Barbs Baubles of Kindergarten Wisdom

As an educator, my role and that of the school is intertwined. We must meet the many challenges of the 21st Century. It is imperative to develop an educational vision for the future and “explore how that vision can be supported by technology.” Technology is a great way to bring the world into the classroom.

School 2.0   http://www.school2-0.org 

“School 2.0 is born out of the idea that active, engaged, constructivist learning will lead to active, engaged students and people.” Well, it makes sense, doesn’t it? Shouldn’t technology allow us to create, to communicate and to research?

Previously, understanding facts and information were the most important, but now isn’t it really the idea that ”skills, meaning and wisdom are co-created,”more important?

We need to create schools that “reflect the world we live in today and create schools that teach adaptability so we can prepare for the world we will live in tomorrow.”

Let’s work on getting the students the tools and knowledge they need.

Http://www.practicaltheory.org/serendipity/index.php?/archives/747 

Http://www.stevehargadon.com/2007/04/where-is-technology-revolution-in.html

Since my school does block YouTube, my “moral compass” would not allow me to try and bypass that block to show a video from that site to my Kindergarteners.
I do, however, believe that there are some videos with great merit to be shown in the classroom. In an article from the site http://esl.about.com/od/listeninglessonsplans/a/YouTube.htm, I read about some ways to use YouTube that I hadn’t thought of before.
I had perused YouTube months ago before I really understood much about it. I loved some of the music videos! After reading more about the site from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YouTube , I feel better that the site hosts are trying to make the site safer and more user friendly.

I believe that social networking is a good resource for many people. It will be worth my time to set up such things as Yackpackand ePals for my kindergarten classroom. I have also found blogs related specifically for kindergarten! How cool it is to network with others in my specific field when I otherwise could not meet with them f2f!

I would hope and trust that we have taught our Millenial Generation enough about the social and safety obligations for them to be able to use this great opportunity wisely. Check out some readings for yourself:

Http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/06/15/facebook
http://www.cit.cornell.edu/policy/memos/Facebook.html
http://www.danah.org/papers/AAAs2006.html

I was wondering how to use blogging in my classroom. I suppose I could set up a class website or class blog. I would love to set up some Blog Buddies like I saw in a site recently (http://kdgroom102.blogspot.com ).

I am interested in further exploring options like YackPack. If you have experience with that I’d love to hear about it.

I can see myself using blogs in student e-portfolios. It might be nice to have student work on display with comments by family members!

The only hurdle I have right now is that my school district blocks blogs. There have been many conversations regarding allowing them in the future. Is it worth the fight? I very much believe so.

I am interested in hearing other suggestions on using blogging with young children. Thanks, Barb

Well…Here it is! My very first blog entry. This is a little scary for me as I am such a newbie! I have to be real honest with everyone and say that I always thought that blogging was only for people with an enormous amount of time on their hands, espousing on topics of self-importance! I hope to prove myself wrong…I am also hoping to enrich my Kindergarten classroom in many different ways with this new blog.What do you think? Barb

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