I created two goals for this project. My first goal is to increase ethical use of
digital information in my own work and in my school. I set about to locate resources about this
topics and then create presentations and lesson plans for my school. This week, I changed my resource gathering to
a delicious stack, because it was easier to add resources. If anyone is interested, you can access my
stack here: http://www.delicious.com/stacks/view/KZTUpX
Thanks to the feedback in a previous week, I have decided to
narrow this goal to focus on media use, since that is the area of biggest need
in my school. I have also begun working
on a website for my school; I included a place for students and teachers to
learn more about these issues and I want to include a gallery of media that can
be ethically used by school members. I
especially want to have a way for students and faculty to submit their own
creative work to be used by others in projects.
I have just begun building the site, but it will be located here: http://goo.gl/7LJyB
. I chose this site template because I
built our school’s library website last summer using the same template and I
love the idea of this site being incorporated into the school’s library
resources.
My second goal is to increase my own participation in social
networks. While I have always been a
passive learner in social networks, I want to challenge myself to increase the
amount I post and comment in the learning networks I belong to. Thanks to feedback I received last week, I
have been able to use my evernote system to share directly to twitter, which
has been a great way to increase my posting.
One thing that I have learned this week is that I need to
get over the fear that I don’t have anything interesting to contribute to these
conversations. I tend to assume that
anything I know about is already old news to everyone else in the world, so I
am afraid to contribute to conversations.
I have to remind myself that everyone needs to participate in these
kinds of conversations to make them truly worthwhile.
The biggest thing I need to do to continue my learning in
this area is to go back to comments I have made on blog posts and read any
responses to my comments and further comments.
This way I can get good feedback from other interested and knowledgeable
educators.
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteIt is great that you are building a website for your school. I feel like this is one area where students and teachers lack. In fact, I was a doing a project with my one class today and they were uploading images from Google. I made that the students included the source of the picture under the image so they understood that it is not their property. Unfortunately, I am guilty of this. When I make my PowerPoints and include images I do not properly cite them all the time. Most of the time it is just a matter of me being so busy and trying to get the presentation done as quickly as possible, that I do not even think about properly citing the picture. I think the website that you created can be useful for teachers to view and will serve as a reminder of such things.
Since this is only my 3rd year teaching I have the same worries of not knowing as much as other teachers. I do not let this hold me back. Hill (2007) stated that “when teachers enter the workforce, their education is far from over” (p.112. As teachers, we need to reach out for help and advice when we need it. I believe that contributing to conversations and communicating with others, teachers can “generate possible alternatives to practice” and will help us grow as a life-long learners (Dana & Yendol-Hoppey, 2009, p.63).
I have learned so much just from having conversations with other educators and plan on continuing this practice throughout my career. It is always good to get new perspectives and ideas from my colleagues and I also welcome any constructive criticism. I also try to instill these ideas in my students. I try to teach them to be open and voice your opinion whether or not it is the same as everyone else’s. I would not be fearful; all teachers are looking for advice and looking for ways to improve their practice. If educators are not willing to do this, then they might want to change professions because they will be doing a huge disservice to their current and future students.
In terms of the blog posts, I actually frequently visit different blogs outside of this class. I usually do this when I am having a problem in class and/or looking for some possible solutions. Sometimes I just search for some new strategies to improve my teaching. Here is a link to a website that has many different education blogs listed by category: http://oedb.org/library/features/top-100-education-blogs
Kayla Shandra
References
Dana, N. F., & Yendol-Hoppey, D. (2009). The reflective educator’s guide to classroom research: Learning to teach and teaching to learn through practitioner inquiry (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Hill, H. C. (2007). Learning in the Teaching Workforce. Future Of Children, 17(1), 111-127.
I love the idea of delicious stacks. There is so much information out there that you have to archive it digitally to have a chance at researching and creating effectively.
ReplyDeleteAlso, your website is looking great. I look forward to seing the finished project. JHaving students learn about incorporating copyrighted material to increase the quality of a project effectively and legally is a great skill to have upon graduation.
When student click on videos and music are they going to get guidelines like under your images category? Is there going to be links to citing sources or ways to check their citing?
Nick,
DeleteYes, that is what I was thinking. I would have the landing page for each category be information about using resources ethically and then a gallery of work they can use with attribution. I am also hoping that I can find students who can create some PSAs about the topic to include in the website, too.
I hadn't even thought about putting links to check their citations, but that is a great idea and I definitely will!
Thanks!
Melissa
Melissa,
ReplyDeleteYou have definitely been busy and self-motivated. The idea of the delicious stacks is very informative and creative. Anyone who check out the site will be pleased that you have provided this information in a very organized way. Creating a site for your school is a good way to get teachers involved. Maybe you should select a group of students to share suggestions with you for the site. This way you can have the student body participating in some way. Social networks can be beneficial as long as we are sharing relevant ideas. Learning what others know is helpful and sharing what we know help others. I understand having that fear of thinking that you do not have anything to contribute. I feel that same way at times, but when I continue to research and read comments and blogs, I have some of the same experiences that I can share with peers and sometimes it is helpful to them.