failure is okay.
• to model for my students and co-workers.

(Richardson & Mancabelli, 2011, p.81-82)

References:

Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Drexler, Wendy. The Networked Student Model For Construction Of Personal Learning Environments: Balancing Teacher Control And Student Autonomy. 1st ed. Gainesville: Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 2016. Web. 17 July 2016.

Intro to Twitter

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WOW! After beginning to delve into Twitter, that’s the first word that pops into my mind for many reasons. First, what a potentially fantastic learning tool! Right now, I am just discovering all the possibilities it offers me as an educator and learner. Once I become comfortable with it myself, I can’t wait to see how I can use it in my classroom. At this point, I also find Twitter to be a little overwhelming. Like I stated in my first blog, trying out new things is at times stressful and scary. This is another one of those assignments that is pushing me out of my comfort zone. However, I am willingly and excitedly diving in head first. You can find me on Twitter @lindsaykober.

“Twitter has become a popular tool for educators to connect with one another to get advice or information quickly, share points of view, or just stay in touch” (Solomon and Schrum, 2010, p.35). This sums up why Twitter is an invaluable tool when establishing and participating in a personal learning network (PLN). Having information available at my fingertips in real time is extremely valuable. With a simple tweet, I can have answers and resources at my disposal in a very short amount of time. As a busy mother of two very active boys, a teacher, and a graduate student, this is very important to me. Likewise, Twitter is also a tool that will aid in the research of topics. When I follow hashtags of interest, I can pull up endless tweets and articles about the interested topic. I really can’t wait to dig into this more! I can see how one can get sucked into a virtual world and lose track of time very easily. One click leads to another and another!

In the beginning of my encounter with using Twitter, I can already see how priceless this tool will be in aiding my professional growth. The amount of information, professionals, and ideas I am exposed to is mind boggling! I do like how TweetDeck organizes all this for me. In my first blog about PLN’s, I stressed how important sharing is. The “Teacher’s Guide to Twitter” confirms this by stating, “Along the lines of the ‘get what you give’ idea, the more you feed into the community, the more robust it will become and the more it will grow and become useful to you” (2016, para. 7). It is clear that sharing is the key. Through my investigation I read multiple times that first you are to read and digest the information, but then you must share. You can share your ideas or you can share someone else’s by retweeting. The more you do these two things, the more people you’ll reach and the more your network will grow.

After spending a couple of hours exploring Twitter and deciding who I was going to follow, I am very excited about the future possibilities it has to offer. Kathleen Morris, a teacher and a blogger for educators, summed it up perfectly, “I find Twitter to be like a virtual staff room where I can catch up with my PLN. It is a place where I can find advice, give advice, find great links, share my work and engage in general musings about education” (2016, para. 10). I found her advice very beneficial and have consequently decided to follow her on Twitter as well. I have very much enjoyed exploring new contacts and reading the plethora of information about all the topics that interest me. The next step will be to share and tweet.

Before I end this blog, I want to share a very useful website I found, Twitter for Teachers, by Kathy Schrock. It literally has information about everything you could want to know about Twitter as a beginner. Kathy Schrock provides helpful tips and tools in this valuable resource. I bookmarked this in my Diigo account for future reference.

Now that I have established myself in the Twitter community, I am anxious to reap all the benefits this aspect of my PLN has to offer in conjunction with this blog and my Feedly account.

References:

Morris, K. (2016). Step 2: Using Twitter To Build Your PLN. Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://teacherchallenge.edublogs.org/pln-challenge-3-using-twitter-to-build-your-pln/

Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2010). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.

The Teacher's Guide to Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved July 10, 2016, from http://www.edudemic.com/guides/guide-to-twitter/

PLN Reflection

I have to admit, I'm very nervous about making my first blog post. I have always been one to seek and gather information, but not to share. After reading Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli's  Personal Learning Networks (2011), I now understand the importance of how my interaction with others online is a necessity to my professional educational growth. They made it very clear that we must take charge of our own learning. We can't expect our students to become proficient users of technology if we ourselves don't engage in the same practices/expectations we have for them. Education is definitely changing; it's up to teachers to begin the change. We can't sit back and wait for someone to tell us what to do; we need to take the initiative. So, here's the beginning of this new adventure!

There is a plethora of information out there on topics of interest, and that's where learning in networks begins. Since there is a myriad of topics in the digital world, it is important to keep your focus relatively narrowed. You want quality to outweigh quantity. The next step, sharing, is one I would have previously skipped altogether. I did not feel I had much value to add. I have learned that that thought process is all wrong! The real learning comes from sharing. Even if it's reassurance that you are correct, that your idea was good, or if it's constructive criticism, full participation (receiving and disbursing information) is crucial. Sometimes we learn the most from someone else's viewpoint/idea that is different from our own. Now that I am beginning my personal learning network journey, I must also keep a healthy balance.  Richardson and Mancabelli suggests regular reflection as an essential element in maintaining this (2011, p. 37). It's easy to get overwhelmed and consumed with the overabundance of information out there.

Previously, I used to think it was enough to just read about important topics, process the information, and then use that information as I saw fit (mainly keeping it to myself). Through this reading, I have determined that a very important aspect to learning networks is sharing what you learned. I have found a great resource, How Do I Get a PLN, that has aided in my journey to beginning my own PLN. I also found 5 Personal Learning Networks for Educators very informative when creating my RSS Aggregator to begin following blogs and topics that interest me. PLN's are an easy and efficient way to connect with others to ensure our professional growth so we can ultimately produce well-rounded proficient technological users for the future. Personal learning networks make creating and collaborating about our interests possible. Consequently, we become contributors to the ongoing flow of learning (Richardson and Mancabelli, 2011, p. 23). PLN's are not just for teachers, but for students as well. "Learning networks are one of the richest ways for students to collaborate online, whether it is with a student in their class or a teacher halfway around the world" (Richardson and Mancabelli, 2011, p. 31). What a powerful learning tool personal learning networks can be in education!

Reference:

Richardson, W., & Mancabelli, R. (2011). Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.