We're Tearing The Walls Down... One Brick At A Time

My class and I have made our first steps into the world of classroom blogging. Yesterday we worked together to create our first blog post. The children had so much to say, the ideas just kept tumbling out - our blog post ended up quite long, but I was absolutely stoked with their enthusiasm and the number and range of contributions. One of the things that was just wonderful to watch was how one child's idea would spark something for another child, who would add their contribution, and so on and so on... They were really thinking about the structure and sequence of our post, I heard comments like - "I would like to add a sentence just before the sentence about..." or "That paragraph there might be better at the top because..." The kids were engaged and motivated and they were exploring oral language, reading, collaboration, cooperation, thinking about structure and audience.

What they find the most exciting is the idea that they have a real audience, their parents and other family members , other teachers and classes in our school and in schools across Auckland, New Zealand and the world. This was made even more real for them when Amanda visited their blog last night and left them a comment. This meant that I was able to return to school today and, less than 24 hours after there entry was posted, share feedback from a real live reader. The kids were absolutely thrilled and can't wait for Amanda to get back from L@S so she can share their blog with her class. Thank you so much Amanda - you made their day.

At this stage I am scribing for them and we are creating our post as a whole class, shared writing experience. I added the links and photos for them too. I am working towards the children being able to take responsibility for all aspects of our blog. I'm hoping to use something like blogging buddies, monitors or teams - possibly evening having children take a turn at being editor in chief so that someone has the responsibility of giving the post a final ok before uploading. I'm still playing around with ideas in my head at this stage - I need to mamp out a long term vision to ensure the whole process scaffolds smoothly and remains a worthwhile learning experience.

In order to sell the idea of blogging to my principal I decided to make their blog invite only so that it is pass word protected. This is a mixed blessing, as on one hand I can restrict access to the type of audience I approve of, on the other hand - it could reduce their potential audience of acceptable and legitimate readers due to the extra step and hassle involved. What it does mean is that parents have to request an invite in order to get their password to view the site and the children will have to wait for their feedback until this is all sorted. However, I am sure once things are all up and running this will be fine.

I am hoping to be able to invite some other classes from around NZ (and beyond) so that they can have an audience of their peers, as well as providing them with the opportunity to visit and comment on other blogs so they get to experience the true power of blogging.

We are beginning to create our classroom without walls, just baby steps at first and slowly, brick by brick we will get there. I'm feeling excited and positive about our learning journey.

Just Thinking Outloud.

My resolution for this year is to really start using this blog as a tool for reflection and global networking with like minded educators - gosh that all sounds a bit high brow - LOL! As I prepare my presentation for our cluster conference next week, I have been reflecting on the growth I have made in my knowledge and understanding of the ICT tools available, the language/terminology I have added to my mental dictionary, the skills I have gained and the people I have connected with since April 07.
In April last year I decided on a new personal motto "Do something that scares you". This was an important turning point for me as I can be shy and I tend to over think situations which means that at times I avoid/ miss out on opportunities because of my own fears and insecurities. I have explored ICT possibilities for most of my teaching career and have included ICT as a tool in my class in some form or other since I began teaching about 15 years ago (Now I do feel old). In my personal life I have used MSN, email, google... all the usual stuff I have belonged to a few teacher list serves over the years. So that's the back ground.

Back to April 07 - I'm a scrapbooker in my spare time and decided I wanted to find out if there were any online forums in NZ for scrapbookers to connect through. A google search led me to SBO, where I found and connected with many like minded others. I chat with these ladies regularly and have developed some online friendships. At the bottom of some of their posts many of the SBO ladies had sig tags that included their blog links. I had heard of blogs before, but had never really explored them. Clicking on these links resulted in my next step forward - I began my own blog. This blog was a place where I could share my scrapbooking pages, burble about my daily life and link to other blogs I enjoyed. I became more confident and started commenting on other people's blogs - this meant that people started to comment on mine and a few more friendships were created. I learnt the html code to create hyper links using key words within my posts and started to discover the world of widgets, some of which I added to my own blog. Visiting other people's blogs I would come across things I hadn't seen before and my knowledge of web tools and toys increased.

