Today is Part 2 of our
#CyberPd event. We will be discussing chapters 3 and 4 of
Who Owns the Learning by
Alan November. I am hosting the discussion here today so if you have a blog post or ideas to share, please add them to the comment section below. Throughout the day, I will be updating this post with a list of links to the other posts that people have shared. So be sure to check back and see what others have shared. The comment sections of each blog have been filled with wonderful conversations that you won't want to miss.
#CypberPD is also a great way to find others to follow on Twitter and follow more of the conversation there. You can follow me at
@jillfisch. You can leave your Twitter name along with the link to your post in the comment section so others can follow you, too.
The chapters today dealt with having students act as scribes or researchers in your classroom in order to benefit the learning processes of all of the students in the classroom. The example of a scribe was having a student take notes from the lesson of the day and post them for the rest of the class (or others) to access. Having a student act as a scribe may be a bit of a stretch in the primary grades but reading the chapter did cause me to think about how I could adapt this to my situation. The chapter on students as researchers was not as much of a stretch and gave me lots to think about. So for this post, instead of focusing on my questions, I am going to focus on the beginning of my plan of action for the upcoming school year.
Beginnings of a Plan of Action
- Students as Researchers - I love the idea of having a student sit at a computer to immediately look up answers to questions that come up during the day. I will probably modify that to have iPads placed strategically around the room so that students can grab one to fact check or look up information quickly and easily. At the beginning of the year, they will need a lot of support with this but as the year progresses, they will become more independent.
- Teachable Moments - I don't think I will do a series of lessons on checking the reliability of a site but I will use those teachable moments that come up as the students are acting as researchers to teach some of the more basic ideas of site reliability and validity.
- Students as Scribes - This one had me stumped for a while and I am still not sure if I will use this "chore" in first grade or not. We kind of do this now when students write posts for their Kidblogs about what we have learned in class but it is not set up in a formal way. I could also go back to the idea of having "guest posts" on our classroom blog so that it is a more systematic way for students to share and explain what we have learned in class. I stopped this once each student had their own blog but there could be value in starting it back up again. (It would certainly draw more parent attention to the classroom blog.) I am still thinking about this one.
- Students as Tutorial Designers - I definitely plan to continue to do this with my students. It is very beneficial to other students, to parents and to me (as an informal assessment of what a child knows and can do). I am beginning to play with some apps (in addition to ShowMe) that might provide more options to the tutorial creators. I am also toying with the idea of housing them somewhere other than each child's Kidblog but I am not sure whether I will do this or not. Having them on the Kidblogs has been working very well for us so I am not sure that I want to add another "place" for the students to have to visit. As we all know, many times, less is more.
I am excited to read the last chapters and add more to this plan of action. I am sure that it will continue to change and grow over the summer as I continue to think about all of this and then it will change even more as I begin to work with my new group of students.
I am looking forward to reading your ideas from this section of the book. The conversations have been so thoughtful and productive so far.
Our #cyberpd event consists of multiple parts:
July 3rd: Chapters 1 and 2 - Hosted by
Cathy Mere at
Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community
Today: Chapters 3 and 4 - Hosted here at My Primary Passion
July 17th: Chapters 5 and 6 - Hosted by
Laura Komos at
Ruminate and Invigorate
Date to be determined: Final chat about the book on Twitter using the hashtag
#cyberpd
You can participate in several ways:
- You can write a blog post with your thoughts about the section we
are reading for the week and add the link to your blog in the comments
of the host blog.
- You can add your thoughts directly in the comments of the host blog.
- You can share your thoughts on Twitter using the hashtag #cyberpd.
- You can come up with another way to share you ideas. We would love to see a new, creative way to join the conversation.
We hope that you will join us as we read, reflect and share our ideas about this book.
If you are interested in past #cyberpd discussions, here are some links for you:
2011 #cyberPD: Conferring: The Keystone of Reader's Workshop
2012 #cyberPD: Opening Minds
2013 #cyberPD:
Who Owns the Learning (posts from the event so far)
The posts for this week (these will be updated throughout the week):
Co-host,
Cathy Mere, at
Reflect and Refine: Building a Learning Community shares her thoughts on the answer to the question of Who Owns the Learning in her post
Growing the Learning #cyberpd. The subtitle of her blog gives us a clue about her thinking.
At
The "Rudd"er,
Amy Rudd, shows us what it looks like to be a connected learner. She includes lots of links and makes many outside connections to our reading. Stop by and take a look at her post,
Further Down the Trail Cyber PD #2.
