Last year I learned how to be a connected learner with PLP, and now I want to take what I learned to the next level by contributing to other learners instead of just taking. Paula Montrie, the Middle School librarian here at Friends, started a Blogging Alliance. About ten of us will learn about blogging together. Doing this by myself hasn't worked, so I'm hoping the support and camaraderie of the group will take me to the next level. I love that there is no pressure and each of us can select the involvement and level of commitment we choose. Paula gave us five levels to choose from: Just lookin'-Not touchin', Commentators, Baby Bloggers, Blogging Buddies and Teacher Blogger. I hope she writes more about this on her blog, Reeled in Research.

At the same time I want to help our students and teachers become connected learners. Last year several teachers worked with me to get some of our lower school students blogging. The students loved connecting with classmates as well as getting comments from strangers in other schools. I learned a lot about blogging in lower school at ISTE 2012, and have shared it with our faculty. This year instead of just 3 classes blogging we could have up to 10. Some teachers are starting with class blogs using Edublog or Blogger while others have set up a Kidblog account for their class. It's exciting to see the enthusiasm spread.

Lower School Blogging - Baby Steps

For awhile now I've wondered how successful blogging would be in lower school. I read a lot of class blogs, but that wasn't what I was looking for, so I found a few teachers at my school who were willing to give blogging a try. We started slowly with one second grade class, and now we have a third and fourth grade class blogging and commenting. The first grade teachers may join with a class blog, but they thought individual posts would be too much for some of their students. The three teachers who are doing this with me have taken time to learn about blogging themselves and read some of the 6 part series on the Langwitches Blog. We started with a prompt or topic for the students to write about, and allowed them to comment on several posts. Then we looked at the comments and talked about what made a good comment and why? One of the second graders said, "It's like talking to my friends anytime I want to."
Only one class has opened the posts up and let the students write about anything that interested them, but they were the first class to blog. Third grade is using it to get feedback and help with their poetry writing. The teacher also wants to use the blog as a way for the students to reflect on the unit. Our 4th graders are just beginning, and enjoyed their first time last week.
We haven't had much feedback from the parents yet, but one parent liked the 3rd grade blog and was glad the students' posts were focused on a topic for school. While it was nice to hear, we want the student blogs to be a mixture of educational reflection and thinking as well as individual expression.
I'm hoping we will have the classes reading and commenting on each other's posts soon. We are all learning about this together.

PLN Actually Works

Now I'm actually using and participating in my PLN thanks to Powerful Learning Practice (PLP). In the past I patted myself on the back for keeping up with 2 or 3 professional journals, and I never finished all of them until the summer.

Then I became part of PLP and spent most of the fall learning and exploring Twitter, blogs, and web 2.0 tools. Now, great websites and curricular ideas come to me instead of me searching and sorting through pages and pages of links. It's worth my time to see what my "new friends" are talking about. Not only have these things come to me, but I'm sharing them with my colleagues and perfect strangers. One of my favorite blogs is Langwitches Blog about tech integration and globally connected learning. I'm tweeting and commenting on what others blog. Never thought I would be this involved. I get it now!

I joined edWeb.net, an educational social network. Within edWeb there are various communites you can join. I selected PD in Action lead by Kathy Schrock. The free webinars are great, and I often watch the archived webinars leisurely when I have time. I am learning so much, but that overwhelmed feeling hit before the holidays. The break is just what I needed, and my PLN is there ready for me to get going again. There is so much great information out there and so many people willing to share. There is no way a teacher can keep up and change their teaching and learning without a PLN. Go for it; it is worth the time.

More than a Lurker

Author Cathy Davidson defines learning as "a constant disruption of an old pattern, a breakthrough that substitutes something new for something old in a cyclical process."

