PLN- WK 5

During this MET Class we were to use different social media sites to create a PLN.  Some of the sites I have used before, but never used them for professional reasons just for pure fun. Pinterest is a site in which I have been using for a long time for personal and professional use.  I have started following a lot of differnt blogs from this site.  Blogger is another tool I like using and having as a PLN.  Google apps has some of the best interactive PLN tools. I love using Twitter now to grow my professional networks.  I have learned so many new things about different educational topics from other teachers on Twitter and also from Education Magazines. I have been using Diigo since I was introduced to it in my first MET class.  It houses all of the different educational articles and pictures I find while searching the internet. Feedly was a new tool I was exposed to in this class and I enjoy using it. It has so many different articles and blogs I follow which I am able to send directly to my Twitter account.  The thing I like most about the three tools I just mentioned is you are able to have the apps right on your phone.  The appearance is a little different, but the app works just as good as the computer version.  I am thankful for being given all these resources in this class and my other classes to use from here on out.  I have so many more Twitter followers who are educators then I ever thought I would have.  I am also following so many educators who have supplied me with a lot of knowledge these past few weeks.  It is so nice to have been informed about Twitter and Twitter Chats this class.  Due to these tools my PLN will only grow stronger and keep growing day by day.

Below you will find my Prezi I created on PLN's.

PLN PREZI

Twitter Chats!

Apparently I didn't save my Post correctly from the Blogger application on my

Phone.  I find a lot of times technology doesn't want to agree with my

When I'm out of town so here it goes again!

These past two weeks we have had to interact in a Twitter Chat session! I enjoyed my time in the few different Twitter Chats I joined.   I really wanted to try out the #catholicedchat but every time it said it was supposed to meet it didn't.  Being a Catholic Educator I was very mad the chat group never met!  

The next chat I participated in was the #mosnowchat and #moedchat.   These two chats were very interesting and I learned a lot from my fellow Missouri Educators while in both of these chats!  I still subscribe to the Twotter feed and make sure to reTweet posts which are valuable to other educators.  I liked how the chat was set up with five questions and time was given to answer the questions.  I learned about a few other resources from this chat session but since it was my first one I did kind of not chat a whole lot at the beginning but towards the end I enjoyed tweeting with my peers.  

I also tweeted in the #n2tc which was once again a total fail because no one was tweeting it in!  At first I thought I was joining in at the wrong time, but no one was apparently interested in this Twitter Chat for that morning.  I did try the chat again Saturday morning and once again no one so I didn't even bother writing it down.   

The next one was #Web20tools this chat only had about 4 people in it!  I feel like I gained a lot of resources, but nothing really helpful when there is only 4 people! I know not everyone tweets in the chat sessions but I also feel like people just rather tweet what they want and hashtag things instead of actually partaking in the chat sessions.   

The next Twitter chat I tired since I didn't feel the other really kinda qualified was the METC14 hash tagging!  I found so many really awesome resources, other people to follow and also I was retweeted a few different times!  It was an excellent experience. Which I enjoyed learning a lot from.

The next Twitter session was on #edcampstl!  This was a free technology workshop ans interactive chat!  This was the liveliest chat session I was in!  So many different resources were shared and the ideas were flying around for the whole hour plus I was in there.  I also got retweet in this chat too!

I will continue to use Twitter chats and follow the chats I belong too!  This was an excellent teacher resource and I enjoyed every minute of it!!

METC 14

I feel so thankful to have been given the opportunity to attend the Midwest Educational Conference.  I loved networking with the different educators who were thereu.  Enjoyed all the Twitter opportunities, when the network was working, that I had during the keynote speaker.  The rest of the day it was extremely difficult to Tweet.  

Flipping the Classroom with Lodge McCannon was such an excellent way to start the mornig.  It made waking up early even more rewarding. He shared so many excellent ideas for a flipped classroom and one day I would love to have my classroom work in that manner. He spoke about how he films his 45 minutes of speaking and turns it into a 5-8 minute video for the students to watch.  Then this leaves more time about 30 plus minutes to have collaborative discussion going on in the classroom.  There are less intruptions going on in the classroom while the students are basically learning on their own while the teacher is guiding and modeling in the classroom.  By playing the videos studnents are able to watch, stop, ans process the information given. Another thing Lodge introduced to the educators were his 3 minute videos he is making on YouTube.  They are on the 50 states and have dances to go with them. You can look for his hashtags at #50statesalbum and find him on Twitter by searching @pocketlodge!  He said he has completed 13 states and Missouri is one of them... Go check it out, I promise you won't be disappointed. It was nice cause he's alresdy retweeted some things I posted from the METC14. I enjoyed listening to how passionate he is about the flipped classroom and how he has made others passionate too!  Him and his 6 yr old niece collaborate on different songs she creates and it was awesome to see how inspired she looked in the video he showed.  

The next speaker I went to see was It's not about the apps; connect, create and collaborate!  I enjoyed listening to Christine Ruder from Rolla School District  speak about how she incorporates the iPads and the many different apps into her daily lessons.  She did stress over and over before the iPads are used in her classroom the students must draft on paper first what they are going to use the iPads for and also have a basic outline to use to guild their assignments, so they aren't just looking at the iPad.  The other things I learned from her session was how to use multiple applications to create   a finished product.  I learned about many different apps that are free to download to the iPad, the file will be attached to the bottom, and make these awesome assignments with my class.  I learned about a new application called Puppet Show where you can take photos of the kids and place them into a puppet show the students can also add their voices to create their movie. I also liked that a majority of the applications she used were free!  Which makes it easier to justify when having to ask if you can buy something for the classroom.  

