K12 Online Conference (Week Eight)

What I am about to share is my own opinion based on personal experience. As a student attending the K12 Online Conference, I perhaps started off with rose colored glasses anticipating the plethora of information I was to obtain for my future students to be delivered in an exciting way as an example of what I was to do in my classroom. Perhaps, shall I have privy to visit the K12 Online Conference again, as a professional educator, or had I the opportunity to ask questions within the sessions I attended, my experience might have been a more positive one with greater benefits. However, though I found that the information imperative, especially if integrated into the classroom to make the learning experience fun and interactive for the student, I found the conference itself somewhat boring. Contrary to making the classroom an exciting place for the students we are to teach, I found it hard to pay attention to most of the speakers based on their monotone delivery which tended to be drawn out and dull. This was unfortunate for the information being presented, as stated before, would prove quite interesting if integrated into the classroom correctly. On the positive side, there were many classrooms to choose from, I however attended two sessions. I listened in on: Keynote Speaker (Clarence Fisher) as well as a classroom section managed by Lani Ritter Hall (co-taught with five other teachers from different countries)

First, I listened to Classroom 2.0 Keynote, “Classroom 2.0 or You Live Where?” presented by Clarence Fisher. Fisher shared about Pedagogy and teaching looking at our teaching, how we teach and then at the tools about learning. He then spoke about the importance of collaboration between students, teacher, school, classrooms, and international relationships of the like. Teachers are responsible for giving information and promoting relationships which in turn means promoting collaboration using the correct tools which makes the job that much easier. “Think of the classrooms as studios – vibrant space with a lot of energy. Teaching today is a collective effort not a individual accomplishment to control. The classroom should be a global communication center with networks and internet safety.” http://k12online.wm.edu/Classroom2.0.mp3

Next, I listened to Classroom 2.0 “Motivating Student Writers by Fostering Collaboration through Tagging and Aggregating” by Lani Ritter Hall and collaborated teachings with: Vance Stevens (Abu Dhabi, UAE), Nelba Quintan (La Plata, Argentina), Doris Molero (Maracaibo, Venezuela), Saša Sirk (Nova Gorica, Slovenia), and Rita Zeinstejer (Rosario, Argentina). Although I gleaned from a lot of the fantastic ideas, most of the session was missed because it was hard to hear the teachers making it even more difficult to understand what they were saying. Also, though the delivery was somewhat boring, yet the information gathered was excellent. The focus was on ESL students and ESL teachers; learning and expanding territories by using 2.0 tools. The 2.0 tools were used to motivate students implementing global communication through class blogging. Blogging included discussion topics (which promoted writing) using voice messages, videos, music, integrate movies, bookmarks, feedback, blog searcher, etc. The biggest focus of the session was on the development and implementation of a project called the Writing Matrix. The teachers found the students so interested in participating that the class used their free time and put a lot of effort into their individual blogs. Writing Matrix started by trying to find out how social networking works. Teachers teaching writing were interested in getting their students to blog, tag their blogs, and then find the tag blogs by using Technorati (lets you search tag blog posts). http://k12online.wm.edu/writing_matrix.mp3