Bringing the World Together One Project at a Time

     When I studied abroad in India I had the opportunity to collaborate with a community called Reach The World. It was a program that allowed me to write blogs and field notes on different topics and be connected to an elementary classroom back home in the US. I was connected to a fourth grade class and they used my blog posts in their social studies class to learn more about India. I had the chance to video chat with the class twice allowing them to come up to the computer one by one and ask me different questions about India. I loved the idea of Reach The World; being able to bring various cultures straight into the classrooms of the students. 

     A similar program to Reach The World is EPals, except this site is more collaborative and natives of each country are able to work together on projects. The main categories of this site are divided into: challenges, find classroom, projects, learning centers, and ePals Central. All of projects and activities I have looked at so far seem to range from late elementary school age up through seniors in high school. I think one of the biggest benefits of EPals is that it can be used for any subject including science, social studies, language, etc. I wish that it were also geared to students who were beyond high school as well. While students learn about different people from different countries all over the world, this website gives students the opportunities to actually meet, (virtually) connect, and make friends with these students from places like Brazil, India, Japan, etc. This helps students gain a broader understanding of the world at an early age. 

I don't know if I would use this program specifically since it is geared more towards students in elementary - high school but I would definitely want to find a program similar to this in order to give my future adult ESL students an opportunity to engage and make friends with with native English speakers outside the classroom. 

Social Networking for Language Educators

     The Educator's PLN (personal learning network) is an online social networking site specifically designed for educators. It reminds me  little of Facebook but it seems far more community based. The site has various resources and methods for connecting with other educators including: Edchat, videos, forums, blogs, tutorials, and a link to other educational websites. The site is displayed in an easy to follow manner and has a visually appealing theme. 

I am sure that this site is useful for any educator however I think it would be especially useful for new teachers as a way to connect and learn from teachers with more experience and to also explore additional resources that they may be able to use in the classroom. 

A Learner is Like a Flash Drive

A learner is like a flash drive.

     Why? With today's technology it would be hard to say that a learner is like a sponge; someone who soaks up knowledge and keeps it with them forever. Flash drives are far more realistic because for the most part, we now rely heavily on computers and various other networks to access knowledge. We don't have remember everything we are taught; rather we are taught how to access knowledge and how to store it for later use. Flash drives are a small device with memory that allow us to do just that. We simple store information and resources on the flash drive in able to access it at any point later on. 

     At the beginning of "Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age" written by George Siemens he discusses new trends in learning. The last bullet on his list states, "Know-how and know-what is being supplemented with know-where (the understanding of where to find knowledge needed). This goes back to my earlier statements of how it is no longer important to remember everything you are taught; rather you need to know where to find the information you need and how to store it for later retrieval. 

     In George Siemen's video "The Changing Nature of Knowledge" he says, "[t]oday because of the complex environments we're in, learning isn't something that's exclusively limited or occurs exclusively within an individual's mind." Learning is no longer done solely in a classroom with a teacher and textbooks, it now consists of networks formed between people and information that can be retrieved from computers at any time of the day. With those capabilities and the rate of speed that knowledge is being created these days, it is impossible to remember everything. That is why it is important to know how to store and retrieve data and why a learner is more like a flash drive than a sponge that is able to soak everything up and remember it.

Useful Internet Tools: A Quick Comparison

This past week I have learned how to use both Diigo and Pinterest. For those who are not familiar to either of these, let me give you a quick overview. 

Diigo is essentially an online bookmarking site. It stands for Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other Stuff. Traditionally one would save a bookmark in your browser. It's helpfulness was limited because it would be saved to a specific browser on a specific computer. If you were out of town and didn't have your computer with you, you were out of luck. If your computer suddenly 'died', all would be lost. Using Diigo, the sites you bookmark are saved to your online cloud account and can be accessed at any time of day, from any browser, on any computer. What's more is that you can save websites to be read offline, and also highlight information on the pages, and take notes. 

Diigo is extremely organized in the sense that you can add tag to each bookmark you create; these are then on the side of your homepage allowing you to access the sites that you have bookmarked by category instead of scrolling endlessly for what you need. Last, but certainly not least, you can follow other Diigo users, giving you access to others' bookmarks and notes. If you have something you would like to keep private, you can check a box for that as well. I try to be an organized person but often times my time is limited and I'm not able to bookmark according to categories. With Diigo I can now do that quickly and without very little effort. am happy I have been introduced to this site and plan on using it often. 