The second session I attended was Teacher and Studnets Finally Seeing Eye to Eye on Technology.  This was the session I facilitated in and actually learned a lot about StudyBlue! What was extremely nice about this session as being able to get a free account code at the end of the session and a free T-Shirt. The lady who gave the session on StudyBlue was fantastic and really stands  besides the product she spoke about.  The site to me seems easy to navigate and add a classroom to.   You can track the Studnets study progress and see who need more remediation on the different topics being learned.  4.5 million people from elementary to high school.  Then what struck me to be very interesting was the over 200 million study topics that are on the site.  You are able to make lessons plans and many other things using the Pro version which is 4$ a month.  The lady teaching the session said she used the free version for 7 years and it is just as good as the Pro site.  You can follow them at @studyblueedu on Twitter to hear the latest news about the site. You can check class averages and make sure the Studnets hold themselves accountable for studying and make sure they are studying and keeping up.  You can create study aides to help your students and upload videos too!  The program is so cool to use.   There is a web version and also an iPad app version. 

The session after that was on Interactive SMART foldables!  I love foldables and using them with my younger studnets.  The ladies teaching the session teach at a Monissori School in Chesterfield. They seemed to use foldables in their upper elementary classrooms!  One of the ladies is a Science teacher and the other is a History teacher. I loved being given a template to be able to not have to reinvent the wheel!  What I liked even more about this session was how you can use the SmartBoard to introduce the different aspects of the foldable.  I haven't used foldables for study aides but these two ladies say they make their Studnets create studio materials this way.   I made a foldable with my class the other day for living ans non living things and they loved it!  I made sure to get the SmartBoard up and running and go step by step with how's along with living and non living.  It was an interesting session but one I might not have went to if I wasn't facilitating!  I did like that we were able to make a foldable to show the importance of making foldables, but not quite sure about the whole session.

The last session I attended for the day was on The IPad not just being an iPad!  It was presented by two teachers who teach in Quincy at a Private school where a majority of their day is done by digital interactions.   The students have to access the lessons before they come to class and if they need help they use a program call educreations which is an interactive iPad application. The Studnets in their school pretty much when they are sick are able to access everything online and not miss school. This also I feel is easier on teachers so they don't have to keep their lessons or worksheet for the Studnets to review.   One of the ladies does a lesson preview on YouTube for the Studnets to look at before the lesson is even introduced in the class.  Before each class the Studnets are expected to print lecture notes too!  This is an excellent way to prepare the Studnets for college!   I enjoyed learning about Kahoot which is an online survey/ assessment tool used at their school!  I loved playing and interacting with the game!

Overall I was extremely excited to be given the opportunity to go to the Midwest Educational Conference!  I have alresdy went back to school and shared all the excellent things I learned that day!

Some pictures from the day are added below!

Chart from Flipping the Classroom by Lodge McCannon!  Sorry it's kinda blurry! 

Resources from SmartBoard Foldables!

Once again not quite clear hahA!

WK 5 Social Networking

This week we were to read the chapter and discuss the PLN's we chose to belong to!  Since Facebook was the first ever social networking site I've belonged to, I would like to share some thoughts on how much it has changed into an excellent and yet overly abused PLN.  When I signed up for Facebook in 2005 it was strictly to keep in contact with college friends. At the time this was the main reason for FB and it couldn't even keep up with adding colleges!  I know mine was one of the last ones added and even then was difficult to create an account.   Now anyone with an email can be on Facebook and I feel it has lost it's PLN and Social Networking aspects. I now just keep Facebook to stay in contact with long distance relatives and some friends.  As an adult and educator FB no longer appeals to my needs.

Another PLN I love using is Pinterest! I've been a member for not too long and found out about Pinterest from my cousin who is a college professor.  He told me not only could I plan my life out haha but also connect with other teachers thorough their blogs, pins, and crafting ideas.  I find Pinterest to not just be a crafting and dream world site but an actual asset to educators.   I follow Teachers Notebook and they share so many resources to use in the classroom for all ages.  I follow other teacher friends who are always posting things for their classrooms which can sometimes help me in my classroom.  I follow We Are Teachers for when I need those inspirational quotes! Those are just a few. It is so easy to search and locate other teachers who are doing the same things you are.  I had a professor in my Undergrad always tell the class do not reinvent the wheel!  I had no idea what he was really saying until I started teaching and tired my first year to do it all myself and not get a lot of ideas or pro tables from the internet... Needles to say I never slept and that next year used Pinterest, TeachersPayTeachers and started to follow a ton of blogs to get more ideas. 

I signed up for edweb.  After taking the survey that ask you take after signing you up, it was fairly easy to navigate around the site.  I'm still leaning my way around and how to properly use it.  I will post back later when I can really review the site better!   Well I'm back and Edweb is excellent!  I love how there are articles, workshops being posted and well other educators on there who share in the same things I do!  It's an excellent tool right up there with Edmodo which I equally like due to some of the things edweb offers! There is a Mobil app for the site too, but you need to really use the full site inorder to see the full benefits of the site!