Becoming a Lifelong LearnerUnit 1

Unit 1 ObjectivesDescribe the qualities of lifelong

learning

Methods for staying current on research and best practices

Reflective practices to improve teaching practices

Social networking tools for professional collaboration and growth

Striving to become a better teacher means you have to ask

questions about your goals and your teaching practices

Embracing the challenge to know who you are as a teacher provides the motivation to take

responsibility for your own learning and become a

lifelong learner.

Pragmatically speaking how does this lifelong learning take place?

ME

Someone Else

Venturing Out

Picture was remixed at Picnik using picture from CleverCupcakes Photostream in Flickr and permission given with Creative Commons license

Testing out different kinds of venues where personal learning might take place and seeing what meets your own professional needs. This can be variable experience, customized to your personal learning needs. It should be altered over time to match what it is that is needed in your curriculum(s), in your own learning or by the students in your class.

Teaching well is one thing, but teaching well with technology is something very different.

We know there’s a gap since 25% of professional development should be devoted to technology

Creative Commons license from Flyzipper on Flickr

Only 7% of all teachers effectively integrate technology

What does it mean to be a digitally literate teacher?

Picture licensed under Creative Commons. Flickr image taken by Trey Ratcliff www.stuckincustoms.com

Do any of these quotes match with your ideas of digital literacy?

”A web 2.0 ethos values and promotes three interlocking functions or practices: participation, collaboration and distribution”. (Knobel, p20)

“Within this orientation, 2.0 literacies challenge how schools traditionally have valued a single author laboriously working along to create a unique text. Literacy

2.0 recognizes that although there will always be varying levels of

innovation, producing something truly new or original is impossible; all our cultural resources build on what’s gone before…. Literacy 2.0 is not about using Word for word

processing, using PPT for presentation, or projecting a

computer screen onto the wall of a room. ” (Marzano, p 22)

“It is crucial to realize that literacy 2.0 means students take the reins. Students can help one another master new

software programs, create engaging alternative

assessments, and make the most of collaborative online

spaces. Lesson planning shifts from focusing on

teacher delivery of content to designing collaborative

projects that tap into cross-curricular content, abstract

concepts and learning in meaningful ways.”

“Projects might include podcasting local oral histories or developing a series of documentaries about the health of the local environment. This is far different from

having students use Powerpoint to present content obtained from books and through Google, which is nothing more than Literacy 1.0 in digital getup.”(Marzano, P 24)

Finding teacher centered learning resources

Content area professional knowledge

Assignments for Unit 1

Since participation and collaboration are the focus of this course, we will investigate ways to become lifelong learners by joining a virtual learning community, analyzing how the collaboration gained there might be used to expand our knowledge of best practices for technology integration.

1. You will join a social networking site to see how this kind of tool can be used to collaborate and communicate with other teachers. I am suggesting that you join the Classroom 2.0 Ning group. http://www.classroom20.com/

2. Within Classroom 2.0 there are different features to try out, people to talk with and resources to read through. Each of these features will take you some time to try out and analyze. You should pick one thing to focus on each week.

3. Watch the following videos to find out more about social networking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a_KF7TYKVc

•See the next slide for the details of the work you will do using a virtual professional network.

Each week you will keep a Moodle blog journal which will describe what you’ve investigated about the Classroom 2.0 virtual learning community.•You will investigate different features within Classroom 2.0 by studying and using the feature.•You must enroll and become familiar with the format of the website. Take advantage of the many learning opportunities that you find.•Make an entry into your Moodle blog at least once a week to report on what you’ve learned about how this kind of professional learning works. Your entry must also give a short evaluation the pros and cons of what you tried out.•At the conclusion of Unit 7, you will fill out a matrix that summarizes your findings and write the Final Summary Paper using evidence from your blog about what you learned.•I’m sure everyone will find out different things during the course and I want you to share your findings with your classmates. So you will post your summary for the rest of the class to read and comment on during Unit 8.

Watch this screencast to see how to navigate around Classroom 2.0