Putting It All Together (Like a Puzzle...)

For this week's class, it was a partial time to reflect on everything that we've been introduced to (or re-introduced to) in class.  So this week's blog will look at all that I've done over the last few weeks.  Here we go...

My Accomplishments

1.  The Wiki Page
2. The Classroom Blog
3. The Podcast
4. Photo Sharing
5. Video Conferencing
6. Screencasting

I'll try to group them to save on time, but let's analyze what I've done, and what I continue to do.

I began with the classroom wiki.  I had a pre-existing one, that, to be honest, didn't get a lot of use in the first semester.  I was a bit overwhelmed with everything else in life, but I tried to make it more of a priority in the 2nd semester.  As a result, I've gotten more collaboration out of my students.  Due to this, I was motivated to create a 2nd wiki, something that I could share with parents and students.  As a result, I created a classroom wiki that details everything that's being accomplished in class, along with resources and due dates.  This is something that I'd like to continue next year, and with a year of experience under my belt, I think it will be more successful.

Next is the blog.  I've been blogging for the last 2 years, but I wanted to create something to inform the families as well.  I found myself doing a lot of repeating of instructions, and I wanted to create something to alleviate that.  Now in its second month, the classroom blog is a step in the right direction.  I'm trying to share items with the parents that we're working on in order to give them tools and ideas to help their child complete projects successfully.  I've incorporated screencasts into this, as I am finding it's easier to narrate a visual than explain it 30 times to 30 people.  I plan on expanding on this in the future.

That takes me to podcasts.  This was something that I really wanted to jump into; I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I've wanted for years to create my own to host on iTunes.  I can now say that I've accomplished that.  I see merit in this; I could create podcasts to go along with the wiki page to give the students and teachers another tool to help them succeed.  This is what I've gained the most out of class; I will definitely continue to explore and use this in the future.

That sums up this week.  I've immersed myself into a lot of these tools, and I don't want it to simply be something I explored for 6 weeks and never revisited again.  I WANT to use these tools; now I need to figure out how to better manage my time.

Well, as always, I'd love to hear your feedback.  Thanks, and have a good one...

Putting the Twit in Twitter (and Other Random Thoughts...)

This week's topic-Social Bookmarking and Networking.  For me, a little bit of dread, as these are ideas I dread introducing to my staff, who easily get overwhelmed by topics such as e-mail and Power Point.  So, where do I go from here?  A few ideas...

• Twitter in the Class-Unfortunately, I can't use this as much as I want (my district does not allow for cell phones in the class).  However, I could experiment with this on assignments.  I think that it could be a quicker way of getting assignments, links, activities, and other information out to your class.  More importantly, it can be done OUTSIDE of class time!  Furthermore, it could allow kids to contact you with support or continuation of the topic right back to your Twitter account.  You would have immediate feedback (isn't that what we want, anyway?), and you would also be informed of who has responded to your posts.  There is potential there; I think the main issue is that many of us don't know how to correctly use it.  I fall into that category as well.  However, I'm attempting (follow me @bryandadamaja) to become more active in my use of it.
• Ning-The Social Networking site.  A bit like a wiki, with a little more for connections for similar styles in between.  I think that there's some merit to this as well; it sure would save me a lot of time from digging through archives for good links when there are thousands out there like me who may think the same way (scary thought there...)  Unfortunately, I won't be exploring this with my class---there are age limits, and I don't have 13 year olds in my class yet.  Maybe if I change grades.  However, this could be a good benefit for the teachers to have their own network, and to see that there are branching opportunities out there.
• Delicious-This is a bookmarking site, and one that I've used frequently before, well, at least in waves.  You know how life gets sometimes...  Anyway, I think this may be the one that I use first with my class.  I get frustrated by the amount of links that get lost by students, staff, me, etc.  I think through the class and the reading, I became a bit re-energized though this.  I'd like to go through this with my class; it may help them to discover new blogs, sites, activities, research articles, and countless other things that they normally wouldn't remember.  I think this will be my emphasis, especially as we have research papers to do for the next 2-3 months.

That's what stands out for now.  I'm testing out a few new ideas (Jing-although to the tekkies out there, I doubt that's new at all.) and learning through my successes and failures.  For me, it's vital that I immerse myself in this and actually attempt to use it, or else it disappears, like so much else in my life when I don't make it important.

Well, as always, please share, post, argue, do what you want.  Your opinions are greatly appreciated here.

