Week 30 - PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks
Week 30 -
PRACTICE - Professional Online Social Networks
This week’s blog is a great follow on to last week. For all
my thoughts then, I do see how social networking sites can be very useful. I
love the teacher’s pay teachers site, I am always reading from the New Zealand
teacher’s facebook page. Pinterest is awesome and I enjoy spending time looking
for useful ideas for me and my students. I guess the main thing for me with all
of these is that I use them but I don’t share myself. Sometimes I will share a
comment or information to support a question on the Teacher’s facebook page,
but I am generally just a reader.
The videos this week have really made me stop and think. I
have been on this Mindlab journey for 30 weeks now and I need to show that I
have learnt something!! I especially loved the video of the teacher who “invited
the world into her classroom through blogs and twitter.” What awesome
experiences for her students, especially the concern for the Brisbane students
during the flooding. We talk about
making experiences and learning real for our students – how much more real can
that get?
This also takes me back to the beginning of Mindlab where I wrote
an assignment about starting up digital portfolios for my students and the reasons
why this would be beneficial. I still agree with everything I thought then but
I have not carried this out. I will not beat myself up about it as life happens
but I am now re-energised to make these a reality. How great for struggling
readers to see their progress online from one year to the next. As I am at an
Intermediate School, we keep our students for 2 years, and the growth for some
students is huge. To have all this documented on a blog, with photos and other
evidence, would really be a highlight of their 2 years.
The teacher on the video talked about how twitter can be
used as a reading and writing tool, but also as a way of connecting with other
students from anywhere in the world. The world is becoming more and more
connected and we have a responsibility to show students how to connect in a
safe and effective way. To do this, they need to be networking in some form.
The two biggest challenges I see for me, and these are the
same as 30 weeks ago, time and knowledge. Both relate to some of the issues
talked about in previous blogs. We are involved in so much learning, new information, changes, but
when do we get to stop and put into practice all of this? We do a lot on the
run, learning as we go, and to be more successful, we need the chance to slow
down. Is this where the Government should be stepping up more??
Education
Council.(2012). Establishing safeguards.[video file]. Retrieved from https://vimeo.com/49216520
Sharples, M., de
Roock , R., et al.(2016). Innovating Pedagogy 2016: Open University
Innovation Report 5. P12-14. Milton Keynes: The Open University. Retrieved
fromhttp://proxima.iet.open.ac.uk/public/innovating_pedagogy_2016.pdf
Tvoparents.(2013, may 21). Using social media in the
classroom (Video file). Retrieved from https://www.Youtube.com/watch?v=riZStaz8Rno
What a thoughtful and honest post. This journey has been the best PD ever, but we all need to realise that we are at different stages on the journey. One of the first things we need to acknowledge is where we are, where we want to go and why we want to go there. I am very proud of you Raewyn (and you should be too)taking on this journey and contributing how you have. Never be afraid of what you have to offer, but on the other hand don't feel you have to either. Social Media can be many things. Have a go at blogs with the students.
ReplyDeleteThank you Heather. yes, I am determined to get going with the online learning journals and see how they go. I plan to make them a success!!
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