The Long and the Short of It.

Blog: Long Form.  Twitter: Short & Sweet

The blog as reflective practice was replaced by the Twitter experience.  Follow me!  @lynneawest :) In the Twittersphere, I learned, I absorbed, I retweeted.  I might quickly post.  But deep reflection was replaced by the rapid NEED TO KNOW and learn now, fast and furious.  I had a new job, a new role, a new grad school program and needed skills, INFORMATION, tools, tips and tricks.  Twitter provided the forum for this kind of learning.  But now, as I continue to grow my practice and my thinking, I think that the BLOG MIGHT BE BACK. Well, here we go! This video, shared by my classmate, shows how I am moving from a need to know information, to a practice of reflecting to gain wisdom.

I have selected on online learning community and will use this blog space to reflect on learning and teaching in the online environment. I am facilitating an online (somewhat blended) learning environment as part of a series of profession learning for the teachers in my school district.

This course is designed for the elementary level educator to adapt and extend strategies outlined in both the primary and intermediate versions of The Comprehension Toolkit by Harvey and Goudvis. “The Comprehension Toolkits nurture many layers of literacy: Students read, write, reflect, talk, think, collaborate and investigate.” This approach to an active literacy model empowers each student to accelerate the ways to make meaning of what they read, see and hear.

I want to focus on this because I can immediately apply my learning from this course to the designing of the experience for the learners involved in this course. In this course, we will be identifying and practicing strategies with digital tools to redefine literacy practices and share our learning and reflections with each other.

Here are my initial "take-aways" as items to consider as part of instructional design:

• Create a Class Charter
• Weekly Motivator
• Have instructor post the first one and then have participants post the following weeks.
• Links to ALL of the readings in one page
• All readings, those included in the course AND extras in one place for easy access and ability to copy into a place like Evernote in order to save for future reference.
• Checklist of tasks each week
• Video Introductions and define purpose of taking the class.  
• Have participants explain their understanding of the terms used in class in order to create a common understanding of definitions.
• Make each assignment align to a standard
• Give feedback to each participant after every session
• Create rubrics for projects
• Have students evaluate the tools against a 21st century theme like the 4Cs
• Have participants do a self assessment of standards covered.
• Create opportunities for Culturally Relevant Teaching as a bridge from home to online learning environment
• Be sure to use cooperative group strategies and some opportunity for small or base groups.

I considered a few other options for an online learning community such as the Coursera K-12 Blended Learning course. But, I found that the work was somewhat inauthentic and if I take the time to reflect on the direct experience I am facilitating, this will be the most meaningful way to make sense of the experience.

Hello Blogger. (And NO goodbye to Twitter!)

xoxoxo