Thing 5: Teachers and Administrators - RSS Subscriptions

I'm using Bloglines and Google Reader, yes I actually use both, to follow a couple of educational related blogs, and for personal use, I get a couple of writing/author related sites. I find them very useful, as I've culled the ones that after first blush did not fit the limited time I've set for myself to read feeds. The challenge for me is that if I don't read them for a week, the box fills up fast. The sorting out begins, sometimes taking up my reading time.

But I always read the ones that are important to me, needed for my work or what I'm learning about. I think that's an important point. Make your blog relevant.

Thing 4: Teachers and Administrators - RSS feeds

RSS feeds is a great way to get information without having to seek it out. It's like having a subscription to a magazine or newspaper. Rather than going to the store, the material is dropped, or tossed, at your doorstep. Something to consider is that you can set up an RSS feed link to your blog, which means stakeholders can stay in touch with the classroom teacher (students and parents) and administrators (parents, teachers, and district staff). Consider how a newsletter sent weekly or monthly is not posted on a blog, and the information is automatically dropped into a person's Bloglines or Google Reader account. Announcements, assignments, district related news, and other forms of information can be sent out.

The more we can keep open communications, the more efficient our work, and that of our colleagues and clients, can be.

Check out my RSS link :)

Administrators: Thing Three

As the curators of school culture, building and district administrators can use blogging as a means to foster healthy conversation. Dissent is welcomed, so long as the conversation, on both sides of an issue, is civil. I was drawn in to Kimberly Moritz's blog (Superintendent of a district in Western NY) because of the dialogue that people are invited to do as she shares what's happening in the district, such as the great work by a 7th grade math class in What is a prism? (Check out the student videos), and especially initiatives, which leads to discussions about Resistance to Change. This blog exemplifies the productive power of involving community into curricular thinking.

Teachers: Thing 3

The EduBlogger has a an interesting list of blogs to explore. It also has tools of its own that I found interesting, such as the rss Tweets. That could be great for announcements or an information source to provide like news sites. I was particularly interested in the primary grade sites because it's intriguing to see how younger kids could be included. Some interesting approaches includes Receptions--Room 25@Willunga Primary, Wojtera's Words, and Mrs. McDonald's Blog.

Blogging with students, and for supporting student learning is one way to develop 21st Century skills. Take traditional essays, opinions, and multimedia projects that occur in classrooms, and post them on a classroom blog, or a blog maintained by each student. The conversation opportunities are enormous. Feedback is considered to be one of the top ways to improve student learning ("Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback",Classroom Instruction that Works, Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock). Security can be a concern, except that many blog sites have security tools that, for example, only allow posts by registered users, or users who have been approved or screened by the blogger. Teachers might use a blog to provide information or incorporate activities and resources for students and parents.

Administrators: Thing One and Two

Instructional leaders and Servant Leaders are critical to the progress and success of learning institutions. Whether school culture is top down, bottom up, or flattened, the work begins with the leader who is responsible for the caretaking of the culture, and progress of mission and school improvement. Web 2+ tools are pervasive in the lives of students, outside the school doors. Bringing those tools in, as 23 Things would show, can dramatically impact learning and instructional practices.

A Vision of K-12 Students Today

21st Century Skills are critical for students to develop. For this to happen, school staff need to master the same skills set. Incoming new teachers do come with a technology skills set, and perhaps including Web 2+ tools. But the culture of schools tend to be early 20th Century institutions where collaboration and communication among staff and the global society is in its infancy. How can we as leaders build a 21st Century skills based culture? Part of the answer is to model and walk the walk. 23 Things will provide some answers.

Vision for Technology in K-12 Education

Blogs can be an effective tool for adult learning. 23 Things is an obvious example. As a leader of a writer's group, I developed a writer's version of 23 things, modeled from 23 Things for Teachers. As school leaders, the same can be done for staff, developed alone, or better yet, collaboratively with school improvement or other teams. I look forward to seeing more of how 23 Things can be used by administrators.

Teachers: Thing 1 and 2

21st Century skills are crucial today. Collaboration and communication skills are honed by practice within the global society. Students generally use the technology tools with intuitive efficiency and understanding outside of school. Harnessing those skills in academic curriculum would seem liberating for instruction. The video Pay Attention is excellent. It continues to be required viewing for anyone with doubts about why technology is important to developing 21st Century skills. Another video that goes to the heart of instructional needs is: A Vision of K-12 Students Today. 

When I last explored these concepts, it was as freshman exploring a new world. Now as a wise-fool (sophomore), I'm looking for the layers. 21st Century skills are the venue through which technology (Web 2+) can be efficiently integrated into teaching and learning.

Thing Two (reprise)

When I first started this blog, I wasn't sure where it would go. 

Now, the focus is rooted in exploring concepts and ideas about education. Why? To ask questions and make decisions through the filter of "What's best for all..." learners. I'm exploring other blog ideas. Yet I find staying consistent with this one is about all the real demand I can maintain for the moment.

23 Things for Teachers and 23 Things for Administrators

Learning is in part a cyclical process. I will be reengaging 23 Things for Teachers to analyze, what I hope to discover, that my understanding has deepened from a year ago. Also, I want to support my colleagues as we dialogue on supporting 21st Century Skills that students need to develop and refine. 23 Things for Administrators is an opportunity to study the nuances for how Web 2.0, and by extension 21st Century Skills, can be used to support their work as leaders. For administrators who live up to or aspire to become Instructional Leaders, or Servant Leaders, to foster growth in their staff, Web 2.0 tools are means to forward student learning-centered agendas.

I will continue to post about educational contexts, other than Web 2.0 tools. The vision is not abandoned or remotely set aside. While we strive for What's Best for All, this forum will continue to further that cause.