Hello! I am a proud father of two boys (Peter, 9 & Henry, 7). This is my 8th year as a Special Education Teacher.
Intro to Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is much of what I have expected and learned throughout my course work in the Instructional media program at Wilkes. However, I did find some great takeaway points that I could easily embrace into my instruction as and Emotional Support Teacher. First, Web 2.0 has a vast amount of applications like content sharing, tagging, and collaboration, social media the list goes on and on. The ability to blog and share information in a public manner has so many benefits. However, I like the ability to teach the students appropriate conduct and to alleviate some anxiety about social interactions. Children now are such better multi-taskers than we ever were growing up. Embracing their ability to do other things yet still be paying attention is a better way to integrate Web 2.0 tools. The old times of lecturing or simply giving one task at a time can be discarded. Web 2.0 can greatly benefit the students in increasing participation and reflective thinking.
Pedagogical Model
Over the years I have been primarily in the pedagogical model of stability, which is more traditional pencil and chalk boards. This was mostly due to lack of technology tools to utilize with my students within my classrooms. However, in the future I would like to have technology integrated more into my instruction. Ideally I would like to use an approach more along the lines of a computational thinking. This would keep in mind a problem solving approach with taking larger problems and breaking them down into more manageable smaller parts. I teach social skills as part of my position and an emotional support teacher and utilizing this method could greatly help my students.
Personal Learning Network
What is a personal learning network? At first glance I was a bit leery that I didn’t have any. What was I going to do? Everyone has a personal learning network and each part of their individual network has its own level of important to that individual.
In reading about personal learning networks I’ve found that no matter how much or how little technology we involve in our lives we each have a PLN. A personal earning network is just the connecting of people to help you learn, guide you, provide you solutions and maybe even learn from. In my case my personal learning network consists of friends, family, students, colleagues, professors and even myself.
As far as the most important network connection, that’s difficult to narrow down. Each network of people has a variety to importance to my growth and knowledge as a whole. My family and friends obviously have the biggest emotional connection and provide personal knowledge. However, they don’t provide a vast amount of knowledge for me professionally. From a professional growth standpoint it’s the knowledge and collaboration gained from colleagues, students, and professors that is most important. Within these connections the tools I’ve used most are Facebook, Google, and Blogger. All of which have provided a great deal of professional growth.
Utecht’s scale describes the stages in detail. I’ve experienced all of the stages over the course of my studies at Wilkes accept for the last stage “Balance”. Currently I find myself in the perspective stage. I’ve jumped in early in my graduate studies and tried a lot. Some with success and some without. Reflecting now and balancing my professional life with the life of my family is the most important thing (Utecht, 2008). As I continue forward professional I will move into a balanced role and incorporate several PLN into my instruction.
References
Utecht, J. (2008, April 3). Stages of pln adoption. Retrieved from
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/stages-of-pln-adoption/
Woolf_Twitter
Twitter was an adjustment for me for sure. I wasn’t familiar with using twitter at all. After following classmates and searching educational links, I found it very informative. Much like using the internet or Facebook or other social media devices you have the ability to make different connections. It seemed to be much quicker than what I’ve experienced in the past. Using the # symbol was different for me as well. However, utilizing that to connect instantly is a great feature! After many attempts to search particular areas of interest and having limited success I found my niche. Using the connection of my peers from #EDIM510 yielded the most instant success and from there I was able to expand my exploring options. Utilizing twitter within an educational setting (Classroom) could yield significant benefits. The expansive knowledge students would get because they were encouraged to use social media would be vast. I am cautioned however, because of the lack of ability to filter some content and what older students might connect to the group. With some parameters put in place about conduct, I believe it could be a valuable asset to the student’s educational development.
@woolf_e89
http://edim510sped.blogspot.com/2017/05/disabilities-you-cant-see.html
Disabilities you can't see!
Special Education has been around for years. In educations students, teachers and parents etc have all embraced the need. They understand that each child has the right to a free appropriate education as much as the next child. They know that each child learns differently and we should try to be accommodating to those needs. In most cases people can clearly see an individuals disability. It either presents itself clearly in all settings or when the academic task is introduced the individual struggles. However, not every disability can be seen. In fact, some to the untrained eye can be deemed as the student "doesn't care" or "they're a bad kid". What I'm referring too is a child with the diagnosis of Emotional Disturbance. I've worked with students like the last eight years. Yes, they can be challenging but the bigger challenge is that others don't understand that they have a disability and it isn't one that can be seen. That their lack of social skills or impulsiveness is directly related to their disability and that they like any other student with a disability deserve the right to be helped equally. I will forever work to advocate for these students. The ones that some may feel as a lost cause.
