And in the end...

... the love you take, is equal to the love you make.

The title of every blog that I have posted has been a line in a Beatles song that has changed my life. I feel that it is only fitting that I title my final reflection blog from the song "The End" from the album Abbey Road.

What you put into something is what you get out of it. Joining services such as Google Readers, etc has helped me transition from one career to another by allowing me to shift perspective. While I usually focus on what is out there for our clients, I can now look at the same things and think about how I can use the same ideas to benefit a child's education. I would tell future educators that the internet is a vast space full of a plethora of information that is there for us to use. Just a simple search of a topic can lead to blogs from teachers who are in the same predicament, and we won't feel so alone anymore. It is easy to get lost in this space, but the experience has helped me focus even more on my goals, and made me feel at ease with my abilities to teach.

The Long and Winding Road

I have continued to follow the blogs that I spoke about in last months post. These blogs are diverse, insightful and are invaluable to the future educator, such as myself. Here are some updated topics that they have brought up in the last month that I feel educators should be aware of.

Cool Cat Teacher Blog

The Subject:

Vicki Davis has been working on a lot of blogs this last month. Some of the topics that she has written about are digital citizenship, copyright infringement laws in Ireland and Flat Classrooms. This is a blog that I will continue to follow after this class has completed as Davis provides information and insight on several aspects of technology that may not be as commonplace to those who are new to the education but are useful nonetheless.

My participation:

The blog post "What is the deal with this Ning thing? (Reflections on the End of Free Networks)" caught my attention because it sounded like a Seinfeld joke. I had never heard of Ning, but after some research, I found out that this website builds social networks, and it is heavily used amongst educators. There is a separate section specifically for educators to gather and and share information. The reason for this blog is that Ning is removing access to free services, which directly affects educators who use this website as apart of their classroom teaching, the school who uses the website to keep parents updates and the students, who have access to other students and their teachers outside of the classroom in case issues arise with homework, etc. My comment on this topic was one from a unique perspective in that I see both sides of the argument as I currently work in advertising and and I also am studying to be a teacher. I feel that companies who are profit based are entitled to earn that profit, especially in the economic times that we have been facing. However, I feel that these companies should have "piggy banks" set aside from pro bono work, especially when it comes to education, to help offset costs.

My Learning:

The first thing I learned is that there are several free services available to educators that can enhance their work with the students while keeping them in touch with other educators to share ideas, etc. My company does pro bono work and sometimes it gets put on the back burner in order to accommodate a paying client. I do think that companies should be conscious of usage based on educational purposes since schools most often do not have the funds to provide services that aren't free. Communities, and social network sites such as Ning fall into that category, have an obligation to the students to help teachers in anyway that they can. I think that future educators such as myself need to take advantage of the free services that are available on the internet in order to make the classroom experience more valuable to the students.

Hope Foundation

The Subject:

The blog that I enjoy following the most is the Hope Foundation. They are focused on the student and the teacher as individuals and discuss topics that are more personal than other sites.

My Participation:

I initially started to comment on another post done a few weeks ago on gender wars, but then Mark Stock, the site's resident blogger, posted a topic yesterday that I think was very important to future educators, as well as educators who have been in the field for a long time. The blog, titled "Why do we go to work when times are tough", looks into what motivates the educators to get up every day and walk onto what some would call a battlefield, especially when it feels like the battle is being lost. My comment is, again, one from a unique position as I have been in the corporate world since I graduated college 8 years ago. I feel that what will keep me going is the same thing that is driving me to make this career change: the ability to make a difference in the life of a student. I get up every day for my current job because I am thankful to have a job. However, I am choosing a new career path into the education world because I am tired of not making a difference that matters. Children, especially those who have the desire to learn but maybe not the means, are the ones that I will get up for every day.

My Learning:

My father has been a high school math teacher for over 30 years, and I sometimes wonder what makes him get up every day, to do the familiar drive to his school, to walk to the familiar classroom that he has been teaching in, and how he manages to deal with teenage boys without killing them. This last part being the most important HAHA. I am confident in my motivation to change careers and to be an educator. I feel that I have much to bring to the classroom and I am eager to begin. I think that my fellow classmates and I need to keep our focus and constantly remind ourselves of the reasons why we chose the path of education after starting a career in another field, especially when times get tough. We need to keep the faith in our abilities and in the abilities of our students.

