Symbaloo and other places to scatter bread crumbs on the internet.
What the heck does 'bread crumbs on the internet' mean anyway? Ever get a phrase caught in your mind... like a song lyric, or a motto, or a piece of headline, or a fragment of movie dialogue? Happens to me all the time and I will probably infect you with my mind clogging disease, at least expose you to the germ, this semester. The other night I was thinking about the dynamic nature of the internet and technology in general and how this state of flux impacts teaching and learning. It came to me in a dream (well not exactly a dream, that sounds too spiritual), more like a thought balloon in a cartoon. Hansel and Gretel, the fairy tale about kids who marked their path through the woods with bread crumbs only to have their escape route wiped out by a bunch of hungry birds (or was that Angry Birds) has come into the language as a metaphor for something temporary and not to be relied upon. Symbaloo, and indeed all of the internet, is a vast collection of bread crumb trails that are constantly being either wiped out or scattered to the four winds.
Does this mean that places to store links to useful sites are meaningless? I don't think so. It means that our bookmarks and links need constant tending to remain current, to be useful, to not prove to be dead ends that discourage usage by our students. So, finally point number 1. As a teacher or prospective teacher tend your Symbaloo garden by checking the validity of your links. Some of my links right now are acting a bit funky... the link to my blog takes me to a place that wants me to sign on to Google+ and I'm not sure that's where it takes you. I've got to check that out.
Point number 2. In the bigger picture of teaching and learning what does 'remain current' mean? Certainly it means being up-to-date in your knowledge of subject matter, but beyond that what is currency? To me it means learning from students what they know an honoring this knowledge by implementing elements of their world in lessons and teaching techniques. Kids of all ages know a lot of stuff, some of it is a jumble of hearsay, TV talk, parent misinformation, and real wisdom. One of the really big jobs of a teacher is to provide a method of filtering and categorizing kid information into reliable and testable cubbies where the information can be called on to make sense of the world of school. For example, a child may come to school having observed certain insect behaviors... bees make honey, ants invade kitchens. A good teacher will help a child place this knowledge into a cubby that includes social behavior of certain insects and further, the value of cooperative effort.
One of the characteristics I saw in a teaching career was the opportunity to be spontaneous and to follow the flow of ideas that come out of each day in the classroom. It is possible to ignore this flow and to have a career in teaching but can you truly call this 'teaching'?
Well, I've strayed from Symbaloo and bread crumbs but the idea is that as teachers we must tend our own garden of ideas daily and respect and nurture what grows in the gardens of our students. Blindly attempting to follow an old trail of bread crumbs probably will not result in a true teaching career.
We'll look at some other ways to drop internet bread crumbs knowing that the crumbs we drop are but temporary footprints on the sands of time.
I'd like to know your thoughts on teaching as a career... please comment.
+ I believe that it is important to let your students teach you information. In fact I think there is no better way for someone to learn then to teach the subject to someone else. If a student walks into your classroom excited about something they learned, I most certainly agree that you should take that excitement and run with it and add to it.
ReplyDelete+ I also agree that being able to be spontanous is important in the classroom. If students show interest pertaining to a teachable subject...why not teach about it? I agree that the real job of a teacher is to take the information students share with you and create teachable moments out of the students information.
+ Teaching isn't a sit down job, you have to be on your feet at all times. There aren't just changes in technology every year but also in standards and curriculum. Just as things change with time so should your teaching garden or "bread crumbs". Like michelle obama said "success isn't about how much money you make but how many lives you change", in otherwords teaching for the moeny will never yield good results, but teaching for results will. And what better way to be a successful teacher then with keeping up with the ever changing world each day.
ReplyDelete+ I agree with the level of spontaneity you suggest is present in teaching. Flexibility is one of the characteristics of a good teacher. We have to be able to realize, hey this isn't working or maybe in a positive way, the students are taking this lesson in another direction and maybe even teaching me something. That ability to change and evolve is important. You might have the best lesson plan in the world but if it's not right for your students at that exact moment, they're not going to get much out of it.
ReplyDelete+ Adaptibility comes to mind when I think of teachers and the ever-changing school system. Teachers have the incredible job of differentiating to students what is fact or fiction but in a way that they stumble upon this realization themselves beacuse in many instances it is through failure which students learn something that sticks to them. As mentioned above what seperates an adeequate teacher from a great teacher is the fact of clarification, and organization. Students need to be "enlightened" but in such a manner not to confuse or misinterpret prior knowledge with learned facts. Teachers need to inspire by example.
ReplyDelete+ Symbaloo or anything that stores bookmarks definitely needs to be tended to. Some websites disappear or become obsolete and have old information that is not up-to-date. We need to make sure that we are on top of technological things because our students definitely will be.