Katherine Sokolowski, at
Read, Write, Reflect joins the conversation this week and shares her thoughts on how she plans to make some changes in her classroom this fall. See her ideas in her post,
Who Owns the Learning #CyberPD.
Over at
Catching Readers Before They Fall,
Pat Johnson, shares how her thinking has changed as a result of reading the blog posts shared in last week's #cyberpd event. Her thoughts can be found in her post,
Continuing the conversation about Who Owns the Learning?
Like Amy Rudd,
Tony Keefer also synthesized his learning by combining ideas from two sources (Energize and Who Owns the Learning) to create some great ideas to try with his students. You can see his thinking in his post,
#cyberpd: Who Owns the Learning (Part 2) on his blog,
atychiphobia 2.0.
Maria Caplin, at
Teaching in the 21st Century, shares her thoughts about "learning (that) happens anytime, anywhere" - something that we, as adults, are comfortable with, in her post,
Who Owns the Learning? Ch. 3-4 #CyberPD.
In her post,
#CyberPD--Who Owns the Learning, Ch. 3-4,
Mary Lee, shares a couple of her "flops" when trying out new ideas involving technology in her class along with her ideas for how to make these "flops" better next year. Check out her post on the blog,
A Year of Reading.
LitProfSuz reminds us that while the actual tasks we ask students to do may not be a radical change, the shift of control over the learning environment is. Check out her post,
Shift of Control, on her blog,
In the Heart of a Teacher is a Student.
On her blog,
Ms. Victor Reads,
Erika Victor, shares how she decided to join the #cyberpd discussion after reading
Mary Lee's first blog post about it - the power of #cyberpd is in the connections and discussions. Check out her post,
Cyber PD Chapters 3 and 4.
Stop by co-host,
Laura Komos' blog,
Ruminate and Invigorate, for a nice chat about today's reading. While I have never met Laura in person, I love "hearing" her written voice ooze throughout her post. You will feel like she is sitting right there with you as you read her post,
Who Owns the Learning? #cyberPD Part 2.
Linda Dilger joins the conversation today by sharing some of the challenges she will face as she begins to try new things this fall. She has a great attitude about it all as you can see in her post,
Who Owns the Learning? by Alan November on her blog,
Room 5.
On her blog,
Teacher Dance,
Linda Baie, shares her thoughts about how to help students take on the roles of scribe and researcher at her school. See her thoughts on the post,
Exciting Chapters in Cyber PD.
Rose Cappelli, pulls some wonderful quotes from this week's reading to use a "jumping off point" for her thinking. In her post,
Continuing the Journey, on her blog,
Mentor Texts with Lynne and Rose, you will see how she uses these quotes to extend her thinking.
Over at
Literacy Learning Zone,
Michelle Nero, synthesizes her individual thinking along with many of her online resources and mentors. Read her post,
#cyberPD Part 2: Who Owns the Learning, to see an example of a "21st century learning specialist" in action.
Anna Sexton, at
Technology Tips, reminds us to "let go of the control" and move "beyond just grading the work". You can read more in her post,
Who Owns the Learning Book Study #2.
Taking a beach break to share her thoughts is
Barb Keister, at
Reading Teachers/ Teachers Reading. Barb shares her experiences with having a teacher scribe during a recent professional development opportunity. Check out what she noticed in her post,
CyberPD Week 2 - Who Owns the Learning.
Jamie Riley shares her ideas for how to incorporate critical research skills into the library/media center. Check out her post,
#cyberpd-Who Owns the Learning, Ch 3-4 on her blog,
Rethinking Media Centers.
On her blog,
Wondering Through 2012 and Beyond,
Barbara Phillips, makes the connection between wondering and owning the learning. I wonder if you will see the connection, too, when you read her post,
Who Owns the Learning? #CyberPD - Part Two.
Rola Tibshirani, at
Learning in Progress, shares how she shifts control of the learning to her upper elementary French Immersion students. Take a look at her post,
Who Owns the Learning Chapters 3 & 4 to learn more.
Julie Balen is playing with new tech tools and sharing her thoughts about them in her post,
#Cyberpd 2013: Chapter 3. Be sure to visit her blog,
Write at the Edge, to see how she is trying out her new learning.
Over at
Primary Perspective,
Deb Frazier, shares her thinking about having students act as scribes in her first grade classroom. She shares how her thinking shifted as she read and how she has a new perspective on the idea now. Stop by and check it out.
Lesa Haney shares her learning and a collection of online resources in an
online flyer that she created at
smore.com, called
Who Owns the Learning. Another great tool to take a look at and great ideas of resources to use for each learning role .
