Nings!!!

I think that Nings are a really interesting resource to have: they are a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace, but can be made private for educational purposes. A Ning allows people to post things like comments, pictures or videos and then other members of the group can comment on those posts or make new posts in reaction. I think this tool could be very useful in the classroom, although I must admit that I am a bit dismayed that you have to pay now to create a Ning.

  Nings That I Belong To:

- UB ENGLISH EDUCATION
The first Ning that I belong to is the UB English Education Ning. This Ning was a really good resource for keeping in touch with other preservice and current English Teachers. It was a good site to share ideas, lesson plans, videos, etc. with other colleagues in the program. Unfortunately, this Ning is not currently available because of the fee associated with it.

-ENGLISH IDEAS
This Ning is a site for English Teachers. Again, this Ning was designed to help English teachers share lesson plans, ideas, job postings, etc. I think this Ning will be very useful when I am teaching English and need a lesson plan idea, or perhaps feedback on a lesson I am thinking of teaching. Its always helpful to have a support-group of sorts, and this Ning is very useful for that purpose.

A Honeybee Cannot Make Honey Without Some Help...



       Connectivism is a new way of thinking about learning in our digital era. In this theory, a learner is described like a honeybee. The honeybee lives in a colony and thrives on working with and learning from the other bees in its hive. One bee cannot do all the work himself: it is the collaboration of all of the bees that ensures that the pollen is collected, the honey is made and that more bees are being reproduced to help maintain the cycle. In Connectivism, a learner can benefit from that same interaction that a honeybee has with other members of the hive. The interaction and collaboration in a group is a tool to help all members of that group develop knowledge and to become successful learners. Like a honeybee, one individual learner cannot be successful without the collaboration, interaction and communication with his peers.

        In the article, “Connectivism: A Learning Theory for the Digital Age,” author George Siemens helps to reinforce this idea. Siemens writes about the need for using social media in the classroom to help embrace this shift in learning. He writes, “Including technology and connection making as learning activities begins to move learning theories into a digital age. We can no longer personally experience and acquire learning that we need to act. We derive our competence from forming connections.” At one point, learning was much more of a personal, individual activity, but now, learning has become much more social. Our students live in a world of social media and social networking sites, so we need to embrace these technologies and use them in the classroom.

 Later on in the article, Siemens writes specifically about how forming groups within these networking sites can lead to knowledge formation and understanding. He writes, “Within social networks, hubs are well-connected people who are able to foster and maintain knowledge flow. Their interdependence results in effective knowledge flow, enabling the personal understanding of the state of activities organizationally.” I think it is important to stress that this knowledge is formed as a result of the group atmosphere, not personal efforts. When we learn to utilize the knowledge of others by communicating, interacting and collaborating, we can learn so much more than we can by ourselves.

        These ideas are further developed in the video “The Impact of Social Media on Learning.” Siemens talks about Connectivism in this video and says, “Through social means, we are able to share and connect to one another.” These social networking sites are tools for us to use to become better conversationalists and to learn to connect to other individuals and form a community. The communication and dialogue on these websites is what really helps us to learn. As Siemens says, “Our learning today is one of forming networks with each other, so our tools enable that effortlessly and in a way that’s very human to us, because when you think of it, we all enjoy dialogue and conversation. It really boils down to our ability to have a dialogue with other individuals and when we have that dialogue, we ourselves grow in our knowledge. We grow in understanding of our own ideas sometimes.” Again, the importance of the group membership is stressed. Although one person might have a good idea on his own, it is the discussion and collaboration with others about that idea that makes it a great one. We learn from one another and cannot make the honey, the great knowledge, without the help of the other bees along the way.

Bees working together!

Not a fad...

I watched several of the videos listed on our course syllabus, but the two that struck me the most were "Social Media Revolution 2" and "Did You Know?" These videos, in my opinion, carried a strong message about the way our world is shifting. I really liked the facts that these videos provided, proving to the audience that social media and online social networking sites are the fastest growing communication tools in the world. I thought it was amazing that it only took 9 MONTHS to have over 1 billion IPod Application downloads! Wow! As amazing or startling as these facts are, I think it is important for educators to realize that social-media and online discourse is NOT a fad, but rather a "fundamental shift in the way we communicate" (Social Media Revolution 2.) The sooner that we realize this, the faster we can adapt our education to utilize these websites and online forums, which our students in the current and upcoming generations are so immersed in. If we have all of this great technology at our fingertips, why not use it???

Safety Issues!

