Flying Penguins

Could you imagine showing this video to your students? How many of them do you think would believe in flying penguins? Would some catch on when they fly to the Rainforest?
This would be an example of something I would show my class to lead into a discussion on web literacy. It's on the internet; so it must be true right?

Be sure to check out Mr. Romand's Blog to find more activities like Flying Penguins to use with your students.

Ch 3 Emerging Roles Within the Knowledge Community

This chapter begins by telling us that there is way too much for teachers to learn when it comes to technology. (pg 38) However, November states on the next page that teachers don't need to know a lot of technical skills; they need to know how to manage the technology. I think he means the physical management and integration of technology into everyday lesson plans. In addition, teachers need the knowledge of collaboration. In the future teachers will need to collaborate on real world problems, with parents, and the community into order to perform best practices.

I think USD 313 has already started in our own backyard when it comes to collaboration. We collaborate with our teams already often by using googledocs. That is a great beginning. Some of us may be ready for the next step which is collaboration beyond our own school and district.

As we embark on the 21st century classroom roles change. Students become problem solvers, learners, experts. Sometimes they even assume the role of the teacher. The teacher moves to a facilitator role. The changing roles often cause fear in teachers, and this is only natural. I love the last statement on page 54, "if fears are articulated, validated, and discussed, adults are in a better position to learn new skills."

Hopefully, we have enough trust in each other that we as professionals can address our fears together and help each other to overcome them.