June 21, 2009

Warlick Chapter 3

I should probably be more encompassing when I blog about a chapter instead of just one of the topics, but this chapter is full of a lot of information, and some of it is starting to be a review from the Richardson book and learning that has taken place in class, but I do want to mention that I am very interested in podcasting. I think that I will incorporate it into the literacy classes next year. We will have students practicing their fluency by preparing short stories, poems, etc., for podcasts. I don't think they will be published. I don't really see a need to publish them. So I guess in a way we are not podcasting, but creating audio files. Then teachers can listen to those audio files to see what fluency problems the students are having. I can work with a student and record them doing a reading fluency progress monitoring probe. Then I can play it for teachers to teach them how I would analyze the probe to determine what the student needs to work on before the next fluency check.

Flickr

The difference I see between Flickr and AP images and clip art is the difference between web 2.0 and web 1.0. As far as I know AP images and clip art don't allow interaction with commenting and asking questions to find out more. Whereas Flickr is interactive and can be used in a classroom privately for students to comment on digital images produced or found by other classmates. The main problem I see with this is that looking at digital images, commenting on them, collaborating etc., has no correlation to achievement tests. So in my literacy coach position next year, I don't think I will be using Flickr. We will be too busy trying to increase reading rate and comprehension of written text, which I think is more important than manipulating pictures. Isn't it interesting how our focus can change based on the position we hold in a school. If I was going to be the teacher-librarian in a school district, I would be more interested in Flickr, but now that I am going to be a literacy coach, I have decided I need to focus on other tools.

Chapter 6 The Social Web Learning Together

In Richardson's introduction is my favorite line from the chapter, "Because of these tools, we can build complex networks of resources to tap into, allowing us to find more information, more teachers, and more learning." p. 86. I am more interested in diigo as a educational networking site than twitter. I think I can convince more educators of the benefits of diigo's bookmarking tools than twitter. One has to start somewhere, and I don't think twitter is the thing to introduce first to teachers who may not have any experience in web 2.0. Diigo on the other hand allows educators to share good websites, good information, etc. I don't have my head wrapped around all of the ins and outs of Diigo yet, but I will. It is a tool worth learning and sharing with other educators.

RSS for News Searches

I forgot to mention my favorite piece of learning from the chapter. RSS Feeds for News Searches. The fact that I can find out when a topic that I care about is in the news the day it is printed, is fantastic.

RSS Where have you been all my life?

I feel like I have been missing out! I had heard the term RSS and it had been explained to me before, but it didn't really sink in until I read this chapter and we set up Google Reader. I am fascinated by the idea of a personal learning space. I just had an interview today to be a literacy coach for a middle school. They asked how I would communicate with all of the teachers I would be coaching. I told them face to face of course, but also digitally. I told them I would probably set up a blog, and I would have all the teacher's subscribe to it. I could post all the information that they needed there. I could have links to research articles that I wanted to share, a calendar of important dates, and the teacher's could leave comments and questions. I hope that it made sense to the people I interviewed with. Then I would see which teachers really like the blog, and I would help them set up RSS feeds so that they could set up personal learning spaces or environments. I got the idea from reading the Girls Write Now Blog and website. It seemed like a very good way to communicate to the group like I mentioned in my last post.