Well, that is what happened to me this week. For over a year, I have been reading and listening to people talk about the importance of building your own personal learning network. So I signed up for Twitter, got a Google Reader account and started trying to find some people to follow and read a few blogs. It was hard to find time for this, and when I did, I didn't get that much out of it. So why should I keep trying? Then I started the PLP professional development program, and in one week I have become more than just a lurker. The light bulb finally went off! I learned how to find people to follow using the #tag which led me to #web20classroom and some great Twitter tips . I'm learning about some great links that I'm sharing with my faculty as well as retweeting. I now want to have a PLN that I can contribute to and learn from. The contributing part is new for me. I always felt I didn't really have anything to contribute, and feared saying something stupid. (I do that all the time anyway.)


But now, if I can help just one person or get one new idea, that is GREAT! My old thoughts about Twitter and RSS feeds were disrupted and replaced with a new broader way of learning and sharing with others.


A colleague said to me, there is nothing wrong with lurking. In fact, I needed to do just that to see how people used Twitter, blogs, and social networks. But it's exciting to learn even more and start to build my own PLN.

PLP pre-game

I have been trying to get into blogging and twitter for about a year without much success, and I'm hoping PLP (Powerful Learning Practice) will help me see the value of blogging and tweeting. I have a twitter account, but anyone I want to follow on Twitter, I've already subscribed to their blog. I find it hard to find new people to follow on Twitter because people have different twitter names, so it seems useless. I only follow a few people, and the most I get in 140 characters is a website to visit which I already knew about from the person's blog. I work with pre-K to 5th grade students and I don't see using Twitter in a Lower School. Help me see the benefits of Twitter!

As I was reading some new blogs suggested by PLP, I found a Guide to Twitter K-8. Since my students don't have e-mail, they suggested setting up a classroom account. Well, that sounded good at first, but then I wondered who would the class follow and how would they find out who to follow. I really want to be part of Twitter, but I don't see how it will help the students in a Lower School or me. Help!

Off and Running

I haven't written for awhile, but it's September, and I'm enthused and energized about the new school year! I guess I feel that way most years, but this year even more so. Friends School of Baltimore is in the midst of a great deal of change, and it's exciting to be part of it.


Everyone has been asked to try one innovation in their class this year. I talked to a small group who wanted to learn more about Twitter and build a learning network, another teacher wants to work on a 2nd grade wiki for a social studies unit, someone else is spearheading a collaborative story based on our school theme of "Reflection, Resilience, and Renewal" using Storybird. This will involve students in pre-primary through 5th grade. The ideas just kept coming. It was amazing to see so many teachers willing to move out of their comfort zone and take risks.


Then someone asked me what I was planning, and I had to admit that I hadn't even thought about me. I was thinking of ideas for other people and thinking about how the tech team can support the Lower School faculty. Then I remembered that I'm participating in Powerful Learning Practice (PLP) which provides virtual professional development throughout the school year. I'm not sure how much time this will take, but I'm enthused, anxious, and a bit nervous. I need to stay sane and balanced! (Fat chance)


So I'm off and running for another year! I'm committed to write about where the PLP takes me, the innovation at Friends, and any other new things I learn this year.

What a tough week to balance! It was more a week of prioritizing.
I made sure I had some time for the last week of 23 Things. This online course was short and jam packed with lots of great tools for school and for me personally. I hope to keep the blog going now that the course is over and the RSS feed has helped me keep up with my professional reading. I loved how Paula presented the information using Screencast, YouTube, GoAnimate, Livebinders, and more. I know that I will continue to use Flicker for images in my Notebook lessons, and I already have a plan to create a Livebinder for our keyboarding classes. It will be better for the students to go to Moodle and open the binder for all of the sites instead of clicking on each one separately. Livebinder also had an interesting section on Food and Recipes. I know I'll be checking that out.

More Good Stuff
The photo editing tools were fun. I can see using Piclit and Five Card in school, and dumpr & Be Funky at home. I should have been working on a 1st year scrapbook for my grandson, but maybe I was meant to wait so that I can try some of these tools with his pictures.

All 3 feedback tools were great to learn about. I really liked Wallwisher and the link for ways to use it will be great to share with the faculty. Answer Garden was short and sweet and would be easy for a teacher to use in the classroom with one computer. I was wondering if the results are anonymous.

I need to spend more time learning about tagging in twitter, find time to play with more of the photo editing tools, and play with the video tools.
Thanks Paula!