Bonus Lesson!: Make Connections

            Okay, so I feel like this is a bit of a cheat, but I might learn something really useful that I wouldn't otherwise read or view.  I guess that I didn't read the directions too well because I first examined Deb Collin's blog posts as I know her and she is middle school level.  I was trying for people whose experience is closer to mine than a high school librarian's is.  I read her post about "Thing 16: Digital Tattoos & Digital Citizenship." I really should try to get more into this myself.  The examples that she plans to use to demonstrate the permanence of an online tatoo or footprint seem especially easy for a student to understand: permanent marker, straightening a crumpled piece of paper, toothpaste out of the tube.  I watched the Digital Dossier video and I totally agree with Deb that it is chilling!  I plan to forward it to others and hope to use it in my mentoring meetings next year to help the new teachers!  While I was there, I looked at her Maker Space post and watched the video she recommended, RSA Animate: Drive.  Again, I think that it would be good to show to the new teachers because it speaks to why student choice is important.

             Now, to do what I should have done…  I went to Cathie Morton’s blog.  I read several of her posts and commented on Thing 17: DIY - You Pick!, “I am hoping to get in Kahoots, too.  I applied for a grant that I REALLY hope will get me tablets for my library.  Otherwise, I will have to use it only when I can borrow the laptop cart.  I used it on Thursday with my third-graders in the competition/quiz mode and they LOVED it!  I think that it could be used in the survey mode as Formative Assessment/Exit Tickets to inform future instruction.”

            After reading a few more of Cathie’s posts, I moved on to Lindsey Murphy.  I read her “Thing 11: Coding” post and said, “It is interesting that you have so few girls.  I wonder how the class is being presented to them as an option and what is competing with technology.  Although the Jewelbots look interesting, they are SOOOO expensive that it doesn't seem to be an option for a run-of-the-mill classroom.  Hopefully the price will come down +/or a competitor will arise.  Actually, some of the functionality seems dangerous or perhaps difficult from a school standpoint.  It might be capable of promoting cheating, it will definitely be distracting during teaching, and it might be used for bullying/intimidation.  (As in, if you don't ..., then you aren't our friend and everyone will know it because your jewelbot won't light up.)  Just thinking.

Anyway, with options like the Frozen part of Hour of Code available, there shouldn't be too much trouble getting younger girls involved.  Once they are hooked, the background won't matter as much.”

            Finally, I checked out Jan Murray’s blog.  After reading a few, I decided to comment on “Thing 15: Web Presence.”  Unfortunately, I forgot to copy before I posted and I can’t seem to access the reply yet.  The gist of what I wrote is that I had never considered using a blogsite as a professional portfolio.  I will have to read the new version of Polly’s Thing 15 to see what it says about that.  I might want to use Jan Murray’s example as well as Polly’s info in my mentor meetings next year.

            So, in summary it is interesting to read other’s blogposts because you see a different viewpoint +/or hear about a link that you didn’t pursue.  I actually think that this was a great “Thing” and should be included in future years as I explored many different Things in one lesson.