Insta-Classroom!

Last week, I posted about using a classroom Twitter account to communicate with parents. Although I haven't been using it this year, I definitely like the idea of using social networking to get parents involved. I think that for 3rd grade, the best way to use social media in the classroom is to have a classroom account that students can make guest posts for.
Another teacher at my school has been experimenting with using a classroom Instagram account. I would envision using a class Instagram in a very similar way to Twitter. I think it would be a great way to show parents what is going on in the classroom. While Twitter has a strict character count, Instagram does not. This would allow students to explain what they learned or what was going on in the photo without worrying about a character limit. My only concern about an Instagram account would be the fact that you have to upload a photo with each post. I think I would ultimately be less likely to use this type of account because of that. I can see myself wanting to post, but forgetting to take photos during the day!
I am excited to experiment more with social networking in the classroom as it really gains momentum socially. More of our parents are now just as connected as we are, so it would be great to provide them with a place to see what we are doing in the classroom and interact with students and teachers digitally.

A Classroom All a Twitter

Last year I was really trying to communicate more with my students' parents. I decided to give a classroom twitter a try! It sounded like such a great idea! Unfortunately, I found it extremely hard to keep up with. Perhaps as I gain more teaching experience, I will be able to keep up with a daily update like this.
For the classroom twitter, I sent out a letter to parents to get their permission for photos and to inform them about the purpose of our classroom twitter. I made sure to keep the account private, so I had to approve each follower. I ended up having a good bit of parents begin to follow our account. We introduced it to the students and told them we would have a "tweeter of the day". It was a great lesson for the students to practice thinking about main idea or even just something interesting that they learned. The hardest part about having the students tweet was explaining what a hashtag is! As tech savvy as our third graders are, the idea of hashtags went right over their heads. For most of their tweets, we would help them come up with a few hashtags to go with their tweet.
I really hope that maybe next year I will be able to give our account new life. We really enjoyed posting pictures and having the students share their learning with their parents!

Two Peas in a PODcast!

While all of my friends seemed to be buzzing about the recent podcast series Serial, I seemed to have missed the boat. I still held on to the idea that podcasts were boring. I just didn't understand why anyone would want to spend their time listening to one! I've never been a huge fan of talk radio, but now I kind of feel like I am missing out! Reading about podcasts only seemed to further my hesitations... amateur radio?? I don't think so. Once we took a look at the different aspects of a podcast like the "sound and feel", intro and outro, style, and audience, I finally started to see how they could be cool.

Kerri and I embarked on our journey to create our own podcast to be part of a series Monument Moments. Making the podcast was a lot more fun than I expected! It was so easy to synthesize our information into a short amount of time! We even got to add fun sound effects and spend time working on how we wanted our voices to sound. After this experience, I definitely want my students to take a shot at this! I love how they are able to practice fluency through practicing their scripts, and they would be able to record it as many times as they need. This sounds much better than a typical oral presentation. I also think that having the students' podcasts all be part of a series would help create a common goal for the class. It would be so much fun to share these with others and see the students be proud of their work!

Wiki Wiki!

Instead of immediately thinking of fake DJ noises, I now know that wikis can be powerful learning tools! I have been familiar with Wikipedia, but I never thought that using a wiki could be used and created by students. After working on wikis with our class, I have seen first hand how cool it can be to collaborate using this tool. I have been thinking a lot about how I can integrate this into my classroom. I think that it would definitely take a lot of scaffolding with third graders, but it can be done! Right now, I am thinking about starting one with my high reading group as an enrichment activity for right now. I think that might help me ease my way into using the tool with students, and help me troubleshoot some problems!

Bloggin' Like it's Hot

This past week we explored more about blogs. Before we started the readings, I was wondered what on earth I could possibly have to learn about blogs. I grew up in a time when blogging was extremely popular, I spend most of my time surfing teaching blogs from Pinterest, and I kept my own blog during my study abroad in South Africa. My tune has changed a bit since my reading. Although I have had a lot of experience with blogs, I did not have many ideas of how to use them in the classroom. Now that I have a more concrete definition of what a blog is, I can imagine different ways for my students to use them. They are not just a website that gets updated, they are a place where you post thoughts, ideas, questions or links regularly. My favorite quote from Will Richardson is that, "They demand interaction." This interaction sets it apart from websites. The interaction with readers really makes you feel like you have an audience.
I am looking forward to using blogs with my students in the future. Katherine Hale has been using blogs in her classroom with her students, and her excitement about her student's growth in writing is infectious. This positive energy around blogging really makes me feel like I could start this with my students. I think that the way she has allowed her students the freedom to choose their specialty and focus has allowed her students' writing to thrive. Right now, I am considering taking blogging for a test ride with a group of my higher readers. I am thinking about having them write a reading review blog. I hope that as I continue to swirl these ideas around in my head, I will be able to come up with a plan to engage my third graders in this type of activity.

Who am I?

My first year of teaching I was assigned a mentor that had no interest in helping me grow or even survive as a teacher. Amid all of the long nights and frustration, I began collaborating with our special education teacher (who was in her second year of teaching). Although I didn't have any students on her caseload, we began to plan together. This collaboration invigorated the both of us.
We decided to go to our admin with a crazy proposition, to let us co-teach together. It had never been done before at our school, so we assumed they would say no to the two inexperienced teachers. But, they said yes! We spent our summer doing research and reading up on how to organize and plan for our epic collaboration.
When we started the year, I had no idea what to expect. I took one class in special education, and I had no experience teaching these wonderful students. This past year was one of the most rewarding, exciting, exhausting, and impactful of my career so far. While I know that is not the most intense statements, seeing as how I have only been teaching for three years now, I think it has made a permanent impact on my career. Working with my co-teacher has pushed me to try new things and become a better teacher. I am held accountable for my teaching everyday with her, as opposed to only when administration comes in for evaluations. I have someone to share our successes with and someone to reflect and discuss how we can make it better.
I have also been able to see first-hand how amazing it is for every student in our classroom, not just our students with IEPs. Our students with IEPs no longer have to be shuffled back and forth between classrooms. They have one classroom with the same expectations and routines, They have higher confidence because it is not diminished every time they have to leave the classroom for instruction. They have role models to help them see what appropriate behavior and social skills look like. Our general education students are learning tolerance. They are learning how to be leaders and teach others what they have learned. All of our students have learned the important lesson that fair does not always mean equal. They are learning that everyone makes mistakes. They are all receiving small group instruction 80% of the day. They get two different perspectives and two different explanations. They are a strong classroom community. They stick up for each other. They are learning.