Bionic Teaching

The Subject:

Bionic Teaching is a fun blog that brings technology to the masses from the tried and tested perspective of Tom, the sites resident blogger. His posting are more sporadic than most other blogs (only 4 in the last month), but they feature topics such as 21st Century teaching technology and how to get on board to elementary math.

My Participation:

The blog titled "BattleDecks (Queensland Rules)" piqued my interest- I've never heard of BattleDecks before and it sounded like it could be both entertaining and educational in one. After some research, I found out that BattleDecks is like karoke but with Power Point. A person or a team has to present Power Point presentations to an audience without having seen the slides first. Tom incorperated this into the classroom setting, giving the students 30 minutes to prepare a 2-3 minute presentation on a predetermined topic using 20 photos and only 10 words total. My comment on the idea was that even though I was new to the interactive world in the education realm, this would be a great way to get students thinking outside the box and creatively. It will also help them get over some social stigmas, such as speaking in public, etc.

My Learning:

Once again, as I am currently working at an advertising agency which is world renown for it's interactive trailblazing and out of the box creativity, I am in a unique position to utilize aspects of technology that normally wouldn't be incorporated in the classroom setting. Having this background knowledge of non-classroom entities allows me to present ideas and concepts in ways that most students have not seen before.

Each of these blogs has helped me grow as a future educator. I am excited for what lies ahead and I feel that I have been well armed with an arsenal of ideas that will only aid in the students learning.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Over the last month I have followed the blogs that I mentioned in my initial blog below. These blogs provide insight on where the future of educational technology is going and how we, as educators, can be apart of it. The diversity of these blogs allow for future educators, such as myself, to enhance the learning process for the students.

Cool Cat Teacher Blog

The Subject:

Viki Davis (Cool Cat Teacher) blogs on several subjects. She blogs almost every other day, and depending on the week, every day. Her blogs are well thought out and detailed in nature. They often include videos, slide shows, bright images to keep the reader engaged, but her information is relevant to education, even incorporating information from around the world. For example, Davis included several posts during the last week of February about a mini-conference that was held in Mumbai, India. She also includes a "Daily Spotlight on Education" section that features different fun things going on around the internet.

My participation:

In a recent post entitled "Fail Forward, Move Forward" (posted on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010), Davis shed a light on a simple idea that every teacher must have: it is OK to make mistakes because we can learn from them. She talks about the "teachable moments" that occur everyday in the classroom that can be learned from. Technology is ever changing, and isn't always reliable and we must learn to adjust to it based on past mistakes. My comment on the website was that with new technology, or with any subjects, students who don't grasp the concepts or get it right the first time often become discouraged and give up and this is something that educators can work with. Students need to know that making mistakes are often the best educators, we just need to be able to give them the "buffer zone" to learn from them, because when the learn, it's that "a ha" moment that is 100 times sweeter than getting it the first time.

My Learning:

Is may seem simple in it's idea, but making sure a student knows that mistakes are there to be learned from and not be punished for is one of the first things that educators need to understand themselves. In a time when teaching to "the test" has become the sole purpose of classroom lessons, the learning process gets pushed to the side. If I can share anything with my fellow future educators, it is this: We are imperfect, we are human and our greatest asset is our brain and our ability to learn. Technology is there to be used to enhance the learning process of a student and it takes practice and patience on the parts of the teacher and the student. Together, we can "get it".


Hope Foundation

The Subject:

The Hope Foundation is a website that puts a spotlight on helping students succeed in all aspects of their learning process. The are multi-subject centric and provide information for educators to build their lessons as well as their own knowledge. The blog is maintained by Mark Stock, and new posts are usually updated 4 to 5 times a month depending on what is relevant. The topics range from how schools are getting ready for the digital age to professional learning communities. The blog isn't a traditional blog in which the information and opinions are strictly theirs- they provide links to articles and posts on reliable blogs on relevant topics and information that is valuable to educators.

My Participation:

In a blog entitled "Teaching the Net Generation (posted on March 8th, 2009), Stock references an article from ASCD Inservice blog in which Don Tapscott, from Wikinomics talks about how the "Net Generation" is light years ahead of anyone from a previous generation when it comes to using technology. Tapscott calls upon teachers to reassess the education of the "net generation", I agree with him. My comment on the Hope Foundation blog was that educators had to opportunity to change how a subject is taught by turning the tables and letting the students have access to it in ways that are familiar to them. I feel that is has to do with prior knowledge that the students have with using technology: it is a familiar territory and being given the opportunity to use it to further their learning is a positive step for both teacher and student.

