Day 7: Reflection

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Day 6: Twitter?

This teacher posted her blog post on the power of her PLN last summer. It explains what a PLN- whether you determine it is through, Google Reader, Diigo and/or Twitter- does in her case.

Ms. Cheska's Blog Post

Day 6: Today I Learned....

Today has been full of great presentations and ideas!

Leave a comment letting us know one thing you learned from someone else- either about a new technology you learned, a great presentation tip, or a new teaching strategy.

Day 5: To Tweet or Not to Tweet?

Today, Jason showed us Google Reader as a premier means of harnessing a stream of educational content from blogs and other websites. Tomorrow, I will show you Twitter as a means of accomplishing much the same thing. Typically, people confront Twitter either with open arms and a good deal of caution and disbelief in its powers as a PLN tool. In an effort to sway any doubter a little :), I wanted to launch a preemptive strike on your caution and disbelief with these two artifacts found....on Twitter.

Below, you will find a presentation that I thought was great at dealing with Twitter frivolous uses and with its useful ones in an entertaining and informing way.

Why is the Fail Whale Smiling?

View more presentations from Rodd Lucier

Also, please reference this blog post we discovered on Twitter that shares some enlightening examples of how many resources flood Twitter in any given day. Scott McLeod's blog post shares one day only a month and a half ago. http://bigthink.com/ideas/38698

Day 5: Why Would I PLN?

We spent all morning showing you why we love our PLNs so much and telling you what we see as the advantages to being involved. So what do you think?

In the comment section, let us know what you think. What do you think the benefit of being in a PLN will be for you, and which PLN tool do you like the most so far?

Day 4: Which generation are you?

You spent time researching the generations that will most likely make up the audience of your professional learning session- so which one fits you best?

The generations studied were:

• Silent Generation (1925 - 1944)
• Baby Boomers (1945-1964)
• Generation X (1965-1984)
• Net Generation (1985 - present)

In the comment section, let us know which generation you are most like. Remember- you may have been born in the 1950s but be of the Net Generation at heart!

Day 4 Story

In planning activities for Pinnacle, we have tried to make them as self-guided as possible while still squeezing in experiences with the typical technologies we would like you to take from the experience. In the classroom, we hope that as students become aware of various technologies, you will allow them to direct their own learning and the ways in which they express their learning. In our case, the assignment on student-centered instruction does not quite fit the bill simply because we needed to teach you the technology of Audacity as well. In the classroom, once students have used something like Audacity once before, it should become invisible within the instruction and ultimately a tool that they might choose to use.

In what ways would you suggest making an activity like this more student-centered? For example, how might you allow students to choose their topic, their means of learning about that topic, and their method of assessment? In this case, you were given a topic and simply told to research it with some guiding links. Then you were provided a specific tool to use to generate some kind of response demonstrating what you learned about the topic. (Design)

In what ways are you considering changing your classroom? a given period or day's agenda? and lesson plans in general? What are your feelings on relinquishing the control of so many facets to your students?



Please listen to the other two podcasts and respond as well.

Remember to bring your Wireless Slates on Monday and Tuesday so that we can pair them for you.