Back from the Beach

Well, I am back and it did not take much time for me to dive right in. I did feel a little lost at the beach. For the first couple of nights the internet wasn't working and then once we got it up a running I felt slightly guilty spending too much time playing around with it. Anyway, so far I have checked out my team's wiki and I must say I am proud to be part of such hard workers. Our wiki looks great! I have worked on my portfolio, a leadership module, responded to blogs, written a lesson plan and I am sure something else, but I just can't remember.

It is true I feel as if my brain has become mush with the wealth of information that we have gained in this 18 months. The cohort has energized and excited me and I look forward to using my newly gained information. The cohort is ending and we are going our separate ways, I wish all of you good luck in your endeavors...and enjoy the free time...I am sure it won't last long.

Advocacy, wikis, blogs...

Advocacy, wiki, blog....so much to do and so little time! I have never been one of those people who would write articles to advocate for something, or publish an editorial, or who would go lobby in DC. However, I will gladly give my opinion when asked and sometimes I don't even need to be asked. My point is I have enjoyed working on the advocacy project. I do understand how someone could get very pumped up by reading and researching controversial topics. For example the more we work on ourtopic the more involved we become with it.

I say this because I think that this idea of "advocacy" could be used it the classroom as part of authentic learning. Here I go again always with the "oooh I could use this in the classroom". Anyway, teachers could have students advocate for whatever is covered in the SOLs. For example in sixth grade history one side could advocate for entering WW2 and the other side could advocate for staying out, one side for the New Deal the other side against, same could be true for science, English, and maybe non core subjects like health. I think using something like our advocacy wiki page puts a modern spin on our old debate. Advocacy might fit our digital natives better.

We are learning so much in class. I am struggling to find the time at home to play with all the cool gadgets. I know eventually I will igoogle and such, but right now I am trying to absorb information.

Creating a Wiki page about Freedom was fun and I found myself wanting to make it appealing to others. It seems there is a different sense of ownership when you know anyone can look at it. You want it to be the best it can be. I wonder if students feel this same way. It seemed to make it more important knowing that it could be viewed by others outside of the classroom. Oh if only that wiki page had stuck around long enough for someone to look at it....
The mystery is that we have no idea where it went...poor thing is bouncing around in cyberspace with no where to land :(

Our advocacy project is moving right along. We have all of these great ideas, sometimes the wording of them is the difficult part. I really enjoy working in groups and think it has helped me retain the information presented.