Nosey is Good

Being a Nosey Teacher is good! You look at that statement and wonder how can being a nosey teacher ever be good? Doesn't being nosey cause trouble? I'm here to prove to you that there is nothing negative about being a nosey teacher. Imagine being in charge of 20 students all on the computer and trying to keep track of everything that they are doing. Sound difficult, well it most certainly is. That is where being nosey comes in, if you had a classroom management software that would help you monitor them it would make your job a lot easier. With the software you could monitor what your students are doing and ensure that they are reaching their maximum potential.


If you are interested in learning how classroom management software can help you become a nosey teacher and manage students on computers more effectively, check out http://www.netop.com/products/education.htm

RSA # 4 Facilitating Online Learning

 http://dianehoward.com/Rewards_Effective_Facilitation_Online.htm

In my continuous research to develop my professional learning community, I have also been investigating online learning.  In online learning, it is important to have a technology tool to conduct the community and an effective facilitator.  The resource that I have included discusses the importance of a facilitator in an online community, and what role the facilitator should play in the community.    With the rise of e-learners as Palloff and Pratt referred to online learning in their book, “Building Online Learning Communities, it is important to have a good facilitator to help meets the demands of not meeting in a traditional classroom.  In the article, it referred to the facilitators as moderators and not teachers in an online learning community.  I find this interesting based upon my own personal experiences with an online community.  The facilitator was there to answer questions and help with the discussion, but was not really teaching traditionally.  The article, also included some tips for facilitators, which are: In online learning a moderator's postings are "interventions," not "contributions”, and inquiry, not the teacher's information or authority, is at the center of  interactions. 

Howard, D. (2003). Rewards of effective facilitation for online learners. Dr.Diane Howard Publications.   Retrieved from http://dianehoward.com/Rewards_Effective_Facilitation_Online.htm

Palloff, R. & Pratt, K.  (2007). Building Online Learning Communities: Effective Strategies for the Virtual Classroom, (2nd ed.). San Franciso: Jossey-Bass

RSA # 3 Online Learning Communities.

http://web.ebscohost.com.cucproxy.cuchicago.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=04c37d7f-6831-4765-a906-be1917bd5ba4%40sessionmgr15&vid=16&hid=24

The topic that I decided to visit for this week’s resource sharing blog is on online learning communities.   As an undergraduate student in my earlier years, I was introduced to the blackboard learning system.  This was my first experience with online learning communities and it was in such early stages, that it did not have an impact on my educational experience.  Now online learning communities are evolving as discussed in the article, “The Design of Online Learning Communities: Critical Issues”.   This article discussed how to plan and develop an online learning community successfully.  Some of the characteristics of a successful online learning community that they listed are: a group of people who cannot meet face to face and meet online to share a common task, the tasks are clearly defined and participants have a clear understanding of the tasks, and tools for communication are clearly accessible.  This article gave readers a good insight on how to implement and plan a successful online learning community.  The article also mentioned with the new and growing communities it remains a challenge to keep community cohesion.  In my own online community learning experiences I also find this to be a challenge, because we all have a common goal but there is no real relationships established.

Palloff, R, Pratt, K. (1999). Building learning communities in cyberspace. Jossey-Bass. Retrieved from http://macqunilearners.pbworks.com/w/file/18977294/Building-Learning-Communities-In-Cyberspace.doc

Charalambos, V., Michalinos, Z., & Chamberlain, R. (2004). The design of online learning communities: Critical issues. Educational Media International, 41(2), 135-143. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

RSA #2 Professional Development Planning

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-ann-wolf/the-importance-of-teacher_b_191259.html

In constructing my professional learning it is necessary to look at all aspects. The one thing that is most important in the construction of my community is professional development. In my research I came across an article, which took a stance on the importance of professional development not in one day workshops, but the value of ongoing professional development, such as that of a professional learning community. The article also ties in the importance of incorporating technology to increase student achievement. This topic of the article was of interest to me because it is the premise of my professional learning community, and validates my position on the topic. If we have ongoing professional development we are more likely to implement strategies we have learned in our classroom. I can really relate with the author of this article, I can look back on all the useless professional development sessions that I had to sit in, which had nothing to do with subject matter I teach. If I was able to use it, don't ask me to remember because I can’t find my notes taken from the three hour crash course.  Ongoing professional development was also seen to be important in the article, “Teacher Professional Development: It’s Not an Event, It’s a Process.”  The need for ongoing professional development is a necessity, what is your district doing about it?

Wolf, M. (2009, April 24). The importance of teacher professional development. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-ann-wolf/the-importance-of-teacher_b_191259.html

Harwell, S. (2003). Teacher professional development: It's not an event it's a process.

           Retrieved from http://www.setda.org/c/document_library/get_file?folderId=2&name=Teacher+Professional+Development+Sandra+HarwellPaper.pdf

RSA # 1 Learning Communities: Implemented, Assessed, and Sustained (Online)

 

http://www.setda.org/toolkit/toolkit2004/professionaldevelopment_02_Building_Sustaining_Professional_Learning_Communities.pdf

       Through my online research I have looked through several articles for the best ways to sustain a professional learning community and to find out exactly what a professional learning community should contain.  The toolkit, “Building and Sustaining Professional Learning Communities”, was of particular interest to me because it provides an overview of professional learning communities by breaking down each category on ideas to build a community and how to sustain a community. The categories were also divided in different headings such as; administration, methodologies, tools to use, and infrastructure. This toolkit is a great way to tie into the module, because it gives us an idea on what we need to set up a successful community.   A facilitator of a professional learning community could take this toolkit and use it to plan and implement the community.  It can be used as a checklist or as a reference when a learning community is being planned.  The toolkit is very similar to the reading, “Sustaining School Improvement; Professional Learning Community,” because it contains the same ideas just in a more concise and easier format to read.

Sedta. (2007). Building and sustaining professional learning communities.  National Learning Institute.  Retrieved from   http://www.setda.org/toolkit/toolkit2004/professionaldevelopment_02_Building_Sustaining_Professional_Learning_Communities.pdf

Kaplan, S. (2002). Building communities--Strategies for collaborative learning.

 ASTD. Retrieved from http://www.astd.org/LC/2002/0802_kaplan.htm

Hello Everybody!

 First of all, let me start by telling you a little about me.  I am Pre-K teacher going back to school for my 2nd Masters in Educational Technology.  I love technology and all the knowledge that you can obtain from the world wide web.   I am finally jumping into the blogging phonemon. I have always been a lurker on blog sites, but never took the time to create my own.My purpose for starting this blog is to research and discuss my views on professional learning communities.  I will share interesting articles that I have found and share them.   Here is my first link, enjoy a movie I created.  We can Soar