Week 6- Skype with Alan November

I really enjoyed the Skype time last week with Mr. November.  It really put into perspective the ideas and examples that are explained in his book.  I found it very useful the way he presented information as it showed his desire to help technology continue to grow and conquer some of the challenges that are getting in the way, administrators.  I particularly liked when we said we as the new generation to technology with the fresh ideas need to present and teach those who are resistant to the change.  At first I thought that would be impossible but after thought I think if approached appropriately our ideas can be expressed.  It may not work but I think we all have the new tools that we need to share to express the benefits to learning that they each have.  I think of it as "I am going to teach my administrator, ya right" but really they need to understand the tools and the true benefits to the students since this is 21st century learning.  It is overcoming the fear and going working to help this move further and expand!

I also liked the piece on parent communication.  I think it is very important to get parents involved and the resources and tools he offered to make this happen were great!  Megan also talked about this on her blog.  Find the link below where Megan talks about these concepts as well. 
Megan's blog

Here is also a great link I found about education and parent involvement.

   "In this complex world, it takes more than a good school to educate children. And it takes more than a good home. It takes these two major educational institutions working together."
                                        - Dorothy Rich, Author of Megaskills.

Week 4- Empowering Students with Technology

Five and six year olds using Ipads and net-books in the classroom!  In the chapters read this week in November's book there are many wonderful technology opportunities offered for students at any age in the classroom.  I think these chapters brought together many of the discussions and articles that we have been focusing on over the past couple of weeks.  This was not only an informational text where definitions and road-maps on to how to use the internet but it was a great resource with examples of how technology can be used effectively.  I was able to make many connections between my own classroom and the information presented.  I evaluated my classroom blog and began to think about how I can connect my blog to increasing the home-school connection for my students.  I thought of ways to improve my blog, not only by using these chapters but also by using points in Bonk's article from week 3.  On page 37 in November's book he talks about the importance of classroom websites as a way to get parents more involved in what is happening inside the classroom. I want to take this a step further and use my blog, since I already have a classroom website through my schools website, to see it I can increase parent involvement.  I have set this as my goal for the next few months to see if an increase is noticed as I am currently having a hard time getting parents involved what is happening in the classroom.  I also like the information presented in this book in regards to Skyping.  As I posted in an earlier post, I have used Skype in my classroom before.  We have Skyped with another first grade class in the district and also Skyped with a farm last year when we studied animal babies as part of our Science unit.  I have a colleague who used Skype to talk with her class when she was on maternity leave.  They student, parent, and teacher feedback was great!  I agree with November that there are endless possibilities when using Skype in the classroom.

http://www.skype.com/intl/en-us/home