RSS-PECT, find out what it means to me!

For this week's class, we started talking about RSS.  I remember going into a little bit of RSS a year or two ago, and sure enough, I found my Google Reader site (with 850 unread articles!)  Needless to say, I haven't checked my Reader lately.  Now it's time to get back into it, but it's important to get into why I need to try this again.

Right now, I'm currently managing 45 websites from my students, along with the Moodle page for the school, the wiki page for my class, and another 45 websites that my students just created.  It's literally a guess-and-check hunt to try to see if everyone is updating their pages.  That, and it takes a LONG TIME to check everyone's page.  As a result, I'm trying to toy around with RSS to set up a feed in which I can get automatic updates from my students when they update their sites.  This would allow me to directly visit the sites that I know have changed, and be able to evaluate and assess right away.  I think I was overwhelmed with RSS 1 year ago; now, I'm looking at it for purposes to help me manage my time and efforts better than I normally do.

I think that it will also help me with organizing the sites that I visit for information.  I tend to visit 15-20 sites every time that I'm on the web, and that easily takes an hour or two.  Again, to better manage my time, I really should subscribe to my favorite sites, and filter through the updates to see what I want to read and what I don't.  I think I really just need to have the time to sit down and set this up.  Of course, it's due for class this week, so that may motivate me a bit to get it done.  In all honesty, though, it may help me cut 30-45 minutes of jumping around and searching sites---instead, I can have it all sent to me.

Overall, there's a lot to be learned about RSS.  I don't think that I'm an expert by any means.  However, I do see myself becoming a bit more comfortable with using it.  I think that as I understand it more, I'll become more effective at utilizing it in my everyday routine.  The key now is to just start using it.

Anyway, here's the link to my Google Reader---follow if you'd like, or give suggestions as to what I'm missing.

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/corcoranbryan?hl=en

Well, that's a wrap.  As always, leave any feedback below.

The Quickie Wiki Review

After exploring the blog last week, this week focused on the wiki. For the class, this was nothing new. We've been using wikis for a while; actually, since the first class.

So, then, what's the goal this time? Using them as a teacher, not as a student. I'm actually OK with this, as I had initially planned to do this last year; I just kept putting it off until it was the school year. I placed it on the backburner, telling myself that I'd do it next year.

Looking at some of the wikis this week, and talking about it in class, I'm going to try to motivate myself to start it up again. I'd like to start it up in either my Language Arts or Writing course; there are a lot of projects that I do, and it may allow for better pacing for the kids, as well as me. Sometimes I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. Creating a wiki for class usage may allow me to have the foresight to see ahead to other classes or dates. It sure would make my principal, happy, too, to see my planning (because if you looked at my planning book, you sure wouldn't believe that I prep!)

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that I need to have an idea in my head of what I want. I think that's the issue. I'm not sure exactly how I want to set it up. The nice part about a wiki, though, is that I can change it if I don't like it.

Well, that sums up this week. If I actually get to making the page, I'll post it on my blog. Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Taking What We Learn, and, Actually, Ummmm, Using It!

Well, for this course, it feels like a bit of revisionist history. We're going over Web 2.0 tools, and it feels like a bit of a refresher course. There were some things we went over in class (wikis, blogs) that we've been using in our studies over the last year or so. However, it seems as if there have been innovations with these tools, or at least new uses for them since they were introduced. I'll go into that now.

It looks like the main focus is the blog. Now, obviously, I've been blogging for a while. Exploring some of the other blogs in class, though, I've been inspired to try out a new type of blog. I already have a website for the class; I think I'm going to develop a blog for my class as well.

Why now? Especially since there's been a website for over a year? Simply put, opportunity. This gives me more opportunity to connect with the families, and to update them on various projects that we're working on in the class. It also provides other avenues for the families and the students to post their questions as well. I think that providing as many possibilities to connect to the students and families as possible can only be a good thing. I feel bad starting it this late in the year, but I can use this as a building block for upcoming years. You gotta start sometime, right?

Well, keep your eyes posted to my blog. I'm sure that I'll update it with my attempts at a class blog, and I could use all the advice possible.

Until then....

Leadership---Wrapping It Up...

As we wrap up the end, I was asked to summarize my experiences by answering the following questions:

* How has your definition of leadership altered or been reinforced? Your definition of teacher leadership?