ReplyDelete+ I feel that it is important to allow yourself to learn from your students and not just from textbooks and what the internet tells you. Students may teach you tactics that you never thought of and you could implement them into your tasks and teachings styles.
ReplyDelete+ My favorite part of this blog post when you said "me it means learning from students what they know an honoring this knowledge by implementing elements of their world in lessons and teaching techniques". I feel as though so many educators get caught up in so much of the new and current things in the field of education or technology that they overlook learning what the students know and using that knowledge. Using parts of their world makes it much easier to understand for them.
ReplyDelete+ I think that teaching is such a great and interesting career partly because of the whole concept of staying current. To me this means that teachers not only need to always be staying up to date on current knowledge and technology, but in a much broader sense, it means that teachers must always be learners themselves. They must be able to effectively find and sort through information whether it's from a known reliable source or if it's something their students have told them and find ways to apply it to their individual teaching situation.
ReplyDelete+ The internet and resources like Symbaloo or Pinterest are really great resources for teachers. But yes, they can become outdated or lead teachers away from what the students need to learn/are interested in learning. It is so important for teachers to be open to learning from their students and apply that knowledge in ways that will help their students successfully grow. An open mind is a crucial characteristic for teachers to have.
ReplyDelete+ I love this! We are humans and we are programmed to compartmentalize. Using a site like Symbaloo or Pinterest can help you stay current on trends and literature that revolve around teaching and learning. I know that especially in the field of Science it is so important to stay current with the technique, literature and findings. Things change everyday, so tending to the garden is always a good idea. I also think joining a journal or professional association, such as the NSTA for science teachers, is a great way to get new ideas and stay up to date. I also enjoy spontaneity in the classroom. Trying to "plan" the way you want a discussion to go is simply absurd! Class discussions can be a great way to learn more about that particular group of students and a way to make the topic more personal.
ReplyDelete+ I agree. If you aren't going to let students guide the lesson in ways that they can relate and understand then you could stand and tell a wall the same thing. It is the connections that help us better understand and remember things that we are taught in class. I have always told myself that "bad" teachers and teachers who aren't willing to learn anymore. Once they stop learning and enjoying learning then they can't realize how important it is to teach.
ReplyDelete+ I think that teaching as a career means being adaptable and open to new ideas. Even though I want to be a high school English teacher and therefore will be working with a lot of old material, because the classics are always important, I also think it is extremely important to incorporate new material. For example, Brave New World is a classic that is often read in high schools, but it would be awesome to incorporate a newer book such as the book Matched because it expresses the same views but it was written in the same time period as some of these young adults are growing up. Also, it is always crucial to ask for input from your class, not only by letting them lead discussions but in preparation also. Knowing what your students want from future lessons will help you teach that particular group of students more effectively.
ReplyDeleteSymbaloo is interesting for me because it is a hybrid of things I had already been doing. Even through high school I had kept a notebook or a notepad on my phone open of ideas for the class room. Things that I saw that worked and one day wanted to use. If I liked how a teacher addressed a topic or used an activity to help the class I wrote it down. It's something I continue to use today. So naturally when Symbaloo was introduced I liked it. It is a lot more organized than just keeping a generic bookmarks tab. Plus now if I ever switch browsers there isn't a confusion. Or that I can access the site from anywhere is great. It's a more modern way of staying up to date on our lives. As teachers this is exactly what we should be. In my opinion everyone should be no matter of their profession. To be taken seriously you need to stay current in your field and in your atmospheres.
ReplyDelete+ I definitely like the idea of teaching spontaneously. Yes there has to be some structure involved, however if you just read off a textbook and have too much structure then I don't think the students will be learning as much. They need interaction with each other and conversation going on in order to organize thoughts in their brain and also share these thoughts with the teacher as well as fellow peers.
ReplyDelete+I think that being a teaching means that you have to be flexible. Everything is always changing in a classroom and a teacher has to be ok with changing things around in order to fit her students needs. Being a great teachers also means learning from your students. Just because a teacher is considered to be the leader of the class doesn't mean that they are an expert or knowledgeable in every aspect of life. Being able to learn from your students allows the students to feel as if they are making a difference and can feel confident in the classroom.
ReplyDelete+ i agree with being current with technology and as teachers. I love using tools like Pintrest and Symbaloo because i can easily remember, find, and organize other great tools and resources that i have found that i might want to use later on. Having an opportunity to see what other great teachers are doing is just too cool. Some of the things you find are things that you would never think of yourself. Staying current and open in the classroom is also important to me. As teachers if we taught the same thing every year, our techniques and information will eventually become out dated and our jobs would become extremely boring. Teaching should be a fun new experience every year!
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