    Although I consider blogs to be very useful, I also feel they can be dangerous if not used properly, or if they are used without certain restrictions. If I were to create a list of rules for some of my students using a blog, they would be as follows:

 1. Never use your full name (first name or alias only)

2. Never reveal a specific location, only general information such as the closest city

3. Don't respond to posts from people you do not know

4. Be respectful when responding to your classmates' posts

     a. No inappropriate language

     b. No condescending/ demeaning remarks
     c. Use only constructive criticism
     d. ** Understand that everyone is entitled to their own point of view and their own beliefs!
     e. Never post a comment that you wish you could take back. Even if you delete it, you don't know that someone didn't read that comment first and you don't know who you've offended in the process.

    Basically, these rules reflect a need for safety for the students and also a level of respect that the students need to use when using the blog. The students need to follow the first three rules so they don't put themselves in danger by revealing too much personal information about themselves. There are way too many "internet creepers/ stalkers" and I would never want my students to put themselves in harm's way because of our class blog. The last set of rules corresponds with my belief that students should always be respectful of one another, inside of the classroom and out. These rules reflect my strong belief that in order to create a strong classroom community, each student must respect one another and should listen to one another's point of view, even if it is different from their own.

In regards to district policy, there might also be other rules that a district may set in place in order to protect the students. Some districts might not even allow blogs to be used as an educational tool, so it is important that you check with the administration in your school to make sure that blogs are an appropriate tool to use in the district that you are working in.

Using Blogs in the Classroom

       I think that bogs could be an extremely useful tool in the classroom for several reasons. First, I think blogs can be used to help shy students open up and really express themselves. I highly value student-led discussion, but sometimes establishing discussions can be difficult because students feel shy, nervous or guarded about sharing their opinions.  I think that a blog can open up avenues for those students that are too shy to speak in front of the class because they can feel much safer expressing those opinons online. By using a blog, students could feel more safe because they don't have to physically voice their opinions in front of 30 students in a classroom, rather, there is a certain distance there that allows students to feel more confident about sharing their responses. Also, when writing on a blog, students have more time to formulate their responses than they usually do when participating in a class discussion. They have the choice to draft, revise and edit their work before putting their response out for the rest of the class to view, so they also have that safety in knowing that they can have a chance to perfect their response first.

        I also believe that using blogs can help to create a strong, safe classroom community, where all members feel that their opinons are important. Although I believe it is necessary to set some ground rules with the students and make it clear that cyber-bullying will not be tolerated, I think that by asking the students to read and respond to each other's ideas and work online, the students can form a closer group, a learning community. By showing the students how to respond to one another's ideas respecfully, the students can learn to interact with their peers and to give constructive criticism, without demeaning their classmates. I think that this is always an important skill to have, but especially in the secondary schools, where socialization is so important to the students.
        Another way that I think blogs could be used is (as Richardson says) a "Class Portal." Richardson describes the "class portal" as a way to help teachers“publish the course curriculum, syllabus, class rules, homework assignments, rubrics, handouts, and presentations.” (Richardson, 21.) I think this could be a significant tool because students would have online access to any information they would need about a class. This way, if a student got home from school and realized that he forgot his homework in his locker, he could log in to the portal and see exactly what he needed to do for homework that night. This could solve a lot of issues in the classroom and it could also help to prevent the "I forgot my homework" excuse (although I'm sure students would come up with something new, like "I forgot my portal password", "I lost my computer", or "my dog ate my blog.")
        Last, but not least, I think that blogs can be a useful tool in the classroom (or outside of the classroom) because it allows for students to extend their discussions outside of the classroom walls. Many times, teachers have so many good ideas and there are so many things that we want to discuss with our students, but there just isn't time. With a blog, you could have some of those discussions outside of class on the class blog so the students are creating meaningful learning at home, just as they would be with an authentic discussion inside the classroom.
     I think that in an English Language Arts classroom, a blog would help teachers to reach all of the NYS standards. The standards are as follows:
Standard 1: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for information and understanding.
Standard 2: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for literary response and expression.
Standard 3: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for critical analysis and evaluation.
Standard 4: Students will read, write, listen, and speak for social interaction.
When using a blog, the students will most definitely be working for information and understanding as they create ideas and learning together on the internet. It can also be used to help with literary response and expression because students can be asked to respond to a piece of literature and to express their opinions on the blog. They could also work to analyze a piece of literature and to evaluate their classmates' work so in that way, a blog could help to reach Standard 3. Standard 4 is probably the most likely to be reached with a classroom blog because blogging with classmates is all about social interaction.