BLOGS

This past fall I was hired at Wyoming Middle School to run the drama program after-school for grades 5-8.  I was hired after the school year began and was not previously connected to the school district.  Once I was hired, the principal sent out an email to all the parents who had worked with the drama program and had students who were still in junior high.  He used this opportunity to introduce me, as well as give me an email list of about 100 parents within the school district.  I sent a follow-up email  to all the parents, but I felt like email would not be the best way to communicate once the school year began.  With not being at the school during the day, I had no access to a way to connect with families before auditions began other than sending out blast emails.  My solution was to create a blog.  I created flyers to put around the school with the blog address to receive all information needed rotating around the drama program and let the administration know my plan.

I found this blog very well received.  I was told that from the moment I introduced myself to the mention of the blog, parents were hooked.  They knew I was going to be a "go-getter" and use every avenue to communicate with them about my plans within the drama program.  I joined Blogger and tried to update the blog at least 4 times a week.  After auditions, I held a parent meeting with all the parents with students in the program and explained to them how I planned to use the blog.  Once I informed them that this was how I was going to communicate with them (as opposed to email blasts), they got into the habit of checking it daily.

Here are some of the ways I used my blog in this educational setting:

• Instant communication.  As soon as I placed a message onto the blog, it was visible to anyone who had the blog address.  There was no delay or worrying if I sent an email to the correct parent or email address.  It helped ease the stress of communicating and actually became a tool that I could not live without while managing an after-school program
• Electronic copies of all handouts.  Any handout, poster, or flyer I passed out to the students at rehearsals was put on the blog.  As an educator, I know that not everything I hand out makes it home to the parents.  Uploading all of these documents electronically gave parents instant access.
• Great use of technology.  By the end of the year, I saw parents pulling up the blog on their phones and even their iPads.  Wyoming is a very technology-savvy school district that puts an emphasis on technology.  Posting all information to the blog was accepted and easily accessible.

Having started out with 30 students and their families but growing to over 121 students and their families, a blog was the perfect way to communicate with my Wyoming families.  Managing that many students while not being on school campus during the day would have been very tough without the use of the blog. 

Feel free to check out my Wyoming Middle School Blog:  wmstheater.blogspot.com

There are also several opportunities for me to encourage students to use blogs in their education:

• Journaling - Language Arts teachers encourage students to write in their journals, as it is a great way to brainstorm and practice their creative writing.  A blog can be used in the same way.  Each student could create his/her own blog and type exactly what they would write in the journals.  It is the same thought process, just a different form of communication.
• Self Reflections - I have found that sometimes students just need to write their way through major decisions or need an avenue that lets them just start writing without focusing on format or grammar.  A blog is a great tool for reflecting about themselves while typing their way through their thought processess.  A blog is a great resource to use as an avenue of reflection. 

I have enjoyed using a blog as an educator and has seen its many advantages.  I also think that there are several benefits of implementing this tool for student use within the classroom.  A blog is a great way to communicate and keep all your thoughts organized.

WIKIS

I am new to the wiki-world.  I have been exposed to wikis through the use of Wikipedia, but before this class, I did not have any knowledge beyond this.  I slightly remember a journalism class in college asking us to contribute our own wikis online, but in all honesty, that was how far my knowledge extended.

After researching this a bit further and checking out the links posted on our technology website, I found that wikis can be a great addition to my teaching world -- specifically PBWorks.  From what I understand, this is another social networking tool that is slightly different than that of Twitter and Facebook.  I like the fact that Significant to wikis, the following options for classroom connections that I see myself using in my own classroom are as follows:

• Classroom Resources:  Through PBWorks, I can post power-point presentations that I used in class and upload it to this wiki-based website.  I can also link to Word Documents such as class schedules, roosters, and even parent volunteer information.  This is very helpful, for I found when experimenting with blogs (specifically Blogger), I had to save each page of a Word Document as a .jpeg and upload it page by page.  Parents could then click on each image and print.  I think PBWorks has made this process much smoother.
  
  
• Classroom Work:  Through the use of wikis, I can even upload student work.  As a Language Arts Educator, this is quite helpful, for I can give examples of previous novel projects.  I can also upload individual student work online, so that all group members can have access to this for group assignments.
                       
  
  
• Individual Student Webspace:  Specifically through PBWorks Classroom Community, I can even allow my students to have their own student pages.  I can think of countless ways for students to use this tool!  They can submit their homework, give examples of the work they are doing inside and outside of the classroom, as well as keep a digital portfolio of their student work.  I think keeping a portfolio of their work allows the students to see what they have completed throughout a specific unit, as well as allow parents to see the actual student work online.  I would certainly use this feature!
                         
  
• PODCASTS:  In discovering what other educators have created via PBWorks, I found a very intriguing wiki.  It was a webpage devoted to helping English speakers learn Spanish or Spanish speakers learn English translations.  This webpage had two different sound scenarios to share recorded conversations in both English and Spanish.  This made me realize that I could upload Podcasts through the use of wikis.  I could upload sound, images, and any digital stories to this website so that both my students, parents, and other teachers could have access to this.

I think that the wiki-community is a lost resource.  I had forgotten how great this technology tool would be for my classroom.  It is online web space that I can daily use to communicate my lessons, student work, and even digital podcasts.  Although I believe I could also use the wiki community to do some of the same things that Twitter and Facebook offer (such as communication to the parents or posts about classroom lessons and assignments), I believe Wikis take learning a step further.  I love the fact that I can implement all my digital learning podcasts to this website.  I also like that PBWorks has examples of how wikis are being used in the education community.  I could certainly link to other wikis on my page to broaden my student's learning and have them explore classroom themes more in depth.

