The Education Buffet

After a recent staff development about incorporating technology, a few staff members were upset that they were required to create an action plan for using what they'd learned at the in-service in their classroom. Teachers are notorious for using cliches all the time as excuses for making changes. The excuse that I keep hearing is "adding more on to our already full plates". That phrase (or something similar) has been used at nauseum anytime an expectation is set forth on a teacher. I say, those "plates" SHOULD be full; full of good teaching practices. Unfortunately, time is a detrimental factor when teachers try to embed all these strategies in their teaching practice.

In order to be an effective teacher in our building, one should be doing all of those things that are agreed upon by staff or set forth by administrators (district or building). I think of that plate that teachers keep piling things on, as one of the cafeteria trays from the lunchroom. Each space is dedicated to effective teaching strategies that will enhance student learning. The tray for our building most likely looks different than those in other buildings, but I would assume that they are all similar throughout our particular school district. It's important to have all the spaces of any teacher's tray filled in order to be the most effective in the classroom.

Technology integration is something that has been fought with a lot of resistance in many elementary school buildings. In today's society, the meaningful integration of technology should be a space in any teacher's tray, but most teachers are not willing to try to put anything in that space. As we go through an All You Can Eat buffet line, most people try to put as much on the plate as they can. So why not fill a plate with as many effective teaching strategies as possible? Once we have digested some of those strategies from our plate, that leaves the opening for more to be added to fill that emptying space. As teachers, if we don't keep digesting (learning), our students aren't geeting the quality education that they deserve.

PBwiki Summer Camp

A couple weeks ago, I received an email asking if I'd like to participate in an online summer camp dealing with the ins and outs of using PBwiki in the classroom. Of course, having used it this year, I jumped at the chance. And in total honesty, participants receive a free premium account for one year which is what really drew my attention. Having had some experience with the site before, I didn't think it would be too difficult to navigate through.
After week one of the course, I'm wondering, "Man, can I do all this?" There are webinars that you are required to attend and weekly homework assignments. Not really all to difficult, but it's summer man! Anyway, I digress.
I was able however to participate in my first webinar via the internet. There were a couple ways that we were able to meet. The first being on a conference call along with a live demonstration through the GoTowebinar site. That was nice, I was able to watch the presenter click away on her screen while listening to her over the phone. The second option was to watch through the site, Ustream. While I wasn't able to see her screen unless I was connected to the webinar invite, I was able to hear the audio and see her without having to use my cell phone minutes.
After seeing and participating in the Ustream feed, I think this could be a very valuable resource to use in classrooms. Not only do you get a live video feed of the person you are talking with, but there is also a live chat along the side in which presenters and watchers can interact with each other. How cool would it be to have students at teams watching the same live feed and being able to ask questions to the speaker. This would be a great opportunity with the new laptops in the classrooms (well on a cart that will be wheeled to the classroom anyway). There were some glitches in the feed due to pbwiki's internet connection and possibly to the fact that there were 150 viewers watching it, but I am excited to try and use this tool through the school year. Heck, this could be used as a live Literature Circle discussion with another class in the same district or school (wink wink mr kimmi).
As far as the PBwiki summer camp course goes, I am excited to see what other options are available for the site. The best part of this course is that I am learning from other teachers how to effectively use a wiki in the classroom. Even better, an elementary classroom.
Our classroom wiki site is currently: misterboyer.pbwiki.com but it will be getting an overhaul.
The site for the summer camp is PBWiki Summer Camp and when it's all completed and compiled, it should be a very helpful resource.