Wiki Spaces – Pod Cast
In looking over several web 2.0 tools I found that Wiki Spaces for me would me the easiest to implement and utilize with in my own classroom. Wiki spaces has a wealth of materials to offer to both he teacher and student. It allows for collaboration in a safe and secure environment. The ipadio podcast was very user friendly and easy to execute. It allowed for me to pause my recording throughout my podcast, which I found to be very useful if I paused for a thought. This didn’t take away from the overall cast and in the end I found it to be very effective.
http://www.ipadio.com/channels/C3XwDl7QLLxg251P44D5cA/rss
Aggregation
After having some time to develop a FEEDLY site I found it to be very useful. I liked how is was very easy to use as far as navigation and that I could add and delete links easily too. Finding the required information and the links was user friendly too. The ability to customize the site to my usage I found to be helpful and could see the benefits as a student as well. This would be another great resource to allow students to connect with one another I a safe secure environment. The level of collaboration along with organization would be outstanding. As a teacher I could utilize my own FEEDLY address to create specific materials that students may use within class. Creating folders that title everything they can use as well. Students created information could also be shared as part of instruction or collaboration with their peers. I would recommend FEEDLY to many others even if it’s just for personal usage.
Ernie Woolf
https://feedly.com/i/category/EDIM%20510
Critical evaluation of internet resources is an essential component to using the internet. In my investigating of the parts that would be most important for a classroom teacher or for student research were the following. Authority, bias’, citations, requirements, quality of information, and relevance each component having its own important piece. Furthermore, I felt that the 5 w’s were a valid way of determining a good site. The 5 w’s were:
• Who wrote the pages?
• What does the author say is the purpose?
• When was the site created?
• Where does the information come from?
• Why should I use this information?
Creative commons is the collaboration of several resources to connect professionals and their work. It gives the professionals the ability to publish digital works that are peer reviewed and valid in a manner that is protected. It’s a fantastic way for professionals to share works and resources without their hard work being stolen. I feel this is just another great tool for professionals to add to their toolbox.
Reference:
http://www.schrockguide.net/critical-evaluation.html
Poll link - https://www.menti.com/26caee
Poll Results - https://www.mentimeter.com/s/7327b37792454bdb87edb0c79bcc67d3/53add2582cb9
https://padlet.com/erniewoolf/ff439si6jlg
https://spark.adobe.com/video/RuHd3ahKWFho4
Reflection on online presentation tools
I found that using both Adobe Spark and Padlet had some advantages to presenting online presentations. I started with Padlet, this found to be very easy to access and manipulate. The presentation part is very easy for other to access as well. You’re given a variety of ways to share the link as well as options to restrict sharing. The adobe spark video presentation was a first for me. I found it to be very user friendly and flowed nicely. The applications for this as an instructor or student are endless. The one issue I had with the use was more with my own computer not having a microphone to access, however there is a app and I was able to utilize that to finish the project. All in all they are great ways to present a variety of different ways. Blog Link: http://edim510sped.blogspot.com/2017/06/reflection-on-online-presentation-tools.html
Woolf_Timelines
Reflection Google Time Line
Google photos creating an album can be a bit of a daunting task if you don’t have the phots readily available. The searching process takes some time to find all things. However, the utilization within the classroom would be great. Most districts already use google docs to share information and assignments and this would just be another expansion of that process. The album its self-flows nicely and is very easy to develop once you have a little practice. This could be a great tool for projects in all types of classrooms.
Link:
https://goo.gl/photos/cosfnihLMRRhTgCZ8
Canva Reflection
Canva was very easy to use. Just dragging and dropping several pictures at a time. This would be a great way to have students display projects in ELA and Science. Anything for that matter that had several parts that could be talked about in a single format. I would recommend this to others.
http://edim510sped.blogspot.com/2017/06/reflection-infographics.html
Video 2_TheEssay Woolf_Teacher
What was the main idea or point being made?
The main idea is that technology is every growing and children at times may be more creative than any of the adults around them. We as teachers should embrace this ability to think differently and utilize technology more.
What audience was the video trying to reach?
The video is trying to reach everyone. People of all ages to dream bigger and know that things will change from what they are now. We all need to embrace the change.
Were the methods used to create the video effective? Why or why not?
The child describing everything that we all now know to be true, but taking place in a time when we would have all thought them to be crazy. It’s a very powerful way of proving a point. For those of us that didn’t have cell phones growing up, we can truly relate and know that the future will have technology that we could only imagine right now.
Video 3_ Woolf_Teacher
What was the main idea or point being made?
That we are all connected and the connection is every growing.
What audience was the video trying to reach?
The video is trying to reach all educators to get them to embrace 21st century learning.
Were the methods used to create the video effective? Why or why not?
It was utilizing writing and music to share all the information. I personally found this more difficult because it went very fast and required all reading. I had to watch it more than once to get a clear purpose.
Public Service Announcement
Below is a link to a PSA that encourages teachers to utilize technology more within their classrooms.
Link PSA:
https://spark.adobe.com/video/6k5sxatnwW2Cq