Personal+Growth

At the beginning of this class, my PLE would have been considered archaic at best. It consisted of my colleagues (I will say that they are fabulous.), some teacher resources, and a moderate level of computer knowledge applying only the simplest forms of technology with my students. I am certainly not an expert, but I am amazed at how fast my PLE has grown.

As with any tool, some work better for me than others. I see one such tool, UStream, with limitless potential. As a science teacher, there are many demonstrations that I need to set up and run one time during a course of study. While it would be great to be able to set them up again for an individual absent student, it is time consuming and often not as effective because of the class reaction/discussion that follows such a demonstration. With UStream, I can record the event and allow my students to witness not only the demonstration, but the discussion that follows.

Much of our new social studies curriculum requires the students to learn about an ancient civilization and then evaluate one aspect of that civilization. As an example, we learn about the ancient Chinese ruler, Shihuangdi. At the end of the study, the students are asked to evaluate whether Shihuangdi was an effective ruler or an ineffective ruler. Survey Monkey will give me the opportunity to collect each student’s opinion in an anonymous way. Then, we can spend more time discussing the reasons why the students placed Shihuangdi into these categories. It deepens the learning! I cannot wait to set up other such surveys.

I also love the idea of bookmarking. While we try to teach our students how to evaluate a website for accuracy and reliability, it is a difficult task for many 6th graders. If I can do a bit of frontloading of sites, I know that the information meets my reliability standards and will create stronger learning in my students. I have done this already for an adaptation project in science, but I can see it expanding to all of my curricular teaching areas.

In using all of these tools, I will need to be mindful to make sure I am not simply “automating”, but rather that I am “informating” and enhancing my students learning. I am excited about the possibilities ahead of me and the potential that is out there for me to teach my students and my colleague about the wonderful tools I have had the opportunity to practice. I am becoming a networked teacher and I am so proud of the personal growth I have made!