The other new tool I have learned how to navigate (sort of) is Pinterest. This site, like Diigo, allows collaboration and the sharing of ideas between others online. It is essentially an online bulletin board where you can create boards of different categories and post items to these boards. The concept of it is simple enough but once I started creating my first board, it was not as easy as I had anticipated. When I created my first board I then went to search for items to pin to it but when I selected the "pin it" option the name of my new bulletin board did not appear. I had to "like" the item, then go back to the list of items I like, and then pin it to the board. After I added the five items that I wanted, I tried to edit the board to move things around and only four of the five items showed up. It took over an hour for all of them to appear. One nice thing about Pinterest though is that once you "pin" or "like" something a window pops up with related material that you may also want to view.. I do enjoy the concept of Pinterest, but I think there needs to be a way to make the site more user friendly or at least easier to navigate. I will continue to try to figure out my way through the site with hopes that I will be able to catch on to it better.

The Future of Education

     The current education system is not working. It has been obvious for some time now. Drop out rates are increasing, people aren't doing their homework; they are bored, unmotivated, and disengaged. As mentioned by Sugata Mitra in "The Future of Learning, Networked Society." education was first developed by the Victorians with a goal that education will create cookie cutter beings; they will all be taught in the same manner and will know the same things. While that may have worked for them at the time, the world is a constantly changing place and with that comes ever evolving systems; including education. 

     Students are bored and unmotivated. Why? For the most part, they sit for six to eight hours per day and are talked at. Of course that is not always the case, but it is the majority. For some, that's okay. They take notes, are able to remember everything, and then perform well on exams. But that is only one part of the student body and our current educational system fails to account for the rest of the students. So much for "no child left behind" right?

     Students needs to be engaged. They need to be able to explore; find their own answers. Learning should be in a fun interactive environment; not a chore Monday through Friday with a dread for homework after school hours. Give a student the resources that he/she needs, teach them how to use it and watch what they can do. In the same video mentioned above, Sugata Mitra placed a computer in a slum area in India; a place where kids have never heard of a computer let alone internet. Within just hours, a group of children working together were browsing the internet. 

This brings me to the future of classroom curriculum. In "Future Learning" Sugata Mitra discusses the evolution of curriculum. He states that 200-300 years ago one was taught how to shoot a gun and ride a horse. If you told anyone during that time period students would not be taught how to do either of those things in the future, they would be astonished. Nowadays, shooting and horseback riding are sports. Will mathematics someday no longer be taught in schools because it too will be a sport? Sugata Mitra closes with what he believes should be the future of our curriculum: 

      "[R]eading comprehension is the most critical skill at this point in time for a      
       generation that is going to read off screens for the rest of their lives. Information              search and retrieval skills; if people know what are key words, follow a link or not,            it's a key skill. If arithmetic is an outdated skill, this is the skill that will replace it.            Finally, if a child knows how to read, if a child knows how to search for information,          how do we teach them how to believe...if we can do it really really early, we would          have armed that child against doctrine; not just religious doctrine but doctrine in all        forms." 

Giving a student the knowledge of how to search for information, read it, and believe will be some of the most powerful educational tools in the future if it is not the most important. With a virtually unlimited source of information the learning capabilities a student has with the abilities to search,read, and believe are endless. 

Start Blogging!

Hi there everyone! In my first blog post I am going to discuss a few ways having a blog can be beneficial for both professional development and future students.

In a world where we are surrounded by technology it would be silly not to utilize it for educational purposes. Students use the internet on an almost daily basis for social interaction, checking and responding to emails, and entertainment, so why not encourage them to use it in their education as well? The benefits of student blogging can be profound. In an ESL classroom often times students will be timid to speak; afraid of either making a mistake or worried about being judged by others. Through blogging, students have the ability to express themselves free of judgment; allowing them to engage in class discussions and practice both their reading and writing skills simultaneously. This is an excellent way to help students meet learning standards as well. For example, in New York State's ESL standard requirements at the C.9-12.2 level “students will listen, speak, read, and write English for literary response, enjoyment, and expression.” What better way to meet this requirement than with a personalized blog?

Considering the significant number of educational resources that are available to students today, keeping a blog is also an excellent way to take various helpful online materials and bring them into one place. This way, students do not need to go searching all over the internet for helpful resources; they can access everything at once through just one website.

Besides using a blog in the classroom or with students,   blogging can be beneficial for one’s professional development as well.

For one, (as mentioned by fellow Steve Wheeler, another teacher blogger) blogging gives teachers a way to reflect. Teachers who blog consistently about their lessons and classes are able to look back and think about what has and/or hasn't worked for them in their classrooms in hopes that they can make improvements to their current curriculum. It is also a great way to network and receive feedback from other teachers in your field. By blogging you are putting yourself out there in the public eye to receive feedback and suggestions from your fellow teachers. It also gives you and your fellow teachers the opportunity to bounce ideas off of each other in order to help your students.

So what are you waiting for? Get those creative juices flowing and start your educational blog today!