My Learning:

I feel that this is a situation that can enhance the learning of both the if educators can shift the education process to make it so that it is in the students’ hands and with the tools they are familiar with, then we can build upon a unique learning situation where both sides benefit. It allows students to have their own creative outlets as well as the ability to tweak it to apply to their learning process.

Bionic Teaching

The Subject:

Bionic Teaching is a technology based blog that is maintained by Tom. It is updated only a few times a month, but the information posted is interesting and informative. The blogs tend to be on the mainstream side but with content that is easily related to the classroom.

My Participation:
In a blog posted on February 17th 2009 entitled "Plague: Romeo & Juliet Poster", Tom introduces the concept of getting the attention of students before working on a specific topic. He references posters that were created for Science World (located in Vancouver, B.C.) to pique the interest of students. The example in the blog is a poster of a bio-hazard symbol with "Plague o both your houses" written on it in menacing letters. It is the hopes that showing students this before reading Romeo & Juliet (where the quote is from) that they will be able to garner interest to learn more. My comment was that this was a great concept in that it can be applied to areas that can otherwise be bland and glossed over. It gets students thinking about what the topic will be about, how the images represent the story, or even what they can do to improve upon the poster once the lesson is completed.

My Learning:

The poster concept is fantastic. It can be applied to social studies, literature, science and even math. There are a few things that could be done with this idea in the classroom:

• Students can use the pre-made poster to come up with some prior knowledge concepts about the lesson they are about to work on.
• Students can create posters at the end of the lesson to highlight the main ideas
• Students can create posters at the beginning of the lesson with just a few hints at what the topic is about.

With such creative concept as this, it is important to play to the students strengths. This can be a very useful tool to have in the classroom. I will definitely try to incorporate this into my lessons.

Each of these blogs provide information that can be applied on all levels. It is important for future teachers such as myself to become knowledgeable about what is on the internet that can be used to enhance the students learning.

Across the (internet) Universe

I've never been one to have the desire to write a blog, myself, although my husband would love it if I did since it would stop my talking to him whilst he plays his video games. Ahh, wedded bliss, 4 months and counting. I could write a blog on how each day I let him live, but that is decidedly NOT related to elementary education. But I digress.
I took this opportunity of subscribing to blogs to really look for things that I enjoyed and that could help me become a better teacher. Outside of the traditional education realm, I subscribed to things such as the NBC Nightly News blog "The Daily Nightly", which will give me a look at non-traditional current events, to be incorporated in a non traditional way in lessons. I also subscribed to my cousin James' blog on his website JamesJDonnelly.com www.jamesjdonnelly.com. He is a crisis manager for Ketchum Enterprise and his blogs are media, crisis management related. This will keep me linked to the media world that I work in now, and also allow for management strategies to apply to a classroom, and also issues to be introduced into a lesson.
On the educational front, I subscribed to a few blogs that I think can aid me in my journey to becoming a teacher.

www.hopefoundation.org (Harnessing Optimism and Potential through Education) is a website that has created a learning community to help students succeed. Their blog is called "What is working in schools" that gives insight on what is being done in schools, from the students to the parents to the administration. Looking at what is working and not working in schools from different levels will help build a better structure of education.

Coolcatteacher.blogspot.com is a blog whose tagline is "Teaching content with new tools, enthusiasm, and the belief that teaching is a noble calling!" intrigued me. Actually it was the photo of the author's cat and dog that really got me, but no matter, I'm here. The blog talks about new and innovative ways to incorporate technology into the classroom on different levels. This seems like a well thought out and unbiased blog that would give not only future teachers but seasoned veterans insight into technology that is available that can enhance a students education.

Another technology based blog is bionicteaching.com. I chose to focus on technology based blogs because as I am new to the education world, I need to become familiar with things that will enhance a classroom experience. This blog is more on the level with the blogs for my job, which is working for a creative based agency. It focuses on out of the box thinking and ways to make learning fun for older students (4th, 5th & 6th grades). Having working for a company that is world-renowned for it's out of the box and innovative approach to advertising, I see the benefits of gearing forward thinking ideas in a non conventional way and this blog does that.

As I near the end of my career change graduate program, I hope to gain valuable information on how to make the learning experience exciting for students through the use of blogs.

On that note, Happy Super Bowl Sunday- Go Saints!

Our cat child, Heidi

My Tardis is missing.