Posts Tagged ‘edchat’
Jelly Bean Math
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
I saw a tweet today that mentioned “Jelly Bean Math” and thought about all of the great ideas and resources I find on Twitter. Even though tonight’s #edchat was about parent/teacher communication, it led to all kinds of paths to examine. I am always amazed at the collaboration and cheerful sharing among the participating educators. Student engagement is one of the constant themes. Jelly beans certainly draw me in!
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Tech Showcase
Monday, March 8th, 2010
Today was the Technology Showcase for the Archdiocese of Baltimore. It was hosted at Calvert Hall. What a magnificent school! They have a wonderful array of tech tools plus a very knowledgeable and helpful tech team.
My presentation was on using social media for professional development. I spoke about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Ning. Most of the time was spent on Twitter, and I was able to market the Tuesday evening #edchat a bit. I had also registered the hashtag #aobtech for the showcase and encouraged participants to use it. The concept of a back channel was a bit new for them.
The people in my session seemed very open to using the tools but had some legitimate concerns. Figuring out how to navigate through this new sea without drowning in it is a bit tricky at times.
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Passion
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010
Tonight’s Twitter #edchat centered on helping students discover their passions. I had a few thoughts to add, specifically that we need to incorporate non-contingent interactions. By talking to them and listening intently during non-academic conversations, we can let them know we value their interests. I also tweeted about inviting guest speakers to our classrooms and allowing students to question them freely (although within certain boundaries). With Skype, we have access to professionals all around the world in real time.
My own passions center around learning, teaching, and mint chocolate chip ice cream.
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Tech Tools
Wednesday, January 13th, 2010
Tonight’s #edchat was fast-paced and full of interesting commentary, as usual. The theme was centered on tech tools and student learning goals. I was glad to see educators agreeing that the technology needs to be driven by the curricular objectives and not the other way around.
One of the members of my PLN, @cybraryman1 (who has an incredible website, btw), tweeted: “Let us never forget that students still need meaningful relationships with their teachers!” In the middle of retweeting that, I accidentally sent it before I was finished, and it didn’t include his name so it looked like I had written it. Yikes! We spend so much time making sure our students don’t take credit for others’ work, and here I was doing just that. At least, it looked that way. I made sure to send out an immediate correction and an apology to cybraryman. He was very gracious.
It was a good learning experience for me, and I started reflecting on how students could very easily make the same mistake. Instead of getting harsh, we can use those “teachable moments” to ensure that they attend to errors and make any necessary reparations. I just hope everyone is as understanding as cybraryman!
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Chatting with educators
Tuesday, November 17th, 2009
On #Edchat this evening, the topic was about motivating teachers to use technology in the classroom. This is near and dear to me, and I wrote an article about it in 2005. I have since retired, but I was a technology coordinator and later AP at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel in Baltimore. Along with Diane Fitzpatrick, I developed a training program that incorporated incentives. You can read about it here.
There were plenty of great tweets about the issue. Some themes included making sure the technology does not drive the curriculum, the importance of modeling, and taking a gentle approach.
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Lurking at the #edchat
Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Tonight was another great #edchat. While I usually participate by reading and sending tweets, tonight I decided to sit back and absorb all of the information coming my way. It was very gratifying. Every time I thought of a point I could make, I saw an educator sending out the same thought. Lurking isn’t my usual style, but sometimes it’s great to just “listen.” I got a chance to reflect on what was being discussed.
The topic was about administrators evaluating teachers’ use of technology. I really enjoyed seeing all kinds of educators engage with each other. We weren’t always on the same page, but we were having a civil discussion and supporting our viewpoints. I learned about the cultures of individual schools and about universal problems. In addition, I saw familiar names and encountered new ones. #Edchat is awesome.
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