PLC

=Technology Professional Learning Community=
 * Over the course of the next few weeks, a group of teachers from each of the four schools will be discussing the work of Will Richardson, "Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for the Classrooms." Each section below includes helpful websites, disussed topics, and discussion questions. Please feel free to add comments in the discussion section (second tab at the top). || [[image:21527_Richardson_Blogs_2e_72ppiRGB_150pixw.jpg width="141" height="203" align="center"]] ||

=Chapter Two=
 * **Questions**
 * How can we teach children to be less reckless presenters of personal content?
 * Have you used any blogs? What have you used them for?
 * Richardson discusses the responses that the author of "The secret life of Bees," leaves on a classroom blog. What are the educational benifits of this and how can this idea be used in other content areas?
 * Are weblogs truly the new motivator, or are they just one more thing for the classroom teacher to take on?
 * What if student are unmotivated to use the technology?
 * How do you handle technological excuses that student use to avoid accountablity?
 * Ken Smith writes, "...Blogging, at base, is writing down what you think when you read others. If you keep at it, others will eventually write down what they think when they read you, and you'll enter a new realm of blogging, a new realm of human connection." What are your feelings about this view and how can you foster this in a large class (in other words, there is only so much someone can say about a paragraph response)?
 * Researching the reliablity of blogs is a time consuming process but isthis a justified use of time?
 * What is the difference between a blog and a website?


 * **Vocabulary**
 * [|Kindle]
 * **Important Links**
 * http://weblogg-ed.com/ - Will Richardson's Blog


 * **Other Resources**
 * Internic.com - research who owns a website domain
 * Technorati.com - provides blog ratings
 * [|Article on the Kindle by NYTimes]

=Chapter 1=
 * ==Questions==
 * On page 3, Richardson refers to the utilization of YouTube and myspace.com in the current presidential election. Has anyone used these resources and in what ways (personal or professional? How do you like them?
 * Richards continues by describing how the events of disasters like Katrina have been catelogued online. Do you see this as a positive or negative phenomenon?
 * A common theme seems to be that education is behind the times in terms of the uptake of technology. Why is education so slow on the uptake? Is it due to parents, people that would assumably be part of this paradigm switch at work, or is it the fears of administration (Irrational or Rational)?
 * Richardson reports, "There is no question that more and more of today's kids are entering our classrooms having had years of 'screentime' and that in general, while they still may have a lot to learn about living in the digital world, they are by and large fearless in their use of technology." Is the education system repeating mistakes made in the past with the way we're shetlering students? Think about the reforms of sex ed. in the classroom. Will our inability to bring technology into the classroom out of fear cause students to become vulnerable to a system they don't fully understand?
 * On page 7, Richardson argues against the use of linear progression (in terms of academic development). Is this a fair arguement?
 * If we educate our children/students in the areas developing on the Read/Write web, imagine what they will produce as competent adults?
 * What are the pros and cons of filtering?
 * How do you feel about teach students skills to navigating the "darker side" of the web


 * Vocabulary**
 * [|CIPA]
 * [|Web Filtering]
 * [|Blogs]
 * [|RSS]
 * [|Wikis]
 * [|Aggregators]
 * [|Bookmarks]
 * [|Podcasting]
 * Important Links**
 * [|www.facebook.com]
 * [|http://newtonlibrarians.blogspot.com]
 * [|http://newtonlibrarians.blogspot.com]


 * Other Resources**

//Created by: James Finley//