Blog Assignment #7

Wendy Drexler - The Networked Student

The majority of my education I sat in a desk with my book, my paper and my pen and listened to lectures given my teachers and professors.  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I found myself daydreaming or doodling in my notebook.  Even though I was an A/B student, I was bored.  Then, one day in high school I decided to take a class called TV Production.  This class was so interactive and gave us "the students" opportunities to be creative, use technology and put our skills to the test.  I will never forget how excited I was to go to that class.  Almost everyday I use skills that I acquired in TV Production.  That was over 13 years ago.  

Now, technology in the classroom is becoming more prevalent.  I love that.  I think technology is a way for teachers and students to work together and helps keep the classroom an exciting place to be to grow and learn together.  By using a PLN, students can interact with other students from all over the world who are interested in researching and learning about a specific topic.  They can share this information easily by using webmixes, wiki's, blogs and other sites.  In Wendy Drexler's video The Networked Student, you can see how networking is a great way for students to learn.  

I love the idea of a student actually reaching out to a professor or scientist in a particular field of study to learn and hear their expert opinions.  This learning approach has to be a bigger part of teaching in the 21st Century.  I want my students to know how to be proficient, effective and responsible learners.  It is my job as their teacher to guide them and be there for support as it is needed.  With technology the possibilites are endless.

A 7th Graders Personal Learning Environment (or PLN)

A 7th Grade student discusses how she uses her PLN, Personal Learning Environment, in this video.  Her PLN is created by using Symbaloo, which is the same site that I used for my own PLN.  In the video she gives a small tour of her PLN and how she has everything organized.  Her PLN is color coded, just  like mine is.  I actually got some ideas for mine by seeing how she organized her own.  For instance, I have all of my education tiles set up on the top left corner of my PLN.  Hers are all along the bottom row.  This makes it easy to find information, so that work and assignments can quickly and easily be completed.  I believe that a PLN is continuously growing and changing with you, just as life changes.  As stated in my PLN Progress Report, I think that setting up a PLN for my son would be very helpful for  him on his own personal computer.  I could have education tiles set up for him and games that I have approved for him to play on another.  This will help open his eyes to a different approach with learning.  With kids, especially the younger grades, you have to teach by using methods that are fun and easy for them to remember information.  Even if the information is hard, by using a fun approach they will be able to learn it.  It's all about the method.  Furthermore, a PLN is one tool that can be beneficial and assist students to take that step to becoming a responsible learner with technology.