Ok, so now that I have my class blog up and running, my students are working together in Google docs, Gmail and groups, and they have all created meaningful Voki’s I seem to have neglected my professional blog.  I am spending every moment working WITH my students to mold and shape our Power unit.  During this collaborative time I have forgotten to sit back and think, “So, what does this all mean?”  Read some of the comments that have been said in my classroom over the past two weeks:

“That makes so much more sense” – commenting on subscribing to RSS feeds

“What happens if we aren’t allowed to learn this way next year?”

“I need to do it this way because that is how I learn best.”

“”Finally!”

“I feel more comfortable speaking to the world through a blog than in front of the class.  Is that ok?”

And finally, a parent comes to me at conferences and tells me how her 13 year old son and his friend were having a sleep over.  It was 2 in the morning and she heard them on the computer.  Expecting to find them on an inappropriate site, she was dumbfounded to find that they were blogging on our class blog!

I was speechless!

Tomorrow we are having Demonstration of Learning in my classroom and for one of the tasks I have asked students to post a comment on our class blog with their parents.  I am really anxious to see how this will go over.  I already have some parents who post on our blog.  My hope is that this will encourage other parents to start as well.  All the students have also created their own Voki which they are using to welcome their parents to our Demonstration of Learning – needless to say I didn’t have to ask twice for the students to complete this assignment!! 

Students begun setting up their subscriptions this week.  Most have subscribed to TSN and such.  My goal is for them to start subscribing to sites that are relevant to the unit.  This will be a natural movement for some, and not for others.  We have been spending time on finding valuable internet sites that are reliable.  However, I must admit that the students are much more aware than I was expecting.  Their media intelligence is beyond my original assumptions.  There are a handful of students wanting to start their own blogs after the break so that will be very exciting to watch and I will be sure to keep everyone aware of their progress. 

On another note, some teachers in the school have begun blogging with the students and the students are over the top because of this.  Today was a high because someone from South Africa was checking out our blog – the students were on a high!!  (as was their teacher!)

I think that I had goose bumps this whole week at school!  We started our new social studies unit on “Power” and decided as a class that the Holocaust is a fabulous example of Power and how it can be used and abused in any situation.  Our class unit blog is up and running and I have all my students with “academic only” gmail accounts.  They love it because their parents can use the same email and it’s primary use is for school purposes.  The kids have started blogging – some more naturally than others – but they are getting there.  I even had a parent ask to post to the blog!  I embedded a Voki on the sidebar and they love it – most have created their own Vokiand are constantly looking for more web 2.0 tools to play around with.  I am having trouble embedding the Voki into my post though, so if anyone has some tips please pass my way.  Now I have to run and get my Animotoholocaust vid ready for Monday’s class!  I love school. 

p.s.  and my students do too!!

Well, I started my digital project with my students this week.  I think at the beginning I was more excited than the kids.  But, with most things in teaching, the kids are starting to feed off of my energy and get excited about their opportunities as well!  I introduced the unit blog and had all students get parental consent and sign up (with their parents) for a gmail account.  They were responsible for creating a username and password with their folks.  The gmail account will be their “academic” email.  Next year our school division is looking into getting educational gmail accounts for all of the kids.  I sure hope this comes to fruition.

Today we discussed the intro of How To Blog.  Students had to complete a draft of the blog that they post for their first post to the class blog.  We also took a look at the class blog and they took a keen interest in the Voki that I had created.  I think I already have a fair number who have created their own Voki’s (it takes them a fraction of the time to figure things out in comparison to their teacher).  I can’t wait to continue our journey with Media Awareness and the impact of our digital footprints.  I encourage you to check out our class blog as it starts to take form.

Well, tomorrow I am officially kicking off my class blog with my students.  It will be similar to the -night- before -the-first -day -of- school -syndrome.  I will be talking non-stop to my family members and they will nod and smile and act like they have the same passion as I.  Then I will proceed to run through my “kick-off to the main event” followed by a night of tossing and turning.  Thank goodness for Tim Horton’s! 

Well, call me a dare devil but I thought I would take my new techno-multi-tasking self to a training session held this past weekend.  The result?  There are people out there that haven’t taken a class by Alec Couros!  At first I thought I would try and Twitter about during a session where they were asking for participant feedback, connections, and recommendations.  Appropriate Twitter time I thought.  Within minutes I was given “the look”.  You know the one – the “how dare you play around on your laptop when I am speaking at you” look.  Not wanting to rock the boat too much within the first 10 minutes of training, I slid my laptop to the side. 

I was continued to be spoken at for the next 60 minutes.  How I yearned to be doing something to engage my listening.  But, I didn’t dare slide the computer in front of me for fear of the “look”.  I wanted to let the presenters know that they lost my attention 40 minutes prior but I didn’t think they would be checking their IM or email at the present moment in time!

Then the day took a turn.  A new presenter was brought into the room who was going to teach us how to use a program on the computer that we would need to complete our training.  Instinct took over my body as I reached for my laptop and pulled it in front of me.  Then it happened.  “You won’t be needing your computers because then you won’t listen while I am talking to you.  I will show you what you need to do on the data projector and after you will work with a partner on a computer to work through what I just taught.”  Wha????  How can this be?  I raised my hand ready to protest but was shot down with the “look”.  My hand sunk to my table as I closed up my laptop.  I listened to the presentation and after found my partner.  Then we looked at each and asked the same question as most of the other participants, “So, what are we supposed to do?”

I just kept thinking how I could have been making my notes in Google Docs while following the presenter.  The time saved would have been @ 30 minutes as this was how long it took after the presentation to get all the participants on the right track. What message could I have sent to the presenter that what I was doing on my laptop was not going to distract others, interfere with his/her presentation or my learning of the topic?  How do we ease away from the fear of losing control in the learning environment?

Ok, I will admit it.  I am starting to see the big picture with regards to the benefits of blogging.  On my last blog I received some fantastic feedback from several colleagues, Shaun and Laurie.  I think it was their personal insight that I found so fascinating.  I am amazed at the “personal touch” that occurs through the written word.  Me likey!!