I certainly look forward to exploring the Wiki-world further!

                                    

TWITTER

I am new to the Twitter world.  I have had several people ask me if I have a Twitter, but until this class, I never got around to joining this social network.  Before experimenting with social networking with this class, I already had a Facebook account.  I decided that one social network was enough for now.  However, once joining Twitter and from a social networking standpoint, I do enjoy the fact that I can follow celebrities or tv channels homepages.  It is nice to be connected on a global level; where as, with Facebook, I only use this to connect to the people I have come across my life.

I also think that Twitter can be used within the classroom.  Just as the article on our technology website suggests, as a teacher, I could create a Twitter page for my specific class.  I think this would be helpful, for it allows all students to be connected and gain information as an entire class.  I believe ways that I could use this social networking opportunity would be:

• Create lasting communication.  Although I can communicate all my ideas, connections, and assignments in the classroom, Twitter provides a great way to write down all information presented in class.  I could certainly see myself posting class assignments online for parents to also see. This would re-iterate all that was told in class and passed onto the students to create lasing communication.
  
  
• Follow-up lesson ideas.  Using Twitter, as a teacher, I could post the "Big Idea' of a lesson before teaching it. For example:  If I am teaching the "Four Types of Sentences" to encourage writers to use all types of sentences in their creative writing, the day before the lesson, I could post this tweet on Twitter:  "Can you name the 4 types of sentences?  BONUS:  What kind of sentence did I just demonstrate?"  This could get the kids excited about the lesson before entering class while giving them the chance to use a media outlet they enjoy.
• Sharing links.  I love to implement technology into my classroom and encourage my students to use the internet to explore what we are learning in class further.  However, I have learned that when working with links, students and parents do better if they can actually click on the link and link to outside websites instead of having to recall them from memory.  I could certainly post follow-up ideas to lessons and provide links to outside resources for further study.  

APPLICATION TO MY CURRENT CLASS:
Overall, I think Twitter is a great resource.  Although I am a new member to the Twitter world, I think I certainly would use this as an educational resource.  I currently teach Musical Theater at the Wyoming Art Center.  Since this is an after-school outside of the classroom type class, I am always looking for ways to connect to my students and their parents online.  I think implementing a Twitter networking site would be a step in the right direction.  It is a trendy art center with students who are always looking for the most up-to-date resources.  I certainly believe that I post information about what we are learning in class, as well as document our journey through the semester.  I can already think of some creative touches, such as:

• Pictures of the students performing in class
• Choreography videos that shows what we have learned so students can practice outside of the classroom and then come prepared to class
• Audition Information for local theaters:  I am always encouraging my students to take what they have learned in class and use it within the children's theaters in the area
• Sheet music for songs that we are learning in class
• Examples of Monologues to use at auditions
• Follow-up questions to lessons
• Introductions to upcoming lessons 
• Overall communication to parents and student families

 I look forward to using Twitter this fall with my Musical Theater Class!!

FACEBOOK

I joined the Facebook community while I was in college right after was first introduced.  I remember my peers talking about how this online community connected students.  I found it fascinating, for I began to use my facebook account to touch base with my friends I had met in class.  If for some reason I was unable to get to class, I could connect to my fellow classmates on Facebook to quickly see what I missed.  I found that this online community for people in the same college was a great idea.  It provided several networking opportunities.

I had the opportunity to use Facebook as a student in college for networking, but I do think there are several opportunities for me to use Facebook with my students to promote teaching and learning within a classroom.  I am a firm believer that as a middle school educator, I must meet middle school students where they are.  I know my students love the technology of Facebook, so I am looking forward to using this tool in my classroom.

One of the ways that I believe I can use Facebook is while teaching a novel in my Language Arts class.  I was talking about using this tool with one of my teacher colleagues, and  it was suggested to me to have my students create a Facebook account from the perspective of the characters.  For example, if I am reading a novel about the story of Anne Frank with my students, I can have students work in groups to create this character:  this character's likes and dislikes, favorite activities, favorite books, quotes, etc.  This activity would allow me to:

• Connect a technology that the students love to the classroom
• Create a meaningful and engaging lesson that students can relate to
• Allows students to visually see the story they are reading in class from the perspective of the character they are researching
• Gives an opportunity for the students to experiment with technology while meeting the needs of various types of learners

I also like the idea mentioned on our website about students using Facebook to provide feedback through polls.  I believe students would like to use a technology resource they are familiar with to relate to what they are learning in the classroom.  Through Facebook, I have seen questionnaires or polls from friends of mine on Facebook.  Although they are not normally about an educational topic, I believe that as a teacher, I can use this tool to ask questions about what we are studying in class.  I could take the topic of Anne Frank and ask my students questions regarding the story and the reading elements discussed in class.  Not only could I use this from a reading perspective, but I also could use this method for spelling words (for example:  choose which word is spelled incorrectly, etc).

I have enjoyed the social network Facebook has provided, but I definitely think that I can take this a step further and use this tool within my classroom.  It is my goal to create meaningful and engaging lessons that my students can relate to.  Using Facebook -- a tool most of my students I am sure are familiar with and currently using -- is a great way to provide hands-on interaction with my lesson plans while implementing technology.

Introduction

Hello!  My name is Cindy Wilmes, and I am a graduate student at Miami University.  I have created this blog for my EDP 697K Technology, Media Literacy, and Learning class.  I am enjoying discovering new technologies and the use of a blog to communicate my ideas along my journey.