Getting Things Done

I organized my process with a pencil and paper to begin. (A sticky note to be exact!) I realized after going through the process for the first time I already do most of the steps described. The part for me that felt the most time consuming was organizing the tasks. I think I would like to combine the organize and review steps. I do think this process works electronically for some people, but for me I like jotting things down on sticky notes.

I believe the process I use is very similar to the one described in the lecture. I use a sticky note and pen because as a first grade teacher I often don’t have enough time to type anything on my computer during the school day. I simply jot a quick note to myself to look at later. I collect all my tasks on the same sticky note throughout the day. I complete the processing and organizing steps at the same time. During those steps I often will send out emails to ask for help or delegate tasks to others, often parent volunteers. After I am left with several items on the list, I get to work. I typically do the tasks that need to be completed immediately. These tasks are often items I need to collect or make for teaching later in the day or the next day. Then I move on to tasks that I will need accomplished later in the week. The review process is something I do not typically do. I typically complete my tasks in 1-2 days and remove them from the list. I would say generally speaking, long-term projects do not make it onto my lists. This does not mean that I do not add additional items to the list, but on average my list gets smaller each day as I accomplish tasks. If all items are crossed off on the list, it goes in the garbage and a new list will begin.

This process helps to keep me organized and allows me to remember everything I want to accomplish. I can’t imagine the number of things I would forget if I did not write them down.

Social Networks

I think social networks are great for professional and personal use. Personally, coordinating busy schedules with friends and family is often difficult. Being able to send out mass messages, photos, or links to multiple people at once is helpful. (It made sharing my wedding photos, plans, etc. much easier this summer!) Professionally I think it is a great way to share ideas with a wider group of people. I’ve been following blog postings and interacting with a teacher from another state. She has great ideas about implementing Reading Workshop and her website has resources I can use in my classroom. I believe in the old saying, “Two heads are better than one.” Social networks allow for people to interact, share, provide ideas, and give feedback at their leisure and without being face to face with that person. It allows professionals from all over to collaborate, when they otherwise wouldn’t. One of the articles talked about teachers never having enough time to complete the “to do” list. I believe that social networks provide a means for saving time by interacting with many people at once. I have received lesson ideas, worksheets, plan, etc. from other teachers through social networks.

I know that students in my first grade class use social networks. They talk about Webkinz and talking to their friends through that site. I have heard them talking about using Skype for talking to family members that live in other states or talking to traveling parents. I believe as they progress through the grades, students use social networks more and more. For example, when I taught 4^th grade I had many students request to be my friend on Facebook. I think the area that teachers and adults need to be aware of is the expansion of the peer group that these students are interacting with. Instead of viewing this as dangerous or negative, as many do, I believe it can be used to learn about other cultures, stay in touch, and share ideas from individuals that they would otherwise not have access to. If we show students how to use these networks appropriately and to their advantage, I believe these could be powerful tools for extending learning and making students aware of others/issues globally.

WebQuest

I think students’ reading levels need to be taken into consideration when creating computer-based instructional objects. Many of the sites that I visited were geared toward young children, but there was no audio to go along with the directions. Many of the sites could be used with older partners, parent volunteers, or teachers, but could not be used independently. I think detailed directions need to be available. Many of the WebQuests required students to hit the back arrow, navigate away from the WebQuest, print, or copy and paste documents in order to manipulate them. I also believe that one should ask themselves if the WebQuest is more beneficial for students and how it is enhancing their learning. I felt like many of the WebQuests I came across were just for the sake of using technology and not using technology to benefit learning. It was very difficult to find exemplary WebQuests. The two I found are good, but not excellent. http://questgarden.com/107/97/4/100810094035/ is a WebQuest that deals with rhyming. It contained video, questioning, and gave feedback to the student. I like the use of metaphor on the site. http://questgarden.com/103/98/4/100523074301/process.htm is a WebQuest about identifying the vowels in the alphabet. I thought this site was a good resource because it gave feedback to the student, used audio, used scaffolding, and gave clear directions. It was one of the few sites that I believe could be used by younger students independently.

RSS Feed Page

Above is the screen shot I took of my RSS feed site. (I did not receive the email about taking a before and after shot, until I had already added my additional feeds.) Immediately, I noticed that some sites update so quickly and I began feeling a bit overwhelmed. I decided to focus on the activity in 2-3 feeds per day. After a few days, I also noticed that two of my sites did not add any new content or updates. I’m wondering if they only update weekly or periodically. I’ll have to keep monitoring them to make sure they are active.

I began by exploring and commenting on the above Guided Math Blog. I selected this blog because this is something that my district is working towards this year. The blog was full of games and center ideas to use in a math workshop setting. I already used one of the ideas I read about from the blog about using a 100’s chart 25 different ways in my classroom. I posted a comment wondering if any of the games could be used with the Promethean board or if similar games exist that would be compatible. I also asked how different teachers envision incorporating the interactive board into the math workshop setting. (My comment and the response are shown below.) I am getting a Promethean board installed next month and I have been researching information on it. Any information that I learn from the feeds about interactive white boards will be applied directly into my classroom. This is in addition to incorporating the math games and management skills I read about in the Guided Math blog.

The Guided Reading blog was about ways to keep students engaged. One of the ideas was involving students in role playing. This was something I’ve been using in my classroom and it was interesting to see how others are using it in similar and different ways. Many of the ways discussed on the blog were a bit advanced for 1^st grade, but might be useful in the future. In one of my feeds I learned about a program called “Guess the Word.” It was designed by a teacher for teachers. It is similar to hangman, but uses trees and leaves as opposed to body parts. Basically teachers can type in words and then have students use the program to guess words and/or math equations. Some of the teachers discussed using this during word work or incorporating it into the Reading Workshop. Additionally I browsed the Promethean Planet’s many blogs. I was able to gather ideas, see what other teachers are using the boards for, and gain some more background knowledge about the boards. On Weblogg, I read an interesting article about creating “entirely different learning environments” to meet the needs of the children today. I agreed with the point that schools don’t always link student learning to their personal lives and experiences. Many of the blog posts debated whether each student should have their own computer within the classroom or share computers to encourage cooperative learning. I believe that both points are valid and that there is a time and a place for both strategies.

I believe a RSS page would work well when trying to manage all the various blogs I follow or have created. For example, I have a personal blog, a classroom blog, and now my graduate class blog. Being able to follow all the updates in one place will be a huge time saver and allow me to keep up on the blogs daily.