Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Game Plan Part Two

I will need to address my plan in different steps for each part.

In order to implement some changes in using social media in my classroom, I will have to seek out examples of classrooms in which social media has been used and worked and find research that supports its inclusion in the classroom.  Not only will this help me determine if this is a worthwhile endeavor, it will also prevent me from wasting my time if social media is something that has yet to make a significant impact in the classroom.

To become more active in the professional development arena, I will have to seek out opportunities to share my new skills.  Much of what I have learned has been here in my coursework or on my own, so it would be ideal to find some further professional development opportunities on my own.  I already have plans to present a blogging workshop during our professional development days prior to the school year, so I've made one step to achieving that goal.  I am anxious to see how it goes and if any of my colleagues will offer any criticism or begin to use blogs in their classrooms.  I know there are a few like-minded teachers in my building, so it would be good to have a core of teachers interested in technology to bounce ideas off of and get more technology into my lessons.

Implementing social media seems to take a bit more time.  There are already some ideas I have about using it in the classroom (further use of blogs, Google Wave) but it's difficult to get a feel for what the next step is until I have had a chance to try out these ideas with some students.

3 comments:

  1. I also found, once you sign up for a workshop you begin receiving tons of informaiton. So this another way to find workshop information.

    Maybe you could be the trainner and then train the teachers. This will also enhance your technology knowledge According to Dr. Erlmer, knowledge, confidience , belief and supportive cultures will make us the best teachers we can be.

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  2. My frustration with social media is the fact that so much of it is blocked in my district. It will be a cold day (you know where) when sites like facebook are opened up to teachers and students. Almost all blogs are blocked in my district. Fortunately, we are going to a learning management system that has a blog feature built right into it.

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  3. Agreed--blogs were blocked in my district in May after we had been using them all year. Very frustrating. I hope that the positive publicity for these sites will begin to prevail (like how they are used by businesses) and we will begin to see that this is the future and cannot be ignored.

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