Fast forward to the September/October school holidays... I had the opportunity to attend ULearn 07
in Auckland. This conference was an amazing experience for me and accelerated my personal and professional growth considerably. I was exposed to the thought provoking ideas presented by Ewan McIntosh- I was excited to discover that he, like me, had issues with the labels of "digital native" and "digital immigrant" - descriptions I had always felt were simplistic and gross generalisations, especially when I was told I was an immigrant because of my age and yet the definition of "native" behaviours fitted me more closely, particularly given my unusual exposure for a child of the 70s/80s, to a wide range of technology from the time I was born, thanks to my electrical engineer/Ham radio operating father. Derek Wenmoth kept asking "Are you blogging this?" and said that people had been "Twittering" and blogging about Ewan's presentation - he even mentioned that some people were being "Skyped in". I sat there and thought - ok so blogging I get, they're blogging this right now? Wow! - What does he mean about "twittering"? - Isn't "skype" that video phone that David has? and my thoughts were spinning. Never mind that I had a head full of thoughts and questions from Ewan's presentation - plus I badly wanted a Nintendo DS and the "Brain Training" software to go with it - lol!
At morning tea time I noticed signs about the "Blogger's Cafe'" - I knew that I was a blogger, but I didn't blog about school stuff, unfortunately my shyness kept me away for the whole conference - I kept thinking maybe I should go over and see what it's about, but I kept chickening out. I am kicking myself now that's for sure. I attended my breakouts for the day and just felt challenged and inspired - Tony Ryan
as my first break out definitely helped with this. I went home that night - buzzing and blogged about my day - just a little bit. After the second day I was so excited by all the stuff I was hearing - I googled twitter
and signed up straight away - I only had Ewan to follow but it was a start. I also got really brave and left a comment on his blog. From his blog I followed a link to another NZ teacher's blog from a comment they'd left, which led to another blog, and another and so on. I was collecting a blog roll full of teacher blogs - people who thought the way I did and who were as passionate about ICT as I was. I was so inspired I started adding to my blog again - at which point I decided I needed a separate blog for teacher stuff - and so this blog was created.

Since then it has positively spiralled - I have made contacts, connections and friendships via Twitter, been inspired by other amazing teachers. I have discovered del.icio.us, podcasting, Web 2.0, tiny url, Flickr, QuestAtlantis , Voicethread, Ustream.TV, RSS, Bloglines, TeacherTube , Technospudsand so much more. I think what has really amazed me is just what is out there and how educators all over the world are putting it to use. To be able to ask a question via Twitter and get an almost instant response has been fantastic. I have learnt so much from all my online contacts and can really appreciate how technology helps to make the world a smaller place. It is so exciting to be part of a global community of educators all sharing ideas and collaborating and it has provided me with regular, ongoing professional development.

The week that was...

Well, it’s been a week since ULearn and I have to say my head is still full to overflowing with ideas, inspiration, challenges…you name it. I have been to all sorts of conferences and various PD over the years, but I don’t know that I have ever felt as inspired as I have by ULearn 07 . Maybe I was just in the right headspace at the right time, or maybe there was more to it then that – who knows. All I know is that it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and that it has really challenged me to think about the way I do things. Not necessarily to make sweeping changes, as some of what I heard only affirmed what I was already doing, more to make me think, be reflective, be critical about why and how I do things.
If nothing else, through following links and ideas I have gained through ULearn 07, I have connected with other like-minded NZ educators through their blogs and through Twitter . I’d never heard of Twitter before the conference, but in true “me” fashion, of course I had to go and find out what it was. A little addictive I must say, although it is neat to be able to share a thought when I have it, get feedback from others and give feedback on their thoughts as well.
I have started to put in a place a few little and doable things from ULearn , and already this first week back has been one of the smoothest of the year. The kids have been very busy, very engaged and the quality of thought and depth of discussion from my 8 and 9 year olds has been amazing.
I have begun the online PD for QuestAtlantis , which I was introduced to at ULearn . The great thing is that our AP and another member of staff are doing it as well. One of the things I really like about QuestAtlantis is that it contains the “academic rigour” mentioned by Tony Ryan , as well as being motivating and engaging for the children. They get to connect with other children across the globe as a feature of QuestAtlantis as well.
I am keen to start blogging with my class. I have been keeping a personal blog since April and of course have just begun this one. I have to be able to present it to school in a way that shows I am considering privacy and security for the children. This is important to me as well, what I am battling with is how to ensure my kiddies are kept safe, while allowing the opportunity for them to connect with that wider, possibly global, audience. I could make our blog password access only, but would this narrow the audience? It’s an interesting dilemma – thoughts anyone?
We got a new toy this week too – a projector, again I am now considering ways that I can use this within the classroom without it becoming simply a glorified OHP. We had a little play the other day and used it to view a video about reading created by a class in the USA, we also created a collaborative mind map using Inspiration.
My kids also found out that no; they hadn’t placed in the Net Guide Web Challenge . They were a little disappointed, but when I told them that there were almost 3000 entries they cheered up a little. I have to say the standard of the winning classes and teams were absolutely amazing – some of the best I’ve seen in the last 5 years. Congratulations to all the finalists – you have done a fantastic job.
Well, this post is really quite long so I’ll stop for now. I have more to dissect re ULearn ,but will do that as a separate post or two.