Tech Task #10

So for some reason, the time I miss online class is the time that the two people present don't have to do a tech task. I'll admit, I get jealous, and I was in a different class, even ask Stephanie, she was with me.
All joking aside, I don't mind doing tech tasks, so here it goes but...

First off, I need to confess, I don't like listening to the sessions when they are not live.  So this session was painful for me to listen to because I was not listening live.  The reason I made it through was because of the amazing presenters and all the great ideas they shared.  I really missed the interactive aspect of the course and being able to add to the chat and ask questions.

Heather Durnin- Heather's school uses Google apps and Google e-mail accounts in their school.  I think that is a great idea, and really wish I would have had a Google account before I entered University and required it for a class.  Allowing students to have instant access to some of the great apps that are available through Google is something that I would hope more school districts would move towards. Hopefully the students will have access to their Google accounts once they move to a different school, and hopefully it's an e-mail address that will follow them that they can use in the future.

Photo from Ross Murray on Flickr

I also love the concept of their radio station 105 the Hive that allows students to exhibit their creativity in a way that can be heard by anyone at any time.

"Giving students a global audience- with a radio station-

 speaks to the strengths of students who can better show 

their knowledge and strengths through an oral/verbal medium."

Heather Durnin

Allowing students to be able to express themselves in unique ways is great to see and makes me very excited. The students can share their recordings with friends and family all across the country. I adore this concept and think it would be great for middle years and high school, yet could be expanded to include elementary students as well.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/epsos/5765590819/

Royan Lee- I don't know why, but as son as Royan talked about his Ikea tables all I could think of was 99 cent breakfast at Ikea and of Darwin, the Ikea monkey. If only the closest Ikea was closer than a 6 hour drive... oh well.  I really appreciated how Royan talked about his own classroom and how the set up facilitated and encouraged collaboration.  One of the important points I took away was to construct a classroom environment that supports collaboration and teamwork.  As an educator I will need to be willing to provide or find the devices needed to incorporate technology into my lessons and classroom, but I will also need to provide the spaces that support collaboration and collaborative learning, such as work tables, work areas, and comfortable spaces where students can go to work together and share their experiences. It's so easy to forget the importance of the physical environment that work occurs in and this was a great reminder that I, as a future teacher, will need to consider of how I will  provide an appropriate working environment.

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/vegas/388116980/sizes/m/in/photostream/

Clarence Fisher -I love the concept of Stalking in English Class, combining research and recording the information.  It's like a scavenger hunt on a person. The fact that it leads to discussions on what is appropriate to have online, and how it relates to online safety and privacy is brilliant. This is a great example of providing real people, with real online content, and giving it a real life context in order for students to understand the power of the internet and what is shared online.  I am sure this activity was a great wake up call for some students and will impact what they post online and how they use the internet.


While these are all focused on the middle years, there are so many possibilities on how to adapt and modify these activities for an elementary classroom.  

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryanrocketship/135759277/sizes/m/in/photostream/

I was thinking a fun beginning of the year activity might be to have a teacher that has a blog (hopefully near the top of a Google search of their name) leave secret messages, or even QR codes for students to find online and follow in order to learn about their teacher. Who doesn't love a scavenger hunt, and who doesn't like learning about their teacher?!?
Sorry for my excitement, but I would LOVE to create a scavenger hunt for my nephew to follow to learn about his Awesome Aunt Kendra, and since he lives in a different province I am sure I could create an online scavenger hunt, maybe even a WebQuest for him to learn about me. 

I am always thankful for teachers who are willing to share their lived experiences with us and these sessions always leave me wondering, how would this work in my future classroom.
Here are some questions I would need to consider before bringing these ideas into my future classroom.

• How do you get your schools and other teachers on board?
• How do you make sure that these things are continued on, throughout their years at school?
• What do you do about FOIP and privacy concerns?