I think that it's helped me to see the areas in which I'm deficient. I might not agree with some of the decisions that are made, but I need to see what's best for the school, and that I may need to give a little in order for things to continue to flow in a positive manner. I also need to do a better job shielding my thoughts; many emotions or thoughts that I have are painfully obvious, so I need to do a better job masking that. As for my definition of leadership, I think it's changed a little. I still feel that the qualities I originally identified as leadership qualities still exist; this class has helped me to elaborate on those qualities, and point out specifically where I see it in the school.

* Has your opinion of your leadership potential changed?

I think I've adapted to try and see the leadership styles that younger teachers may have. I was stuck in my own world, and it never occurred to me that, even though I was only 13 years out of college, my ideas and abilities would already be considered 'old school.' That has allowed me to look for newer qualities for the young teachers, which is a bit difficult at my school, as I'm one of the younger teachers myself. However, I'm now trying to scan and scour to find young leaders that I can be part of a new school nucleus to exist after the veteran teachers eventually move on. That's how I've changed.


* Do you agree with our textbook's assertion about "improving education from within"? If so, what will you do to help?

Yes, because I believe that if you don't emulate and present the qualities that you want your students to have, it just won't happen. As educators, we constantly need to look at our performances, and see if there are areas that can be improved. It's fine to be content with our performance, but we should always strive for improvement. Isn't that what we want the students to do?

As for me, I plan to lead by example. I plan to show through my actions that I plan to constantly review my class's work to try to find new and innovative ways to improve upon it. I plan on exmperimenting with new activities and programs, and dabbling with differentiation in order to try to make my students as prepared as possible for the future that lies in front of them.

That sums up my experiences with class. As always, please leave any feedback for me, and I'll happily respond.

A Simulation of Administration

This week's class was different, to say the least. This week, we took the form of a team in a 3-hour simulation of what it's like to try to win over an entire school system with a new idea or plan. I wish it only took 3 hours in the real world, too...

Well, the simulation was interesting. We spent a lot of the first year of our administration trying to come up with a plan that the staff would buy into. Luckily, the team I was on was agreeable and flexible; there weren't any hidden agendas that others were trying to force, and I didn't notice anyone trying to be the "Alpha Male" who tried to take over all decision-making (wish I could say the same for real-life school situations, too...) After a lot of confusion, we were able to get through the first year with some progress. We didn't blow our budget, either.

Year 2, we began learning from our mistakes. There were fewer miscues with the budget, and we started to look past the step we were on. For a lot of the first part of the simulation, we were SO focused on making one step work, that in some cases, we weren't thinking of the next item to do. In this part, though, we started thinking ahead. Another strategy we came across was trying to level the field. We didn't want 1 individual at mastery; we were looking for several. Our strategy became one in which we tried to involve as many characters as possible in the act of progression. In 90% of the situations, it worked. The only negative; again, we didn't utilize all of our budget.

The final year, year 3, we had our system down, and jumped right into it. After 2+ hours of learning from mistakes, we certainly had our strategy down pat. Our poor runner barely had time to sit; by the time he would come back, we already had our next step of the program in place, and we were planning for steps 2-3 levels down the road, with specific people in mind. This part of the simulation flew. For the first time, we utilized all of the budget.

Simulation ending, I now have a chance to reflect about this and the real world. I was able to make a lot of connections to my current situation as Instructional Technology Leader and Teacher. We realized as a team that no matter how good the plan, you may not get 100% support from your staff. As the ITL for my school, I need to realize that as well. I may be able to share hundreds of great ideas, but not everyone will commit to it. The reasons are many, but the results may not be the ones that I want. Instead, I need to focus on those who DO want to commit to improvement; they are the key to progression.

In terms of my team, I learned that communication and sacrifice are key. There may have been decisions that I didn't agree with, but I had to support the team if a majority of them believed in it. The same could be said for my ideas. By all means, there wasn't arguing within my team. I'm just saying that you need to be willing to meet others halfway in order to get progress going. If your peers or subordinates see you and your team arguing, what motivation does that give them to follow you and your ideas?

Overall, it was interesting, far more than I was expecting (no, I'm not sucking up...) I saw a lot of connections to myself and my situation, and I think that I may be able to see my situations differently once I step back and look at the "entire level playing board", to connect it back to this week's activity (sorry, lame connection, I couldn't think of anything witty to say...)

Well, any comments, please feel free to share.