Learning as a Way of Teaching

David Warlick helped me to know that I am on the right path.  He provided a path to 21st century literacy that helped me realize what I am doing right and what I need to do in order to reach the next level.

1.  Find two or more other educators in your school who are interested in learning and using emerging information and communication  technologies.

Check.  So far, I have found Jeremy, Maurie, Traci, Joni, Carlene, Amy, Kaylee, Melanie, and Andi.  Only three of them have blogs and they are all fledglings at this point.  But they all share the desire to use emerging information and communication technologies in the classroom (and out of the classroom).

2.  Identify the appropriate person in your school or district who can provide technical support and configuration for your increasingly utilized computers and network.

Check.  My administrators are helping with the purchase of new technologies.  My principal, Special Education director, campus technology specialist, district technology director, and assistant superintendent are all playing a part in helping us get these technologies into the classroom.

3.  Identify some edu-bloggers who are talking about the emerging ICTs you are considering.

Check.  I have set up a Google reader account that has many blogs.  Not as many as others, but they are in there.  I have blogs from ICT people as well as fellow Special Ed bloggers.  I seem to add new feeds every day and I learn something new every time I read.  My favorite blog is Ms. Cofino’s.  I have had the opportunity to participate in a collaboration project with her and learn daily from her experiences.

4.  Delegate!  Assign each member of your team some of the selected blogs to follow, and share specific posts with each other.

Added to my “To Do” list.  The members of my team do not spend time reading blogs like I do (at least not that I am aware of).  Delegation is not my strong suit, but it is certainly the way to get more from what is available.

5.  Read, study, and discuss books about teaching and learning and the world we’re doing it in.

Added to my “To Do” list.  I love to read, so this should not be a problem.  However, there is not a lot of time to devote to books.  Or perhaps I need to find out how to carve out some time.  Reading seems to get pushed to the bottom of my to do list.

6.  Schedule regular meetings (once or twice a month) at a local restaurant, coffee shop, or pizzeria (preferably with WiFi).  Meet and discuss what you’ve learned and what you want to learn.

Added to my “To Do” list.  Bringing my network together would be an amazing feat of organization that I am not real sure is inside me.  Most of the people in my team teach on my campus, but not all of them.  They all have different levels of tech savviness, so I am not sure what to do if I managed to get them all together.  However, any excuse to meet at a coffee shop and talk technology would be widely accepted.

7.  Start a group del.icio.us (A social bookmarks service) account for organizing and sharing web resources.

Added to my “To Do” list.  I have tinkered with del.icio.us, digg, diigo, and technorati.  Tagging is something that I have not totally immersed myself in, but it is definetely something I plan to become more literate in.

8.  Start a wiki for posting notes, links, and step-by-step instructions.

Added to my “To Do” list.  I have used Google docs to share information.  I have not used a wiki for this element of literacy though I have used wikis for student projects.  This seems like a simple process, but I sure would like a framework or look at someone elses wiki to know how to best set one up.

Any suggestions?

9.  Join one or more of the Ning social networks, such as: School 2.0, Library 2.0, Classroom 2.0.

Check.  I have joined Classroom 2.0 and I am a member of several forums inside the social network.  I also have used twitter to connect with other educators and have a dozen or so twitters that I follow.

10.  Start your own blogs for sharing your reflections on what you are learning and how you are learning it.

Check.  This should go without saying.

11.  Start experimenting in your class and share the results.

Check.  I have experimented with a class blog (which will be relaunched soon), student websites, student wikis, and more.  The element that I need to do more of is sharing results with my network.

12.  Share your results with other teachers in your school and Invite them into your conversation.

Add to my “To Do” list.  I have several experiments, but I need to bring more teachers into my conversations.  I even need to figure out how to get all of the teachers to not only into conversations with me, but in conversations with each other.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 12th, 2008 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.